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Fire and Water: Designing themed dungeons
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<blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7190452" data-attributes="member: 6801286"><p><span style="color: red"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">2 - Dungeon side views</span></strong></span></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]86911[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>If your dungeon is more vertical than horizontal, a topdown perspective might not be the most efficient way to illustrate the dungeon. Since part of this adventure takes place in a tower, I also made a side view to better illustrate the various important locations. </p><p></p><p>You may have noticed that the rooms here are not drawn to represent the actual shape or looks of the rooms, but are merely a rough indication of their size and location. This map covers a very large structure, and so the map is not to scale. It is meant to illustrate just the lay out of the tower.</p><p></p><p>I've marked elevators with an elevator-icon, as well as locked doors and doors that require Beler's Key. Beler was the Oarsman who originally constructed the tower, and now only the high priestess carries his key... but Beler was also buried with one of these keys. The Beler key gives access to special rooms that are off limits to normal visitors. Unfortunately the High Priestess has been murdered, and replaced by a monster that has assumed her shape. The bad guys now have one of the Beler Keys, giving them access to the Underhaven.</p><p></p><p>Note that the Underhaven (the dungeon) is all the way at the bottom. At the top of the tower is Mor's Eye, a powerful lens that is used to evaporate salt water and create drinking water. But with enough lenses this feature can be turned into a powerful naval weapon that can scorch enemy ships from afar. This is what the bad guys are worried about. They do not want it to fall into the hands of the players.</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: red"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">3a- Narrative and enemies</span></strong></span></p><p></p><p>If you tie the dungeon to a narrative, then this can greatly help you pick enemies and come up with rooms for your dungeon. One of the things a DM should always ask himself is, why are my monsters in this dungeon? What is their motivation? What are they trying to achieve? If the dungeon is their home or base of operations, then the dungeon probably facilitates all their basic needs. There will be food supplies, a kitchen, barracks, a privy, a weapon storage, maybe stables. But if the monsters are invading the dungeon, then perhaps they are trying to reach a certain room, which could also line up with the goals of the players.</p><p></p><p>So who are the main villains in this story, and what are they trying to achieve? And what effect does this have on the theming of your monsters?</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Hydra </u></strong></p><p><em>(Not to be confused with the multi-headed beast, nor with the evil organisation from Avengers)</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em></em><strong>Theme:</strong> Aquatic/Corruption/Cold/The Deep/Undead</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]86912[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Hydra is a Lovecraftian horror from the depths, that sends its living ships to the surface to conquer the world of the living. It is in open battle with the established pantheon of gods, and because of this it cannot manifest itself on their world. The Oarsmen enchanted the tower on the island of Salt with ancient dwarven runes that prevent Hydra nor any of its minions from entering. This gives Hydra a goal. It wants those runes destroyed, and the tower to be conquered. Hydra also considers the players its enemy, and seeks to destroy them and their allies. For this purpose it has devised a devious plan to lure a fleet of allies of the players to Salt, where they can be ambushed by Hydra's forces from the depths. But for this to work, the tower must first be taken out of the equation. Hydra considers the tower a too powerful weapon to fall into the hands of the players. Like a master chess player, it is making its first powerful move. Hydra's minions consist of living ships, twisted sea creatures, corrupted beings and abominations. Hydra corrupts those who serve it, and makes them into powerful monsters.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Teehlyian'tara</strong></u></p><p><em>(Lady of the Flesh)</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em></em><strong>Theme:</strong>Vermin/Insects/Deformation/Infestation/Flesh</p><p></p><p>This lesser deity is also known as the vermin goddess. Teehlyian'tara is not as powerful as Hydra, nor any of the gods, but unlike them it does not posses a physical form. Teehlyian'tara relies on human hosts (also called vessels) to serve as her avatar and to manifest herself. Her lack of physical form is both a weakness and a strength. She cannot fight the other gods directly, but she is also very hard to exterminate, because she divides herself amongst her many minions... as one would expect from a vermin goddess. What makes Teehlyian'tara especially dangerous, is that like a cockroach she can circumvent magical protection and infest anything. She allies herself with other more powerful evil beings and helps them make their grab for power. Teehlyian'tara is fine with being in the shadows, working silently to erode the power of the gods, so Hydra can conquer all. Her minions all embody vermin traits. They are either vermin themselves, or are corrupted humanoids infested with vermin. Hydra cannot enter the tower, but Teehlyian'tara's minions can! Hydra's forces can help get her minions to the Underhaven. Once they are inside, they need only deal with the magical runes, and allow Hydra's forces to enter.