I need good monsters to be overrunning a library

[lytokk]

So, in my last session, one of the players asked the lord of the land if he had a library for them to go and research some of the plot hooks I laid out in that session. I told them yes, but they had been overrun a while ago, but the party could clear it out. I have no clue what to put down there to fight, if they decide to go that route. Group is EL 7 I think, but lack of cohesive tactics would prb bring that down. My first real thought was rust monsters, but I prefer to save those when I see some item a party member has needs being destroyed.

[gomipile]

Hopefully something less nasty than Vashta Nerada. Though, the episode of their appearance could give you some ideas for setting and tone for your library.

[bjoern]

So, in my last session, one of the players asked the lord of the land if he had a library for them to go and research some of the plot hooks I laid out in that session. I told them yes, but they had been overrun a while ago, but the party could clear it out. I have no clue what to put down there to fight, if they decide to go that route. Group is EL 7 I think, but lack of cohesive tactics would prb bring that down. My first real thought was rust monsters, but I prefer to save those when I see some item a party member has needs being destroyed.

Dark dusty libraries....first thing that pops in my head is undead. Maybe some kind of intelligent undead leading them that's a bookworm and has been studying the books.

[Shining Wrath]

I assume by "good" OP means "suitable" not "opposite of evil".

About ECL 7 or less.

And overrun implies creatures with minds and motivations, but not malicious enough to destroy the books, greedy enough to sell them, or smart enough to take them and learn from them.

I vote for brutes - ogres, trolls, hill giants, and the like. Once they found out that the books weren't edible they'd have little interest in them.

[lytokk]

yes, by good I meant suitable. A bit more of the setting, it's in a fey settlement, one that rose and drove in roots because the fey were protecting refugees for 8-900 years of all races. Its a CG settlement mostly. Undead would have more than likely been cleared out by nature of them being undead. Something in my mind was gearing me towards large insects, but not married to that idea.

[Shining Wrath]

yes, by good I meant suitable. A bit more of the setting, it's in a fey settlement, one that rose and drove in roots because the fey were protecting refugees for 8-900 years of all races. Its a CG settlement mostly. Undead would have more than likely been cleared out by nature of them being undead. Something in my mind was gearing me towards large insects, but not married to that idea.

Problem with insects is that they or their larva tend to eat books.
Fey would not tolerate a lot of things - undead, evil humanoids.
Maybe Shambling Mounds?

[Extra Anchovies]

Insects have a tendency to eat organic matter, so any books left around a large, varied population of giant bugs would probably vanish quickly. Maybe a few incorporeal undead? Fighting a spectre as it passes from bookshelf to bookshelf could be a tough encounter.

[lytokk]

Ghosts would be an idea, but I wouldn't be able to stop myself from recreating the scene from the first ghostbusters movie. There's a DMPC cleric with the group, but I could always have him distracted by something. The group does have a single ghost touch weapon, light crossbow.

Shambling mound looks doable. Something the fey wouldn't feel the desire to outright destroy, but not have a problem if it is killed.

[StoneCipher]

Depends on how long it has been overrun and how long it has been overrun for.

Insects would eat the books over time.

Orcs or some other barbaric tribe would probably burn them for firewood purposes.

Vampire might be a good candidate for an intelligent undead perusing the library.

Or perhaps a researcher accidentally cast the wrong spell and animated a bunch of feral books.

[Shining Wrath]

Depends on how long it has been overrun and how long it has been overrun for.

... SNIP ...

Or perhaps a researcher accidentally cast the wrong spell and animated a bunch of feral books.

I like the idea that the books, themselves, are the defenders of the library. It's not a bug, it's a feature; the librarians did it before they fled an invading force of [insert appropriate baddies]. Animate object + polymorph any object, and there you go.

And to calm the books, you must recite "klaatu barada nikto" before touching them :smallsmile:

[Psyren]

In before Vashta Nerada :smalltongue: Curses!

Animated Objects! Have the books and even shelves be running/flying around and attacking the PCs. (Maybe a small pack of Ravids (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ravid.htm) got trapped inside.)

