Help needed - interesting crypt encounters

[M.T. Black]

I'm working on a tomb adventure where the heroes come across a number of crypts and ossuaries. The obvious encounters are skeletons, zombies etc, but I'm also looking for one or two unique and surprising encounters.

Since my muse currently appears to be on holidays, I'm hoping the brains trust on EN World can throw some ideas my way.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Something not-undead (un-undead?) to give some variety might be good. If you have Fifth Edition Foes, a Vampire Rose encounter could be interesting and approrpiate. Or perhaps some wererats that scavenge carrion and dead adventurers for food? Maybe there's a door that's actually a golem or other animated object that needs to be defeated in order to open?

Or if you're looking for a non-combat encounter, maybe there's some sort of obviously trapped treasure that the PCs have to figure out how to get it without triggering the trap, or whether to even bother with it...

 

[Schmoe]

A swarm of flesh-eating scarab beetles, used to clean the corpses of those interred in the crypts, hsa escaped and runs amok.

 

[LordEntrails]

Constructs, insects, environmental hazards (yellow mold, green slime, etc).

Traps, mechanical and arcane. An underground river that threatens to break through and flood the crypt or parts of it.

I like the flesh eating scarab beetle idea from [MENTION=913]Schmoe[/MENTION].

Magical diseases or areas of corruption (a necromantic crystal or fungus that drains spell energy or...)

Dust that is "infected" with a disease or just causes coughing or otherwise debilitates.

 

[M.T. Black]

Great ideas, folks! Exactly what I was after

 

[Celebrim]

Tombs should usually contain at least one ghost, because they provide an opportunity for a RPing encounter in what otherwise would be nothing but hack and slash, and they are easy to tune to most CR's. Ghosts are generally malevolent, but not necessarily murderous, which provides another means of tuning them. They also provide a good opportunity for a side quest to lay the ghost to rest. Ghosts also typically have a shtick and haunt in a particular fashion depending who they were in life. They might also only turn up on certain times of day, times of the full moon, once a year or so forth. You can therefore conceivably stick ghosts almost anywhere, even in layers.

At least one of your tombs was probably built by a miser that wanted to take something with him, and who furnished his tomb with a trap to protect it.

 

[aco175]

Depending on where the tombs are located, but you can generally have cultists hiding there doing things like stealing bodies, performing rituals, and excavating lost lore. Cults can be varied as well. Dragon cults or demon cults can both be in the same location for different purposes than the elemental cult.

 

[Eltab]

3e Libor Mortis has more ideas (and should be required reading when creating a Halloween-Themed One-Off Scenario).

- Swarm of undead mosquitos: matriarch was sucking blood from corpse when mummification ritual / whatever began, and got caught up in it too. The eggs were viable after all and now the tomb has ... this ... flying around.
- Earlier, you find a very-decomposed body. Later you find the animated skin (looks like a kite, or a decayed towel-sized piece of cloth on the floor). If the skin kills you (by smothering, I guess), YOUR skin peels off to become another thing like it. Did your allies remember to run away?
- Undead spirit of an evil bard, has a sound-based ability and something like Wail of the Banshee as its top-end Daily attack.
- Wisps of fog or smoke that are just that - atmospheric (pun intended) effects. To help set the mood and maybe serve as red herring(s)
- Otherwise safe area that has mummy-style desiccation spell on it. Go ahead, drink some water and watch the rest disappear. * Inspired by the White Wyrmspeaker quest from Tiamat
- Swarms of rats (normal) plus one swarm of undead rats that ate off something they really shouldn't have. Also works for a handful of Giant Rats.

 

[AnimeSniper]

I know for one mini tomb adventuring campaign ran on Halloween ages ago the DM did have at the end an emaciated vampire corpse impaled with a tainted Holy Broadsword which our resident paladin pulled free and a few days later in-game we then had to fight said vampire which had started regaining its powers by killing off the small farmsteads nearby.

 

[AnimeSniper]

How about combining a creature with the zombie template.... Zombie Minotaur anyone.