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Post by joatmoniac on Sept 5, 2019 7:56:24 GMT
As always rorrik is an unstoppable force! DMB Episode 182 with the Gaming Professor considered many interesting aspects of Shadow of the Colossus and how they could apply to our D&D games. While there are a lot of interesting new lifts we could do based on this episode, the one we’re going to focus on here are the Colossi themselves. Use the questions below as inspiration to design massive enemies for your players that are not directly fought, but instead a moving dungeon or environmental challenge. 1. What does the creature look like? 2. Who created it? How? Why? 3. What weak points must be exploited? 4. How do the heroes traverse the creature? 5. What does the creature do to try and stop them? 6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter? 7. You do you! Get out there and so some Colossal Lifting!! |
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Post by rorrik on Sept 6, 2019 13:58:20 GMT
I have been waiting for this one. I finally bought a 3D printer to help execute this idea: 1. What does the creature look like? A 60 foot tall half skeletonized zombie. It has platforms built into it at each knee, near each shoulder, and inside the skull behind the empty eye sockets, a banner flies on a pole jutting out of its head. 2. Who created it? How? Why? A cult of lizardfolk necromancers that operate outside the normal bounds of the Dragon Empire and are more determined to destroy the new threat of elves and dwarves in the land than the mainstream lizardfolk and kobolds in the empire. Through their joint necromantic powers, they have animated a Rephiam, one of the great giants that fell during the fall of their empire at the hands of a unified rebellion. To keep it alive, they have also animated numerous necromancers of prior generations in their cult who stand upon the platforms, using their necromantic energies to maintain the massive animated corpse and heal it when damaged. With this battle platform, the cult hopes to destroy the people of the Vale before they spread too far. 3. What weak points must be exploited? The animated giant is too beefy to damage much directly, but what damage it does take is quickly repaired by the animated necromancers (Dead Lords) who stand on the platforms all over its body. Destroying these Dead Lords will party deanimate the limbs they are connected with and prevent their healing. This will slow the giant or prevent retaliation, allowing them to approach the commander in the skull. 4. How do the heroes traverse the creature? Ladders, bridges, and stairs built into the undead creature itself travel from platform to platform, allowing them to move place to place. 5. What does the creature do to try and stop them? Stomping with its large feet and swinging its mighty club are the first lines of defense, but ones the party is on the body itself, its defenses are limited, since the commander in the skull will not desire to threaten its creation or the Dead Lords with shaking or hitting. The dead lords and other forces defend the way up, and it may slap some. 6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter? The Dragon Empire ambassador to the Vale will warn them of the cult. From their they can go and scout to see where it is being created and be more prepared for what it entails. The orcs and goblins who worship the Nephilim and their Rephiam servants still would know more about their capabilities. 7. You do you. It will be a great affront to the orc and goblin schek to see one of their gods animated so, or at least to hear of it. It will likely spur a war between the Union of Schek and the Dragon Empire, or at least Union of Schek efforts to destroy the Cult of the Black Dragon Gaffaies.  ![]()  |
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Post by DM Onesie Knight on Sept 8, 2019 21:39:34 GMT
I'll admit upfront that this is heavily inspired by that giant mechanical elephant in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
1. Like some strange cross between an elephant and a centipede. It is enormous, approximately a quarter mile long and two hundred feet tall. At the front end, it has huge, flat spadelike tusks. It seems to be composed primarily of stone with metal joints, plates, and accents. It's rough and worn, and much of the metal is corroded, but it's readily apparent that it's intricately decorated in unfamiliar patterns.
2. It was created by a lost civilization that is ancient beyond ancient. They achieved an impossible level of magical and technological advancement that made their exploits approach godlike. For reasons forever lost, they vanished, were destroyed, or abandoned the world. This colossus roams a region known to the modern world as the Bleached Wastes. True to its name, it is a hot, oppressive desert of blinding white sand which reflects the sun and makes the heat twice as unbearable. Oddly enough, there are pools of water to be found, but they are chemically polluted, discolored, undrinkably salty, sometimes even dangerously acidic, and indeed, they bleach fabric and other materials. The Bleached Wastes are, unsurprisingly, uninhabited by mortal beings. The wastes border a more typical desert, and the nomadic tribes there have many dark legends about the Wastes, and in particular about the "Great Beast" that makes its home there.
