Adventure Time for D&D 5e – Part 5: Traps, Hazards & Monsters

Back in 2014, I ran a 4th edition D&D game set in the world of Adventure Time. I used a fantastic Adventure Time homebrew mod of D&D 4e, by Bloodghost, to run the game. I thought it might be a good idea to take my notes from running an Adventure Time campaign and Bloodghost’s homebrew to provide a base to run an Adventure Time campaign in 5th edition. This week we conclude the series by providing some ideas for Traps, Hazards & Monsters that can be used in an Adventure Time game or any D&D game.
Watching Adventure Time isn’t required to play in this setting, but it really helps. Any of this material could be used in your own homebrew setting or to get started on playing a game in the Land of Ooo.
I broke the series down into five parts, with this being the final chapter.
- Part 1: Species (Races)
- Part 2: Classes
- Part 3: Alignment, Feats, Weapons & Magic Items
- Part 4: Magic Items & Spells
- Part 5: Traps, Hazards & Monsters
TRAPS & HAZARDS
There are a ton of traps and hazards already created for past editions of D&D and 5th edition has a decent amount of trap examples in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Any typical D&D trap or hazard is a great fit for Adventure Time that your adventurers could encounter, from a pit trap in a dungeon to quicksand while exploring wilderness. The following are some traps that are a little outside of your typical D&D traps, but a great fit for any adventure where you want a something that is dangerous and a little silly too.
Room of Pacification
This trap is activated when an intruder enters a room. A statue shoots out a violent beam of magical energy any time a creature does too much, as in anything more than simply walking (or moving at base flying speed for floating or flying creatures). The statue should be a representation of something lazy like a sleeping animal, but have something to tempt your adventurers like a huge gem on its chest. You might even have a warning for the players to “Relax” or “Take it easy”.
A spell or other effect that can sense the presence of magic, such as detect magic, reveals an aura of evocation magic around the statue. A successful dispel magic (DC 13) cast on the statue disables the trap for 24 hours.
When the trap is activated it causes the statue to shoot out a beam of magical energy, the triggering creature must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) force damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Drowsy Daisies
Your adventurers see a shimmering field of daisies growing in front of them, filling them with with a pleasant feeling of peace and tranquility if they can smell them. A creature exposed to this field for longer than 1 minute must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. If it fails its saving throw, it is charmed and will bend over or sit down to do nothing else but smell the beautiful flowers.
At the end of of each of its turns, an affected creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. If it succeeds, this effect ends for that target. If the creature continues to smell the flowers for 1 minute it will fall asleep.
Jiggly Jelly Floor
The floor in this room (with a minimum 20 foot ceiling) is jiggly. Movement across the room sends nearby creatures bouncing into the air. A successful Intelligence (Investigation) or Intelligence (Arcana) check (DC 15) will grant knowledge of how the jelly floor acts. A Wisdom (Perception) check (DC 15) is required to notice the jelly floor.
The floor feels like hard stone when lightly touched touch, but while walking across the floor or if hit, it really jiggles. A creature on the floor who is within 5 feet of another creature who is walking across the floor (or hits the with a decent amount of force) is tossed 10 feet into the air and takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
Knife Storm
The skies grow dark as black clouds roll in from the west. The knife storm will be here in 1 minute. Basically run and find shelter or start to dodge daggers.
No check is required to notice the storm. A successful Intelligence (Nature) check (DC 15) to predict that the distant storm clouds are actually a knife storm that will arrive in 1 minute. Anyone who has experienced a knife storm before has Advantage on the check.
Suddenly, the first “drop” falls; a perfectly formed iron dagger. Any creatures caught out in the open in a knife storm will be the target of 2 knives each round. Each knife makes a ranged attack with a +5 bonus against a random target. Any cover such as trees, shields held overhead or other portable cover should be considered using the Cover rules. A target that is hit takes 2 (1d4) piercing damage.
MONSTERS
Bloodghost’s Adventure Time Handbook (4th Edition) details stats for 50 plus monsters directly from the show. I recommend that you check that out for ideas for sure.
I’ve converted the following monsters for 5th edition, but tons of monsters should be ready to go from the Monster Manual with just some minor tweaks, such as a Lich, skeletons, gelatinous cubes, ghost, gnomes, witches, wizards, wolves, werewolves, vampires, ogres, cyclops, spiders, mimics, bugbears, goblins, demons and more. There are also some really great monsters I didn’t stat out such as my personal favorite, Demon Cat (try using a displacer beast as a base).
