| laraqua |
So I'm looking for ideas of things to put into an underwater temple for an expedition of intrepid investigators (sorcerer, druid and rogue)... My players are level 4 and should reach level 5 or 6 by the end of it. I'm going with a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe in terms of adventurous expedition, etc. They're members of the Pathfinder Society and they have a leader with them (NPC) who just wants to chronicle what they find and do some archaeology.
I don't mind vastly over-levelled bad guys if we can treat them as environmental hazards or the PCs can sneak around them (I can always nerf their perception dice pools if needed). The place has been abandoned by most sentients for hundreds of years.
I want the temple to have sections that are submerged, sections with old air (i.e. in time they can't breathe in it) and sections that are safe to breathe (likely with plants to fix carbon dioxide).
I also want to seem beautiful on the surface but when you truly comprehend it you realise just what twisted purposes it is designed for. So it needs to be for a hedonistic people or at least a people that can perceive beauty in a way that is akin to humans. Lovely waterfalls and beautiful blue marble, plants that would devour a person or beautiful altars that steal your skin should you lay on them.
Food that fascinates and muddles the will, grown from strange vines, and meats you can carve from living examples of creatures woven into a web of flesh, that do not die no matter what you carve, etc.
Any particular room designs you think would work? New hazards to throw at them?
Don't worry, they have access to some degree of Water Breathing and I'll be encouraging them to swim down with gear and then camp there.
| Ediwir |
The kraken moves in his sleep. The tentacles can be used as cover, but they move every few rounds. Critical failures against a creature in such cover pinch the tentacle painfully and cause a sudden movement, removing the cover and causing a water movement that drags creature closer within a certain radius (based on a Fort save).
| Malk_Content |
I've done something like this before and one thing that worked super well was to have something holding water back break at some point. This let's the players rediscover old sections of the dungeon that have changed dramatically due to the change in water levels. I.e some parts they had to swim through are now dry (perhaps with uncovered threats like undead they once just swam over) and others that were dry now flooded (and that flooding could have brought water based fauna with it.)
| Castilliano |
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The outer, public areas would've been what they seem to be: beautiful, attractive, serene, safe, etc. That's just good cult marketing.
And if it has monsters, they'd (in the PCs POV) have come from outside influences attempting to corrupt this sacred place. The PCs may even have information about how wonderful a place it had been. (Which they may later learn was voiced verbatim by other sources too!)
There'd also be functional rooms, like kitchens & restrooms, effectively neutral areas. Yet as the party delves deeper, they'll learn that the rot comes from within not without.
That monster guardian they fought early on perhaps wasn't there to guard the temple from the PCs, but to guard the ocean from the temple's foulness! Oops, now the PCs have uncorked an eldritch evil and have to put the stopper back on!
First section: Lures the passerby, fools the public
Second section: Temptation, toward corruption (brainwashing, other cult tactics for expanding numbers, isolating members)
Third section: Indulges the corrupted inner circle while it exploits the innocent who've resisted corruption. Torture, imprisonment, madness, purest profanity. This doesn't make it any less beautiful, and could be a good place for some of the horrific luxuries you've described. Might still look as nice as the first section, what with the water washing all the blood away.
Four section: The greatest of evils. Dormant avatar, portal to evil realm, tortured angel, or some other reason the builders parked their temple here. (Okay, maybe not something so severe given the low levels of the party, or maybe so yet they can tackle it since it's not fully awake or something or they've found the right counter-ritual after jumping through all the hoops throughout the ruins.)
At these PC levels, I wouldn't actually suggest parking the temple in the ocean, but maybe a coast, perhaps with water that flows into and over it (which as Malk suggested then could be stopped to dry out some areas). This would also allow substantial areas to be dry or have remained dry (albeit inaccessible at first).
Tides are another way to alter water levels, or even set a time limit if you'd like ("tides only rarely this low"). Maybe there's a cove it's in, and the temple had magic that could dam off the entry to the sea if reactivated (perhaps activating something the PCs don't want as well!) Or the controls might control the waterfall, or there might be an area that blocked the waterfall leading to flooding of the rest.
Ideas:
-Black Tentacles hazard (though maybe 2d6 from "older magic" to set the difficulty right)
-Sea Hag cackling about party's foolishness (w/ weak shark ally?, might be too tough for smaller group) But she might not be interested in attacking the party either. At least not until they're bloodied or weakened...
