DM unique undead or illusion encounters

[RagingDemon]

So I need a few unique undead encounters for my next session of dming. my party is heading into a dungeon I've mapped out for them into a illusion/necromancy themed dungeon including a well planned out labyrinth. Thing is I'm getting a blank on any combat encounters as anything I usually try gets obliterated or almost kills the party.

My party consists of a cleric of pelor with the servent of pelor prestige or whatever it's called. A Duskblade who is pretty min maxed out and deals tons of damage. A wizard who is pretty big on evocation and just enjoys blasting things, a spellthief assassin, and one other player might be rolling a new character as I just recently killed his character. all characters mentioned are level ten with slightly above average gear.

I need some encounter ideas for my dungeon at least 4+ combat encounters, boss and mini boss are taken care of though mini boss it's open for change. And at least 4 traps as well as I expect this to be a long dungeon and I want my characters to have to think about what they are doing more than "I roll disable device."

Remember necromancer or illusion based.

Background on the dungeon to make the location help with design. The dungeon is an abandoned Dwarven stronghold built into the side of a mountain so it is all underground. The stronghold was then taken over by a black Dragon that did some modifications such as the labyrinth and some of the illusion things. The Dragon died in the dungeon awhile ago leaving behind only the magic traps in place to protect its horde. The most recent resident is my big bad necromancer who wants this Dragon brought back for obviously evil purposes along with a small group of necromancers who helped raise some dead up to hold back the adventurers long enough to try and complete their ritual. (I know it would be a quick spell for something like this but I can't deny the drama of the situation.)

So any encounter ideas would be wonderful as I'm sure plenty of you are great at making fun and unique encounters. I don't need to kill them with any of these plus any advice on loot in total would be greatly appreciated with each encounter, as I feel like I mess that part up quite a bit.

Thank you in advance for any and all responses.

[Emperor Tippy]

Make the walls in some places five feet further in on either side and line them with undead before putting up illusions of normal dungeon walls in front of the undead.

What level are the party?

[RagingDemon]

As I stated before they are all level 10

[supermonkeyjoe]

Have some shadows or other incorporeal undead in a room with some illusions of the same, did your sword go through it because it's a ghost, or because it's an illusion. fun times.

[RagingDemon]

Have some shadows or other incorporeal undead in a room with some illusions of the same, did your sword go through it because it's a ghost, or because it's an illusion. fun times.

I think this is a pretty good idea, like shadows with mirror image or something on it that increases the miss chance though that much miss chance might enrage my players.

[Magesmiley]

How about an evil cleric (one of the necromancer's minions) who stays hidden behind the scenes and uses his abilities to enhance some undead that should normally be a cakewalk. For example throwing some energy resistance and using his turning to bolster some less powerful undead.

Illusions to disguise undead as less powerful ones. For example mummies disguised as zombies or skeletons.

[RagingDemon]

How about an evil cleric (one of the necromancer's minions) who stays hidden behind the scenes and uses his abilities to enhance some undead that should normally be a cakewalk. For example throwing some energy resistance and using his turning to bolster some less powerful undead.

Illusions to disguise undead as less powerful ones. For example mummies disguised as zombies or skeletons.

You know this idea was extremely close to my mini boss idea. I thought that a group of skeletons to fight that are rather weak with enough turning resistance to not get obliterated by the cleric round one. One they are all dead cleric lackey combines them into big a morphing skeleton, such as warrior one time, some sort of beast one health gets low about halfway, and then bone storm when almost dead.

[Tibbit Tamer]

If you have MM 4, try the Vitreous Drinker (pg. 174) It an undead that has a few abilities and SLA based on eye site. While it isn't exactly illusion based, it could still prevent players from seeing any up-coming illusions by blinding them.

[RagingDemon]

If you have MM 4, try the Vitreous Drinker (pg. 174) It an undead that has a few abilities and SLA based on eye site. While it isn't exactly illusion based, it could still prevent players from seeing any up-coming illusions by blinding them.

I do not have the book though I can look up this creature and check out out to see if it would work out for an encounter. Thanks for the tip.

