[3.5] Really big tower, and what to put in it. (My players: Out. Out!)

[Glyde]

Are they gone? Ok.




The jist is the party is chasing after a lich across the sea, and they don't know what he's up to. Well, he's moving to a position where there's a really really big tower that sunk into the ocean, and he's going to raise it up and commit all sorts of planet-threatening evil there. He has a whole lot of aquatic and land-based undead at his side, two fully stocked warships (One with all undead, the other with demons and undead), and some very powerful villain allies at his side.


When the party first encounters this tower, it's going to rise up out of the ocean from under the Lich's boat and they won't be able to get in, as the entrance is at the top, and that's really high up. Their only method of flight has limited uses, so they'll be finding a story-related way to get up there. But that's not what this topic is about.


What this topic IS about, is what kind of fun things we can put in this tower. It'll be the stereotypical 'final dungeon' of the campaign, though the party will probably have further adventures, so an intentional TPK isn't too high on the list of goals.

So far, I have these things planned:

Multiple 'boss' rooms with the Lich's powerful allies conducting research / preparing stuff / maintaining the Super Weapon, stuff like that. The enemies I have so far are related to the characters. For example, the Lich's old apprentice when he was alive will be one of the bosses (Used to be with the party, but kinda snapped when he thought he was 'betrayed' by one of the members.), and of course the Lich himself will be there. Some of these encounters will simply be there to slow the party down. All the bosses rushing the party makes too much sense for D&D though.

The Lich is mighty powerful, though not too much mechanically (I might need help on statting him out as well, making him a real threat.) This tower is going to have some extra-dimensional space in it. In the sense that the party opens a door and they're on a beach, or some rooms are so large that they couldn't possibly fit in the tower.

The tower is gong to be based on the tower that the lich had when he was still alive, so there'll be basic things that you'd find in a tower that you live in. Stuff like a library, living quarters, ball room, etc.



There's still a whole bunch of room to fill up, so any ideas for encounters, traps, flavor-rooms, where to put treasure, etc. would be awesome. Ideas that have been used before and work well are welcome too - An homage to the creator would be in order of course.

By the time the party starts this tower, they're going to be around 8th or 9th level, with the addition of an 8th level fighter-type NPC and two 5-6th level NPCs, making a total of 7 people (8 people if everybody shows up.) We got a rogue, cleric/shield wielding custom class, ranger, sorcerer with electricity energy sub (He's more of a blaster), unarmed swordsage, and a barbarian that only rarely shows up. The NPCs are an adept/rogue, bard/warblade, and fighter/Unstoppable Force (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59097) with a harpoon. The encounters the party has faced have so far been quite... grand. Big huge monsters with a lot of cool intricacies, and I kind of want to one-up what they've been through so far. I also am hoping this dungeon lasts a few sessions before whatever conclusion is drawn.

Thanks for any help/consideration. This isn't going to be put into use until a few weeks from now, but it's good to get things built up beforehand.

[arguskos]

I'll come back with real advice in a bit, but do you have a write up for that shield-wielding class? I like such things.

[Glyde]

I sure do. The pre-reqs are tailored for the player, and the class abilities are pretty generous. If I had designed it from the ground up it'd be a lot more reasonable. Some of the class abilities could be turned into pre-requisites, and the divine casting progression could be removed if the flavor calls for it.


http://sites.google.com/site/maptoolcampaigns/homebrew/shiningaegis

[Choco]

What ECL is the lich going to be? And for that matter, does he have his phylactery(sp?) on him?

Anyway, some encounter ideas, most of them combat based because that is what it sounds like your group likes the most:

A room full of mutilated corpses and whatever it is that allegedly killed them and/or dragged them there (something huge and scary that hits hard, some kind of demon or large undead probably). Only some (or all if you are feeling evil) of those corpses are actually zombies/wights/ghasts/whatever, and rise up to help the big guy when the fight starts. I personally like this because if it looks like they are going to defeat the big guy too easily, you can just fiat more undead to keep the challenge up, or do the opposite if they are having a harder time than expected.

A couple of random incorporeal nasties that annoy the PC's constantly while in the tower, popping up at the worst possible moments and never letting them rest. Also throw in some harmless ghosts that are only there to creep them out and make them paranoid.

An "undefended" and "unoccupied" room full of animated objects that attack the players once they enter. Right after this room, a couple of other undefended and unoccupied rooms that have no animated objects in them, but maybe some illusions and ghost sounds.

