I need help creating monsters for an adventure.

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

AThe Living Electricity (solo): its a living lightnting bolt, that constantly changes it over all sharp, and while it can't speak (at least not in any tongue the PC's can understand) its very inteligent and is the creature controlling the villagers (through their cybernetics). Now I see it having an aura that does lightning damage, and in the room its going to be in, there are going to be a couple of electrical lights that it can "teleport" through. So I kind of see it as a lurker. I have the way it looks in my head but I can't quite explain it.

The ending boss has two forms: one is his standard form which is a artilary, and his solo form that is his either a soldier or a scrimisher. The idea is when they fight him at first he has a lighting gun, maybe a few other gagets, and looks completely human. He might have a few minion aberrations with him but thats it. Once the standard version is defeated his flesh melts away to reveal a fully mechanical body with just a brain being the only organic part of him. I want this form to take a licking and deal a decent (but not over powered) amount of damage. His tactics and power must change, maybe even what he uses as weapons.

You've given it three forms. Now since you have the Save-vs-DM link, you could actually give it a lurker, artillery and soldier or skirmisher form.

Clockwork/steampunk Villagers: The villagers have cybernetic implants because there was a horrible accident at the mine during a festival that is held at its enterence every year. Many were mangled some even killed, but creatures called Gremlins offered them the implants to help (believe it or not the gremlins are not the bad guys in this adventure) and the townsfolk accepted. Now I figure I can refluff some warforged but I want a variety of roles, so I can mix and match them. Also I have the idea that one of the villagers, the barkeep, can partially resist the living electricity to give the PC's the clue that the villagers are being mind controlled. For look, some of them have cybernetic limbs, some have their eyes replaces, or even part of their face or body. So I want a bunch of brutes to get in the PC's faces, a single soldier who can be the barkeep, a couple of lurkers and scrimishers with maybe an artilary as the roles. There is one exception to this, the Ending boss.

Since the entire village is controlled, most of the NPCs would be minions. Presumably the controlled villagers haven't changed much and still hold their old social roles. There's still a mayor and/or village elder(s), a militia captain and regular militia, militia archers or crossbowmen, and so forth.

Let me know if you're interested in minions or "standard" monsters.

If you don't want to stat all these guys up, most of them could be an angry mob. (If you have the DDI, you can just look up Angry Mob, but I have one ready if you need one. It's slightly different from the official version.) The mobs would assemble on the boss's mental commands and trample the PCs.

I figure most militia would be minion brutes or soldiers, perhaps assembling in mobs. However, the militia might include a few "elites" who could be represented by town guards. They're only 3rd-level, which might be lower level than the PCs, but that's alright. The PCs should feel something is wrong (why are people who can't fight them ... fighting them?). The militia captain could be something like this:


War Chief
Level 3
Soldier (Leader)
Medium natural humanoid, human
XP 150
HP 44
Bloodied 22


Initiative +4
AC 19
Fortitude 16
Reflex 15
Will 14
Perception +1
Speed 5
Traits
Battlefield Tactics: The war chief gains a +1 bonus to melee attacks if it has an ally adjacent to the target.
Commander * Aura 5: Allied creatures that can see or hear the war chief gain a +2 power bonus to damage rolls.
Standard Actions
(mb) Longsword (weapon) * At-Will. Atk: +8 vs AC. Hit: 1d8+6 damage.
(rb) Javelin (weapon) * At-Will. Atk: Ranged 10; +8 vs AC. Hit: 1d6+5 damage.
Skills Diplomacy +7, History +7, Intimidate +7
Str 14
Dex 12
Wis 11


Con 12
Int 12
Cha 12


Alignment any
Languages Common
Equipment chainmail, light shield, long sword, 4 javelins. Commanders frequently ride a horse, even if they're not trained to fight on horseback.
Tactics Fighting in the front line, war chiefs use charismatic leadership to inspire their troops to fight even harder. War chiefs can serve as sergeants and low-ranking officers in a more organized military.

Adjust for their cyber-bits.

