So I am running a Homebrew game, and I have reached a creators block.
So eventually the party of up and coming heroes, will eradicate a Succubus demon from the city of Riverton, due to it destroying the city through politics. After they do that (depends how long it takes for them to achieve that) the river that courses through the city starts to blacken, hopefully giving the party incentive to investigate what is causing the issue upstream.
I am thinking of a creature that is polluting an area or simply the water upstream. Potentially making a nest/lair? Except I can't really think of a creature that w/could do that. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance :)
A Black Dragon maybe? Adults and older can corrupt still water. So you could maybe have one lairing at the the river's source.
Alternatively (and possibly linking up with that succubus) a Hezrou demon are specifically filthy aquatic demons that love spreading filth and corrupting waterways. Omoxes can also be used for a similar purpose.
Tarik Blackhands wrote: A Black Dragon maybe? Adults and older can corrupt still water. So you could maybe have one lairing at the the river's source.
Alternatively (and possibly linking up with that succubus) a Hezrou demon are specifically filthy aquatic demons that love spreading filth and corrupting waterways. Omoxes can also be used for a similar purpose.
I was thinking a black dragon, but wouldn't the CR be a little high? Or would a young one be substantial enough to offer a challenge?
A Hezrou demon sounds really good as well... What to do, what to do...
Perhaps, if the party takes too long to get to Riverton (other quests), maybe have the Succubus summon the Hezrou one way or another to further destroy the city through polluting the waters?
If the party chooses to go to Riverton first then make the Black Dragon the cause?
So same issue being presented but a different enemy depending based on narrative purposes?
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With the black dragon, you can certainly have several leadup encounters as they grow closer to the source of the corruption. Maybe at the edges of its territory they beat up some crazed wildlife and as they get closer you can have some mutated flora and fauna or even a cult of kobolds/lizardfolk/sauhagin that the dragon took with it from wherever it came from (I'm guessing it relocated from its old lair for some reason [plot hook!] otherwise the river would already be corrupt.
Really, both types of monsters can work and even then you can reskin other monsters like water elementals or a neriad that have been corrupted by some force or another if those two don't quite fit (or you need extra minions)
Skyhler wrote: Tarik Blackhands wrote: A Black Dragon maybe? Adults and older can corrupt still water. So you could maybe have one lairing at the the river's source.
Alternatively (and possibly linking up with that succubus) a Hezrou demon are specifically filthy aquatic demons that love spreading filth and corrupting waterways. Omoxes can also be used for a similar purpose.
I was thinking a black dragon, but wouldn't the CR be a little high? Or would a young one be substantial enough to offer a challenge?
A Hezrou demon sounds really good as well... What to do, what to do...
Perhaps, if the party takes too long to get to Riverton (other quests), maybe have the Succubus summon the Hezrou one way or another to further destroy the city through polluting the waters?
If the party chooses to go to Riverton first then make the Black Dragon the cause?
So same issue being presented but a different enemy depending based on narrative purposes? Cancel that first paragraph. Can you tell that I am a pretty green GM? :p
Tarik Blackhands wrote: With the black dragon, you can certainly have several leadup encounters as they grow closer to the source of the corruption. Maybe at the edges of its territory they beat up some crazed wildlife and as they get closer you can have some mutated flora and fauna or even a cult of kobolds/lizardfolk/sauhagin that the dragon took with it from wherever it came from (I'm guessing it relocated from its old lair for some reason [plot hook!] otherwise the river would already be corrupt.
Really, both types of monsters can work and even then you can reskin other monsters like water elementals or a neriad that have been corrupted by some force or another if those two don't quite fit (or you need extra minions)
My God you have a wealth of knowledge with Pathfinder. THANK YOU SO MUCH! My head is now swimming with ideas for potential plot hooks depending on players choice (cause either being Hezrou or Black Dragon), and just by your suggestions my world has substantially grown, with more potential storylines. Thanks again! :)
Skyhler wrote:
Cancel that first paragraph. Can you tell that I am a pretty green GM? :p
Not really. Even vets sometimes get stuck with these sort of things (and even more often get decision paralysis from too many options!)
If you like the ideas, just jot them down in a notebook and just pull out the idea that best fits the situation.
The succubus survive longer than expected and spreading more mayhem? The hezrou is a fitting monster that displays the consequences of their delays.
Want to foreshadow an ancient evil awakening in the hinterlands? Black Dragon might fit there as it fled for its life carrying as much of its hoard with it as it went.
Or if you feel like you've used too many beastial creatures recently, maybe a cabal of hags are poisoning the water for their own nefarious purposes.
