| RJ Dalton 89 |
So, I'm trying to come up with some amusing ways to use the imentesh's (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/protean/prote an-imentesh) special abilities for an interesting encounter for the second time the players encounter it.
The first time, it appeared in the kitchen, looking through their cupboards ("Pardon us, sir, do you have any gray poupon?"). They didn't know what it was (first time players), so they didn't want to provoke it, so it just talked for a bit before using dimension door to leave without making any real trouble, aside from confusing them. The next time, I'm pulling a leaf out of the Daily Bestiary and having it cause chaos in a museum.
I want to come up with some creative and amusing things to do with it, though. I've already made plenty of fun with the museum itself, but I want the actual fight with it, if the players choose to directly engage it, to have more than just it attacking them directly. It will not at this point have use of Polymorph Any Object, as it's used that spell earlier to turn a 1/2 scale model of a dragon into a real dragon, but it's other abilities are free game.
Some ideas I've got so far are:
Shrink Object - it keeps a shrunken campfire in a pouch. It will pull it out, hand it to a player ("Hold this, please") and then speak the command word that reverses the spell. The player holding it will take 1d6 damage and drop it, which will set fire to the carpet on the next round if not put out.
Shrink Object - it will shrink an item of clothing a player is wearing, causing significant distress (still deciding how this might work mechanically; since it's on their person, I think I'll allow a will save to negate the shrinking effect, maybe they'll be stunned for one round due to the tightness if they don't make a fortitude save? Stunned seems a bit on the extreme side, maybe but I'm already allowing two saves to resist this). This will, as a role-playing element, also be somewhat embarrassing, as the clothes will rip after a single round.
Major Creation - messing with the rules a bit to make this usable in combat, as it technically isn't. I'm ruling that it can instantly create simple things, however they linger only a couple of rounds if it does not take the full ten minute casting time and the ability will still have a ten minute cool down, so it could only use it once per encounter. It creates a full ten cubic foot volume of rotten tomatoes in the air above a player, burying them unless they make a reflex save to avoid it. This does no harm, but they have to spend their next move action climbing out of the pile before they can otherwise act.
As you can see, I'm aiming for some of its actions to fall slightly on the cartoony side. Considering it's also got to be taking actions to defend itself, like using dimension door to keep out of range, grappling with its tail, etc. maybe I don't need any other ideas. Still, I'm curious to see what other amusing ideas other people might have.
Feel free to slide the rules a little bit.
| avr |
Shatter's pretty good. It can break things which hold other things up - the classic example is dropping a chandelier. Or it can be used to try to break a sword directly. Inflict warpwave can be a swift action which goes well with a dimension door - "I don't want to see your ugly face again!"
| Pizza Lord |
Depending on what kind of museum it is and what it has, there are a few ways to make custom room encounters. Since the warpwave effect looks like it's a chaotic unpredictable thing, I think you could safely allow its use to have unusual effects on the area, rather than on a PC.
If there's a room with an exhibit of old torture devices (for whatever reason, either because they're rare, belonged to someone important, etc.), perhaps an encounter in that room will involve some items animating and potentially attacking the PCs. Maybe a couple of whips (the stats of which are like the whip feather token do non-lethal but might grapple or drag PCs closer to other objects, like a rack which might grapple and if it pins a PC will stretch them out for some damage or effect, or a more dangerous item might be an iron maiden that can trap a PC that it catches or is driven into it by a whip. If the PCs can drive the imentesh from the room, the effect might fade. Perhaps there's an upper balcony it lurks on or runs around as it watches the ensuing chaos.
If there's a hall of statues, armor, or even mannequins with antique or antiquated clothing (tabards from noble families long past, gowns from coronations, etc.), perhaps one room has musical instruments and they start playing and the statues, mannequins, and armor lurch or spin about the room in a dance-like spiral. They don't necessarily attack the PCs, but they must make Perform Dance checks to pass the room or a bard can try and counter the music with his own, making the objects dance to his own beat. Or they can bull through, taking trample damage, like being in a swarm or mob, and also damaging and knocking over and breaking some valuable museum pieces and art and historical objects.
