Building A BBEG Base

[Death_Lord12]

What are some general tips and tricks that can be used to build a base/hideout for the BBEG?

If you have any more specific ideas, the BBEG is an Undead Dread Necromancer that uses various amounts of Undead and Shadow based creatures (such as Nightshades) and wants to destroy the entire world.

Thanks in advance.

[ksbsnowowl]

Put his lair on the Plane of Shadow. Have his "entry" and "exit" from the Material Plane be a pair of Energy Transformation Fields (SpC) that cast Greater Plane Shift (also SpC) to move those who activate the fields (with any spellcasting, magic item activation, or Su/Sp abilities) to a specific point on the other plane.

Make sure the arrival room in the lair is a locked room with one watched/guarded exit. This room is also covered by an Energy Transformation Field, to prevent spellcasting of arrivals until they are allowed to exit the room.

[barakaka]

Seconding the Energy Transformation Fields, and thanks for reminding me about those! :smallwink:


It's your BBEG, so just dump hordes of lesser undead onto your players. Every room should have an encounter and a bunch of crazy traps. He's had time to prepare for your players, and he knows he can't take them at their best, so he needs to deplete their resources first.

Umbral Spy (Forge of War) is a fantastic shadowy construct to toss at the PCs. It's a CR3 mook, does wisdom damage with attacks, and is incorporeal. If the party is low enough level, it might be able to hop in their shadow until the final boss fight (it's a weak will save though).

Gem of Night (Tome of Magic) is a cheapish gem that when broken (standard action) summons a large shadow elemental, also from Tome of Magic. :smallcool:

Add an undead summoning spell trap with a reset of 1d4 rounds. Balance that against the party's level and be careful you don't wipe them. :smalleek:

He's evil, so he locks a bunch of humanoids in a room and when the PCs walk in, the helpless peasants are slaughtered by a bunch of wraiths. The humanoids killed will each spawn a wraith in 1d4 rounds. (this mixes really well with my first point)

[Emperor Tippy]

Well first you want to make the entire base Major Positive Dominant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/planes.htm#positiveDominant). Players tend not to expect it and it massively increases the HP of all of the Undead on site because they are immune to the need to make Fortitude saves or explode.

Then you want to fill the entire place with Cloudkill, or a liquid contact poison.

Every square inch should have one of the various Symbol spells on it as well.

Since undead all have Darkvision naturally then the entire place should also be pitch black and have the Limited Magic planar trait on everything but, say, Necromancy.

Needless to say, the Lich and any Lieutenants have their own Planar Bubble or Planar Pocket effects to make them able to cast from other schools of magic without issue.

Now you pack all of the walls, floors, and ceilings filled with incorporeal undead. Including the fake walls and ceiling. By that I mean the one made up of Polymorph Any Object undead into building materials. If the party starts throwing out Dispel Magic, AMF, or Disjunction then they will find that zombies are, quite literally, falling on their heads.

Of course you throw in a Weirdstone or five to stop teleportation and similar shenanigans. Other standard dungeon defenses should be used as well.

[SirNMN]

What are some general tips and tricks that can be used to build a base/hideout for the BBEG?

If you have any more specific ideas, the BBEG is an Undead Dread Necromancer that uses various amounts of Undead and Shadow based creatures (such as Nightshades) and wants to destroy the entire world.

Thanks in advance.

What level is the party are we talking low, mid or high level campaign?

[Death_Lord12]

What level is the party are we talking low, mid or high level campaign?

High level. At that point, probably level 18-20, and the BBEG is level 20. Side note: there's about a dozen Players.


Put his lair on the Plane of Shadow. Have his "entry" and "exit" from the Material Plane be a pair of Energy Transformation Fields (SpC) that cast Greater Plane Shift (also SpC) to move those who activate the fields (with any spellcasting, magic item activation, or Su/Sp abilities) to a specific point on the other plane.

Make sure the arrival room in the lair is a locked room with one watched/guarded exit. This room is also covered by an Energy Transformation Field, to prevent spellcasting of arrivals until they are allowed to exit the room.
I like the idea of using the Plane of Shadow, but do you know where I can find more information about it, because I haven't yet found a place that describes it in depth. Also the text for Energy Transformation Field says this:

Spells that require a target will target the living creature nearest to the field.
So, because Greater Plane Shift requires targets and the BBEG is Undead, would the spell even work on him? Or should I just rule it is all creatures.


