FunkBGR

So I wanted to mix it up with the leader of the Vecna cult. I decided I would have him able to adopt the face of people that attacked him, and have the confusion in combat represented by an ability of his.

As I recall, it ended up working pretty well, if a bit unconventional from the rules standard. In retrospect, I would have changed this to just be an immediate fear attack against the person hitting him, and dropped the potential confusion.

It was interesting, but not interesting enough.

Faceless One
Level 4 Elite Artillery (Leader)
Medium natural humanoid XP 350
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +5
HP 84; Bloodied 42
AC 19; Fortitude 15, Reflex 16, Will 17
Speed 6
Action Points 1
Saving Throws +2
Quarterstaff (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon
+6 vs. AC; 1d8 damage
Secret of Fire (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire
2 attacks - Ranged 10; +9 vs. Reflex; 2d4 + 6 fire damage.
Secret of Earth (standard; at-will) ✦ Thunder
Close burst 1; +9 vs. Fortitude; 1d6 + 6 thunder damage, and the target is pushed 3 squares.
Secret of Shadow (standard; recharge 4 5 6) ✦ Shadow
The Faceless One makes a separate attack against 5 different targets; range 10; +9 vs. Reflex; 1d8 + 6 necrotic damage and target slowed (save ends).
Secret of the Grave (standard; recharge 5 6) ✦Fear, Necrotic
Area burst 1 with range 10; +9 vs Will; 1d8+6 necrotic damage, and targets are immobolized (save ends)
Steal Face (immediate) ✦ Illusion
Whenever the Faceless One is missed with a melee attack, he can immediately transform his look to look like that of the person who attacked him. Further melee and ranged attacks have a 50% chance of hitting the Faceless One's foe, as long as they remain adjacent and the Faceless One continues to look like them. This guise drops when the target is no longer adjacent to the Faceless One.
Alignment Evil Languages Common
Skills Arcana +11, Bluff +8
Str 10 (+2) Dex 14 (+4) Wis 17 (+5)
Con 12 (+3) Int 18 (+6) Cha 12 (+3)
Equipment robes, quarterstaff , wand

Everything in the room depended on how the PC's did the skill challenge. Luckily, they beat it, and so there were only human cultists, and not wererats.

It was last August or September, so I don't recall what exactly, but the PC's found something that indicated a circle of stones as the next destination.

Looking at the map of Diamond Lake, they scouted out the menhirs on the edge of town, witnessing a creature make for a hidden stone entrance in the middle. The PC's entered, and immediately entered into a maze.

This I modified heavily - because honestly, mazes suck in D&D. I made it a Skill Challenge. I was still new at these, but this is how I did it.

The Skill Challenge required 9 successess overall, but every three they'd stumble across a room where they would have an encounter. Here's my notes for the Skill Challenge itself though.

In retrospect, the idea of an "encounter" check was a bad idea in this Skill Challenge. It looked okay beforehand, but the PC's ended up stumbling about a bit.

NAVIGATING THE MAZE (LEVEL 3 SKILL CHALLENGE - 150 XP/CHARACTER)

Setup:
The PC's must navigate the maze in the tomb below the Menhirs. The PC's can use their knowledge and wits to avoid the traps and hazards down below, but failure means they'll set themselves up for a huge ambush. Success indicates they'll successfully navigate the maze and gain entrance to the last tomb, where the Faceless One resides.

Level: 3
Complexity: 3 (requires 9 successes before 3 failures):
Primary Skills: Dungeoneering, Insight, Perception
NOTE: A skill labeled with Encounter Check means at least one of these skills must be used before moving on to the next encounter.

Arcana (DC 14): The maze is creating some sort of latent illusory and enchantment magic, meant to befuddle creatures.
- DC 14: The whole catacomb is radiating a charm effect that is affecting the PC's (1 Check)

Dungeoneering (DC 14): Using natural underground skills, and simple intuition, the character is able to make some headway in the maze The PC can do a number of things with Dungeoneering:

• Avoid a trap, and assist everyone else with avoiding it (1 Check / Encounter)
• Navigate safely into the maze. (Encounter Check)
• Recognize evidence of unsafe passages, due to mold growth or cobwebs (1 Check / Encounter)

History (DC 14): A character can make a history check to know a bit about the tomb. Its age places it about 1000 years old, and it's definitely hobgoblin make, being very ornate, and built to confuse the enemies of their Empire should they ever be discovered. (1 Check)

Insight (DC 19): A character can make an insight check to negate the magic affecting his senses, and go with his true intuition. (Encounter Check)

Nature (Variable): Once a Perception check has been made to discover the tracks, a Nature check can determine what the creatures are, as per normal monster identification rules (1 Check)

• DC 9: Giant Rats
• DC 14: Rat-men, or Wererats

Perception (DC 14): A PC can do a number of things with Perception:

• Spot tracks in the dust of pawprints, some large and others large and walking upright (1 Check)
• Attempt to follow a trail already built into the maze (Encounter Check)
• To recognize a detail that they've already passed (can be used when a failure has been accomplished) (1 Check / Encounter)

Stealth (DC 19): The Wererats of the maze are constantly alert, but using this skill can help hide the PC's from their rat patrols. (1 Check / Encounter)

Complications:
After the party’s first failure on the skill challenge (or 3 successes), they have the encounter "The First Room - B".
After the party's second failure on the skill challenge (or 6 successes), they have the encounter "The Second Room - B".

