What can I throw at a party of 5 lv 3 breaking someone out of a prison under the castle in Neverwinter?
Idk what makes sense that isn't just guards which seems painfully boring
Its in cannon with forgotten realms, Lord Neverember is rebuilding the city and castle, the rift has been magically mended at this time if that helps anything.
I'de try and surprise my players, it makes things a lot more interesting. If you use animated creatures (rugs of smothering, flying swords), or creatures like mimics, then you can launch an unexpected trap with these creatures seemingly coming out of the blue.
Also, you could throw a flesh golem at the group in a hard encounter.
Edit: You could also throw a puzzle or two at the players. Make their brains work.
The guards of the prison might want monsters to ambush the PC's. They could have hired a wizard to animate the rug and swords.
Edit: You could also have an "elite guard" that is hired to stop escapees but only the prisons leaders (Dagult Neverember and whoever else is in charge of it) know that it is really a monster such as Medusa in disguise.
Edit: If you want to stay conventional with regular guards and stuff then it might be slightly less interesting for your players (maybe not, I dont know them after all). Either way, traps, maybe glyphs of warding, and puzzles might make it fun for the characters.
High powered prisoner takes advantage of party's incursion to escape itself ... chaos ensues. e
On the puzzle front, maybe high value prisoners, like the party's companion are somehow magically bound to the prison site and some sort of glyph or rune puzzle must be engaged in the warden's office or the sally port or whatever passes for the joint's access control area.
Prison disturbances in a lot of genres are used as opportunities for various factions within the prison population to settle scores. Party gets caught in the middle of a few of those. Maybe they make alliances or their histories obligate them to take particular sides or what have you.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Deep in the dungeon is the high security cellblock in which the captive is held. Thick, metal, windowless doors seal each cell from light and sound, lowered down by heavy chains and counterweight mechanisms. A single lever at the beginning of the hall, along with an unmarked dial, manages the system. The characters must pick one of ten settings, hoping to free their target. They have a one in ten chance, with each of the other nine cells containing a nasty surprise!
Have the party pick a number. When the lever is pulled, the metal cell door quickly slides upward into the ceiling, but lowers very slowly if the lever is reversed. Only one door can be open at a time.
The cells contain: 1. a mad hobgoblin barbarian 2. an evil cleric of Cyric 3. a minotaur 4. a doppelganger (appearing as the parties target to be freed) 5. the Red Fist Gang (four local level two rogues who planned an escape with makeshift poison shanks) 6. the Green Hag of Edals Creek 7. the parties target to be freed 8. a rabid, enraged werewolf (in wolf-humanoid hybrid form) 9. an orc chieftan 10. a bugbear shaman
Wester242's is pretty awesome. I wouldn't make every single compartment a slug fest though. I, for example, would have Kevin Roberts from the SNL "FBI Simulator" sketch in one asking for a donut. You'll probably want your own in joke.
I'd probably make half of them grinder encounters, the other half non-hostiles with either good RP opportunities, or potential allies or other adventure hooks.
I would have some security response readying to get into the control room though to give them the ticking clock tension.
Personally I'd make them try to plan their way in with a couple of options. There would be for example a main entrance and maybe some people who come in and out regularly, like a cleaner and stuff if they want to sneak in. Never winter is also very old there may also be some old castle ruins they can travel through that are perhaps haunted, you could haunting traps and things.
The cells having different things is a good idea though I might make he dangers of them a bit less obvious, have the werewolf, hag and appear human and maybe even try to bargain their way out. The werewolf might even genuinely believe he is innocent.
As for the guards you can make them interesting by making use of gear, terrain and tactics:
An air lock style corridor with barred gates at both ends and soldier with spears to stab back prisoners.
Shield walls to block passages.
Guard dogs or possibly a pet guard monster.
Alarms and reinforcements ( possibly mages or powerful heroic figures)
Special equipment like maybe Essence of Ether (Inhaled) or some, heavily armored troops with shields that block passages and maybe even have magical protection.
special training for example; maybe the guards have sentinel and pole arm master to keep enemies at bay or have special training with nets so they can throw them 15ft without disadvantage ( basically sharp shooter)
magical wards an traps could have been set by a wizard long ago to secure the castle.
