Help me create a protected cave entrance

[johnsemlak]

OK, I'm running the X4-X5 module series for 3.5; it's going ok.

PCs are nearing the Great Pass

I'm planning on changing a number of encounters in the pass (though I'm leaving in the Geonids).

To start with, I want to change the pass entrance. Basically, it's a cave entrance, to a series of tunnals and valleys that form the only passable way across the Black Mountains. In the original, it's guarded by a group of fighers and a magic-user inside a trojan-horse like Dragon model. The NPCs are servants of the Master.. I'd like something else. I could be very simple and just have straightforward guards, but I'd like it to be tricky.

BTW, are any of the WotC Vicious Venues articles suitable for this, perhaps?

Any other ideas would be welcome.

 

[Piratecat]

actually, the

Spoiler

trojan-horse-like dragon

could be really interesting if it were animated like a very simple golem... and after the PCs destroy it, then the guards come pouring out of its middle!

 

[johnsemlak]

That's an idea; I'll ponder that one. How would you put the soldiers into the golem, I wonder.

any other ideas?

 

[johnsemlak]

OK, PCs didn't make it that far last time. Still would take a suggestion or two.

 

[Thanee]

Buried (undead) giant scorpions that pop up right in the middle of your party are always fun in the desert.

Bye
Thanee

 

[johnsemlak]

Buried (undead) giant scorpions that pop up right in the middle of your party are always fun in the desert.

Bye
Thanee

Ok, they're not in the desert anymore (foothills that border a desert), but a buried monster woudl work...

They'd have to be a type that those who control the passage could manipulate easily, so they themselves don't get attacked.

 

[Thanee]

Like... skeletons?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Hand of Evil]

I like gaint golem hands that reach up from the earth to grab at the players then dragging them back into the earth.

What this gives you:

• 
  Surprise Attack
  Fear factor - it took Bob, it took Bob
  Grapple attack
  X Number of rounds before death

Add fog/mist to be a rat bastard.

 

[johnsemlak]

I like gaint golem hands that reach up from the earth to grab at the players then dragging them back into the earth.

What this gives you:

• 
  Surprise Attack
  Fear factor - it took Bob, it took Bob
  Grapple attack
  X Number of rounds before death

Add fog/mist to be a rat bastard.

Hand of Evil, that post lives up to your name

How would I create a golem that does that? Could any golem be designed to be able to pop out of the ground like that?

 

[Hand of Evil]

People think golems have to be shaped humaniod but they can be shaped to perform a function like any construction. The hand is part of the tool, the arm (or what the hand is connected to) could be a digger aka drill. You could also go with simple jack-in-the-box.