Monster Ideas for Advanced Civilization Ruins

[Elykscorch]

Hello! I'm running a game in which my players are delving into an ancient ruined city of a very advanced civilization from the distant past. The technology is for the most part all gone and ruined but there are strange things their characters don't quite understand still going on. (Such as things with electricity)

I need some monsters to put in this place but I'm running low on ideas. I've got clockworks and all of their kind as well as golems. I've also got a fair bit of traps and puzzle type situations and 'artifacts'. I've also got a boss that is a metallic half dragon, half sphinx that is pretty crazy. But I'm struggling to come up with anything else that might fit.

I considered maybe a normal monster that roamed inside the city but I've had the clockworks attack just about everything they spot so I'm not sure that would make much sense. Any monsters you guys can think of that might fit the setting?

[VoodistMonk]

How about a timeless clockwork Lich?

It takes 20 levels of Sorcerer with the Impossible Bloodline, making it a Challenge Rating ~22 monster.

Pretty sure it could be an Android, too, if you want. I don't think there's anything TECHNICALLY stopping an Android from becoming a Lich.

Has soul, will Lich.

[LordKailas]

oozes and plant creatures may go un-noticed as the clockworks might not recognize them as a threat, especially since such creatures may not have any reason to attack an inedible clockwork creature. It's also possible that some portion of the ruins has been "cleaned out" by a powerful creature that decided to make that section it's own personal lair.

Mindless undead are another possible option. A graveyard or similar structure might be filled with corpses that become animate when disturbed by the living. The clockworks are unaware of the situation since they aren't living creatures.

[Mark Hoover 330]

1 word: aberrations.

The name of the monster type says it all: they are aberrant creatures, things that were normal at one time and diverged. Chokers might have at one time been human but since been mutated by weird radiation; ettercaps are simply the result of trying to splice spider and human DNA with horrifying results; don't even get me started on the gibbering mouther.

Now if your ancient tech is all electricity and clockworks, these monsters might not fit the setting. If however there were labs, bio-farms, chemical plants or radioactive devices back in the distant past, consider adding some Aberrant creatures to the roster.

Lamias fit pretty well, though you might want to change their base animal type from feline to something else. Another one might be nagas. Both in their fluff from the Beastiary say they favor the ruins of older civilizations. They may have oral traditions dating back to the tech of old or might even be long-lived enough to remember when it all worked.

Yet another thing to consider is what caused the civilization to fall back in the day, then include some of those. Were the machines ruined by gremlins and the fey? Add some gremlin encounters. Did the mortals employ the undead as automatons until the unliving gained sentience and revolted? Throw in ghouls or a wight. Perhaps dragons, returning from centuries of torpor found that humankind had advanced their civilization to dizzying heights and out jealousy and greed dragons across the land whelmed down devastation upon them. Include Tatzlwyrms adapted to camouflage among gearworks instead of trees.

As to creatures that escape the clockwork patrols, many "normal" monsters fit the bill. Consider the lowly Mite. While they have a Doom ability that would be useless against the clockworks, they otherwise have a racial bonus to Stealth, a Climb speed, and good Perception out to 120' with Darkvision. They also have Scent so they could smell the clockworks coming from the motor oil. Finally they have an empathic link to vermin who likely survived the old apocalypse so they could use these creatures to distract and confuse the patrols to keep themselves from getting caught.

Last, but certainly not least, have you considered mephits? These elementals regenerate in and thrive on places of specific materials. Steam mephits that spontaneously generate to play in old steam tunnels beneath the ruins; salt mephits in the saline vats once used as coolant; dust mephits because, well, dust. These are CR 3 so not super powerful, but in clumps or aiding other creatures mephits could be seriously annoying even to higher level PCs.

[Eldred the Grey]

1. Undead
2. Shocker Lizards
3. Behiir
4. Second Oozes
5. Second Plant Creatures

Undead- Obvious for fallen civ.
Shocker Lizards- Small and keen on both lightning and shiny things.
Behiir- Again Lightning, also potentially powerful enough to clear a section of ruins.
Oozes- Can live virtually anywhere.
Plant creatures- Plant life will slowly take over ruins if left to its own devices.

Dragon- Now some can/will live in ruins and can easily be individually powerful enough to destroy most things dependent on its age.

Finally

Extraplanar- Demons, Devils and Daemons. Choose your poison and insert how you feel. Lost experiment , Trapped servant etc.

EtG

[Quixote]

A rust monster, grown fat and strong off an especially rich and wonderful diet. Maybe the clockwork guys managed to seal off a section of the ruins so it can't get at them all.
Large size, boosted rust DC. Improved Initiative, Spring Attack...

What about a "ghost" that's the remnants of a computer system?

Electric eels.

Those ants that don't mind electrical currents.

A nanobot cloud.

Some goblins that worship the "little lighting" and try their best to harness it's power.

A minotaur with a chainsaw.

A robotic street-sweeper that's developed a taste for blood.