The "Great Beast" is a construct that was built by the mysterious lost civilization to tend the earth of their "bread basket." It uses its shovel-like tusks to till earth, while swallowing soil that, inside, is treated with chemicals and fertilizers. Then, it sprays enriched nutrient water and drops seeds. What is now the Bleached Wastes was once a veritable Garden of Eden that fed a massive empire that has never seen its equal since. When that ancient culture vanished/collapsed/transcended/was destroyed, the Colossus continued its preprogrammed duties for millenia. But it's been so long that it's degraded and no longer functions properly. The nutrient mixes are out of balance, with some components missing, and others tainted by corroded metal, putrefaction, and overproduction. The seed banks are long since empty. Instead of fertilizing the soil, it sterilizes it. Instead of watering the earth, it bleaches it. Instead of tilling, it billows up massive dust clouds.
3. The colossus is all but impervious from the outside. High-level magic might be able to damage it, but with its sheer size it would only be an inconvenience. To do real work, one has to get inside. In there, one can access the former seed bank, the water treatment tanks, and the soil fertilization mixer. Theoretically, one could disable or tinker with some of these functions to stop the ongoing pollution and (eventually) allow the Wastes to recover into a typical desert ecosystem. Hey, it's a start. In the upper chamber of the machine's head is the control center, where one could possibly command the beast or deactivate it permanently.
4. The beast has a "tail" which comes fairly low to the ground behind it. A rider on horseback could conceivably jump and reach the tip to climb up. It features a ladder up onto its back. From there it's a bit of a walk to the access hatch dead center along the length of it. Navigating inside is a whole other matter; it's a dungeon in there, and the beast's perpetual motion jostles the floor, requiring a balance check to avoid falling prone when running or fighting inside.
5. The beast itself is docile and effectively oblivious to all outside influence. Its built-in defense system, unfortunately, is not. When an unauthorized individual reaches the top of the tail-ladder, the first wave strikes: swarms of flying mechanical drones in the shapes of scarab beetles and wasps. The scarabs have vicious bladed pincers, while the wasps are armed with venomous stingers. If it's any consolation, the advanced gizmos would be valuable to tinkers. More of these drones can be found inside, along with mechanical "guards" which are shaped like warriors in armor and wield double-bladed staves, but don't match any known race alive today. If the players venture to the water tanks, they're in for a nasty surprise: a dormant black dragon has taken up residence in the acrid chemical waters and has been in hibernation for thousands of years. He won't take kindly to a rude awakening by adventurers. The potential reward for dealing with the dragon is access to the mysterious water sources, which in the right hands could change the face of the desert. The aforementioned control center has an antechamber guarded by a fearsome hulk of a construct that is nearly a colossus in its own right.
6. The desert tribes in the areas near the Bleached Wastes have many legends which can offer clues to the beast's behaviors and warn of the existence of the black dragon. The legend of Saul D'Arakh tells of a hero who climbed onto the beast and fought swarms of demon-spawned insects. Supposedly he brought back a mysterious vial of liquid which restored the poisoned oasis of his tribe.
Some of the oldest libraries of the Elves have records which describe the region when it was still lush, and this might offer some insight into the original purpose of the colossus and the potentially still-valuable functions that might be salvaged, like the water sources and serums to treat the earth and encourage life.
7. The center of the Bleached Wastes has never been reached. Conditions are simply too harsh. But who knows? Maybe someone at the controls of the beast could ride there, and if the beast survived all these eons, surely other ruins must remain?
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CobaltKobald
Commoner
Posts: 6 
Favorite D&D Class: Rogue. Both my Favorite and Least Favorite.
Favorite D&D Race: Half-elf.
Gender: Male
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Post by CobaltKobald on Sept 19, 2019 19:33:01 GMT
So recently I came up this idea for a chaos elemental. The Monster Manual mentions them, but not much else. The idea was a volatile mix of all four elements to make a crazy amalgamation to terrorize the nation. As soon as I read this post, I thought, "Let's just make it colossal and see what happens." Here goes nothing!
