Element Based Dungeons

[Zilant]

So I'm still fairly new at these forums so I'm not sure if this isn't allowed but I didn't see a rule against it so here goes.

My party just leveled to level 4.
My party:

Human Fighter CG
Dwarf Cleric NG
Elf Rogue CN


Since this is the first time one of them has ever played (we started lvl 1) I have kept the quests farily simple. I have been having them so small dungeon crawls and fetch quests just to get my friend used to combat and the gameplay with things like traps and puzzles.

Now that we have played quite a few sessions I want to give a little more for my players to do.
I was thinking of doing a long quest where the party has to collect 4 artifacts from 4 dungeons, each reperesenting one of the elements (earth wind fire water).

Since I'm still a pretty novice player and DM I was wondering if the playground would be so kind as to give me a few ideas for puzzles, monsters, and traps that are "on theme" with the elemental dungeons. Or even ways I could go about making these dungeons.

It's kind of late for me right now so this isn't as well thought out as it should be but hopefully this thread will have some posts for me and I can elaborate on anything of give anymore informations that would help you guys to help me.

Thanks guys and gals.

[vrigar]

First I have to say its so sweet that you give the characters' alignments. Most guys here would pour stats, special classes and obscure feats. Kudos.
You can just skim through the Monster Manuals you have and look for the related type (say fire). Throw a few themed traps (drowning in water, burning fire, rolling boulders and air bursts) and you got yourself a themes dungeon.
I once (like 20 years ago) had an adventure like this but the theme was a bit more complex (raiding a deserted tower of an elementalist) but it had a similar concept - each level with its element type.

[Tvtyrant]

The best trap I remember from an elemental dungeon was a lava based volcano layer for a dragon, where the dragon used about 6 Decanters of Endless Water on full blast to keep a portion of it stone for its bed. When it realized we were in the layer, it turned them off and the whole place began to melt.

Not the most realistic trap ever, but I really loved the threat of being stuck in lava as the dragon flew away.

[ThiagoMartell]

They are still fairly low in level, so you can get them interested with a lot less than artifacts. Say 'powerful magical items' or something like that. Keep artifacts for when normal magical items are simply not cutting it anymore, it helps to keep feel of awe around them.

I'd advise you to keep the water dungeon last... and make it all underwater. This will probably be the first time they'll need to gear up before even going into the dungeon and it might make for a good experience.

[FireJustice]

The best trap I remember from an elemental dungeon was a lava based volcano layer for a dragon, where the dragon used about 6 Decanters of Endless Water on full blast to keep a portion of it stone for its bed. When it realized we were in the layer, it turned them off and the whole place began to melt.

Not the most realistic trap ever, but I really loved the threat of being stuck in lava as the dragon flew away.

This idea is so awesome that you can consider it stolen

[Tvtyrant]

This idea is so awesome that you can consider it stolen

:smallbiggrin: Just remember to get them a timer so they can plan out their escape. Nothing sucks more than unavoidable death!

[Zilant]

I agree, that trap with the dragons is pretty awesome. I think I might end up using that.

I was thinkning of having a "gaurdian" for each area that the PC's need to overcome (either in combat or rolelaying) to pass the dungeon. Maybe somekind of sentient creature with class levels or something.

Maybe artifacts are a bit much, so how about some kind of key thats been split into 4 peices and needs to be reforged to open up a 5th dungeon where I can introduce a BBEG?
I'll admit I think part of this thread is me trying to brainstorm stuff.

Thanks for the advice so far!

[Siosilvar]

First I have to say its so sweet that you give the characters' alignments. Most guys here would pour stats, special classes and obscure feats. Kudos.

Also known as "things that help us figure out what the characters are capable of so that we can design appropriate challenges" (though this is admittedly better done with a short description than a stats sheet). Of course, there's not that much variation at level 4.

For ideas... have you ever played a Legend of Zelda game? If not, see if you can't find a video Let's Play. They don't always have puzzles that translate well to tabletop or with a group, but it's a good source for ideas.

[Machinekng]

A few ideas:

-Each of the four elemental dungeons has a portal to the respective elemental plane. The elementals and other beings that have crossed into the material plane are involved in a 4-way turf war that dominates the central dungeon/chamber. As each dungeon is cleared and the portal dealt with, the dynamics of the turf war changes, and by the time the 2nd or 3rd portal is dealt with, the denziens of the remaining dungeon will get a little proactive, and will start actively trying to foil the PCs.

-The key needs to be forged in the fire dungeon, and the only being with the skill to do so, the key's creator, is a rather gumpy Azer who has an errand of his own for the PCs to complete before he reforges the key for them.

-One of the air dungeon rooms is a massive shaft with a magical fan at the bottom, this creates a no gravity zone within the room.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Whatever you do - don't make them through water that has a water elemental in it. It can easily wipe the party.

[Urpriest]

I don't know what books you have access to, but Dungeon Master's Guide II has the Fire Summoning Trap and the Water Summoning Trap, as well as rules for fighting in a burning building or a flooding dungeon. Any of the above might be interesting. The traps in particular are designed as "encounter traps", so rather than just being something you can disable they form part of the challenge of the encounter.

[Zilant]

For ideas... have you ever played a Legend of Zelda game? If not, see if you can't find a video Let's Play. They don't always have puzzles that translate well to tabletop or with a group, but it's a good source for ideas.

Actually it's becuase of Zelda that gave me the idea in the first place.

I have access to most of the 3.5 books. The party is using core only stuff anyways though.

[Togath]

For monsters to fill the dungeon, mephits could be interesting as a variation on the usual elementals and they could make decent encounters at level 4 if combined with the occasional small full elemental.
encounters such as; one mephit and one elemental, two mephits, or a mephit with 1-2 levels could eb interesting to encounter, and if you have the books, a few of the following could be interesting creatures to add for around that level;
Dread Guard[MM2](either plain, or advanced 1-2HD. it seems like it could either have an earth theme, or just be made of armour that looks appropriate to the portion of the dungeon it's found in, possibly each section having different looking dread guards, wielding weapons themed around the dungeon(such as spears for water, greatclubs for earth, not really sure what for fire or wind though)
Gem Scarabs[MM5](they can be made to use any 0 lvl spell so there's a fair amount of variety, they also supply their own treasure as well)
And perhaps some of the elemental variant races from the SRD/unearthed arcana

[White_Drake]

If you can get your hands on a copy of the old Ghost Tower of Inverness C2 module, it had levels in the tower for each element.