Help me flesh out this island..

[Kerilstrasz]

Ok.. short story..

PCs need to go on that island and get some magic water from a waterfall there.

What we (they) know about the island:
@The island has extremely rare fauna & flora that cost a fortune in the right market.
@It is rumored as the deadliest area at the east coast if not the east hemisphere.
@No man who set foot there returned to tell the story.
@No nation laid claim on the island. Big nations have wars to care about and smaller nations don't have spare manpower.
@Because of the above, fauna & flora is unspoiled and it is rumored that various new species exist there that no one heard of.

What questgiver told them.

@There is a waterfall in the center of the island, that has water with magic properties. (that is why they going there)
@This magic water is effecting island's living things so they must be ready for Anything.

So.. What i need from you?

Ideas for fancy creatures the PCs might encounter there..
I need a main encounter that will guard the waterfall (or at least 1 that lives there and will be disturbed by the intruders).
An encounter that they will have near the shore (just as they land on the island)
And one more that will be really above their CR and players have to run away from it when it is time to leave the island.(this has to be obvious that it is NOT to fight)

The party will be 4 people of level 3 each. (don't know classes yet but prolly be PhB)
I ll lay the encounters as such: "Coast encounter 1st day, Main encounter second day, and after they defeat it and get the water, High CR encounter to drive em off the island.

So.. any creature from 3 or 3,5 edition. No homebrew or magazines plz.
Just need Name,Book & page :smallsmile:

1.) Coast Encounter
2.) Main Encounter
3.) Big Bad Thingie that drives 'em off

[WbtE]

The template gurus will be here shortly to help you with the not-quite natural encounters. But for now, my advice is to place a Large Water Elemental (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elemental.htm#waterElemental) in the waterfall itself. This is a tough fight for the PCs and could be very dangerous if you allow the elemental to hide in the water as common sense would dictate.

[Waker]

@The island has extremely rare fauna & flora that cost a fortune in the right market.
@It is rumored as the deadliest area at the east coast if not the east hemisphere.
@No man who set foot there returned to tell the story.
@No nation laid claim on the island. Big nations have wars to care about and smaller nations don't have spare manpower.
@Because of the above, fauna & flora is unspoiled and it is rumored that various new species exist there that no one heard of.
-Why are the flora/fauna valuable? Do they have some properties that make them pricey, or does their value lay strictly in their extreme rarity?
-What are some of the rumors for the island/coast? Bad history, giant monsters, inhospitable weather?
-How is that known if no one comes back? Does everyone need to sign in before they head there?



@There is a waterfall in the center of the island, that has water with magic properties. (that is why they going there)
@This magic water is effecting island's living things so they must be ready for Anything.
What are the magical properties? Do they encourage healing/growth? Divinitive properties? Hold a magical charge?...
-Are the properties permanent or short-term?


Ideas for fancy creatures the PCs might encounter there..
I need a main encounter that will guard the waterfall (or at least 1 that lives there and will be disturbed by the intruders).
An encounter that they will have near the shore (just as they land on the island)
And one more that will be really above their CR and players have to run away from it when it is time to leave the island.(this has to be obvious that it is NOT to fight)
What is the climate of the island? Temperate, tropical, tundra... This can help narrow down what are appropriate encounters.

[Falcon X]

Let's see here. A few ideas:

- Vine Horror (Fiend Folio, p185) - NE, CR4. Evil, Sentient, Aquatic, Territorial, Algae-person. Manipulates trees and vines.
- Briarvex (MM4, p26) - NE, CR6. Evil, Sentient, Vine-Ogre.
- Tendriculous (SRD) - N, CR6. Plant. Huge, grabs and swallows you.