A room with nothing in it but a treasure chest. The chest has a high lock DC and contains some useful items, but no traps or anything suspicious here other than the door "locking" (fun with doors spell to make it move), and an illusion of the ceiling coming down on them. And of course, further down the dungeon a similar room (with some baddies and furnishings in addition to the chest) that actually locks the door and lowers the ceiling.

After all the mid-bosses have been dealt with, have the players fight a very powerful undead that looks and is dressed like the lich in a place that you would expect the lich to be (throne room of some kind?). If the PC's had some NPC friends/allies that got killed by this lich or his toadies in the past, have their reanimated selves appear in this fight too. If the party doesn't figure out that they didn't kill the real lich and keep searching for him fast enough, he will do the cliche villain "self destruct your own base" maneuver and escape, forcing the party to flee. If that happens, the lich's current evil plot has been foiled so it is still technically a success for the party, and you don't gotta worry about creating a new BBEG for the continuation of the campaign! :smallcool:

[Glyde]

The Lich's phylactery is on the boat of his 'second in command'. The boat has orders to stay put and run if things go wrong, but the second in command himself is going to chase in after the party. The boat will still probably end up going if the tower starts to collapse or something like that.

awesome idea with the 'reanimated friends' bit. That's just the kind of thing I'm looking for XD


Excellent stuff so far. Definitely going to see some use

[Eldariel]

Well, first of all, Evil Outsiders. Liches can contract them through Planar Binding-line, so it's only logical that he'd have many working under him, and as they're timeless, they fit into the "I've got time"-plan. Second, seeing he's undead himself and knows Animate Dead (maybe also Create Undead or some such), I'd have a lot of undead mooks, and maybe some wraiths or similar handy, very-strong-in-closed-quarters creatures (attacking from within castle walls, following the party anywhere, never leaving their total cover...). Maybe even some intelligent undead subordinates; Vampires are great for this, especially since they are easily able to generate a lot more "staff".

Also, if he has Craft Construct, you'll obviously want to include a bunch of constructs in areas crafted specifically with them in mind (constructs appropriate to the Lich's level and resources, of course). Also, Animated Objects. A lot of permanencied Animated Objects. And maybe permanent Illusions, depending on the type of Lich.


But yeah, simple "wall closes behind you (you triggered a trap - you idiot/someone in some hidden room saw you enter and pulled the lever) and a huge chunk of stone removes itself from the wall - you're staring at a stone golem that seems intent on ending you". And the mentioned Wraith harriers encountered all the way whenever one of the party is near a wall (with some negative energy traps that heal them and don't affect constructs).

You could have some fake (illusionary) doors that lead to Generic Abyss™ (with portals or pitfalls or whatever behind them, depending on the powers of the Lich), Simulacrums of the Lich himself and so on. Need to know more about the Lich, really. You could place it at Wizard 11; with that many party members, they might stand a chance. That'd mean 6th level spells, in other words a crapton of fun to play around with.


Obviously, if the Lich knows them (and chances are seeing all the divination he's got is that he does), including some of the characters' important people, dead and still living, in illusions and grotesque undead (for example, familiar faces) is a great way to up the creepiness-level by 1 bit.

[Kornaki]

For the ghosts; if you want to make it more dramatic, have a ghost appear in the shape of someone the lich killed, do a 'why did you let the lich kill me' spiel, full round of touch attacks and then leave. You can even save it until after a couple of harmless ghosts who they knew also.

To be super cool, have the ghosts of some of the lich's kills flying around, trying to help the party. Then the malicious ghosts can isolate single members and have a decent chance at a kill (if you were all alone and saw a ghost, you'd go back to the party. If you were all alone and saw yet another ghost trying to get revenge against the lich, you'd probably follow him down the isolated corridor into soundproof room where no one can hear you scream)

[Choco]

Hopefully they don't have a way to figure out where and what the phylactery is else they can just attack the boat and take care of the lich that way :smallbiggrin:

Though if they just sank the boat without knowing the phylactery was there it would go to the bottom of the sea with the ship, and liches being undead and all he wont have an issue reforming down there.


awesome idea with the 'reanimated friends' bit. That's just the kind of thing I'm looking for XD

Man, if that's the case, you can really mess with them by doing this:

Have the PC's find one of their former friends/comrades imprisoned and being tortured by one of the mid-bosses. After the fight they free their friend and have a happy reunion. Only to have that friend lead them into a trap, or perhaps wait till the final fight to do the backstabbing at the most inconvenient moment.

