Lord Loss
2010-02-06, 09:55 AM
I'm voting for a necropolis! (C'mon after Norskull, what did you expect?)
Here's some of norksull, in case you were wondering
NorSkull
In this world, the sun will Never Rise
Norskull is a large graveyard-city. At first, it simply seems like a huge graveyard, but the Graves are the residences of the poor, the large crypt underneath is home to the middle-class citizens as well as the market, and the Mausoleums are where the rich may be found. All undead here are sentient, even skeletons and zombies, and anyone to die in this area becomes a Neutral Evil Zombie with no memories of it's past life.
The Rulers of this city, however, are the inhabitants of the castle ,At lest the ones in the highest (or should it be lowest) parts of the castle. They should be Ahloon (Lich) Mind Flayers.
Vampiric mind flayers march the streets of the city, searching for living beings that they can quench their thirst with. The most elite missions in this town are carried out by a special force composed of intelligent Flesh Golems (They lose their intelligence if they go berserk, ravaging all around them).
Minor Negative-Energy Dominant. For a new twist, ONLY nonmagical lighting works. I think they forgot to buy nonmagical torches. Heheheh...
Reaper Forest
The Pcs walk from the glowing portal into awaiting forest (fools!) The Trees in the forest are in fact (mostly, anyway) treants. A DC (25? 30?) Spot Check Shows that the trees in fact have faces on them. The Boneleaves will drop on the PCs (They're Like evil branches of ultimate doom), and the Treants will move while the PCs arent looking, splitting them up. A few treants will move in to Attack.
Encounters
One: Durkon Was Right!
Attack Treants (8) CR: 2 (each)
Boneleaves(2) CR: 6 (each)
At this point the Path Forks, and the pCs either go to encounter two
2: Spider Ambush!!!
Bone Widow (1)
Size/Type: Large Undead
Hit Dice: 8d12 (52HP)
Initiative: +4 (0 dex, +4 Improved init)
Speed: 60’, 60' (Climb)
Armor Class: 21, touch 13, flat-footed 21 (-1 size, +4 deflection, +8 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+14
Attack: Spear +11 (1d8+8) Spit +6(1d4 + poison)
Full Attack: 2X Spear +11 (1d8+8) or Spit +6 (1d4+ poison)
Space/Reach: 10'/10'
Special Attacks: Lunge +13 (2d8+16)
Special Qualities: DR 10/- ; Undead Traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +6 Will+7
Abilities: STR 22, DEX 10, CON -, INT 12, WIS 12, CHR 22
Skills: Jump +22, Hide +10 (+16 in forests), Spot +12, Listen +12, Move Silently +10 (+16 in forests)
Feats: Improved initiative; Weapon Focus Spit, Weapon Focus Spear, Lightning Reflexes
Environment: Forests, negative energy planes
Organization: Pack 2-5 or Gang 4-10(2d4 +2)
CR: 10 (this may not be right. They have low hit points, but the DR and poison bring them up to par I think)
Treasure: 1/2 Normal (magical or mundane items only)
Alignment: CE
Explanation of special attacks:
Spear: A Bone Widows primary attack is to thrust its large from legs into an opponent and try to pin them to the ground so that their Spit attack will be more effective. A Bone Widow that hits with both Spear attacks in the same round may initiate a grapple as a free action and does not draw an attack of opportunity for doing so.
Lunge: A Bone Widow may charge even if their target is not in a straight line from them, they may make a single attack against their opponent, and if they succeed they spear the opponent with both of their front legs, initiating a grapple for free without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Spit: A Bone Widow may attempt to spit poison at their opponent 3 times per day. They must succeeded on a ranged touch attack, if they do their opponent must make a DC 24 (Charisma based) Fort save or immediately loose 1d6+2 points of Con (This is treated as ability Drain for purposes of healing) regardless of whether they succeeded on the first save a second save must be attempted the following round or they will suffer an additional 1d6+2 points of Con Damage. Any creature reduced to 0 Con or lower immediately rises as an undead warrior. Retaining any and all class abilities/ ability scores/ and Knowledge they had in their old life. A DC 30 Will Save is allowed to resist this effect, if resisted the character simply dies.