[lytokk]

If i'm reading that Ravid entry correctly, each one could have about 20 animated books floating around at a time, randomly being picked up and falling down. Whats the damage on a book being flung through the air anyway? Nevermind, in the description of animated objects.. Books would be tiny right?

[Extra Anchovies]

If i'm reading that Ravid entry correctly, each one could have about 20 animated books floating around at a time, randomly being picked up and falling down. Whats the damage on a book being flung through the air anyway? Nevermind, in the description of animated objects.. Books would be tiny right?

I think books would vary from fine (e.g. pocket phrasebooks for travelers and the like) all the way up to small (e.g. gigantic, old illuminated manuscripts). If they're being flung through the air, though, they might deal damage as one size larger due to sheer momentum.

[Fax Celestis]

Seconding ravids. Those guys don't see enough love.

Dragon 341 has a paper golem.

[bjoern]

Seconding ravids. Those guys don't see enough love.

Dragon 341 has a paper golem.

A paper golem would be pretty cool. Fire probably deals like x10 damage though.

And treat all of its attacks as bleeding or something where you take 1 damage per turn (paper cut)

[lytokk]

I really hope the party is smart enough to not use fire in a library... its a fool's hope.

[Milodiah]

Don't forget some vermin swarms, since obviously an overrun library is sort of behind on its exterminator's appointments.

[Segev]

What about goblins? They're not stupid, and if they could come up with a way to supply their basic needs, a library would be a great place for a home base. It has entertainment and learning; perhaps they're rather surprisingly erudite (but still insular and hateful) goblins that love to read and protect the books.

[Fax Celestis]

What about goblins? They're not stupid, and if they could come up with a way to supply their basic needs, a library would be a great place for a home base. It has entertainment and learning; perhaps they're rather surprisingly erudite (but still insular and hateful) goblins that love to read and protect the books.

Maybe they're blues (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/blue.htm).

[Shining Wrath]

You could go the Enigmatic Guardian route and put something at the only entrance that requires a quest in order to get in.

Couatl, Titan, Bralani, Ghaele ...

The advantage to this is it buys you time to figure out what's inside the library.

[Milodiah]

Also, I think it would be pretty great to see the "magic tomes" section of the library just flooded with stupid results from Summon Monster/Undead/Nature's Ally spells that somehow got permanencied, so they don't vanish after X rounds. Also selections from the living spells, and the ghost of one of the dumbass wizards behind it all.

[Fax Celestis]

Actually, this might be a good time to trot out Li. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=2174577&postcount=388)

[arguskos]

Needs more Scalamagdrions. These creatures from Magic of Faerun are specifically the guardians of books and libraries. If you wish to have a library guarded by some kind of critter, scalamagdrions make the perfect choice.

[Extra Anchovies]

Maybe they're blues (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/blue.htm).

I second this. Smart goblins with no hope of being accepted into normal goblin society and not much chance of being accepted anywhere else due to being a goblin? Where else would they go but an abandoned library? They wouldn't necessarily need to be direct antagonists, either; maybe they'd demand that the PCs do some sort of quest for them. Could be anything from clearing out a giant vermin infestation to finding the Blues a new place to live, whether that's a different abandoned structure or a settlement willing to accept them.

[lytokk]

Lots of good suggestions all. I like the ravids, since they can pretty easily replicate a haunted library, but wouldn't be opposed to using a scalamagdrion as somewhat of a boss at the end of the library. Question about the ravids, they have an INT of 7, but no mention of a language. Since my party will undoubtedly try to communicate, how would they go about it? Party makeup is a druid, sorc, psywar, bard and rogue. Bard took comprehend language as a spell. There's also my cleric, but I'm going to attempt to have him busy doing something else in the town.

[Piggy Knowles]

The library is haunted by the souls of former scholars driven mad by the dark secrets contained therein, scholars who saw reality unravel before their eyes and took their own lives at the whirling chaos beneath. Their strange babbling can still be heard in the depths of the library, a terrible noise divorced from this world, a sound that can drive even the most grounded mind insane...