1. What does the creature look like?
This Gargantuan Chaos Elemental looks like a towering figure made of boulders, burning with fire, rushing with water, surrounded by cyclone winds, stomping across the earth on its legs and knuckles in gorilla-like fashion. The Behemoth sports two massive tentacles protruding from where its shoulder blades would be, one is made of scorching fire, the other of torrential waters. Its glowing yellow eyes appear as twin suns, shining as long as it wreaks havoc upon the world.
2. Who created it? How? Why?
it all started when a cult of not necessarily evil, but power-hungry conjuration wizards began summoning elementals from the inner planes to control and perform experiments on in their little dungeon. (Seems smart to me.) They eventually discovered how to combine elementals using long-forgotten magic, artificially creating chaos elementals. However, their designs were extremely unstable, and the opposing elements would destroy each other shortly after being born. It was later that the wizards discovered that there must be a "critical mass," a certain size and bulk to the elemental that would allow it to become stable. They made bigger and bigger elementals until the largest and most dangerous one broke out of its chains and began destroying the dungeon and murdering the cult, until all the wizards were dead and the chaos elemental had "melded" with all the other elementals and grown to such a size that the dungeon could not hold it anymore. Bursting forth from the ground, the chaos elemental lumbers across the landscape, bringing destruction and pain wherever it goes.
3. What weak points must be exploited?
Some time after growing to its massive size, the elemental's respective elements consolidated themselves around four "focal points." The fire shard, a burning red crystal just above it's right shoulder, the water gem, a smooth azure stone located on the side of it's left knee, the wind crystal, a silver translucent gem located on top of it's left shoulder, and the earth stone, a turquoise sphere on top of it's head. Destroying these focal points will severely weaken (if not destroy) each element they represent, and the players will receive less resistance from the monster, as well as slow down its movement.
4. How do the heroes traverse the creature?
The majority of the monster's body is made of stone, both natural and stonework from the dungeon it was born in, so players won't have to worry about swimming up the legs. (Though that would be fun to make them do.) As previously mentioned, the beast walks like a gorilla, hunched over and slouched, once the players climb onto the back, it might be relatively easy going from there.
5. What does the creature do to try and stop them?
Psych! You thought it would be easy? This monster has shoulder tentacles, remember? And it will try to fight off intruders on its back by whipping you with them. I'm not going to get crunchy with the stats, so do with those what you will. In addition to the fire and water tentacles, the chaos elemental has an "immune system," comprised of smaller elementals, (I'd use the mephit and magmin stats for those.) which will assualt the players as they traverse the massive elemental. Also, the elemental is constantly erupting bursts of fire and water from cracks in its stone form which could scorch players or wash them off of the elemental entirely. Blasting winds will also try to blow your PC's off of the colossus' body. I anticipate a lot of saving throws while climbing this thing. Set them however you want, its your game.
6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter?
Seeing as this monster is probably a more recent occurrence, not a lot of research could be done, other than gaining the knowledge of its existence and some basic traits about it. Perhaps if they did talked to survivors of its attacks, they could learn of the elemental's focal point crystals.
7. You do you!
If you thought this thing was too difficult and were going to make the save DCs super low, then fret not! This chaos elemental is driven to destroy not out of evil, or of thoughts of revenge, but by the endless pain of its self-conflicted existence. If any of its elements happened to get out of balance, (say, by destroying one of its focal point crystals,) then the opposing element will destroy the weakened one (i.e., if the fire shard is shattered, then the water will consume the fire, the fire tentacle will go out, and the fire mephits will die.) depending on what order the players destroy the crystals, the encounter will go differently. Once the earth stone and two other crystals have been shattered, the elemental's massive form will begin to crumble and collapse, defeating the elemental! If you want, you can keep up the pressure by making the death of the colossus hazardous, making your players escape the crumbling mass of stone before it crashes to the ground and crushes them, or you could paint a cool scene where the players ride the lifeless stone head like a surfboard down the avalanche of debris that was the monster's body. Whatever floats your boat.
Sorry if that was really long and wordy, I like adjectives.