Tactics:
The Bone Widow is a fearsome beast that stalks the forests near places of negative energy. Necromancers’ castles, temples to evil clerics and the like make excellent homes to the Bone Widow. Bone Widows prefer to ambush their prey, relying on their natural +6 to hide and move silently in forests to their advantage. The preferred tactic is for one bone widow to charge the smallest target and attempt to grapple it with its lunge attack while the others circle around and attempt their spit attacks on larger opponents. Bone Widows do not need to eat, they hunt for the pure joy of watching their prey's life fade from their bodies. Bone Widows are intelligent and hunt for the joy of killing. If they have the upper hand they will drag a battle out to enjoy the suffering of their prey a little longer.
Appearance:
In front of you stands a large spider with thick black skin that shines under its matted, blood stained fur. Its massive red eyes peer down at you and you could swear you see a smile spreading on its face. Thick green foam hangs from its mouth, and you can see dried blood caked on its front legs.
The Bone Widow resembles a large spider except for a few things. 2 of its legs are used as weapons so it only uses 6 legs to walk, its thick black skin shines like obsidian behind a forest of thick black hair. The Bone Widow’s eyes are massive, larger than they should be even for a giant spider; they glow with an unholy red light. Due to their favorite hunting tactics their front legs are often covered in blood or pieces of their last victim.
3: More Treants will attack the PCs, backed up by a Flesh Golem Inquisition, by the End of the fight one will go Berserk (if the PCs are near Ahnillation)
4: A group of Slaymates try and convince the PCs to be their friend whilst actually trying to set up flanking and such. if things get violent, a multitude of Qth-Maren and tomb motes back them up.
The Gates of NorSkull
A large gate stands between the PCs and a sinister graveyard. To oyur horror, however, undead fill the field, some dressed in tattered robes, others in fine dresses, conversing, trading and even playing betting games. The gate is covered in sinister staues, horrendous Gargoyles promising misfortune to those who enter the town.
Worse still, a darkly castle awaits behind the city, it's twisted spires and ghastly windows promising a sure death to the fools who enter.
Encounters
5: The gargoyles erupt, transforming into juvenile Nabassus. (Hordes of the Abyss)
THE TOWN
The last survivors: After a couple fights against evil-pally, most or all of the allies that the party had will probably be dead. That's when they get an invitation to join the last group of survivors out there, a group that hates the undead and still has decent numbers, even after the attacks.
The only problem is who these survivors happen to be. Now, this isn't one of those traditional evil-cult-of-asmodeus-hates-the-zombies dealies. No, I'm talking about something as ironic as it is cruel. The remaining survivors are indeed a cult but one of flesh-warpers, abberations (like mindflayers), masochists, and ghouls (not the monster, people who eat dead and undead flesh).
On the one hand, the cult really is well-equipped to help them. Their leader is a rot-reaver (Monster Manual III, a creature that destroys the undead to eat them), supported by a couple of avolakia (Monster Manual II, a wormlike creature who makes undead to eat them) and with a cadaver collector (Monster Manual III again) to collect bodies. Together with high-level humanoid cultists and mind flayers, they stand a decent chance of fighting the undead if the party cooperates. Furthermore, having always had to fight off undead just to get their meals, the cult has a stash of items for fighting them off and has been judiciously looting the town throughout the proceedings (if the party joins them, at least a couple items should be all but thrust upon them).
On the other hand, the party is dealing with a cult. They may demand offerings of flesh for membership, a surviving NPC or two may simply vanish one day (though adressing the rot reaver will ensure that punishment is delivered), and most of the food is necrotized and diiseased, causing the humanoid cultists to go slowly insane and perhaps infecting the party with mindfire.
The secret to sealing the deal between the party and the cult is to make it absolutely clear that the object of the cult's worship is absolutely no threat to the party; either a real entity who has no reason to care about the cult (such as a demigod of soil) or an utterly fictional character devised by the fevered minds of the cultists (such as "the long waba", a stick figure with cartoonishly large eyes and a stovepipe hat).
