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OK, so I'm re-starting an old campaign that sort of trailed off and never got concluded. The last major battle that occurred involved a Mind Flayer controlling a small city (Brindinford, from The Speak In Dreams 3.0 adventure). The PCs found him out and attacked him, but he got away before they could finish him off.
Now, to kick off this re-start, I want the PCs (16th level) to face off against a powered up version of this Mind Flayer, who I will most likely brew up with levels of Psion to taste. I'm aiming to make him CR 15 with a group of minions to stop the PCs from walking all over him. I'm thinking either two CR 13s or four CR 11s.
Here's where I need help: I need a cool idea of where and how to set up this encounter. A cool hook or a neat location! I want it to take place again in the same city, and I don't want this to be that big of a battle (after all, this Mind Flayer is an old BBEG).
Any ideas?
By the way, the party is:
Dwarf Cleric 16 (with cohort, Human Barbarian 13)
Human Ranger 16
Gnome Illusionist 16
Thanks for any and all help!
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You can use the Psionic Mind Flayer from the Psionics Handbook, or you can add class levels of Sorceror, that's always a nice touch.
Personally, get the Lords of Madness sourcebook, it's chock full of good stuff for the flayers.
Mind Flayer Alhoon (Mind Flayer Lich 12th-Level Sorcerer is a nice touch
or a Mind Flayer Ulitharid, a large version of the mind flayer and add some class levels to get it up to about CR16 to challenge the party.
There's also a Urophion CR13, a mind flayer roper which is a challenge for anyone.
If you use the Lich, mabye he's just looking for spell componenets and he had to take a chunk out of a surface city to get it.
A good 2nd Edition campaign that's easily converted for module is "A Darkness Gathering" if you can get the "PDF".. for it, or it's cheaper here at home "Paizo".. I've ran it as a 1-2 session in my home game. It's part of a 3 module set but I never used the last two modules.
If you just use the 3.0/3.5 stats for the creatures listed in the module, they are from the Lords of Madness and one or two from the Psionics Handbook, it'll be pretty smooth for a party of the level your using.
-Stabbity
What schools of magic does the gnome have banned?
Since this is an old BBEG, changing its type might not make the most sense, story-wise (unless you come up with a great story to explain it!). I'm a big fan of adding non-associated class levels to monsters. It gives them more hit dice (and more hitpoints), so they have extra staying power. Also, it gives them some unexpected abilities. Maybe spellthief or ninja (change the flavor to shadow-stalker or something if non-Oriental). I like the combo of spellthief/beguiler or spellthief/sorcerer with the Master Spellthief feat from Complete Scoundrel. You might want to use some Luck Feats, too; this can give the BBEG some re-rolls so if he has an unlucky break, he's not going to die from a failed save vs. a disintegrate or whatever.
I would plan on the BBEG counterspelling the illusionist and/or cleric. Maybe have the minions be undead so the cleric can spend time turning them, with his (?) barbarian going hackety-hackety on them. Then the ranger can ready an action to shoot the BBEG when its readied action to counterspell goes off, allowing the illusionist to get his (?) spells off. Maybe give the BBEG a lesser rod of Quickened spell so it can also get some attack actions off while readying the counterspells.
The only problem with undead is that they're uncrittable, which is what barbarians with great axes and rangers with longbows are good at. Don't want to frustrate them too much.
Just remember, mindflayers are real scaredy cats, and have Astral Projection and Plane Shift abilities, so it's easy for them to escape if they're not Dimensional Anchored early in the fight.
Mindflayers have Levitation, so you'll probably want to have the encounter in an area with lots of upper platforms that it can rain death-from-above from. Maybe have a dangerous floor, like boiling acid or poisoned spikes or crawling with swarms of poisonous nasties.
The minions might want to have some sneak attack ability, since there's a chance the PCs will have their Dex bonuses negated from being stunned or while climbing up to get at the mindflayer. Maybe the minions can be dread wraiths with 3 or 5 levels of ninja or rogue or scout? Maybe something strong and stable (and corporeal) so they can bullrush the PCs off the safe platforms and into the dangerous floor spaces.
Use a nice city location, such as a burning house :-).
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Awesome ideas, guys! I'm going to be using a multitude of them!
You can use the Psionic Mind Flayer from the Psionics Handbook, or you can add class levels of Sorceror, that's always a nice touch.
Great idea, I'm going to do this! I'll use the Psionic Mind Flayer and add some levels of Psion until he's CR 15. So he'll be a Psionic powerhouse, but not so good for taking damage. I also plan for him to be pretty buffed before the encounter as the PCs most likely won't be expecting it (five years have gone by), and he'll be using varios scrying methods to keep track of them as they re-enter his domain.
I would plan on the BBEG counterspelling the illusionist and/or cleric. Maybe have the minions be undead so the cleric can spend time turning them, with his (?) barbarian going hackety-hackety on them. Then the ranger can ready an action to shoot the BBEG when its readied action to counterspell goes off, allowing the illusionist to get his (?) spells off. Maybe give the BBEG a lesser rod of Quickened spell so it can also get some attack actions off while readying the counterspells.
