| Hedreen |
I'm planning to hold a campaign with the players being in 1 faction facing other factions. The factions are:
Clockwork
Celestial
Draconic
Earth
Undead
I'm struggling finding units for the players to face. Clockwork, Celestial and Draconic is on my opinion done, but I'm having difficulty with the Earth faction and the undead faction. For the Undead I've included the basic undead you can create using the spells, Banshee, a Lich, few variations of wraiths but that's pretty much all and I don't really find any undead above CR 13 that don't stand out from the ones I included. For the Earth faction I've included Earth/Magma/Mud elementals, Hill and Stone giants and oreads, but I feel like there isn't much variation there, also the highest CR is 11 so far. So I would like to ask some Undead and Earth faction unit ideas.
Thank you
| Mark Hoover 330 |
Earth: Medusa/Gorgon - anything that turns people to stone; Korreds and Pecs - fey creatures that manipulate the earth; any kind of Ooze that deals Acid damage - these are creatures normally identified by the Knowledge: Dungeoneering skill, inflict Acid (Earth element) damage and generally exist in underground settings
For undead if you're looking for high CR just advance the ones you easily can: skeletal champions, zombie lords, vampires, liches, etc. Also look to necromancer wizards, death clerics, or some such for support.
Now I have to admit, I don't know specifically what you mean by "faction" other than in the general sense of a division or group. That being said, if you're willing, I'd suggest looking outside the traditional classification of monsters.
For example one faction you have is Draconic. Right off the bat, if you were dealing with low level encounters, I'd suggest:
Kobolds
Shocker Lizards
Tatzlwyrms
Of those 3, only 1 is considered the Dragon type but all three either have a strong resemblance or association to dragons. An interesting set of encounters might be a swamp, with a dragon shrine at the heart of it. The kobolds are the first tier of encounters, with simple traps being monitored by them - snares, choking ropes, pits or deadfalls. The shocker lizards are elite encounters, supported by a few of the kobolds if you need even more of a challenge. The kobolds placate the lizards with food and treasure, thinking of them as divine minions. Finally near the shrine the tatzlwyrms and their simple traps, also supported by kobolds, are the highest encounters. These creatures are actual dragons with a measure of intelligence; they are worshipped by the kobolds as if they are avatars of the dragon god and the tatzlwyrms, being sentient, have developed a means of communicating with the kobolds in order to bill themselves as divine.
Taking this idea to the extreme, you might have the leader of the kobolds as a Kobold Adept 4/Warrior 4. He has a rhamphorhynchus familiar with the Mauler archetype; it turns to Medium size and flies around with it's master on its back. The kobold "cleric" of the dragon god has also taken the Evolved Familiar feat to make his familiar more dragon-like (pick one or more of the following): cast Acid Splash or Ray of Frost (3/day; this is the creature's "breath weapon"); Bite to deal 1 1/2 damage on Bite attack; Claws; Improved Damage or Improved Natural Armor; Reach; Skilled - Intimidate (simulating the dragon's Fear aura); Slam; Tail Slap; Wing Buffet. This "cleric" might be supported by the "mega-wyrm," a tatzlwyrm with heroic stats and 2 levels of Sorcerer that uses touch attacks plus it's own considerable grappling abilities to mete out serious damage.
... not that I've ever thought of doing that myself or anything. I'm just sayin...