Need inspiration for a dungeon themed after the Chinese Hells

[Sumotori]

Hello,

I want to design a dungeon for my players which is styled after the Chinese Hells. According to mythology, there are 18 levels, each with different punishments for different sins and/or crimes.

The group has five members, each a level 9 character.

My idea is that there will be 18 rooms, each with a danger that is somehow linked to one of the hells. I would be glad for suggestions how to fill these rooms - the more concrete, the better.

These are the 18 levels of hell:

Hell of Tongue-ripping, where those who gossip and spread trouble with their words will repeatedly have their tongues ripped out.

Hell of Scissors, where those who destroy someone else’s marriage will have their fingers repeatedly cut off.

Hell of Trees of Knives, where those who sow discord amongst family members will be repeatedly hung from trees made of sharp knives.

Hell of Mirrors of Retribution, where those who have managed to escape punishment for their crimes while alive will be repeatedly shown their true horrific selves.
A hall of mirrors with dopplegangers disguised as "ugly" versions of the PCs with levels in the appropriate class of the PCs, maybe?

Hell of Steamers, where hypocrites and troublemakers will repeatedly be steamed “alive.”

Hell of Copper Pillars, where arsonists will be repeatedly chained to red-hot pillars of copper.

Hell of the Mountain of Knives, where those who have killed for pleasure or without good reason will repeatedly be made to climb a mountain made of sharp blades sticking out of it.

Hell of the Mountain of Ice, where adulterers, deceivers of elders, and schemers will be repeatedly left out on a barren mountain of ice to freeze.

Hell of the Cauldrons of Oil, where rapists, thieves, abusers, and false accusers will be repeatedly fried in vats of boiling oil.

Hell of the Cattle Pit, where those who have abused animals will repeatedly be hurt by animals in turn.

Hell of the Crushing Boulder, where those who have abandoned or killed children will repeatedly be made to hold up heavy boulders, eventually being crushed by its weight.

Hell of Mortars and Pestles, where those who voluntarily waste food will repeatedly be force-fed hell fire by demons.

Hell of the Blood Pool, where those who disrespect others will be thrown in and submerged into a pool of blood.
Several pools of blood where the blood transforms into blood golems to fight the group?

Hell of the Wrongful Dead, where those who have commited suicide — considered deliberately going against the karmic course of the universe—will be force to repeatedly wander the realm without a way out, while being pelted constantly by the Winds of Sorrow and the Rains of Pain.

Hell of Dismemberment, where tomb raiders will have their bodies repeatedly be torn into pieces.

Hell of the Mountain of Fire, where thieves, robbers, and the corrupt will be repeatedly thrown into the fiery pits of an active volcano.

Hell of Mills, where those who have misused their power to oppress the weak will repeatedly be crushed in a stone mill.

Hell of Saws, where those who have engaged in unethical or unfair business practises, or exploited loopholes in the legal system, will be repeatedly sawn in half by demons with saws.

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

[Senko]

Couple of ideas . . .

Hell of Tongue-ripping
Party members must make a DC 20 will save or be forced to lie, any party member told something must make a DC 20 will save or believe it to be true inspite of any evidence to the contratary e.g. a man saying "I'm a woman" will be believed to be a woman and treated like one. This effect wears off after leaving this area of the dungeon.

Hell of Scissors
Any party member who is not married is unable to deal daamge with any edged weapon.

Hell of Trees of Knives
Party member who goes first in initiative is subject to a reverse gravity spell causing them to fall 10 foot up into a ceiling layered with knives.

Hell of Mirrors of Retribution
Party members entering a subject to a polymorph spell turing them into an ork/troll/other monstrous humanoid. They are pursued through the maze by a party who view them as monsters and are trying to kill them as adventurers do. This party if killed ressurects 1d4 minutes afterwards and resumes their pursuit.

Hell of Steamers
Simple one here random steam bursts come out of the walls, ceiling and floor doing heat and water damage.

Hell of Copper Pillars
While in this area all party are subjected to an undispellable heat metal spell.

Hell of the Mountain of Knives
Given their party members they must climb a wall/steep slope of daggers. Magic spells e.g. fly do not work here you MUST climb.

Hell of the Mountain of Ice
Trackless frozen forest that takes 1 hour to cross and functions as severe cold conditions. To successfully navigate requires a DC 20 survival check, failure of the check adds another hour and another check. Spells like endure elements do not work here you can only protect yourself with clothing and other mundane protetions.

Hell of the Cauldrons of Oil
A room where again flying and protection from energy spells don't work. You must dive into a poil of boiling oil and swim to the end of the room.

Hell of the Cattle Pit
Party members are subjected to a polymorph spell turning them into cattle (cows and bulls). They must force their way through the cattle pen to the other side before they are branded. Those who save against the spell are attacked by the cattle.

Hell of the Crushing Boulder
A 50' corridor for each 10 feet crossed the gear they carry doubles in weight. That is 1 to 10 foot normal weight, 10 to 20 foot twice the weight, 20 to 30 foot four times the weight, 30 to 40 foot eight times the weight and 40 to 50 foot sixteen times the weight. Body weight above their normal counts e.g. a 120 pound woman weighing 240 pounds as treated as having 120 pounds of gear.

Hell of Mortars and Pestles
Globules of searing hot stew dealing 1d4 damage appear inside the party's mouths randomly requiring a reflex save to avoid begining to suffocate and take the damage. Should require say 10 minutes to get through but each round a random party member gets fed.