Turns out, the lich had one of his human minions disguised as one of the PC's and paid a good cleric to resurrect the dead friend. Upon revival, the friend was then either mindraped, controlled through magical means, forced to put on a Helm of Opposite Alignment, or whatever other way you want to make him/her into a living minion of the lich. The lich could then also ask this person questions about the PC's, thus giving you a legitimate excuse to take advantage of their glaring weaknesses.

This works very well if the NPC in question was VERY close to one of the PC's (spouse, significant other, best friend, parent, etc.). If you give him/her a good enough bluff skill and make up a believable story for the NPC being there (resurrected and tortured to spite the PC's, mid-boss was supposed to kill him/her upon PC's arrival so they can go through the pain of losing a loved one again, etc.), the PC's wont have reason to suspect otherwise.

[Glyde]

Wizard 11 sounds about right.

The Lich was once a respected member of the community in life. He oversaw the land in his wizard's tower and defended it, you know, the whole good-aligned powerful wizard spiel. He used illusions and enchantments a lot, animated objects are a big plus for him. Think of, say, Merlin or the Fairy Godmother type stuff (Disney, but minus the shapeshifting). Then of course his sanity slipped and all the power got to his head.


Another nifty thing just came to me. A large hall with statues of the party members (That of course come to life), each with a plaque that describes how they die. Bonus points if I manage to kill a character in the indicated way. Or, even better, make an illusion of it to start scaring people.

Mindraped (Or otherwise turned-evil) friend is perfect. I have just the person in mind. The thing is, he'll probably do the evil deeds willingly (The guy I mentioned before who was 'betrayed' by the party. By that I mean he was romantically interested in one of the members and she turned him down, and he took it reeaaally badly.)

[BRC]

Well, the question is, did the Lich Build this tower? Because if not, things can get much, much more interesting. Rooms where the PC's fight the Lich's minions, with deadly traps harrowing both. That type of stuff.
Now, how many of the Lich's minions are not mindlessly completely under his control. Whether they be free-willed undead, evil outsiders, mercenaries, cultists, or what have you, if they are getting something out of working for the lich, then you need to add things. These people arn't going to just stand around all day, they'll have barracks, kitchens, mess halls, entertainment, store rooms, and other such things.


Also, I find that interesting characters can make things significantly more interesting, especially if they show up again. And just because this is the Lich's stronghold, dosn't mean that everything there needs to be trying to kill the PC's. Here are some ideas for interesting characters the PC's can meet.

The Chained Knight
Once a powerful servant of good, this noble knight (or paladin, or whatever) was slain by the lich and brought back as an undead servant. In order to torment him, the Lich allowed him to keep his origional personality and memories, but put him under a compulsion to obey the Lich's commands. However, he only has to obey the Lich's commands, and has learned to rebel. When the PC's meet him, he is under orders to guard a vault containing something of value to the Lich. If the PC's try to enter the vault, he will be compelled to attack them, and he cannot leave the vault himself, but otherwise, he retains free will, so he will communicate with the PC's and provide them with what aid he can. Maybe they figure out a way to free him from his servitude, or he simply allows them to kill him so he must no longer serve the Lich.

Vik the Scoundrel
An Imp with levels in Rogue, Vik was originally summoned by the Lich to serve some purpose. However, Vik isn't as lawful as most devils, and is really just out for himself. He's working for the Lich, but not as a guard, and his relationship with "Old Bonebags" is entierly mercenary. He's constantly on the lookout for ways to make a buck or two, and he see's the PC's as a way to handle that. Maybe he ropes them into helping him steal something from the lich, giving him part of it. Or he lends them a hand if they make it worth his time. It's probably minor stuff, like opening doors or giving information. If the PC's anger him, Vik may use his talents to harry them at every turn, but always retreating from an actual fight (He prefers to avoid those) leading them into traps, and alerting guards to their position. If they start getting along, Vik may begin to take a liking to the PC's and do them the odd favor.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There should be at least two adjacent rooms that are mostly flooded still, probably 12-15 ft. ceilings with about 1-2 feet of air at the top, but they'll have to swim underwater to go through the door connecting them. They go through the doorway and there's a hydra lurking around the corner. I'd make it 10-12 heads, switch its default feats with Snatch, Improved Snatch, Multisnatch, and Rapidstrike, the last three are in the Draconomicon. That will give it two bites per head, one at its full BAB and the second at -5. Each bite can Improved Grab a creature of medium or smaller size, after the initial grab it can take -10 to its grapple check for the rest of it to not be considered grappling. That should be able to grab the entire party and keep them underwater for the duration of the fight, making two grapple checks per head (the second at -5) to deal automatic bite damage, though still at -10 for Multisnatch unless it already has everyone grappled. A one-foe-grapples-everyone encounter is always the best kind of bruiser fight because most of the party can't really do anything, it basically crowd controls the spellcasters and forces the warrior-types to save the day. Putting it underwater is just mean, hydras are aquatic so it can move one head to the surface to breathe. Maybe make a different head breathe every round, so each PC will only be grappled underwater until that head gets its turn to breathe.