Yeah, I'm talking allips. They're only CR 3, but they're notoriously under-CR'ed, especially if they use the environment to their advantage. Toss in a couple of them, and make sure they take full advantage of their incorporeality by hiding in bookshelves. You can really drive home the creepy factor by having the babbling be mostly out of range, heard from a distance, and yet it seems to move away as the party approaches it.

[atemu1234]

Maybe those spellbook-lich thingies from Monsters of Faerun?

[Hazrond]

-snip-

I like this idea alot :smallbiggrin:

[KingAtomsk]

Fill the library with Haunt Shifted (http://dndtools.eu/spells/libris-mortis-the-book-of-undead--71/haunt-shift--1481/) undead. Have them possess bookcases and other objects, and make the entire library the monster

[Deadline]

I think I once used Raggamoffyns (MM 2, page 174) in an old forgotten mage library/laboratory. They worked out pretty nicely.

[Shining Wrath]

The library is haunted by the souls of former scholars driven mad by the dark secrets contained therein, scholars who saw reality unravel before their eyes and took their own lives at the whirling chaos beneath. ... SNIP ...

They are supposed to get useful information from the library, though, not the Necronomicon.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Living Spells (MM3) are actually quite easy to defeat for their CR, but can be dangerous if they can actually hit anything. I'd use the following mix, always throw at least two at them at once:

Living Ray of Stupidity, Mind Poison
Stupid Mind Poison
Medium Ooze
Hit Dice: 5d10+5 (32 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+1 Dex, +3 deflection), touch 14, flatfooted
13
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+4
Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d4+1 plus 1d4+1 Int plus Mind Poison)
Full Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d4+1 plus 1d4+1 Int plus Mind Poison)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Engulf, Stupidity, Mind Poison
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., damage reduction 10/magic, ooze traits, spell resistance 15
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 10, Con 13, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 13
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Engulf (Ex): A Stupid Mind Poison can flow around creatures that fit within its space as a standard action. It cannot make a slam attack during a round in which it engulfs. A Stupid Mind Poison merely has to move over the opponents, affecting as many as it can cover. Opponents can make attacks of opportunity against the Stupid Mind Poison, but if they do so they are not entitled to a saving throw. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity must succeed on a DC 14 Reflex save or be engulfed; on a success, they are pushed back or aside (opponent’s choice) as the spell moves forward. Engulfed creatures are subject to the full normal effect of the Stupidity and Mind Poison effects each round on the Stupid Mind Poison's turn, and are considered to be grappled.

Stupidity (Su): A creature hit by a Stupid Mind Poison's slam attack or engulfed by it suffers an additional 1d4+1 Intelligence damage. This is a mind-effecting compulsion effect.

Mind Poison (Su): A creature hit by a Stupid Mind Poison's slam attack or engulfed by it is poisoned, sapping its willpower. This deals 1d10 points of Wisdom damage and another 1d10 points of Wisdom damage 1 minute later. Each instance of damage can be negated by a Fortitude save (DC 15). Creatures immune to poison are unaffected.

Living Silence, Ray of Exhaustion
Quiet Exhaustion
Medium Ooze
Hit Dice: 5d10+5 (32 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+1 Dex, +3 deflection), touch 14, flatfooted
13
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+4
Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d4+1 plus Silence plus Exhaustion)
Full Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d4+1 plus Silence plus Exhaustion)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Engulf, Silence, Exhaustion
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., damage reduction 10/magic, ooze traits, spell resistance 15
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 10, Con 13, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 13
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Engulf (Ex): A Quiet Exhaustion can flow around creatures that fit within its space as a standard action. It cannot make a slam attack during a round in which it engulfs. A Quiet Exhaustion merely has to move over the opponents, affecting as many as it can cover. Opponents can make attacks of opportunity against the Quiet Exhaustion, but if they do so they are not entitled to a saving throw. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity must succeed on a DC 14 Reflex save or be engulfed; on a success, they are pushed back or aside (opponent’s choice) as the spell moves forward. Engulfed creatures are subject to the full normal effect of the Silence and Exhaustion effects each round on the Quiet Exhaustion's turn, and are considered to be grappled.

