Sorry d-K, the RW has been very interesting lately, so I haven't even been online for fun much since the last post...
I'll get cracking.
I'll get cracking.
-
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Collaborative Cave #2 - Updated map (see 1st post) - Now doing room assignment
- Thread starter der_kluge
- Start date
I was just thinking about this the other day...
der_kluge
Adventurer
#14. Absolute Evil
(EL 8)
The door into this room is magically locked, requiring either a dispel magic (DC 21) or a knock spell to open. In addition, the door has a number of warnings carved into it - in three separate languages - Sylvan, Celestial and Draconic. The warning phrase is repeated in each different language.
Read the following to anyone able to read any of the three languages the phrase is written in:
The room is large - 100' deep and 140' across. Mere torch light or even lantern light is insufficient to light the entire room, though one may be able to see a large circular arrangement of marble columns in the center of the chamber. The ceiling here is high - about 12'.
Hiding in the darkness in this room is an ancient evil - a Bodak. The bodak is patient, biding its time here for countless centuries. It waits for its pray to fully enter before striking from the shadows.
Bodak
Size/Type: Medium Undead (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 9d12 (58 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 Dex, +8 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d8+1)
Full Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Death gaze
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity, resistance to acid 10 and fire 10, undead traits, vulnerability to sunlight
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +7
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con --, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Listen +11, Move Silently +10, Spot +11
Feats: Alertness, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (slam)
Alignment: chaotic evil
In the center of the room is a skeleton in tattered robes - a dagger is plunged deep into its' sternum. This individual sacriced themselves to lure the Bodak into the room, where they promptly killed themselves upon hearing the door closing shut behind the Bodak. The skeleton's head is also wrapped up tightly with a cloth blindfold to prevent the Bodak from using its gaze attack against him.
Treasure:
The dagger in the skeleton is a +1 Vicious dagger.
In addition, the walls are adorned with rare works of art and tapestries which haven't seen the light of day in hundreds of years. Feel free to make these works campaign-specific and perhaps historically significant if you wish them to be more than just works of art. The value of the pieces should be at least 4,000gp.
Optional Rat Bastard DM situation
Given the dire warnings on the door, PCs are going to heavily prepare themselves before opening the door into this room - preparations which will likely include magical protections, enhancements and perhaps even divinations. If you're feeling particularly cruel, have the Bodak be just a bit smarter than your average Bodak. When the PCs open the room, have him wait in the south-east corner, and when they fully enter the room - have the Bodak escape! He flees through the cavern hungry for death. If its daytime, he awaits near the cavern entrance until nightfall, where he flees to the nearest village, killing hundreds with his death gaze.
(EL 8)
The door into this room is magically locked, requiring either a dispel magic (DC 21) or a knock spell to open. In addition, the door has a number of warnings carved into it - in three separate languages - Sylvan, Celestial and Draconic. The warning phrase is repeated in each different language.
Read the following to anyone able to read any of the three languages the phrase is written in:
The room is large - 100' deep and 140' across. Mere torch light or even lantern light is insufficient to light the entire room, though one may be able to see a large circular arrangement of marble columns in the center of the chamber. The ceiling here is high - about 12'.
Hiding in the darkness in this room is an ancient evil - a Bodak. The bodak is patient, biding its time here for countless centuries. It waits for its pray to fully enter before striking from the shadows.
Bodak
Size/Type: Medium Undead (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 9d12 (58 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 Dex, +8 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d8+1)
Full Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Death gaze
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity, resistance to acid 10 and fire 10, undead traits, vulnerability to sunlight
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +7
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con --, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Listen +11, Move Silently +10, Spot +11
Feats: Alertness, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (slam)
Alignment: chaotic evil
In the center of the room is a skeleton in tattered robes - a dagger is plunged deep into its' sternum. This individual sacriced themselves to lure the Bodak into the room, where they promptly killed themselves upon hearing the door closing shut behind the Bodak. The skeleton's head is also wrapped up tightly with a cloth blindfold to prevent the Bodak from using its gaze attack against him.
Treasure:
The dagger in the skeleton is a +1 Vicious dagger.
In addition, the walls are adorned with rare works of art and tapestries which haven't seen the light of day in hundreds of years. Feel free to make these works campaign-specific and perhaps historically significant if you wish them to be more than just works of art. The value of the pieces should be at least 4,000gp.
Optional Rat Bastard DM situation
Given the dire warnings on the door, PCs are going to heavily prepare themselves before opening the door into this room - preparations which will likely include magical protections, enhancements and perhaps even divinations. If you're feeling particularly cruel, have the Bodak be just a bit smarter than your average Bodak. When the PCs open the room, have him wait in the south-east corner, and when they fully enter the room - have the Bodak escape! He flees through the cavern hungry for death. If its daytime, he awaits near the cavern entrance until nightfall, where he flees to the nearest village, killing hundreds with his death gaze.
Last edited:
Tonguez said:
Ah, this is where I was at. I had the "drowned people who were buried in the sand when the decanter was turned" on idea.
Why did the installer of the decanter, both install and then leave the decanter there? Whoever it was that did it, I'd like to have them drown the people in my area upon putting it in. I would also like the drowned to have been allies of this person who were turned upon. This way the undead in my area will be quite angry when the party approaches.
Something should be written on the wall to let the players have some idea as to what was going on. Also, the bodies, having decayed underwater, are still underwater. After years of decay, the skulls detached and rolled into deeper water, but the rest of the skeletons are still buried in the sand.
Perhaps the skulls could attack, and also the bodies as headless spirits?
What do people think?
Still interested!