Once again, almost nothing about the situation itself is innately dangerous (other than the food). Still, it opens up room for any number of gruesome and degrading occurances, such as accidentally crossing an insane illithid, mandatory scarring rituals, compulsory missions, festivals where raw undead are strapped to tables and eaten, clerics that refuse to heal interesting wounds, addle-minded cultists who can't remember their part in an important plan, and rituals requiring the party to bow down in front of a stick figure. Even if the party winds up victorious, their sense of accomplishment is shattered by the fact that they relied on a sham of a cult.
As all undead are powered by negative energy, why not take advantage of this. Throughout the undead town, perhaps the undead set up large stones to stimulate the negative energy plane. To the undead, this would provide peaceful ambience. To the living, it would stimulate the minor negative energy planar trait (1d6 damage per round unless deathwarded) out to 5,000 feet and the major negative energy planar trait (1 negative level per round unless deathwarded) out to 50 feet.
By scattering them sporadically throughout the city (leaving some spots [like the resistance hideout] out of range), the party has a choice when stealthily battling the undead.
They can a) go around under the effects of a deathward spell, hoping that the mission will end soon.
b) forego the deathward and run from safe spot to safe spot as they travel (the cult will probably have a map of safe spots, but it may be partially inaccurate or become innacurate over time if rocks are destroyed or installed).
c) destroy the stones (which have high hp and hardness and are usually in very public areas), ending the damage but alerting all undead in the area (AKA: within 5,000 feet) to their pressence.
d) move a stone. Though they are likely incredibly heavy, if a stone is only slightly in the way, a party could probably move it up to 100 feet without drawing too much attention (I doubt the undead would be expecting it). If they keep doing it, however, someone is going to realize what is happening.
To make matters worse, have the town replace broken rocks at a rate of, say, 1 per week. If no rocks have been destroyed, the town installs a new one instead. Imagine the horror when one is installed that renders the hideout of the resistance useless or (perhaps more diabolical) makes half of it inhospitable (meaning that some people may want to stay).
The party could destroy such a rock whenever it is installed but security would increase each time and doing so could tip off the town as to where the resistance is located (in fact, if enough rocks are broken, the party might be trailed back to their hideout one time). On the other hand, a smart party may keep destroying a single rock on the opposite side of town, luring the police away from the resistance (a good reward for good thinking).
Edit: Oh, and one more:
The Bath:
After the undead town became an undead town, it is likely that most of the aquatic systems went unnoticed or were left alone for decoration, unknowingly giving the resistance a place to get their water. When the resistance really becomes a thorn in the town's side, you can have the city's leader make a proclamation: Every (undead) citizen is to bathe for the next 24 hours.
This event is great because it gives the personalities of your players a real chance to shine. Once the undead have finished their bathing (in previously public water supplies), that water will become utterly unpotable (though ghouls from the cult may try drinking it anyways).
Your party has a number of choices on this day, any of which is completely viable but has its downsides:
a) attack: with so many citizens bathing in large clusters, the party may be tempted to kill as many undead as possible, using every area effect that they and the cultists can muster. Unfortunately, that so many enemies have gathered means that the more powerful citizens are also assembled and that the party may be mobbed. Furthermore, if the bodies are left in the water, it is still polluted (though the battle may serve to lure the undead out of the water).
b) loot and pillage: that everyone is resting in the aquifers means that nobody is guarding the houses and stores. The party can loot to their heart's content, destroy small structures that have been blocking potential paths, or even clear the city of the malevolant stones (see previous suggestion). However, doing so means that they are doing nothing to stop the undead and just lost their water supply. Note, however, that making too much noise may lure undead out of their baths (which may be viewed as a good thing).
c) subterfuge: if the party simply hides in the shadows and spies (or scries) on the undead (on the intelligent ones anyway), they may learn important facts about the town, its history, future plans, the heirarchy, or, to pad their egos a bit, the rumors told about the resistance (and the PCs in particular. Nothing is more rewarding than hearing your character described as a terrible monster by a reanimated corpse).
