I have made a fun encounter, could use some feedback

[Jufo]

Hello all

My party has switched mission, so instead of going to the treasure hoard I thought they were going to, they now seek out the hidden elemental altars. This also mean they are a bit behind loot-wise, so I am going to remedy that with a well placed abandoned temple that they just so happen to pass by (and hopefully will decide to enter), and I am in need of some feedback.

I have bought the Temple of Ivy map which fits nicely to my ideas.

The Temple is supposed to be to four long-dead and long-forgotten legendary warriors, whose remains are also preserved here. The idea is to have the party get into the final chamber and fight the four legendary warriors; who I have planned to be a level 5 Ranger, Rogue, Wizard and Alchemist. That party composition just so happen to align with equipment usable by my party.

The encounter plan was to have the alchemist, wizard and ranger in the boss room, with the rogue outside it (literally popping up of the ground), shooting in. The alchemist will on his first turn throw a bomb, and start a fire in the hallway, locking the party in with the three enemies in the room, with a wall of fire separating the party from the rogue shooting in.

My plan with this is to test their planning skills. While they can't get to the rogue before the fire is out, they can step out of the way of the hall, making the rogue incapable of hitting them. The wizard is up close, making them capable of taking his spell-component pouch, and disable his most dangerous abilities, leaving just the bomb-chucking alchemist and the two-weapon fighting Ranger to be dealt with.

It could be a tough fight, especially since my party is a bit undergeared - particularly in armor, but in my head that is a good plan to deal with these bosses, but does that seem reasonable to assume a similar plan in action?

Furthermore I have the following conundrums;

• With a possibly rather challenging bossfight, what other encounters can I present that would still make this dungeon fair? I was considering having the 8 alcoves in the courtyard each have (weakened) phantom armors in them, but that in itself might also be quite tough.
• If I put no encounters, allowing them to savor their strength for the boss fight, then what do I fill the temple rooms with? I could put more loot, but since most of the catch-up loot will be used by the bosses (to be taken afterwards), there doesn't seem to be much room for more loot WBL-wise, but putting nothing makes for 7 boring rooms

Thanks in advance

[RumpinRufus]

Well it sounds like you still need to explain how they all became undead. So a necromancer would seem to make sense story-wise.

In terms of suggesting other interesting level-appropriate encounters, it would help if we knew more about party composition in terms of level, class, etc.

[cavernshark]

Haunts can be potentially useful encounters that can drain party resources a bit without necessarily being death traps (usually). They also provide some interesting puzzle solving potentially. Maybe a haunt capturing how each of the warriors was killed (especially if they were killed ritualistically to be preserved in undeath). You could force the issue by having four keys for the final chamber in each of the rooms with a haunt.

[DoubleBubble]

Epic trials. Contest, have the group to meet another legendary group that is looking for retire, and they want to train the group and test them. After training and leveled up, they will have to go against the group in few contest. Could be badminton, basketball, dodgeball, game of tag, hide and seek. If the players beats the group, maybe 2 game out of 3, they get magical items from them. Always work for me, always epic.

[thorin001]

What level is the party? This is CR 8 just from class levels, not counting any adjustments from being undead.

This is an old temple; was it sealed to make it a tomb? Or are the bad guys in a crypt that is not part of the temple proper?
If it was sealed then traps, elementals, and constructs are fitting guardians.
If not then just about anything can be using the temple as a lair. You could even have raiding goblins/orcs/bandits attack the party and lead them back to the temple.
The sealed catacombs could use the same guardians as the sealed temple.

[SmiloDan]

What level is the party?

Describe the scents of different flowers, rot, fruit, mold, old incense, herbs, etc.

Skeletons wearing armor? The PCs could get some better armor from the skeletons, the skeletons would be relatively bad at attacking, but have better than average defense from the armor. The encounter will take time but not resources. Or a PC cleric can one-shot the bunch.

Maybe each room has a gem, and you need all the gems to open the final door by putting a gem in each alcove.

Replace gem with flower, fruit, skull, eye, puzzle piece, tile, helmet, etc. that matches the theme of the dungeon.

Use some plant creatures. Assassin vines, Giant Venus flytraps, shambling mounds.

I also think a giant slug would be fun for some reason.

Maybe some magical traps, and then a big monster they can't fight themselves, but will chase them into a trap that causes damage the monster is vulnerable to.

Some kind of fey hiding and being mischievous and handing out clues for another room/encounter/trap. Maybe they steal the PC's spell component pouch! Or mad monkeys! Monkey-fey???

Yellow Musk Zombies?

Wooden stags that can bull rush and disarm with their antlers.

Magic berries that heal when eaten and harm undead when thrown at them?

Mummies?

Weird mold or mushrooms or blossoms that force Will saves or confused or other hallucinations.

Vine nets, maybe a pit with a net holding them above an abyss or midden heap with otygh or something else foul in it?

Fake gargoyles that never attack, but make the PCs paranoid.

Animated vines that trip the PCs during a fight that should be easy.

Snakes hiding amongst the vines.

Vine-covered bas reliefs that tell a story of some monsters that are CR Party level +3.

Potions or oils of Plant Growth that go crazy and grow to fill up the rooms as a self-destruct mechanism.