I'm running a home brew one shot underwater dungeon and I could use some help coming up with some more rooms. I have the storyline, 5 rooms of the dungeon and the boss room all planned out. I'd like to come up with 5 more rooms to round out the one shot but I've hit a creative wall. I would post the dungeon I have so far but I'm pretty sure my players browse this site so I don't want to ruin it for them. Some sort of puzzle room or maybe some kind of air bubble trap would be cool I think. Any ideas would be appreciated! Also, do you think a 10 room dungeon + Boss fight + some exposition at the beginning would be about appropriate length for a one shot? Thanks in advance.
Edit: I'll just be vague about the rooms I have already. A riddle room, a couple regular rooms with baddies, a room with some traps and a bizarre/harmless room is what I have so far.
That seems like a lot to get through in a one-shot, although there are a lot of variables here: size/complexity of combats and puzzles, how many rooms are optional, and how long you have to play. My group can generally fill a 4-hour session with 3-4 encounters (combat, social interaction, or puzzle) plus exposition/roleplaying, but it can vary a lot between tables.
If you do need more stuff, some kind of NPC interaction can always be fun. A prisoner, an overworked servant, an allied NPC, a rival adventuring group, etc. can provide some exposition and good roleplay opportunities.
Split the dungeon in half, and have a corridor with a strong current preventing them from swimming along it that links the two halves. Add a room on that side (which is at the "back" of that end, so they need to go through all the rooms to get to it) where the current can be switched off or reversed. Make sure there's a grill to stop them being swept out of the dungeon!
If they are being subjected to a spell to breathe underwater, add a caveat that they cannot breathe air - then have an inverse trap room, where the water drains away, leaving them down on the deck and flopping like a fish.
Are you fed up of hearing players say "I have darkvision" every time you say it's dark? Get them back for all those times by presenting them with a room with a monster in it, who immediately churns up the silt on the floor to reduce visibility to 5ft! Make sure the monster has blindsight, and enjoy seeing the players adapt to not being able to see or hear anything!
heat is a fun one for underwater - hot air might be uncomfortable to be in, but hot water will cook you! Maybe add a geyser?
The party come to a 10ft diameter natural opening in the cliff face rock covered by a curtain of seaweed. Around the opening are barnacles and several conch shells adhered to the cliff. Someone with a high passive perception (16 or more ) or who rolls a DC 13 investigation for traps will see that there are a series of one foot holes lining the bottom of the opening, that the seaweed seems to be attached to something and that behind the seaweed there is a mass of sea urchin on the rocky ceiling of the opening. If they investigate the conch shell DC 13 they find that one of them turns in quarter turns. To disable the trap they must turn the proper conch shell half a turn clockwise to 6 o'clock position, three quarter counter-clockwise to 9 o'clock position and clockwise to the 3 o'clock position. This will click a hidden gear mechanism. Basically it's a combination lock that the inhabitants know the code to...there is no clue to be given. On a DC 13 check to disable the trap, they can disable the seaweed that act as as a trigger. If they do trigger the trap by swimming through the seaweed, a hidden mechanism will sent a blast of water up through the series of holes at the bottom of the opening that will force them upwards into the rocky ceiling and into sea urchins' spines. They take 2d6 bludgeoning damage hitting the top of the opening and a poison is administered. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is also unconscious while poisoned in this way. The creature wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to shake it awake. The trap alerts the Sahaugin who will promptly attack
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm running a home brew one shot underwater dungeon and I could use some help coming up with some more rooms. I have the storyline, 5 rooms of the dungeon and the boss room all planned out. I'd like to come up with 5 more rooms to round out the one shot but I've hit a creative wall. I would post the dungeon I have so far but I'm pretty sure my players browse this site so I don't want to ruin it for them. Some sort of puzzle room or maybe some kind of air bubble trap would be cool I think. Any ideas would be appreciated! Also, do you think a 10 room dungeon + Boss fight + some exposition at the beginning would be about appropriate length for a one shot? Thanks in advance.
Edit: I'll just be vague about the rooms I have already. A riddle room, a couple regular rooms with baddies, a room with some traps and a bizarre/harmless room is what I have so far.
That seems like a lot to get through in a one-shot, although there are a lot of variables here: size/complexity of combats and puzzles, how many rooms are optional, and how long you have to play. My group can generally fill a 4-hour session with 3-4 encounters (combat, social interaction, or puzzle) plus exposition/roleplaying, but it can vary a lot between tables.
If you do need more stuff, some kind of NPC interaction can always be fun. A prisoner, an overworked servant, an allied NPC, a rival adventuring group, etc. can provide some exposition and good roleplay opportunities.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Fair enough. This is my first time DMing and I didn't want it to be too short/a let down. Thanks for the input!
Some ideas:
Split the dungeon in half, and have a corridor with a strong current preventing them from swimming along it that links the two halves. Add a room on that side (which is at the "back" of that end, so they need to go through all the rooms to get to it) where the current can be switched off or reversed. Make sure there's a grill to stop them being swept out of the dungeon!
If they are being subjected to a spell to breathe underwater, add a caveat that they cannot breathe air - then have an inverse trap room, where the water drains away, leaving them down on the deck and flopping like a fish.
Are you fed up of hearing players say "I have darkvision" every time you say it's dark? Get them back for all those times by presenting them with a room with a monster in it, who immediately churns up the silt on the floor to reduce visibility to 5ft! Make sure the monster has blindsight, and enjoy seeing the players adapt to not being able to see or hear anything!
heat is a fun one for underwater - hot air might be uncomfortable to be in, but hot water will cook you! Maybe add a geyser?
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
The party come to a 10ft diameter natural opening in the cliff face rock covered by a curtain of seaweed. Around the opening are barnacles and several conch shells adhered to the cliff. Someone with a high passive perception (16 or more ) or who rolls a DC 13 investigation for traps will see that there are a series of one foot holes lining the bottom of the opening, that the seaweed seems to be attached to something and that behind the seaweed there is a mass of sea urchin on the rocky ceiling of the opening. If they investigate the conch shell DC 13 they find that one of them turns in quarter turns. To disable the trap they must turn the proper conch shell half a turn clockwise to 6 o'clock position, three quarter counter-clockwise to 9 o'clock position and clockwise to the 3 o'clock position. This will click a hidden gear mechanism. Basically it's a combination lock that the inhabitants know the code to...there is no clue to be given. On a DC 13 check to disable the trap, they can disable the seaweed that act as as a trigger. If they do trigger the trap by swimming through the seaweed, a hidden mechanism will sent a blast of water up through the series of holes at the bottom of the opening that will force them upwards into the rocky ceiling and into sea urchins' spines. They take 2d6 bludgeoning damage hitting the top of the opening and a poison is administered. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is also unconscious while poisoned in this way. The creature wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to shake it awake. The trap alerts the Sahaugin who will promptly attack