Include a pit trap with a gelatinous cube at the bottom. Anyone who falls in is automatically engulfed, if they escape via a grapple check they'll have to climb or fly during the same round they escaped. It won't willingly support anyone's weight, so if they escape but don't climb or fly they'll automatically be engulfed again at the end of their turn. It should use its attack each round to strike at anyone trying to climb away or flying overhead. Maybe position it where they'll chase someone over it, whoever they're chasing is small size and it doesn't trigger unless a certain amount of weight is on it.


One extradimensional room/floor can be cold-themed, with creatures from Frostburn such as a Winterspawn, Yetis, Frost Folk with class levels, and an Immoth from MM2 who would probably not be a combat encounter.

Make it a pair of Frost Folk White Dragon Shaman 4/ Wolf Totem Barbarian 2 with Guisarmes, Combat Reflexes, Extend Rage, and Entangling Exhalation, in a room with a slick icy floor, and each should UMD a Scroll of Blinding Snow. Be sure to give the entire level the Limited Magic planar trait for anything with the Fire descriptor, so spells and supernatural abilities that deal fire damage automatically fail.

The Yeti encounter could be 3-4 normal Yetis playfully throwing snowballs for nonlethal damage and laughing, which are actually children. If the PCs harm them, they'll cry out for help and two Abominable Yeti (Hulking Hurler?) parents will come to their rescue, all should have the feat Brutal Throw (CV). If the PCs simply try to scare them away, the parents could show up to commence with growling and chest-beating in an attempt to warn the PCs away (shouting in giant to leave their yetlings? alone).

The Winterspawn could be an ancient warrior forced to guard the door that they need to pass through, replace Improved Sunder and Cleave with TWF and Necromantic Presence (LM, includes himself). It should attack twice with its longsword and then step out of reach and throw its javelin at a back row character every round. Give it some undead minions it can command, I'd probably use two Ghost Brute (LM) Wolves each advanced to 4 HD.

The Immoth would probably be going about its research as per the race's description and wouldn't even care about the PCs unless they disturbed it or its work. The room itself should be massive, probably an octagon 50 ft. wide, bookshelves on five adjacent sides with pillars at the corners, doors on the two sides adjacent the bookshelves, and on the side between the doors could be an alcove with a statue sculpted from ice. As usual the floor should be extremely slick ice which it can freely walk on, and the books, shelves, and tables should be covered in frost. If they try to speak it could cut them off by pointing out the exit, from where it sits at a table in the center of the room piled high with books, with frozen words floating around it. As soon as they enter it should cast Detect Magic and focus it on them, appearing to still be studying the books. If they decide to attack it or make it angry (such as trying Diplomacy or Intimidate checks), it should be a hard fight. Replace its feats with the following from Frostburn: Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Cold Spell Specialization, and Icy Calling, and the room should be cold enough that it gets the maximum benefit from those feats. Its stored Ice Runes should include two each of Cones of Cold, Dispel Magics, Dimension Doors, and Summon Undead V's which it gets four Troll Skeletons at a time with, with one Greater Invisibility. Add other spells depending on how many and what you think it should have, or just BS your way through it making up what it has as you go along depending on what spells it needs. If the PCs get him worried quickly feel free to use more than one Ice Rune per round, though that can get out of hand quickly.

Prior to combat: (Greater) Mage Armor should already be up, Detect Magic when they enter and note how many auras are on each character not counting magical gear.
First round: Ice Rune of Greater Invisibility (free action) and cast Freezing Sphere, then fly up out of reach.
Second round: either area Ice Rune Dispel Magic if most of them have buffs, targeted if one has a lot of buffs, or Ice Rune Summon Undead V for troll skeletons (free), either Solid Fog or a second, normally cast Dispel Magic depending on their buffs.
Third round: either Ice Rune Dispel Magic again or Ice Rune Summon Undead V again (free) and either Solid Fog if it hasn't already been cast or Freezing Sphere again.
Fourth+ round: use Ice Rune Cone of Cold from overhead to hit everyone or targeted Ice Rune Dispel Magic (free), with more Freezing Spheres, targeted dispels, Cones of Cold, or Summon Undead V.

