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So, I'm building a 4e adventure involving a temple dedicated to greed (you know, the deadly sin, greed). I was hoping to involve a lot of traps and encounters along the same theme, but I'm drawing some blanks. Can anyone suggest any monsters or traps that would make sense? For example, traps that tempt players into taking something valuable, or something like that.
Any tips would be most appreciated!
__________________ "Inanimate objects, do you have a soul
That ties to our soul and the force to love?"
My first thought was along the same lines, to tempt people and have their greed be their downfall. But... this faith worships the concept of greed, and encourages it? Then punishing people for being greedy would go against their message.
How about greedy traps that affect the PC with the highest level magic item, or the most gold/treasure/etc? They would obviously be magical in nature, and maybe they function like magnets, attracting/affecting the correct PC from across the chamber?
Or how about traps that cause the PCs to become envious of one another's possessions to spark up some infighting? The trap could force the PC to move to his nearest ally and restrain him/her while trying to take one of his items?
Well, the PCs are fairly low-level (at the moment, they're 3rd), so they don't have too many magic items, but I will keep that in mind.
I know it may sound kind of counter-intuitive, but if it helps, think of it this way- this temple was made by people who were masters of their greed, and so only someone who was a slave to it (that is, someone less-invested into their faith) would fall victim to their traps.
One idea I had (though not necessarily for a trap) was something along the lines of a slot machine- the PCs have to put money into it, and whenever they do, something happens (possibly beneficial, possibly harmful, possibly neither), but I haven't put any mechanics into it. Any thoughts?
__________________ "Inanimate objects, do you have a soul
That ties to our soul and the force to love?"
Personally, an interesting trap for a temple of greed would be a doorway that shoots arrows at someone who walks through without taking something from the donation plate next to the door. Not a main passageway trap, but still, nice and low leveled.
Gabe, I made use of these in the Dungeon adventure I recently wrote. I didn't use all of my ideas there, though.
- Inside the temple, everyone looks wealthier, healthier and more attractive than you do. Their voices sound more mellifluous, and yours sounds scratchy and warbling. Their clothes are nicer and they smell better than you do.
- A large pit separates the congregation from a pile of money and treasure. They can see it, they just can't get to it.
- Tapestries on the walls show people standing outside of restaurant and mansion windows, or staring at lovers they can't have -- emphasizing isolation, longing and desire. Greed.
- In my adventure, the treasure itself turns into a coin golem. I always liked that idea.
That any help?
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Nice ideas, guys! I'm pretty sure I'll use the collection-plate idea, and the image of a heap of treasure on the other side of a pit gave me a great idea of a trap (I'll work it out and post it if I think it's any good). The temple I'm making has been long-abandoned, so it might be difficult to work other people's appearances in, but I think I can find a way to do it. And I absolutely love your last idea, Piratecat. That should be fun...
By the way, what's the name of your adventure? I'll keep an eye out for it.
__________________ "Inanimate objects, do you have a soul
That ties to our soul and the force to love?"
Pressure plates under treasure which control traps, either triggering when all the treasure being taken or disarming the trap if all the treasure is taken.
Molten gold.
Slot machines could have a sign saying that after x pulls there is a chance of disaster, but the door won't open unless the lever is pulled x-1 times. Or just slots must be used x times either before passing, or if an attempt is made to continue before x pulls a trap is sprung.
A thought for running slots: after x pulls roll a D10, if you roll a 1 "Jackpot!!!" A flow of molten gold is released from the machine.
A weak floor covered by gold coins covering a pit trap.
Healing shrine that grants temp HP. If more than surge value in temp HP is taken then bad stuff.
Able to charge magic items, If items are overcharged they are destroyed.
When things are thrown in hole gold comes out. Anything put in hole is lost permanently.
Grant the midas touch. Anything touched turns to gold. This includes food.
Have an obvious shiny item sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. If someone touches the item or tries to leave the room without doing so, all squares in the room *that aren't adjacent to the item* get blasted with fire.
I forget what they're called, but I remember seeing an interesting minion in 'Open Grave'. Basically an animated severed hand.
Fill a false floor pit trap with those. When a character falls in, the hands attack. But instead of doing damage, they attempt to steal coins, potions, jewelry, etc, and scurry through hand-sized holes drilled in the sides of the pit. See the Spiretop Drake's 'Snatch' attack for the mechanics of this.
A nice touch might be to have all traps bypassable by paying gold. So each time there is a trap, there is also a crack in the wall where gold can be put in. So for each trap you can "pay your way around it". They can even call it "pay as you go" :P
You might also want to make something like a mousetrap (in bigger size though), with gold as the bait. When someone grabs it, SLAM!
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2 traps i used recently for the same character level PCs:
using the large statue trap from keep on the shadowfell: the statue is standing on a raised pedestal. on the 4 squares of the pedestal are a host of gold coins. anyone touching the coins triggers the trap.
the party enters a room strewn with silver coins several inches deep. the coins are all coated in a thin layer of wax. after several minutes in the room, the door (only one) automatically close. a thievery DC 25 check (adjust DC as appropriate for your party: my party had a rogue specialized in that skill) will defeat the lock.
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__________________ "i think this line's mostly filler"--willow rosenberg, once more, with feeling, season 6, buffy the vampire slayer
Quite an interesting "trap" might be to have some kind of final chamber containing one, very powerful magic item, attractive to all the PCs, free for the taking. This may cause the PCs to fight each other, or if one of them takes it, something triggers when they leave the dungeon with the item, as punishment for their greed. They could be rewarded for leaving the dungeon if no one tries to take the item.
