[3.5] Old castle suggestion

[Ducklord]

What could I use to fill an abandoned spooky castle with creatures and other features apropriate for a lvl6 part? The only thing I'd like to avoid are traps, except maybe for natural traps such as collapsing floors etc, because having everything trapped in a place for no good reason always seemed a bit illogical to me.. Thanks!

edit: The castle is home to a secluded mistress, that lives in the top tower, and hasn't been out for hundreds of years. There's a spell in effect, that keeps everyone in or near the castle from aging, so the building has been there for a really long time. No one besides the players has come near the castle for centuries and the players desperately need to speak with the mistress at the top.

[Blackjackg]

Can you give us an idea of what the history of the castle is, or why the players are going there? Is it supposed to be haunted, or perhaps a well-known roost for wandering monsters?

That will give us a better idea what sorts of encounters to offer.

[Ducklord]

Sure, I'll include the info in my first post.

[gbprime]

Google up a copy of L1 - The Secret of Bone Hill. It's an awesome haunted castle setting for AD+D low levels. You can use the floorplan and the encounters and just beef them up or "flesh" them out a bit.

EDIT - Actually, here's the whole thing here... LINK (http://www.rpgarchive.com/index.php?page=adv1&advid=131)

[HappyBlanket]

Traps aren't really illogical. If the mistress doesn't want to disturbed, she'd certainly set some traps here and there.

Depending on how you want the mistress to respond to the players, traps might be a good way to explain her intentions.

[Blackjackg]

Interesting. Whenever a zone of powerful magic exists for centuries, there's probably some unexpected side effects. Let's see what we've got.

Dogs: Roaming the grounds or the ground floor of the castle are one or more packs of gigantic feral dogs. They might once have been the mistress' pets, but after hundreds of years unattended, they've grown large and feral. They attack on sight, and relentlessly. (Use stats for wolves. A pack of 7-9 wolves, 4 advanced 5HD wolves, or 3 dire wolves are all roughly EL 6 encounters.)

Wandering corpse: So nothing ages in this zone, but that doesn't mean that nothing can die. This was once a servant in the household, or perhaps an unlucky adventurer or even neighbor took her last breath inside the castle. She's perfectly preserved in the moment of her death, and still walking around. (I'd use the stats for a mummy, but without the appearance. Also, delay the onset of the mummy rot disease until 24 hours after the players leave the zone-of-no-aging, just to confuse and terrify them. A single mummy is CR 5.)

Maggots: Somewhere in the last few centuries, a monstrous vermin moved into one of the unused rooms of the castle to lay her eggs. The eggs hatched, but the larvae never grew up as they were supposed to. And the vermin just kept on laying. Now the room is filled up with crawling, cannibalistic maggots, oozing all over one another. (Maybe a giant praying mantis or giant ant for the mother. There should be a maggot swarm statted somewhere, but I can't find it so I'll suggest using the stats for a centipede swarm. The Mantis + the Swarm adds up to a high EL 6.)

[Parasyn]

if the mistress had any magical power or had a retainer who did, she could have summoned 2 voors MM IV to guard the door to the upper levels to make sure she isn't disturbed.
incorporeal undead are always fun wraiths are cr 5

the spell could have had a side effect of awakening some of the furniture in the castle for animated objects

a gauth (lesser beholder) may have moved in

gargoyles perched on the castle walls

oozes?

just my 2 cents

[Noneoyabizzness]

4words: mimics with class levels.

Intellegent weapons. Crystal ball"prisons" holding a good natured (i)mage
The hell wrought with mimics

[Thurbane]

Old castles need their suits of armor set into alcoves that spring to life...Nimblewrights and Dread Guards fill this role nicely. Maybe one of each working as a team.