If the party seeks to drive the undead out of the water without a fight, a single flask of holy water or a bless water spell can disperse over 1,000 cubic feet (a 10-foot cube) over the space of (about) 1 minute, making the water irritating (but not painful) to the undead and likely inspiring them to leave. Spreading the water over a smaller area hurts the undead a bit (1 damage) and alerts them that something is wrong.
If the undead were about to discuss something of interest and are about to leave, the party may keep them there a bit longer with unholy water, which disperses in the same way to make the water feel like a spa for the undead.
The downside to this mission is the risk of discovery by the undead.
Storm the Castle: Though the "city officials", the undead paladin, and the ruler of the castle are probably exempt from the baths, the odds are high that at least some of their guards aren't. With the city streets clear, the party may decide that now is the time to a deciding assault (or at least for a clever assassination), taking on the undead paladin, storming the castle, or attacking whichever "city offcial" has been giving them the biggest headache.
The risk here is doing nothing to stop the polluted water, that a toppled tyrant doesn't suddenly make the other undead go away (it may just make them mad), and that some (but not all) of the leaders may have anticipated this, setting up traps/ambushes for would-be assassins.
Aftermath: If the party didn't stop the water supply pollution, it is completely unpotable. Anyone trying to drink it gets no nourishment, is nauseated for 1 round, and has to make a saving throw to resist catching mindfire. The cult will only have what water they can create magically (and the party may be sent on missions to collect a couple water-producing magic items [such as a sink at what was once a high-end inn])
On the plus-side, undead simply weren't designed to take baths, let alone such long ones. If their bath went uninterrupted, their skin (if any) has become a bit bloated and their bones have softened. All undead suffer a -2 penalty to initiative checks, a -5 foot speed penalty to all movement speeds, and a -1 penalty to their AC for 24 hours after their bath.
This will be an important political member in the town:
bane wraith.
A couple of things to say first. That the picture in heroes of horror isn't what it naturally looks like. If you read the text of the creature, it is described in its natural form as being "a vaguely humanoid mass of sickly gray mists and energies" (though the players may never see this true form). It also says that "living beings often feel vaguely uneasy around one...". So far, so good.
One thing about this guy is that he is incorporeal. 90% of your party's attacks have a 50% miss chance, it is completely silent (unless it wants to make noise), and it can walk through walls. Making things stranger, the thing doesn't look incorporeal unless you succeed on a spot check (that is one of its special qualities), making it creepier when it goes through walls.
It's personality is scarier. First of all, it takes less to tick this guy off than it takes to tick off an Africanized bee. Next, this guy doesn't attack you, or at least not right away. No, this guy wants to mess with your head first.
Whenever this guy passes within 30 feet of a creature, it instantly learns the appearance and name of every family member and friend that creature possesses. Furthermore, it learns where that creature thinks its friends and family are located. No Saving Throw. That's right! The moment that it comes within 30 feet of a PC, it learns where where the resistance is located.
It's not quite done messing with your head, though. This thing has a couple of at will spell-like abilities. First is disguise self. You remember how this thing learns the appearance and name of every friend...now you know why. Secondly comes detect thoughts. Though this ability does allow a saving throw, you can really mess with your party's head if this goes off.
This guy has a couple more abilities up its sleeves. First of all, it's touch attack. When this thing touches you, it deals strength or wisdom drain. Furthermore, if it drains your wisdom, you only notice if you make a wisdom check (with your reduced wisdom).
The one saving grace about fighting these guys is that they deal pretty little drain and that they need to completely drain your strength before they can drain your Con and kill you. Of course, as you immediately notice Str drain, they normally start with Wis drain (complicated little buggers they are )
The last thing worthy of note about these guys is their ability to create spawn. fortunately (or unfortunately) their victims only become normal wraiths when killed (not another bane wraith). Like other wraiths, bane wraiths can control any number of spawn. What is so sick and twisted about this ability is the wraiths all resemble their victims.
To sum it up, because you happened to look at a bane wraith "the wrong way", it decides to hunt down your friends and family, kill them, and then have their unholy spirits kill you. That, my friend, is pure M!ndf*#k.
There are two ways to play this guy.
