Good Showdown Location?
contraserrene
First Post
A maze of twisty little tunnels, all different. They wrap around the roots of an imprisoned grove of long-suffering treants. The suffering of the treants empowers the evil druidic war machine known as the Biomass Engine. PCs must fight the sub-soil tenders of the entangled root system (gray renders, giant awakened moles and weasels that work in an uneasy alliance, and a nest of ants) while freeing the tangles.
Next they must emerge from the ground in the center of the artificial grove and work to subdue the freed, still-insane treants without killing them (but not before their rampage damages the earthworks and magical wards surrounding the vast forest that is the druidic "fortress" from the inside). Dodging the remaining wards, even leading the insane ones across different walls and rune lines, is paramount here.
Next they must battle the returning druidic cabal, whose most powerful members arrive first with Wind Walk and other spells (even World Wave), with closer but slower junior members arriving during the fight riding on great beasts or in the form of birds and running creatures- which is a long, wearying, but surprisingly easy fight. The druids try to restore the wards and runes during the battle; whenever there are enough lesser druids present, they break off to somewhere out of reach and line-of-sight to begin rituals fo restoration, forcing the PCs to hunt them down or watch their most deadly foes grow stronger still.
And then, within a few minutes, the Biomass Engine arrives. The true final battle begins, dodging among the comatose prone bodies of huge treants, cracked and ruined sacred stones, and runes formed from circling and forked streams. Everything is a potential weapon- but everything that holds still and smells of life is a potential meal for the Biomass Engine. A thing of hunger and fiber and flesh, it devours any dying druids and their servant creatures before beginning to absorb the treants, growing ever-larger and ever-more insane. Perhaps the only way to truly defeat it is to let it eat the treants and the trees, so that enough of its mass is flammable to burn it faster than it regenerates. Perhaps the key is repairing just enough of the wards to hold it back and restore some of the party's strength. Perhaps it's something else entirely...
Next they must emerge from the ground in the center of the artificial grove and work to subdue the freed, still-insane treants without killing them (but not before their rampage damages the earthworks and magical wards surrounding the vast forest that is the druidic "fortress" from the inside). Dodging the remaining wards, even leading the insane ones across different walls and rune lines, is paramount here.
Next they must battle the returning druidic cabal, whose most powerful members arrive first with Wind Walk and other spells (even World Wave), with closer but slower junior members arriving during the fight riding on great beasts or in the form of birds and running creatures- which is a long, wearying, but surprisingly easy fight. The druids try to restore the wards and runes during the battle; whenever there are enough lesser druids present, they break off to somewhere out of reach and line-of-sight to begin rituals fo restoration, forcing the PCs to hunt them down or watch their most deadly foes grow stronger still.
And then, within a few minutes, the Biomass Engine arrives. The true final battle begins, dodging among the comatose prone bodies of huge treants, cracked and ruined sacred stones, and runes formed from circling and forked streams. Everything is a potential weapon- but everything that holds still and smells of life is a potential meal for the Biomass Engine. A thing of hunger and fiber and flesh, it devours any dying druids and their servant creatures before beginning to absorb the treants, growing ever-larger and ever-more insane. Perhaps the only way to truly defeat it is to let it eat the treants and the trees, so that enough of its mass is flammable to burn it faster than it regenerates. Perhaps the key is repairing just enough of the wards to hold it back and restore some of the party's strength. Perhaps it's something else entirely...
StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
1. A battlefield modeled after the MC Escher staircaise painting, with subjective gravity fields over each section of stairs that make the staircase the "down" direction. Characters can try to jump/tumble from one gravity field to the next to avoid falling damage.
2. A battle area with 100 squares or close to it, each square keyed to a number on a map the DM has at the ready. Each round at the top of the initative order, magics in the area force each creature to roll a d100 and get teleported to the corresponding square. If the creature was flying, he is teleported above the corresponding new square at the same altitude as he was before. If the results would force two creatures to share/overlap spaces, reroll or something until it gets un-scewed-up. Large or larger creatures can choose where to position themselves around the target square so long as it doesn't conflict with someone else's positioning.
3. PCs get lost/dropped in a giant labyrinth (no doors, just a maze), only to have an NPC Cragtop Archer that's maximized his potential range (I can show you threads if you want, but it's quite easy to have a range of MILES) with a Seeking bow and the ability to use scrying or clairvoyance shooting at them using Horizon Shot. The PCs must find their way out of the labyrinth / to the shooter before he snipes them all down! Don't use a battlemap for this, just describe each twist and turn and have them decide which way to go, to simulate the difficulty of running through a maze under duress.
2. A battle area with 100 squares or close to it, each square keyed to a number on a map the DM has at the ready. Each round at the top of the initative order, magics in the area force each creature to roll a d100 and get teleported to the corresponding square. If the creature was flying, he is teleported above the corresponding new square at the same altitude as he was before. If the results would force two creatures to share/overlap spaces, reroll or something until it gets un-scewed-up. Large or larger creatures can choose where to position themselves around the target square so long as it doesn't conflict with someone else's positioning.
3. PCs get lost/dropped in a giant labyrinth (no doors, just a maze), only to have an NPC Cragtop Archer that's maximized his potential range (I can show you threads if you want, but it's quite easy to have a range of MILES) with a Seeking bow and the ability to use scrying or clairvoyance shooting at them using Horizon Shot. The PCs must find their way out of the labyrinth / to the shooter before he snipes them all down! Don't use a battlemap for this, just describe each twist and turn and have them decide which way to go, to simulate the difficulty of running through a maze under duress.
TheAuldGrump
First Post
The roof of a cathedral, with the villains minions positioned with crossbows on the towers, waiting for a safe shot....
The middle of a galleried great hall, with a chandelier conveniently placed for daring do.
A large balcony/exterior gallery, with hundreds of witnesses watching from below.
The Auld Grump
The middle of a galleried great hall, with a chandelier conveniently placed for daring do.
A large balcony/exterior gallery, with hundreds of witnesses watching from below.
The Auld Grump
3catcircus
Adventurer
Lava pools are always well-received.
Have the party venture underground for the final boss fight, invading the inner anctum, but find it lightly guarded and deserted. They catch up to and encounter him/her/it on a bridge made of magical ice crossing an active lava flow as a kind of temporary contingential escape route. The ice would have a continually slick surface (and no guardrails) but regenerates itself despite the heat from the lava, for as long as the magic lasts anyway. The melting water will also build up steam in the confined space.
Have the party venture underground for the final boss fight, invading the inner anctum, but find it lightly guarded and deserted. They catch up to and encounter him/her/it on a bridge made of magical ice crossing an active lava flow as a kind of temporary contingential escape route. The ice would have a continually slick surface (and no guardrails) but regenerates itself despite the heat from the lava, for as long as the magic lasts anyway. The melting water will also build up steam in the confined space. Both sides of the bridge are confined by crushing ceiling traps; the first trap is reset (and the boss knows how not to trigger it of course) while the other must be reset manually on the spot (by a minion) before the enemies can complete their retreat. Keeping the minions from reopening the passage allows some extra dramatic tension besides that of trying to slay/capture the boss.
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