“DnD Party Portrait” by ncorva, CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
“This one time, at bandit camp… we rose above the bandit stereotype to be more interesting.”
I assume you’ve had an encounter or two with bandits in your D&D adventuring career. The bumbling bandit trope is a common fantasy cliché, in company of tropes like characters meeting in a tavern, or the backstory of parents getting murdered. After reading this post, you’ll be inspired to transform the bandit cliche into a rich, enjoyable piece of your game.
Some bandit groups may be casual or goofy, but others can be serious threats with grandiose goals. I’ll be referring to bandit verbiage, but these ideas can be broadly applied to any similar group (pirates, marauders, thieves guilds, etc).
Bandit camps that acquire a magical item or spell, for example, instantly become more formidable (and rewarding) for your players to fight. Marauders may have an arcane academic in their company. Either way, magic will up the ante of a conflict, and enable your party to acquire magic items and spells in a meaningful way. The average player loves to defeat an enemy and claim a signature item or spell. It’s poetic to battle an enemy with a powerful asset, eventually claiming their power (like Mega Man claiming a boss’ power).
Here are several golden concepts to spice up your game:
The Child Prophet
If you’ve ever seen All Dogs Go to Heaven, you may remember that Carface kept a child named Anne-Marie who could speak with horses. Using her ability to speak with horses, Carface could find out if the horses were sick, injured, or if it was a horse’s birthday so the other horses would let him win. Similarly, this group of bandits is keeping a child who was born with a gift of divination. The kid will think this group is her family, but your party will see the evil of this arrangement if they catch wind of it. Players will be compelled to free the child so she can have a better life, but the bigger motivation will be to take down the gambling criminals if the party has been wronged by them.
Before finding out about a child, perhaps you can have an encounter where the party tries to sneak into the headquarters of these criminals, but they’re foreseen by the child, allowing the criminals to vamoose and cover their tracks. Maybe the rogue in the party tried to gamble with one of the criminals, and lost horribly but suspiciously. I’m sure you can come up with something specific to your game, but the key is to incorporate some Stockholm syndrome with this prophetic child. Bonus points if you sew some clues that the criminals killed the kid’s parents and kept her alive for her gifts, but she was too young to remember it. Maybe she has blocked out the memory, or an illusionist/enchanter has made her forget. Whatever you decide, have fun and let me know how it goes!
Benevolent Bandits
These guys steal medicines for orphaned children in a dangerous/war-torn area (like the group in season one of The Walking Dead that cares for the old folks). Initially, the players will be hired to track down bandits who sacked a trade caravan, but they’ll have a moral dilemma when they realize the bandits are good guys in a bad situation. If you like political campaigns where war takes its toll on the commoners, this is a quest for your game.
Cool Hideouts
When I was a kid, I used to spend my time at church drawing my dream treehouse; these bandits have made my dream a reality. If your bandits have a cool hideout, the party will be more intrigued.
- Cliffside hideout that requires climbing/repelling. If your party can’t climb or fly, this will be challenging.
- Treetop hideout with a series of treehouses linked by rope bridges (like the Lost Boys in Hook). These guys have the high ground, so they’ve practically won already!
- Horseback bandits could camp in the open plains and deserts, but your party may never be able to catch them while their horses give them the advantage.
- Sea cavern that is accessed through lava rock blowholes (the ones that erupt with water when a big wave hits the shore). If intruders try to find their hideout, they’ll be ripped apart by high-pressure water unless they know the safe route used by the bandits.
- Fishing boats can seem inconspicuous, but these bandits have a shark cage full of stolen goods that they hang over board like an anchor (like the boat with the bazooka in the movie Red Eye).
- City hall has bandits and political villains! These bandits have bribed the town’s mayor to house them in the city hall catacombs. Nobody thinks to find them there! This would make a discussion between the party and the mayor extra awkward if the players are seeking these bandits. Maybe they want to get paid to find these bandits, but the mayor will have his own interests and profiteering to protect. This is an opportunity for your sleuthing PC’s to shine. Roll that insight check and see what they find out.
- Volcano crags may be appealing to dwarven bandits who enjoy blacksmithing with volcanic smithies, and any noxious fumes will be resisted by their dwarven fortitude. Your party will likely feel like an ambush on these dwarves will be risky giving the terrain the the dwarves’ home field advantage.
- Marshes full of sinkholes, snake holes, and all kinds of holes could be particularly treacherous for your party. Bandits may set traps full of snakes, or just wait for the party to get stuck in the mud. These guys are specialized in swampy espionage. I recommend giving them makeshift snorkels that your party could potentially spot among the cattail reeds.
- Mine shafts are tempting hideouts. If you’ve ever played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you know bandits love mines. Some mines are abandoned, while others are being used, but bandits don’t care! Your party could be hired to clear a mine of bandits, or your party could seek shelter in a mine during a storm, only to be met with animal poachers with blades that need sharpening. Either way, mines can make excellent mini-dungeons if you want some practice. Don’t forget to review darkvision and lighting rules if you’re into that stuff!
War Party
Lead by a washed up soldier who misses the spoils of wars, these bandits have armor, horses, and weapons training. Their commander’s knowledge of war has trained them well. They may seem like a bastion of guards when they roll up on your party, but their demands will quickly put your party on edge.
This will almost certainly lead to a fight in a typical game, but I recommend making these guys clearly too powerful to be beaten by your PC’s (and you should let them know that). Then your party can track them down to get the jump on them and turn the tides. Your party will be motivated, and the stakes will be high. I don’t recommend this story hook if your players would feel like you’re picking on them. This is a great encounter for level five parties who want to flex their muscles with ambush tactics.
