Monsters in an Enchanted Castle

[GreyBlack]

Hey guys! So I'm running a campaign and had the concept to base the campaign on various fairy tales, particularly in Disney movies. So, for our first dungeon crawl, I'm thinking we're going to run through an enchanted castle, so I'm thinking that various spirits are being bound to the region due to the curse on the castle. I'm also thinking that this region is pretty heavily infested by the Fey, as it was one of the Fey Court who placed the enchantment/curse on the castle.

So... I was wondering if anyone had any preferred monsters they would use in these situations? I'm already thinking about elementals being bound to the furniture, enchanted suits of armor, etc., but I'm open to suggestions.

[Unoriginal]

Hey guys! So I'm running a campaign and had the concept to base the campaign on various fairy tales, particularly in Disney movies. So, for our first dungeon crawl, I'm thinking we're going to run through an enchanted castle, so I'm thinking that various spirits are being bound to the region due to the curse on the castle. I'm also thinking that this region is pretty heavily infested by the Fey, as it was one of the Fey Court who placed the enchantment/curse on the castle.

So... I was wondering if anyone had any preferred monsters they would use in these situations? I'm already thinking about elementals being bound to the furniture, enchanted suits of armor, etc., but I'm open to suggestions.

A troll guarding the bridge could be nice.

[GreyBlack]

A troll guarding the bridge could be nice.

I actually went with a gargoyle guarding the bridge; they're level 1, so figured that a troll is a bit too powerful to use at level 1.

[Melphizard]

- Animated Objects. Books fly off the shelves, tables flip themselves onto players, cutlery cuts them, and most of all the armor is inanimate.

- Fey creatures. There's an ok number of fey who you could use to be roaming the castle. Hags are a given ofc.

- Kuo-toa. These fish folk are a bit weird to include but I feel that's the very point of Kuo-toa. They may be in parts of the castle worshiping some fey or new God they made out of skeletons and could prove a fair foe to some parties.

- Mimics. They find a chest and check to see if it's a mimic.... little do they know the roof or the whole room is actually the mimic!

- Talking Animals. A staple of the Feywild is plants and/or animals being awakened, leading to fun encounters. Perhaps they encounter a bunch of awakened animals who are a part of a lycanthrope group. Maybe add in an awakened dinosaur from Chult (check out beasts of jungle rot).

- Catoblepas. By the time the party is done learning how to pronounced this thing's name they may have already had a player get death ray'd.

Just a few ideas off the top of my head for things they could find in the castle. I would also recommend not letting them ever get a read for direction in the place. Non-euclidean rooms are a fun way to have the players find their way into locations at random.

[Kane0]

A pseudodragon hiding in a broom closet with its hoard, a collection of broken glassware and ceramics

A Redcap that only shows up at night in the castle gardens, he likes to taunt the awakened tree there

A nothic haunting the castle library, could possibly speak and trade with it

Gelatinous cube or other slime stuck down the bottom of the privy

Animated armors and rugs in the hallways

Death dog or blink dog in the kennels

Hippogriff roosting atop a tower

Nixies in the moat

Would definitely want something lurking in the dungeons too.

[GreyBlack]

A pseudodragon hiding in a broom closet with its hoard, a collection of broken glassware and ceramics

A Redcap that only shows up at night in the castle gardens, he likes to taunt the awakened tree there

A nothic haunting the castle library, could possibly speak and trade with it

Gelatinous cube or other slime stuck down the bottom of the privy

Animated armors and rugs in the hallways

Death dog or blink dog in the kennels

Hippogriff roosting atop a tower

Nixies in the moat

Would definitely want something lurking in the dungeons too.

Ooh... I like that first one. And the Redcap sounds great, too. Hmm....

[Psyren]

- Animated Objects. Books fly off the shelves, tables flip themselves onto players, cutlery cuts them, and most of all the armor is inanimate.