</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: red"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>3b- Selecting enemies</strong></span></span></p><p></p><p>With the motivations of the villains out of the way, we can now select enemies that fit the army of those villains. The invading force will be minions of the vermin goddess, so they should be vermin, or have vermin traits. Usually we also want to make sure that the enemies are a tough but fair challenge. We'll be spamming multiple of these, so their Challenge Rating should be equal or slightly lower than the level of the party. Keep in mind that a Challenge Rating only serves as a rough guideline for making a fair fight; in other words, a fight that will not completely decimate the party. </p><p></p><p>However, a fair fight is not exactly our goal. So to that end, we'll start of with some small numbers, and then increment the amount of enemies as they go deeper into the dungeon. We'll also throw in some tougher enemies that will raise the CR beyond what is fair. Why? Because they are level 12, and fights should be tough by now. Plus I know from experience the strength of the party, and I know that they can handle enemies that are 2 CR's above their level. So if I throw a CR 14 monster at them, they should be fine. But I don't want them to be fine, so we'll make it even harder. As a DM you can always test the water a little, by throwing smaller amounts of an enemy at the party early in the dungeon, and then gradually ramping things up. Don't lock yourself down to what ever monster numbers you originally planned. Adapt the numbers according to how easily the party seems to defeat the enemies.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]86908[/ATTACH]</p><p><u><strong>Leechwalker</strong></u></p><p></p><p>There's only just one Monster Manual out for 5th edition right now, so you may feel a little limited in your choice of monsters. But you can also create your own monsters by using existing monsters as a template and adapting them.Or you can plunder the wealth of resources from older editions, and adapt those monsters to 5th edition. Quickleaf wrote an <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?524536-The-Shadow-in-the-Flame-A-Workshop-on-Designing-Dungeons-Monsters-and-a-Villain&p=7028818&viewfull=1#post7028818" target="_blank">excellent article on adapting monsters</a>, which I don't think I need to repeat. I fortunately have around 10 different books to plunder for monsters, so I went with this beauty. </p><p></p><p>The Leechwalker has low armor and a medium amount of hitpoints (which the players can easily knock away in one or two rounds at this level). But it also has wounding properties, high attack, and it drains constitution. It relies heavily on grab attacks. So to use this monster to its full capacity, it needs to be able to ambush the players, and it must always have backup. If the players encounter just one of these, that is no challenge what so ever. It is important to always thoroughly read the stats and abilities of your monsters. Don't let yourself be surprised mid-session by the strength or weakness of the monsters that you've picked. If the monsters have special immunities, make sure your players are equipped to deal with those immunities. If the monster has things it is really good at, be sure to make liberal use of that. This monster in particular is all about ambushes, so we want it to drop from the ceiling, crawl underneath things, or attack from a cloud of steam that hides it from sight.</p><p></p><p><strong>Variants</strong></p><p></p><p>I'm planning to use groups of these creatures, so I may want to create variants of them for diversity sake. Maybe one with better armor and more hitpoints (a brute), a suicide version (that explodes and sprays leeches everywhere) or one that spits leeches (a ranged enemy). These changes require minimal work, yet spice up the combat a lot.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Skulking Cyst</strong></u></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]86909[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The Skulking Cyst is a CR 4 monster, which is way too low for my level 12 party. But I was looking for an enemy similar to the nasty enemies in Dark Souls that drop from the ceiling on top of the player. I think I'll beef up the attack/grapple stats and hitpoints of this monster. It doesn't have to last long, it just needs to succeed in grappling a player and drain them. I want my players to become very paranoid about ambushes from every direction.