A tapestry or quilt from an early time might be dropped on a PC and they might end up in a scene from the item. For instance, a quilt depicting a labyrinth with a minotaur stalking a hero. The imentesh drops it from its hanging spot and it covers a PC and then they see the quilt drop flat on the floor (ala Obi-wan's clothing when he's struck down by Darth Vader). The other PCs can see the trapped PC in the quilt and if they shout at the quilt the PC inside can hear them as muffled voices. He can either roam about on his own like in a maze spell, but it still takes him 2d4 rounds to solve the maze and 're-appear' or 1 minute after the imentesh leaves the area. They can make Intelligence checks to navigate only if they got a good look at its layout earlier. Also, there's a minotaur, but he's kind of made from wool or yarn or something and does non-lethal, and has fire vulnerability. The trapped PC can't hurt the quilt no matter what he does (fireballs the minotaur) but can't teleport or shift out and if knocked unconscious appears outside. Other PCs that tear up or burn the quilt/tapestry free the PC, but also the yarn minotaur appears and attacks them (and they've destroyed a valuable museum piece of history).
Other things should be going on that aren't directly dangerous (ala Night at the Museum). There could be scores of tiny soldiers from a battlefield or historical miniature model roaming around underfoot, with an occasional marble-sized catapult shot going by. Paintings or busts of various figures chatting or spouting nonsense or even helpful advice. "Proteans can be trapped in a suitably large cheese rind! To the cheese room, there's a large wheel of aged cheese for the Patron's banquet tomorrow, trap it inside!" "No, you must trap it in a copper cage! To the orrery room, the enter model is a clockwork copper apparatus!"
Also, have the quarter-scale dragon model have been from a matched sculpture set depicting its battle with a hero, and have the hero model show up just as the party recognizes the dragon. But the knight is still a quarter size (but bravely still challenging the dragon). Its effectiveness or lack thereof should range from the comedic level you want to make it. Possibly even making it super-effective while the PCs struggle to damage or stop it, running under the dragon's legs and dragging it around by the tail just as it's about to bite a PC in half. 'The dragon's jaws snap down on you... No, wait. It missed by just inches. There's a scrabbling squeak from the dragon's claws on the floor as it slides a few inches back once more. Tiny Sir Gerald has the beast's tail under one arm and is gamely dragging it towards the exhibit room.'
These all will have more impact if the PCs have been through the museum and have seen the layout and looked at the objects and displays before-hand. Also good to have a put-upon museum curator sweating and digging his fingers into his hair and cheeks and berating the PCs to be careful. "No! That's the dowager's coronation gown, woven from elven silk-fronds and beaded with mother-of-pearl from 100 year old oysters, donated by the triton ambassador!"
| Douglas Muir 406 |
Be careful with the warpweave power; if played according to RAW, it can flat up kill PCs. If you want to use it, and you don't want to kill them, don't be afraid to fudge a roll -- or have the imentesh use it while it's out of range.
Shrink Object - it keeps a shrunken campfire in a pouch. It will pull it out, hand it to a player ("Hold this, please") and then speak the command word that reverses the spell. The player holding it will take 1d6 damage and drop it, which will set fire to the carpet on the next round if not put out.
The PC will refuse to take it, so you need to switch things up.
Have it rummage through a bag and hand *several* items to PCs, and have at least one of them have a minor positive effect -- like, it hands the PC a jar with a frog in it, and the PC who takes it realizes he gets the effect of a Jump spell for the next hour. And the shrunken campfire is somehow frozen so that it looks like a complex ornament made of red and orange glass... if the PC refuses it, it drops to the floor and shatters -- "Oh, no!"I'm getting a very Looney Tunes vibe from this, which is just fine.
Shrink Object - it will shrink an item of clothing a player is wearing, causing significant distress (still deciding how this might work mechanically; since it's on their person, I think I'll allow a will save to negate the shrinking effect, maybe they'll be stunned for one round due to the tightness if they don't make a fortitude save? Stunned seems a bit on the extreme side, maybe but I'm already allowing two saves to resist this). This will, as a role-playing element, also be somewhat embarrassing, as the clothes will rip after a single round.
