Verix the Beast's page

As a DM, one of the things i don't usually do to my players is ambush them. Just never seems to come into play. Then again I keep my games at 3rd-7th level. so most BBEG's don't have the resources to spare for that sort of thing.

I've been wantign to show off how deadly a group of kobolds, goblins, or animals could be. Though I'm also interested in what sorts of ambushes other GM's have built.

So if you don't mind sharing a little bit about some of your set ups, that'd be great.

Just to have some sort of outline for the process.

Name:
CR:
APL:
Terrain:
Monsters/Traps:
-Tactics:
-Goals:
-Other:
Flavor:

So my example would be...

Name: Carriage ride of doom
CR: 6
APL: 4 (3 members)
Terrain: 1 foot wide road (normal terrain), 10x30 wagon (difficult, movable terrain), embankment (diffcult terrain: steep), hillside (15 foot climbable surface along roadside)
Monsters/Traps: 1 Werewolf (CR 4) and 5 wolves (Cr 2), Wagon can become moving hazard.
-Tactics: Werewolf tries to destablize wagon and throw part memebers into road or down the embankment, wolves try to flank and trip.
-Goals: to capture on of the party members or strand the wagon.
-Other: If lycan is killed wolves flee at 3 HP
Flavor: The wagonride to edgewater has been rather quiet. The summer breeze brings the scent of apples to the travelers nose. The night sky is clear giving off a beautiful view of the stars and full moon. suddenly there is a muffled cry from outside the carriage, the ride does not seem as smooth, as the horses whiney and take off into a full gallop...

...so yeah, just seeign how other DM's throw ambushes and in travel challenges.

In my other thread I discussed how for a local gamestore I'm going to be running a dungeon crawl for their Free RPG Day event. Essentially i want to run something action horror oriented for a party of 4th level characters. My event is 4 hours long, and I've got the majority of the outline and mapping done. I'm just looking to make my challenges to be in the theme of it all.

I've been tossing around the ideas of a vampiric eldrict night as the FBBEG, but am still torn on a couple of lesser ones. The mummy, a flesh golem, werewolf, and medusa come to mind.

Thoughts?

I'm running a game for a local game store next month on Free RPG day. Thinking I want to run a Castlevania inspired megadungeon, but since Carrion Crown is out, I'm wondering if I should just do that?

The game is for a four hour block of time, and for a group of 3-4 4th level players. Who will move up to level 5 and 6 during the course of the adventure. I've pregened an Inquisitor(Melee), Alchemist(Bomber), Paladin(Sword and Shield), Rogue (Two Weapon Thrower) and Sorceror(Celestial-Summoner)

Though If I don't get CC, I'd like some feedback and potential help with the design of this dungeon.

As is is planned so far, I'd like have a hub dungeon connected to 4 or five micro dungeons. The micro dungeons would have 3 rooms on average and a "boss" classic monster. Each dungeon would have "minion" monsters to the theme of the dungeon, a trap or puzzle room, and likely a skill based challenge, the boss would have to be an iconic gothic type monster. So far I want to use a Vampire Eldricht Knight,a Mummy Sorceress, Medusa Ranger, Werewolf Barbarian, and then of course skeletons, ghouls, ghosts, zombies, shades, and some evil outsiders.

Any suggestions? I've taken a few ideas from another thread, in terms of party management and challegen, however I didn't see any actually focusing on building the dungeons itself. All thoughts, advice, pointers, and submissions are welcome.

Working on two builds that I am planning to run in a friend's campaign. The characters are already fairly laid out, story wise. However, I'd like to give them a certain bit of flair.

Since the APG came out, I've been enthralled with the arcane duelist archetype of bard. Going with the them I'm trying not to overly gish, but still have an increase to my melee capabilities.

I'm caught between having taking two levels of Duelist or four levels of Dragon Disciple. If I went with Duelist it's primarily for picking up parry and precise strike. Dragon Disciple is more about the ability increases and extra options.

I'm not sure which is the more combat favorable option, though I think the Duelist fits more thematically. That an the bonus feats given to the AD open up some very nice feat combos that fit in the character theme. The DD doesn't seem to be something to shrug off so easily. I see the potential with both options. Thus, my on the fence staus.

Advice, comments, other options?