The only other creatures I need are the Gremlins (who unless the PC's attack them or fail the skill challenge will be helpful NPC's) and the clockwork robots they cobbled together to protect themselves from the aberrations and mind controlled monsters (they know about the mind controll)

Their robots are immune to mind control? Cool. Now a worry. I played in a GURPS adventure like this, and the DM made the mistake of having an uplifted penguin introduce us to the plot. The semi-intelligent penguin could turn invisible. Unfortunately, many NPCs decided to turn them into scouts, despite their lack of intellect. (We invaded an enemy base, but it was empty. Everyone was scared. They sent the scout to look ahead, and he came back terrified by a combat robot. My PC then scouted while the other PCs were cowering, and it turned out to be an autonomous vacuum cleaner!) The worry is that the gremlins and their robots might be so good the PCs might recruit them to do the actual fighting. I recommend having a side encounter ready for when the PCs are facing the boss, but only used if the gremlins send robots to help the PCs. If the robots attack, the side encounter triggers, and ties up the robots' attention, and leave the PCs to face a balanced encounter instead.

 

[Storminator]

This is a long article, but it has ideas for multistage boss fights like you've described.

http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-1/

For the rest of your monsters, don't get too tied down to using monsters that match your fluff. I did a hobgoblin fight once that had cave bears, elf archers, human wizards, and a fairy. I just called them all hobgoblins, and none of the players knew the difference.

PS

 

[raptor112]

You've given it three forms. Now since you have the Save-vs-DM link, you could actually give it a lurker, artillery and soldier or skirmisher form.



Since the entire village is controlled, most of the NPCs would be minions. Presumably the controlled villagers haven't changed much and still hold their old social roles. There's still a mayor and/or village elder(s), a militia captain and regular militia, militia archers or crossbowmen, and so forth.

Let me know if you're interested in minions or "standard" monsters.

If you don't want to stat all these guys up, most of them could be an angry mob. (If you have the DDI, you can just look up Angry Mob, but I have one ready if you need one. It's slightly different from the official version.) The mobs would assemble on the boss's mental commands and trample the PCs.

I figure most militia would be minion brutes or soldiers, perhaps assembling in mobs. However, the militia might include a few "elites" who could be represented by town guards. They're only 3rd-level, which might be lower level than the PCs, but that's alright. The PCs should feel something is wrong (why are people who can't fight them ... fighting them?). The militia captain could be something like this:


War Chief
Level 3
Soldier (Leader)
Medium natural humanoid, human
XP 150
HP 44
Bloodied 22


Initiative +4
AC 19
Fortitude 16
Reflex 15
Will 14
Perception +1
Speed 5
Traits
Battlefield Tactics: The war chief gains a +1 bonus to melee attacks if it has an ally adjacent to the target.
Commander * Aura 5: Allied creatures that can see or hear the war chief gain a +2 power bonus to damage rolls.
Standard Actions
(mb) Longsword (weapon) * At-Will. Atk: +8 vs AC. Hit: 1d8+6 damage.
(rb) Javelin (weapon) * At-Will. Atk: Ranged 10; +8 vs AC. Hit: 1d6+5 damage.
Skills Diplomacy +7, History +7, Intimidate +7
Str 14
Dex 12
Wis 11


Con 12
Int 12
Cha 12


Alignment any
Languages Common
Equipment chainmail, light shield, long sword, 4 javelins. Commanders frequently ride a horse, even if they're not trained to fight on horseback.
Tactics Fighting in the front line, war chiefs use charismatic leadership to inspire their troops to fight even harder. War chiefs can serve as sergeants and low-ranking officers in a more organized military.

Adjust for their cyber-bits.



Their robots are immune to mind control? Cool. Now a worry. I played in a GURPS adventure like this, and the DM made the mistake of having an uplifted penguin introduce us to the plot. The semi-intelligent penguin could turn invisible. Unfortunately, many NPCs decided to turn them into scouts, despite their lack of intellect. (We invaded an enemy base, but it was empty. Everyone was scared. They sent the scout to look ahead, and he came back terrified by a combat robot. My PC then scouted while the other PCs were cowering, and it turned out to be an autonomous vacuum cleaner!) The worry is that the gremlins and their robots might be so good the PCs might recruit them to do the actual fighting. I recommend having a side encounter ready for when the PCs are facing the boss, but only used if the gremlins send robots to help the PCs. If the robots attack, the side encounter triggers, and ties up the robots' attention, and leave the PCs to face a balanced encounter instead.