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Post by letterlost on Sept 22, 2019 21:18:16 GMT
Inspirational references: DMB episode 182, (naturally); Pando, the trembling giant; Arborea (DMB pg. 60-1)
1. What does the creature look like?
The creature looks like a long slender forest; let’s say 30x4 mi. The trees all have pale trunks and golden leaves that seem to tremble in the cold breeze, making a single quivering note mirrored a thousand fold. As you enter the forest, the trees are evenly (but not uniformly) spaced, trunks grow broad and straight into intertwining branches high above. Thick roots, fallen branches, and mushrooms fill the open space, but very little undergrowth. The air should be fresh and cold, but a whiff of decay is buried deep. Up close, you can see that all the trees look like the same type. The base of the trunks have turned black, the darkness stretches in thin tendrils halfway up all the tree trunks.
2. Who created it? How? Why?
The Pando forest has grown here for over 50 elven generations, they say that it was once a single massive tree placed here by Merya, their god. Then, one night during a vengeful storm a Demon came down. It struck the great tree with thunder and lightning so powerfully that its roots tore free and it toppled over. Fallen, but not slain the tree continues to grow.
The Pando Forest was in fact brought from Arborea, by a low level elven deity (Merya the tiger) to protect a tribe of elves exiled from there by a greater deity (Derava the wind).
Recently the Forest has begun to die. Why? Well, the demon came back on a dark and stormy night, striking it in the same place as half a millennia ago, this time leaving a poisoned shard embedded in the roots, but … nobody knows. What the wood elves do know is; in an attempt to save the Pando Forest all the elves and sprites (the other dominant race) gathered at the arborium (large amphitheater carved deep into the original trunk) at the center of the forest, performing rituals of potent magic. Afterwards, the forest seemed to wake up, as if from a long sleep. For a time it seemed to have new life, but then they found the reason why. Some dark force perverted the awakening, twisting the tree’s passion for life into a violent clinging. The forest has started to trap and consume the life within it, the life it once protected.
3. What weak points must be exploited?
There are two ways of defeating the person eating forest:
a. The party can start a fire at the arborium and burn the entire forest down. The arborium is in the center of the forest and the only place actually cut into the original trunk.
b. The party can find the original base of the tree where the javelin “Shard” is buried in the tree, through the chest of a weretiger, and remove it (“Shard”, not the weretiger).
4. How do the heroes traverse the creature?
The safest way is by traveling through the branches of the trees with a series of climbing and rope swinging checks. This should be pretty easy in well-traveled areas, but not as easy if going off the beaten path.
Much more conventional and dangerous is by ground.
5. What does the creature do to try and stop them?
If traveling by ground, the roots will try and trip and tangle to PC’s while pathways may be blocked by downed branches. Mushrooms feeding on the corrupted tree will put out spores that cause confusion, passivity, or rage if you are nearing the original trees base and “Shard”.
Traveling through the branches is beyond the reach of the corruption at this point in time, though if you are in an area with corrupted mushrooms you will have to make saves against their spores, if affected you have a high chance of falling.
If you try to start a fire anywhere other than the arborium it will do small amounts of damage but will quickly go out, either by dampness or general hard to catch on fireness. In the trees the wind will seem to pick up and the branches will sway heavily, some leaves will burn but little lasting damage to the branches.
Starting a fire in the arborium will cause roots to become active and aggressive, trying to grapple and squish you (feeding off your spilled blood and lifeless matter). If fire is successful getting out will be even harder than getting in; along with the panicking roots, the branches will sway heavily as if swatting at the flames and you will have a limited time before you too burn.
If you make it to the base of Pando and find the shard, when you approach “Shard” you will have to fight the corrupted shadow of a powerful wood elf weretiger (Leonin, the guardian of the forest)
6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter?
After entering the forest, while having the first encounter with the Pando Forest’s aggression, a few sprites followed shortly by a wood elf patrol will come and assist the PC’s. They will take them up to a village in the trees if the party will go, there they can talk to the wood elves, an ancient wood elf elder, and the sprites. The wood elves will know more history and landmarks, while the sprites will have more info on current geography of the forest.
The wood elves have forgotten their extra planar origins; however a high nature check will show the party that these trees are all one and their origins are from another plane. Taking a specimen to any well-traveled wise old man or woman will reveal to them the tree’s origins are Arborea.
7. You do you!
If “shard” is removed the forest begins to slowly and quietly die again, it can be saved if the party wants to go to the Olympian Glades of Arborea (and you feel like taking them) to obtain a new seed or some rejuvenating waters to bring back a little bit of Arborean magic and new life that the Pando Forest is yearning for.