Okay, so as Wbte started saying, Templates are a great way to go in your circumstance. They allow everything on the island to be warped in the same way. You can even make them common creatures to emphasize the warped-ness. Like Goblins, ogres, garralons, owlbears, etc. Here are a few ideas:

Woodling Template (MM3, p198) - Mostly just become plant-like.
Blightspawned Template (UnapproachableEast, p.60) - Rotting plants.
Water Element Template (MP, p.194) - Fluid bodies in same general form.
Telthor Template (Unapproachable East) - Territorial Spirits
Mistling Template (Eberron Forge of War, p152) - Insane Fey

[PraxisVetli]

Nothics, from Miniatures Handbook.

[Slipperychicken]

-How is that known if no one comes back? Does everyone need to sign in before they head there?



@No man who set foot there returned to tell the story.

This still allows for women, non-humans, fliers, footless people, etc. to pull it off :smalltongue:

[Kennisiou]

Coastal Encounter? Monstrous Crab! (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a) (it's the second one down)


It pops out of the ocean where it's hidden, grabs one of the party, and then proceeds to attempt to drag them underwater with him and eat them! Probably goes for the one that looks frailest and has a brutal surprise round attack on them. The party will scramble to save him right away. It's a super rough encounter for a level 3 party but it's handleable.

[WbtE]

Seconding the monstrous crab. I still remember these things from reading Fighting Fantasy twenty years ago.

[Hurnn]

Coastal Encounter? Monstrous Crab! (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a) (it's the second one down)


It pops out of the ocean where it's hidden, grabs one of the party, and then proceeds to attempt to drag them underwater with him and eat them! Probably goes for the one that looks frailest and has a brutal surprise round attack on them. The party will scramble to save him right away. It's a super rough encounter for a level 3 party but it's handleable.



lol you mean its a TPK?

Goes for frailest on surprise round ie the wizard:

full attack 2 claws +10 to hit flat footed ac on wizard probably 10 so auto hits for 2(d8+9) averages 26 hp damage wizard at 3rd has 24 max with the mid teens being more realistic; but wait there is more. With each hit it gets a free attempt to grapple, a staggering +19 on its check vs your wizard who if we are generous will have a 2? OK so grapple checks passed eat another 26 hp of damage mr wizard.

Hell it could attack 2 ppl in the surprise round and drop them both including more than likely your fighter.

that crab is one of the worst under cr'ed monsters they ever did much like the 3.0 gorillion

[jaydubs]

On the shore, the party will encounter a vine horror, as suggested by Falcon X. It starts out by animating vines that start to approach from the treeline. But in reality, the vine horror is the seaweed that has attached itself to their rowboat on the way to shore. The backline is in for a nasty surprise if they all failed their spot checks.

Then, as the party treks through the jungle, let them come across the remnants of previous expeditions. There are corpses everywhere, all in pained and agony-filled poses, and covered in plant-life. This should be described as disturbingly as possible.

When the party gets to the water, it is eerily calm. But the waterfall is guarded by WbtE's water elemental, which fights them from inside the pool. They eventually find out that the waterfall is somehow connected to the elemental plane of water. And the extraplanar magic leaking through is what has given rise to the predatory plants.

After they beat the elemental, and possibly with a short rest, they start hearing sounds from the jungle. What emerges are the plant covered corpses they passed earlier. Every person who has ever died on this island comes back as one of its terrible guardians. And they want the party to join them.

Use the suggested woodling template on regular humanoids, except make their movement speed much slower. And make them very, very numerous. The party enters a chase scene, basically pursued by plant zombies. What makes this part dangerous is that woodling creatures get entangle as a spell-like ability. While the creatures are actually casting entangles, describe it instead as the very island itself trying to drag them down and keep them there. They now have to run through a jungle, while making spot and reflex checks to avoid grasping plants, as a mob of plant zombies closes in around them. The payoff is when someone gets stuck in an entangle, and the party has to choose between trying to cut him out, or leaving him behind. And of course, the frantic rolling to get free as the zombies approach at a slow, but unstoppable pace.