[Magesmiley]

Another thought that came to mind was that I seem to vaguely recall there being a bone golem. I'm not sure if it ever got converted to 3.5 though. It would be another interesting bit of misdirection, especially if the party mistakes it for a skeleton.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Include a Dread Necromancer 10 (HoH) with two flaws for Versatile Spellcaster (RotD), Magical Training for a spellbook (PGtF), Tomb-Tainted Soul, Corpsecrafter, and Destruction Retribution (LM). With Cha 20 he will have animated 90 HD worth of undead minions. His familiar is the Ghostly Visage from Fiend Folio, it should always be possessing him and manifest over his face to use its paralyzing gaze, keep in mind the DC is 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha mod and its HD is equal to his.

They'll turn a corner and find a 10 ft. wide, 10 ft. tall, 20 ft. long corridor that leads into a 30 ft. wide, 20 ft. tall, 50 ft. long room, but the corridor appears to be 50 ft. long and the room only 20 ft. long due to illusions. He's used Permanent Image to make the corridor appear to extend 30 ft. further and the room to be equally smaller, creating false walls and ceiling for his minions to hide behind, as follows: Six Worg Zombies (48 HD) three per side, a Behir Zombie (18 HD) using its climb ability to cling to the ceiling, and three Skullcrusher Ogre (MM3) Skeletons (24 HD) lined up across the room to block them from reaching him. His minions have all made their saving throws to disbelieve the illusory walls, so they can see through them and their attacks won't be hindered by concealment.

His minions have +4 HP per HD and +4 Str and Dex for Dread Necro 8 and Corpsecrafter, and whenever one of those minions is destroyed it explodes, dealing 1d6+(1/2 HD)d6 negatvie energy damage in a 10-ft. radius (Reflex DC 15 half), which heals other undead and the necromancer since he has Tomb-Tainted Soul. The necromancer should begin by casting Black Tentacles in the hall behind them, which extends 30 ft. toward them so the edge of the effect reaches is 10 ft. inside of the actual room, blocking their escape and encouraging them to move in closer. He'll then Waves of Fatigue twice on the whole party while his minions strike from behind the illusions, and follow up with Summon Swarm. He should use spells liberally, such as Blindness/Deafness to blind obvious arcane casters (spell component pouch, casting arcane spells, etc.), Enervation on divine casters, and even Summon Undead to get more meat shields (which don't benefit from the above bonuses since he didn't create them).

Chances are the first thing the Cleric does is use Greater Turning to destroy as many of those undead minions as he can in a single hit, and they'll all blow up and inflict significant damage on the entire party. The Behir has orders to always ready an action to bite an opponent who's speaking and gesturing with their hands, in the hopes of having it disrupt spellcasters. Just to note, this is designed to be an incredibly difficult encounter and it's very likely that it will kill your whole party.

[atemu1234]

Include a Dread Necromancer 10 (HoH) with two flaws for Versatile Spellcaster (RotD), Magical Training for a spellbook (PGtF), Tomb-Tainted Soul, Corpsecrafter, and Destruction Retribution (LM). With Cha 20 he will have animated 90 HD worth of undead minions. His familiar is the Ghostly Visage from Fiend Folio, it should always be possessing him and manifest over his face to use its paralyzing gaze, keep in mind the DC is 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha mod and its HD is equal to his.

They'll turn a corner and find a 10 ft. wide, 10 ft. tall, 20 ft. long corridor that leads into a 30 ft. wide, 20 ft. tall, 50 ft. long room, but the corridor appears to be 50 ft. long and the room only 20 ft. long due to illusions. He's used Permanent Image to make the corridor appear to extend 30 ft. further and the room to be equally smaller, creating false walls and ceiling for his minions to hide behind, as follows: Six Worg Zombies (48 HD) three per side, a Behir Zombie (18 HD) using its climb ability to cling to the ceiling, and three Skullcrusher Ogre (MM3) Skeletons (24 HD) lined up across the room to block them from reaching him. His minions have all made their saving throws to disbelieve the illusory walls, so they can see through them and their attacks won't be hindered by concealment.