A ruined Temple of Greed, that once championed the sin of greed, makes me wonder how it came into disarray. A plausible and parable-like cause could likely have been that they bit off more than they could chew, that they took something beyond their power to control or house. An evil or cursed magic item seems a likely choice.
Now what if this item was in fact intelligent, your BBEG for this romp. The idea that in a ruined temple of greed the prime loot at the end is the villain is pretty entertaining to me. Here's a few ideas off the top of my head:
This magic item is putting out a call to other intelligent items, in which case the group encounters everal different intelligent items as enemies along the way (unbeknownst to them or not).
This magic item, having destroyed this temple and its supplicants, wants out to repeat the process somewhere else, hoping to be taken by a group such as the heroes.
This magic item wants its own hoard, a hoard of people, admirers or status symbols perhaps. Basically its the treasure's equivalent to some miser and his gold. Have traps meant to capture and contain people versus outright annihilation, and the lower levels might be filled with a wide variety of races and monsters like so many gems contained as if in a zoo, or more aptly a bank.
Not sure that was anything you were looking for...
For monsters, I think dragons epitomize greed more than any other in D&D. Insects do a nice job of that too, in their way. Whenever there is food or material for hives, nests or the like they will take it, regardless. Some animals are also that way, especially with shiny things... maybe have ferrets or ferret people hehe.
A ruined Temple of Greed, that once championed the sin of greed, makes me wonder how it came into disarray. A plausible and parable-like cause could likely have been that they bit off more than they could chew, that they took something beyond their power to control or house. An evil or cursed magic item seems a likely choice.
This magic item, having destroyed this temple and its supplicants, wants out to repeat the process somewhere else, hoping to be taken by a group such as the heroes.
You hit the nail right on the head, in fact. My adventure is a bastardized version of the Fallen Angel Eberron adventrue from Dungeon 117. The temple was originally a floating golden tower, built by people so full of themselves and in love with their greed that they built this tower and filled it with everything devoted to greed. Then, they get wind of a statue that supposedly brings money and power to all that lay eyes on it, so they seek out the statue and bring it to their floating tower. What they don't realize is that the statue is actually a Radiant Idol (a fallen angel, cursed with the inability to ever fly again, through natural or magic means), somehow turned to stone. They bring it into their tower, and eventually, the magic holding up the tower breaks down and it falls and crashes.
The PCs are told of this statue by a wanderer (and presented with the statue's arm, which produces a gold coin whenever struck against a surface), and are told they can get even more treasure if they find the rest of the statue. The thing is, the radiant idol's soul is still quite alive, and is influencing people to do its bidding (such as the wanderer), trying to re-unite itself. The wanderer, however, has his own motivation for telling the PCs- he hopes the PCs will destroy the statue, freeing him from his servitude to the radiant idol. The radiant idol, unknown to the wanderer, WANTS to be destroyed, since that'll hopefully set his soul free to inhabit something other than an immobile statue. :-P
So, yeah, you kinda figured it out pretty well.
__________________ "Inanimate objects, do you have a soul
That ties to our soul and the force to love?"
My take on a temple of greed would be knowing when something is too good to be true and when to take the money and run.
A trap might include two paths. One clear and cleanly swept. The lined with gold coins and small piles of wealth. The clear path is to fool the uninitiated and it is trapped. The gold path has small amounts of easily grabbed gold which should be taken.
The next trap has piled of gold and gems on one path, and another path that requires a small sum to access. This could go either way. But observant PCs might see the gold path would be difficult terrain to walk over and the gems look to be sharply cut. After the PCs get halfway across the gems start limiting movement and doing damage. Then monsters attack. Teaching the lesson that the easy road will cost you but sometimes you've got to fight to get the extra bit.
The last trap just relies on the PCs learning greed is great, but the builders of this temple were the best at it and won't let anyone leave the temple with their gold. (Even once the PCs do get it out of the temple it should be cursed. Give them exceptional wealth and struggle to haul it all out only to learn that the greedy are spiteful and if they can keep it nobody can as they watch the gold ignite burning their carts, animals and everything else after the first few moments of glittering in the sun.)
I'm seeing a high priest who was a known, and even notorious, embezzler from church funds... a situation which got him respect, but also made him a target. So a very richly appointed suite with lots of treasure, on the other side of a seemingly innocuous corridor that is astonishingly full of nasty traps - like, a full-on level+3 encounter of just traps. Put a desk outside of the entrance to the corridor and a sign on the corridor entrance along the lines of "Warning: Appointments Mandatory. You have been warned." in your choice of funky script. Overtones of modern executive offices (long-dead potted plants?) come to mind, depending on how tongue-in-cheek you're willing to go.
In other words, definitely play with the greed-themed traps others have suggested (I love the gold igniting as it's removed from the temple), but also hint at the greedy people behind it. Let their stories leak through. Oh, and at least one shade who just won't accept the old maxim "you can't take it with you when you go."
My first thought was a fight in an atrium with a fountain in the middle. In the fountain are many gold coins, but the magic of the temple makes it so the coins grow mouths and attack like piranha if anyone touches the pool. make sure that the enemies have ways of pushing or sliding the PC into the pool.
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