I couldn't find this thread until I got this update- I'm not a subscriber and I'm still having problems accessing my subscribed threads!
I couldn't find this thread until I got this update- I'm not a subscriber and I'm still having problems accessing my subscribed threads!
I believe this is what was needed to complete my room (some material has been reposted):
The attackers are typical Skum, armed with longspears.
Size/Type: Medium Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: Group A: #1 15HP, #2 12HP, #3 8HP;
Group B: #4 13HP, #5 11HP, #6 11HP;
Group C: #7 12HP, #8 10HP, #9 9HP;
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 40 ft.
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4) and 2 claws +0 melee (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rake 1d6+2
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., amphibious
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +6*, Listen +7*, Move Silently +6, Spot +7*, Swim +12
Feats: Alertness
Environment: Underground
Organization: Brood (2–5) or pack (6–15)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: 3–4 HD (Medium); 5–6 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +3
There are 9 of them, grouped in 3's. They are using the reach of the longspears to attack the boat while remaining below the water. The water's darkness & distortion of the surface makes fighting difficult. Furthermore, the Skum's longspears are primitive, with flaked stone heads. (Since the weapons are made of primitive materials with shoddy workmanship, they have 2 points less hardness and half of the HP of normal weapons of their kind, and have a 1 in 20 chance of breaking on an attack roll of 1.)
To reflect the difficulty of this kind of fighting, treat the water's surface as providing soft cover- IOW, a -4 to attack. However, with each successful hit, reduce the penalties by 1, and eliminate the penalty if a hit results in a crit threat. Since the Skum have some experience with this, they start off with only -2.
The Skum are trying to damage the party, to be sure, but they are mostly trying to herd the party towards their unseen 10th member. To that end, they are attacking on 3 sides, leaving the 4th side (nearest the opening to the next cave) open.
Submerged at the entrance of the next cave is the one they call "The Beast" Nabbar. He is a Large Skum (6HD),
Size/Type: Medium Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 40HP
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 40 ft.
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (5d6+4 initial, 3d6+4 without Psionic Fist) and 2 claws +0 melee (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rake 1d6+2
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., amphibious
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +6*, Listen +7*, Move Silently +6, Spot +7*, Swim +12
Feats: Improved Natural Attack: Bite (now 3d6), Wild Talent, and Psionic Fist
Environment: Underground
Organization: Brood (2–5) or pack (6–15)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: 3–4 HD (Medium); 5–6 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +3
Unlike his smaller bretheren, he is mildly psionic- the end result of selective breeding including psionic stock by his Aboleth Master. Instead of Alertness, he has Improved Natural Attack: Bite (now 3d6), Wild Talent, and Psionic Fist (expend psionic focus to have Unarmed Attack or Natural Weapon deal +2d6 damage).
As an alternative to Psionics, give Nabbar the usual Alertness, plus Improved Initiative and INA, but give him the Half-Fiend template. He is the end result of the breeding program including a number of would-be sorcerers.
The attackers are typical Skum, armed with longspears.
Size/Type: Medium Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: Group A: #1 15HP, #2 12HP, #3 8HP;
Group B: #4 13HP, #5 11HP, #6 11HP;
Group C: #7 12HP, #8 10HP, #9 9HP;
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 40 ft.
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4) and 2 claws +0 melee (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rake 1d6+2
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., amphibious
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +6*, Listen +7*, Move Silently +6, Spot +7*, Swim +12
Feats: Alertness
Environment: Underground
Organization: Brood (2–5) or pack (6–15)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: 3–4 HD (Medium); 5–6 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +3
There are 9 of them, grouped in 3's. They are using the reach of the longspears to attack the boat while remaining below the water. The water's darkness & distortion of the surface makes fighting difficult. Furthermore, the Skum's longspears are primitive, with flaked stone heads. (Since the weapons are made of primitive materials with shoddy workmanship, they have 2 points less hardness and half of the HP of normal weapons of their kind, and have a 1 in 20 chance of breaking on an attack roll of 1.)
To reflect the difficulty of this kind of fighting, treat the water's surface as providing soft cover- IOW, a -4 to attack. However, with each successful hit, reduce the penalties by 1, and eliminate the penalty if a hit results in a crit threat. Since the Skum have some experience with this, they start off with only -2.
The Skum are trying to damage the party, to be sure, but they are mostly trying to herd the party towards their unseen 10th member. To that end, they are attacking on 3 sides, leaving the 4th side (nearest the opening to the next cave) open.
Submerged at the entrance of the next cave is the one they call "The Beast" Nabbar. He is a Large Skum (6HD),
Size/Type: Medium Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 40HP
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 40 ft.
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (5d6+4 initial, 3d6+4 without Psionic Fist) and 2 claws +0 melee (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rake 1d6+2
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., amphibious
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +6*, Listen +7*, Move Silently +6, Spot +7*, Swim +12
Feats: Improved Natural Attack: Bite (now 3d6), Wild Talent, and Psionic Fist
Environment: Underground
Organization: Brood (2–5) or pack (6–15)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: 3–4 HD (Medium); 5–6 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +3
Unlike his smaller bretheren, he is mildly psionic- the end result of selective breeding including psionic stock by his Aboleth Master. Instead of Alertness, he has Improved Natural Attack: Bite (now 3d6), Wild Talent, and Psionic Fist (expend psionic focus to have Unarmed Attack or Natural Weapon deal +2d6 damage).
As an alternative to Psionics, give Nabbar the usual Alertness, plus Improved Initiative and INA, but give him the Half-Fiend template. He is the end result of the breeding program including a number of would-be sorcerers.
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