It can recast Greater Invisibility and use Ice Rune Dimension Door if it gets worried, but its focus should be to force them to leave so it can get back to its research, which it would tell them during the battle. Note its changes from the 3.5 update booklet (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a): "Immoth: Elemental; 10 ft./10 ft.; 10/magic bludgeoning; Climb +17, Hide +12, Jump +17, Spot +14, Swim +12; Cleave, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack; LA +6; Cold subtype change. Replace immunities with improved damage reduction." Remember, Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Cold Spell Specialization, and Icy Calling instead of what's listed. Maybe even give it the elite array, and be sure to remember its immunities for the elemental creature type.

[Glyde]

Keep it coming, tons of room left to fill up. I really like the hydra idea, though I think I might make it a bit more typical: Really big hydra, tons of heads, big room.

Representing your traditional elements with extra-dimensional sections is a great idea. Ice/water, fire, wind, and electricity probably. The reoccuring 'bound knight guard' idea is also really awesome, definitely going in. Ghosts harrying the party as well. I already thought of a guy going about his research and not wanting to be bothered, and knowing my party, they'll be just paranoid enough to bother him. That'll be an interesting session.

I'm also kind of thinking about the time-compression thing from Final Fantasy 8. Bring up encounters from the past, or even put them in a really familiar room - an important encounter from a while ago, and they can see themselves fighting the enemy in slow motion or something, and have to prevent the lich's agents from killing them in the past.

[Coidzor]

a trap which activates when the party is on a stairwell between levels that causes ring-gates to activate above and below them, the floor to become greased, and 'port in two iron golems, one above the ring gates and the other below.

Ooo... or grease and a number of constructs barreling down on them from above. and if they get hit they're in a grapple with maybe an iron golem or two or three or four... on top of them, depending upon levels...

And remember to not feel limited by the actual dimensions of the building, even with all of the room you have to work with. A guy like this is sure to have some non-euclidean architecture. Say really long staircases in a blackened void, that pass through the negative energy plane in between levels, or proceed through macabre "murals" comprised of illusions and undead telling the story of the Lich and glorifying him.

Illusory "Portals" that appear to take them back up/down the tower to where they had already been before but things are subtly different(as it either really is a different room or it's an actual restructuring of the extra-dimensionality of the tower so that the room that was way up above is now actually below them but has also had a wall here or there taken out to reveal a new corridor.

Hell, you could make one "level" of the tower basically be a small keep itself with some external walls, a "plain" around it, and gardens and living quarters for whatever actual living things might be in the liches employ, possibly a small school of necromancers, or the concentration camp/breeding ground for victims for the liches' experiments (they have free run of the little demi-plane-esque environment and are growing their own food, but they can't leave due to whatever macguffin you want to have going on)

Possibly include some "half-undead" misfits that the lich couldn't actually control due to them not being sentient anymore but not being normal mindless undead, so he occasionally studies them but mostly keeps 'em in a little pocket out of the way unless he wants a little "distraction" for unwelcome guests. Basically a series of "holding cells" for things like a half-skeletonized creature (possibly a failed former class-levels NPC that went after him) that was the result of experimenting with simultaneous undead creating/resurrection spells being cast on the same target.

Since he's a bit mad anyway, something along the lines of the dholgrim(basically two goblins mashed together into one creature) from Eberron might serve to show the depths of madness and power he has reached.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

To clarify on the ice level:
The first room should be an outdoorish scene, with trees and snow on the ground. They step through a doorway standing in an open field. There's a cliff going around two sides of the field, the other two sides stretch on to the horizon. There's an opening high on the cliff with a frozen solid waterfall running from it down to a frozen river that winds into the trees and out of sight. The yeti cave is on this cliff near the waterfall, the young yetis will be outside playing in the trees and throwing snowballs first at each other, then at the PCs when they spot them. To continue on the PCs will have to fly or scale the cliff and go into the tunnel at the waterfall's source.

This room is only as cold as a typical cold climate, no lower than 0° F. Going by page 9 of Frostburn, "Cold: Unprotected characters must make a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. Characters whose protection against cold is at least level 1 or higher (cold weather outfi t, Cold Endurance feat) are safe at this temperature range." If they try to trek out into the wilderness, they'll lose their way in a blinding snowstorm only to emerge where they started.


