1001 Gladiatorial fight ideas! [Archive] - Wizards Community

1001 Gladiatorial fight ideas! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
roninwolf1981
10-16-07, 12:24 PM Okie dokie....I'm going to be running a campagain based around Gladiatoral combat. Here's the problem: I was going to come up with a whole mess of interesting ideas for the fights and hence the title of this thread. GO GO GO!!

1. The arena is flooded to hold mock naval battles.

2. The Beast Hunt (all manner of critters are loosed into the arena to be slaughtered by the Gladiators).

3. Military Reenactments (Gladiators portray both sides in a reenactment of famous battles. Think watching your local Civil War reenactors but with real bullets!).

4. Gladiator matches.
meto30
10-16-07, 02:24 PM Most gladitorial fights in the late imperial era of the Roman empire were centered around gladiator companies that trained gladiators and managed them much like sports teams do with their athletes. So...

5. Team Deathmatch between companies.

6. Survival Maze Game. Gladiators are in a maze filled with deadly traps and beasts, and have to make it outside to survive.

7. Tournies. Like knights do, but with deadly weapons and poor or no armor.
icuall
10-16-07, 04:24 PM In your Gladiatorial fight.... imagine, you have a lone wizard, standing on a high platform on the edge of the seats..... he finishes his spell.. and summons (Summon Monster or Call etc.) the most hideous, terrifying, horrible monsters for the audience... like a bad train wreck :eek: , they are afraid but want to see....the gladiators are in a fight for their lives against the horrible beasts, aberrations, aliens, & demons.

It's the greatest show in the world.
SilithanDanter
10-16-07, 07:15 PM 9. Trapped matches. Grates spewing out fire, acid pits, spiked walls, all the good stuff.

10. Layered fight. Have some way to add platforms above eachother for combatants to face eachother on. Watch as fighter lunges down at fighter below.

11. Turret matches. A wizard(s) periodically casting AoEs down into the arena to keep combatants moving. Alternatively, arrows can be used in place of spells.

12. Invisibility matches. Have combatants under a Greater Invisibility spell duking it out, with some sort of dome that allows the crowd to see invisibility. The crowd yells, but the combatants have no idea why.

13. Aerial fight. Have a constant fly affect on the combatants, making the fight 3 dimensional. Alternatively, have combatants mounted on flying creatures.

14. Illusions. Have a wizard cast a multitude of illusions around the arena prior to fighting. Watch chaos ensue. For greater fun, have what at first appeared to be an illusion to be a real trap/monster.
Angel Black
10-16-07, 08:29 PM 15 Arena has traps as in Battlebots or World Heroes.
Unluckylukey
10-16-07, 09:38 PM How is this?

Have an arena appearing normal. 2 or more gladiators enter to fight each other but are placed on each side of the arena.

What they do not realise is the arena is full of pit traps. instead of spikes at the bottom, there are all sorts of monsters that the gladiator needs to fight, then get to the surface and find the opponent and defeat him. a gladiator might fall in 3 pits before encountering his enemy.

This could be cool for a lucky gladiator because he may avoid the pits. Or defeat hois monster quickly and get to his opponents pit while the opponent is fighting another monster. the trick is to escape the pit with as little injury as possible and as quick as ppossible.

What do you rekon?
leo_neil316
10-17-07, 10:28 AM 16) A silent jungle full of lots of (harmless but distracting) animals where the gladiators battle it out against a crack team of ninjas/rouges/blackdragons with maxed hide and move silently.

17) Platforms floating on lava, you know you want to.

18) Fill arena with water and have gladiators attempt to retrieve sunken treasure from the shark infested depths.

19) A gigantic chess board with animated pieces that play out a game and strike at anyone who enters their square while two teams battle it out around them.

20) Have three really really tall towers (magical scrying so the audience can watch) for a capture the flag type game, theres platforms on each tower and everyone gets huge bonuses to jump checks (but -no- flight) so the only way to another tower is a leap of faith.

21) Giantslaying (ish). Have a truely -huge- contruct that the gladiators must bring crashing down.

22) AIRBORNE IAJITSU. Gladiators are hurled through the air (by whatever means) and get one strike to put their opponent down.

23) The siege. The gladiators have to hold/assault a small fortress from a horde of monsters/goblins etc.