His minions have +4 HP per HD and +4 Str and Dex for Dread Necro 8 and Corpsecrafter, and whenever one of those minions is destroyed it explodes, dealing 1d6+(1/2 HD)d6 negatvie energy damage in a 10-ft. radius (Reflex DC 15 half), which heals other undead and the necromancer since he has Tomb-Tainted Soul. The necromancer should begin by casting Black Tentacles in the hall behind them, which extends 30 ft. toward them so the edge of the effect reaches is 10 ft. inside of the actual room, blocking their escape and encouraging them to move in closer. He'll then Waves of Fatigue twice on the whole party while his minions strike from behind the illusions, and follow up with Summon Swarm. He should use spells liberally, such as Blindness/Deafness to blind obvious arcane casters (spell component pouch, casting arcane spells, etc.), Enervation on divine casters, and even Summon Undead to get more meat shields (which don't benefit from the above bonuses since he didn't create them).

Chances are the first thing the Cleric does is use Greater Turning to destroy as many of those undead minions as he can in a single hit, and they'll all blow up and inflict significant damage on the entire party. The Behir has orders to always ready an action to bite an opponent who's speaking and gesturing with their hands, in the hopes of having it disrupt spellcasters. Just to note, this is designed to be an incredibly difficult encounter and it's very likely that it will kill your whole party.

Either I'm tired or the math on your feats is a little bit wrong. 5 feats at level ten would be any human. 2 at first for being human, one each at 3rd, 6th, and 9th. Otherwise a delicious plan, I may use this to PO my PCs.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Either I'm tired or the math on your feats is a little bit wrong. 5 feats at level ten would be any human. 2 at first for being human, one each at 3rd, 6th, and 9th. Otherwise a delicious plan, I may use this to PO my PCs.

Two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) give you two extra feats.

If not using flaws, you can go Human with moderate taint from Heroes of Horror for those two needed feats.

[atemu1234]

Two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) give you two extra feats.

If not using flaws, you can go Human with moderate taint from Heroes of Horror for those two needed feats.

One flaw, then. For five feats at tenth level any creature at least has four.

[RagingDemon]

Include a Dread Necromancer 10 (HoH) with two flaws for Versatile Spellcaster (RotD), Magical Training for a spellbook (PGtF), Tomb-Tainted Soul, Corpsecrafter, and Destruction Retribution (LM). With Cha 20 he will have animated 90 HD worth of undead minions. His familiar is the Ghostly Visage from Fiend Folio, it should always be possessing him and manifest over his face to use its paralyzing gaze, keep in mind the DC is 10 + 1/2 HD + Cha mod and its HD is equal to his.

They'll turn a corner and find a 10 ft. wide, 10 ft. tall, 20 ft. long corridor that leads into a 30 ft. wide, 20 ft. tall, 50 ft. long room, but the corridor appears to be 50 ft. long and the room only 20 ft. long due to illusions. He's used Permanent Image to make the corridor appear to extend 30 ft. further and the room to be equally smaller, creating false walls and ceiling for his minions to hide behind, as follows: Six Worg Zombies (48 HD) three per side, a Behir Zombie (18 HD) using its climb ability to cling to the ceiling, and three Skullcrusher Ogre (MM3) Skeletons (24 HD) lined up across the room to block them from reaching him. His minions have all made their saving throws to disbelieve the illusory walls, so they can see through them and their attacks won't be hindered by concealment.

His minions have +4 HP per HD and +4 Str and Dex for Dread Necro 8 and Corpsecrafter, and whenever one of those minions is destroyed it explodes, dealing 1d6+(1/2 HD)d6 negatvie energy damage in a 10-ft. radius (Reflex DC 15 half), which heals other undead and the necromancer since he has Tomb-Tainted Soul. The necromancer should begin by casting Black Tentacles in the hall behind them, which extends 30 ft. toward them so the edge of the effect reaches is 10 ft. inside of the actual room, blocking their escape and encouraging them to move in closer. He'll then Waves of Fatigue twice on the whole party while his minions strike from behind the illusions, and follow up with Summon Swarm. He should use spells liberally, such as Blindness/Deafness to blind obvious arcane casters (spell component pouch, casting arcane spells, etc.), Enervation on divine casters, and even Summon Undead to get more meat shields (which don't benefit from the above bonuses since he didn't create them).