Once they're aware of escapees they can set up traps like Caltrops (bag of 20) or Hunting Trap in corridors to make escape harder
Some alternative monsters to guards that might be around
veteran a guard happens to be a retired soldier and is more trained than the others
apprentice wizard as part of this young apprentices work he helps the guards. Maybe he helps look after some monster the wizard sent to the guards to help protect the prisoners
any of the wizard monsters like evoker or mage might be the resident magic expert for the prison
There are loads of things you can do. For example maybe a conjurer sent his apprentice wizard to look after the giant spider and milk it for it's venom which the guards using on their weapons.
Maybe they have a murder hole over looking an air lock a poor down burning oil (flask)
When building any kind of adventure or encounter, ignore anything about "canon" that doesn't serve your game. Adventure settings are there to give you inspiration; they aren't supposed to make you feel constricted or limited.
Is this prison used for magic casting prisoners? If so then consider what kind of guards might be employed. The Forgotten Realms is the craziest of high magic settings, monsters and level 20 wizards seem to live everywhere, so consider monsters that could be used like guard dogs, anti-magic zones, having the prisoners be turned to stone etc. Use magical locks and permanent Guards and Wards to fill the corridors with mist.
Maybe the prisoner has been turned to stone and the PCs have to carry him as a statue out of the prison - that could add some extra difficulties and make it a chase to remember.
Maybe there are enemies who are also trying to break someone out of the prison at the same time and the PCs run into them, so maybe they work with them for a bit before turning on one another.
Make the prison warden a powerful adversary. Who might be entrusted to run the prison, or might have risen to a position of power there? For 5 x level 3 characters you could use an annis hag to provide a decently tough encounter, just change it so that the hag delights in setting prisoners loose and then capturing them again to explain why it's there.
Maybe the prisoner has been turned to stone and the PCs have to carry him as a statue out of the prison - that could add some extra difficulties and make it a chase to remember.
Yeah there was a thread recently about prisons for wizard which said similar stuff
Other kooky, strange prisoners that also break out and just start rioting for the sheer pleasure of it. Go into great detail describing the zany eclectic appearance and nature of a couple of prisoners they encounter. A stealth/covert based jail break seems less enjoyable to me than an all-out brawl.
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Hi, I am not a chest. I deny with 100% certainty that I am a chest. I can neither confirm nor deny what I am beyond that.
I used to portray Krathian, Q'ilbrith, Jim, Tara, Turin, Nathan, Tench, Finn, Alvin, and other characters in various taverns.
I'm about to start a homebrew game with a prison break, but I'm going to do it cinematic style. I'll describe the battle without actually rolling the dice to play it out. Talking dragons and flying knights, much magical shock and awe, quite a show. My party will be rescued along with an important NPC they will meet again in several levels, then unceremoniously dumped near a town that serves as the starting area.
What can I throw at a party of 5 lv 3 breaking someone out of a prison under the castle in Neverwinter?
Idk what makes sense that isn't just guards which seems painfully boring
Its in cannon with forgotten realms, Lord Neverember is rebuilding the city and castle, the rift has been magically mended at this time if that helps anything.
Anything that's "interesting" to you. You could have diseased giant rats, pit traps, animated objects, prison riots, swarm of bats, ect. Also just implementing tactics beyond "they all attack" can make fighting the guards in a prison break scenario much more fun.
I'm about to start a homebrew game with a prison break, but I'm going to do it cinematic style. I'll describe the battle without actually rolling the dice to play it out. Talking dragons and flying knights, much magical shock and awe, quite a show. My party will be rescued along with an important NPC they will meet again in several levels, then unceremoniously dumped near a town that serves as the starting area.
Sounds pretty cool. Just make sure you don't take away the option of what to do from the players. If they're just sitting and listening to you talk for 30 minutes that can get kinda boring, aside from not letting them decide what they do.
It would probably help to know the makeup of your party, but some ideas:
Dead magic area - the area of the cells is a dead magic area to prevent divine and arcane magic.
