The players will open the game as the advance team sent out ahead of a larger military/knightly force to investigate and deal with some dark shenanigans happening in a rural area. They will be tasked with securing and cleaning up an old abandoned holdfast that will be the base for this mission, making sure the roads are clear, chasing out any giant rats or goblins that may be lurking there, etc. with the rest of the force and the local lord arriving in a week or so.
This opening act will be a horror story. They will be harrassed and hunted by some malevolent and mostly offscreen threat and take shelter in the abandoned holdfast, which will then give off a haunted house atmosphere. They will have to survive until the larger group arrives... if they arrive at all.
I'm looking for more atmosphere and jump scares than combat... but there will be some combat and maybe some nasty traps to keep the real threat of death up.
What I am struggling with... what should the boss be for this story? Demons will be a major (but not the only) plot point for the campaign. But I am struggling to find a demon that could be both scary enough, and subtle enough, and not OP for a group of 3-4 level 2 or 3 PCs.
Any brilliant ideas occurring to anyone?
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PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Green Hags can offer some really creepy vibes - they’re a challenge rating 3 so pretty manageable. They’re not demons, of course, but maybe this one has brokered a deal with the devil which can help pull them into your levels 4-6 adventure.
Succubus and/or Incubus are manageable for lower levels and are hard to root out given how they disguise themselves.
A Maw Demon could leave a pretty gruesome trail to follow (you may need to beef it up though as it’s a CR 1)
Lastly, I’d look at a Babau - super dark, creepy, challenging for low level characters. You could even build some body horror. GOOD LUCK!
Green Hags can offer some really creepy vibes - they’re a challenge rating 3 so pretty manageable.
Also, theirs three type of hags, each with a different challenge rating. Sea hags are CR 2, so they could be the early villain, even if you did start at level 1.
One really spooky creature that can cause low level anxiety is the Wendigo.
"A horrific creature formed by necessity driven hunger gone mad."
In the past I have used this as a maddening creature in winter forest settings, applying it's mimic ability to sound like lost children or townsfolk, dashing around in the snow leaving a bloody trail with its broken, tattered feet, but then vanishing with its superior hiding ability. Eventually it mimics the other players, calling for help and drawing them deeper into it's trap.
It's fast, creepy, and CR 3. Perfect for some low HP, twitchy new characters!
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft contains my favourite recent monster: the carrionette.
It's an evil doll that possesses people by swapping souls! It's just dying to have whole small-town adventures built around it. There was an article on this sight offering some great ideas a while back.
The only issue with it as it's currently designed is that it's a solo monster, and (like all solo monsters in 5e) its hit points aren't really up to lasting against even a level 1 party (a barbarian swinging a reckless attack, GWM greatsword attack can crit and kill it in a single blow, and even without an optimised build, it only takes 2-3 hits from the party to kill it). So jack its hp up to 45 if you want the PCs to bash on it for a couple of turns.
I would second the vote for Hags, but I might move to a Night Hag for its ability to hide on the ethereal plane, its connection to the abyss (specificially Succubus and Incubus), its goal of trying to corrupt the good souls to make them into currency, and just the creepy vibe that you can throw behind a Hag in general. The Night Hag might allow for broader connections to other fiends, demons and devils to use further down the road.
I would also take a peek at Van Richten's Guide for some monster inspiration. My current favorite is the Boneless. There are some good opportunities and guidelines for creating horror focused adventures around Chapter 4.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Echoing others but I would pick up Van Richten's Guide and read House Of Lament for some really good Haunted House Vibes. I just ran that adventure on stream (you can find them on my YouTube now or on Podcast as Actual Plays) and a blend of engaging players and storytelling did a nice job of capturing the horror feel.
As to villain, another angle is the Succubus that's been trapped for some reason and turns to trying to consume the PC's to sustain herself. It opens up room for the party to decide if they should free her rather than destroy her or banish her. Choices are fun.
The beauty of home brew is that you can make a demon that is appropriate for lower levels by reducing HP and average damage felt per round. Also if they have special abilities you can make those easier to save against, ect. A succubus has been mentioned and your setup has inspired me to suggest a Freddy Cougar type bad guy. The pcs show up and find a bunch of corpses in their beds, like they died there for no obvious reason. Maybe a few getup and attack the PCs as zombies! Now the PCs make camp and begin having increasingly disturbing dreams, maybe a madness mechanic is appropriate here. After connecting some clues in their dreams to the real world they figure out how to confront the succubus and defeat it in a shared dream, but wait, defeating the dream succubus (which is much weaker than the real thing) doesn’t destroy it so it can come back to haunt the PCs in the future. Thanks for the post, I think I have an adventure to plan. :)
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The players will open the game as the advance team sent out ahead of a larger military/knightly force to investigate and deal with some dark shenanigans happening in a rural area. They will be tasked with securing and cleaning up an old abandoned holdfast that will be the base for this mission, making sure the roads are clear, chasing out any giant rats or goblins that may be lurking there, etc. with the rest of the force and the local lord arriving in a week or so.