Chances are the first thing the Cleric does is use Greater Turning to destroy as many of those undead minions as he can in a single hit, and they'll all blow up and inflict significant damage on the entire party. The Behir has orders to always ready an action to bite an opponent who's speaking and gesturing with their hands, in the hopes of having it disrupt spellcasters. Just to note, this is designed to be an incredibly difficult encounter and it's very likely that it will kill your whole party.

My goodness this would be dangerous as the cleric can greater turn like 5 or more times.

They could probably handle this all in all though as I know the cleric can pump out healing like none other.

Also you're an evil mastermind and its amazing.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

My goodness this would be dangerous as the cleric can greater turn like 5 or more times.

They could probably handle this all in all though as I know the cleric can pump out healing like none other.

Also you're an evil mastermind and its amazing.

There can be plenty of other undead he's created, either wandering around or still under his control via Rebuke or casting Command Undead. He could even have used Awaken Undead to give them back their feats, skills, and extraordinary special attacks and qualities. Awakened Skeletons of a Razor Boar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/razorBoar.htm) (don't use that one) or Underdark Landwyrms (Draconomicon), Awakened Zombies of Gulgars (MM3), etc. You could even say the Behir Zombie in the above encounter is Awakened, so it gets its Improved Grab, Rakes, and Swallow Whole back. What a surprise when the necromancer orders it to attack the cleric, and the party sees him snapped up and yanked through the ceiling and hear him ripped to shreds. Edit: You would need to make that a Fast Zombie from LM p173, rakes are special attacks so they get around its restriction on attacking only 1/round.

[ace rooster]

You enter a circular dead end room 80ft in diameter which you can just make out in the dim light (20% concealment, creatures with low light vision can see fine in the outer 20ft of the room). There are 4 candles on pedestals in a square 40ft across in the middle of the room. The ground is littered with bones (difficult terrain) from which skeletons continually rise and crumble back into (1d3 human warrior skeletons + 1 owlbear skeleton a round. They last 5 rounds before crumbling). Around the edge of the room kobold zombies with crossbows rise and fall regularly (1d3 per round, again lasting 5 rounds). (spot check to see the shadow which is continually hiding: dc18+1 per 10ft) there is a shadow which fades and reforms floating around. Its touch causes your worst fears to appear before you (instead of str damage its touch triggers a phantasmal strangler trap).

All traps are part of the coffin that is sequestered in the middle of the room. The sequester spell prevents location by all divinations, so PCs are forced to find it by touch. The candles are not part of these traps, but draw attention to the fact that there is no light source in the room but there is still shadowy illumination even if the PCs put out the candles, The coffin has a continual flame and a darkness spell cast on it, causing it to radiate shadowy illumination to 20ft from the darkness spell, and 40ft from the light spell. Mundane light and low level light spells cannot illuminate the inner 20ft. The summon undead 2 traps cast every round and the summon undead 4 trap (cl10) casts once a min. They only summon into shadowy illumination (no rules justification, just the way it works, and drawing players attention to the lighting). The sequester spell is linked to the trap (but not part of it) so disabling the trap, (search and disable device dc29 once you find the coffin) will cause it to appear.


The coffin:
The inscriptions on the side of the coffin tell stories of the mummy lord Ramsec and his undead legions in draconic. Opening the coffin without disabling the stinking cloud trap (search+dd dc 28) also wakes the guardian. The coffin contains a mummy paladin of tyrany 3, in full plate with a cloak of charisma and all the tasties undead can get to boost hp and abilities. He wields a cursed great axe, that appears to be a +3 ice burst, but against undead it loses its enhancement bonus and the ice burst deals negative energy, which heals them. It also shines like a beacon for undead, working like a torch that shines light only undead can see, and making undead aware of the it within 400ft, even without los. If you manage to open the coffin without setting off the stinking cloud then he does not wake, but removing his axe will wake him, unless you search for and disable the dc 26 alarm trap on it. Waking him also wakes the wraiths that live under the pedistals if the candles are still lit.

