PDA

View Full Version : Badlands (3.5)



Adamaro
2010-09-02, 01:23 PM
In my campaign, PCs started at the edge of Empire. They were at the fringe of civilisation, full of pioneer villages and random adventurers looking for goblins, orcs and kobolds.

Somehow ... they decided to enter the great forest (definitive end of civilisation) and have now entered The real badlands beyond the forest. No empires, no cities, no villages. Just raw hills and flatlands, sparsely covered with dust and rocks.
I have a problem as a DM to "populate" this areas. What sort of creatures should they encounter? They will be few and far apart, but I always like a believable surroundings.

So, tell me, how do The true badlands look like in your opinion? An Who dwells there?

tnx:smallsmile:

subject42
2010-09-02, 01:44 PM
What is the predominant biome in the badlands? Is it prairie? Taiga?

Is it forested? What kind of waterways are there?

Diarmuid
2010-09-02, 02:24 PM
from the OP,



Just raw hills and flatlands, sparsely covered with dust and rocks.

Greenish
2010-09-02, 02:24 PM
UA has the environmental variants of many races. Desert Kobolds tend to be the most popular ones.

Sandstorm has some new races and other interesting things relates to " the wastes", even though it's focus is on the sandy hot desert.

Finally, vermin both ordinary and giant can flourish in the badlands.

[Edit]: As per RotD, kobolds eat anything, up and including to rocks and dirt.

subject42
2010-09-02, 02:44 PM
If there's no vegetation or water sources, you're going to need something like the dustbowl or certain cooler deserts.

Complex life will be extremely rare. Anything that the players will come across will likely be a hibernating, estevating species that stays dormant until certain trigger events come to pass. Dire Cicada swarms would work nicely here.

Adamaro
2010-09-02, 02:49 PM
So far I have:
Brass dragons, Basilisks, vermin, kobolds also sound good.

Yahzi
2010-09-02, 02:57 PM
What sort of creatures should they encounter? They will be few and far apart, but I always like a believable surroundings.
Realistically... nothing that can challenge a human.

Anything that eats people can't live in a biome that sparse.

So, it will have to be magic monsters. Undead is a great choice; stray demons and abandoned constructs are also good.

subject42
2010-09-02, 03:00 PM
So, it will have to be magic monsters. Undead is a great choice; stray demons and abandoned constructs are also good.

Mephits and elementals are also good choices.

Greenish
2010-09-02, 04:01 PM
Well, stuff tends to live in all sorts of places (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile), even without magic.

KillianHawkeye
2010-09-02, 04:01 PM
If it's an area where nobody lives, then the answer must be giant monstrosities of progressively increasing size and ill temperament! Why do you think nobody lives there? :smallwink::smallamused:

subject42
2010-09-02, 06:12 PM
Well, stuff tends to live in all sorts of places (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile), even without magic.

The thermophilic blue-green algae crits!

You take... {roll}... one hundredth of a point of damage.

Now, fortitude save against disease.

Devils_Advocate
2010-09-04, 02:44 PM
d20 Monster Filter (http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20monsterfilter/index.php). Note the "Climate" and "Terrain" tabs.

Knaight
2010-09-04, 02:51 PM
If you want things that could actually be dangerous, giant spiders and scorpions. The smaller ones are more realistic, but this being D&D and all, go ahead and use any of them.

Greenish
2010-09-04, 03:20 PM
The thermophilic blue-green algae crits!

You take... {roll}... one hundredth of a point of damage.Rounded up to the minimum of one. Now the rolls for the next 45 million, and then the rest after your turn.

Rigor_Mortis
2010-09-04, 03:24 PM
Landshark ho!

Dune-style Sandworms.

Or go Djinn in a bottle and ...

Cicciograna
2010-09-04, 03:42 PM
I'd throw in nomadic members of the race you prefer: nomadic orcs hunting the few animals in the zone, nomadic goblins harvesting/gathering the little food in the area, nomadic barbaric humans, traveling the Badlands by horse. Pick some history book or Wikipedia and get some info on Mongols: they managed to survive in the Badlands (well, sort of) and built a mighty empire. Alternatively, get some inspiration from Tuaregs, as they too thrive in an extremely inhospitable environment.
The group your PCs encounter can range from a lonely scout to a small tribe: just consider what amount of food and water can be procured at every time.

PCs could also find a monastery: monks are renowned for picking isolated spots where they can meditate without interference (I mean, the Himalaya is not the most hospitable of the places); if I were to throw in monks I'd make them LN, as Good and Evil are too "social" to cope with complete isolation: these monks could welcome the PCs and help them, giving them some food or water, or react negatively seeing them as intruders into their territory.

Finally, casters have means to survive everywhere: in the complete nothingness of the Badlands, in the distance your PCs can see an apparently abandoned tower, but on closer examination they discover that it's inhabited...

Urpriest
2010-09-04, 07:27 PM
Bhuka from Sandstorm feel more badlands-y than the more sandy monsters.

In terms of big stuff, the occasional Roc or Dire Vulture might circle overhead.

Marnath
2010-09-05, 01:46 PM
Maybe the badlands is where the Tarrasque lairs. :smallsmile:

+1 to nomadic orc tribes and wandering constructs from a forgotten age.