Hello, I am looking for some ideas for a situation. My players obtained a large gem which, unbeknownst to them, contains an evil being. They have already noticed it is causing problems. I told them it emanated some kind of energy which made them feel uneasy and distrustful, and the few NPCs who saw it reacted instantly with greed and tried to get it for themselves. The players have decided to destroy the gem. When they do, the evil being will be released and attack them.
This is where I am looking for help. The party is 3 PCs, a paladin, rogue, and bard, all level 3. I think I could find a creature of the appropriate CR to create a challenging battle (thinking CR 4 is about right). But being relatively new to DnD, I am not as familiar with the different creatures to figure out something thematically appropriate. Like, a Giant Walrus is CR 4 but, while comical, would not make a lot of sense for that to be trapped in a large gem. I don't know if there is anything specific that would be ideal for something like this that I am just unaware of.
Well, I'd personally make it more than a simple fight. After all, if someone finds something dangerous enough to imprison it in this way, three level 3 adventurers wouldn't be able to easily defeat it. Instead, I'd make it a much more powerful creature, but it would be heavily weakened due to its long imprisonment, allowing for a difficult fight that it will escape from once it reaches low hit points, to later be a reoccurring antagonist.
As for what it actually contains, I'd make it some sort of outsider, obviously, probably an elemental, fey, or fiend. I'd make it something with the ability to perform some sort of transport/escape magic, which it will use when damaged enough by the players after it escapes. For its weakened state I'd just make it a reskinned lower level fey/elemental/fiend, with perhaps a few extra spells/abilities.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
A Nergaliidcould be a fun fight, especially if you pair it with an imp or two or maybe some low CR undead and it gets to use its Siphon life ability. If your setting has fiends reforming on their native plane after being "killed" on the material plane (assuming your level 3 party isn't plane hopping yet), it sets you up to have a recurring antagonist for the party which could be fun.
Nice, I love the idea of a recurring antagonist. I was originally thinking of something like an elemental although the elementals I looked at (CR 5) looked a little too tough for 3 lv. 3's. Could nerf it for this fight. Nergaliid looks interesting too though. Will have to think on it, but I will definitely have it escape once it is low on HP. Thanks!
Nice, I love the idea of a recurring antagonist. I was originally thinking of something like an elemental although the elementals I looked at (CR 5) looked a little too tough for 3 lv. 3's. Could nerf it for this fight. Nergaliid looks interesting too though. Will have to think on it, but I will definitely have it escape once it is low on HP. Thanks!
Never be afraid to throw a deadly encounter at your party. CR 5 isn't too far out of their range, so it probably won't one shot them, but it can still be powerful enough to make them run rather than fight.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I second the idea of a fiend like the nergaliid you could add the ability of summon one or two zombie husk on a roll of 5-6, but do not keep more than 2 zombies at the same time. Also you could drop the idea to the party that it need to destroy on some temple/cemetery so it justified the summoning and you could give it a range of 60ft. for the summoning to appear.
The 'standard' spell that produces an effect like this is Imprisonment with minimus containment, but (a) all likely targets for that spell are too high CR for the PCs, and (b) the gemstone is unbreakable anyway. You could call it a corrupted elemental gem in which case an elemental is appropriate, though you could also use something that is classed as an elemental but is not a classic elemental, such as a salamander.
A CR 5 would be a rather rough fight for 3 x level 3. Another thing you can do is use something over their power level and have the creature within be weakened by its imprisonment (reduced hp/damage/etc).
I'm a fan of Nothic(CR2); Spellcasters who attempted to uncover mysteries beyond their mortal limits and were transformed into monsters by what they found.
Give it a magic item, or an interesting template to bump up the difficulty a bit.
I am a little concerned about a CR 5 encounter, everyone is new here, and there are only 3 of them. I would rather go with a CR 4 and summon minions halfway through than throw a CR 5 at them.
I am a little concerned about a CR 5 encounter, everyone is new here, and there are only 3 of them. I would rather go with a CR 4 and summon minions halfway through than throw a CR 5 at them.
They don't necessarily have to win the encounter. Or even fight the creature at all, honestly. After all, they just freed it, it wouldn't necessarily be hostile to them.
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"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
When they destroy the gem, it makes a lot of noise and a darkness seems to rush away from it. Moments later a confused-seeming traveler appears, asking them if they saw whatever that was. They then go on to explain that they are trying to finish a quest and need their help, and send them off on dangerous missions. Each time they return to him alive, he seems to grow more annoyed, and sends them on an even more dangerous mission. Eventually it transpires that the traveler was trapped in the gem, and is some sort of shape-shifting evil thingummy that's been trying to get them killed.
You could give them a motive to try and recover the shards of the gem, and then give them a background plot wherein they become the BBEG in the future of the campaign, perhaps having captured dangerous minions within the gem shards, and using them to wreak havoc - how did a chimera get into the palace and kill the king? Where did his son & only heir go? that sort of thing - monsters suddenly appearing in unexpected places. upon investigation, they might find a piece of the gem, and make the connection.
These are all really cool ideas, has given me a lot of great stuff to think about. I think I will end up with something that combines a few of these. Thanks everyone!
When they destroy the gem, it makes a lot of noise and a darkness seems to rush away from it. Moments later a confused-seeming traveler appears, asking them if they saw whatever that was. They then go on to explain that they are trying to finish a quest and need their help, and send them off on dangerous missions. Each time they return to him alive, he seems to grow more annoyed, and sends them on an even more dangerous mission. Eventually it transpires that the traveler was trapped in the gem, and is some sort of shape-shifting evil thingummy that's been trying to get them killed.