If you achieve a search dc of 34 on the coffin you find a trap that causes the coffin to lead to an extradimensional space, that contains the real Ramsec. He is a mummy cleric, who possesses a helm that grants the wearer the ability to rebuke/command undead as a cleric of the wearers level, which stacks with any similar abilities. Any attempt to remove the helm will set off a heightened alarm trap (search+dd dc34) to wake him, which also sets off the stinking cloud trap, and wakes the wraiths (with max hitpoints if the candles are still lit), as well as reactivating the summon monster traps unless the original dd check beat the dc by 10.

How does that sound? I tried to make it a bit different from just hoards of undead that you have to kill. The intial undead are more harassment as the players try to figure out the room than a real threat. Veriety in undead will only go so far, and the players will not appreciate novelty in builds (that they never see) so I don't bother too much about optimising things. Of note is that this room is skipable, but possesses a unique treasure that could be very helpful later. You could stash all sorts of treasures with Ramsec, so customise to your hearts content.

[RagingDemon]

You enter a circular dead end room 80ft in diameter which you can just make out in the dim light (20% concealment, creatures with low light vision can see fine in the outer 20ft of the room). There are 4 candles on pedestals in a square 40ft across in the middle of the room. The ground is littered with bones (difficult terrain) from which skeletons continually rise and crumble back into (1d3 human warrior skeletons + 1 owlbear skeleton a round. They last 5 rounds before crumbling). Around the edge of the room kobold zombies with crossbows rise and fall regularly (1d3 per round, again lasting 5 rounds). (spot check to see the shadow which is continually hiding: dc18+1 per 10ft) there is a shadow which fades and reforms floating around. Its touch causes your worst fears to appear before you (instead of str damage its touch triggers a phantasmal strangler trap).

All traps are part of the coffin that is sequestered in the middle of the room. The sequester spell prevents location by all divinations, so PCs are forced to find it by touch. The candles are not part of these traps, but draw attention to the fact that there is no light source in the room but there is still shadowy illumination even if the PCs put out the candles, The coffin has a continual flame and a darkness spell cast on it, causing it to radiate shadowy illumination to 20ft from the darkness spell, and 40ft from the light spell. Mundane light and low level light spells cannot illuminate the inner 20ft. The summon undead 2 traps cast every round and the summon undead 4 trap (cl10) casts once a min. They only summon into shadowy illumination (no rules justification, just the way it works, and drawing players attention to the lighting). The sequester spell is linked to the trap (but not part of it) so disabling the trap, (search and disable device dc29 once you find the coffin) will cause it to appear.


The coffin:
The inscriptions on the side of the coffin tell stories of the mummy lord Ramsec and his undead legions in draconic. Opening the coffin without disabling the stinking cloud trap (search+dd dc 28) also wakes the guardian. The coffin contains a mummy paladin of tyrany 3, in full plate with a cloak of charisma and all the tasties undead can get to boost hp and abilities. He wields a cursed great axe, that appears to be a +3 ice burst, but against undead it loses its enhancement bonus and the ice burst deals negative energy, which heals them. It also shines like a beacon for undead, working like a torch that shines light only undead can see, and making undead aware of the it within 400ft, even without los. If you manage to open the coffin without setting off the stinking cloud then he does not wake, but removing his axe will wake him, unless you search for and disable the dc 26 alarm trap on it. Waking him also wakes the wraiths that live under the pedistals if the candles are still lit.

If you achieve a search dc of 34 on the coffin you find a trap that causes the coffin to lead to an extradimensional space, that contains the real Ramsec. He is a mummy cleric, who possesses a helm that grants the wearer the ability to rebuke/command undead as a cleric of the wearers level, which stacks with any similar abilities. Any attempt to remove the helm will set off a heightened alarm trap (search+dd dc34) to wake him, which also sets off the stinking cloud trap, and wakes the wraiths (with max hitpoints if the candles are still lit), as well as reactivating the summon monster traps unless the original dd check beat the dc by 10.

How does that sound? I tried to make it a bit different from just hoards of undead that you have to kill. The intial undead are more harassment as the players try to figure out the room than a real threat. Veriety in undead will only go so far, and the players will not appreciate novelty in builds (that they never see) so I don't bother too much about optimising things. Of note is that this room is skipable, but possesses a unique treasure that could be very helpful later. You could stash all sorts of treasures with Ramsec, so customise to your hearts content.

