The Flickers and the Bandits: Analyzing A Successful Encounter

07 Sep, 2025

A few months ago in one of my anthology sessions I had an opportunity to use the flickers, a magical disease I homebrewed to fill the gap of compelling fantasy ailments. Based on player feedback and my own experience, I think it went well. Of course, it's not just that the flickers are a fun bit of fantasy worldbuilding. The disease causes characters to, among other things, teleport uncontrollably around the battlefield, so the combat in which the sick NPCs appeared was less static as result, mitigating a well-known problem in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. However, there were a number of other little reasons the encounter felt more dynamic than usual, so I thought it might be worth writing up the session to explore why it was one of my better combat encounters.

Source: Christian Hendriks, September 2025 (I promise my handwriting isn't always this messy)

The Context

Providing the relevant background might take a while; I will try to be as brief as I can without missing anything relevant, but if you just want quick take-away lessons, you should skip down to "The Encounter" or even "What Made It Dynamic."

I run a 5e kitchen-sink-fantasy campaign for three people; when one of those players is missing, we instead play a two-person anthology session that follows NPCs from the main campaign or explores a setting or situation the PCs once encountered. I had been planning to playtest a fantasy version of the geminites, the always-dicephalic humans from my Lakelands setting, in the main campaign. So that they'd fit in the not-quite-Forgotten-Realms setting of the game, I called them "demogorgonians" after the demon prince who marked them. To start with, I just placed a book about the demogorgonians in a library the PCs were exploring, and one player expressed enough interest that I contrived a plot-based reason for the players to visit the remote Lower Merrimult hill country the demogorgonians inhabit.¹ They left the area after just two sessions, so when I had an anthology session a little later with the player who had expressed an interest, I decided to return to the demogorgonians.

That anthology session, which is actually not the one this post is about, saw the temporary PCs, a tiefling monk named Poetry and a rock gnome cleric named Jebeddo "Sweetsmoke" Nackle, escort a human expert in comparative law, Thusette, into Lower Merrimult's remote hills for legal-anthropological research on behalf of the crown.² At the start of the session I asked the players to choose personality traits for Jebeddo and Poetry (including an Ideal, a Bond, and a Flaw, in good 5e fashion). Then we narrated the journey a bit, doing some roleplay. And just as they entered the fringes of hill country, demogorgonian brigands ambushed them, led by notorious outlaws known widely as the Wolfhawk and aiming to kidnap and ransom the soft-looking scholar.

That encounter went well. Both players enjoyed the classes they were assigned; one of the benefits of the anthology sessions, after all, is to provide my players with the opportunity to try new classes and subclasses. For the enemy, I didn't do much roleplay emphasizing two people in one body, except to just say things that confirm there are two of them, like, "The bandits charge you," and occasionally, "One of the bandits locks eyes with you and snarls." The exception was the Wolfhawk, who I wanted to characterize more, so on a few occasions I rolled two dice, one for each woman, to see if they wanted to respond to the PCs' actions in the same way. (I sometimes roll a d20 when I'm not sure what an NPC would do in combat situations.) As it happened, Poetry and the Wolfhawk had both seriously injured one another, so I thought whether the bandits retreated could go either way; according to the dice, the twins were divided on that. The Hawk therefore called out a retreat, but then the Wolf pressed the attack. (At a mechanical level, the Wolfhawk had Cunning Action, and used it to Dodge rather than Disengage.) I narrated the Hawk mouthing, "Bitch," at her sister at the end of their turn. The next round they did retreat, however, and many of the bandits got away alive.

We closed out the session with the party completing their journey to a particular demogorgonian village they had been told about and reporting the attack to the local elders. Altogether, I think the players enjoyed the scenario and the PCs they were playing, and had an interest in facing the Wolfhawk and their bandits again.

This session went well enough that I thought I'd continue the story in the next anthology session I had with those two players. That would have been the session I'm discussing here, except that one of my players wasn't feeling well and we had to cut it short. We did get through some of it, though. I asked the players if they were comfortable play-testing demogorgonian NPCs in addition to Poetry and Jebeddo; this would not be difficult mechanically, but I wanted to get feedback on how it felt to play as demogorgonians. They agreed. We picked up where we left off, with the PCs shadowing Thusette as she tried to learn more about demogorgonian legal customs. Jebeddo heard about an outbreak of the flickers in the next village over and went there to cure it. There he learned that it was caught by eating contaminated food and that it caused its sufferers to "flicker" through time and space for a few days – hence the name. Poetry, meanwhile, asked around about the Wolfhawk and about demogorgonian bandits in general, though with less success than she'd like. The PCs were then approached by one pair of the NPCs that I would soon entrust to the players; these were huntresses who thought they had spotted the Wolfhawk holed up in a nearby canyon with her gang, and wanted their help fighting them. Of course the PCs agreed. We then gave the demogorgonian characters personality traits and ended the session.