1. Free agent. The party bumps into this guy at some point, thinking that it's another cultist sent by the resistance until it sinks through the floor. When the party returns to the hideout, they see the wraith sitting down on a chair. It waves to them before vanishing into the crowd (or through an object). In reality, this banewraith works for nobody, instead deciding to torment and kill the resistance by pure chance. If the party reports that the resistance has been found, they may have to relocate. Every now and then, the Bane wraith appears to either read someone's mind and tell the party a vital detail about their own plan (making them think that the enemy knows), to impersonate a close friend (or even a family member or loved one from a PCs past if you are feeling cruel), or to simply kill someone and take their wraith with him.
2. The Difficult Choice.
This creature can also be used to populate a room in the castle. Replace its three feats with dodge, mobility, and spring attack. He is the only creature in normal (20 x 20 foot) castle room, apparently sitting down on a chair at the far end of the room in the disguise of a human aristocrat. As a free action, the banewraith chooses someone as the target for his dodge feat. As he gets up and walks towards the party (moving 10 feet over to them, the banewraith "walks" at a speed of 40 feet) he congratulates them on having gotten so far, tells them that their reputation precedes them, and informs them that he has no intention of fighting them. He motions to the far door and bows his head before, almost as an afterthought, asks how a couple of their close friends in the resistance are doing and making reference to the resistance's headquarters' location with a small diabolical chuckle (EX: "By the way, how are Borris and Klimbwater doing? It must be pretty cold for them under those docks, hmmhmmhmm"). Veiled threat accomplished, the bane wraith "brushes past" whomever looks like a cleric (unless doing so would provoke an AoO from a big, burly PC, in which case they chose another target), draining thier wisdom in the process (in game terms, the bane wraith makes a touch attack and takes another move action thanks to spring attack). The banewraith heads out of the exit (not through a wall) an down through the floor as soon as he is out of sight. Unless someone in the party made a good spot check, nobody will know that he is incorporeal.
After this, the party has a choice, they can go through to the next room (setting off only a minor mechanical trap [relying on a pressure pad that the bane wraith couldn't set off]) or head back to save everybody.
The bane wraith's plan is set. First, he waits under the floor for a couple rounds to see if anyone comes, activating his detect thoughts SLA so he'll be ready to know what the party is planning. Whether they come or not, the bane wraith sets off underground towards the ruler of the castle to inform them of the intruders before heading to the cult's headquarters to make good on his threat.
If the party keeps going, assume that the bane wraith kills most of the cult before coming back and waiting at the entrance to the castle in its true form with his army of spawn (with the spawn of the PCs' friends in the front line).
If they go back, the party gets a bit of a head start while the bane wraith reports to the castle's lord but the wraith has a fly speed of 80 feet and can ignore solid objects, increasing the odds that he will beat the party back (though the wraith, unlike a horse, can't run). If the banewraith gets there first, it attacks the close personal friends of the PCs first so assume that some of them are already dead, more if the PCs were somehow held up on the trip back and less if they arrive soon after the banewraith. If the party arrives first, it is possible to prevent any ally fatalities if the party plays their cards right.
Either way, going back gives the castle's lord some time to set more defenses and muster more troops
The PCs will arrive at the Gardens of Fugue
A Large gate stands between the PCs and the garden
The Gate of Hearts: This could be the gate to the castle, the undead town, or some other dungeon. It is a large iron gate with three metal indentations, all of which pulse rhythmically "like a heart". As you may have guessed, the only way to get past the gate is to place a heart in each indentation. Vermin and animal hearts don't count and any undead heart placed in gets a negative level as they place it in. It has to be a humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or similar type of heart. After all three hearts have been placed in, it is noticed that the various orifices don't quite line up with those of the door, requiring the party to fiddle around with them by hand. After all of this, the hearts are compacted in small, bloody explosions and the door opens.
As you can tell, this gate isn't intended to kill people. It's intended to traumatize them. They have to kill three sentient creatures, put their hearts in a doorway, fit them in perfectly, and watch them explode.
However, that isn't to say that this won't hurt people. Anyone using undead hearts gets a negative level, alignments might change, and somebody might stupidly kill another player or even offer up their own hearts.