Hell of the Blood Pool
This one plays on their paranoia as while they must swim through a pool of blood and fly spells don't work there is no actual danger.

Hell of the Wrongful Dead
Party is trapped in a region where they are constantly subjected to wind and rain. They must make saves every 1d4 rounds against wracking ray and crushing despair equivilent effects. The only way out of this area is to follow an undead being which leads you out in 10 minutes. Undead created by the party count for this effect.

Hell of Dismemberment
Roll a d4 for each party member and remove that many limbs till they leave this area?

Hell of the Mountain of Fire
Must navigate the caldera of an active volcano patrolled by fire elementals.

Hell of Mills
They are in a mill with no apparent exit, teleport and other spells do not work. The only way out is through the flour grinding equipment taking damage as they do.

Hell of Saws
Must fight numerous demons with sawblades to reach the final opponent.

[Sysryke]

Senko's Hell of Saws proposal prompted a question. Are these Hell's sequential as you presented them, similar to the Nine Hells, or are they randomly associated?

What I mean is, could you start in Crushing Boulder, go to Mountain of Fire, and then Scissors? Or will Blood Pool always precede Wrongful Dead, and Saws will always be the final Hell?

[Sumotori]

Sysryke wrote:

Senko's Hell of Saws proposal prompted a question. Are these Hell's sequential as you presented them, similar to the Nine Hells, or are they randomly associated?

What I mean is, could you start in Crushing Boulder, go to Mountain of Fire, and then Scissors? Or will Blood Pool always precede Wrongful Dead, and Saws will always be the final Hell?

Good question. As far as I have understood, the sequence is as written above.

But after diving deeper into the material, I discovered that there are also several different versions. Also, it turns out that there may be even more, but I' ll just stick to 18.

If you' re interested, look here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diyu#Eighteen_levels_of_Hell

[Sumotori]

Senko wrote:

Couple of ideas . . .

Hell of Tongue-ripping
Party members must make a DC 20 will save or be forced to lie, any party member told something must make a DC 20 will save or believe it to be true inspite of any evidence to the contratary e.g. a man saying "I'm a woman" will be believed to be a woman and treated like one. This effect wears off after leaving this area of the dungeon.

Hell of Scissors
Any party member who is not married is unable to deal daamge with any edged weapon.

Hell of Trees of Knives
Party member who goes first in initiative is subject to a reverse gravity spell causing them to fall 10 foot up into a ceiling layered with knives.

Hell of Mirrors of Retribution
Party members entering a subject to a polymorph spell turing them into an ork/troll/other monstrous humanoid. They are pursued through the maze by a party who view them as monsters and are trying to kill them as adventurers do. This party if killed ressurects 1d4 minutes afterwards and resumes their pursuit.

Hell of Steamers
Simple one here random steam bursts come out of the walls, ceiling and floor doing heat and water damage.

Hell of Copper Pillars
While in this area all party are subjected to an undispellable heat metal spell.

Hell of the Mountain of Knives
Given their party members they must climb a wall/steep slope of daggers. Magic spells e.g. fly do not work here you MUST climb.

Hell of the Mountain of Ice
Trackless frozen forest that takes 1 hour to cross and functions as severe cold conditions. To successfully navigate requires a DC 20 survival check, failure of the check adds another hour and another check. Spells like endure elements do not work here you can only protect yourself with clothing and other mundane protetions.

Hell of the Cauldrons of Oil
A room where again flying and protection from energy spells don't work. You must dive into a poil of boiling oil and swim to the end of the room.

Hell of the Cattle Pit
Party members are subjected to a polymorph spell turning them into...

That's some very nice stuff here. Thanks for the input!

[Freehold DM]

Senko wrote:

Couple of ideas . . .

Hell of Tongue-ripping
Party members must make a DC 20 will save or be forced to lie, any party member told something must make a DC 20 will save or believe it to be true inspite of any evidence to the contratary e.g. a man saying "I'm a woman" will be believed to be a woman and treated like one. This effect wears off after leaving this area of the dungeon.

Hell of Scissors
Any party member who is not married is unable to deal daamge with any edged weapon.

Hell of Trees of Knives
Party member who goes first in initiative is subject to a reverse gravity spell causing them to fall 10 foot up into a ceiling layered with knives.

Hell of Mirrors of Retribution
Party members entering a subject to a polymorph spell turing them into an ork/troll/other monstrous humanoid. They are pursued through the maze by a party who view them as monsters and are trying to kill them as adventurers do. This party if killed ressurects 1d4 minutes afterwards and resumes their pursuit.

Hell of Steamers
Simple one here random steam bursts come out of the walls, ceiling and floor doing heat and water damage.

Hell of Copper Pillars
While in this area all party are subjected to an undispellable heat metal spell.

Hell of the Mountain of Knives
Given their party members they must climb a wall/steep slope of daggers. Magic spells e.g. fly do not work here you MUST climb.

Hell of the Mountain of Ice
Trackless frozen forest that takes 1 hour to cross and functions as severe cold conditions. To successfully navigate requires a DC 20 survival check, failure of the check adds another hour and another check. Spells like endure elements do not work here you can only protect yourself with clothing and other mundane protetions.

Hell of the Cauldrons of Oil
A room where again flying and protection from energy spells don't work. You must dive into a poil of boiling oil and swim to the end of the room.

Hell of the Cattle Pit
Party members are subjected to a polymorph spell turning them into...

You sure are one helpful fox.

[Azothath]

hopefully whatever they write will be better for the advice