kbob
2021-01-04, 05:35 AM
... Filleting Fun”
This is a forgotten realms campaign.
So I have the adventurers after an artifact held by an alhoon (A) that wishes to become a true lich. (For those that don’t know, As are undead mind flayers (MF) that are like pseudo-liches). There is a way, according to DnD lore, for them to become true liches though. Which is was our A wants to do.
MFs do not like arcane magic for some reason and will exile a MF that practices such. The A practices necromancy so he was exiled. He also dabbled in chromomancy (a new school that WotC keeps teasing about). he found the location of an old Nautilus (MF space ship) that had crashed and become entombed in a mountain in the underdark (not THE Undermountain) for centuries (I am going with the popular lore that MF are from the future).
His goal, again, is to become a lich and destroy his former hive then take over the underdark and offer everyone non-voluntarily employed jobs. His means of doing so is: 1. becoming a lich 2. ”employing” adventurers and other sentient beings deemed smart/skilled/powerful enough to be worthy of such an “honor” 3. making horrificfically fun and interesting pets out if anything that he can find in the underdark and experiment on.
So this is where my Q comes in. Do any of y’all have any cool ideas that he can come up with? He has a lot to work with. He can dominate, create undead, create constructs, and his personal favorite, create ceremorph (CM) experiments with tadpoles that he stole from his former hive. Oh and he has technology (though I need to be careful with this as players get their hands on stuff and whatnot). So far I have: zombies (Z), Z with magnetic boots that walk on walls/ceilings at half movement (they fall on there victims for falling damage and if the Z survives, they try to eat their victims brains horror movie style not MF style), modified flesh golems that were former adventurers, CM mimics, CM rust monsters (hunger for brains overrides rust hunger which only kicks in if victims brain is devoured... desert), neothelid spliced with a stone giant (basically a neothlid that has multiattack and can throw boulders... got the idea from a random mini I found that somehow looks exactly like what I’m describing... will be asleep and hooked up to wires and other gizmos... loud noises and such won’t wake it as it needs to be “turned on”... if players turn on by playing with gears and buttons then, “oops”... the A has it for a future siege attack on his former hive but needs to be properly prepared as he cannot adequately control the beast, as such awakening it can be problematic for all parties involved) and dominated races from the underdark. Of course there are intellect devourers and mindwitnesses and other established things but this is a major boss concluding a major chapter in our adventure that has been building up since August. I don’t want to disappoint. Not looking for TPKs but (though never the goal) PC death is a real threat in our games and the players want it as such. Say that as to suggest, not looking for insta party wipes nor cheap death for a PC but scare factor (and humor factor) are to be expected at this kind of build up. Sooooo thoughts???
This is a forgotten realms campaign.
So I have the adventurers after an artifact held by an alhoon (A) that wishes to become a true lich. (For those that don’t know, As are undead mind flayers (MF) that are like pseudo-liches). There is a way, according to DnD lore, for them to become true liches though. Which is was our A wants to do.
MFs do not like arcane magic for some reason and will exile a MF that practices such. The A practices necromancy so he was exiled. He also dabbled in chromomancy (a new school that WotC keeps teasing about). he found the location of an old Nautilus (MF space ship) that had crashed and become entombed in a mountain in the underdark (not THE Undermountain) for centuries (I am going with the popular lore that MF are from the future).
His goal, again, is to become a lich and destroy his former hive then take over the underdark and offer everyone non-voluntarily employed jobs. His means of doing so is: 1. becoming a lich 2. ”employing” adventurers and other sentient beings deemed smart/skilled/powerful enough to be worthy of such an “honor” 3. making horrificfically fun and interesting pets out if anything that he can find in the underdark and experiment on.
So this is where my Q comes in. Do any of y’all have any cool ideas that he can come up with? He has a lot to work with. He can dominate, create undead, create constructs, and his personal favorite, create ceremorph (CM) experiments with tadpoles that he stole from his former hive. Oh and he has technology (though I need to be careful with this as players get their hands on stuff and whatnot). So far I have: zombies (Z), Z with magnetic boots that walk on walls/ceilings at half movement (they fall on there victims for falling damage and if the Z survives, they try to eat their victims brains horror movie style not MF style), modified flesh golems that were former adventurers, CM mimics, CM rust monsters (hunger for brains overrides rust hunger which only kicks in if victims brain is devoured... desert), neothelid spliced with a stone giant (basically a neothlid that has multiattack and can throw boulders... got the idea from a random mini I found that somehow looks exactly like what I’m describing... will be asleep and hooked up to wires and other gizmos... loud noises and such won’t wake it as it needs to be “turned on”... if players turn on by playing with gears and buttons then, “oops”... the A has it for a future siege attack on his former hive but needs to be properly prepared as he cannot adequately control the beast, as such awakening it can be problematic for all parties involved) and dominated races from the underdark. Of course there are intellect devourers and mindwitnesses and other established things but this is a major boss concluding a major chapter in our adventure that has been building up since August. I don’t want to disappoint. Not looking for TPKs but (though never the goal) PC death is a real threat in our games and the players want it as such. Say that as to suggest, not looking for insta party wipes nor cheap death for a PC but scare factor (and humor factor) are to be expected at this kind of build up. Sooooo thoughts???