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My players will be tasked with finding some old caches of military weapons left buried by an empire that freely used necromancy and alchemy to bolster their military might. Can anyone think of some good things for the PCs to find?
Thus far I've got catapult munitions containing fast plague zombie botfly swarms, more with shadows inside contained by ghost salt, normal alchemical ammunition, frost giany bloody skeletons that were to be used as mobile artillery platforms, undead troops awaiting orders, and carrion golems.
Any other ideas? Are there some supplements or adventure paths I can snap up to help with writing up the quest for these caches?
Curse of the Crimson Throne had a sidebar detailing some weapons of war used by orcs. One was a sideways mounted catapult that would cut swaths through masses of combatants. Another was basically a giant iron cylinder that would crush enemies like a steamroller. Yet another was a war thresher that would literally mow down their foes.
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How about items that allow you to control much larger numbers of (mindless) undead than normally allowed?
Undead as weapons are kind of like biological weapons; they might start spreading on their own, and diminish the value of land conquered. So maybe they also have stuff in their armories to get rid of all the undead afterwards? Finding that second armory with the cleanup gear can be an important quest.
I love carrion golems! Especially exploding ones.
I had bone golems which routinely pulsed with negative energy.
Animated desecrated altars with chains that would grapple people and lacerate them to death, then get a surge of power from the mindless bloody sacrifice to their god.
Ghoul wolves that had been fitted with alchemical acid flasks that would flush out acid from the mouth whenever the wolf bit down.
Burrowing sapper ghouls led squads of shadows past the front lines.
My shock troops were Crypt Things used to break up enemy formations with their Teleport Burst ability.Good times.
That last is a little cheaty Ras, and a wonderful dirty trick. Kudos.
Thanks for the ideas, folks! I'm perusing Curse of the Crimson Thrones now and seeing some things I can definitely co-opt! The orc weapon sidebar is pretty neat, as is the clans of the Shoanti...there are numerous goblin tribes in the area (the PCs are actually based out of one of their towns), with one being "civilized", a few friendly or indifferent, and at least 1 that is actively hostile, and I can read the clan info for ideas.
The now-undead emperor of the empire is still around, as are some of his old cronies. I see these caches as part of their comeback plan - they knew they were being defeated, so went to ground and did their best to sequester weapons and troops that could be used in the distant future.
The idea to have countermeasures to the "bioweapons" that are the undead is a very good one that I'll be grafting in. The now-undead emperor doesn't care as much about those as he used to, but I'll bet the PCs and other people in the region will. Having fought these guys as a PC, I found that summoning a swarm was a pretty good way to dispose of the corporeal undead if they were corralled somewhere and I had a few minutes to just let the swarm do its work while my wizard stayed out of reach.
I should probably leaf through Carrion Crown and check out the Whispering Way cultists again. They seem to have a lot in common with the group that's supporting the undead Emperor.
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Even if the emperor is undead himself, consider what kind of subjects he'd want to rule. Living people are often better artisans, create more wealth/taxes. Intelligent undead might be enslaved/loyal, but they don't generate a lot of prosperity.
Of course, you could have a nightmarish hybrid state with zombies in the mines working 24/7, human artisans doing crafts work and terrified of getting "demoted", and using Create Spawn to generate truly loyal caster cadres with undead immunities.
The point: intentionally or accidentally exterminating the living population might be suboptimal.
I'd put in siege engines that ARE bone golems, just with the bones arranged in a way that lets them fire and load themselves.
More great stuff, guys. Thanks!
The PCs found their first clue that something is indeed rotten in Denmark. A broken "plague bundle" catapult ammunition with a plague zombie botfly swarm that had infected some of the critter population of a local sinkhole and small cave complex. The alchemist trashed the swarm before they could capture or study any of its component creatures, but they have the broken sphere with its markings to look over, and a good guess as to where it came from. Now they'll get to follow the little underground stream to the cache that it washed out of to find more goodies and clues.