The second room should be a lake inside a large cavern, where the Frost Folk are encountered. Each is a White Dragon Shaman 4/ Wolf Totem Barbarian 2 with Entangling Exhalation, Combat Reflexes, Extend Rage, and Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown), with Glaives and armor spikes. They can walk on ice and see through snow unhindered, and should have max cross-class ranks in UMD for each to use a Scroll of Blinding Snow. They should try to entangle the whole party from the start, using Rage with full attacks and tripping anyone who doesn't slip on the ice. There is a door in the opposite side of the cavern from where they entered, leading to the third room.

This room is much colder than the previous, in the –20° F to 0° F range. According to Frostburn: "Severe Cold: Unprotected characters must make a Fortitude save every 10 minutes (DC 15, +1 per previous check), taking 1d6 points of nonlethal damage on each failed save. A partially protected character need only check once per hour. For complete protection against severe cold, a character must have a level of protection of 2 or higher (for example, wearing a cold weather outfit and fur clothing). A character
whose level of protection is only 1 is considered partially protected."


The third room is the octagonal room where the Immoth resides. It has a domed ceiling 70 ft. high at the center, 45 ft. high at the walls. The floor is covered in ice, as though it had flooded and froze over. The Immoth will probably be at least as difficult to defeat as the Lich, should they choose to engage it. Remember that its Troll Skeletons will get +4 Str and Dex and max HP, and when he summons them via an Ice Rune they immediately appear and take their (full-attack) actions.

This room is extremely cold, in the –50° F to –20° F range, which according to Frostburn: "Extreme Cold: Unprotected characters take 1d6 points of cold damage per 10 minutes (no save). In addition, an unprotected character must make a Fortitude save (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d4 points of nonlethal damage. Those wearing metal armor or coming into contact with very cold metal are affected as if by a chill metal spell. A partially protected character takes damage and makes saving throws once per hour instead of once per 10 minutes. A character must have a level of protection of 3 or higher to be protected against extreme cold. Level 2 is considered partial protection; level 1 is considered unprotected."


The fourth and final room is a grand dining hall filled with tables and benches. There is food and drink on the tables and men lining the benches, but the men and furnishings alike have turned to ice by the magical cold, posed as though still eating and laughing. At the end of the room is a throne built from horn and fur, an impossibly large bear's skin on the floor beneath it, and the wall behind is covered to its height with the mounted heads of every creature imaginable, but all have been turned to ice. Seated in the chair is what must have been a great warrior, spear resting against his shoulder, his hand on the pommel of his sword, still wearing his armor, and two ferocious looking hounds at his sides, but everything is now ice. There is ice in the low spots between the stones in the floor, as though water pooled there and froze. Directly behind the throne there is a door on the wall, the throne itself is situated directly in front of it, blocking it. At the first sound of breaking ice, whether from the tables or the men dining or the first footstep on the now ice bearskin rug, the warrior stands up, comes alight with a cold blue fire (its Fire Shield spell-like ability), and delivers an ominous message before attacking them. The ghosts of his hounds bound forth from the icy statues that are their remains to assist him in battle.

The Winterspawn will either attack twice and step out of everyone's reach to throw his javelin, or he'll position himself to where only one character threatens him, throw his javelin provoking an AoO, and full attack that character two-handed using power attack for probably only -2 or -3. It should use its javelin and Frost Glance on anyone staying out of melee with it. His hounds (Ghost Brute Wolves advanced to 4 HD) will try to set up flanking with him, going ethereal to move and re-manifesting if necessary. Both should have Bloodcurdling Howl which they use every round. They will appear to be biting at anyone nearby, though they won't be able to cause any damage even when they manifest.

This final room is impossibly cold, below –50° F, which according to Frostburn: "Unearthly Cold: Unprotected characters take 1d6 points of cold damage and 1d4 points of nonlethal damage per minute (no save). Partially protected characters take damage once per 10 minutes instead of once per minute. For complete protection against the effects of unearthly cold, a character must have a level of protection of 4 or higher. Level 2 or 3 is considered partial protection, and level 1 is no protection at all."

The door behind the throne has a keyhole, the key is hidden in a pitcher on one of the tables. It should be a fairly low Search check to find it. If they pick the lock, they'll find nothing but water on the other side, which floods in through the open door. This causes hypothermia as per Frostburn page 10, and they'll have to make a strength check to force the door shut again. By opening the door with the key there will be an ectoplasmic wall in the open doorway which holds the water back, enabling them to pass through into the next room. The warrior's ominous message should probably hint at this or make mention of a key and/or a flood, but not outright reveal it. This should probably lead back into a flooded room of the tower itself, or possibly into a water-themed planar level.