Silence (Su): A creature hit by a Quiet Exhaustion's slam attack or engulfed by it is Silenced and makes no sound for five minutes. Conversation is impossible, spells with verbal components cannot be cast, and no noise whatsoever issues from, enters, or passes through the creature. A successful Will save (DC 13) negates this effect.

Exhaustion (Su): A creature hit by a Quiet Exhaustion's slam attack or engulfed by it must make a Fortitude save (DC 14) or be Exhausted for five minutes. On a successful save the creature is Fatigued for five minutes instead. A creature that is already Fatigued automatically becomes Exhausted. This has no effect on a creature that is already Exhausted. Unlike normal Exhaustion or Fatigue, the effect ends as soon as this effect's duration expires.

[Beneath]

Incorporeal undead (the above-mentioned allips are good. shadows are suggested in the DMG)

Maybe evil fey or fey-like creatures (will o' wisps?) of some kind who have taken the library as tribute? Depending on how goblins are in your world they could even work with Blues. Though Blues might need a way to eat unless they all, like, manifest Sustenance (which I think only one of them would need to know, since you can manifest from others' powers known if they're willing).

There could be some creatures that are, like, spirits of knowledge or something that for whatever reason have grown hostile. You could re-fluff Unbodied (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/unbodied.htm) into this role, maybe?

Or, what's the history of this library like? Allips don't necessarily have to have been driven mad by the secrets in the books; one could be an ancient keeper of the library who committed suicide for more mundane reasons.

Speaking of positive energy creatures like Ravids, Xag-ya (and their negative energy counterparts Xeg-yi) could be interesting. They're incorporeal orbs of light from the Manual of the Planes that shoot energy rays at people. Xag-ya floating around something might be able to heal it. So could Xeg-yi, if it's undead.

I also want to suggest the Garbler, even though it's a truename monster and, like truenaming, is not much good. It could be in-flavor though.

The problem with animated books is that PCs fighting them might damage the books, which might not be what you want. Though, having a fight where the PCs have to pacify the books without damaging them could be interesting.

Evil plants could work, but the books would have to be warded against the damage they do somehow. Otherwise they'd grow moldy or something, probably. Seconding Shambling Mounds.

There could also be a spider who was enspelled to protect the books from the kinds of insects that eat them and over the years of abandonment has grown to monstrous size, and re-interpreted her purpose: to protect the books from all who might touch them. Maybe she has children in the library too.

[Trasilor]

So, in my last session, one of the players asked the lord of the land if he had a library for them to go and research some of the plot hooks I laid out in that session. I told them yes, but they had been overrun a while ago, but the party could clear it out. I have no clue what to put down there to fight, if they decide to go that route. Group is EL 7 I think, but lack of cohesive tactics would prb bring that down. My first real thought was rust monsters, but I prefer to save those when I see some item a party member has needs being destroyed.

A different idea (assumes the library was overrun a few years ago)...

What about a Treant? Imagine it is a venerable Treant that has gone slightly insane (perhaps a plant disease). Give it the ability to animate vines (instead of trees). It only allows natural creatures to roam the halls but it highly protective of the books. He/She/It feels a kinship to these ancient tomes and revers the place as a tomb.

I imagine an old stone structure which has become overgrown with vines and vegetation. While the doors and windows stand open, only woodland creatures are allowed to enter. In the center courtyard stands an immense oak tree guarding the grounds.

The animated vines would be non-intelligent but have very basic orders - attack any non-animal that ventures into the library. Essentially, the PCs must fight their way through the vines and natural animals to get to the Treant.

Treant doesn't really understand what is happening as it is dying (of course its life span is very long, so it can take decades to die). He thinks he is in a tomb for his kind as he finds he is surrounded by dead brethren (i.e. books).

This would account for why the Fey have not intervened (pity for the ancient treant) and why the inhabitants have not damaged the books.

