Abyssal Dungeon of Liquidy Doom

[Drammor]

I... think... this topic goes here? I don't know. This is the first time I've toyed with an idea like this.

I'd like to build a dungeon. It is set in the Abyssal Ocean, and in this dungeon, very, very few things, if any, will be solids. Creatures may be the only exceptions to this rule, although I'm sure it's possible to make a dungeon in which not even the monsters are solid.

The dungeon needs traps, puzzles, probably a MacGuffin of some kind and a reason for being there. Although probably not a whole lot of traps, considering the nature of the place. Large portions of the dungeon might consist of living oozes, of (fiendish?) jellyfish, and of various rather thick liquids or liquids otherwise prohibitive to moving through them. Pure elemental air, earth, fire and water, red water, some of those not actually solid sands from Sandstorm... maybe, some elementals bound into the shapes of dungeon features?

What building blocks (from a design standpoint) could be used to make this dungeon, and could be featured in it? Any good idea on traps and puzzles?

[Tarkisflux]

Currents too strong to swim in could be used as "walls" of some sort. Or currents could just be used as hallways that get you from one "room" to another. Fiendish jellyfish and anemones could also be used as walls and encounters. A MacGuffin trapped in the center of a shifting mass of jellyfish could make for an interesting 2- or 3-d maze / encounter.

Traps in the traditional sense are probably out unless you include solidified analogues of things for them to be used on, but area of effect things or environmental dangers could certainly be included. Being pushed by a current into an anemone or entangled by grasping sea weed or whatnot could work. And if there are random areas with magical triggers that cause you to be moved into or attacked by these things, then you might still have something for the trapfinders to do.

[ariasderros]

Maguffin could be something like the moaning diamond, but for Fire, that had to be put where it is, because it is dangerous even to creature immune to fire.

And the players would need that intense of flames for some reason.

[Drammor]

What... is the moaning diamond?

[sirpercival]

This.

[Drammor]

Oh. I see.

Huh. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I actually really like that idea.

I was just reposting this thread over at gitp, and I had an interesting thought that this moaning fire diamond idea would work out nicely for.

I'm now imagining that the dungeon might resemble a colossal, dark bubble clinging to the side of a bubble that is an order of magnitude even larger than dungeon itself, and that this bubble is the home of an undersea location (perhaps a city?) built from coral, jellies, anemones and volcanic glass, but of materials and sizes so massive that their construction defies mortal understanding. The location has been considered the site of a lost civilization for hundreds of years, and the goal of the adventure lies inside a (temple?) that can be reached only by steering the dungeon across it.

Putting a fire-controlling diamond in the center of a giant soap ooze bubble would be perfect for maneuvering it across an even larger dungeon. =D


Edit: Speaking of new thoughts, can anyone think of some good oozes or similar creature to make walls and such out of?

[littha]

Cubes obviously make nice walls considering they have corners...

[ksbsnowowl]

Monster Manual 4 or 5 has Jubilex-tainted Water Elementals, which I think would fit this theme well.

I agree that the use of currents to make wall/transport hallways is a good idea.

Another thought building on the above:  Make the walls out of gelatinous cubes that are each under the effect of a permanent hold monster-type spell.  If the PC's use any area dispel magic effects, the hold monster effects might be dispelled, which would cause them to have to fight the re-animated gelatinous cubes, but would also open a shortcut through a wall once it is defeated.

Edit:  The "best" way of achieving the above is with Temporal Stasis, though that is extremely cost-prohibitive (unless you find a creature that has it as an SLA (or Wish), which would not incur the material component.)
Edit 2: a Quarut Inevitable from the Fiend Folio gets Temporal Stasis as a SLA 3/day.  They concern themselves with maintaining time and space.  Maybe the McGuffin deals with time or space in some way, thus why he built this prison for it?

There was a third party adventure by Monte Cook way back when; Beyond the Veil by Penumbra Press.  It featured a ghost black dragon that had its lair on the ethereal plane.  The walls of the lair were made out of semi-solid acid.
You could do the same thing: semi-solid acid that is difficult to move through, but able to be overcome with time and strength.  Of course, it dealt something like 10d6 acid damage each time you came in contact with it.

