Campaign Idea Help: What Nightmares May Come [PF]

[Tokuhara]

On my way home from my midterm, I had the most twisted idea for a campaign:

Basically, the party "starts" as 20th level characters who are victims of a ritual that transports those afflicted into "The Dreamscape" (The Veil from Dragon Age meets The Matrix) and stripped of all powers they once had. They meet my NPC Asher, a 20th level character who tells them what has happened and tells them that they must complete 20 challenges (each worth about a level) and must then defeat the BBEG's Avatar, then return to the real world and kill him.

Mechanically, it's a cross between the Plane of Chaos and the Material Plane that is constructed by the collective thoughts and dreams of every plane in one world, but due to the Dreamscape's unique laws, Planeshifting, etc. do not work, being basically a different dimension. Money is now Dream Tokens and gear is constructed of thought (treated as the Real World item). When they leave the Dreamscape, whatever gear they had in the Dreamscape is given physical form in the real world (their Dream Tokens turn into equivalent Gold/Silver/Copper/Platinum). The world itself is infinite distance in all directions and can spawn/destroy anything in the Real World at will (so a mountain could simply grow out of the ground in seconds or a castle could dissolve into dust, within the Dreamscape). There will be Denizens of the Dreamscape that are unkillable NPCs (equivalent of deities who can smite the party in an instant) that act in the same role as shopkeepers, etc. One more note: If the PC(s) die, their bodies are disintegrated.

Now, for the questions:

1. How do I explain to the party why Planeshifting/etc doesn't work and how come the BBEG was able to put them under this ritual & strip them of all power & wealth? And how should I explain how when they eventually leave the Dreamscape how the gear magically appears?

2. How should I use the ever-shifting terrain to make an "easy" encounter difficult?

3. What should the Challenges be? What I mean is I want each one to be like a dungeon, but with almost a DMC-style set-up (puzzles, bosses, mobs, etc.)?

4. The BBEG himself. I want him to be a legitimate challenge to 4-6 20th level PCs with "proper" WBL. I know a Wizard build is the Default, but I want him to be almost a 3-stage boss fight. Thus, three "creatures" would work. Stage 1 is his human stage, Stage 2 is his "buffed" state, and Stage 3 is his "beast" state. I want this to be 3 REALLY hard encounters with no breaks, and for him to be beatable, but a definite challenge.

Thanks y'all

[Tokuhara]

Bump.

Trying to see how I can do this campaign, if at all

[Novawurmson]

First Idea for BBEG is something similar to a Daelkyr; fleshwarping creature from a realm of madness.

[Tokuhara]

First Idea for BBEG is something similar to a Daelkyr; fleshwarping creature from a realm of madness.

Well, while sweet, the BBEG is in the "Real World," so that makes less sense considering he's ritually yanking your mind out and wiping all power from you, forcing you to start over.

I had the thought of him being a Full Caster of some sort for his first form, then he draws from the Dreamscape to become something, then he ends up as an epic hd dragon (similar to Jack of Blades from Fable).

[Amidus Drexel]

Hm... shapeshifting BBEG that must also exist in the real world...

How about a druid? For the second stage, add the pseudonatural template, and for the third stage, swap pseudonatural for the half-farspawn template. Perhaps give him the abberation wild shape feat to make him capable of some really crazy stuff.

[_flint_]

So, you pretty much want them to be playing a VERY extended version of "The Broken Circle" form Dragon Age: Origins?

1) The plane's properties specifically disallow the use of the planeshift spell, but it is so close to the material plane that people can travel there in their dreams. The ritual makes their material bodies comatose, and it binds their souls so that only their personality remains intact when they first travel to the dream world.
The dream plane is so close to the material plane that objects can latch onto souls and be pulled into the material plane. Other effects of this include sleepers occasionally seeing things happen in the future during their dreams, and sleepwalking.

2) My idea for the terrain is that a full round action and a concentration check can morph the area slightly. Problem is, the PCs don't know this and once they find out, they get a penalty to their check for being non native, and they can influence less of the environment

3) I would say do something like in Legend of Zelda, where each dungeon has it's own gimmik and creatures based on a theme. For example, you could do the seven deadly sins, the id, ego, and super ego, the processes of grieving, etc. Each would have their own dungeon to navigate that the players would have to learn how to work in, seeing as each would have different laws of what does and doesn't work

4) I would suggest something like a Balor Barbarian wereterrasque for a good 3-part fight.
Part 1: Normal
Part 2: Rage
Part 3: Hybrid Form

Either that or a mind-flayer that can first throw thralls at you, then uses magic then does a crazy Polymorph any object thing at the end to turn into something big and scary near the end of the fight

[The Redwolf]

Since this is all taking place in the realm of dreams, it's obligatory that you put in something akin to the Cyan's Dream sequence of Final Fantasy VI, basically they all start out separated, and have to work their way through a maze to find each other, and at the end fight the "Three Dream Stooges" (or something equivalent) all of whom are different forms of spellcasters, so like a sorcerer, favored soul, and wilder lets say. That would be awesome if you handled it right, especially if each of them had to deal with an appropriately leveled encounter or one close to it while on their own.

[Tokuhara]

Let me just put this out there: this will be a pure pathfinder game, not to say many of the suggestions aren't amazing.

_flint_, you hit the nail right on the head with the Broken Circle, but to that add Inception and The Matrix. And no, it isn't the Party who's shifting the terrain. The world itself is shaped by the thoughts and dreams by those in the Material Plane. Though the "weak veil of the dream plane, which is uncomfortably close to ours" bit definitely stops Richard the Wizard from casting Plane Shift to escape.

DMofDarkness, your Dread Necro "spawn clones" idea is freaking brilliant. So much so that it will be a "miniboss" where the party has to fight basically shadow versions of themselves to be able to destroy the BBEG's Dreamscape Avatar.

Redwolf, the "three stooges" boss fight is also genius for the beginning. However, since this is Pathfinder, I'll probably go with a Sorcerer, an Oracle, and a Wilder (Dreamscarred press version)

Now, the final boss will likely be:

"Stage 1": normal BBEG fight with cronies

"Stage 2": BBEG turns into a cthuloid monstrosity (using Eidolon with more Evolution points than normal, but with whatever spells he had left)

and "Stage 3": Okay, now the BBEG is done playing around. He draws from the Dreamscape and becomes a Half-Fiend Dragon (dunno what color) and has a few rather powerful minions (the Eidolon form he once had, sans the spells bit) where the party must climb his massive body and finish this SoB off once and for all, lest he rips the universe an unsightly new bum hole.