Ok, I think I might of miswrote something, The Living Electricity is not the Ending Boss, its a seperate fight in that could affect the ending boss fight. The ending boss fight is a human with some steampunky weapons and gagets, who's skin melts away to reveal the full conversion borg that he really is (i.e. a robot body with only a human brain as the organic part)

To give you an idea there are three set pieces that can be done in any order (with 2 of the set pieces not nessacery to complete their mission but needed if they want to find out the whole story)

set piece 1: The masgistrates office/home, this is were the gremlins are hold up, and build a few "guard" dogs to keep the villagers out. They are set to attack anything that isn't a gremlin, meaning the PC's are going to face them before they find the gremlins. Also the gremlins'are planning on taking the fight to the living Electricity in the second set piece

Set piece 2: Is the small shrine to the ArchAngel Moradin (long story), it has something called the Planar Resinator in it, which is causing the plane of maddness to be tranposed over reality off and on (and in larger and larger areas) It also serves as the living Electricity's lair. The gremlins and their machines will fail, simply because the Living Electricity has largely ignored them for now, and will take control of their machines (and one of the gremlins with a mechanical arm). The final set is where the two stage boss fight takes place.

Set piece 3: is The Tillengaust Mannor, where Micheal Tillengaust is in his workshop, and he is the two stage standard artiliary/solo soldier/skirmisher.

I do see what your saying about not leting them use the robots. I will try and make it more mechanical traps then. Also thanks for reminding me about just the generic town guard/angry mob. I was so focused on the tech bits I forgot that they have "monsters' that are townsfolk. Though I need to find some that are standard monsters and some that are minions.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Ok, I think I might of miswrote something, The Living Electricity is not the Ending Boss, its a seperate fight in that could affect the ending boss fight. The ending boss fight is a human with some steampunky weapons and gagets, who's skin melts away to reveal the full conversion borg that he really is (i.e. a robot body with only a human brain as the organic part)

Got it. But I kind of like the idea of "living lightning" around the boss. Well, something spooky like that anyway. It could be an in-combat skill challenge, sort of like what Mike Shea did with his dragon and demilich in those links I gave. (Never mind the massively higher level, just cut the numbers to suit a heroic-level campaign.)

To give you an idea there are three set pieces that can be done in any order (with 2 of the set pieces not nessacery to complete their mission but needed if they want to find out the whole story)

set piece 1: The masgistrates office/home, this is were the gremlins are hold up, and build a few "guard" dogs to keep the villagers out. They are set to attack anything that isn't a gremlin, meaning the PC's are going to face them before they find the gremlins. Also the gremlins'are planning on taking the fight to the living Electricity in the second set piece

Alright. Ironically if the PCs are successful at wiping them out, they're making step 2 harder. Nice. (I played a StarCraft map like that once or twice. I had to build a powerful fortress. Then I was given control of another force that had to break said fortress. I'm better at making than breaking fortresses.)

I would recommend having an alternate villager encounter here. The PCs might figure things out fast and not fight the gremlins, in which case the villagers might suddenly go berserk and try to kill them (due to mind control). Plus a good way of introducing PCs to the power of the cybernetic arms and what have you.

Set piece 2: Is the small shrine to the ArchAngel Moradin (long story), it has something called the Planar Resinator in it, which is causing the plane of maddness to be tranposed over reality off and on (and in larger and larger areas) It also serves as the living Electricity's lair. The gremlins and their machines will fail, simply because the Living Electricity has largely ignored them for now, and will take control of their machines (and one of the gremlins with a mechanical arm). The final set is where the two stage boss fight takes place.

Alright. This is cool. I've got some "trap" (really, hazard) ideas for Far Realm influence here.

Set piece 3: is The Tillengaust Mannor, where Micheal Tillengaust is in his workshop, and he is the two stage standard artiliary/solo soldier/skirmisher.

Alright. Got it. I recommend making both stages solos though (the way Angry DM does it), otherwise the first form won't last long. Even with minions. (Unless you make him an elite. And use some of Mike Shea's advice.) Form two should be a skirmisher, not a soldier, as he won't have any minions to protect and will be less grindy. Also, more mobility means he can more easily spread the damage. Skirmishers hate being trapped. Be sure to give him an at-will triggered power that lets him move when hit (or missed, whichever you prefer).