[nijineko]

for a liquid based realm, varying the nature of the liquid into regions could give one rooms and even traps. a de-oxygenated area where even water-breathing fails would serve as a nice trap. temperature variations would create visible differences, not to mention being potentially dangerous if extreme. various liquid and semi-liquid monsters abound. cubes, jellies, slimes, molds, even floating kelp forests could give you encounters and divisions of area. in a kelp forest, you could have many creatures being symbiotic. acid elementals would be particularly nasty in a liquid realm. whirlpools, riptides, and other current based movement effects can all add spice. bubbles can also be used for 'rooms' or special areas. especially if the bubbles consist of different gases which have their various effects. a bubble of pure oxygen would eventually poison the party, but not before making them drunk, dizzy, and full of colossally poor judgement. a vacuum bubble would also be interesting, especially if it popped unexpectedly. go from extreme negative barometric pressure to crushing pressure of the deep in a single round. *squish*. parasites in the water, electricity effects nearby...

i can come up with more if you like.

[Drammor]

Cubes obviously make nice walls considering they have corners...

This has a neat connotation, but is something I'd like to minimize or avoid. A deep ocean non-solid dungeon is unlikely to form interior pockets with hard right angles, although I suppose there's no reason anything would have to be presented in picometer perfect polygonal form. =P

Monster Manual 4 or 5 has Jubilex-tainted Water Elementals, which I think would fit this theme well.

I agree that the use of currents to make wall/transport hallways is a good idea.

Another thought building on the above:  Make the walls out of gelatinous cubes that are each under the effect of a permanent hold monster-type spell.  If the PC's use any area dispel magic effects, the hold monster effects might be dispelled, which would cause them to have to fight the re-animated gelatinous cubes, but would also open a shortcut through a wall once it is defeated.

Edit:  The "best" way of achieving the above is with Temporal Stasis, though that is extremely cost-prohibitive (unless you find a creature that has it as an SLA (or Wish), which would not incur the material component.)
Edit 2: a Quarut Inevitable from the Fiend Folio gets Temporal Stasis as a SLA 3/day.  They concern themselves with maintaining time and space.  Maybe the McGuffin deals with time or space in some way, thus why he built this prison for it?

There was a third party adventure by Monte Cook way back when; Beyond the Veil by Penumbra Press.  It featured a ghost black dragon that had its lair on the ethereal plane.  The walls of the lair were made out of semi-solid acid.
You could do the same thing: semi-solid acid that is difficult to move through, but able to be overcome with time and strength.  Of course, it dealt something like 10d6 acid damage each time you came in contact with it.

Thanks. I gave those books a read-through, and I'm starting to assemble a list of possible creatures to include.

Well, since you and littha both mentioned the cubes, I suppose they're worth looking at a little more... the fragmenting walls idea seems pretty cool, too.

I really like the moaning fire diamond idea for a MacGuffin, but I guess it might relate somehow to space-time... dunno. I think it may be better off simple.

for a liquid based realm, varying the nature of the liquid into regions could give one rooms and even traps. a de-oxygenated area where even water-breathing fails would serve as a nice trap. temperature variations would create visible differences, not to mention being potentially dangerous if extreme. various liquid and semi-liquid monsters abound. cubes, jellies, slimes, molds, even floating kelp forests could give you encounters and divisions of area. in a kelp forest, you could have many creatures being symbiotic. acid elementals would be particularly nasty in a liquid realm. whirlpools, riptides, and other current based movement effects can all add spice. bubbles can also be used for 'rooms' or special areas. especially if the bubbles consist of different gases which have their various effects. a bubble of pure oxygen would eventually poison the party, but not before making them drunk, dizzy, and full of colossally poor judgement. a vacuum bubble would also be interesting, especially if it popped unexpectedly. go from extreme negative barometric pressure to crushing pressure of the deep in a single round. *squish*. parasites in the water, electricity effects nearby...

i can come up with more if you like.

This is all great. Please, do come up with more if you can. This concept is really starting to congeal for me, so I should be able to start building it, soon.