Monkey Business
Druids can be thieves too, and this druid trains monkey to steal from caravans and traders. This druid can have many motives: discouraging deforestation, protecting sacred fruit in a druid grove, preventing humans overpopulating to destroy the local vegetation with their developments, etc. This concept has a concept that can be entertaining and humorous for your players, as well as morally vexing. Thieving is not always immoral, so your PC’s will be able to demonstrate their unique senses of morality and justice when confronting this problem. It’s up to you whether the druid is a gnome that ride a rabbit sled, or a man with elk horns who stands with terror and intimidation as he speaks wisdom of the earth, or whatever. I do recommend that you give the monkeys unique traits and personalities. One monkey could have a mohawk and an attitude, while another has a missing eye and is prone to be reserved, and another ape is an actual gorilla that can read. Have fun with this one!
Silver Tongue, Unseen Hands
This bandit flies solo (kinda). She is charismatic and flirtatious, which makes her seem like a goofy NPC on a trade road. However, while she schmoozes the party, her unseen servant is secretly rummaging through their things. PC’s hate to have their stuff stolen, so the party will suspect this woman stole their stuff somehow (unless they don’t notice until much later). Once the PC’s discover they were bamboozled, they’ll definitely be on a warpath to retrieve their belongings. Make sure you give this bandit a hideout or usual place to be. I recommend that you make her part of a criminal organization the party will have to dismantle in order to find her again. I guarantee that the party will have a fire in their eyes that you’ve never seen before.
Cloak of Invisibility
If Harry Potter suddenly became useful with one of these cloaks, then so can a bandit. Plus your party can end up with a cool item. Nuff said!
Wand of Web
A bandit with a wand is a donkey on the edge, a loose cannon with more power than he ever dreamed of obtaining. This type of bandit should be cartoonish, playing up the fact that he’s a bumbling bandit who got lucky and found a wand. This Wand of Web can instantly force him up the ranks of his camp. Perhaps he’s an acrobat who waits in the treetops for a party to come through, then webs them up so he can bungee down and pluck some precious loot. When the party breaks free, they will pursue him until he’s dead and under their boots. For this reason, he might drop an Alchemist Fire into the web to ignite the party and their stuff in order to buy himself time to escape. When he’s finally tracked down and brutally killed, he’ll be cartoonish to the end.
Stinking Cloud
Imagine a group of bumbling bandits with gas masks and a formula to reproduce the stinking cloud spell (second level). Your party would be embarrassed to be retching their breakfast as these bandits gingerly take all their stuff. Just for fun, maybe make the bandits have a giant pet skunk that they rely on for their stinking cloud formula. When the party fights these guys, you can bet that skunk will be unleashed. Make sure to give the skunk a fun name.
Arcane Eye
This individual has become so infamous for his ability to gather data that rumors believe he is actually a group of many spies. None can deduce how he gets information from behind closed doors. The truth is this wizard can read lips while casting Arcane Eye (fourth level). The invisible eye will fly around for one hour while the wizard perceives everything through its arcane lens. No private meeting is safe from spying when this lip-reading wizard is watching. Selling information to the highest bidder, the wizard will impress anyone who finds out it is him alone who accomplishes this espionage, and he protects this secret with extreme prejudice.
Magnetic Dragon
A blue dragon is the secret leader of a nationwide smuggling ring based out of a desert. The dragon has dug a hideout which utilizes magnetic rocks and sand (blue dragons have magnetic lightning powers). The party will hear about a powerful leader of the bandits they’ve encountered, but they won’t expect a blue @$!*# dragon! When the party confronts this creature, they’ll be surprised when all their metal equipment is pulled from their hands and sheathes to be stuck to a magnetic pillar. Anyone wearing heavy metal armor gets magnetized to the pillar as well. Then the blue dragon unburrows from the sand and addresses them.
When I used this concept in my game, the dragon didn’t even fight them; he just made the whole hideout collapse, including a bunch of loot. Unexpectedly to the dragon, the party teleported to the surface, avoiding burial alive. Of course, it became a priority of the party to hire an academic team to excavate the area as a “historical dig” site. The party received heaps of loot from the dig. This also allowed the blue dragon to return as a villain later on as he sought revenge. As you might have imagined, I recommend this as a quest of higher level. It’d be pretty baller to seed ideas about this bandit group throughout your campaign, culminating in the confrontation of this blue dragon and the rest of the smuggling ring.
Rakshasa Blackmail
This demonic shapeshifter made an appearance in Critical Role (season one). Rakshasas read thoughts, shapeshift, and ignore low-level spells. Tiger-like in appearance, this demon will surprise your party when they see his true form. He does business through blackmailing and forcing criminals and law-abiders alike to steal for him. Similar to my previous idea with the blue dragon, this guy makes another satisfying, dangerous culmination to a campaign quest line. You don’t want this guy to teleport away when he’s close to death, because he’ll read your thoughts by then. Having learned of your loved ones, secrets, and homes, you can bet you’re in for some hellish revenge from this underlord.
Conclusion!
There are numerous spicy variations on the trope of highway bandits. I’m sure you’ve already been inspired to form your own ideas as you’ve read this list. Comment below with any ideas that have worked for bandits in your games. I’d love to hear about the ideas that provided the most inspiration for you. I hope you’ll implement these concepts so your players can experience some quality gaming. Go forth young game masters!
