Heathen72
Explorer
Hi everyone,
I need a little help designing a high level (16th?) 'dungeon'.
It's a prison of sorts for a powerful demon and it has laid deep beneath the city for nigh on a thousand years. No one has ever come across it, or even heard of it, because it is psychically warded to make people more 'uncomfortable' the closer they get to it. Only one or two of those who make the sewers their home are even aware of it, and all they say of it is "...man, that place turns my stomach if I even go near it. There is something seriously wrong about the whole area and if I were you I would leave it well alone.
Of course, my players players need to go there (they have need of a special construct, and surprise, surprise, that construct is one of the things that holds this creature in place). The party consists of an extremely versatile wizard, a barbarian paladin (with a strong russian flavour - it works better than it sounds) and a rogue who can run move like the wind (boots of speed and min maxing means he can run rings around his enemies).
I am looking for ways to not only challenge the party, but to challenge each individual character, especially the rogue. He's the reason I created this dungeon - the mage is so versatile now that the rogue is feeling left behind. I want each character to shine. Unfortunately he's joined the campaign at a juncture where it is difficult for me to introduce personal hooks or subplots that could showcase his abilites better.
Of the three: the wizard can teleport, fly, and dimension door so it should easy at least to make him feel like he is pulling his weight, but very hard to challenge him. I think he would like a puzzle that would require hiim to use his magic cleverly.
I can thow a few combats at the paladin/barbarian, but he is hardly just a grunt, and it would be nice if he was more than just useful muscle (and I get bored of all those "use your turn attempt to open the door of evil" things). He has pretty good mythic lore and is of course very charismatic - perhaps a good challenge would require him to win over a trapped spirit from the north, who speaks an old version of his tongue?)
The Rogue is a little trickier, but I really want to give him the chance to strut his stuff, and by more than just getting him to pick a few locks. Part of my problem is that I have never really played a thief, so I don't know how best to draw out their abilities in a way that makes them seem cool. I tend a bit to be "you find a trap, roll the die..." I could throw in a trap where he has to run past the swinging blades, but it's a bit cliche'd and I would prefer something that the wizard can't show him up with by dimension door-ing past it all (and it would be a bit obvious and unsatisfying if I just stick a nul magic zone up everytime I want the thief to have his shot...)
So, any ideas? Anything you have come across in your games, or in a module? I've run a lot of adventures, but not a lot of dungeons, and I would like this to be special, as getting the construct is extremly important. How can I break the routine?
Thanks in advance,
Spunky
I need a little help designing a high level (16th?) 'dungeon'.
It's a prison of sorts for a powerful demon and it has laid deep beneath the city for nigh on a thousand years. No one has ever come across it, or even heard of it, because it is psychically warded to make people more 'uncomfortable' the closer they get to it. Only one or two of those who make the sewers their home are even aware of it, and all they say of it is "...man, that place turns my stomach if I even go near it. There is something seriously wrong about the whole area and if I were you I would leave it well alone.
Of course, my players players need to go there (they have need of a special construct, and surprise, surprise, that construct is one of the things that holds this creature in place). The party consists of an extremely versatile wizard, a barbarian paladin (with a strong russian flavour - it works better than it sounds) and a rogue who can run move like the wind (boots of speed and min maxing means he can run rings around his enemies).
I am looking for ways to not only challenge the party, but to challenge each individual character, especially the rogue. He's the reason I created this dungeon - the mage is so versatile now that the rogue is feeling left behind. I want each character to shine. Unfortunately he's joined the campaign at a juncture where it is difficult for me to introduce personal hooks or subplots that could showcase his abilites better.
Of the three: the wizard can teleport, fly, and dimension door so it should easy at least to make him feel like he is pulling his weight, but very hard to challenge him. I think he would like a puzzle that would require hiim to use his magic cleverly.
I can thow a few combats at the paladin/barbarian, but he is hardly just a grunt, and it would be nice if he was more than just useful muscle (and I get bored of all those "use your turn attempt to open the door of evil" things). He has pretty good mythic lore and is of course very charismatic - perhaps a good challenge would require him to win over a trapped spirit from the north, who speaks an old version of his tongue?)
The Rogue is a little trickier, but I really want to give him the chance to strut his stuff, and by more than just getting him to pick a few locks. Part of my problem is that I have never really played a thief, so I don't know how best to draw out their abilities in a way that makes them seem cool. I tend a bit to be "you find a trap, roll the die..." I could throw in a trap where he has to run past the swinging blades, but it's a bit cliche'd and I would prefer something that the wizard can't show him up with by dimension door-ing past it all (and it would be a bit obvious and unsatisfying if I just stick a nul magic zone up everytime I want the thief to have his shot...)
So, any ideas? Anything you have come across in your games, or in a module? I've run a lot of adventures, but not a lot of dungeons, and I would like this to be special, as getting the construct is extremly important. How can I break the routine?
Thanks in advance,
Spunky