You could give them a motive to try and recover the shards of the gem, and then give them a background plot wherein they become the BBEG in the future of the campaign, perhaps having captured dangerous minions within the gem shards, and using them to wreak havoc - how did a chimera get into the palace and kill the king? Where did his son & only heir go? that sort of thing - monsters suddenly appearing in unexpected places. upon investigation, they might find a piece of the gem, and make the connection.
I like the sound of this. you could have the players have a vision or what is to come without giving them any direct clue. Something like what Matt Mercer did on Critical Role with the 9 eyes after the finish the bad guy at the end of the travelercon arc.
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Hello, I am looking for some ideas for a situation. My players obtained a large gem which, unbeknownst to them, contains an evil being. They have already noticed it is causing problems. I told them it emanated some kind of energy which made them feel uneasy and distrustful, and the few NPCs who saw it reacted instantly with greed and tried to get it for themselves. The players have decided to destroy the gem. When they do, the evil being will be released and attack them.
This is where I am looking for help. The party is 3 PCs, a paladin, rogue, and bard, all level 3. I think I could find a creature of the appropriate CR to create a challenging battle (thinking CR 4 is about right). But being relatively new to DnD, I am not as familiar with the different creatures to figure out something thematically appropriate. Like, a Giant Walrus is CR 4 but, while comical, would not make a lot of sense for that to be trapped in a large gem. I don't know if there is anything specific that would be ideal for something like this that I am just unaware of.
Any help would be appreciated.
Well, I'd personally make it more than a simple fight. After all, if someone finds something dangerous enough to imprison it in this way, three level 3 adventurers wouldn't be able to easily defeat it. Instead, I'd make it a much more powerful creature, but it would be heavily weakened due to its long imprisonment, allowing for a difficult fight that it will escape from once it reaches low hit points, to later be a reoccurring antagonist.
As for what it actually contains, I'd make it some sort of outsider, obviously, probably an elemental, fey, or fiend. I'd make it something with the ability to perform some sort of transport/escape magic, which it will use when damaged enough by the players after it escapes. For its weakened state I'd just make it a reskinned lower level fey/elemental/fiend, with perhaps a few extra spells/abilities.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
A Nergaliid could be a fun fight, especially if you pair it with an imp or two or maybe some low CR undead and it gets to use its Siphon life ability. If your setting has fiends reforming on their native plane after being "killed" on the material plane (assuming your level 3 party isn't plane hopping yet), it sets you up to have a recurring antagonist for the party which could be fun.
Nice, I love the idea of a recurring antagonist. I was originally thinking of something like an elemental although the elementals I looked at (CR 5) looked a little too tough for 3 lv. 3's. Could nerf it for this fight. Nergaliid looks interesting too though. Will have to think on it, but I will definitely have it escape once it is low on HP. Thanks!
Never be afraid to throw a deadly encounter at your party. CR 5 isn't too far out of their range, so it probably won't one shot them, but it can still be powerful enough to make them run rather than fight.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I second the idea of a fiend like the nergaliid you could add the ability of summon one or two zombie husk on a roll of 5-6, but do not keep more than 2 zombies at the same time. Also you could drop the idea to the party that it need to destroy on some temple/cemetery so it justified the summoning and you could give it a range of 60ft. for the summoning to appear.
The 'standard' spell that produces an effect like this is Imprisonment with minimus containment, but (a) all likely targets for that spell are too high CR for the PCs, and (b) the gemstone is unbreakable anyway. You could call it a corrupted elemental gem in which case an elemental is appropriate, though you could also use something that is classed as an elemental but is not a classic elemental, such as a salamander.
A CR 5 would be a rather rough fight for 3 x level 3. Another thing you can do is use something over their power level and have the creature within be weakened by its imprisonment (reduced hp/damage/etc).
I'm a fan of Nothic(CR2); Spellcasters who attempted to uncover mysteries beyond their mortal limits and were transformed into monsters by what they found.
Give it a magic item, or an interesting template to bump up the difficulty a bit.
I am a little concerned about a CR 5 encounter, everyone is new here, and there are only 3 of them. I would rather go with a CR 4 and summon minions halfway through than throw a CR 5 at them.
Can always use a Ghost, though that has high randomness due to possession.
They don't necessarily have to win the encounter. Or even fight the creature at all, honestly. After all, they just freed it, it wouldn't necessarily be hostile to them.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
What about a more sinister plot?
When they destroy the gem, it makes a lot of noise and a darkness seems to rush away from it. Moments later a confused-seeming traveler appears, asking them if they saw whatever that was. They then go on to explain that they are trying to finish a quest and need their help, and send them off on dangerous missions. Each time they return to him alive, he seems to grow more annoyed, and sends them on an even more dangerous mission. Eventually it transpires that the traveler was trapped in the gem, and is some sort of shape-shifting evil thingummy that's been trying to get them killed.
You could give them a motive to try and recover the shards of the gem, and then give them a background plot wherein they become the BBEG in the future of the campaign, perhaps having captured dangerous minions within the gem shards, and using them to wreak havoc - how did a chimera get into the palace and kill the king? Where did his son & only heir go? that sort of thing - monsters suddenly appearing in unexpected places. upon investigation, they might find a piece of the gem, and make the connection.
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These are all really cool ideas, has given me a lot of great stuff to think about. I think I will end up with something that combines a few of these. Thanks everyone!
if you are playing in the Eberron setting than I would either have it be a piece of an overlord or a quori
I like the sound of this. you could have the players have a vision or what is to come without giving them any direct clue. Something like what Matt Mercer did on Critical Role with the 9 eyes after the finish the bad guy at the end of the travelercon arc.