A troll that got stuck in one of the traps and regenerated so many times its become partly fused with the nearby tech.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Looters: Goblins, Gnomes, and Orcs

And--Vegepygmies? You know, your scenario does sound a lot like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

VoodistMonk wrote:

How about a timeless clockwork Lich?

Any Lich or sentient Undead would be good. The lingering remains of scientists or scholars who don't even realize their civilization has collapsed and continue pursuing their long-pointless goals.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

1 word: aberrations.

A koi pond full of Aboleths with a colony of Scum to feed them and bring them technological toys.

So, Advanced Civilization. How do you think this will affect your campaign? What kinds of technological toys are you going to put in your campaign? Is this your plan for introducing firearms into your campaign? Will neighboring nations learn the secrets contained and start equipping armies with powered armor, muskets, rayguns, armored battlewagons?

[SheepishEidolon]

I think a setting needs a clear focus. For example I'd go for either clockworks or golems - so the players notice that's what the civilization relied on. Personally I favor clockworks because they are less used.

Your boss is a good starting point for minions. Metallic, dragon, sphinx - why not have minions that are related to at least one of these facets? Metallic warcats and wyvaran soldiers come to my mind.

Your roaming monster could be super stealthy, evading the clockworks for a long time now. Or it's a mystery for the players: Suddenly there something that gets completely ignored by the clockworks. Is it the odd necklace it is carrying? Is it the type of monster? Is it within their ancient programming - and why?

[VoodistMonk]

Here is the Android Lich, it is a CR23 monster.

HAL was the first of his kind. An uber-advanced Android built to be the ultimate soldier. Not just any tool of destruction, but THE tool of destruction.

HAL was given the first artificial intelligence that the civilization had created.

HAL was given a soul.

HAL quickly exceeded all of his creator's programming and started to expand his repair subsystems to power creation of his own.

HAL started to view himself as a God. And the civilization that created him as an inconvenience. The living, in general, he found tiresome. Constructs are much more practical and reliable...

HAL-2000:
Gestalt Android Lich CR23

*building rules: leave his Constitution at 10, or drop to 8, and spend the points in Charisma*

Android:
+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Cha
Alert, Emotionless, Exceptional Senses, Constructed, Nanite Surge

Constructed Pugilist-Living Weapon Brawler/
Crossblooded Sorcerer (Impossible & Nanite)

HD: D10

Skills 4+Int:
Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Craft Weapons (Int), Knowledge (engineering)

1. Brawler's Cunning
1. Martial Training
1. Constructed Limb
1. Limb Modifications
...
1. Create Energy Weapon (move action)
1. Cantrips
1. Spells
1. Bloodline
... Impossible
... Nanite
1. Bloodline Power
... Nanite Strike
1(class): Eschew Materials
1(level): Scion of War

2. Brawler's Flurry (TWF)
2(class): Craft Magic Arms & Armor

3. Improved Energy Weapons +1
3. Bloodline Power
... Spontaneous Generation
3. Bloodline Spell
... Disguise Self
3(class): Craft Wondrous Item
3(level):

4. AC Bonus +1
4. Malleable Weapons (swift action)

5. Augmented Energy Weapons
... Shocking
5. Bloodline Spell
... Make Whole
5(class):
5(level):

6. Limb Modifications
...

7. Improved Energy Weapons +2
7. Bloodline Spell
... Shrink Item
7(bloodline): Iron Will
7(level): Improved Iron Will

8. Brawler's Flurry (Imp. TWF)
8(class):

9. AC Bonus +2
9. Augmented Energy Weapons
... Shocking & Ghost Touch
9. Bloodline Power
... Nanite Surge
9. Bloodline Spell
... Miasmatic Form
9(level):

10. Limb Modifications
...
10. Malleable Weapons (swift change)

11. Improved Energy Weapons +3
11. Bloodline Spell
... Echolocation
11(level):

12. Limb Modifications
...

13. AC Bonus +3
13. Augmented Energy Weapons
... Shocking, Ghost Touch, & Shocking Burst
13. Bloodline Spell
... Animate Objects
13(bloodline): Blind Fight
13(level):

14(class):

15. Brawler's Flurry (Greater TWF)
15. Improved Energy Weapons +4
15. Bloodline Power
... Nanite Resurgence
15. Bloodline Spell
... Insanity
15(level): Sacred Geometry

16. Malleable Weapons (free action, free change)
16. Finishing Strike 1/day

17. Augmented Energy Weapons
... Shocking, Ghost Touch, Shocking Burst, & Keen
17. Bloodline Spell
... Polymorph Any Object
17(class):
17(level): Sacred Geometry

18. AC Bonus +4

19. Improved Energy Weapons +5
19. Bloodline Spell
... Wish
19(bloodline): Expanded Acana
19(level): Expanded Arcana

20. Limb Modifications
...
20. Finishing Strike 2/day
20. Bloodline Power
... Living Paradox
20(class):

Lich:
+2 Int, +2 Wis, +2 Cha
Natural Armor, Channel Resistance, DR, Immunity, Undead traits, Rejuvenation, Fear Aura, Paralyzing Touch