At least, that's how I would do it. But I like to try to scare players. :smallamused:

[Waker]

Woodling Template (MM3, p198) - Mostly just become plant-like.
Blightspawned Template (UnapproachableEast, p.60) - Rotting plants.
Water Element Template (MP, p.194) - Fluid bodies in same general form.
Telthor Template (Unapproachable East) - Territorial Spirits
Mistling Template (Eberron Forge of War, p152) - Insane Fey
Spellwarped from MM3 is another fun template. If the magical properties of this water are unstable, might be good for it.

[Kerilstrasz]

-Why are the flora/fauna valuable? Do they have some properties that make them pricey, or does their value lay strictly in their extreme rarity?

Because they are so rare, and no1 studied this wildlife, no1 knows if there are any properties at all.. i suppose they are valuable because they are extremely rare.. maybe after time someone discover if there are some properties.


-What are some of the rumors for the island/coast? Bad history, giant monsters, inhospitable weather?

There are all kinds of legends.. The truth although, is that simply every person ever went there, never came back.. rumors and legends created by tavern story tellers as warnings or fiction for their stories.


What are the magical properties? Do they encourage healing/growth? Divinitive properties? Hold a magical charge?...


They eventually find out that the waterfall is somehow connected to the elemental plane of water. This is helping..
The water is the ingredient for a spell the questgiver wants to cast and it represents the pure element of Water. (PCs just know it is a valuable water and that mans needs it. It is a simple "go get that" quest for them)


-Are the properties permanent or short-term?

Well.. as long the water is "good" then it remains "magic". What i mean by good? Pcs have been told they need to bring the water back to the questgiver in 3 days, because by the time you separate it from they main body of water, it will loose all its "magic" in 72 hours. Obviously the questgiver has a way to preserve it or use it in time.


What is the climate of the island?

I'd say tropical...



Also.. i want the island somehow to Not be accessible by air for 2 reasons:
1.) So players don't use fly, flying mounts or machines to get there
2.) If it was accessible by air then someone would had already at least survey the island.

I'm thinking some big bad flying creatures.. or thick smoke from a nearby volcano...

[avr]

If there's a cloud of volcanic smoke permanently obscuring the island it'll be a pretty uninhabitable place. Dark, acid rain killing off all the vegetation (& so everything else), difficult to breathe at ground level with falling ash too. The hostile flying creatures - elementals, mephits, feral halflings riding dinosaurs, swarms of hostile birds with the woodling template added, whatever - sound better.

[Waker]

I'd say tropical...
Also.. i want the island somehow to Not be accessible by air for 2 reasons:
1.) So players don't use fly, flying mounts or machines to get there
2.) If it was accessible by air then someone would had already at least survey the island.

I'm thinking some big bad flying creatures.. or thick smoke from a nearby volcano...
-Tropical could entail a greater number of reptilian or amphibian creatures. I could try to sort through the many manuals that contain monsters, but I'll leave that to others.
As for making the island inaccessible, you have a few options. Flying creatures can be killed or avoided, providing more xp for the party. I would suggest instead an environmental obstacle. Say you decided to go the volcano route, perhaps the island is ringed by a mountain range, forming a natural ring. The mountain provided a physical barrier around much of the island, containing a few valleys and channels that can provide a means of entrance on foot or boat. They also help contain thick clouds of poisonous and corrosive smog belched out from the volcano. Anyone attempting to pass through in the air needs to be protected from acid and be able to either provide their own air or not breathe in the first place. The unusual properties of the island give off a dampening field that inhibits teleportation and extra-planar travel.
Now the image that the party sees when approaching the island is a wall of stone, capped with a ominous fog.


If there's a cloud of volcanic smoke permanently obscuring the island it'll be a pretty uninhabitable place. Dark, acid rain killing off all the vegetation (& so everything else), difficult to breathe at ground level with falling ash too. The hostile flying creatures - elementals, mephits, feral halflings riding dinosaurs, swarms of hostile birds with the woodling template added, whatever - sound better. Not necessarily. The island is a closed ecosystem, that could follow an alternate evolutionary approach. Think of the bacteria that lives around underwater volcanic vents. Rather than having the standard green leaves and whatnot, imagine towering spikey protrusions that resemble coral. The volcano could provide plenty of material for life, but life that doesn't rely on solar power. Would make for an interesting alien landscape.

