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View Full Version : Sending them into a sewer, HELP? (3.5)



gallagher
2010-10-25, 09:15 PM
so i will be having my players go into a creepy, maze-like sewer, where they have to fight their way to the middle, fight for a macguffin, and then fight their way back out if they forgot how they got in there.

problem: i already have the maze drawn out (took me a whole class period) but i dont know exactly what to fill it with. i have the following down:

-very slippery, as if it is always under a grease spell. most of the players have ranks in balance
-rats rats rats rats rats rats rats
-undead. the middle is actually where the bad guy, who is based off the pied piper, has been doing experiments on the dead bodies of the children who he captured. now they are several undead human children with a level in rogue (to make the encounter more difficult, i mean they are 2 level 8s and 2 level 7s right now)
-more rats
-every so often there will be a spinning blade of some sort that is supposed to chop up large solid waste, where yuo have to make a running start (with the appropriate balance check) and either jump or tumble through it. its a 50% chance to get hit if you miss the check, and if you make it it still is a 20% chance of getting hit.


and thats about it. i dont really know what else would be in a sewer. maybe an alligator or two? some snakes?

Drakevarg
2010-10-25, 09:18 PM
Filth Fever, everywhere.

Get wounded by anything? Fort Save vs. Filth Fever. Open wound touchs anything? Fort Save vs. Filth Fever. Slip on a patch of poo and fall in the water? Filth Fever.

KillianHawkeye
2010-10-25, 09:19 PM
An excremental. Toss in some monstrous vermin or some vermin swarms.

gallagher
2010-10-25, 09:25 PM
An excremental. Toss in some monstrous vermin or some vermin swarms.where could i find an excremental? that sounds literally hilarious

and what would be the appropriate knowledge check for them?

KillianHawkeye
2010-10-25, 09:29 PM
where could i find an excremental? that sounds literally hilarious

and what would be the appropriate knowledge check for them?

Hehehe, I don't know if there's actually stats for them. It's from the movie Dogma. I'd bet that somebody has homebrewed it, though.

EDIT: Somebody did and the stats are here. (http://www.enworld.org/forum/homebrews/42358-tribute-dogma-kevin-smith-its.html) It appears to be 3.0, but conversion to 3.5 shouldn't be hard.

Xefas
2010-10-25, 09:31 PM
Pfft, adventurers are already used to fighting rats and undead and all manner of unspeakable-evil-that-may-conveniently-be-bludgeoned-to-death.

It's a sewer, right? Make them fight disease. Have rusty bits of metal obscured in the sewage, so they have to roll for tetanus, followed by horrible bacterial infection from having an open wound submerged in filth. Not to mention airborne Legionellosis, and maybe some mosquitoes packed with all kinds of nasty mutant malaria. If they aren't making like, 8 saves versus horrible debilitating disease per round, you're doing it wrong. Also, ticks, mange, tapeworms, leeches. Don't pull the punches. Assuming they have a cleric, they'll eventually run out of Remove Disease.

That's when the undead show up. Make them fight the little tykes in a cesspool of raw, chest-high excrement. Undead don't have to breathe!

It's even more effective if you bring visual and/or smell-o-visual aids.
85% of this was sarcastic

doc*sk
2010-10-25, 09:33 PM
How about some wererats? That would be one heck of a pied piper.

Also, I wonder what kind of people would purposefully be trying to get to the piper. Maybe some of the childrens' parents have been ambushed by the nastiness in the sewers? Maybe they have caught the filth fever and it turned them into some sort of beasty? Maybe the parents are the wererats and the rats are the children and we got the whole story completely backwards?

What if there was a party of adventurers who were after the piper's flute? It is obviously a powerful magic item.

KillianHawkeye
2010-10-25, 09:35 PM
maybe some mosquitoes packed with all kinds of nasty mutant malaria

Why use mosquitos when you can use stirges?

The Vorpal Tribble
2010-10-25, 09:37 PM
For a dreamscape adventure I actually designed a sort of sewer/maze based on a never-ending public restroom. Creepy as anything.

What exactly is the sewer like? I'll be able to help you from there. Are you also interested in using homebrew?

Drakevarg
2010-10-25, 09:40 PM
Check this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122545) out. It's from one of my attempts to toss my victims players in a sewer.

Xefas
2010-10-25, 09:41 PM
Why use mosquitos when you can use stirges?

