[NSFW] Exotic Terrains - Paragon Level

[EP]

Work is boring. Gaming is fun. Work should be more like gaming.

Not Suitable For Work is a new addition to Combat Advantage, the free 4e series of PDFs from Emerald Press PDF Publishing. Every month will have a theme to which any number of brainstorming exercises will be made. Each week or so, we will post a new thread for 4e material utilizing that theme and everyone is open to submit their concepts on EN World. The trick to this game is that you must rely on your memory of the game and cannot use any supplements, core rulebooks, or online references - simply use your innate knowledge of the game to create new material on the fly. Accuracy is not immediately required - these are brainstorms for new ideas, concepts, and add-ons to 4e. Throw in your ideas, no matter how crazy they are because you never know what they may lead to.

NSFW is not a contest and is designed solely as a recreational design exercise for those of you stuck at work, school, or anywhere else on your lunch breaks with nothing to do. Waiting for that report to come back from management? Homework? Eww. Check out the theme and post your ideas for this week’s exercise. There’s no voting, no deadlines, or bad ideas. It’s all about having a little bit of fun while the boss isn’t looking. Enough talk!

Exotic Terrains​

The dungeon is nothing without bottomless pits, slime covered floors, and floors of rolling lava. All the natural (and supernatural) features of the landscape provide the appropriate mood and danger to any dungeon crawl, so we're going to make some more. This one actually comes by demand and we're only happy to oblige.

Each week will focus on one tier of play, starting with Heroic last week, Paragon and Epic this week, and wrapping it up with full blown encounter using any of these terrains next week. (NOTE: This times have been expanded due to EN World's downtime - Exercise #3 will begin on August 3rd.)

Exercise #2 - Paragon and Epic: Provide any number of exotic terrains usable against any Heroic-tier characters. This can include any terrains in the Elemental Chaos, the Astral Sea, or any planes of existence.

Post your ideas below. Remember these are exercises built for enjoyment and mental exercise of the game. Accuracy is not required on every little detail and some mistakes are forgiveable. (See?) If you'd like to post a revised version of your entry, just be sure to type in which version under Reason for Edits. If you want to post more than one entry, go crazy. It's all just in the name of having fun while you're not supposed to.[/SIZE]

 

[malcolm_n]

First, the paragon mind nettle

Mind Nettle [Paragon] level 15 Hazard
This dangerous vine tears at body and mind.
Space: burst 1, 2, or 3
Effect: The area is difficult terrain. Creatures that start their turn in the mind nettle treat all creatures as enemies until the end of their next turn and attack the nearest creature if able during each turn.

and now for something we hope you'll really enjoy (hehe)

Power Vault level 16 Hazard
As you enter the seemingly empty space, your training becomes a distant memory and you feel a need to remain where you are.
Special: A power vault is essentially an invisible cage. It can be spotted at DC 25 perception. An arcana check of the same DC reveals its purpose. The vault has no effect on characters lower than level 11 or monsters.
Space: 1 square
Target: One creature entering the space.
Attack: +26 vs. Will
Hit: The target is immobilized (save ends). While the target remains in the power vault square, it gains no benefit from its paragon path features and cannot use paragon path powers.

Paragon-level creatures, especially those in charge of a dungeon, will sometimes place power vaults in places where they would expect an adventurer to feel safest during an encounter. The vault is designed to remove the hero's understanding of anything other than basic combat which ultimately will give the villain a reasonable advantage.

 

[EP]

Hmm, seems to have taken a week just to allow me a chance to post comments here. *

I like the idea of the power vault's ability to neutralize specific powers. It could even be varied to nullify arcane, divine, and other types of powers. That's something from older editions I always liked: anti-magic fields, immunity to +1 magic weapons, and the like. Feel free to use some more for this.


* On that note, I'm going to alter this thread a little and stretch it out into August a bit. I was hoping to have some of these terrains available to list by the next issue of CA (as I like to do for every issue), but I'd rather have more posted now that EN World seems to be back online.