[Shademan]

have room with all the traits of limbo. the walls melt and form random bubbles that fly everywhere, magic is CRAZY and gravity...well gravity is up for debate!

and add dragons!

crazy dragons!!

[herrhauptmann]

The triggering mechanism for a trap with a low search DC. If the trap is disarmed/disabled it causes all traps to reset and doors to lock.

Steal some traps from the tomb of horrors. SOME traps. Putting an entire section of ToH into a floor of your dungeon will probably be a TPK.

Make the hall of PC statues. When the statues start moving, they are intelligent constructs who are identical to what the PCs were at the start of that game day (so if this is the 4th or 5th fight of that day the PCs will be really challenged), in addition to having construct traits (crit/SA immunity, DR, etc). The statues of the sorcerer and cleric even have identical spell lists.
The thing is, if each player faces off against his own statue, he's guaranteed to lose. Say it's got DR 25 against anything done by the person it copies. But only DR 10 against the rest of the party.
If a player defeats his construct double, he gains a level right then and there for knowing himself so well. (Can not improve without first knowing yourself)

Depending on interparty relations, you could make it so that each construct is easily beatable by only a certain member of the party. Either the best friend of the person it copies, or the most bitter rival in the party of the person it copies.


edit: Stole this from a dungeon level in Heroquest. Play this one for laughs. It affects only 1 level of the tower.
Person goes through a door, and rolls a dice. The number of dice tells which portal he comes out of, ending his movement. he can use another move action to go back through, but no telling where he'll end up, and that'll end his turn as well. If someone is standing in a doorway when someone else arrives, the person there takes a small amount of damage, and gets shoved back through the random portal. Monsters in each room are weak, but also subject to the random portal effect.

[Coidzor]

The triggering mechanism for a trap with a low search DC. If the trap is disarmed/disabled it causes all traps to reset and doors to lock.

Steal some traps from the tomb of horrors. SOME traps. Putting an entire section of ToH into a floor of your dungeon will probably be a TPK.

Several of the teleporting traps, that shunt their victim(s) into slightly less TPK-esque environments might be especially suitable.


Make the hall of PC statues. When the statues start moving, they are intelligent constructs who are identical to what the PCs were at the start of that game day (so if this is the 4th or 5th fight of that day the PCs will be really challenged), in addition to having construct traits (crit/SA immunity, DR, etc). The statues of the sorcerer and cleric even have identical spell lists.
The thing is, if each player faces off against his own statue, he's guaranteed to lose. Say it's got DR 25 against anything done by the person it copies. But only DR 10 against the rest of the party.
If a player defeats his construct double, he gains a level right then and there for knowing himself so well. (Can not improve without first knowing yourself)

Depending on interparty relations, you could make it so that each construct is easily beatable by only a certain member of the party. Either the best friend of the person it copies, or the most bitter rival in the party of the person it copies.

Now this is an interesting take/combo of the Hall of statues/gruesome deaths and the mirror match. An alternative variant might be that any/a couple of teleporting traps teleport the victim back to the hall of statues and their construct double activates and challenges them.


edit: Stole this from a dungeon level in Heroquest. Play this one for laughs. It affects only 1 level of the tower.
Person goes through a door, and rolls a dice. The number of dice tells which portal he comes out of, ending his movement. he can use another move action to go back through, but no telling where he'll end up, and that'll end his turn as well. If someone is standing in a doorway when someone else arrives, the person there takes a small amount of damage, and gets shoved back through the random portal. Monsters in each room are weak, but also subject to the random portal effect.
...Though if you have something start chasing them it could very easily turn into Scooby Doo, which may or may not really tickle y'all pink.


What sort of time-limit are you looking to keep the PCs on? Or are you more doing a sort of, if they **** around too much you'll impose one, but for now they have time to stop and rest up provided they take advantage of the opportunities you present them to do so?

How much does he know about the PCs as a whole? Since he has a defector on his side, I imagine he'd know enough to whip up some things based on any of their perceived weaknesses or at least know what their usual tactics are and so throw them a few curveballs that are outside their element.

What's the nature of this tower anyway? Relic of ancient times? Mystery that various villains have built upon and improved over the millenia to the point where no one entity could actually claim ownership or authorship of it....

Hmm, in regards to the time-compression idea... Could make this actually a function of the tower itself... Maybe once or twice having the PCs run into themselves for any really over CR things you'd like to do but they're just too weak for. Then again, might be one of the last things you would want to do, haha...

How much time are you looking to spend in this tower anyway? 5 4-hour sessions? Definitely don't want to end up doing too much and making it a slog for everyone involved....