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Siege Crab</strong></u></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]86910[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>The Siege Crab is an enemy that can carry up to 4 medium sized creatures in its body. This creature will be one of Hydra's minions, and will aid the other monsters in breaching the Underhaven. It will make for an excellent boss fight, because it is a CR 14 monster. It has insane armor, 4 attacks, lots of hitpoints, and does a ton of damage. This thing is going to hurt them a lot. Its also going to be supported by more ground troops, skewing the battle vastly against the players. I'll probably try and come up with multiple goals for the players, and maybe add some ways for them to equal the playing field. Note that normally you would not want to make the fight this tough, but I'm simply adjusting for the power of the party.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imaculata, post: 7190452, member: 6801286"] [COLOR=red][B][SIZE=5]2 - Dungeon side views[/SIZE][/B][/COLOR] [ATTACH=CONFIG]86911._xfImport[/ATTACH] If your dungeon is more vertical than horizontal, a topdown perspective might not be the most efficient way to illustrate the dungeon. Since part of this adventure takes place in a tower, I also made a side view to better illustrate the various important locations. You may have noticed that the rooms here are not drawn to represent the actual shape or looks of the rooms, but are merely a rough indication of their size and location. This map covers a very large structure, and so the map is not to scale. It is meant to illustrate just the lay out of the tower. I've marked elevators with an elevator-icon, as well as locked doors and doors that require Beler's Key. Beler was the Oarsman who originally constructed the tower, and now only the high priestess carries his key... but Beler was also buried with one of these keys. The Beler key gives access to special rooms that are off limits to normal visitors. Unfortunately the High Priestess has been murdered, and replaced by a monster that has assumed her shape. The bad guys now have one of the Beler Keys, giving them access to the Underhaven. Note that the Underhaven (the dungeon) is all the way at the bottom. At the top of the tower is Mor's Eye, a powerful lens that is used to evaporate salt water and create drinking water. But with enough lenses this feature can be turned into a powerful naval weapon that can scorch enemy ships from afar. This is what the bad guys are worried about. They do not want it to fall into the hands of the players. [COLOR=red][B][SIZE=5]3a- Narrative and enemies[/SIZE][/B][/COLOR] If you tie the dungeon to a narrative, then this can greatly help you pick enemies and come up with rooms for your dungeon. One of the things a DM should always ask himself is, why are my monsters in this dungeon? What is their motivation? What are they trying to achieve? If the dungeon is their home or base of operations, then the dungeon probably facilitates all their basic needs. There will be food supplies, a kitchen, barracks, a privy, a weapon storage, maybe stables. But if the monsters are invading the dungeon, then perhaps they are trying to reach a certain room, which could also line up with the goals of the players. So who are the main villains in this story, and what are they trying to achieve? And what effect does this have on the theming of your monsters? [B][U]Hydra [/U][/B] [I](Not to be confused with the multi-headed beast, nor with the evil organisation from Avengers) [/I][B]Theme:[/B] Aquatic/Corruption/Cold/The Deep/Undead [ATTACH=CONFIG]86912._xfImport[/ATTACH] Hydra is a Lovecraftian horror from the depths, that sends its living ships to the surface to conquer the world of the living. It is in open battle with the established pantheon of gods, and because of this it cannot manifest itself on their world. The Oarsmen enchanted the tower on the island of Salt with ancient dwarven runes that prevent Hydra nor any of its minions from entering. This gives Hydra a goal. It wants those runes destroyed, and the tower to be conquered. Hydra also considers the players its enemy, and seeks to destroy them and their allies. For this purpose it has devised a devious plan to lure a fleet of allies of the players to Salt, where they can be ambushed by Hydra's forces from the depths. But for this to work, the tower must first be taken out of the equation. Hydra considers the tower a too powerful weapon to fall into the hands of the players. Like a master chess player, it is making its first powerful move. Hydra's minions consist of living ships, twisted sea creatures, corrupted beings and abominations. Hydra corrupts those who serve it, and makes them into powerful monsters. [U][B]Teehlyian'tara[/B][/U] [I](Lady of the Flesh) [/I][B]Theme:[/B]Vermin/Insects/Deformation/Infestation/Flesh This lesser deity is also known as the vermin goddess. Teehlyian'tara is not as powerful as Hydra, nor any of the gods, but unlike them it does not posses a physical form. Teehlyian'tara relies on human hosts (also called vessels) to serve as her avatar and to manifest herself. Her lack of physical form is both a weakness and a strength. She cannot fight the other gods directly, but she is also very hard to exterminate, because she divides herself amongst her many minions... as one would expect from a vermin goddess. What makes Teehlyian'tara especially dangerous, is that like a cockroach she can circumvent magical protection and infest anything. She allies herself with other more powerful evil beings and helps them make their grab for power. Teehlyian'tara is fine with being in the shadows, working silently to erode the power of the gods, so Hydra can conquer