Fates
2012-12-28, 09:21 PM
So, to be brief, I'm DMing a game in which the PCs are currently attempting to return to life a number of epic-level heroes (their characters from the last campaign I ran) whose souls are bound and kept in temples to a god who is worshipped almost exclusively in the world, and who despises magic.
The PCs have nearly found the temple which contains the soul gem of the last party's wizard/favored soul/mystic theurge (who somehow was the weakest member of the party). It is on top of a mountain which they will reach after crossing an enormous desert.
The temple is protected initially by a number of undead priests (the priesthood is okay with the undead) who are, surprisingly, also wizards (the priesthood is not okay with this). It would take a very long time to explain why this is, but the PCs will undoubtedly be taken aback by it, as every priest they've met so far has hated all magic with a passion. The priests (who, frankly, are supposed to be off their respective rockers) believe the mystic theurge to be a saint to the magic-hating god, and so the entire temple is built to commemorate him. He was a half-celestial, so I expect it to be somewhat shiny.
Aaanyway, I need some ideas for challenges within the temple leading to the soul gem. The campaign world is very low-magic, with renaissance-level technology, but, as the protectors are wizards, some magic could be involved. The issue is, I always build dungeons as a set of challenges tailor-built for my players to be able to accomplish, and the challenges aren't usually very interesting. So, what, my dear beloved fellow playgrounders, can you come up with?
The party will have members who are between levels 8-10, I expect. They are fairly low-op, however. Here are the PCs- try to make the challenges doable for these characters.
-An elf ninja (home-brewed variant that doesn't suck as much) who focuses on TWF with some very powerful kamas. The stealthier member by far.
-A human monk/soulknife/assassin (ha, terrible, I know), who is reasonably good at stealth but can't hit for sheet
-A half-elf bard/barbarian (whirling frenzy variant)/rogue. As one would expect, he's a bit of a jack of all trades. He can handle himself in most areas.
-A tiefling shadowcaster. She's pretty weak, but her player is skillful enough to make it work. However, she's only 14, refuses to kill unless absolutely necessary, and doesn't contribute much to combat anyway. She is very creepy, however.
-A human warlock/rogue/assassin variant (1/2 invocation/EB progression instead of spells). She's very stealthy and a pretty good damage-dealer, but has some difficulty with the whole "not getting hit" part.
-A middle-aged half-orc druid. He's pretty good at being a druid, but spends most his time healing.
-A human swashbuckler/ranger. She's only tested herself twice in combat, and both times the players had a huge advantage, so frankly I don't know how she'll do.
-A halfling bard. He's not bad as a buffer, but is terrible offensively and spends too much of his resources being wacky to ever truly be an asset.
In addition, any of these four may or may not be present.
-A halfling wizard/rogue/arcane trickster. He focuses primarily on home brewed alchemical items. Another jack of all trades, he's pretty handy with a crossbow.
-A human cleric. She's pretty scary, really. Effective in combat, but spends most of her time doing necromancy. She's a tad more evil than the rest of the party (actually a lot) and there's a good chance she'll be kicked out soon. Probably good, as she's got plans to make the mystic theurge into an undead puppet.
-A tiefling sorcerer. He's only 12, so he can't fight well, but he's got a lot of good magic up his sleeves. He focuses on enchantment, with a bit of blasting added. Again, pretty creepy.
-A half-orc viking (barbarian variant). He's currently dead, but we'll see if he accepts the Druid's reincarnate spell. If he does, he'll be a bugbear. He'll also be much lower level, however, as he died at level 6.
Yes, I know our party is way too big. This is my fault, as, despite already having seven players, I gave the OK on doubles. For this reason, I don't mind if we have some casualties. Not too many, though, as that magic-hating god kinda messed up resurrection magic, so it messes up in weird ways
Cheers!
-Fates
The PCs have nearly found the temple which contains the soul gem of the last party's wizard/favored soul/mystic theurge (who somehow was the weakest member of the party). It is on top of a mountain which they will reach after crossing an enormous desert.
The temple is protected initially by a number of undead priests (the priesthood is okay with the undead) who are, surprisingly, also wizards (the priesthood is not okay with this). It would take a very long time to explain why this is, but the PCs will undoubtedly be taken aback by it, as every priest they've met so far has hated all magic with a passion. The priests (who, frankly, are supposed to be off their respective rockers) believe the mystic theurge to be a saint to the magic-hating god, and so the entire temple is built to commemorate him. He was a half-celestial, so I expect it to be somewhat shiny.
Aaanyway, I need some ideas for challenges within the temple leading to the soul gem. The campaign world is very low-magic, with renaissance-level technology, but, as the protectors are wizards, some magic could be involved. The issue is, I always build dungeons as a set of challenges tailor-built for my players to be able to accomplish, and the challenges aren't usually very interesting. So, what, my dear beloved fellow playgrounders, can you come up with?
The party will have members who are between levels 8-10, I expect. They are fairly low-op, however. Here are the PCs- try to make the challenges doable for these characters.
-An elf ninja (home-brewed variant that doesn't suck as much) who focuses on TWF with some very powerful kamas. The stealthier member by far.
-A human monk/soulknife/assassin (ha, terrible, I know), who is reasonably good at stealth but can't hit for sheet
-A half-elf bard/barbarian (whirling frenzy variant)/rogue. As one would expect, he's a bit of a jack of all trades. He can handle himself in most areas.
-A tiefling shadowcaster. She's pretty weak, but her player is skillful enough to make it work. However, she's only 14, refuses to kill unless absolutely necessary, and doesn't contribute much to combat anyway. She is very creepy, however.
-A human warlock/rogue/assassin variant (1/2 invocation/EB progression instead of spells). She's very stealthy and a pretty good damage-dealer, but has some difficulty with the whole "not getting hit" part.
-A middle-aged half-orc druid. He's pretty good at being a druid, but spends most his time healing.
-A human swashbuckler/ranger. She's only tested herself twice in combat, and both times the players had a huge advantage, so frankly I don't know how she'll do.
-A halfling bard. He's not bad as a buffer, but is terrible offensively and spends too much of his resources being wacky to ever truly be an asset.
In addition, any of these four may or may not be present.
-A halfling wizard/rogue/arcane trickster. He focuses primarily on home brewed alchemical items. Another jack of all trades, he's pretty handy with a crossbow.
-A human cleric. She's pretty scary, really. Effective in combat, but spends most of her time doing necromancy. She's a tad more evil than the rest of the party (actually a lot) and there's a good chance she'll be kicked out soon. Probably good, as she's got plans to make the mystic theurge into an undead puppet.
-A tiefling sorcerer. He's only 12, so he can't fight well, but he's got a lot of good magic up his sleeves. He focuses on enchantment, with a bit of blasting added. Again, pretty creepy.
-A half-orc viking (barbarian variant). He's currently dead, but we'll see if he accepts the Druid's reincarnate spell. If he does, he'll be a bugbear. He'll also be much lower level, however, as he died at level 6.
Yes, I know our party is way too big. This is my fault, as, despite already having seven players, I gave the OK on doubles. For this reason, I don't mind if we have some casualties. Not too many, though, as that magic-hating god kinda messed up resurrection magic, so it messes up in weird ways
Cheers!
-Fates