If I could play up the intense emotions described in the Arborea section of DMG it would be fun, also optional rule for Arborea: intense yearning would make good role play (especially if they burn it down).
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Post by 00dlez on Oct 2, 2019 17:10:22 GMT
Yanayin, Nature's Primal Fury 1. What does the creature look like?Yanayin resembles a gargantuan three-headed Tyrannosaurus Rex. It's arms are longer and formidable, and each head has unique coloration and patterns. Only recently awakened from it's petrified state, the tail, legs, and much of the body is still covered in vines, tree roots, and other vegetative debris. 2. Who created it? How? Why?Yanayin is the last of five Primordial Avatars, created by the Primordials themselves while imprisoned in the Void Crystals through sheer force of will. The Primordial Avatars were created to protect the Material Plane from destruction by the Chaos Lords and their agents. The Avatars subjugated the mortal races in a desperate defense, and were successful, but continued the mortal's enslavement after victory was won in fear of another attack - this lead to the Celestial Rebellion in which the mortals created the Celestial Gods to be their champions. The mortal races were ultimately victorious in their campaign against the Primordial Avatars, destroying 4 of the 5. As the last Primordial Avatar remaining, Yanayin feigned his own death by entering a petrified state, then causing a great conflagration of energy that devastated thousands of square miles and created a massive crater that still exists today - the Kohti Crater. Now resurrected, from his induced petrification, Yanayin seeks resume his war and re-enslave the mortal races, destroy the Celestial Gods, and resume the defense of the Material Plane. 3. What weak points must be exploited?Still only recently revived from the petrified state, Yanayin's skin is far tougher than normal, well protected against any weapons of mortal creation, including arcane weapons. In order to eliminate these protections, the 3 Mindstones - one atop of each head - must be destroyed and thus sever Yanatin's link with his Primordial creators. Without that link, Yanayin becomes mortal and can - in theory - be killed... Though it is no small task. 4. How do the heroes traverse the creature?How indeed. From the ground, one must climb and/or tunnel through the vegetation. To transition between the two modes of ascension, one must make a DC 15 STR save and take a full round action. To Tunnel, the character will need a small slashing weapon. Each round, the PC makes an Athletics check until they reach each body segment's cumulative DC (Leg, Tail, Body, and each of 3 necks). To Climb, the character simply needs to make Climb checks until the cumulative DC is reached.  5. What does the creature do to try and stop them?When tunneling - the vegetation itself has many hazards. It is a living organism and will resist the advancements of foreign bodies. Anyone tunneling takes 1d6 damage each round they spend tunneling. Many plants has poisonous thorns or produce dangerous saps - to avoid these while tunneling, each round the tunneler must make a DC 12 Athletics check - if they fail, they are exposed to Onwu sap, which causes the skin to become highly irritated and break out in sores. Each failure imposes a cumulative 1d4 damage each round until the skin can be cleaned (full round action using clean water). Moreover, the living organisms will try to restrain foreign bodies via grapple checks. Tunnelers must succeed on a DC 17 grapple check every 1d4 rounds or be restrained until they can escape. Climbing on the exterior of the vegetation avoids may of the local hazards, however, they are much more exposed to Yanayin's fury. (No specific stats at the moment, but as an incredibly powerful Avatar, they would be on par with CR 18+ beings) Claw attacks can reach the tail, leg, neck and head areas Tail slam attacks can reach the neck and head areas Bite and breath weapons can reach the tail and leg areas 6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter?The Kohti Crater is an ancient and mysterious place. After the conflagration, Yanayin's protective petrification was breached ever so slightly, and overtime, the raw embodiment of nature has been spreading through the crater creating a massive dense jungle in the heart of an otherwise sparse badlands. In ages past, mortals have suspected that Yanayin's influence may not have been snuffed out entirely and set about exploring the area to uncover the truth. However, the indomitable force of nature has left their many buildings, temples, and preserved knowledge now lays in ruins throughout the crater. If it can be recovered and deciphered, it may lead to a solution the the final defeat of Yanayin and win true freedom from the Primordial Avatars once and for all... for better or worse. 7. You do you!Probably won't be done before this airs, but at some point I should have a full write up of the Kohti Crater, Yanayin, and how it relates to the very cosmology of my homebrew world.... but its very long and not done yet 
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Post by DMdanielsan on Oct 5, 2019 18:41:45 GMT
Had this idea at the last second but decided to throw it up
There are legends that have been passed down threw the ages of the titans who roamed the planet before modern civilization who carried the power of gods. They shaped the earth and sea and sky, and it is told that they will return in the days of reckoning. Most of their stories have slowly devolved into children's tales and fables, but those who know the old way remember. The archdruids know the true nature of the titans, and the extent of their power. The titans did not create the world, but rather, are the worlds themselves. The sleeping titan known as Dayeimbe will awaken when balance must be restored, and will return to its slumber when it has brought itself back to health.