Staying flexible is always a good thing to do.
Skyhler wrote:
My God you have a wealth of knowledge with Pathfinder. THANK YOU SO MUCH! My head is now swimming with ideas for potential plot hooks depending on players choice (cause either being Hezrou or Black Dragon), and just by your suggestions my world has substantially grown, with more potential storylines. Thanks again! :) Happy to help good sir.
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It might not be the source, but if you've got polluted water, you HAVE to have a nuckelavee.
Link, because I don't know how to do that cool thing where you post a link as a word.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/nuckelavee/
And do an image search. You won't be disappointed.
Skyhler wrote: So I am running a Homebrew game, and I have reached a creators block.
So eventually the party of up and coming heroes, will eradicate a Succubus demon from the city of Riverton, due to it destroying the city through politics. After they do that (depends how long it takes for them to achieve that) the river that courses through the city starts to blacken, hopefully giving the party incentive to investigate what is causing the issue upstream.
I am thinking of a creature that is polluting an area or simply the water upstream. Potentially making a nest/lair? Except I can't really think of a creature that w/could do that. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance :)
In true warcraft tradition... How about a tainted/corrupted water elemental?
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Having a chuul in the corrupted water somewhere could be fun, and could be good xp on the way to finding the dragon.
Tarik Blackhands wrote: Skyhler wrote:
Cancel that first paragraph. Can you tell that I am a pretty green GM? :p
Not really. Even vets sometimes get stuck with these sort of things (and even more often get decision paralysis from too many options!)
If you like the ideas, just jot them down in a notebook and just pull out the idea that best fits the situation.
The succubus survive longer than expected and spreading more mayhem? The hezrou is a fitting monster that displays the consequences of their delays.
Want to foreshadow an ancient evil awakening in the hinterlands? Black Dragon might fit there as it fled for its life carrying as much of its hoard with it as it went.
Or if you feel like you've used too many beastial creatures recently, maybe a cabal of hags are poisoning the water for their own nefarious purposes.
Staying flexible is always a good thing to do. One of the things that I thoroughly enjoy as a GM, is the fact that aside from creating stories from this plentiful pool of ideas, I sit down and think what would be happening at this time. I absolutely love world building, and although my players see me as the boss of everything or whatever, I see it as I don't have much control over the world, I am just there to rationalize the world around them.
RealAlchemy wrote: Having a chuul in the corrupted water somewhere could be fun, and could be good xp on the way to finding the dragon.
Good idea!
Drahliana Moonrunner wrote: Skyhler wrote: So I am running a Homebrew game, and I have reached a creators block.
So eventually the party of up and coming heroes, will eradicate a Succubus demon from the city of Riverton, due to it destroying the city through politics. After they do that (depends how long it takes for them to achieve that) the river that courses through the city starts to blacken, hopefully giving the party incentive to investigate what is causing the issue upstream.
I am thinking of a creature that is polluting an area or simply the water upstream. Potentially making a nest/lair? Except I can't really think of a creature that w/could do that. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks in advance :)
In true warcraft tradition... How about a tainted/corrupted water elemental? Another potential idea, thanks!
Yeah, Nuckelavees are pretty cool monsters.
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I don't know if you consider them "monsters", but I thought about humanoids with a tendency towards industry and experimentation. Gnomes/svirfneblins, dwarfs/duergar or just plain old humans. Maybe an alchemist has developed a new technique for mining or something more sinister, like a method for building undead-construct hybrids. Anyway, this (accidentally) pollutes the river.
An important question that arises in my mind is »Is the pollution an unintended side effect or is someone deliberately polluting the river to achieve some (likely evil) goal?«
Blymurkla wrote: I don't know if you consider them "monsters", but I thought about humanoids with a tendency towards industry and experimentation. Gnomes/svirfneblins, dwarfs/duergar or just plain old humans. Maybe an alchemist has developed a new technique for mining or something more sinister, like a method for building undead-construct hybrids. Anyway, this (accidentally) pollutes the river.
An important question that arises in my mind is »Is the pollution an unintended side effect or is someone deliberately polluting the river to achieve some (likely evil) goal?«
You forgot the third possibility, while not intended per se, pollution usually occurs because of needing to get rid of unavoidable waste products, such as the recent EPA ruling to let power companies dump coal ash straight into rivers.
What I assume you're looking for is a monster with the approrpriate powers that would be meaningful in battle.
A toxic water elemental could have a poison hit carried by it's slams and a special poison nova attack which would be an AOE spray. If you're feeling really nasty, you could add disease to it.
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