[AMFV]

You could make the island part of a volcanic arc, the constant presence of ash would make entry by air impossible. Then you could include all kinds of earth elemental and fire elemental related monsters. When the players were expecting a tropical vacation, they get a volcanic wasteland instead. You can use the volcanic eruptions and volcanic events to move your players around or make areas unsafe, particularly the gasses and vents type thing.

The initial encounter could be a variety of smoke parelementals, then you could move onto more prescient hazards (there was a reprint of Magma elementals in Dragon #347, which also includes some elemental monoliths, I believe. The boss could be some kind of living explosion. I'd use the living spell template or something thereabouts, and give it class levels. Probably something like a pseudo-mailman sorcerer, that way it could attack the players with volcanic effects.

Anyhoo, that may not be what you're looking for, but that's how I'd do it.

[Xintas]

1.) Coast Encounter

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Sahuagin

leading some

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Locathah

2.) Main Encounter

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Merrow

3.) Big Bad Thingie that drives 'em off

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Tyrannosaurus


How did no one suggest T-Rex already?

[AMFV]

1.) Coast Encounter

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Sahuagin

leading some

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Locathah

2.) Main Encounter

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Merrow

3.) Big Bad Thingie that drives 'em off

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Tyrannosaurus


How did no one suggest T-Rex already?

I was pretty caught up in Volcano stuff, since that's kind of my bag, baby.

[Grozomah]

Forget the T-rex, how about a nice little pack of fleshrakers (MM3, 40)? They are only CR2 after all, so just throw a pack of two or three of them in. It will soften them up nicely for the late game with that nice DEX poison.

Now, this is completly source-less, but if you have the will, make a Cassovary (http://www.cracked.com/funny-4480-the-cassowary/). It will be hillarious if they fail their knowledge: nature checks and think they just found a dodo-like free meal, only to find that the bird is the word.

[Xintas]

Forget the T-rex

Wut. :smallconfused:

[ReluctantDragon]

Forget the T-rex, how about a nice little pack of fleshrakers (MM3, 40)? They are only CR2 after all, so just throw a pack of two or three of them in. It will soften them up nicely for the late game with that nice DEX poison.

Now, this is completly source-less, but if you have the will, make a Cassovary (http://www.cracked.com/funny-4480-the-cassowary/). It will be hillarious if they fail their knowledge: nature checks and think they just found a dodo-like free meal, only to find that the bird is the word.

Now I have to go change my pants after the fear-peeing that occurred from clicking on that link. Thanks.

[Slipperychicken]

If there's a cloud of volcanic smoke permanently obscuring the island it'll be a pretty uninhabitable place. Dark, acid rain killing off all the vegetation (& so everything else), difficult to breathe at ground level with falling ash too. The hostile flying creatures - elementals, mephits, feral halflings riding dinosaurs, swarms of hostile birds with the woodling template added, whatever - sound better.

Maybe the smoke only comes down periodically, and in low enough quantities to be non-lethal, but still would make breathing uncomfortable and obscure vision? Volcanic smog would be one way to make encounters harder.

Besides, you could always say the plants and creatures have the Acidborn template which lets them live in such a deadly environment.

[Hurnn]

1.) Coast Encounter

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Sahuagin

leading some

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Locathah

2.) Main Encounter

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Merrow

3.) Big Bad Thingie that drives 'em off

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Tyrannosaurus


How did no one suggest T-Rex already?

Because it's a level 3 party jesus people, why is it everyone seams to want to TPK

[AMFV]

Because it's a level 3 party jesus people, why is it everyone seams to want to TPK

Because the OP specified that he wanted something significantly above the players CR to drive them off the Island as the last encounter. The other ones are all CR appropriate for a level 3 party.

