So I was perusing the new Eberron book and noticed that there was a "dungeon map" in there that was basically just a layout of a Warforged Colossus. Interestingly enough, I have a different map that I've been using for early level learning adventures for new players called "The Descent" that ends in a room with what looks to be a giant robotic head peaking up out of the ground.
Putting one and one together, I've got the makings of a fun little adventure arc where a lower level party stumbles upon a giant lost super-weapon mecha buried deep beneath the ground, has it excavated post adventure, then in act two, the party has to go inside the relic, fighting their way through security systems and maybe undead crew to clear out the mecha so that friendly NPCs can get in there and get to work fixing it up for "reasons." This would then culminate in the final act, where some ancient power awakens to fight the recently unearthed mecha and the party has to first protect the dig site from a few waves of minions before eventually hopping into the giant robot and having a Pacific Rim-style Kaiju battle with the boss monster.
Things I'm not sure about quite yet:
I sort of want to have this adventure broken up into certain level ranges so that I can run it as a adventure chain at a local convention. I'm thinking levels 4, 8, and 12 as the range-breaks for each adventure.
With those level ranges in mind, what sort of "wave after wave" encounter would make sense for level 12 characters (knowing that the party composition would be whatever I need it to be because I'm making the pre-gens)? I've not seen many published 5th Ed Adventures have a good setup for waves of attacking monsters. I know 4th ed had some good ones with their Encounters and Lair Assault programs, but the difference in systems makes those a little hard to gauge expectations for.
Does anyone know how to custom make vehicles? I'm basically going to try and convert a Warforged Colossus into a crew-able vehicle with a vehicle stat block instead of a monster stat block, but I'm too unfamiliar with vehicles to do that competently at present.
I'm thinking of using a monster on par with Ogrémoch, Elder Tempest, or Yeenoghu (but sized up to gargantuan) for my Kaiju.
So yeah, any help on that, or suggestion for fun traps/monsters to inhabit a buried mecha-titan would be appreciated.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
First of all, that map is sick and I love the concept!
Since level 12 characters have plenty of their own heat to throw at a kaiju, would it make sense to have them do the middle bit and have the final bit go to the level 8s (who would include an artificer or two)? I know it seems weird, but I'm likening it to, say, the Corps of Engineers or Intelligence finding a thing, the Rangers or SEALS capturing the thing, and then the Cavalry actually operating the thing. Just a random thought.
I would think old-fashioned trolls would be ideal fodder for wave attacks. No one has that many fire spells. As for the kaiju, the Tarrasque is always a crowd-pleaser.
There would have to be some kind of security system on the mech. Maybe it electrocutes people who get into the pilot seat who don't have a code word from an ancient language or a retinal print that can be reset from the command console in the head? I dunno. I'll think about it, but I love this.
Current plan is to utilize things like electrified/spiked ladders in the arm/leg compartments, maybe a locked-down door in the chest compartment that requires a key-card that can be found on one of the undead crew wandering around the structure, also maybe the Master Control Docent (AI system) is a bit on the haywired insane side, and constantly is asking various things to determine if the party is crew or invaders. It has lost the ability to differentiate voices, so they can continue to interact with it multiple times and as long as they give the correct information when asked, it won't trigger any new defense systems.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
First Wave: 5 Geonid, 5 Mud Mephit, and 5 Dust Mephit (A trivial encounter for level 12 characters, but one that would make for some interesting tactical depth if the Mephits manage to restrain or blind any of the party. Also it will let the players scratch the itch of mowing down multiple monsters in a go if they need to.)
Second Wave: 4 Gargoyle and 2 Flail Snail (What would essentially happen here is the gargoyles when fly in from above, dropping the flail snails into the middle of the defenders before swooping around to fight. I'm counting on the snails' Anti-magic Shell feature to cause the spellcasters some grief while their Scintillating Shell ability might stun a random player here and there to make the fight more memorable. All in all this is rated as an easy fight.)
Third Wave: 2 Xorn and 1 Earth Elemental Myrmidon (Rated as a medium fight, I think this would be a good cap to the waves that the party has to deal with.)
First Wave: 8 Galvanice Weird and 2 Steam Mephit (Rated as trivial, I'm sorta enjoying the fodder monsters that have the Death Burst ability to get some extra chip damage in as they die.)
Second Wave: 6 Water Weird (An easy encounter, I like the idea of these fights taking place in a rainstorm, puddles pooling across the defender's camp before coming alive as monsters.)
Third Wave: 2 Blistercoil Weird and 1 Fluxcharger (There isn't as much to work with when it comes to "tempestuous themed" elementals. Luckily the Ravnica book seeded us with a few choice monsters, but I am a little sad that the Fluxcharger's Amplify Lightning ability doesn't actually do anything to help the Blistercoils. I may need to do some homebrew tweaks here and there for this medium strength encounter.)