In between the town and the castle there lies a large garden which contains all sorts of horrific plants
four corpses with a bunch of vines tangled up around them. Make it clear that the vines seem to be feeding off the corpses. Don't have a fight at this point; it's just good form to make the PCs scared of all the plants:
Later On:
3x
ASSASSIN VINE
Large Plant
Hit Dice: 4d8+12 (30 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square)
Armor Class: 15 (–1 size, +6 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+12
Attack: Slam +7 melee (1d6+7)
Full Attack: Slam +7 melee (1d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. (20 ft. with vine)
Special Attacks: Constrict 1d6+7, entangle, improved grab
Special Qualities: Blindsight 30 ft., camouflage, immunity to electricity, low-light vision, plant traits, resistance to cold 10 and fire 10
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +1, Will +2
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 10, Con 16, Int —, Wis 13, Cha 9
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Solitary or patch (2–4)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: 1/10th coins; 50% goods; 50% items
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 5–16 HD (Huge); 17–32 HD (Gargantuan); 33+ HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: —
The assassin vine is a semi-mobile plant that collects its own grisly fertilizer by grabbing and crushing animals and depositing the carcasses near its roots.
A mature plant consists of a main vine, about 20 feet long. Smaller vines up to 5 feet long branch off from the main vine about every 6 inches. These small vines bear clusters of leaves, and in late summer they produce bunches of small fruits that resemble wild grapes. The fruit is tough and has a hearty but bitter flavor. Assassin vine berries make a heady wine.
An assassin vine can move about, albeit very slowly, but usually stays put unless it needs to seek prey in a new vicinity.
A subterranean version of the assassin vine grows near hot springs, volcanic vents, and other sources of thermal energy. These plants have thin, wiry stems and gray leaves shot through with silver, brown, and white veins so that they resemble mineral deposits. An assassin vine growing underground usually generates enough offal to support a thriving colony of mushrooms and other fungi, which spring up around the plant and help conceal it.
COMBAT
An assassin vine uses simple tactics. It lies still until prey comes within reach, then attacks. It uses its entangle ability both to catch prey and to deter counterattacks.
Constrict (Ex): An assassin vine deals 1d6+7 points of damage with a successful grapple check.
Entangle (Su): An assassin vine can animate plants within 30 feet of itself as a free action (Ref DC 13 partial). The effect lasts until the vine dies or decides to end it (also a free action). The save DC is Wisdom-based. The ability is otherwise similar to entangle (caster level 4th).
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, an assassin vine must hit with its slam attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict.
Blindsight (Ex): Assassin vines have no visual organs but can ascertain all foes within 30 feet using sound, scent, and vibration.
Camouflage (Ex): Since an assassin vine looks like a normal plant when at rest, it takes a DC 20 Spot check to notice it before it attacks. Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use one of those skills instead of Spot to notice the plant. Dwarves can use stonecunning to notice the subterranean version.
Will add
Differences
+5 hit dice
Str +8 Wis +8
Tangible differences:
HP 67
Attack: Slam +15 (1d8 + 13)
Full Attack Slam +15/+10
Constrict 1d8+13
Saves Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +8
Entangle DC 17
Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Improved Natural Attack
TRAPS
A good trap is a 5 ft by 80ft hallway that square/hex is a spelled trap to cast summon undead 4 =) make the end an indestructable door lol and its locked =) only way to open the door is to run back across the hallway and open the door on the other side simultaneously, (first door is also made of said indestructable and locks behind the pc's.
I've got an idea for a trap at the castle. I always like to put lots of illusions into adventures, especially adventures with undead as undead are immune. In first edition there was a spell called phantasmagoria, the main use of which was making players believe that they were going to be hit by a train. When the players get half way into the corridor the door they came through locks and a light appears at the end of the tunnel, a full illusion of some large object is coming towards the party. However at the sides of the corridor are alcoves for them to hide in and avoid it. The trick is that the alcoves have an illusionary floor which drops players silly enough to hide in them into whatever you want (glass spikes and acid ). The best thing is that as undead are immune to its effects you could mask some undead with the illusion.