This, so much of this. It's so perfect, though I may change the mummy part. But that is a unique, fun and challenging encounter. My party has no rogue so that may come as a problem but it will be fine. I'm sure they can handle some of the traps. They have learned to grow cautious about traps even though they cannot find them.

[John Longarrow]

One tasty trap is a room that is 20'x40' that is 20' high. The middle is trapped. When the middle trap goes off, walls on either side collapse (walls are lined with lead) and release the uncontrolled Hill Giant skeletons in 10'x10' rooms. Anyone caught between is flanked. I'd also have an alarm trap on the room that goes off when entered that alerts the skeletons (they are not surprised).

This is more of a trap as they shouldn't be discovered until it is set off. For fun, do the corpse crafter deal above to make them a bit tougher.

[Bloodgruve]

Layer your illusions also. An illusionary wall behind an illusionary wall with illusionary undead mixed with incorporeal undead behind that.

Make incorporeal undead attack through the floor and walls along side illusionary incorporeal undead attacking through the floor and walls ;) Chargers hiding behind these illusionary walls are fun too.

Biffoniacus Furiou is an evil mastermind.

GL
Blood~

[Kol Korran]

I ran an undead heavy dungeon encounter for a party of 4 10th level players.

Basically they enter a large room (About 120 ft wide) With tons of frozen bodies (Perhaps of the dwarves who used to inhabit the place), and the light just gets a bit darker. (Know planes suggest a connection to the negative energy plane or some such). The walls are all midnight black. There is the door they came from, and the door on the other side...

They can explore the bodies, nothing special about them. They won't turned into zombies or anything. Once the party is in the middle of the room however, the trap is sprung- Light dims greatly, and the color of the walls rushes down towards the characters- shadows, hundreds of them!

The party has a round or two for buffing if they want, or to rush to the doors (Make them quite hard to open). or whatever. Then they are attacked from all sides by hordes of shadows, looking like the figures of the frozen people (Their souls were bound to protect this hall for eternity).

Game wise you need a lot of miniatures, and keep replenishing them. After a few rounds though, new figures loom from the distance, getting closer- the overseers. Huge deformed brutes wielding greats whips who rush the shadows forward. These should be hard to kill undead with good resilience, but not an impossible one (I used bone claws from MM3, with a giant whip with some necrotic effect. Don't remember). The party needs to kill the overseers to stop the shadows, but there is a load of shadows between them.

I suggest adding some effects tied to the negative energy plane- Dimmed light/ darkness, possibly harder to turn, and positive energy spells perhaps requiring a caster level check. Perhaps fire spells as well? Dunno... Dim the lights at the table, make it darker and sound a creepy tense "doom music" when you play, or something with mournful moans.

This was a great encounter for my party, but nearly a fatal one. The party was 1-2 rolls away from a TPK, but then again, they are not great optimizes, your groups sound like it is better at that I assume. Requires some inginuity I guess, though not a great deal of it.

Hope it helps!

[TheMonocleRogue]

You could have an aboleth necromancer. That would kill two birds with one stone.

[VoxRationis]

Make the walls in some places five feet further in on either side and line them with undead before putting up illusions of normal dungeon walls in front of the undead.

What level are the party?

Or make the walls out of undead. It's not as subtle as being covered with illusions, but I think everyone will remember the room where the walls swung in and out and tried to claw them apart.
(Note: I'm suggesting this based on the title "undead OR illusion encounters", so the suggestion doesn't have both in it.)

[John Longarrow]

For a fun "Illusion" based fight, have medium constructs that are covered with a glamor to look like skeletons in ancient armor. They move like you'd expect a mindless undead in armor, they sound like one, they hit hard, and they can't be turned...

[RagingDemon]

These are all amazing ideas, they would all work in my game and this massive dungeon. They currently are pretty lost just got turned around so I'm getting some new encounters ready and I'm taking all of these into consideration. Thank you everyone who has replied with an encounter idea I can't wait to read what else can come from this forum.