Dungeonscape ToC

[Sammael]

Can be found here.

Personally, this may be the first environmental book I buy. I have a big dislike for dungeons, and I believe this book may help me overcome my bias and make me a better dungeon designer.

 

[frankthedm]

[sblock= Dungeonscape TOC]Contents
Chapter 1: The Dungeon as Enemy. . . . . . . . . 5
Dungeon Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Preparation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Common Hazards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Unpredictability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Standard Class Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Barbarian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Bard .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Cleric. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Druid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Fighter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Monk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Paladin.................................11
Ranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Rogue..................................13
Sorcerer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
New Standard Class: Factotum. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Making a Factotum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Class Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Playing a Factotum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Starting Package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Factotums in the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Factotum Lore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Factotums in the Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Dungeon Terrain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Walls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Floors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Special Terrain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Doors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Bridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chasms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chutes and Chimneys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Natural Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 2: Tools of the Trade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Packing Tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Mundane Dungeon Gear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Weapon and Armor Modifications. . . . . . 33
Alchemical Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Magic Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Tried and True Essentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
New Armor and Weapon Special Abilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
New Wondrous Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Adventuring Kits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Chapter 3: Character Options.............44
New Feats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Combat Tinkering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Gnome Tunnel Acrobatics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Hammer and Piton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Quick Reconnoiter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Trap Engineer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Trap Sensitivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Tunnel Fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Undermountain Tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Weapon and Torch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Dungeon Teamwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Climbing Squad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Search Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Prestige Classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Beast Heart Adept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Trapsmith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Dungeoneering Guilds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Why Join a Guild?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
How to Join. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Guild Variations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Sample Guilds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Wartower Wardens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Wartower Wardens Guildhall. . . . . . . . . . . 60
Keepers of the Seal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Headhunters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 4: Dungeon Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Advantages of Dungeons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Otherworldly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Monsters Galore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Enemy Territory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Lawlessness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Functions of Dungeons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Death Trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
The Near Frontier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Agent of Evil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Legendary Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
The Bizarre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Making Dungeons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Dynamic Dungeons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Dungeons as Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Memorable Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Dungeon Factions and Interactions. . . . . 74
Dungeon Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Abstraction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Inhabitants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Random Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Connecting Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Dungeon Rooms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Armory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Barracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Crypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Guard Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Kitchen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Laboratory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Living Quarters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Maze.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Museum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Prison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Temple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Throne Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Vault.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Waste Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Water Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Miscellaneous Rooms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Dungeons in Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 5: Dungeon Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . 93
Why Dungeons Are Different. . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Battlefield Preparation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Encounter Range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Direction of Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Combat Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Monster Roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Encounter Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Example: Hobgoblin Archer Room. . . . . . 96
Stock Encounter Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Enchanter Encounter (EL 12). . . . . . . . . .100
Freezer Encounter (EL 6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Hoser Encounter (EL 8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Burner Encounter (EL 14). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Alternative Monster Feats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
New Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Ascomoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Rot Grub Swarm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
New Prestige Class: Dungeon Lord. . . . . . . . . .108
New Templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Acidborn Monster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Dungeonbred Monster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Guardian Monster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Sentry Ooze. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Hivenest Monster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Chapter 6: Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
Trap Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Killing Intruders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Softening Intruders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Gaining Combat Advantages. . . . . . . . . . . 118
Discouraging Pursuit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Testing Intruders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Ejecting Intruders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Altering the Dungeonscape. . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Encounter Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Creating Encounter Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Example: Lightning Hexagon Trap. . . . .125
Advantages of Encounter Traps. . . . . . . .126
Encounter Traps and Monsters. . . . . . . . .127
Encounter Traps and Standard Traps. . . .128
New Standard Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
High-Level Mechanical Traps. . . . . . . . . .128
Sample High-Level Mechanical Traps. . 131
High-Level Magic Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Sample High-Level Magic Traps. . . . . . . . 132
New Complex Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Boon Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Sample Boon Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Psionic Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Sample Psionic Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Hazards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
New Hazards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Chapter 7: Dungeon Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Creating Dungeon Terrain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Walls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Floors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Doors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Bridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Chutes and Chimneys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Other Dungeon Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Altars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Elevators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Ladders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Machinery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Pedestals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Pillars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Pools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Stairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Statues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Teleporters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Finishing Touches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Furnishings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Adventure Hooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Senses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Continual Improvement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 [/sblock]

 

[Klaus]

So the "Journeyman" class mentioned in these boards became the "Factotum"?

And Dungeonscape doesn't seem like an "Underground" environment book, but very specifically a "Dungeon" book.

I'm very intrigued about the Dungeon Lord PrClass for NPCs and the new monster templates.

 

[Ranes]

The most compelling environmental book toc yet.

Mmm... Rot grub swarms...

Really, really looking forward to this book. And then that's it. No more D&D books for me. I have enough already. I mean it.

 

[Li Shenron]

I want to invest in a few new books this year, and I am targetting the environmental line as well (I play 3.0, so books with too much character material like the Complete are off for me).

Let me check this one:

"The Dungeon as Enemy"
Sounds like very easy information: what feats & spells to take etc, you know it always ends up in obvious choices. Gamers like this kind of info because it tells you that you're good, since you have already figured these all out, but I'm too old.
New Standard Class: Factotum: hell no! I HATE characters that in a roleplay game want to cover everyone's roles!

"Tools of the trade"
Mundane stuff is nowadays more interesting to me than magic stuff and alchemical items also are never too many! Magic Items are not to discard, but I certainly don't buy a book because of these, they're everywhere.

"Character Options"
Totally useless for me.

"Dungeon Design"
Finally something solid for the DM! It's not truly necessary information here, but I think it'll make a good reading at least, to help design dungeons that make more sense to the players. This is IMO the core of this book.

"Dungeon encounters"
Samples... not useful for me. Totally unattractive templates. But the two new monsters could be salvageable, at least they are very dungeon-oriented without being the usual aberration.

"Traps"
Possibly great info here, depending on the actual implementation.

"Dungeon features"
Well nothing special, just dungeon dressing here.


In conclusion: 50% good, 25% questionable, 25% certainly useless.
It could be an "ok" book for me, but I'll decide after some review.

 

[Ranes]

"How can I help you today?"

"I saw one of your cakes in the window."

"That's fresh homemade cake, baked to a recipe we've been perfecting for decades."

"Hmm, I dunno. I've been around the block and eaten homemade cake before, so I know roughly what it tastes like. Is there a review of your cake I could read?"

"Er, no... But... I've been baking cake for a long time. This one's a chocolate cake. I think it's one of my best yet."

"Well, I like cake, chocolate cake in particular, but I pretty much know what each part of the cake will taste like. It might be okay, I suppose."

"Perhaps your friends might like a slice. Some of them may never have seen such rich chocolate cake?"

"Nah. We've all got the t-shirt."

"Oh well, somebody out there may want some."

"Noobs."

 

[Kaodi]

I wonder... Does the Dungeon Lord prestige class have an ability that allows you to summon a horned devil?

 

[Shade]

Ascomoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Rot Grub Swarm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Sold!

 

[el-remmen]

Guessing from the class name, a Factotum is a jack of all trades?

 

[MadMaxim]

I wonder... Does the Dungeon Lord prestige class have an ability that allows you to summon a horned devil?

Armed with a scythe, yeah! It had better have that class ability somewhere Do you think it gets Bigby's slapping hand as a spell-like ability at will?