This opening act will be a horror story. They will be harrassed and hunted by some malevolent and mostly offscreen threat and take shelter in the abandoned holdfast, which will then give off a haunted house atmosphere. They will have to survive until the larger group arrives... if they arrive at all.
I'm looking for more atmosphere and jump scares than combat... but there will be some combat and maybe some nasty traps to keep the real threat of death up.
What I am struggling with... what should the boss be for this story? Demons will be a major (but not the only) plot point for the campaign. But I am struggling to find a demon that could be both scary enough, and subtle enough, and not OP for a group of 3-4 level 2 or 3 PCs.
Any brilliant ideas occurring to anyone?
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Green Hags can offer some really creepy vibes - they’re a challenge rating 3 so pretty manageable. They’re not demons, of course, but maybe this one has brokered a deal with the devil which can help pull them into your levels 4-6 adventure.
Succubus and/or Incubus are manageable for lower levels and are hard to root out given how they disguise themselves.
A Maw Demon could leave a pretty gruesome trail to follow (you may need to beef it up though as it’s a CR 1)
Lastly, I’d look at a Babau - super dark, creepy, challenging for low level characters. You could even build some body horror.
GOOD LUCK!
Also, theirs three type of hags, each with a different challenge rating. Sea hags are CR 2, so they could be the early villain, even if you did start at level 1.
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HERE.One really spooky creature that can cause low level anxiety is the Wendigo.
"A horrific creature formed by necessity driven hunger gone mad."
In the past I have used this as a maddening creature in winter forest settings, applying it's mimic ability to sound like lost children or townsfolk, dashing around in the snow leaving a bloody trail with its broken, tattered feet, but then vanishing with its superior hiding ability. Eventually it mimics the other players, calling for help and drawing them deeper into it's trap.
It's fast, creepy, and CR 3. Perfect for some low HP, twitchy new characters!
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft contains my favourite recent monster: the carrionette.
It's an evil doll that possesses people by swapping souls! It's just dying to have whole small-town adventures built around it. There was an article on this sight offering some great ideas a while back.
The only issue with it as it's currently designed is that it's a solo monster, and (like all solo monsters in 5e) its hit points aren't really up to lasting against even a level 1 party (a barbarian swinging a reckless attack, GWM greatsword attack can crit and kill it in a single blow, and even without an optimised build, it only takes 2-3 hits from the party to kill it). So jack its hp up to 45 if you want the PCs to bash on it for a couple of turns.
I would second the vote for Hags, but I might move to a Night Hag for its ability to hide on the ethereal plane, its connection to the abyss (specificially Succubus and Incubus), its goal of trying to corrupt the good souls to make them into currency, and just the creepy vibe that you can throw behind a Hag in general. The Night Hag might allow for broader connections to other fiends, demons and devils to use further down the road.
I would also take a peek at Van Richten's Guide for some monster inspiration. My current favorite is the Boneless. There are some good opportunities and guidelines for creating horror focused adventures around Chapter 4.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Echoing others but I would pick up Van Richten's Guide and read House Of Lament for some really good Haunted House Vibes. I just ran that adventure on stream (you can find them on my YouTube now or on Podcast as Actual Plays) and a blend of engaging players and storytelling did a nice job of capturing the horror feel.
As to villain, another angle is the Succubus that's been trapped for some reason and turns to trying to consume the PC's to sustain herself. It opens up room for the party to decide if they should free her rather than destroy her or banish her. Choices are fun.
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The beauty of home brew is that you can make a demon that is appropriate for lower levels by reducing HP and average damage felt per round. Also if they have special abilities you can make those easier to save against, ect. A succubus has been mentioned and your setup has inspired me to suggest a Freddy Cougar type bad guy. The pcs show up and find a bunch of corpses in their beds, like they died there for no obvious reason. Maybe a few getup and attack the PCs as zombies! Now the PCs make camp and begin having increasingly disturbing dreams, maybe a madness mechanic is appropriate here. After connecting some clues in their dreams to the real world they figure out how to confront the succubus and defeat it in a shared dream, but wait, defeating the dream succubus (which is much weaker than the real thing) doesn’t destroy it so it can come back to haunt the PCs in the future. Thanks for the post, I think I have an adventure to plan. :)