[Slipperychicken]

Because it's a level 3 party jesus people, why is it everyone seams to want to TPK

The OP asked for a big bad creature to scare the party off the island, and the T-Rex does that nicely (although it may end up outrunning the party with its 40ft move speed. Just hope they brought some good horses :smallbiggrin:).

EDIT: Swordsage'd

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A large section of the inland can be populated by many docile Boars (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/boar.htm), with the occasional hostile Dire Boar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direBoar.htm), and a big meanie that's guaranteed to chase them away can be a Razor Boar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/razorBoar.htm). Maybe if the kill/disturb enough of the boars and dire boars they anger the Boar God and it emerges to run rampant in search of the trespassers. They should be able to hear it coming and get away in time, as it wouldn't go straight toward them. If they're at a decently high elevation they would even be able to see it thrashing its way through overgrown island, obviously massive and extremely angry and dangerous.

[Kerilstrasz]

Ok.. many great ideas..

I think i ll keep the mountain ring thingie.. as "nature's wall"
I ll throw a volcanic cloud above it too.. thick enough just to not prevent sun light, poisonous etc etc
the "magic" water protects the island from the cloud, and the cloud contains the "magic" in the island's mountain ring.

Now.. for the encounters..
I like the T-rex thingie.. i doubt if any of my players will say "Lets fight it"
I suppose in the sight of a charging Trex they will just flee, as i want them to..

I also like the Sahuagin and the locathah

But for the main encounter..
dunno.. i'm thinking something with magic properties.. maybe a nymph that lives in the water? dunno.. i don't want a water elem.(i don't want to make it easy for them to realize that this water IS the actual element.)

heh.. that Trex is good.. i may throw some dynos they can see from distance.. add some roar sound effects.. :) ye.. im happy with Trex.

[Waker]

But for the main encounter..
dunno.. i'm thinking something with magic properties.. maybe a nymph that lives in the water? dunno.. i don't want a water elem.(i don't want to make it easy for them to realize that this water IS the actual element.)
Fossergrim from Fiend Folio is what you want. It's the male equivalent to a Dryad, but rather than being bound to a tree, they are bound to waterfalls. CR 5 Aquatic Fey.

[AMFV]

Ok.. many great ideas..

I think i ll keep the mountain ring thingie.. as "nature's wall"
I ll throw a volcanic cloud above it too.. thick enough just to not prevent sun light, poisonous etc etc
the "magic" water protects the island from the cloud, and the cloud contains the "magic" in the island's mountain ring.

Now.. for the encounters..
I like the T-rex thingie.. i doubt if any of my players will say "Lets fight it"
I suppose in the sight of a charging Trex they will just flee, as i want them to..

I also like the Sahuagin and the locathah

But for the main encounter..
dunno.. i'm thinking something with magic properties.. maybe a nymph that lives in the water? dunno.. i don't want a water elem.(i don't want to make it easy for them to realize that this water IS the actual element.)

heh.. that Trex is good.. i may throw some dynos they can see from distance.. add some roar sound effects.. :) ye.. im happy with Trex.

If it's a volcano... Why not an awakened Living Spell Deadly Lahar, it's the embodiment of one of the most dangerous hazards of the Volcano.

[Waker]

If it's a volcano... Why not an awakened Living Spell Deadly Lahar, it's the embodiment of one of the most dangerous hazards of the Volcano.

I like the idea, but a Living Spell Deadly Lahar would be way too strong for a 3rd level party. DR10/Magic, SR 25, every hit would deal 1d8+4+10d6 damage (Reflex sv DC 22 for half) and more. A monster that tough would rip them in half. Maybe choose a lower level spell with the Fire or Earth descriptor

[BWR]

So this palce is basically the Isle of Dread (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Isle_of_Dread)?