Third Wave: 2 Tanarukk and 8 Gnoll Flesh Gnawer (I think I'm trying to evoke the feel of just endless waves of slathering, teethy monsters with this set of encounter waves and this medium strength encounter seems like a decent way to cap things off before having to get into a mech and throw down with a demon lord.)
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
After some thought, I like the idea of a three adventure arc where the structure is Traditional Dungeon Crawl --> Weird Fun-House Full of Traps and Puzzles --> Siege-style Wave Combat Ending in a Kaiju Fight.
First part is pretty easy enough to sort out, and I think I've got the third part sorted as well. The middle part is a bit of a problem still because I'm not a good with fun puzzles and it's rare that a published adventure has a good one that I can steal and re-flavor to fit my needs. Any thoughts on what might be a challenge while wandering around the insides of a giant robot? I think I'm wanting to evoke the feel of maybe a sci-fi horror movie. I expect the master control docent will be an analog for a defective or murderous AI that needs repaired. There may be some undead crew or other hibernating horrors that would stand in for your standard alien or infected spaceship crew....I just need to make moving around a bit harder via some sort of puzzles or traps. As mentioned above, I like the idea of the party finding a name-tag or something from a dead crew member and master control docent confusing them with the crew as long as they do things or answer questions similar to how the crew would and punishing them as intruders when they are disobedient or do things out of the ordinary without proper justification.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
The name tag seems very Expedition to the Barrier Peaks to me, which might be just what you need. I imagine the inside being full of mostly Tomb Raider style puzzles where you have to get pendulum X swinging so you can jump on it and ride to lever Y which opens door Z, but those are a pain to build and run, especially with a limited time frame, like you would have at a con.
I had a thought about a final challenge for the act two puzzle crawl through the giant robot.
The Room with the Levers
Basically, this will be the control room where a large-sized Master Control Docent Orb is housed. The Docent has fallen from its original housing in the ceiling, and is partially suspended by five chain-like attachments that are anchored into the chamber's walls. This damage was probably due to whatever fight caused the Warforged Colossus to be buried in the first place, and over the millennia the Docent has become a little faulty and maybe a tad crazy. It has slowly been constructing itself some extendable appendages from the damaged interior and whatever it could scavenge from the undead that still lurk with the structure. It knows that being forcefully reinstalled into the ceiling will trigger some sort of auto-restart function that it cannot disengage and functionally erase its current crazed sentience. It hopes to somehow escape before that happens.
In order to re-install the Docent, the party must locate the five control levers in the room and do what is necessary to pull them, all while being within range of the Docent's appendages. All levers must be activated on the same turn to retract the chains and lift the Docent into place.
What are some good ideas or challenges that would make activating a lever difficult?
One of the levers is large, heavy, and corroded, requiring a DC 8+PC Level Strength (Athletics) check to pull.
One of the levers used to be at the top of a landing that required a ladder or stairway to access. That means of conveyance is now destroyed or incorporated into the Docent's metal arms now. Some form of magic or rope/climbing skills will be needed to reach it now.
One of the levers is small or tucked away in a panel of various other switches. A Perception/Investigation roll will be required to find it.
One of the levers is locked behind a grated hatch. It will require a key or lock picking skills in order to access this lever.
I seem to remember from a review of Descent into Avernus that it has rules for vehicles / infernal war machines
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
I seem to remember from a review of Descent into Avernus that it has rules for vehicles / infernal war machines
It does sort of have those, but I haven't tinkered enough with them to homebrew up a Pacific Rim style giant robot vehicle on my own yet. I was hoping there was someone else here who fell down that rabbit hole pretty hard and could help me whip one up.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I love this idea. How did it turn out? I'm trying to build an adventure for my players that would culminate in recovering a docent network from a broken colossus.
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So I was perusing the new Eberron book and noticed that there was a "dungeon map" in there that was basically just a layout of a Warforged Colossus. Interestingly enough, I have a different map that I've been using for early level learning adventures for new players called "The Descent" that ends in a room with what looks to be a giant robotic head peaking up out of the ground.
Putting one and one together, I've got the makings of a fun little adventure arc where a lower level party stumbles upon a giant lost super-weapon mecha buried deep beneath the ground, has it excavated post adventure, then in act two, the party has to go inside the relic, fighting their way through security systems and maybe undead crew to clear out the mecha so that friendly NPCs can get in there and get to work fixing it up for "reasons." This would then culminate in the final act, where some ancient power awakens to fight the recently unearthed mecha and the party has to first protect the dig site from a few waves of minions before eventually hopping into the giant robot and having a Pacific Rim-style Kaiju battle with the boss monster.