Success: The PC's reach the final room before defensive preparations are made, and have the encounter "The Third Room - A"

Failure: The PC's reach the final room but defensive preparations are made, and have the encounter "The Third Room - B"

The Thing in the Water was me trying to insert some randomness into a fight. I was throwing way too much at the players in a confined place, so this was a way to introduce a "balancing" factor - assuming they used it.

So, I had a section of the Grimlock mines where there was a bridge crossing a chasm, with cliffs that looked out over an underground lake. On the second round of fighting up here, a "thing" came up out of the water and attacked anything close to the edge - be it PC or enemy.

I envisioned the thing being like the creature from Lord of the Rings (The Watcher). I based it off a Hydra I remember.

The players ended up using it to good effect, throwing guys next to the edge so the thing would attack the enemies, and it worked wonderfully well!

Thing in the Water Level 6 Solo Lurker
Large natural beast (reptile) XP 1250
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +10; all-around vision
HP 280; Bloodied 140
AC 20; Fortitude 20, Reflex 18, Will 17
Saving Throws +5
Speed 5, swim 10
Action Points 2
Tentacle (standard; at-will)
Reach 2; +11 vs. AC; 1d8 + 5 damage.
Tentacle Fury (standard; at-will)
The thing makes four tentacle attacks.
Threatening Reach
The thing can make opportunity attacks against all enemies within its reach (2 squares).
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Stealth +11
Str 20 (+8) Dex 16 (+6) Wis 14 (+5)
Con 20 (+8) Int 2 (-1) Cha 8 (+2)

Hmm, so I've hit a snag with updating this, in the sense that I can't tell from my notes what is from the Monster Manual, and what isn't. I copied things whole cloth sometimes, and then just renamed them.

So I'm going only with what I know, which will probably make some of the 2nd magazine entries very short.

I had the first and most obvious temple be of Torvog, and below the Dourstone Mines. Sneaking in, the PC's encountered all the same things they did with their other group (who TPK'd here in 3.5, and then we quit).

I had what I call a roving encounter, where the players started in one room, but as monsters kept running away, the encounter escalated and would switch rooms as the PC's followed. They had a choice of using more resources and continuing on, or letting the enemies setup for them.

I built this out of cardstock, but can't find the pictures.

I know that I used some stats for Hobgoblins for some of the Grimlocks, and then artificially changed things around like giving them Blindsight.

I took Hyena's, and modified them to have the following ability:

Face Peel (minor; recharge ) * Fear
Close blast 3, +5 vs Will; enemy takes a -2 penalty on attacks rolls (save ends)

I called them Krenshar.

I had two elites in the series of encounters that were specifically against the PC's. The way they were setup though made it so the PC's could lock them down in a hallway.

The first was a "Warpriest of Slaughter", who I gave this ability:

Enveloping Rage (standard; recharge ) * Charm
range 10; area burst 1; +7 vs Will; target must make a melee or close attack, or take 5 damage (save ends)

I thought that was an interesting divergence from normal mechanics.

The other elite, the Chieftain, had an ability that granted all Grimlocks within his aura a basic attack:

Furious Presence (Standard Action, Encounter)
Grant all Grimlocks in aura a basic attack

There was also a solo in the encounter, but it really should be counted as a hazard, as it attacked whatever was nearest to it and within reach. This was used to good effect by the PC's when they realized it wasn't working for the Grimlocks . . .

I'm running the Age of Worms in 4e, yet my players had played Whispering Cairn. They also under 3e had suffered a TPK in the Mines, but I decided it'd be good to still use it.

Some changes I made to Three Faces of Evil include that I split the cultist groups up. Instead of every one of them being together, I kept the Torvog (formerly Erythnul) in the mines, moved the Vecnan's to a "catacomb" underneath the cairn on the edge of town, and moved the Bane (formerly Hextor) followers out to the Twilight Monastery.

I added a couple of encounters too - a raid on the Smenk residence as the finale, and some small side excursions.

I also changed around some of the motivation of certain people. Smenk hires the PC's because he is double-crossing them. He wants them to finish a nasty ritual that needs the leaders of the individual churches to die.

I also made terrain for some of these encounters. I used World Works Games and Fat Dragon Games to build an underground dungeon, and a set of cliff faces leading up to the Twilight Monastery. I'll see if I can post some pictures.