You can easily stab/bludgeon a stirge to death. If you just have the occasional few mosquitoes buzz over (but not enough to count as a swarm, 'cause a swarm becomes an entirely different and more easily attacked creature) and attempt to nick them every round, it's a much more insidious threat. They aren't likely to even notice the tiny buggers until it's too late, and if they come in small numbers every round for the entire adventure, you're bound to load up the adventurers with more disease than they can handle.

A level 1 commoner can punch a stirge to death more often than not. Mosquitoes kill people in the number of millions each year.

gallagher
2010-10-25, 09:47 PM
How about some wererats? That would be one heck of a pied piper.

Also, I wonder what kind of people would purposefully be trying to get to the piper. Maybe some of the childrens' parents have been ambushed by the nastiness in the sewers? Maybe they have caught the filth fever and it turned them into some sort of beasty? Maybe the parents are the wererats and the rats are the children and we got the whole story completely backwards?

What if there was a party of adventurers who were after the piper's flute? It is obviously a powerful magic item.

actually, if you must know, the piper is the one leading them into the maze in the first place, then trapping them there, and buffing his minions. the adventurers know nothing about him, their mission is to solve the undead problem, as these children have gone missing and undead seem to be spawning from the sewer grates

Safety Sword
2010-10-25, 09:52 PM
Pfft, adventurers are already used to fighting rats and undead and all manner of unspeakable-evil-that-may-conveniently-be-bludgeoned-to-death.

It's a sewer, right? Make them fight disease. Have rusty bits of metal obscured in the sewage, so they have to roll for tetanus, followed by horrible bacterial infection from having an open wound submerged in filth. Not to mention airborne Legionellosis, and maybe some mosquitoes packed with all kinds of nasty mutant malaria. If they aren't making like, 8 saves versus horrible debilitating disease per round, you're doing it wrong. Also, ticks, mange, tapeworms, leeches. Don't pull the punches. Assuming they have a cleric, they'll eventually run out of Remove Disease.

That's when the undead show up. Make them fight the little tykes in a cesspool of raw, chest-high excrement. Undead don't have to breathe!

It's even more effective if you bring visual and/or smell-o-visual aids.
85% of this was sarcastic

And by mosquitoes, we means stirges.
And don't forget the obligatory Otyugh.

Edit: Ninja'd.

Jack_Simth
2010-10-25, 09:58 PM
85% of this was sarcasticEspecially considering diseases all have that pesky incubation period, and one casting of Remove Disease gets rid of all diseases afflicting the subject, yes.

Oh yes, and don't forget Oozes. Nothing like a black pudding or a gelatinous cube running amok in the muck.

gallagher
2010-10-25, 10:09 PM
And by mosquitoes, we means stirges.
And don't forget the obligatory Otyugh.

Edit: Ninja'd.

hahaha... just one otyugh?? dont make me laugh any harder or my sides will split

Drakevarg
2010-10-25, 10:11 PM
hahaha... just one otyugh?? dont make me laugh any harder or my sides will split

Lifeleech Otyughs. :smallamused:

Safety Sword
2010-10-25, 10:14 PM
hahaha... just one otyugh?? dont make me laugh any harder or my sides will split

I thought the plural of Otyugh was Otyugh. Sheep sheep style. :smallredface:

Of course not just ONE! :P

gallagher
2010-10-25, 10:16 PM
Especially considering diseases all have that pesky incubation period, and one casting of Remove Disease gets rid of all diseases afflicting the subject, yes.

Oh yes, and don't forget Oozes. Nothing like a black pudding or a gelatinous cube running amok in the muck.

hmmm... how disgustingly nasty of a DM would it make me if i put one in the floor under the much, and someone just sort of fell into them?

Dimers
2010-10-25, 11:10 PM
Oh yes, and don't forget Oozes. Nothing like a black pudding or a gelatinous cube running amok in the muck.

A gelatinous cube would be relatively easy to spot in knee-deep slime, but a black pudding under the surface ... they wouldn't even know it's there until after they've started taking damage. I was going to suggest pools of acid, but semi-sentient acid is even better.


Lifeleech Otyughs. :smallamused:

Fiendish otyughs with psychic warrior class levels.

In addition to the diseases, try some poisons. Inhaled, especially -- sure, the DCs tend to be low, but the PCs have to keep breathing everywhere they go. An ability-damage poison fog arranged right at a chokepoint could give your intrepid heroes quite a taste of fear.