all. Her minions all embody vermin traits. They are either vermin themselves, or are corrupted humanoids infested with vermin. Hydra cannot enter the tower, but Teehlyian'tara's minions can! Hydra's forces can help get her minions to the Underhaven. Once they are inside, they need only deal with the magical runes, and allow Hydra's forces to enter. [COLOR=red][SIZE=5][B]3b- Selecting enemies[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR] With the motivations of the villains out of the way, we can now select enemies that fit the army of those villains. The invading force will be minions of the vermin goddess, so they should be vermin, or have vermin traits. Usually we also want to make sure that the enemies are a tough but fair challenge. We'll be spamming multiple of these, so their Challenge Rating should be equal or slightly lower than the level of the party. Keep in mind that a Challenge Rating only serves as a rough guideline for making a fair fight; in other words, a fight that will not completely decimate the party. However, a fair fight is not exactly our goal. So to that end, we'll start of with some small numbers, and then increment the amount of enemies as they go deeper into the dungeon. We'll also throw in some tougher enemies that will raise the CR beyond what is fair. Why? Because they are level 12, and fights should be tough by now. Plus I know from experience the strength of the party, and I know that they can handle enemies that are 2 CR's above their level. So if I throw a CR 14 monster at them, they should be fine. But I don't want them to be fine, so we'll make it even harder. As a DM you can always test the water a little, by throwing smaller amounts of an enemy at the party early in the dungeon, and then gradually ramping things up. Don't lock yourself down to what ever monster numbers you originally planned. Adapt the numbers according to how easily the party seems to defeat the enemies. [ATTACH=CONFIG]86908._xfImport[/ATTACH] [U][B]Leechwalker[/B][/U] There's only just one Monster Manual out for 5th edition right now, so you may feel a little limited in your choice of monsters. But you can also create your own monsters by using existing monsters as a template and adapting them.Or you can plunder the wealth of resources from older editions, and adapt those monsters to 5th edition. Quickleaf wrote an [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?524536-The-Shadow-in-the-Flame-A-Workshop-on-Designing-Dungeons-Monsters-and-a-Villain&p=7028818&viewfull=1#post7028818"]excellent article on adapting monsters[/URL], which I don't think I need to repeat. I fortunately have around 10 different books to plunder for monsters, so I went with this beauty. The Leechwalker has low armor and a medium amount of hitpoints (which the players can easily knock away in one or two rounds at this level). But it also has wounding properties, high attack, and it drains constitution. It relies heavily on grab attacks. So to use this monster to its full capacity, it needs to be able to ambush the players, and it must always have backup. If the players encounter just one of these, that is no challenge what so ever. It is important to always thoroughly read the stats and abilities of your monsters. Don't let yourself be surprised mid-session by the strength or weakness of the monsters that you've picked. If the monsters have special immunities, make sure your players are equipped to deal with those immunities. If the monster has things it is really good at, be sure to make liberal use of that. This monster in particular is all about ambushes, so we want it to drop from the ceiling, crawl underneath things, or attack from a cloud of steam that hides it from sight. [B]Variants[/B] I'm planning to use groups of these creatures, so I may want to create variants of them for diversity sake. Maybe one with better armor and more hitpoints (a brute), a suicide version (that explodes and sprays leeches everywhere) or one that spits leeches (a ranged enemy). These changes require minimal work, yet spice up the combat a lot. [U][B]Skulking Cyst[/B][/U] [ATTACH=CONFIG]86909._xfImport[/ATTACH] The Skulking Cyst is a CR 4 monster, which is way too low for my level 12 party. But I was looking for an enemy similar to the nasty enemies in Dark Souls that drop from the ceiling on top of the player. I think I'll beef up the attack/grapple stats and hitpoints of this monster. It doesn't have to last long, it just needs to succeed in grappling a player and drain them. I want my players to become very paranoid about ambushes from every direction. [U][B]Siege Crab[/B][/U] [ATTACH=CONFIG]86910._xfImport[/ATTACH] The Siege Crab is an enemy that can carry up to 4 medium sized creatures in its body. This creature will be one of Hydra's minions, and will aid the other monsters in breaching the Underhaven. It will make for an excellent boss fight, because it is a CR 14 monster. It has insane armor, 4 attacks, lots of hitpoints, and does a ton of damage. This thing is going to hurt them a lot. Its also going to be supported by more ground troops, skewing the battle vastly against the players. I'll probably try and come up with multiple goals for the players, and maybe add some ways for them to equal the playing field. Note that normally you would not want to make the fight this tough, but I'm simply adjusting for the power of the party. [/QUOTE]
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