Astral Dreagnaught Solo Encounter Design for tonight

[Markn]

6) Dead Gods: The bodies of dead gods tend to be some of the most promenent solid spaces in the astral plane. They are almost always enveloped in various curtains that conceal there presence at a distance. For the most part, these are like islands of real matter only much much worse. If you don't have business being near them, back off as quickly as possible.

Good stuff Celebrim,

I like the idea of the floating fragments of dreams - I think that could give a lot of flavor to the combat.

FYI, not sure if I have mentioned it but this is 4e campaign.

The last part that I have quoted from you, is exactly the reason the PCs are sailing the Astral Sea. They are seeking Haemnathuun, a dead Primordial and need his heart (or a piece of it) to open an ancient artifact from the Dawn War. While most of my encounters will be at specific locales in the Astral Plane, I wanted one within the sea itself, hence the Dreadnaught.

So far my favorites are the Psychic Storm and the dream fragments to spice up the fight.

 

[Markn]

Maybe you could expand the encounter inside the astral dreadnought? I kinda like the idea of having the party fighting both inside and outside the monster. Maybe some githyanki have been stuck inside the astral dreadnought for years, and even have a sort of self-sufficient colony inside of it.

The fight could proceed in stages -- first the PCs battle the dreadnought outside (I'd probably tweak it to make it a bit tougher and nastier), then it uses an amped up version of its power to suck the PCs inside, and you have a whole new type of encounter -- maybe some other prisoners, maybe just the various organ systems, "white blood cells", and flora (giant astral E. coli, anyway) that populate the dreadnought's innards, then the PCs cause enough havoc to be spit out, and the final stage of the battle resumes with wailing on the dreadnought in normal D&D fashion.

Actually, the 4e version of Dreadnaught allows for fighting inside and outside. I'm going to give some thought to expanding the fight inside though. Could have some cool concepts.

 

[Celebrim]

FYI, not sure if I have mentioned it but this is 4e campaign.

I had gathered that much. It's making it hard for me to recommend specific mechanics.

 

[Markn]

Mechanics, I can create. That seems to come pretty naturally.

Getting the spark of design in the "featureless" aspects of the Astral Plane has been much more difficult.

BTW, you have fantastic visual explanations.

 

[Markn]

So, I finally got some inspiration for this.

I have decided to split the Astral Dreadnaught encounter from the "generic" Astral Sea encounter.

I liked Celebrim's idea of putting the AD on a beach that has ruined/marooned astral vessels and so the the PCs will encounter him there. When that encounter happens, the PCs will already be in a skill challenge (whose concept was borrowed from PirateCat) where they have to avoid being sucked down into the sand as one of the buried ships hull finally broke creating a vaccuum for the sand to get sucked down into it. So while the PCs are fighting this off, they will have the additional challenge of fending off an Astral Dreagnaught. Still working on the last half of the encounter and what I would like to happen but so far so good on this one.

As for the "generic" Astral Sea encounter, I am going to use the psychic storm idea. Visually, I have come up with the concept that the psychich storm creates phenomena (lightning, sonic booms, winds) that only the mind perceives. To all other senses - sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, nothing is present. So while the PCs are having a "psychic battle" they are actually still just smoothly sailing through the Astral Sea.

The challenge itself is essentially just a survive it type of thing so it is not based on a number of successes or failures. Having said that, each round, different complications or phenomena happen forcing the PCs to use different skills. Each round is essentially a mini skill challenge which can further hinder or help the issues that arrise on future rounds.

I think it will be fun.

 

[Celebrim]

As for the "generic" Astral Sea encounter, I am going to use the psychic storm idea. Visually, I have come up with the concept that the psychich storm creates phenomena (lightning, sonic booms, winds) that only the mind perceives. To all other senses - sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, nothing is present. So while the PCs are having a "psychic battle" they are actually still just smoothly sailing through the Astral Sea.

I see what you are going for here, but I have to disagree. On the Astral plane, 'mind' is everything. Arguably, nothing else is present. Everything on the astral plane is, "Just a thought". So while I agree that the battle and the storm is all in the mind, I don't think that that means that its intangible while on the astral plane. That's the whole idea of planes - intangible things become tangible.

If you want to go with this idea to emphasis (rather than detract from) 'its all in the mind', I'd suggest leaving the 'its just a dream/its all in your mind' aspect of it until at least nearer the end and possibly for the denoument of the encounter. I wouldn't make it obvious from the first that while the storm is raging, they are also still placidly sailing along if only because it draws down the tension and drama of the scene.

 

[Markn]

Celebrim,

I see what you are saying. I think I will adjust it so that the realization of it all happening in the mind comes later in the encounter.

But to be clear on one point, just because it is only happening in the mind does not make it any less real. The results ARE still just as deadly. Just as you can die from an illusion (in previous editions anyways), the effects of this are just as serious. My portrayal of the Psychic Storm as a "mind only" thing is to enhance that this is a mental thing made real and seperating it from the senses helps establish this - and having the players gradually understand this as the encounter progresses may be the better approach because it gives it more weight. In terms of the portrayal, it should be pretty unique for my players and this gives the Astral Plane a different feel from other locations.

BTW, if they end up "shipwrecked" at the end of the encounter, I see it as the players responding the "nonexistent" physical threats so not only does it take a toll on their mind but their attempt to physically react to whats happening in their mind causes damage to the skiff causing it to go out of control. Basically, its like having a dream AND your body is responding to all the stimulus of it so you are actually enacting the dream. If this happens, I intend to do a quick dream sequence that will forshadow their epic destines that they have chosen.