Bucket Knight
These valiant defenders of crypts, tombs, and treasure troves have a secret ability is to increase exponentially in size and power. They activate this ability to engage in combat with intruders. A bucket knight’s regular form is one that is tiny, but when he pours water over himself, he becomes large. The stats below are for the large version of the bucket knight. The small version of the bucket knight would have stats matching a CR 0 enemy.
BUCKET KNIGHTLarge natural humanoid, lawful neutral |
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Armor Class 18 (plate armor) Hit Points 75 (10d10 + 20) Speed 35 ft. (15 ft. when tiny) |
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STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
20 (+5) | 16 (+3) | 14 (+2) | 11 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 13 (+1) |
Senses passive perception 11 Languages Common Challenge 3 (700 XP) |
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Exponential Growth. The bucket knight pours a bucket of water on itself, increasing its size from tiny to large. Any enemies within 5 feet of the bucket knight before he grew are pushed back 5 feet and knocked prone. The bucket knight’s new move speed is 35 feet and its size increases tiny to large. | |||||
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Zombies
Zombies are wandering undead who rise from their graves who crave delicious sugar and/or brains. Though mindless, theyʼre very resilient and relentless. The example below is for a candy zombie, but you’ll find other undead in Ooo. Candy zombies were accidentally created by Princess Bubblegum’s decorpsinator serum. The candy undead crave sugar, especially the sugar found in the flesh of candy people. The cure for a candy zombie infestation is a corrected decorpsinator serum, but it only works on fresh zombies, not zombies raided from the dead.
CANDY ZOMBIEMedium undead, neutral evil |
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Armor Class 8 Hit Points 22 (3d8 + 9) Speed 20 ft. |
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STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
14 (+2) | 6 (-2) | 14 (+2) | 3 (-4) | 8 (-1) | 5 (-3) |
Damage Immunities: poison Condition Immunities: poisoned Senses passive perception 8 Languages Common Challenge 1/2 (100 XP) |
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Zombie Pinata. A critical hit to a candy zombie reduces it to 0 hit points instantly. When dead, a candy zombie opens up to reveal that it is filled with a fluffy, candy-like substance. A creature eating this substance will require an immediate DC 13 constitution saving throw or it becomes poisoned. If a creature fails the saving throw by 5 or more it becomes a candy zombie. Candy people have disadvantage on the saving throw and become a candy zombie on any failed saving throw. | |||||
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Giant Crystal Beast
These monsters are some of the largest and most evil creatures in Ooo. Typically found deep in subterranean dwellings, they hide in dark recesses, viciously destroying any and all who dare challenge them. Most Adventure Time campaigns are lower level, so this monster would work well as the final boss of a lower level dungeon.
GIANT CRYSTAL BEASTHuge aberrant beast, neutral evil |
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Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 95 (10d10 + 40) Speed 20 ft. |
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STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
18 (+4) | 14 (+2) | 18 (+4) | 6 (-2) | 15 (+2) | 8 (-1) |
Senses darkvision, passive perception 15 Languages Common Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) |
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Darkness. The crystal beast emits pure darkness and all non-magical light will provide no illumination within 90 feet of the monster. | |||||
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Robots
Time-lost remnants from the pre-war era, robots are are fairly benign and reasonable, but some have become crazed after centuries spent all alone since the Mushroom War. Some have even been created since then such as Neptr or Rattleballs (image below).
Robots can be filled with electricity, rockets or any kind of nasty surprise, limited only by your creativity. Here’s a basic robot to get started.
BUSTED ROBOTSmall/Medium construct, neutral |
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Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 51 (6d10 + 18) Speed 25 ft. |
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STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
12 (+1) | 14 (+2) | 16 (+3) | 17 (+3) | 12 (+1) | 8 (-1) |
Senses passive perception 11 Languages Common Challenge 1 (200 XP) |
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Power Saving Mode. When the robot is in power saving mode, it remains motionless and is indistinguishable from a broken down robot. It has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in an environment full of machinery such as a junkyard or old factory. | |||||
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I hope you liked this series and if there anything else you’d like to see covered, let me know if the comments below and maybe I’ll work on an Adventure Time bonus article.
I’m also hoping to get some playtest information and then I might work on gathering all of this up into a PDF.
About these Materials
I contacted Bloodghost directly to ask if there would be an update to the materials for 5th edition or if I could take a crack at it, but I didn’t receive a reply. I’ve borrowed heavily from Bloodghost’s ideas for this guide. ADVENTURE TIME and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Cartoon Network. The main article photo is of the ‘Evil Monster’ which appears in the “Dad’s Dungeon” episode of Adventure Time™.