I did like the "Moribund Key" from Carrion Crown and will probably use something like it to allow them to find, open and possibly even command some of the undead with it.
If you're really looking for a siege weapon in the classical sense (a weapon which makes it possible to demolish or circumvent defenses that would not be assailable in the conventional sense) I think your overlord wants barrage balloons. A dirigible seems well within the wheelhouse of a competent alchemist. Fit it out like a bomber, with a fearless crew of plague-riddled zombies dropping alchemical oozes, smokesticks, alchemist's fire, etc) and send it on a suicide run with orders to light the gas bag over a cluster of rooftops to recreate the Hindenburg. For added misery, desecrate/unhallow the craft to bolster the crew and put a Hungry Fog in the gas bag.
If you want to add to the ick factor, make the balloon a living zombie itself. One technique I've used is take a young green dragon zombie and reskin it into a person transformed into a bloated sac of noxious fumes that floats over the battlefield and vomits on passersby.
Also, gas warfare. Since the undead are immune to poison, they can use poison gas indiscriminately on the battlefield.
What kind of undead is the emperor? A lich could be an interesting BBEG since searching for his phylactery or clues to its location could be another reason why the PCs need to find all of the ancient caches. Since undead use Cha for hit points a Sorcerer or Oracle might be great in this role. Maybe his lieutenants could be other types of undead so the party would get a variety of experiences. A succubus vampire might make a nice empress.
You mentioned bloody skeleton frost giants. It might be interesting to have mammoth skeletons or zombies too. These might make even better archery/artillery platforms, and the giants could ride them as elite cavalry. It would be nice if you could find a way to preserve their trample ability. I can’t think of a way offhand, but there’s probably something out there.
Regarding the balloons, I recently watched a movie called Stake Land where some religious zealots were dropping zombie-liked vampires out of a helicopter onto a town which had offended them. If the balloon doesn’t fit the style you’re looking for I’d imagine that some fast zombie Rocs could deliver your payload of undeath and disease. Maybe one of the lieutenants could be a Cloud Giant Skeletal Champion with a Gargantuan lance and Spirited Charge. Some other sort of undead which retains feats could work too. This guy could lead lesser troops from the skies, throwing rocks on occasion and swooping down to annihilate anybody who puts up too much resistance. If you’re extra nasty he could have a few levels of Magus or max ranks in UMD and use True Strike before such attacks.
If you’re willing to use 3.5 material (or customized versions thereof) there were a couple of creatures called Skin Kites and Forsaken Shells which I always really enjoyed using as a GM. They’re undead flayed skins. The small kites fly around and have an attach ability with Cha damage while the larger shells focus on Grab+Constrict. An obvious enhancement to these creatures is to rule that attacking one while it is grappling a PC does half damage to each of them (just like with a Cloaker’s Engulf). As an added benefit, the skins could be tightly rolled or folded to fit into small containers and snuck into enemy towns. These monsters can be pretty stealthy, and of course they can fit under doors and such. Since you’re just using the skin you also have some bones leftover to make bloody skeletons after the vampires drink the blood and the ghouls or zombies eat the flesh. Maybe the emperor is evil but efficient.
I guess you could also consider using burning bloody skeletons so that they'll do a little fire damage and explode when they're killed. That way there's a punishment for defeating the skeleton with melee attacks but they're kind of resistant to archery with DR5/bludgeoning. Since they're bloody you can also use them to engage enemy troops and then just blast the lot with your siege weapons or other area effects. If the skeletons are destroyed it will only add to the damage, and they'll come back to unlife in an hour anyhow.
Wrong John Silver's gas warfare idea also seems very appropriate to the theme. An item capable of producing Cloudkill via command word would be expensive but it could be a terrible threat against cities. Finding such an item before it is retrieved by the bad guys could be a race against time. It might be interesting if this or another powerful magic item served as a lich's phylactery. I mean, if King Bozo's magic crown (or a gen in it) which gives him amazing abilities is also the ancient evil's phylactery you might have to face an entire kingdom, possibly one which isn't evil, to end the threat.
