Summary
Adventuring parties inDungeons & Dragonsare used to dealing with all kinds of dangers, from political plots to gargantuan evil monsters. What they might not often face is a very real danger to all of us living in reality: natural disasters like tsunamis or hurricanes.
These very real dangers can spice up any campaign, introducing a force of nature that can’t often be dealt with in any magical way. You can even have these effects happen offscreen, with the party having to deal with the aftermath of a disaster, aiding any survivors on their way.
7Sandstorm
Que The Obligatory Darude Music
Traveling through a desert is already dangerous enough, with large expanses of nothing but sand standing between you and your objective. You’ll need to be prepared with plenty of water and protection from the sun, but the strong winds might hold an added danger that can only be prevented with proper shelter: a sandstorm.
The best part of a sandstorm for a Dungeon Master is that it is fairly easy to manage, since all you have to do is lower visibility for the players and deal a little bit of damage to represent it (ideally, 1 or 2 D4s per round). If you need your players to get lost for a while or to suddenly stumble upon some ancient ruins, the sandstorm has you covered.
6Blizzard
You Can Do Snow Angels Later
Mechanically speaking, you can treat a blizzard in the same way you treat a sandstorm, with one key difference: it can last for hours instead of minutes (you should also raise the damage die to a D8). As such, finding shelter is a must, even if it means entering that creepy cave with heavy necromantic vibes.
When dealing with natural disasters like a blizzard, where staying exposed to it will certainly end up in death, be sure to explain that clearly to your party. Some players are used to feeling like unbeatable heroes, and while having a power fantasy is all well and good, getting a character killed because they took a nap in a snowstorm is just silly.
5Hurricane
Rocking Like One
Hurricanes destroy everything in their wake, making most shelters useless unless they are underground or solid enough.In medieval times, when most campaigns take place, players would need to evacuate the premises or be blown away by the titan of nature.
Spells like Control Weather might be able to reduce the impact of some of these disasters, but that is at the discretion of the DM, since that spell was never meant for dispelling a hurricane, for example.
If your players are such mighty heroes that being thrown around by a hurricane wouldn’t be lethal, you can still use it as an adventure hook. They can land in all manner of strange places after being blown away, or alternatively, they might need to aid the survivors of a hurricane who weren’t as mighty as them.
4Thunderstorm
Metal Wearing Characters, Beware
A thunderstorm is a heavy storm characterized by the abundance of lightning strikes falling in quick succession. Players who lack any sort of shelter could fall prey to one such lightning strike unless they can find shelter from the storm, but even then, their safety isn’t guaranteed.
The source of these storms can be either natural or magical, depending on what fits your narrative better (the lair of a Blue Dragonis often surrounded by thunderstorms, for example). Deciding if a player gets hit by lighting can be decided by a percentile die, or if you’re feeling particularly mean-spirited, you can pretend to roll the dice while always hitting their healer.
3Earthquake
Shattering Expectations
Most natural disasters are at their deadliest when faced outdoors, but an earthquake can be your end if you’re in a cave, a building, or a dungeon. Everything starts to collapse around you, you might need to do some Acrobatics checks to not fall prone, and if you are particularly unlucky, you could end up trapped inside a collapsed building.
The spell, Tiny Hut, is ideal for players wanting to avoid the effects of most natural disasters, but it might not work in all cases. The Rules As Written don’t specify if the Hut has a solid base, so an earthquake might make the party fall and lose their protection.
As a natural disaster, an earthquake is effective enough, but it can also be a flavorful way of havinga massive Demon or Dragonrise from underground and fly away. This can be a way to surprise low-level characters, seeing the monster destroy a city by awakening and marking it as their final boss of the adventure.
2Tsunami
No Surfing This Wave
It isn’t advice to put mechanics around a tsunami, since it is best used as a sort of cinematic rather than an actual encounter. There is nothing that the party can do to stop the calamity, since all the players can do is help evacuate and get themselves to safety.
It can be a good way to humble the party, since some things can’t be solved with brute force or some high-level spell slots. If you still want to have some magical solution, divine intervention is your best bet, having the party promise something to some shady sea deity in exchange for their immediate safety.
1Volcanic Eruption
An Elemental Powerhouse
An erupting volcano is, without a doubt, the most visually striking natural disaster, since even if somehow no one gets hurt, it is still a fearsome spectacle to behold. In terms of dealing with it, the rushing lava is only one aspect of your problems, since a sudden eruption can also cause earthquakes and tsunamis.
Volcanoes can also be disruptive to the climate of not only the immediate region but also the planet as a whole in some cases, but how much you want that to influence your world is up for debate. It is best to limit its effect to the immediate area, having players deal with the lava and elementals that sprout from it and not so much with the years of drought that an eruption might cause.