Apart from the mandatory guards, there could be several doors to go through that are locked and are meant to be opened by the guards on the inside, so if the outer guards are taken, the party cannot necessarily get the keys to everything.
The prisoner may not be in a cell alone. Depending on what the prisoner is there for, they could be in a cell with other prisoners, some of whom might be hostile towards the party, or are spies of Neverember, playing the part of a prisoner so they can get info out of the real prisoner. Possible they will turn on the party.
There could be magical traps in the cell that must be deactivated. I imagine animated chains that will seek to ensnare anyone who does not have the password, solve the riddle, etc.
There could be secret rooms, tunnels, etc that lead to areas controlled by Bregan D'aerthe or Thayans.
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What can I throw at a party of 5 lv 3 breaking someone out of a prison under the castle in Neverwinter?
Idk what makes sense that isn't just guards which seems painfully boring
Its in cannon with forgotten realms, Lord Neverember is rebuilding the city and castle, the rift has been magically mended at this time if that helps anything.
I'de try and surprise my players, it makes things a lot more interesting. If you use animated creatures (rugs of smothering, flying swords), or creatures like mimics, then you can launch an unexpected trap with these creatures seemingly coming out of the blue.
Also, you could throw a flesh golem at the group in a hard encounter.
Edit: You could also throw a puzzle or two at the players. Make their brains work.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.But why would there be golems and animated objects in a prison under a castle in a major city?
Hell, why would there even be a normal rug let alone a magical one?
The guards of the prison might want monsters to ambush the PC's. They could have hired a wizard to animate the rug and swords.
Edit: You could also have an "elite guard" that is hired to stop escapees but only the prisons leaders (Dagult Neverember and whoever else is in charge of it) know that it is really a monster such as Medusa in disguise.
Edit: If you want to stay conventional with regular guards and stuff then it might be slightly less interesting for your players (maybe not, I dont know them after all). Either way, traps, maybe glyphs of warding, and puzzles might make it fun for the characters.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.High powered prisoner takes advantage of party's incursion to escape itself ... chaos ensues. e
On the puzzle front, maybe high value prisoners, like the party's companion are somehow magically bound to the prison site and some sort of glyph or rune puzzle must be engaged in the warden's office or the sally port or whatever passes for the joint's access control area.
Prison disturbances in a lot of genres are used as opportunities for various factions within the prison population to settle scores. Party gets caught in the middle of a few of those. Maybe they make alliances or their histories obligate them to take particular sides or what have you.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Deep in the dungeon is the high security cellblock in which the captive is held. Thick, metal, windowless doors seal each cell from light and sound, lowered down by heavy chains and counterweight mechanisms. A single lever at the beginning of the hall, along with an unmarked dial, manages the system. The characters must pick one of ten settings, hoping to free their target. They have a one in ten chance, with each of the other nine cells containing a nasty surprise!
Have the party pick a number. When the lever is pulled, the metal cell door quickly slides upward into the ceiling, but lowers very slowly if the lever is reversed. Only one door can be open at a time.
The cells contain:
1. a mad hobgoblin barbarian
2. an evil cleric of Cyric
3. a minotaur
4. a doppelganger (appearing as the parties target to be freed)
5. the Red Fist Gang (four local level two rogues who planned an escape with makeshift poison shanks)
6. the Green Hag of Edals Creek
7. the parties target to be freed
8. a rabid, enraged werewolf (in wolf-humanoid hybrid form)
9. an orc chieftan
10. a bugbear shaman
Wester242's is pretty awesome. I wouldn't make every single compartment a slug fest though. I, for example, would have Kevin Roberts from the SNL "FBI Simulator" sketch in one asking for a donut. You'll probably want your own in joke.
I'd probably make half of them grinder encounters, the other half non-hostiles with either good RP opportunities, or potential allies or other adventure hooks.
I would have some security response readying to get into the control room though to give them the ticking clock tension.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Personally I'd make them try to plan their way in with a couple of options. There would be for example a main entrance and maybe some people who come in and out regularly, like a cleaner and stuff if they want to sneak in. Never winter is also very old there may also be some old castle ruins they can travel through that are perhaps haunted, you could haunting traps and things.