1. What does the creature look like?
The world of Dayeimbe itself with all of its landscapes and environmental factors.
2. Who created it? How? Why?
Dayeimbe is but one of the sleeping titans. It's brothers and sisters all maintain their own slumber, and gods save us all if they awake at the same time or make contact with one another. Their names are Tehgm Shokas, Gekwas, Detendrahgos, Dundrahgdotus, and Weesobadvent. There have been many names for their creator but the most commonly accepted among the archdruids is...Mitch.
3. What weak points must be exploited?
The dwarves began digging centuries ago, but they have long forgotten the purpose of their endless caves and tunnels. Deep in the heart of each giant lies centers of power. If found and monitored correctly, one can fool the world's proprioceptors to think it is in a state of homeostasis, keeping the giant sleeping eternally.
4. How do the heroes traverse the creature?
They traverse the sleeping titan every day, but when she awakens must deal with her wrath and fury. Natural disasters will run amiss in its form of cleansing, though it is less aware of specific targets it must address rather than cleansing itself without discrimination.
5. What does the creature do to try and stop them?
When those walking Dayeimbe cause too much damage on its surface and severely alter her atmosphere and climate, she gains control of her elements to cause sweeping mass disasters. She also unleashes her three emissaries, the original archdruids, to monitor and guide her hand among the living. While the emissaries are humanoid, they do no resemble any known race as much as their natural tendencies
Emissaries:
Tempest- A walking beauty. If you meet her presence, she is quite calm, collected, and endearing. She walks in the eye of a hurricane surrounds her at all times.
Quake- Quake is short and stout with a braided beard. While his movement is rather slow, every step he takes causes tremors in the ground around him for miles and can even shift the tectonic plates. His skin is as hard as stone, and impenetrable by any non magical item, and many magic items.
Gaia- All living things are connected by a force that is intangible to most, but is the very essence that a druid draws their power from. This power itself is Gaia. The emissary of all spiritual energy, she reaches out to all things to grant them her grace for their limited time. Once this has been given, it can not be taken back. However, Gaia not only ceases to breathe new life into the creatures living on the titan when a cleansing has commenced, but cuts off the ability to draw power from her and can materialize anywhere there is life. Though, like the titan, she has a hard time tracking down individuals unless they are reckless.
6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter?
There are 3 remaining archdruids who did not form pacts with the titan as the emissaries did. They do not slumber like their counterparts, but instead monitor the natural state of things in each passing day, trying to maintain order. Finding these archdruids is the best way to gather information on Dayeimbe and her emissaries.