Stunned is too much. Failed save, treat as fatigued or entangled. Clothes ripping is always good. (Also, when it rips? The PC's undergarments have been comically transformed -- bloomers, boxers with pink unicorns on them, chain mail bikini, whatever.)
Major Creation - messing with the rules a bit to make this usable in combat, as it technically isn't.
Proteans are creatures of pure chaos, man. If anything can bend the rules, they can.
I'm ruling that it can instantly create simple things, however they linger only a couple of rounds if it does not take the full ten minute casting time and the ability will still have a ten minute cool down, so it could only use it once per encounter. It creates a full ten cubic foot volume of rotten tomatoes in the air above a player, burying them unless they make a reflex save to avoid it. This does no harm, but they have to spend their next move action climbing out of the pile before they can otherwise act.
Use this when PCs are chasing it. Have it turn to the PC with the lowest move, or the one who's furthest back, and say "You're too slow! You're falling behind!" [ton of rotten tomatoes falls on PC] "Catchup!"
Doug M.
| RJ Dalton 89 |
A lot of text
Yeah, I'm being careful with the warp wave for the first encounter. The players will be hired to deal with it because the owner of the museum has done a lot of business with them in the past and he trusts them, but when they go in, the Protean will appear and offer to give them a tour of the "new temple." It will be totally polite and friendly in this encounter unless they directly attack it. It won't even object to them fighting with some of the museum pieces it's made dangerous (because, honestly, that's what danger is for). They're high enough level that nothing in a single warp wave will kill them, but I'm going to use it sparingly, maybe only once or twice and never on the same character twice. The next encounter with it, it will go all out, but this first time is just testing the waters. And to make it even more weird, if there's a third encounter, it will treat them like old friends and dismiss their last encounter as a just a spat, nothing worth bringing up again.
I'm not entirely sure how the whole thing will play out. I don't even have a specific resolution, I just have a scenario and a setting and the players will be put in it to react. The thing is actually in a summoned state. I'm sort of parodying Hellraiser - one of them found a rubix cube and messed with it, and that's why the protean is here. If they kill it, it's only banished back to the maelstrom, but can reappear wherever the cube is once every 24 hours until the cube is solved. So, I'm literally just seeing what they do.
Good idea about the shrunken camp fire bit. Make it a little less obvious what it's doing. Also like the touch of comical undershorts for shrinking the clothes.
Also a lot of text
Yeah, there's a lot going on in the museum. Just a few things I have set up that aren't dangerous are the wax models of the cavemen have all been animated and given the personality of posh, British gentlemen, a couple statues in the outer garden have been altered to be making rude hand gestures, and all the machines in the engineering exhibit have been fused together into a single rube-goldberg-esque machine that appears to have no purpose other than to make silly noises and move around a lot. Also, the music hall has been filled up with monkeys that were taken from the zoo (I will mention them having disappeared during the downtime before the encounter begins, while they're selling the goods from their previous adventure). The monkeys are not very musically inclined.
I do like the idea of the tiny hero model and the minotaur tapestry. I might use that.
| RJ Dalton 89 |
Expanding on Doug's advice, I've created a random list of items that the protean may pull out of its pouch. Feel free to add items if you've got any good ideas.
1. An eyeball (it will call it a piece of candy).
2. A pair of bronzed frog’s legs (grants the ability to cast jump once per day).
3. A miniaturized campfire (looks like orange and red beads on a wooden asterisk-shaped frame). It will dispel the effect, dealing 1d6 fire damage to the person holding and making the players drop it, which will start the carpet on fire on the next round if not extinguished.
4. A religious pamphlet about the glory of chaos.
5. Cranberries.
6. A small, polka-dotted creature the size of a mouse, with a body like a seal, a frill that looks like flower petals, a duck’s beak, and a long, thin tail with a flag that has a screw and a baseball on it. The protean will remark, “I don’t know where that came from,” before putting it back.
7. A shiny rock (grants a +2 bonus on a single skill check).
8. A piece of moldy bread.
9. A live and very angry badger that will proceed to attack anyone in the room for 1d4 rounds before fleeing.
10. Mushrooms. Eating them causes the effect of enlarge person (1-50%) or reduce person (51-100%).
| Pizza Lord |
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11. Like #7, but it's a glowing rock, giving off light like a candle in addition to its effect. Of course, it glows not from magic, but super-intense radiation. Within a couple days, anyone in close proximity begins to lose their hair and suffers radiation sickness. Continued exposure may cause mutations.