Amiel
2010-10-26, 01:03 AM
Perhaps also have the maze conform to MC-Escher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escher%27s_Relativity.jpg) style physics (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Impossible_staircase.svg)?

Thrice Dead Cat
2010-10-26, 01:25 AM
Depending on how much water is in the sewers, you could also throw a variety of freaky fish people at them. Take your pick of Koa-Toa, Sahaigun, or whatever else you can find.

FelixG
2010-10-26, 05:10 AM
have a 10x10 foot pit trap, make sure its in a low area IE the tunnels are all leading down, when it opens it opens into a gelatinous cube then closes again :P

Reasoning: when the muck gets too heavy the trap door opens dropping the crud in and closing to keep the cube there to digest the stuff that's dropped in

gallagher
2010-10-26, 07:26 PM
Depending on how much water is in the sewers, you could also throw a variety of freaky fish people at them. Take your pick of Koa-Toa, Sahaigun, or whatever else you can find.

that would probably work fairly well, just have a few bands of them living down there. i was also considering having mutated people down there, Futurama style

gallagher
2010-10-26, 07:27 PM
Perhaps also have the maze conform to MC-Escher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escher%27s_Relativity.jpg) style physics (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Impossible_staircase.svg)?

and as fun as that sounds, i am not about to turn any part of my campaign into Labyrinth. one of my players practically worships david bowie as is

Logalmier
2010-10-26, 08:25 PM
Do you have Libris Mortis? If so, you should look at the Slaymate monster. An undead child that grants necromancers special powers. Sounds appropriate.

I also think there's an undead in there that uses bard powers to lure the enemy in. That might be appropriate for the setting as well.

Aron Times
2010-10-26, 08:30 PM
Why not make the sewers pristine? Sufficiently advanced societies make use of oozes to clean their sewers. Gelatinous cubes are basically recyclers in the grand scheme of nature in the D&D world. They can also serve as makeshift water purifiers, if you rule that oozes act as a disinfectant in addition to consuming organic material.

Trundlebug
2010-10-26, 08:34 PM
At the level it sounds, liquid(of whatever composition). Lot's of it suddenly released. Push players around, seperate them. Wash them into a dicey situation that would have been different had they just walked in. Takes alot of skills to avoid that.

What I'm saying is kobolds/goblins/wererat that kinda thing with control over the sewer mechanics. Must be multileveled.

Also, drowning. You'd be amazed at how emotional experienced gamers can get when their buddy drowns in front of them under a grate within sight. Fiendish octopi are good for this.

Callista
2010-10-26, 09:11 PM
Don't just have rats. In fact, it's safe to say you should never just have rats; it's too cliched. Instead, have rat swarms. It's very creepy to have rats crawling under your armor and clinging to your hair and biting a thousand tiny infectious bites...

That said, do make sure nobody has a rat/mouse phobia before you try it, because that just wouldn't be cool.

Undead children: Yes. Very creepy. I'd suggest not making them zombies, though; zombies are too slow to be useful rogues. Go for something like a ghoul instead.

KillianHawkeye
2010-10-26, 09:21 PM
Undead children: Yes. Very creepy. I'd suggest not making them zombies, though; zombies are too slow to be useful rogues. Go for something like a ghoul instead.

Zombies are also too stupid to be useful Rogues. In fact, unintelligent creatures can't have any character class at all (nor do they get feats or skill points).

Logalmier
2010-10-26, 09:36 PM
Zombies are also too stupid to be useful Rogues. In fact, unintelligent creatures can't have any character class at all (nor do they get feats or skill points).

This is again why I would go with Slaymate. It's creepier if the undead are intelligent, and have a twisted evil version of the personality they had while they were alive. Like this:

Slaymate: Would you like to play with me?

PC: Uh, sure little girl, but what are you doing so far fro-urk!

Slaymate: *stabs PC*

Sort of like this. (http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/252)

Tvtyrant
2010-10-26, 11:48 PM
Depends on whether you love or hate your party.

If love:
Choker
Cloaker
Crocodiles
etc.

If Hate:
Rust Monsters
Oozes
Lobotomized Aboleth (essentially have a Large or Huge Grick/Carrion Crawler attack out of water)
Gibbering Mouther
Chaos Beast
etc.

FelixG
2010-10-27, 12:34 AM
I dont remember where i saw it but have water pits, about 10 feet deep, easy to swim across, but have chokers hiding in the pits to pull the enemy down and drown them :P

Iku Rex
2010-10-27, 12:38 AM
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060501