Some harassment definitely makes sense, but if you're stretching it across multiple sessions, they're going to need some kind of breather...

[Haven]

I'm also kind of thinking about the time-compression thing from Final Fantasy 8. Bring up encounters from the past, or even put them in a really familiar room - an important encounter from a while ago, and they can see themselves fighting the enemy in slow motion or something, and have to prevent the lich's agents from killing them in the past.

I'd recommend against this--then the PCs will probably try to take advantage of it and kill their enemies from the past, and it might seemed contrived when something prevents them from doing so.

But callbacks to previous events are definitely appropriate, as it's the final dungeon. The "turned" friends idea works well, except it might make some parts of the rest of the story seem like shaggy dog stories if the players don't have a chance to save them. But that would give them another, personal reason to want to stop the lich.

(Incidentally, speaking of Final Fantasy, what this reminded me of to begin with was Kefka's tower.)

[Glyde]

The triggering mechanism for a trap with a low search DC. If the trap is disarmed/disabled it causes all traps to reset and doors to lock.


Gaha! I love it.



The tower is an ancient relic that was built a long time ago by another villain. The Lich researched this villain and the tower while he was still a human, and thought to continue this villain's work. He wants to pull the moon down and kill everything on the planet, then reraise them under his control. The PCs and the living folks working for the Lich don't know that.


The Lich knows the PCs fairly well, what with scrying and such - not just the defector. There's also been a spy with the PCs for a pretty long time.

About the past encounter thing: It was going to be an encounter they already defeated - but in slow motion / frozen. The present PCs and the lich's agents wouldn't be frozen, however.

[herrhauptmann]

...Though if you have something start chasing them it could very easily turn into Scooby Doo, which may or may not really tickle y'all pink.

I did say to play it for laughs. It's an idea taken from an old boardgame, back in the days when you regularly had oddball traps, like having to do to the moonwalk down a corridor to open the door, or complete a chess game with your character as a piece to open a chest.

Also, of course you would put weak monsters in there, because the party WILL be split up.

[TheCountAlucard]

Might I suggest the Evolved Undead template for your Lich? It's a fun little template that can be found in Libris Mortis.

Also, you might take a look at the Drowned monster from Monster Manual III. You might lower its HD a little, though, because otherwise it'd likely be a little too much for the PCs to handle.

As far as the tower goes...

Since the lich doesn't need to breathe, might I recommend one room being full of poisonous fumes?

[Glyde]

I don't use poison nearly enough - that's definitely going in. What makes it better is that I think one of the party members has stuff prepared for just that kind of situation, but doesn't even know it. Should be interesting.

[herrhauptmann]

Have him fight the PCs in a room with 2 troglodytes, or a noxious cloud spell (cloud kill would be awesome, but overpowered I think)

[TheCountAlucard]

Some other potential stuff for the lich...

One thing the lich could benefit from is the Swarmshifter template, also from Libris Mortis. Nothing says spooky like being able to turn into bees. :smalleek:

You might also Spellstitch him; it's a template from Complete Arcane that gives him a handful of spell-like abilities based on his Wisdom score. A good way to get Animate Dead for free. Plus, having runes carved into his skeletal structure just looks cool. :smallcool:

[Coidzor]

Any previous BBEGs that the lich would have found out about and somehow gotten ahold of the remains of could be turned into undead, some that retain class levels, others just to y'know, be that way. Maybe as a small mob to show that this guy outstrips their previous foes by a fair margin?

[Jothki]

Would a level that consists entirely of solid rock with a staircase that bypasses it be too obnoxious?

[Fitz10019]

Along the lines of a mirror match...

Have a big shadowy room that suddenly brightens when the party reaches the middle. One seeming wall turns out to be a set of adamantine bars, and beyond the bars is a huge free-standing mirror of opposition. A duplicate party steps out of the mirror, and then wordlessly exits the room through one of several doorways on the back side of the mirror side of the bars. Every round the party stays there, another set of duplicates steps through, and exits through a different door. This continues until they break the mirror, exit, cast darkness, or other solution. If they break the mirror, the 'doorways' the parties exited through also shatter like mirrors, leaving mirror frames that had seemed to be door frames.

They will later face each of these parties, each group altered by the lich with a different template. The templated duplicates will step out of other specific mirrors they find along the way. These mirrors could have a distinct design to the frames that becomes a clue to navigating the tower. Each templated party should still show any signs of damage that the party may have done to them through the bars (fireball, arrows, etc.), and bear grudges against the offending party member accordingly.