This. The Beast's enchanted castle is almost entirely constructs. (There are wolves/direwolves outside of course, and a mob of frightened villagers.)

Elsa's castle meanwhile could contain elementals or even oozes/living spells.

[Grull]

I would say make the curse a monster. I don't mean a monster in the traditional sense, I mean the curse being a conscious thing that can make decisions, influence its domain, and that can take physical form if it so chooses.

[TheBrassDuke]

I would say make the curse a monster. I don't mean a monster in the traditional sense, I mean the curse being a conscious thing that can make decisions, influence its domain, and that can take physical form if it so chooses.

So, a moderately low-level Fey Prince of the Wicked Garden. Those Pegasus-voiced bros will be a terrifying thing to just *poof* into the ballroom at some point, all upset they are ruining his twisted fun.

[Athan Artilliam]

A chimera that used to be three dudes, either close friends or maybe brothers. A mighty warrior (lion), a cunning warlock (ram), & a vicious rogue (serpent)

Cursed by the Fey Enchantress (pick a reason) they are now must find a way to resolve it but their fusion has caused them to infight a lot

[GreyBlack]

This. The Beast's enchanted castle is almost entirely constructs. (There are wolves/direwolves outside of course, and a mob of frightened villagers.)

Elsa's castle meanwhile could contain elementals or even oozes/living spells.

Depends on how you flavor it? In the original fairy tale of Beast's castle, the castle itself is enchanted, which (at least to me) might imply stuff like bound elementals or fey spirits similar to the Conjure Animals spell.

[Grull]

So, a moderately low-level Fey Prince of the Wicked Garden. Those Pegasus-voiced bros will be a terrifying thing to just *poof* into the ballroom at some point, all upset they are ruining his twisted fun.

In my head, it was more of a ghost-like presence. Something that exists throughout the castle and the lands surrounding it and manifests in strange magical ways. Being Disney inspired and also a curse by a fey creature, I would say that it would influence how things grow and behave rather than outright death or rot. For instance, all the mice in the castle could become furless, imp-like creatures that push vases and bricks and things off edges above in an attempt to hit players below. The fruit/vegetables could act as if they were still on a tree, but some demonic variety of their original plant, growing and contorting and possibly even merging or coming to life to fight the players as weak vegetation golems. and the entity curse could cause things to happen or exert control over those effected by its presence in a limited capacity, like raise some zombies and skeletons in the graveyard to attack the party, bring the party's shadows to life so they can fight their own shadows, or cause the imp mice to just bum rush the party. I just like the idea of something evil and intelligent looming over them the whole time, it makes it just a little more personal and satisfying when they win.

[Sigreid]

If ever there was an excuse to use a friendly Flumph, this is it.

[Sorinth]

I actually went with a gargoyle guarding the bridge; they're level 1, so figured that a troll is a bit too powerful to use at level 1.

At level 1 it's probably a good idea to not force most encounters to be a fights. So the Gargoyle guarding the bridge might be bypassed by solving a puzzle (A logic puzzle is often better then a riddle). Fighting is of course an option, and there might even be another path to get to the same location or some other creature might be willing to tell the party the answer if they do it a favour.

Slow moving creatures are good for fights since it's easier to escape and since they can be kited they are winnable fights if played smartly so things like Gelatinous Cube/Mimic work well, especially if they can gain foreknowledge of the threat.

You can even have some creatures fighting each other. So dozens of animated weapon/armor fighting each other with the challenge being to cross the battlefield instead of trying to defeat them.

In terms of fey these can be more social encounters and mini quests. For example a Satyr chef is baking a pie to give to a Nymph/Dryad hanging out in the gardens. But a group of Sprites that bully the Satyr are willing to tell the party about a secret passage if they place a tainted berry into the pie. But they could also get the same secret passage info from the Nymph/Dryad by doing some other mini-quest like clearing out some Twig Blights that infested the garden's hedge maze.