Also thanks for reminding me about just the generic town guard/angry mob. I was so focused on the tech bits I forgot that they have "monsters' that are townsfolk. Though I need to find some that are standard monsters and some that are minions.

 

[raptor112]

Got it. But I kind of like the idea of "living lightning" around the boss. Well, something spooky like that anyway. It could be an in-combat skill challenge, sort of like what Mike Shea did with his dragon and demilich in those links I gave. (Never mind the massively higher level, just cut the numbers to suit a heroic-level campaign.)


Alright. Ironically if the PCs are successful at wiping them out, they're making step 2 harder. Nice. (I played a StarCraft map like that once or twice. I had to build a powerful fortress. Then I was given control of another force that had to break said fortress. I'm better at making than breaking fortresses.)

I would recommend having an alternate villager encounter here. The PCs might figure things out fast and not fight the gremlins, in which case the villagers might suddenly go berserk and try to kill them (due to mind control). Plus a good way of introducing PCs to the power of the cybernetic arms and what have you.



Alright. This is cool. I've got some "trap" (really, hazard) ideas for Far Realm influence here.



Alright. Got it. I recommend making both stages solos though (the way Angry DM does it), otherwise the first form won't last long. Even with minions. (Unless you make him an elite. And use some of Mike Shea's advice.) Form two should be a skirmisher, not a soldier, as he won't have any minions to protect and will be less grindy. Also, more mobility means he can more easily spread the damage. Skirmishers hate being trapped. Be sure to give him an at-will triggered power that lets him move when hit (or missed, whichever you prefer).

Some far realm trap ideas would be nice that you. Also in the case of tillengaust, its supose to be an easyish fight before the hard solo act. I am still trying to figure out the way to get them a short rest before the second form. Also if they shut down the Planar Resinator things become easier...but if they don't do that first its harder (also the living Electricity will still be free to roam about the village)

 

[Storminator]

I am still trying to figure out the way to get them a short rest before the second form.

Use the Power of DMing! "As your final blow strikes the lightning gun explodes. A jolt of energy blasts thru your bodies. It's just like you've taken a short rest, so do that now."

PS

 

[raptor112]

Use the Power of DMing! "As your final blow strikes the lightning gun explodes. A jolt of energy blasts thru your bodies. It's just like you've taken a short rest, so do that now."

PS

Yeah, I don't like doing DM fiat. One of my players is the group's primary DM's and he's the toughest to deal with.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Some far realm trap ideas would be nice that you. Also in the case of tillengaust, its supose to be an easyish fight before the hard solo act. I am still trying to figure out the way to get them a short rest before the second form. Also if they shut down the Planar Resinator things become easier...but if they don't do that first its harder (also the living Electricity will still be free to roam about the village)

The Far Realm is associated with madness, stars, and tentacles, so one trap of each type is what you need

I would have two versions of the battlemap, one that the tokens or whatever move over, and one hidden behind my DM screen. The DM version has at least three (or possibly nine) hidden spots around it. Each round, one trap (or one of each trap!) springs from one of the hidden spots, determined randomly. The trap rolls initiative, and when it's turn comes up, one or more traps spring.

The madness trap attacks in a close burst around the square as a "thing you only see from the corner of your eye" and causes a PC to make a melee basic attack or a charge attack (as a free action) against another PC. Forcing PCs to charge is also forcing them to move.

The star trap is based on a crazy epic-level trap in the DMG II, but scaled. A small "star" emerges from a starry field when the trap erupts and lands on a PC. Until they remove it (Athletics check, moderate DC for the trap's level) it does ongoing radiant damage, and if they don't get it off fast enough, it causes them to spawn a tentacle which attacks a nearby PC and does damage (as an at-will trap based on its level).

The tentacles are basically fingers for some cosmically-large creature. It's honestly a good thing the PCs can't see most of it, for fear of breaking their minds. The tentacle pops out of a distortion in the air and makes a grab attack against a PC. Cue panic as the players wonder what will happen to their PC if the tentacle vanishes before they escape. (Well, one round of panic, anyway.)