Seconding the Energy Transformation Fields, and thanks for reminding me about those! :smallwink:


It's your BBEG, so just dump hordes of lesser undead onto your players. Every room should have an encounter and a bunch of crazy traps. He's had time to prepare for your players, and he knows he can't take them at their best, so he needs to deplete their resources first.

Umbral Spy (Forge of War) is a fantastic shadowy construct to toss at the PCs. It's a CR3 mook, does wisdom damage with attacks, and is incorporeal. If the party is low enough level, it might be able to hop in their shadow until the final boss fight (it's a weak will save though).

Gem of Night (Tome of Magic) is a cheapish gem that when broken (standard action) summons a large shadow elemental, also from Tome of Magic. :smallcool:

Add an undead summoning spell trap with a reset of 1d4 rounds. Balance that against the party's level and be careful you don't wipe them. :smalleek:

He's evil, so he locks a bunch of humanoids in a room and when the PCs walk in, the helpless peasants are slaughtered by a bunch of wraiths. The humanoids killed will each spawn a wraith in 1d4 rounds. (this mixes really well with my first point)

That Umbral Spy is pretty nifty. I was planning on using Shadow Elementals, but I didn't know about that gem so thanks for pointing that out.


Of course you throw in a Weirdstone or five to stop teleportation and similar shenanigans. Other standard dungeon defenses should be used as well.

Why would he need 5 Weirdstones? Isn't 1 good enough?

Along with the help vs the Players, what about specific rooms, like what kind of stuff does an Undead seeking the world's destruction have?

[Âmesang]

If you're allowed 2nd Edition/DRAGON Magazine material you can cast Slerotin's fortitude enough times to make all non-magical materials on base impervious to damage, so no knocking things down with earthquake or using polymorph any object to make a door a jar.

[Emperor Tippy]

Why would he need 5 Weirdstones? Isn't 1 good enough?
Redundancy mostly. It is much easier to take out one stone than it is five. Just have someone Wish themselves next to it and cast Disjunction.

When you have multiples you can also defend them all in different ways that require different methods to take out.

[Death_Lord12]

Redundancy mostly. It is much easier to take out one stone than it is five. Just have someone Wish themselves next to it and cast Disjunction.

When you have multiples you can also defend them all in different ways that require different methods to take out.

What different ways would you suggest for defending them? Also does anyone else have any more ideas for the base? Any specific ideas on monsters or traps encountered?

[atemu1234]

Have traps that affect only living creatures and heal undead.

[FearlessGnome]

If you want to make the BBEG really smart, powerful and patient, go with Tippy's suggestions. I will just say though that even if you feel polymorphed zombies as building material is too much, a Weirdstone on its own is pretty much mandatory, or people will just teleport in and murderhobo everyone.

[Arcane_Secrets]

Build it somewhere with no air since undead don't need to breathe anyways, and with lots of dispel magic traps/antimagic fields so that way the instant opponents fall into it they'll need to start recasting their protections or move into pre-planned ambushes.

[dboxcar]

Also, something that can really mess with unprepared PCs is vertical sections. Have flying undead harry them as they climb/fly up it, with ledges and traps, plus sharp/undead things falling down at them from the top. Perhaps incorporate levers that open more sections, so the spellcasters can't just fill the whole thing with fire

[ksbsnowowl]

I used a Weirdstone once. It was located inside a mountain.

Disintegrate into the side of a mountain to make a roughly 10x10 ft. room with flat walls, but is open on one side. Then use the "back" wall to cast several repeated Passwall effects to get further into the mountain (getting control of a Blue Slaad makes this more economical).

After you are a satisfactory distance into the mountain, cast Disintegrate, creating a 10x10 ft. room. Once the Passwalls end, it will be surrounded by hundreds of feet of rock in all directions. Place the Weirdstone in that room.

You can also place Skullwatch (SpC) skulls in the room, to alert you if the room is ever breached.

Use Stoneshape to conceal the exterior 10x10 ft. disintegrated room that is on the slope of the mountain.

[LooseCannoneer]

I'd include weird designs that double as traps, like a massive floating design of the stars, except each of the stars is a fireball bead in suspended animation. (Unguent of Timelessness?) There's several skills that could allow you to pass through without touching any, or you could set off a chain reaction from a distance. Something that takes a while to set up, even for a high-level spellcaster, and adds some color to the base. Not everything has to be undead rooms, after all.