D&D General lightning-themed environment?

[Mind of tempest]

Fighting inside of a giant version of one of those static globes

good for a boss fight but I need more a mordor than just mt doom.

Bluetspur in Ravenloft might be an example to draw from

go on?

A planar manifestation zone (like the ones in Eberron) that ties to the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning.

but what does that look like?

two places that immediately come to mind are FFX's Thunder Plains and Pokemon Black/White's Chargestone Cave, the Plains are a rocky wasteland under a massive perpetual thunderstorm, there are giant lightningrod towers that shelter travellers by drawing in nearby bolts (but only in a small radius), Chargestone on the other hand is a cave full of elecromagnetic crystals floating in the electrical fields that can be pushed around.

you could also play around a bit with a semi-aquatic environment and everything being wet, maybe a swamp filled with creatures that use bio-electricity conducted in the water to assualt unsuspecting prey.

what do those look like?

 

[Argyle King]

Is there any way to incorporate an imprisoned blue dragon, hooked up to a fantasy version of a car battery?

 

[Meech17]

two places that immediately come to mind are FFX's Thunder Plains and....

I thought of this at first two, which was where I took the idea of the semi-random lightning strikes.

That was such a pain in FFX

 

[CreamCloud0]

what do those look like?

well assuming you're asking that in the literal aesthetic sense...

 

[Corinnguard]

but what does that look like?

A manifestation zone to the quasi-elemental plane of lightning would be a place of constant storms. Strong wind gusts, tornadoes, more frequent lightning strikes, and torrential rain. Characters within the manifestation zone have an increased chance of being struck by lightning if they happen to be carrying anything metallic. Spells that do Lightning damage would see their effects being enhanced.

I can also see such a zone being populated by creatures native to the elemental plane of air and the quasi-elemental plane of lightning.

 

[SpeedyCreek]

My first thought was a desert environment studded with rock towers, blowing winds, dust and sand. A nice dry environment with obstacles you can arrange to create an interesting battlefield, multiple height levels, and environmental dangers. There are a plethora of monsters you can use that can climb, burrow, fly and just walk.

Edit: To add a bit of thought for you the wizards lair can be in the midst of this desert in a rocky tower of sorts. The winds, blowing sands, and environment make it difficult for the players to just fly in and scrying is difficult as the blowing sand and dust obscure vision and hearing. You can really make it as difficult or as simple as you want to.

 

[Bedrockgames]

go on?

It is an illithid controlled domain, kind of a barren wasteland up top, riddled with lightning storms (the amount of damage players can take for lingering above ground is pretty insane as I recall). It was pretty thinly described in the original boxed set but got more elaboration in the Thoughts of Darkness Module. The focus in the black box was on madness, and that is still in the adventure but it gives more information for things like lightning. You basically have to find a way underground to survive (and going underground brings you closer to the mind flayers

 

[Yaarel]

to mix up where I want to put a big evil wizard doing big evil things I was thinking about a lighting-themed environment as fire or ice has been done to death.
Does anyone know what a lighting environment would look like save a modern power plant, as I am struggling to develop one? other damage themed options are also appreciated

I correlate Lightning-Thunder with the Element of Air. Air and Storm are the same thing, albeit sometimes Air is calm.

Surprisingly, in reallife, lightning activity tends concentrate in specific regions of the planet. Note areas of the US. So, the "Air" of this region might especially associate with Lightning. In Forgotton Realms, this is somewhere on the continent of Anchorome.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I correlate Lightning-Thunder with the Element of Air. Air and Storm are the same thing, albeit sometimes Air is calm.

Surprisingly, in reallife, lightning activity tends concentrate in specific regions of the planet. Note areas of the US. So, the "Air" of this region might especially associate with Lightning. In Forgotton Realms, this is somewhere on the continent of Anchorome.

Is there any environmental correlation that could be useful?

 

[Vael]

I like the idea of a giant circuit board. Capacitors and Resistors as large as a person and energy arcing around changing it as gates alter the current around the map.