Encounter design - "seal the portals"

[Wilkomorph]

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker, very infrequent poster.

I'm running a Roll20 Rise of the Runelords game with a group of friends that started out in Pathfinder and is converting to 5e - but I'm adding the conversion as an in-world event:

The activation of the runewell - and the corresponding runewells around the world, has thinned the worldwalls and allowed a more primal state of existence (5e ruleset) to sneak through the cracks - many magic items are drained of their power, gunpowder becomes an inert substance, summoners, oracles and witches loses their link to their powers, that kind of thing - I'm still working on the details

The Party

3rd-level High Elf Arcane Trickster
3rd-level Aasimar Favoured Soul sorcerer
3rd-level Human Monk of the Long Death
3rd-level Dwarven Paladin of Cayden Caillean (Homebrewed Oath of the Adventurer)
3rd Level Half-elven Ranger (Hunter)
TBC - Probably a cleric/druid type


Anyway - I'm planning an offbook encounter where the party are stranded in interdimensionnal space following the eruption of the runewell - and the space they're in is a demiplane where the barriers of reality are under assault. I'm planning six gates (one per party member) that must be sealed to protect the world and restore order - not reverting any of the changes, but preventing things from becoming even wierder. Each round the gates spew extradimensional enemies until each gate is sealed. I'd like them to be thematic, and each gate have a sealing method that resonates with the core concept of their class - not just a skill check - some of the examples I've come up with are:


- The sorcerer must cast a metamagic spell from two opposing schools on the gate
- The Cleric must cleanse and heal the wound int he world by channeling divinity to repel evil and curing the hole with curative magic
- The monk must use his ki to destroy the pillars holding the portal open


The demiplane is about 200ft square, but consists of pathways leading to a central square, suspended over the abyss of space.

So, what I'd love some help with from you guys would be:

Suggestions for reasonably challenging enemies that spew through the gates
Methods of closing the gates for each of the party
Suggestions for rewards - all this takes place metaphyiscally, so no physical rewards
Any other cool ideas to make this encounter even more fun!


Thanks for any help and suggestions!

[Fflewddur Fflam]

The spawned enemies are going to have to be pretty damn weak compared to the characters. If you have one PC at each portal with critters popping out every round, the Pc's are gonna be overwhelmed very quickly unless they can close those portals in just a few rounds.

[Wilkomorph]

Very true - I'm not looking for a zerg-style combat so much as a sense of danger -what I want is to:

a) Bed in the new rules with my players - getting them used to new skills etc
b) Use the spawning of new creatures to give a sense of urgency
c) Provide an interesting puzzle that's tailored to their abilities

[Fflewddur Fflam]

Very true - I'm not looking for a zerg-style combat so much as a sense of danger -what I want is to:

a) Bed in the new rules with my players - getting them used to new skills etc
b) Use the spawning of new creatures to give a sense of urgency
c) Provide an interesting puzzle that's tailored to their abilities

Just keep in mind that if the players are busy separately closing portals while monsters are popping up every round trying to kill them, that's a serious imbalance of action going on. The players are getting zero actions to combat the monsters since they are spending actions on the portals while the multiple monsters are getting actions to damage the PC's. If the monsters are remotely formidable, the PC's are going to get destroyed.

I hope that upon closing each portal, the summoned monsters disappear? Otherwise, the PC could be finding themselves starting a fight alone against 3 or 4 creatures while the PC has already been bloodied by them trying to close the portal.

[Wilkomorph]

Good point - I hadn't thought too much about placement - I might have the mechanisms to close the portals closer to the players than the portals themselves - give the players a couple of rounds to get their act together before monsters attack - or even just one portal at the far end of the demiplane - with six closure mechanisms...