The next session, then, was finally the one with the encounter with the flickers that went so well. We started the session with the party embarking: Poetry and Jebeddo as the most accomplished fighters; hunters Prisca-Lee and Prisca-Rae³ leading them to the Wolfhawk's hideout; the channelers Arlis and Arlar as a bit of magical back-up; and Thusette tagging along to see the demogorgonians in action. We did some light roleplay and, then, they got to the badlands and crept up to the bandit camp, hugging a canyon wall for cover.

They had a chance to overhear the bandits talking in camp, which I had prepared for. Indeed, I am very glad they succeeded on their Dexterity (Stealth) checks. They heard some bandits grousing about the flickers; two pair of bandits had caught it. One of the uninfected brigands said, "I told you not to eat that goat," and one of the sick ones complained to her sister, "I told you not to eat it." They got glimpses of the ill ones stumbling awkwardly as they teleported to one side, or vanishing for a few seconds because they skipped forward in time. The party could also hear raised voices farther back and out of sight, like two women were arguing. (This was the Wolfhawk, fighting about strategy.) But then some scouts on top of a hoodoo walked to a point where they could see the party, and we rolled for initiative.

The Encounter

On the party's side were the following:

• Poetry, a level 3 tiefling monk with the abnegation subclass from the Star-Shaman's Song of Planegea;
• Jebeddo, a level 3 gnome cleric with the medicine subclass from the Planegea Patreon;
• Prisca-Lee & Prisca-Rae, a hunter (CR ¼), also from the SSSP, with the Two Heads trait added (see the ettin stat block), controlled by Poetry's player;
• Arlis & Arlar, an acolyte (CR ¼) with the Two Heads trait added and the skills and spells adjusted for flavour, controlled by Jebeddo's player;
• Thusette, a commoner NPC with some extra proficiencies, controlled by me.

On the bandit's side were the following:

• a demogorgonian bandit (CR ⅛) with the Two Heads trait added, sick with the flickers and their weapons changed;
• a demogorgonian thug (CR ½) with the Two Heads trait added, sick with the flickers and their weapons changed;
• 2 further demogorgonian bandits with the Two Heads trait and adjusted weapons;
• 2 further demogorgonian thugs with the Two Heads trait and adjusted weapons;⁴
• the Wolfhawk, a spy (CR 1) with the Two Heads trait.

I used a map from 2 Minute Tablestop's Rocky Desert Pack, overlaid with walls in Foundry. The party started in one canyon passage, up against the wall as they tried to keep cover. The Wolfhawk started out of sight behind a hoodoo; three brigands (or, technically, six, but I am counting by stat blocks and not by characters) had overwatch positions on clifftops and on hoodoos, with the remainder, including both infected, gathered in plain view at the canyon intersection.

Before the session, I had rolled on the Flickers Displacement Table for each of the infected, with the following results:

Bandit(s)

• 2: slow effect
• 6: teleport 5' (3)
• 10: timeline duplication
• 8: teleport 10' (7)
• 9: teleport 10' (4)
• 10: timeline duplication

Thug(s)

• 8: teleport 10' (2)
• 7: teleport 5' (3)
• 1: slow effect
• 3: haste effect
• 4: vanish
• 9: teleport 10' (8)

The numbers after the teleport effects are the results of a d8 or d12, indicating which direction they teleport.

This encounter was too long ago for me to remember exactly how it went, but I can give a general overview. A few of the enemy on the ground used their action to Dash on the first round, but most of them moved as best as they could toward the party and attacked with their ranged weapon. The Wolfhawk also came into view this round, as they responded to their gang's shouts. Any enemy on higher ground moved to a position that allowed them to see the party and made ranged attacks; however, they were often limited in choice of targets because the party started out hiding behind the irregular texture of the canyon wall. Speaking of which, Poetry raced out to engage in melee, with Jebeddo not far behind, casting spiritual weapon. The Priscas exclusively used their longbow instead of their spear, stepping out to fire at one of the enemy on high ground and then trying to move back into cover at the end of their turn. Arlis & Arlar did the same, but with spells. Thusette tried her best with a sling, but I don't think she managed to connect once.

These ranged NPC party members, and most of the demogorgonians on high ground, followed that same pattern for the whole encounter: find an angle of attack, fire, move back into cover. It was a different story for Jebeddo and the melee attackers on both sides. Poetry rapidly climbed a hoodoo and dealt with the sniper up there before scrambling back down and getting caught up in a fight with the Wolfhawk. Jebeddo relied heavily on spiritual weapon to harass the enemy approaching him, along with other combat spells, but these weren't able to prevent the enemy from closing. With Jebeddo outnumbered, Poetry spent a ki point to Disengage from the Wolfhawk and fell back to Jebeddo's position at the canyon mouth, though of course the outlaw leaders followed her on their next turn.

During this whole time, of course, the demogorgonian infected were variously slowed or blinking across the field, which did delay how quickly they could close with Jebeddo. However, after a few rounds the rarer beneficial effects began to appear; the beflickered sisters (with the bandit stat block) were briefly looped in time, allowing them to make extra attacks from a new position, and the brothers (with the thug stat block) were sped up. At one memorable point, the bandit sisters were teleported behind the skirmish line that formed in the canyon mouth for a few rounds.

