Ideas for making PCs miserable needed

jeff37923 · Feb 12, 2005

An area of the dungeon which mysticly cancels out all of their Feats and Special Abilities.
THAT one would bring howls of outrage indeed....

shilsen · Feb 12, 2005

Nice ideas, everyone. This is why I love ENWorld

jeff37923 said:
An area of the dungeon which mysticly cancels out all of their Feats and Special Abilities.
THAT one would bring howls of outrage indeed....

That would definitely score on the outrage factor, but be a little hokey for me. Esp. with regard to feats. Plus I like to mess with PCs without having to nerf their abilities. I enjoy having powerful PCs with lots of abilities and more equipment than the DMG says that they should have, and then give them a really hard time with a set of weaker, underequipped, outnumbered foes. Embarrassment is good for the PC soul

Tomorrow I'm planning to have five very powerful 7th lvl PCs get beaten and at least some of them captured by four 6th lvl NPCs. Without surprise or terrain advantages of any kind. Should be an interesting challenge.

DMH · Feb 12, 2005

How about a rope bridge that the goblins cut when the PCs are half way across? Or instead of breakable ladders, rope ladders to be cut? Or pits that are just big enough to fit a human in armor inside (how does one get out when one can't move one's arms?) Then there are Indie style boulders that fit the tunnel perfectly and weighted stones with spikes on the bottom (using rope to keep them up).

Or a choice between an incline that can be climbed or a tunnel that makes the party remove their armor? Poles that have to be jumped on to avoid falling 30+ feet or the bridge?

Terrain and then traps are a GM's best friend in foiling players' plans.

Ostler · Feb 12, 2005

shilsen said:
Actually that's partly the point. I like taking weaker enemies and making them effective against the PCs through an intelligent use of tactics. It's a sickness, I tell you.

Two Words. Tucker's Kobolds.

If you have the Dragon magazine archives its issue #127. I'll see if I can't dig it up and post a synopsis.

ILikeWoodchucks · Feb 12, 2005

Maybe spells to make the PCs feel useless? Goblin Adepts with spells like grease, glitterdust, web, maybe the higher-level ones have Extend Spell. Grease is super-evil if the PCs are climbing a rope ladder, crossing a rickety bridge, or going down an decline with some boiling oil at the bottom.

Rel · Feb 12, 2005

I did a sort of homage to the old A4 module: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords for 3.0 where the PC's are prisoners, stripped of their gear and have to fight their way through various enemies (including Kobolds) to win their way free of a volcanic island before it erupts. It was designed to be run as a (longish: 5 hour) one shot adventure. I don't know if I'd call it miserable but the group sure has to get creative to make their way through the adventure and survive in the allotted time with virtually no gear.

If you'd like the details, shilsen, I can post or e-mail them to you.

If you want to read the short, limited edition, Story Hour that I wrote about this one-shot when I ran it for my regular group and guest-star, Old One, you can find it HERE.

Bryon_Soulweaver · Feb 12, 2005

Anti-magic zone? Or, anti-gamic zone with two level3 fighters, giants as the race!

TheAuldGrump · Feb 12, 2005

Tunnels so short that the goblins have to crouch to get through them.

Burlap covered with dirt covering crude pit traps.

And the Goblin Polka Band from Magic the Gathering. 'Everybody polka!'

The Auld Grump, who actually likes polkas...

deltadave · Feb 12, 2005

How nasty do you want to be? There could be a goblin vampire cult skulking around down there with an otyugh for a watchdog... Is this going to be a 'dream' where the PC's wake up from a horrible dream and realize that the are actually still alive? If that is the case, go to town with lots of undead and darkness. Concealed pits infested with festering rotgrubs. All kinds of nasty goodnes.