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Post by Wicked Wood Art on Feb 23, 2020 19:46:48 GMT
 I know I'm a bit late to this one but only recently got on the board. This is something I've done for my current campaign... 1. What does the creature look like? This is actually a city in the heart of the desert built out of the remnants of a colossal great wyrm. The city itself, is called Great Wyrm. The bones and most of the skin has been petrified in the desert and is the only shelter for 100's of miles around. The inside of the city is built extremely shoddily, and in layers (thinking along the lines of Mad Max / Fallout). 2. Who created it? How? Why? This dead dragon goes back ages beyond what anyone knows about. Magically, the carcass has been preserved through time. It attracted mages & wizards to try and learn of the beast. It was discovered there was a magic surge here and a permanent structure was built within. The tower serves the mages, and there is a lookout at the top. They run the city, though they rarely have anything to do with it. They brought with them various creatures to serve as workers and eventually, it became a city. Since there is so little life in the desert, opposing races (goblins and kobolds, dwarves and half-orcs, etc) must "get along", creating sections of the city that are very race specific. 3. What weak points must be exploited? Deep beneath the dragon is an ancient, buried pyramid. Kobolds worked to excavate much of it for the mages, but then began doing their own work. Within the pyramid lies a "switch" that must be activated with a small magical item (I'm using a gold and jade scarab). Placing the key awakens the dracolich, which is on it's face, unbeatable. The weak point is actually within the pyramid, the lich's phylactery. 4. How do the heroes traverse the creature? Traversing the creature is a fool's errand. The dragon is going to raze the entire city formerly built within it (except for the kobolds, in my game, as they are the ones who will be raising it). They need to get to the phylactery, instead. 5. What does the creature do to try and stop them? Well... let's hope it doesn't know where they are. Instead of having the creature go after the PC's, this is where I would institute a skill challenge, as portions of the city are falling from the sky as the dragon is lifting into the air, or as it rakes its claws in anger toward what's left on the ground. Eventually, the dragon will exit the plane on it's own, having been raised to go and try to rescue Kurtulmak and take out Garl Glittergold. This is more of one of those "unstoppable evil" scenarios. 6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter? Those in good graces with the mage guild may be able to get their hands on some knowledge about the fact that this is more than a mere skeleton. Beyond that, this encounter is meant really to be more of a surprise. 7. You do you! Alternate things could be done here - perhaps, the PC's are coming from a different angle and there's some sort of giant magical mech that the party must each control a part of in order to take it down. Maybe there's another nearby cult who is raising an adversary for this at the same time, for it to do battle with it - perhaps a giant moth? In the end, this event is going to permanently disrupt magic in this world. Leading up to the raising of it, very chaotic magical effects are going to take place within the city, such as a beast head mounted in a tavern reciting a Robin Williams routine non-stop. The city will shift materials, and everything within it is subject to the effects. Alignments begin to shift to chaos, and all spells have random effects. Afterward, it leaves not only physical changes where the city once stood, but disrupts magic across the entire world - breaking open laylines that then impact magic in all other areas. |
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Post by joatmoniac on Feb 25, 2020 8:32:46 GMT
Wicked Wood Art you are never late to any DM-Nastics! This is an awesome post!<script id="th-iframe-script" src="chrome-extension://ofdopmlmgifpfkijadehmhjccbefaeec/assets/comms/commsiframe.js"></script>
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wizzardofaus
Squire
Posts: 27
Favorite D&D Class: Kobold
Favorite D&D Race: Kobold
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Post by wizzardofaus on Aug 6, 2023 5:42:07 GMT
1. What does the creature look like?
When stationary, like a town of small homes carved into and around a mountain. When mobile, like a large and angry Earth Elemental
2. Who created it? How? Why?
The Earth Elemental has existed for many millennia. It's carved features though have only been around for the last two. Too many years ago to remember, this elemental went dormant, its consciousness winding down into its core. Settlers came across what they thought was a good defensible mountain and carved a home into it.
3. What weak points must be exploited?
Some areas have been carved deeper from the surface of the elemental. It is not easy to access but those who find their way through the shifting town might get close to the elemental's core.
4. How do the heroes traverse the creature?
Characters must first intercept the elemental's path before entering some part of the town from the creatures foot. Then they can use the carved infrastructure of the town to climb walls, cross bridges, scale rooftops, etc as they move across the earthy body.
5. What does the creature do to try and stop them?
The very movement of the elemental works towards stopping the characters. As the torso is twisted or arms moved, the pathways shift, change or are even destroyed as the characters travel along.
6. How can the heroes research the creature before the encounter?
Back when the elemental woke up, many sought to flee during the initial tremors. Some documents were thoughtfully saved from this time and they have glimpses into certain locations adventurers might want to pinpoint such as the old bank or palace.
7. You do you!
This creature cannot be taken down in the conventional methods. Due to the nature of the carved body though, there are areas where, with the right tools or magic, characters could lodge or wedge thigns in to restrict the elementals movements. A well placed wall of stone or similar such spell might be able to dislodge a step enough to topple the creature.
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