Vampire Castle

[Window459]

I need ideas to help me build a vampires castle for my pathfinder game, from monsters to traps, to make this place a royal pain in the butt for my players. All my players are ECL11 from a half vishanti mystic, a draconic aasimar rouge/paladin/shadowbane inquisitor, a human sorcerer/fighter/eldritch knight, and a draconic tiefling duskblade, who's pretty much Indiana Jones. So help me make there time in that castle a virtual hell, thank you ahead of time playground.

[Jallorn]

Well there's always the old "fake prisoner" trick.

For some truly vicious ideas, see "Tucker's Kobolds".

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Have the walls of the castle all made of drafty, loose fitted (but firmly mortared) stone - all the small cracks allow a gaseous vampire to move between areas at will without any of the tedious mucking about with doors.

Be sure to desecrate the whole castle, at an altar to evil gods.

Have an invisible imp familiar steal the holy symbols of the divine party members, preventing most spell casting and channel energy abilities (replacing them with unholy ones - just to mess with their heads).

Use clouds of poisonous gases / disease spores - the undead don't breathe...

[KillianHawkeye]

I'm sure you could get some great ideas by playing your favorite Castlevania game.

[Xefas]

I'm sure you could get some great ideas by playing your favorite Castlevania game.

Have no doors in the entire castle, but one random stone in every room is enchanted to disappear when you throw an entire flask of holy water on it.

Give them a bag they can dump 100 gold into and it spits out a flask of holy water.

[Tengu_temp]

Medusa Heads: flying enemies with very low HP, but high AC. They temporarily paralyze/turn you to stone when they hit you.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A pit trap with a gelatinous cube at the bottom. The pit should be at least 40 ft. deep (the cube takes up the lowest 10 ft.), constructed of brick or stone and difficult to climb (DC 25). There should be a chute at the side about 20 ft. from the bottom, much too small to climb into, which garbage and refuse is tossed down for the cube to dispose of. The walls of the pit should be slick with moisture from the massive sweaty cube. Anyone who falls into the pit and lands on the cube is automatically engulfed as though they'd walked into it. Anyone who escapes the cube must be able to move away in the same turn, whether via flight or levitation or climbing, or they will automatically fall back into it and be engulfed at the end of their turn. Note that it can AoO anyone trying to move away, possibly knocking them down if climbing. Climbing out should be DC 25 (25 base, +5 for slick surface, -5 for climbing at the corner), and the chute can be used to hang on to if it proves difficult. As per an ooze's acid ability, engulfed characters will take 20 acid damage per round they remain in contact with the cube.

The trap only triggers if two or more medium-size creatures are on it. It should be in a hallway of equal width, and there should be an opponent who flees over it so they'll likely fall into it in pursuit. It could be right in front of a door, which the opponent shuts and locks behind him in his retreat, to get the PCs to group up on it. There can be a Deeper Darkness cast on one of the walls of the pit near the top, which is blocked when the trap is armed but plunges the hallway and pit into darkness once the trap is sprung. The opponent they were chasing can then open the door and engage the PCs, who will now have quite a bit to deal with. You could even include a permanent Gust of Wind effect blowing down into the pit, which activates when the trap is sprung. Climbing out against the wall would avoid it, but anyone attempting to fly or levitate out of the pit would be blown back into the cube.


The castle would have a dining hall and kitchen, regardless of the current residents' need for one. Vampires may have living guests, and should be prepared to accommodate them after all. There may even be some living servants or goons to be encountered. The kitchen should include two Grimlock cooks, who are 9th level Clerics with the Gluttony and Hunger domains. They would likely worship a powerful demon and there should be a shrine to him within the kitchen. The kitchen itself should be dirty and extremely bloody, if they'd originally come to the castle as visitors they would realize that they've been eating food that was prepared in here. There would be several adjacent rooms for storage and other purposes. One should be their private quarters where they do little more than sleep. Another can be filled with a dozen ghouls which they throw the bones and scraps to, who can be let out if the kitchen comes under attack. I'd advance the ghouls to 3 HD and apply the Evolved Undead template once to each.

The Grimlocks should each have a Deeper Darkness prepared, and every day they each cast it on a random spot on one of the walls in the kitchen, or perhaps somewhere else such as the above pit trap. At any given time there are eighteen such spells active in the castle, many of which should be in the kitchen. Since Deeper Darkness and Daylight cancel each other out on a one-for-one basis if equal level, it would take multiple castings of Daylight to illuminate the room. There should also be dozens of Ghoul Glyphs throughout the castle, since they are permanent until discharged and are not triggered by undead.

The Grimlocks should cast Freedom of Movement, Shield of Faith, Sign, and Aid prior to combat. They should take turns engaging the PCs, one can get close and cast Nauseating Breath and then full attack while the other casts spells from a distance and releases the ghouls. When one gets injured the other can move into melee while the hurt one backs away and heals himself. They should try to cast Enervation and then Baleful Polymorph to turn a target into a cow or some other animal they'd enjoy eating. Ghoul Gesture and Hold Person should also be favorites of theirs. They should each have Power Attack and Quicken Spell and be equipped with greataxes and studded leather. They should have cast Magic Vestment on their armor and Greater Magic Weapon on their axes each day. You can also use the PH2 ACF to allow them to spontaneously cast their Hunger domain spells, so they can each use Ghoul Gesture and Enervation more often.


Greater Shadows have Spring Attack. One can lurk in the wall, floor, or ceiling, its face exposed watching for victims but in a natural shadow so it won't be noticed. It can move out, hit someone, and retreat back into the wall or floor in the same round. Have it do this once, spend the next round relocating to another side of them, hit someone else who wasn't expecting it, and then hide in safety. Once they decide to move on it can strike again. This can be extremely frustrating for even a high level party, and will use up their resources and delay their progress. If it's injured it should immediately retreat to the grimlocks, knowing it can get them to fix it with inflict spells.

[KillianHawkeye]

Have no doors in the entire castle, but one random stone in every room is enchanted to disappear when you throw an entire flask of holy water on it.

Give them a bag they can dump 100 gold into and it spits out a flask of holy water.

You can't go wrong with a good old illusionary floor.