The cells having different things is a good idea though I might make he dangers of them a bit less obvious, have the werewolf, hag and appear human and maybe even try to bargain their way out. The werewolf might even genuinely believe he is innocent.
As for the guards you can make them interesting by making use of gear, terrain and tactics:
Some alternative monsters to guards that might be around
There are loads of things you can do.
For example maybe a conjurer sent his apprentice wizard to look after the giant spider and milk it for it's venom which the guards using on their weapons.
Maybe they have a murder hole over looking an air lock a poor down burning oil (flask)
When building any kind of adventure or encounter, ignore anything about "canon" that doesn't serve your game. Adventure settings are there to give you inspiration; they aren't supposed to make you feel constricted or limited.
Is this prison used for magic casting prisoners? If so then consider what kind of guards might be employed. The Forgotten Realms is the craziest of high magic settings, monsters and level 20 wizards seem to live everywhere, so consider monsters that could be used like guard dogs, anti-magic zones, having the prisoners be turned to stone etc. Use magical locks and permanent Guards and Wards to fill the corridors with mist.
Maybe the prisoner has been turned to stone and the PCs have to carry him as a statue out of the prison - that could add some extra difficulties and make it a chase to remember.
Maybe there are enemies who are also trying to break someone out of the prison at the same time and the PCs run into them, so maybe they work with them for a bit before turning on one another.
Make the prison warden a powerful adversary. Who might be entrusted to run the prison, or might have risen to a position of power there? For 5 x level 3 characters you could use an annis hag to provide a decently tough encounter, just change it so that the hag delights in setting prisoners loose and then capturing them again to explain why it's there.
Yeah there was a thread recently about prisons for wizard which said similar stuff
Some sort of door that's attached to a giant spring that pushes the door out the wall towards the party with massive speed?
I have a PHD in traps
Other kooky, strange prisoners that also break out and just start rioting for the sheer pleasure of it. Go into great detail describing the zany eclectic appearance and nature of a couple of prisoners they encounter. A stealth/covert based jail break seems less enjoyable to me than an all-out brawl.
Hi, I am not a chest. I deny with 100% certainty that I am a chest. I can neither confirm nor deny what I am beyond that.
I used to portray Krathian, Q'ilbrith, Jim, Tara, Turin, Nathan, Tench, Finn, Alvin, and other characters in various taverns.
I also do homebrew, check out my Spells and Magic Items
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons, even death may die"
Kind of funny, their target to free is actually a doppelganger
I'm about to start a homebrew game with a prison break, but I'm going to do it cinematic style. I'll describe the battle without actually rolling the dice to play it out. Talking dragons and flying knights, much magical shock and awe, quite a show. My party will be rescued along with an important NPC they will meet again in several levels, then unceremoniously dumped near a town that serves as the starting area.
Anything that's "interesting" to you. You could have diseased giant rats, pit traps, animated objects, prison riots, swarm of bats, ect. Also just implementing tactics beyond "they all attack" can make fighting the guards in a prison break scenario much more fun.
Sounds pretty cool. Just make sure you don't take away the option of what to do from the players. If they're just sitting and listening to you talk for 30 minutes that can get kinda boring, aside from not letting them decide what they do.
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
>Extended Signature<
It would probably help to know the makeup of your party, but some ideas:
Dead magic area - the area of the cells is a dead magic area to prevent divine and arcane magic.
Apart from the mandatory guards, there could be several doors to go through that are locked and are meant to be opened by the guards on the inside, so if the outer guards are taken, the party cannot necessarily get the keys to everything.
The prisoner may not be in a cell alone. Depending on what the prisoner is there for, they could be in a cell with other prisoners, some of whom might be hostile towards the party, or are spies of Neverember, playing the part of a prisoner so they can get info out of the real prisoner. Possible they will turn on the party.
There could be magical traps in the cell that must be deactivated. I imagine animated chains that will seek to ensnare anyone who does not have the password, solve the riddle, etc.
There could be secret rooms, tunnels, etc that lead to areas controlled by Bregan D'aerthe or Thayans.