-Things that grab you while you swim, maybe even while dark. Of course it matters a lot if your party has Darkvision and their Water Breathing up (from Druid) or not, but when I'm playing I'm generally terrified of going in the water (much more than in real life). Add murky water or an undead Caligni casting Darkness and yikes. Maybe zombie hands.
-A sealed entry behind them while they're 4th level and have 1 hour on the spell. "Guys...we need to find air or an exit within X minutes!"
(If they can even talk to each other! Miming should be fun.)
-Atmosphere. Lots of seaweed hiding things, fish bumping them, nasty odors. Contrast with the perfumes and silks of the dryer portions.
-Zombie fish swarm. (Because it's funny and you'll likely never have the opportunity again.)
-Dead victim they can talk with. Just an excuse to put a social encounter into the mix, though maybe it attacks if things go poorly or it could be lying to them, so a source of (mis)information as you desire.
-An imp or quasit could be another social encounter (maybe like the Sea Hag, lurking until an opportunity presents itself.)
Anyway, have at it, have fun, and so forth.
| Seisho |
Had a sunken temple once
There were old leftover ventilation tunnels, just big enough for a goblin wereshark to sneak through and ambush them
(cursed hold person, poor goblin)
underwater riddles and switches can make for a challange
(on the other hand there could be switches which are easily accesssible because you can just swim to them)
just for fun you could hand them waterbreathing with side effects
and of course there are enemies which dont much care about the underwater aspect (stone golem) since they can be avoided to a certain degree they are probably more like hazards
| Tender Tendrils |
Give the players a way to drain a flooded section of the temple into another dry section, and add in parts of both sections that can only be easily accessed by swimming or when it is dry.
Have doors that are holding back water, so gaining access to an area floods previously visited areas.
Have some enemies that are at a bigger advantage in water in the drainable section - when the clever players figure out to sneak past and drain that section before fighting those enemies, they will feel really accomplished.
Conversely, you can drained water reveal hazards (hibernating foes disturbed by the draining of the water, pockets of gas, collapsing ceilings that where being held up by the buoyancy of the water, etc).
A sunken temple is a fantastic opportunity for a dungeon that players move through and interact with in interesting ways.
If you want to be particularly evil (this isn't for parties who are the faint of heart) have enemies who are clever enough to dispel the PCs water breathing at an opportune moment (have this happen just once or twice, having to repeatedly recast water breathing mid combat gets old after a while)
| laraqua |
Looked at the Aquatic Adventures book and it talks about the effects of buoyancy, hypothermia, pressure and the like. Coral can also be harsh and scratchy. What are some other cool water-based scenarios they might need to worry about? A rip tide? Being pushed about by sudden bursts of water movement? Seeking out that tiny bit of an air pocket in the top of a submerged room? What else?
| krobrina |
Looked at the Aquatic Adventures book and it talks about the effects of buoyancy, hypothermia, pressure and the like. Coral can also be harsh and scratchy. What are some other cool water-based scenarios they might need to worry about? A rip tide? Being pushed about by sudden bursts of water movement? Seeking out that tiny bit of an air pocket in the top of a submerged room? What else?
Senses work really weird. Read about sonar and the thermocline.
In this picture the anything in the "shadow zone" can't be detected.
A change in the water temperature as the depth increases causes sound waves to refract.
| Castilliano |
Potions should take longer to drink as you can't chug it. You'd need to use a straw or squeeze bottle.
PF1 potions, so likely PF2's as well, were only a swallow, so no chugging necessary. That said, I have no clue how easy-hard it is to drink underwater, presumably without holding one's nose. There were potion sponges PCs could put in their mouths while underwater.
Hopefully that party isn't to reliant on potions.| Tender Tendrils |
Speaking of Adventure Paths: Anyone know of any modules or even non-Pathfinder Fiction set in underworld temples or locales that could be good inspiration?
For rpg books:
D&Ds Ghosts of Salt marshPF1 Skull & Shackles
PF1 Ruins of Azlant
For fiction works;
Zelda's Water Temple
Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu & Dagon
Aquaman (the movie)
Clash of the Titans & Revenge of the Titans