Anyhow, sorry if that was an overly long post, but at this point I'm kind of working on these ideas for myself too. Thanks for the burst of Evil DM inspiration.
More good stuff! Thanks, guys!
I'm co-gming with someone else, so have to work within the constraints of his world and overall vision. That means e6 world, with Heroic PCs being able to ratchet up to a max of 12th level as they gain experience and complete "epic quests". The 12th level thing is pretty much the world cap.
That said, the BBEG overlord is probably a lich of about 12th level, but I don't have his stats, as my characters might eventually wind up fighting him. The various catapult ammunition types and some other goodies are the brainchild of an alchemist who's probably still around (I'm thinking Clonemaster archetype, with his clone currently in suspension).
In addition to the undead, I was also thinking poison gas clouds, oozes, slimes, and brown mold to go with the normal specialty siege munitions, so I'm tracking right along with what others have been thinking. There will probably be some plague zombies with implanted bombs still around, too, courtesy of the demented alchemist.
I'm playing a little loose with the rules and allowing the giants to keep their rock throwing ability (hey, skeletal archers get feats, so why not the skeletal giants?) so wouldn't have a problem letting war elephants or the like keep their trample ability, either.
For commander-types I'm thinking a grave knight and maybe some juju zombies for subcommanders, probably mounted on fast zombie hippogriffs.
I'm not so keen on the balloon idea, but I like the fast zombie rocs, and was looking to rip off Ravingdork's fast zombie purple worm troop carrier, too.
I'll look for that Stake Land movie. I like the idea not being afraid to level your own bloody skeletons with an area effect spell, too. Thanks for those tips, Devilkiller!
I think I'll probably use some of those ideas in a future game myself, so thank you for bringing up the subject. As an aside, the same guys who made Stake Land also had a flick called Mulberry Street which features a wererat plague in NYC.
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Aside from siege weaponry, there are a LOT of alchemical weapons in Ultimate Equipment and other places. Caches of grenades would be a thing I'd put in... Pox Bursters, Petrified Oozes in a container made to burst on impact, not to mention the typical elemental damage splash weapons
I think I'll probably use some of those ideas in a future game myself, so thank you for bringing up the subject. As an aside, the same guys who made Stake Land also had a flick called Mulberry Street which features a wererat plague in NYC.
Awesome! I found Mulberry Street on demand so I'm watching it now. The rats in the Sewer angle made me think of "Split Second", the old Rutger Hauer movie, too. There's no sewers around here but plenty of caverns and underground streams, so those kind of things could still make their way into my Plans in some form. I'm still on the hunt for Stake Land.
While I'm at it, let me throw some more stuff out there that you might like. The lich BBEG doesn't currently know where these caches are, just the general location. He's got a force of hobgoblin elite infantry and a small group of necromancer creeps (Who I've stylized as "political officers" and are largely hated by the infantry. They're gestalt versions of the Whispering Way cultists on the pfsrd with 1 higher level leader.) moving to the area to search for the caches. They'll also be bribing/forcing a local, hostile goblin tribe to raid and disrupt the PCs area of operations while they recover the caches. I'm trying to bring in some Indiana Jones-style MacGuffin races into the mix. I do like the plague antidote/countermeasures option that was recommended above, too, so will be incorporating that.
This is something I recently saw that's absolutely perfect for sneaky gamemaster trickery. Command words, coordinates, a picture displaying a map or means to circumvent an obstacle successfully...I'm definitely planning to slip this in the mix somewhere.
I wonder what the Perception check to notice the the fore edge painting should be. If it were done with an invisible ink or paint which needs to be magically activated that might make it tougher.
It strikes me that an invisible Arcane Mark could be applied that way as well. If so it might make it a lot tougher to find, at least on an otherwise magic book. Speaking of Arcane Mark, if the BBEG can gain access to Instant Summons it could serve as a quick way to retrieve a phylactery which is in danger of being captured and destroyed.