Xyk
2011-06-13, 04:29 PM
I'm gonna be running an urban sandbox campaign starting in like 3 weeks, so I've been thinking up plot hooks. I'm on plot hook #17 and I've figured out the basic idea of it.
This insane gnomish wizard, Grixthly Grechktp, has been acting more suspicious than ever and distorted screams were reported coming from his house. Other heroes were sent to investigate but haven't been heard from in about a week, so the PCs will be asked to rescue them. By this point in the campaign, they should be roughly level 3-4 but I want this adventure to be a challenge.
The premise of the villain is simple but hard to carry out. He has created ridiculous and freakish monsters in his laboratory. He uses human subjects (2 of the 4 heroes will have been killed in failed experiments, and 1 will have some grotesque new appendage) as well as animals.
I just don't know of very many sufficiently grotesque monsters that he will have successfully created. My question for the playground is this: what does an insane wizard keep as dangerous hand-made pets? And how are they statted out? It's important that they be within the realm of possibility for a level 3-4 low-op party of 5. (so far there is a favored soul, a swashbuckler, a tank of some kind, and 2 undecided)
I might use the Gibbering Mouther from Lords of Madness, and I want to have a few monsters that are not in a book to really surprise the players. One in particular is a lion who has smaller lions that replace his feet (that's a running joke in my group for whatever reason: The Fractal Lion. Often he is described as having a breath weapon that just fires more lions.). What ideas do you nice people have running around in your heads?
As far as the wizard's build goes, I might just handwave the crafting of unusual creatures because I don't know of any D&D mechanic that does that.
This insane gnomish wizard, Grixthly Grechktp, has been acting more suspicious than ever and distorted screams were reported coming from his house. Other heroes were sent to investigate but haven't been heard from in about a week, so the PCs will be asked to rescue them. By this point in the campaign, they should be roughly level 3-4 but I want this adventure to be a challenge.
The premise of the villain is simple but hard to carry out. He has created ridiculous and freakish monsters in his laboratory. He uses human subjects (2 of the 4 heroes will have been killed in failed experiments, and 1 will have some grotesque new appendage) as well as animals.
I just don't know of very many sufficiently grotesque monsters that he will have successfully created. My question for the playground is this: what does an insane wizard keep as dangerous hand-made pets? And how are they statted out? It's important that they be within the realm of possibility for a level 3-4 low-op party of 5. (so far there is a favored soul, a swashbuckler, a tank of some kind, and 2 undecided)
I might use the Gibbering Mouther from Lords of Madness, and I want to have a few monsters that are not in a book to really surprise the players. One in particular is a lion who has smaller lions that replace his feet (that's a running joke in my group for whatever reason: The Fractal Lion. Often he is described as having a breath weapon that just fires more lions.). What ideas do you nice people have running around in your heads?
As far as the wizard's build goes, I might just handwave the crafting of unusual creatures because I don't know of any D&D mechanic that does that.