Also allows you to have a bunch of CR 3 and 4 fights leading up to a big bad guy. Of course, they are not supposed to attack the treant.

[pbdr]

So, in my last session, one of the players asked the lord of the land if he had a library for them to go and research some of the plot hooks I laid out in that session. I told them yes, but they had been overrun a while ago, but the party could clear it out. I have no clue what to put down there to fight, if they decide to go that route. Group is EL 7 I think, but lack of cohesive tactics would prb bring that down. My first real thought was rust monsters, but I prefer to save those when I see some item a party member has needs being destroyed.

My thought would be minor devils or demons. A previous patron got a little to involved in some dark research and "accidentally" summoned some stuff.....

[lytokk]

The history of the library is very much like the history of the world, pretty much unknown right now. Long story short, apocolypse, corruption of the land, good guys fight back and eventually win. Group was part of an expedition to the other side of the continent bringing along a cure to uncorrupt the land. Got separated by quests, stumbled upon this fey settlement since the fey, having a deep connection to nature, were able to hold the corruption back from their lands. This settlement has existed for hundreds of years in complete isolation, unknown to the outside and everyone inside was assuming everyone else had died.

The library I'm basically writing it in as all the refugees brought their knowledge and stories with them, and that knowledge was written and placed underneath the "castle" of the king of this court of fey, who by this point is a borderline god. Satyr Paladin of nature named Kevyn (I'm bad making up names sometimes). Over time, more books were added as more stories hapenned in the community.

Over time people stopped using the library as much, and then within the last century something infested it. Considering no one was using it, it wasn't a real big loss, the upper levels are still accessible, but the infestation is really in the lower levels, which has the furthest history. I was really just trying to delay the players from running down there right away since I hadn't figured what would be there. I could have said that there wasn't a library, but if they were interested in learning something, I wasnt going to stop them.


My thought would be minor devils or demons. A previous patron got a little to involved in some dark research and "accidentally" summoned some stuff.....

Thats actually part of the overarching plot, and I hate being a 1 trick pony.

[Beneath]

It sounds like spirits and protectors-gone-wrong (there are a bunch from both types among the suggestions) would work well. Exiled fey could work, but justifying that might be tricky.

Alternately, considering that it's deep underground, maybe something dug into it. There could be a watery area nearby ruled by an Aboleth, which sends minions out to read books (and then devours them when they return to steal their memories). Or kobolds. Or drow, even. Or a squid thingy psionic danger mind flayer. The advantage of attackers from below is that they'll presumably have another exit, so you won't have to justify how they eat if your players ask.

[ace rooster]

How about formians? One was summoned as a librarian (what could be better than a creature of law for organising books), but when it saw the disorder the library was in it brought in a whole hive, who now work tirelessly categorising the books and building databases of every possible way of classifying the tombs. They rapidly got sick of people moving the books, so banned all but the librarians from entering. On the plus side if the players get access (with diplomacy or intimidation being options), the information they are looking for will be really easy to find.

Reading your last post they don't really fit the plot, being more of an embarrasing mistake by management than an affect of falling into disuse. For that a spider theme could work well, with many monsterous spiders lead by drider wizards who use the books. This has the side benefit of keeping the insect population down.

[Extra Anchovies]

If the setting was high-magic before the apocalypse/corruption business went down, then possibly there could be some leftover constructs/undead that were used as librarians' assistants and left behind when the place was abandoned? I can definitely see a magical library staffed mostly by mindless skeletons or automatons, endlessly sorting and shelving books, that enforce the "quiet please" rule very, very strictly. Alternately, the library's mindless guardians could have been ordered to defend it from intruders during the whole global-corruption thing, and then the sentient occupants ran off without changing the instructions.

[Fax Celestis]

And for the break room... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?11154-Alocathi-Refreshment-Simulacrum-(PEACH))

[Grollub]

Here are several suggestions:


Ghouls

Spiders

Cloaker

Fey of somekind ( prankster/ or harmful )

[Wacky89]

Taunting Haunt MM5 p. 82
Joystealer MM4 p.78