 

[raptor112]

To give you an idea of what I am *hoping* for the adventure to look like is this:

Prelude: talking to the person who hires them

Something wicked this way comes: Camping for the night, half a day or a full day away from the town, their campsite and the forest around them get transposed with the Far Realm. An encounter with tencaled creatures happens and the world returns to normal.

The PC's get to town: from there they can go to a few different places: Tillengaust mannor, the tavern, and the magistrate's office/house. In theory they could go to the Shrine but its unlikely. Now they can do tillengaust mannor without going to any of the other set pieces and in theory "finsh" the adventure but not find out the whole story.

Tillengaust Mannor is mostly Aberrations, steampunk/mechanical traps and MAYBE a couple of villagers.

Rising Iron Tavern is mostly villagers with the possiblity of abberations and MAYBE living Electricity attacks (most likely as a hazard rather then the monster) with the BarKeep being unique somewhat (he can partially resist the Living Electricity, and will be able to provide exposition about the gremlins)

The Magistrate's Office/house: Steampunk/mechanical monsters andtraps with the possiblity of fighting the gremlins

Shrine/temple of the ArchAngel Moradin: Aberrations and villages with the Living Electricity as the sub-boss.

I need a random chart of abberations (as the far realm keeps being transposed and bleeding in and out).

Also I want to have a band of villagers I can use as filler if nessicary.

The real problem I seem to be having is trying to wade through all the monsters and figure out which ones to use. There are just so many monsters of various levels, that its hard to figure out which ones I should use, even with refluffing

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Yeah, I don't like doing DM fiat. One of my players is the group's primary DM's and he's the toughest to deal with.

There could be a five minute "break" between phases as the first form "phases out" (is removed from play) and while it's taking 5 minutes to transform, the PCs can take a short rest. (It'll be funny if they don't. Really.)

To give you an idea of what I am *hoping* for the adventure to look like is this:

Prelude: talking to the person who hires them

Something wicked this way comes: Camping for the night, half a day or a full day away from the town, their campsite and the forest around them get transposed with the Far Realm. An encounter with tencaled creatures happens and the world returns to normal.

The world should return to normal if the PCs do something about it. So that means toss in a skill challenge, which the PCs might leave until after the battle.

Just to let the PCs know they're in the Far Realm, you could include a "corrupted space" hazard. Nonaberrant creatures in the hazard suffer an attack each turn, which can do anything from turn them into a foaming mass of tentacles, to force them to attack allies, to grow extra eyes and gibber with insanity, etc. For ease of use, all of these could just be a daze effect, with random flavor text. The PCs might have to face a skill challenge within that space to reverse the transposition.

The PC's get to town: from there they can go to a few different places: Tillengaust mannor, the tavern, and the magistrate's office/house. In theory they could go to the Shrine but its unlikely. Now they can do tillengaust mannor without going to any of the other set pieces and in theory "finsh" the adventure but not find out the whole story.

Tillengaust Mannor is mostly Aberrations, steampunk/mechanical traps and MAYBE a couple of villagers.

Rising Iron Tavern is mostly villagers with the possiblity of abberations and MAYBE living Electricity attacks (most likely as a hazard rather then the monster) with the BarKeep being unique somewhat (he can partially resist the Living Electricity, and will be able to provide exposition about the gremlins)

The Magistrate's Office/house: Steampunk/mechanical monsters andtraps with the possiblity of fighting the gremlins

Shrine/temple of the ArchAngel Moradin: Aberrations and villages with the Living Electricity as the sub-boss.

I need a random chart of abberations (as the far realm keeps being transposed and bleeding in and out).

Here's a quick list of them that I saw in the Monster Vault:

Beholder gauth (5th-level elite artillery)
Carrion crawler (5th-level skirmisher, and they go up many levels from there)
Neo-otyugh (11th-level soldier)

I wonder if there are aberrant templates or themes you can add to monsters. For instance, pseudonatural is really easy. Just copy the True Strike power (minor action, +5 to next attack roll) and the elemental resistances (5/tier) and away you go.

Also I want to have a band of villagers I can use as filler if nessicary.

The Monster Vault's human entry probably has everything you need, except the bartender. NPCs like "bandits" can be leveled up and reskinned to represent, say, hunters.