Please, make no mistake, though. Just because the dungeon is entirely non-solid, doesn't mean I intended for it to be completely liquid. Bubbles of gas and vacuum are certainly a must, as are areas filled with slush, silt, froth, steam, energy and stuff that's somewhere right in the middle between liquid and gas.

[ksbsnowowl]

The other liquid/gaseous type creatures to use might be Living Spells.

Hey, isn't there some weird type of "wall creature" template somewhere?  Maybe I'm hallucinating or something, but I vaguely remember seeing someone talk about it.  What if you had a Living Spell Cloudkill that was somehow made into a wall or curtain that the heroes had to get past?

Either way, Living Spell Acid Fogs and Cloudkills would be interesting.

Also, some of the paraelementals from the Manual of the Planes would be cool.  The smoke paraelemental (maybe near the fire moaning gem) and the ice paraelemental have nothing to do with earth.

You could add Orglosh (template, UE) to anything that is an elemental with the air subtype.

[nijineko]

for a liquid based realm, varying the nature of the liquid into regions could give one rooms and even traps. a de-oxygenated area where even water-breathing fails would serve as a nice trap. temperature variations would create visible differences, not to mention being potentially dangerous if extreme. various liquid and semi-liquid monsters abound. cubes, jellies, slimes, molds, even floating kelp forests could give you encounters and divisions of area. in a kelp forest, you could have many creatures being symbiotic. acid elementals would be particularly nasty in a liquid realm. whirlpools, riptides, and other current based movement effects can all add spice. bubbles can also be used for 'rooms' or special areas. especially if the bubbles consist of different gases which have their various effects. a bubble of pure oxygen would eventually poison the party, but not before making them drunk, dizzy, and full of colossally poor judgement. a vacuum bubble would also be interesting, especially if it popped unexpectedly. go from extreme negative barometric pressure to crushing pressure of the deep in a single round. *squish*. parasites in the water, electricity effects nearby...

i can come up with more if you like.

This is all great. Please, do come up with more if you can. This concept is really starting to congeal for me, so I should be able to start building it, soon.

Please, make no mistake, though. Just because the dungeon is entirely non-solid, doesn't mean I intended for it to be completely liquid. Bubbles of gas and vacuum are certainly a must, as are areas filled with slush, silt, froth, steam, energy and stuff that's somewhere right in the middle between liquid and gas.

let's see....

colossal+ sized glass lobsters (completely transparent unless they have recently eaten) call it 90% concealment, due to odd refractiveness of transparent armor shell... of course if what they recently ate had treasure... (this one is for grimtooth. )

leeches... touch attack, can't be felt, can only be spotted, blood sucking / con drain...

phase krakens...

ghost ships full of ghost pirates...

wandering wizard npc encounter in a souped up apparatus of kwalish...

rouge animated/possessed apparatus of kwalish...

colossal+ angler fish... make that lamp tentacle on its' head be about 100' long and it fades into the gloom... heeeeerre party party party...

shark swarm... maybe right after they pluck off the leeches?

electric poisonous jelly fish swarm = 3d maze, can't see, can't touch.

dinosaurs... make one purple and singing and just watch the party go nuts trying to kill it. but seriously, there are some very nasty water going dinosaurs out there to choose from.

hmmm, one of those massive tortoise islands with a sunken city on its' back, or maybe a sunken ship... (if you really want to tweak them, make it a modern submarine or a futuristic starship instead - you'd be keeping up the grand old tradition of every previous version of d&d to boot!)

underwater version of will-o-wisps...

borrow from the bermuda triangle - methane hydrate forms in the deep ocean, or in your situation in areas of intense pressure, possibly even forming crystals. disturb them, or if they move to a low pressure area, and they form a liquid bubble within water that has a density much lower than water, great for sinking ships, or suddenly plunging the party hundreds of feet as the surrounding water loses all buoyancy and becomes unbreathable. not so relevant to you, but it is also lighter than air, so it continues upwards from the ocean surface and kills all fire sources (engines) as it rises. the ocean surface also looks really weird when the methane hydrates "boil" out of the water.

that should be another decent series of suggestions.... ^^