The brothers fell before the "vanish" effect came into play, however, and more of the brigands on the ground died as well. Like last time, when the Wolfhawk's hit points got low I rolled for their commitment to the fight and, again like last time, they conflicted. I didn't play it out quite the same, however, variety being the spice of life: I said that as before the Hawk called a retreat, despite which the Wolf continued to attack, but this time the Hawk wrestled her sister away after a few slashes. (Mechanically, they used Cunning Action to Disengage.) The brigands tried a fighting retreat but, if I recall correctly, swift Poetry cut them off, causing a new skirmish line to form perpendicular to the previous one in the centre of the map. It wasn't long before the attempted retreat became a rout, though; a few rounds later, one pair of demogorgons was captured, one pair was fleeing the field, and the rest were dead, including the Wolfhawk. Notably, the last infected bandits were killed while doubled in time, causing the future/present versions to vanish.

Altogether, there were parts that could be seen as static: skirmish lines did form for a few rounds each and the ranged characters used the same tactics for most of the fight. However, these did not feel stagnant. I'll explain why I think that was.

What Made It Dynamic

There were several elements that contributed to how dynamic this encounter felt:

• Two characters had abilities that let them use a bonus action to Disengage, freeing them to move without triggering an attack of opportunity. The Wolfhawk, built on a spy, had the Cunning Action trait. Because they fought aggressively, they only wound up using that ability to Disengage once this encounter, but even one use of it can break up a stagnant skirmish line. Furthermore, as a 3rd-level monk Poetry can spend a ki point to do the same thing. Because it costs two limited resources that she could also use to do other things, it's a tactical decision she has to make mid-combat. Such tactical decisions are great, and she chose to do it to defend Jebeddo.

• A mix of ranged and melee characters on both sides of the battle, along with a complex but comprehensible battlemap, made sight lines important. The squishier PCs with ranged attacks were constantly shifting around, first to find a sight line to attack along and then to find cover from opposing fire. This cover wound up being the rough texture of a canyon wall, so the ranged enemies atop the hoodoos could still sometimes find a new position from which they could make an attack against the PCs. These new positions forced the PCs to try to find new patches of canyon wall, trying to improve their cover as the encounter progressed.

• The flickers' teleportation effect activated several times in combat. The earliest of these little hops happened before the battle lines had closed, so the actual consequences for the battle were minimal, though they still added narrative and tactical interest; after all, the players had not yet seen the flickers in action, so these initial displacements were their first opportunity to learn how it worked. On later turns, though, the flickers did force changes on the battle lines, such as when it put one of the bandits behind the PCs. I think it worked both because it did not provoke an attack of opportunity and because it was unpredictable.

• Each player controlling one front- or mid-line PC and one ranged NPC stat block meant that each player experienced two different kinds of play each round; even if the fight wound up being quite static, that alone would have at least introduced some variety.

• Small narrative elements, like the Wolfhawk sisters' division and the infected obviously feeling uncomfortable, made the encounter more interesting without necessarily changing how it played out.

Altogether, then, every turn someone was moving and the overall shape of the fight changed over the course of a few rounds, without complicated battlefield effects or new waves of enemies. (Not that those are bad things!) I used to hear GMs describe small tweaks they made to their game and I was skeptical that these little adjustments could significantly change how play feels. From experience now, though, it is clear to me that relatively minor details put together can have a big effect.

Final Thoughts

I appreciate what the Planegea team has done to build David Somerville's "kinetic action" key phrase into the setting's mechanics. This appears particularly in the farstriker barbarian (or, as the community affectionately calls it, the throw-throw), but it's an element in many of The Star-Shaman's Song of Planegea's subclasses, creatures, items, and spells. The particular Planegea material I used this game is less obviously designed for kinetic action, but still Planegea has had an effect on how I think about the material I introduce to a game. (For what it's worth, I find Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts II good on this front, too.) At any rate, I think I managed to achieve kinetic action in this encounter.

My players quite liked the flickers, agreeing with me that not enough is done with fantasy diseases in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy games. One of them pointed out that rolling each turn makes things complicated, and certainly I think pre-rolling on the Flickers Displacement Table is the best way to do it. Some of the effects are probably too complicated for something that only lasts one turn, though I think they all make sense if you understand what the effect is supposed to do. It would be more elegant to limit the table to teleportation effects, maybe with time displacement on critical successes and failures, but I prefer what I have. I haven't yet subjected the PCs to any of these diseases, so I'm not sure how it feels in that scenario. Maybe I'll try to infect them soon.

In case you're curious, Prisca-Lee & Prisca-Rae tracked down those last fleeing brigands so that Poetry and Jebeddo could capture them and bring them back to the village with the other captives. I've already bothered to rebuild Arlis & Arlar and the Priscas as level 2 PCs for some future anthology session, where they strike out on their own adventures.

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