Since I'm too lazy to find suitable monsters...

[SnowleopardVK]

I've got a party of four 2nd level adventurers who will, in a few days, enter an abandoned temple of Gaia to hunt down a necromancer who's made his lair inside. I've got a vague idea of the monsters I want to throw at them; some skeletons and other undead there because of the necromancer's presence, and some more plantlike things that are just naturally in there. Actually going through the SRD or my new copy of the bestiary is a giant hassle though, and I'd honestly rather spend the next half hour or so showering instead.

So does anybody have monster suggestions to send up against the party? I might add that they're rather heavy on utility magic and healers by the way, the PC group looks like this:

Lycan (homebrewed race) Cleric of War and Destruction. (The most combat-focused of the group. She tends to be on the front lines and channels negative energy)

Goblin Cleric of Weather and Liberation. (A cleric focused on healing. He tends to stay back in battle and channels positive energy)

Elf Paladin. (Not as combat heavy as the first cleric, but she's the group's secondary fighter and leader.)

Halfling Sorcerer, Dreamspun Bloodline. (More focused on utility than combat. In fact absolutely none of his spells so far are meant for combat, and so he spends most battles at the back firing with his crossbow)

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

First thing that springs to mind is yellow musk creeper, and the "zombies" it produces. That might sow a little confusion among the PCs. Maybe even set up a weird wtf scene for the PCs to stumble upon, in which the undead zombies and the yellow musk zombies are fighting each other for some reason.

 

[Dykstrav]

Well, to fit your theme...

For a 2nd-level party, strong contenders for the undead include skeletons and skeletal champions. Since you've got two divine casters and a paladin, I'd advise you include some undead that they can easily blast or control with a channel energy or two--do something to make them feel smart for making the character choices that they've made. The skeletal champion could be the necromancer's lieutenant over the skeletons, a bodyguard, or on patrol to find the group once they've started making a dent in the undead there. You might also consider ghouls. They're really scary at low level because they can paralyze you, so that'd be a great way to capture a character alive if the necromancer has something nefarious in mind for them.

For the plants, the assassin vine, mandragora, vegepygmy, violet fungus, and xtabay all immediately come to mind. The yellow musk creeper is a great recommendation--since the "zombies" look and act like undead zombies, it's a great "gotcha" monster when the clerics try to channel energy on them. They're all plant creatures and around CR 2 or 3. A phycomid (CR 4) would be a real challenge at level 2, but seems to fit into the necromancer/corruption theme since it can spawn new phycomids from the adventurers it kills (like many undead).

I'd also advise you to consider broadening your theme a bit to add more variety to your encounters.

Perhaps you could have small or medium earth elementals and describe them as originating from special soil sanctified to holy gardens of the deity, now active and roaming the complex in an attempt to put down the undead. We all think of earth elementals as being made of rocks, but you can easily describe them as being made of soil tangled with vines and branches with small trees or shrubs protruding from them, or covered in herbs or flowers sacred to the deity.

You could also use a single dryad (CR 3) that was once a druidic liason with the temple, bound to a sacred tree within the temple and driven violently mad with the necromancer's arrival. If you make the dryad dangerously insane (at least when the characters first arrive), there may be some hope of redeeming the creature. If the characters can complete some story-related task (such as re-sanctifying a particular altar or image of the deity), the dryad recovers and can provide them with a safe place to rest, information on the temple's invaders, the location of a secret treasure cache, or some other reward. If the characters simply attack and kill the dryad, they players are likely still satisfied with facing a challenge and feel like they've given a tortured soul some sort of peace. Either way, they feel like their choices matter in the grand scheme of things.

Hope that helps.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Excellent, I've got all the monsters, traps, and plot stuff set. Now I've just got to decide on some music for this place.

I opted to go with both the mad dryad and zombie vs. yellow musk zombie ideas suggested because they sounded like too much fun to pass up (also 'cause it's now 4AM and I don't really feel like thinking too hard at the moment). Due to specifics of the setting earth elementals weren't really an option, but I still got plenty of good ideas, especially among the plants. For undead I mostly stuck with zombies, yellow musk zombies, and skeletons (with various weapons for some variety) since the PCs are still pretty low levelled.

 

[Nookie]

Music should be the plants Vs zombies theme.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

Oddly enough I got the music from Super Mario Sunshine instead. Corona Mountain for the temple, the Manta Storm boss battle music for the necromancer.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Given the mixed nature of your group and that you mentioned undead, I'd suggest putting in a disgruntled ghost of some sort (maybe a ghost treant druid- there was such a beastie in one issue of Dungeon (Gnarlcrown, CR 16, Dungeon 91, p. 74)

A ghost of some kind would be a good opponent for your group b/c it might be able to play to all the aspects of your characters to shine
a) be a tough fight (for your combat, dinve channels guys)
b) come back unless it's put to rest (necessitating your utility guys to use their best investigative powers to find out how and do it)

If you're really jonesin' for something advanced, you could have the ghost assault them while the investigations are going on, so the combat guys fight at the same time as the utility guys are scrambling to put the ghost at rest.

Alternatively, a lich (locating and destroying the phylactery) or some crazy mind-controlling spore plant (fighting off enslaved npcs or even plant zombies while trying to find a way to undo the spores) could work.