Add a waterfall and I think you're there.

[AMFV]

I like the idea, but a Living Spell Deadly Lahar would be way too strong for a 3rd level party. DR10/Magic, SR 25, every hit would deal 1d8+4+10d6 damage (Reflex sv DC 22 for half) and more. A monster that tough would rip them in half. Maybe choose a lower level spell with the Fire or Earth descriptor

He wanted something that was much more powerful than them to drive them off the Island. That would count.

[Waker]

He wanted something that was much more powerful than them to drive them off the Island. That would count.

Point. It would be a decent challenge not to overcome, but rather avoid. The template would result in a mindless ooze that has a 20ft movement speed. Combined with all of the other traits I mentioned earlier would result in a big, strong monster that the party would be encouraged to run around and steal the water rather than try to kill it.
If the OP went that route, it would probably be a good idea for him to describe the scenery in such a way to give the party forewarning of the creature before they encounter it. Maybe include a graveyard of scorched bones, several of which are dangerous creatures. If the party sees the blackened remains of a T-Rex, they might be a bit more willing to remember the relation of discretion and valor.

[AMFV]

Point. It would be a decent challenge not to overcome, but rather avoid. The template would result in a mindless ooze that has a 20ft movement speed. Combined with all of the other traits I mentioned earlier would result in a big, strong monster that the party would be encouraged to run around and steal the water rather than try to kill it.
If the OP went that route, it would probably be a good idea for him to describe the scenery in such a way to give the party forewarning of the creature before they encounter it. Maybe include a graveyard of scorched bones, several of which are dangerous creatures. If the party sees the blackened remains of a T-Rex, they might be a bit more willing to remember the relation of discretion and valor.

I was thinking of an awakened one, although that might be a little much, the idea of an intelligent volcano being is just really appealing to me.

Also, minor nitpick, but the discretion is the better part of valor, was actually not supposed to be emulated, that was the bad guy, who had just gotten a bunch of people killed. I know everybody says it which is amusing, but it was the villain and it was supposed to be villainous. That's pretty off-topic, but I always find it amusing how many people emulate Shakespeare's villains, it's an interesting values dissonance.

[Waker]

I was thinking of an awakened one, although that might be a little much, the idea of an intelligent volcano being is just really appealing to me.

Also, minor nitpick, but the discretion is the better part of valor, was actually not supposed to be emulated, that was the bad guy, who had just gotten a bunch of people killed. I know everybody says it which is amusing, but it was the villain and it was supposed to be villainous. That's pretty off-topic, but I always find it amusing how many people emulate Shakespeare's villains, it's an interesting values dissonance.

Hmm, Awakened might be a bit too much. Even with it's slow speed, it could easy ambush the party and kill at least one or two of the party before they could run. If the idea of a living holocaust isn't enough for you though, perhaps there could be ruins in the area explaining the origin of the spell. Perhaps the volcano wasn't always there. Maybe sometime in the distant past some mage got to fiddling around with the magical pool and got in a little over his head. Magic went awry and what was once a paradise is engulfed by a newly formed volcano.
In fact, upon further reflection, such a history would be worth pondering a bit. Since no one returns from the island, how did the group's patron discover it's existence? If the island was inhabited at one point, that would go a long way to explaining how he came about the information. He tracked down some old lore from several sources that all confirmed the existence of a magical spring and decided to send the party to investigate for him.

And such is the nature of phrases being twisted and losing their meaning or be reinterpreted entirely. My favorite phrase is when people misquote "Blood is thicker than Water", taking it to mean that family is more important than friends when the original meaning was actually the opposite. The blood referred not to familial relations but rather blood convenants like blood brothers, while water referred to amniotic fluid. I digress however.

[Xintas]

Alright! 2 for 3. Let's test my luck and go for broke.

You want a nymph but watery? BAM!

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Naiads_%283.5e_Race%29

Throw a couple class levels on that thing and you have a water pixie with blinding beauty.