Four Adjacent 5-ft squares. When stepped on, a wither limbs (Legs) , if stepped on again (arms) spells hits the target (LM). From there the PC(s) are unable to move, so scarabs start swarming from slots in the walls
A large room with a very high pyramid ceiling and patches of spikes on the floor. Reverse Gravity trap to make them fall into the ceiling and take damage and a second trap set into ceiling to set gravity right and make them fall into the collection of spikes located on the floor just below the apex of the pyramid roof.
Fall up for 6d6 damage. Fall down for 6d6 damage. Spikes for 6d6 damage. Poison on the spikes. Spikes can then trigger a crushing wall trap or a flooding room trap if you want.
have a wonderful idea. Think of a room, an ordinary room, with 3 colums each side, up and down, like this:
x x x
x x
x x x
So each of the colums, is a vampire sarcophagus. The walls around the room are hollow, with barely visible (Less than 1 centimeter) gaps, at every odd junction of the bricks that compose the room. The hollows are big enough for 1 medium-sized creature to walk around the room. Inside the gaps, there's some traps connect to a targeted detect undead, that's detecting any undead on the gaps. What does this do is shut down the doors of the room (Iron Porticullis), and collapse the columns. So here's the drill:
The pc's enter the room, which just looks like a normal intersection room with 4 doors. When they enter, 4 CR10 Vampire Monks(Well, you SAID they were overpowered...) jump from the coffins, surprising the players unless they succeed in a DC 30 Listen Check or have Detect Undead active. If ANY of the vampires is killed, he immediately enters gaseous form and goes inside the gap on the wall, collapsing the ceiling on the players (DC 20 15d6 reflex for half). The doors will be locked and the lock is busted (From the debris), so the players will have to succeed in breaking the porticullis apart. Just to make things harder, another set of 4 vampires appear if the players don't open the doors in 10 minutes.
More fun with Orbs of Annihilation.
You remember the scene from Indiana Jones with the giant boulder? Well, replace the boulder with an enormous Orb, and make the floor collapsing on thier way back across, and the gap is too large to jump across this time. And to insure they don't escape through use of flight, a twirling Catherine's wheel on the cieling. To stop the use of Force Wall/etc stopping the Orb, an AMF except on the very edge of the gap, where summoning one would push them off anyways.
(Will only be used if not all PCs are targeted)
Possibly do this with a visual cue, for example a blackish vapour that can be thicker or thinner depending on how badly you want to shut down the casters in a given area. This could range from a barely perceptible black vapour that might sting the caster for 1d3 damage on his concentration and/or spellcraft checks, all the way up to a billowing black fog you can barely see through that will half kill the caster on his first concentration check (e.g. 8d8 negative energy damage
Pit of Opposition: It's just a normal 50-foot pit whose bottom is lined with a mirror of opposition. When someone falls in, they look down and are forced to fight against a copy of themselves (who has not taken falling damage as the copy was made as the character fell) while isolated from everyone else. If anyone looks down to see what's going on, another copy is created, a copy that can only reach and fight the character that fell.
Just as Advertised: near the entrance to the castle, an overlarge skull, perhaps from a stone giant, is built into a wall. In its mouth is an immobile sphere of annihiliation (yep, just like tomb of horrors with a skull instead of a demon). There are engravings in the wall to both the left and right of the skull, written in the common tongue.
To the left: The last remaining sanctuary rests beyond the orb.
To the right: The last remaining refuge is a fast and painless death.
This is just what is looks like, a last chance for intrudors to painlessly commit suicide (though it was built mostly for intimidation purposes). 90% of the time, it is simply decoration that helps set the mood of the dungeon.
The last 10% of the time, characters either roleplay or metagame their characters into the skull's mouth.
Ex 1: There's no way you'd rip off tomb of horrors like that.
Ex 2: A death trap would never actually say it's a death trap. maybe the fast and painless death is a magic weapon.
Ex 3: well, if the refuge is death, than I'll just head for the sanctuary (this guy didn't know that sanctuary=refuge).
When someone dies to this "trap", you get the honor of explaining to the player how they just walked into a deathtrap that proclaimed itself to be such.
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