The only problem with undead is that they're uncrittable, which is what barbarians with great axes and rangers with longbows are good at. Don't want to frustrate them too much.
Just remember, mindflayers are real scaredy cats, and have Astral Projection and Plane Shift abilities, so it's easy for them to escape if they're not Dimensional Anchored early in the fight.
Mindflayers have Levitation, so you'll probably want to have the encounter in an area with lots of upper platforms that it can rain death-from-above from. Maybe have a dangerous floor, like boiling acid or poisoned spikes or crawling with swarms of poisonous nasties.
I like the idea of undead minions, any good suggestion for CR11-13 undead creatures?
I don't think he'll be counterspelling as I want to use psionics in this battle, and he will have class levels, but not unassociated... I want him to have lots of psionic powers.
Good point about the levitation, I might have this battle take place in city streets/rooftops so that he can levitate up to the roofs, tops of churches, etc. if need be. As for escaping, he'll be reall pissed at the PCs this time and want to finish them once and for all. However, he'll still flee if brought too low, and then hopefully the mage will prepare dimensional anchor for the next encounter! :)
Use a nice city location, such as a burning house :-).
Great idea! Unfortunately, it was already used the first time they encountered him. :) So I'm thinking of setting the battle in the city streets, where the PCs might have to worry about civilians as the battle rages around them!
Thanks all! Any more ideas? Comments? Criticisms?
The great thing about undead minions is that they're immune to the mindflayer's mindblast ability. Since mindflayers eat brains, you might want to team it up with undead that eat other parts, like ghouls (with class levels to bump up their CR) or vampires.
Maybe use the mob rules from Cityscape, and have the mindflayer "minions" be panicked (or dominated) citizens the PCs can't kill.
Maybe have the encounter occur during a wild carriage chase through the city streets? Maybe check out the chase scenes from the Indiana Jones movies for ideas about PCs leaping from carriage to carriage, careening along the edge of a cliff (or bridge), etc. etc. The PCs would have to protect their horses to stay in the race. Maybe the mindflayer has undead horses? Maybe check out d20 Modern for chase rules, and substitute Handle Animal and/or Ride checks for Drive checks.
Maybe the chase goes through the city streets to the docks, where the mindflayer plans to escape by taking a ship that's ready to sail? "The Return of the Three Musketeers" had a great scene with mounted soldiers on a ship's deck.
The mindflayer could be disguised in a greatcoat, scarf, and big tophat.
The Echo Chamber
This would work best if the big bad tentacled dude was psionic. Psionically resonant crystals "echo" back any psionic abilities the next round, albeit at a lesser strength than initially manifested.
Perhaps use the same house that was burned earlier, but it is now a ruin and on the verge of collapse. Any fighting in or near the house can trigger a collapse. And perhaps there was a cellar and the floor has been weakened by the fire.
Perhaps use the same house that was burned earlier, but it is now a ruin and on the verge of collapse. Any fighting in or near the house can trigger a collapse. And perhaps there was a cellar and the floor has been weakened by the fire.
I would use incorporeal undead for this set up. The ghosts of the past tenants or whatever can float above the weakened floors, as can the levitating mindflayer. When the PCs close for melee, the floor collapses under them and they fall to the cellars below.
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Some more great ideas guys, thanks! I think I may do something in the old burnt house after all...
A quick question, though. The Psionic Mind Flayer is CR 8 and manifests as a 9th level Psion (which I assume is so that it has access to Psionic Plane Shift). Now, it has no gear at this level. If I add seven levels of psion (to make it CR 15 and a 16th level manifester), how much gear do I give? Is it the gear equivalent for a CR 15 NPC, or the gear for a 7th level NPC (as he has only 7 levels of Psion)? It just seems like this encounter can get pretty deadly if he has a bunch of gear in addition to all of the stuff mind flayers already have.
Also, the first time they encountered him, he and his cultists were obsessed with summoning and manipulating Wystes (gigantic purple worms), so I started thinking, what if I made his companion in the battle a Neothelid? This way the PCs would have a hard time reaching him as the Neothelid would probably be busy gobbling them up, and he could pepper them with psionic powers the whole time.
Plus I've always wanted to use one... :) I'm thinking of having it burrow out of the ground and destroy a bunch of houses as it exploded out of the earth, but do any of you guys have cool ideas of ways to introduce a Neothelid?
You could certainly have the giant worms be an issue--in fact that would generally add to the chaos of the scene. Think of it as drama--while they're trying to get at the Mind Flayer and immediate minions there are houses and streets exploding around them, brick and wood showering down, make them do observation checks as they are suddenly surrounded by clouds of debris...
Another suggestion therefore. Perfect opponents within that would be an elite hit squad of Grimlocks. They wouldn't really be affected by clouds of dust and would just keep coming. Have them lurking in the sewers or something, ready to be called upon.
A further suggestion--one thing that's always creepy when using psionic opponents is having former allies or recognized people as mindwashed slaves, determined now to kill the pcs.
Yeah, Grimlock Barbarian 5/Rogue 5 are CR 11 and have 12 HD (so that extra feat). They would have rage, +3d6 sneak attack, etc.
Another thing to consider is the Voidmind template from MM3. It's pretty nifty.