I need some help from you DMs. A dungeon for 14th-level adventurers (longish)

[jgsugden]

Avoidance issues (etherealness, invisibility, etc ...):

If the PCs want to avoid an encounter, and are almost as clever as the DM, they can find a way to do it. The trick is not to force them into the encounter. The trick is to make them want to have the encounter.

Place 'magic dead' or 'anti-magic' pockets in the dungeon. Then, hide the components for some important object in these 'magic dead' zones. The PCs can't locate them magically, so they'll have to search the dungeon until they find all of them. That will force them to deal with the beasts in the rooms where they are located. Even if they use magic to get to the magic dead zones, they can't use that magic to hide their presence once they are in those zones.

Scry/teleport

If you make the dungeon large enough, the scry and attack versus the lich may be acceptable. If they kill him, they still need to find and deal witht he phyllactery before he reforms. If he placed it some place interestung, it should take the PCs more time than that to locate and destroy it. Once he reforms, he should be aware of their presence and should be able to deal with them.

Scrying takes resources. A mirror, a crystal ball, etc ... A shatter or shout spell can destroy many of those resources. If they take them in the dungeon, a clever defensive attack can deal witht he problem.

 

[Malachi of Kossuth]

I'll concur with the few others that say you should not base the adventure on the strengths and weaknesses of the party. The party will eventually get wise or suspicious of this, and then you got issues with your players being upset. Not worth it.

 

[LokiDR]

A lich that powerful will have resources and a lot of inteligence. Use tatics. For some other quick suggestions, see the "Lich Dooms" description in the FRCS under the section on the underdark.

Otherwise, simple tatics could be very useful. A few higher level rogues with permanent see invis can patrol on shifts and guide the monsters in. The rogue then watches, evaluates the PCs, and goes back for more reinforcements as neccessary. Hiding is very hard to see through, but rewarding when the PCs find the little rat. Throw in a mix of monsters for the rogue "leiutenant" to grab. Many wouldn't have ways to get past the PC tricks, but some do. A bunch of giants with a beholder's antimagic eye would be a challenge. The beholder is reusable with other goons. Replace the beholder with a cleric or mage to dispel/purge and you get variety. Peper the rest of the place with hazards like traps, dangerous rooms (lava), dead/wild magic zones (failed lich experiments) and treasure to keep the place overall interesting.

The nice part about this is that the PCs might well find random monster groups unawares and use all their tricks on them. Then, the rogue might throw some lower level mooks to test the PCs. Later come the more difficult ambushes. In the end, the lich knows they are comming. You get all levels of encounters, the PCs can find and dispose of the rogue if they are good and make life easier. You have a good reason to increase the difficulty as the PCs go on, so you can talor to tast. You stop the scy/teleport with mind blank, darkness, dim anchor, or any of the other tricks mentioned, but only on the scantum. A lich wants power after all, and giving up lots of XP isn't the way to do that.

 

[Jhyrryl]

There's nothing really wrong with having some abilities nullified in some situations, especially in a long term campaign. This happens all the time in combat with specific creatures, but everyone seems to make a big deal over special abilities like mobility and divinations outside of combat. Why?

The real key here is, if you have the lich have all these specially researched defenses, they damn well better be in his spellbooks when the PCs eventually overcome them, so they can utilize them for themselves. What's the reward for killing the monster with the big bad weapon? Getting to use the big bad weapon. Same deal with defensive magics.

 

[ZSutherland]

I'm in complete agreement about not blocking their abilities. They worked hard to get those, so don't cheat them. Use that to your advantage. The lich has much worse abilities. Here's what I'd do if I was the kind of heartless, foul villian that would choose undeath over dying.

Someone mentioned poisonous fumes invisible to the eye, perfect. Doesn't affect me. Surround the room in magic traps with auto-reset triggers that don't affect me like polymorph other/baneful polymorph (depending on version) to a frog or what have you. Alarm spells near maze traps. So while the pcs are busy getting out of the maze I can show up and summon up some nasties and pick them off one at a time while they reappear. Illusions to full effect. Clone. Etc.

Z

 

[Dingleberry]

1. Break the Walls and Doors.

Two words: load bearing.

Smashing a wall may get the characters easy access to the next room, but not before the levels above them come crashing down on their heads.

 

[Rob-hin]

somthing else...

...if they pass through a dungeon by skipping most of it, they'll miss a lott of XP (though they'll get a bit).
So when they skip the rest and teleport to the lich they'll be to weak to beat him.

Seems like a self solving problem to me.
Right?

 

[Macbrea]

Also, set up his room to benefit him. I once set up a fight that had many symbols of death about the room. The sorceror knew the party was going to get to his throne room eventually and had weeks to prepare. His room looked alot like hexigon with many beams each with a symbol. It resulted in the rogue entering the fight rolling to the left and instantly killing the wizard.

The point to this is the Lich knows they are coming and should prepare for them. The more time he is given the deadly he will become.

 

[Altalazar]

How about this:

Each "room" in the dungeon is actually an extradimensional plane that exists independent of all others. "Doors" are actually magical portals that require certain magic or conditions to open. Breaking them is pointless, because there is literally nothing "behind" them.

An interesting connection of rooms and corridors, each its own separate mini-plane, is what you'd end up with. You could have rooms that don't quite "fit" and you could jump around a lot just from walking through a "door" since it is really just a portal that transports you to the next room/mini-plane.

Traps on such doors could be ones that transport you somewhere yucky, like the negative material plane, or into a prison (without any of your equipment, of course, which goes instead to the treasury). The really nasty thing about such a trap is that there is no defense against it, assuming you want to use the portal to get to the next "room". If you make magic resistance or a saving throw, then you don't have a problem, but then you also don't make it to the next room - you are stuck - and in fact, would have to voluntarily drop your magic resistance and fail your save if you wanted to use the portal to pass. Perhaps it will send you one place if you have a certain item or pass, and prison if you don't.

With higher level adventures, you shouldn't try and negate the party's powers. You should just anticipate that things that were a puzzle or a challenge before are no longer a challenge - it is like being upset that a Hobgoblin doesn't work anymore...

Of course, there are also some creative ways to deal with SOME of the party's power - like if they are to clear out a castle of monsters for a Baron who wishes to move into the castle, and therefore wants doors and walls and so forth INTACT, not blown to bits. Perhaps with an appropriate bonus for no damage to the structure. Then the PCs will have to use their powers rather more creatively and less brutally.

Probably a good way to get some ideas is just to look at the recent d20 high level adventures, starting with the Sunless Citadel series. There you can see what sort of challenges to offer a high level party and how at least some of the problems you've mentioned were dealt with.