Things I'm not sure about quite yet:
So yeah, any help on that, or suggestion for fun traps/monsters to inhabit a buried mecha-titan would be appreciated.
First of all, that map is sick and I love the concept!
Since level 12 characters have plenty of their own heat to throw at a kaiju, would it make sense to have them do the middle bit and have the final bit go to the level 8s (who would include an artificer or two)? I know it seems weird, but I'm likening it to, say, the Corps of Engineers or Intelligence finding a thing, the Rangers or SEALS capturing the thing, and then the Cavalry actually operating the thing. Just a random thought.
I would think old-fashioned trolls would be ideal fodder for wave attacks. No one has that many fire spells. As for the kaiju, the Tarrasque is always a crowd-pleaser.
There would have to be some kind of security system on the mech. Maybe it electrocutes people who get into the pilot seat who don't have a code word from an ancient language or a retinal print that can be reset from the command console in the head? I dunno. I'll think about it, but I love this.
Current plan is to utilize things like electrified/spiked ladders in the arm/leg compartments, maybe a locked-down door in the chest compartment that requires a key-card that can be found on one of the undead crew wandering around the structure, also maybe the Master Control Docent (AI system) is a bit on the haywired insane side, and constantly is asking various things to determine if the party is crew or invaders. It has lost the ability to differentiate voices, so they can continue to interact with it multiple times and as long as they give the correct information when asked, it won't trigger any new defense systems.
As for wave monsters, here's what I have in mind for each type of Kaiju, depending on which one I choose:
Ogrémoch
Elder Tempest
Yeenoghu (but sized up to gargantuan)
After some thought, I like the idea of a three adventure arc where the structure is Traditional Dungeon Crawl --> Weird Fun-House Full of Traps and Puzzles --> Siege-style Wave Combat Ending in a Kaiju Fight.
First part is pretty easy enough to sort out, and I think I've got the third part sorted as well. The middle part is a bit of a problem still because I'm not a good with fun puzzles and it's rare that a published adventure has a good one that I can steal and re-flavor to fit my needs. Any thoughts on what might be a challenge while wandering around the insides of a giant robot? I think I'm wanting to evoke the feel of maybe a sci-fi horror movie. I expect the master control docent will be an analog for a defective or murderous AI that needs repaired. There may be some undead crew or other hibernating horrors that would stand in for your standard alien or infected spaceship crew....I just need to make moving around a bit harder via some sort of puzzles or traps. As mentioned above, I like the idea of the party finding a name-tag or something from a dead crew member and master control docent confusing them with the crew as long as they do things or answer questions similar to how the crew would and punishing them as intruders when they are disobedient or do things out of the ordinary without proper justification.
The name tag seems very Expedition to the Barrier Peaks to me, which might be just what you need. I imagine the inside being full of mostly Tomb Raider style puzzles where you have to get pendulum X swinging so you can jump on it and ride to lever Y which opens door Z, but those are a pain to build and run, especially with a limited time frame, like you would have at a con.
I had a thought about a final challenge for the act two puzzle crawl through the giant robot.
The Room with the Levers
Basically, this will be the control room where a large-sized Master Control Docent Orb is housed. The Docent has fallen from its original housing in the ceiling, and is partially suspended by five chain-like attachments that are anchored into the chamber's walls. This damage was probably due to whatever fight caused the Warforged Colossus to be buried in the first place, and over the millennia the Docent has become a little faulty and maybe a tad crazy. It has slowly been constructing itself some extendable appendages from the damaged interior and whatever it could scavenge from the undead that still lurk with the structure. It knows that being forcefully reinstalled into the ceiling will trigger some sort of auto-restart function that it cannot disengage and functionally erase its current crazed sentience. It hopes to somehow escape before that happens.
In order to re-install the Docent, the party must locate the five control levers in the room and do what is necessary to pull them, all while being within range of the Docent's appendages. All levers must be activated on the same turn to retract the chains and lift the Docent into place.
What are some good ideas or challenges that would make activating a lever difficult?
I seem to remember from a review of Descent into Avernus that it has rules for vehicles / infernal war machines
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
It does sort of have those, but I haven't tinkered enough with them to homebrew up a Pacific Rim style giant robot vehicle on my own yet. I was hoping there was someone else here who fell down that rabbit hole pretty hard and could help me whip one up.
For your colossus, look at the Acq Inc book and the info for their mechanical beholder for some ideas on operation, etc.
I love this idea. How did it turn out? I'm trying to build an adventure for my players that would culminate in recovering a docent network from a broken colossus.