12. A hand grenade, but the pin is the explosive. [Bad guy might pull it out and say, "What's this? A pineapple? I'm not hungry..." and throw it at a PC (1d4 + Str) without pulling the pin.]
13. A red satin cape that, when held at arm's length to one side and shaken while saying something like, "Toro! Toro!" causes a summoned bull to emerge from behind it and charge, overrunning and trampling, anyone straight ahead of the cape for 20 feet before vanishing. After one use, shaking it further causes roses to fall out and a cheering sound before the cape vanishes. [If there's a nearby china display or otherwise obviously fragile vase or urn collection, it's never damaged by the bull's passage. For no explained reason.]
14. A round piece of hard candy. If thrown at a target and it strikes, deals 1d4 damage (no Str mod). Fortitude save or the target's jaw is damaged and they can't speak coherently until the damage is healed. [Bad guy might look at the candy and say "I don't like jawbreakers," before throwing it.]
15. A hand-sized box labeled 'Bird box'. When dropped on the ground a swarm of dodos, emus, ostriches, chickens, or other generally flightless birds will emerge growing into a swarm covering 20 feet that runs in one direction, dealing trample and swarm damage before vanishing after 1 or 2 rounds. [Bad guy pulls out the box, laughs and tosses it on the ground proclaiming, "Fly! Fly my minions!", then looks bemused at the flightless birds and remarks, "Or, just run... I guess."]
16. An infant of the predominantly local race. It has no apparent ancestry or actual parents if magic or divination is used, but it can be easily placed for adoption if a needy family or such facility is nearby. If the PCs care for it for a month, a mysterious benefactor finds them and gifts them a stipend for their trouble or offers them full legal custody in the form of a birth certificate (this agent and their powers are unknown). If the infant is raised to 18 years of age, he or she becomes a productive member of society and may care for a PC in their old age, or not. [Bad guy pulls it out by the ankle upside down and looks confused. "What the heck is this thing?" Baby starts crying and spits up. "Gross! Ugh!" Tosses it at PCs.]
17. [From the top of a staircase] A slinky, coiled metal spring, it falls end over end, taking 2–3 rounds to reach the bottom of the staircase. Anyone, including the protean, must make a Will save or become fascinated by it until it reaches the bottom or is stopped (even during combat, though attacks on the fascinated target break the effect). If it reaches the bottom, it vanishes and a log appears inexplicably, falling on the nearest character before vanishing into a puff of smoke (2d4 damage).
18. A wind-up drummer boy or monkey with cymbals. If cranked up, it drums or plays furiously, possibly sliding or walking a short distance and then falls over. [Bad guy may look bemused and remark, "I... uh... thought it did something different."
19. A polished brass lamp that, when rubbed, triggers a variable magic mouth effect that says things like, "I am coming, master!", "One moment! The portal is opening!", "Rub harder! Faster! Stronger!", "You've got to rub me the right way!", etc. That's all it does.
20. Handfuls and handfuls of marbles that spill forth over multiple spaces. ["Sometimes you just have to stick with the classics."]
| Pizza Lord |
Just a few things I have set up that aren't dangerous are the wax models of the cavemen have all been animated and given the personality of posh, British gentlemen...
Bug Glump:[On seeing the shrunken campfire effect manifest] "Oh! Smashingly brilliant! An easily transported fire god! Fellows, we simply must remember to immortalize this concept later when we're smearing feces on the cave walls back home and passing round the sherry. What say you to that bit of diversion, Uug Borg?"
Uug Borg: "Jolly good! And speaking of the missus, when Sherry recovers from the blow to the head I gave her earlier, we'll pop right by, spit-spot!"
Bug Glump: "Cheers, colonel! Good on you for winning her over. I hear she was a career-focused woman... bit of a night flower. Lady of the evening type?"
Uug Borg: "Right-o! Newest profession in the world! Still has all her teeth. Back home in the cave... under the furs."
