The Best Adventure Hooks For A Heist In DND

Summary

• Be creative in setting up heist adventures with unique hooks, such as jail breaks or ballroom events.
• Encourage players to showcase various skills during a heist by splitting the party and emphasizing teamwork.
• Set up challenging heists with multiple options for execution, like scaling castle walls, navigating sewers, or barging in directly.

Brute force is all well and good, but sometimes, it takes a crafty party to pull off the ultimate heist in Dungeons & Dragons. Heist arcs or sessions can also prove to be a great change of pace for players who may be tired of just relying on their combat prowess. With heists, you’ve got to rely on your smarts as well.

However, before sending your players off to plan their elaborate heist, you’ll need to come up with an adventure hook to get them going. That’s why we’ve created this list with some of the best adventure hooks for heists in Dungeons & Dragons.

10

Jail Break

Time To Blow This Popsicle Stand

While heist adventures can often be about loot or treasure, there’s no rule saying you can’t also use a heist structure to right a wrong, or correct an injustice. Plus, jails make for great set pieces in campaigns.

For this adventure, use an important NPC who holds weight with the party, and inform players that they have been wrongfully imprisoned. This means that the party will have to stage an elaborate jail break to free their ally, circumventing all manner of guards, traps, and more.

9

Belles Of The Ball

It’s Time To Party

Another fantastic set piece you can use for a heist adventure is a ball or other large social gathering. Whether the target of the heist is a person, a piece of treasure, or something else altogether, set the heist at an elaborate ball or masquerade for a fun wrinkle.

As one example, explain to the party that the item they seek as part of their heist will be on display at a gala coming up in the next week. Players will have to forge invitations, craft disguises, and more to gain entry and slip away with the artifact in one piece.

8

Under The Cover Of Night

Lurk In The Shadows

Obviously, the cover of night is a great time to initiate a heist. This may seem like a no-brainer, but this next heist setup uses night and time to your advantage as a DM, especially when it comes to establishing stakes.

Explain to the party that the treasure, person, or item they need to extract will be transported out of its current location the following dawn. Players will need to complete their heist throughout a single night. Set a real-world timer (perhaps for the length of the session) that signals to players when the sun will rise in-game.

7

Let’s Split The Party

Usually A Bad Idea

Part of the fantasy of a heist adventure is that each member of the team brings a certain skill. Obviously, not everybody in the party is going to be a crafty rogue, so you’ll want to create ways for players to show off their other skills.

For example, say the party needs to slip a ring off of an NPC’s finger without them noticing. You can split the party up by having one or two players distract the NPC, while the rogue attempts a Sleight of Hand check. From there, a speedy fighter or monk can run the ring to their mission contact before the city guard finds out.

6

Over, Under, Through

Pick Your Poison

For this next adventure hook, the heist will likely need to be set in an urban environment. Explain to the party that they need to pull off a heist, extracting a magical artifact from the keep of a castle. The party has three options.

One, they can scale the castle walls, navigating their way through the upper hallways. Two, they can go through the sewers, and try to find a way up into the keep through the plumbing. Or three, they can barge in head-first, trying to sneak around castle guards and servants. The choice is theirs.

5

Needle In The Haystack

Which One Is It?

This hook is highly specific, but can prove to be a great third-act twist in your session if you play your cards right. Say the party is looking for a stolen relic that they need to return to its ancestral home. They know the object is in the vault of a great fortress, but when they arrive at the vault, they find dozens of decoys.

Players will have to either recall specific information about the relic, or blunt-force their way through, hoping to find the right one. For each incorrect guess, however, they will trigger alarms, summoning monsters to defend the relic.

4

Treasure Hoard

It’s A Race To The Finish

Who doesn’t love a good chase? Similar to the setup in the D&D module Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, inform players that a certain city they’re in rests atop an enormous treasure vault, one that’s been lost for centuries. Then, give the players a lead on the vault’s location.

However, for some added fun, create rivaling adventuring parties who are also looking for the vault. Roll a d20 every session. On a 15 or higher, the rival adventuring parties are one step ahead of the party, meaning your table may have to fight them off as well by the time they reach the vault.

3

Moving Target

It’s Right On Top Of Us!

By placing a rare object that the party needs on someone’s person, you can create a moving heist that spans across multiple biomes. Perhaps the party is seeking a rare Ioun Stone that can help them in a difficult encounter to come. But, the stone rests in the Bag of Holding of a rival mage.

The party will need to find a way to track the mage magically, following them across multiple planes of existence to eventually extract the Ioun Stone without the mage knowing. This can make for a great, highly elaborate chase sequence.

2

The High Seas

Not For Landlubbers

Set pieces and unique backdrops can make or break a heist. For this hook, let’s assume that the party needs to commandeer a ship carrying precious cargo, rerouting the ship before it reaches an evil cult that’s preparing to steal the valuables inside.

Players will need to find a way to stow away on the ship without being noticed, and then will need to execute a mutiny of the crew and captain, taking the ship for themselves. This adventure hook is perfect for anyone with a Sailor background.

1

The Tables Have Turned

The Best Defense

For this hook, consider flipping the script on the party, and having them defend themselves from an incoming heist, rather than executing one themselves. If the party has a keep or a bastion with many valuables inside, slip the group some intel that a rival adventuring party is going to try to break in on a certain night.

From there, it’s up to the players to figure out how best to defend themselves from this heist. Or, they can take the offensive, and try to intercept this party before they reach the bastion in question.