What should guard this bad guy's lair?

I like to use low-level traps to spice up encounters with monsters, rather than as encounters unto themselves. For example, a 40' open pit is no big deal by itself. But if there are earth elementals nearby that enjoy shoving opponents into it, then it becomes a lot more interesting.

Boobytrapped floors with flying creatures, poison gas rooms with undead, a maze with a minotaur... they're all variants on using the environment against the PCs.
-blarg

ps - One final fun combo: difficult terrain + monsters with reach. :D
 

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A glass construct. It's filled up with templated octopus and water elemental. At high tide the octopus goes out to hunt, at low tide it brings back its prey and sleeps.
 

Rechan said:
Nothin' wrong with an oldie: A minotaur. Just give it some more potent capacity; a level or two in Barbarian, some spell like abilities (Wall of Stone, Passwall, 1/day Maze), maybe an axe that can attack people through walls (sort've like having a phasing ability). The maze itself has tricks built into it - this wall can be shoved over onto the people behind it. The floor and wall of this section can be spun around (so the minotaur can separate two people from the group). Add in a trap or two and bam. If you want to spice it further, give the minotaur a Huge strength composite longbow, and let him fire at the PCs before slipping away and doubling back.

Harpies: Have the maze be on the floor of a large cavern. The ceiling/walls of the cavern are where some harpies live, and they can swoop down and attack anyone in the maze, along with singing.

A Gorgon. Nuff said.

Half-submerge the maze, and it's home to an aboleth and some skum.

Final thought: Either a black pudding, or advance the HD of an Invisible Stalker.

Edit: If you want to spice the minotaur further, give him a Huge strength composite longbow, and let him fire at the PCs before slipping away and doubling back.

the minotaur is a good idea, esp since they have a good "to hit" because of their high strength and some of my PCs are hard to hit... harpies pretty good, too...
 

Dannyalcatraz said:
If the passageway/maze is built in such a way as to be partially submerged at high tide, the "guard" could be any number of things:

1) The sea itself- IOW, the danger of drowning.

2) Predatory fish (a marine analog to Piranha, barracuda, etc.), poisonous invertebrates (box jellies, cone snails), or even marine aberrations.

3) Sentient marine life with whom the BBEG has made a bargain, like sahuagin.

4) Drowned Sailors- aka zombies & skeletons.

skeletal or zombie pirates is not a bad idea - i'd have to advance them up a bit to make them good enough to hit my PCs, some of whom have very good ACs
 

While I do like the old school suggestion I think I would tend to go with something a bit more flavor, perhaps create a wood golem thats been crafted of wood taken from sunken ships.


GM Rule #67 Never be afraid to create the perfect monster for a situation.
 

How about one of these?

Huge Regenerating Phantom Fungus
Huge Plant
Hit Dice: 8d8+64 (100 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+9 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+24
Attack: Bite +16 melee (3d6+10)
Full Attack: Bite +16 melee (3d6+10)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, plant traits, greater invisibility, regeneration 5
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +0, Will +2
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 6, Con 26, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 9
Skills: Listen +6, Move Silently +9, Spot +6
Feats: Alertness, Improved Natural Attack(bite), Skill Focus(move silently)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
 

Slife said:
A glass construct. It's filled up with templated octopus and water elemental. At high tide the octopus goes out to hunt, at low tide it brings back its prey and sleeps.
Oh man. That is a great idea; a construct that has a monster visibly inside of it, with the realization that "If you break the construct, you gotta fight that thing next".
 


Darklone said:
Fall of Liaven :D

Great thing!

well, hopefully none of the players are reading this and pick up the module... though, since they're a bit high in level for the recommended challenge level, I'm definitely doing the optional zombie outbreak at the end, and probably bumping up most of the major NPCs a level or two.

But, it works in perfectly because they've been fighting minions of The Overlord (among others) since the opening scene of the first session and are finally about to journey out from Yelden.
 

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