Remember, this is dnd. Your gladitorial matches don't need to be in the arena anymore. Scrying, viewing and gladiator control is all brought to you by 'MAGE WATCH' tm. Have the audience watching gladiators battle through high level opponents in their prefered territories running man style.
DungeonMastering
10-17-07, 11:30 AM 24) Gladiators have no weapons or only mundane items for weapons but they have to kill the opposition nonetheless. Probably a very gory finish.
Dei
10-17-07, 02:08 PM An important point is that contrary to hollywood lore most gladiatoral matches were actually non-lethal in intent. Gladiators, as has been mentioned, were treated like sporting heros. They were well paid and looked after and had hordes of rabid fans. Training, equipping and maintaining a full team/star gladiator was a massive investment on the part of the managers of said teams and they would be extremely reluctant to risk that investment in a match they felt was likely to end in their death(s).

A gladiator would have to be an out and out coward or similarly annoy the crowd for them to call for his death and there was a high degree of proffessional curtesy between gladiators. They would rarely, if ever actully drive home a blow that would be lethal or maiming and matches usually ended once such a blow was seen to be viable. The gladiator who would have struck the blow held back, the other stood down and both lived to fight another day. Yes there were occassionally spectacles that were meant to be lethal such as the famous man-eating lions, but these usually involved convicted criminals who were as far removed from professional gladiators as a cart horse is from a thoroughbred racehorse.

Perhaps there is a magical effect in the arena that makes all damage non-lethal which is only turned off for special occasions. For things like the tower games (really cool idea btw) perhaps a featherfall effect pervades the arena. Maybe, for a fee, the gladiators can obtain something like a contingency spell which teleports them to the arena infirmary should they go unconscious though perhaps wearing such an item makes them unpopular with the crowd.
Raumz
10-17-07, 05:15 PM 25) Gladiators start on either side of the arena. In the middle on a pedestal about 15 feet high sites a cross bow that is cocked and loaded. It has some sort of insta-kill arrow loaded in it. The gladiators are equipped with armor that can only be pieced by that bolt, all damage is non-lethal. To get the cross bow the gladiators have to have a really good jump skill or climb the pedestal. If a gladiator misses with the cross bow another loaded crossbow appears on the pedestal.
Aryxbez
10-18-07, 06:49 PM Also please forget not that the thumbs down and thumbs up misconception! That Thumbs down meant you live (drop the weapon), and thumbs up means they die (stab him in the throat).

26.) a arena surrounded by fire, perhaps in a 6x6 square room or something, pretty much the fire burns up oxygen needed to breath, and the fight thus has to end swiftly.

27.) Siege/team battle/capture the flag
Team of Gladiators (PC's working together ya!) to take down a fort in the arena. Where they have to use a catapult outside the fort using rocks nearby and there's mud moat in the middle of it, with rocks too. Then they have to fight their way through the fort to the top, and either take a flag, or capture a leader or something? While the enemies have archers at top of wall fort raining down arrows on the PC's, 2-3 or more other gladiators on the outside of the fort to try to stop the PC's using the catapults. Soldiers ready to attack inside, once PC's break door down.

Man I love Gladiators, so roninwolf1981, how do you plan to run this effectively? Without it getting boring for you and the players and all?
Archon-John
10-18-07, 07:19 PM 24) Gladiators have no weapons or only mundane items for weapons but they have to kill the opposition nonetheless. Probably a very gory finish.

Fear the Thayan Gladiator and Reaping Maulers?!
roninwolf1981
10-18-07, 08:41 PM I am aware of the whole Gladiators rarely killing each other thing. However these games are being put on by a high level necromancer (he wouldn't nessisarily mind the variatable font of raw materials).
Basically I started this thread to try to keep things interesting (I don't know how long we'd be playing this campagain, probably only a week or three of two sessions a week).
Also, I'm trying to wrack my brainmeats to come up with the most bizarre, arcane monsters/NPCs as possible. I'd really like to somehow outdo the look on my player's faces when I threw a troll at them with levels in Monk :D .

Me: Okay....a Troll jumps out of the bushes.

Players: Crap! Somebody get a fire spell ready!

Me:Troll wins init...takes a five foot step and....Flurry of Blows!.

Players: :noway: :uh-huh: :bigeyes: :help:

Also there's going to be various and sundry subplots in addition to the horrendous slaughter.
Good ideas, all! Keep them coming!
roninwolf1981
10-19-07, 08:14 AM Remember, this is dnd. Your gladitorial matches don't need to be in the arena anymore. Scrying, viewing and gladiator control is all brought to you by 'MAGE WATCH' tm. Have the audience watching gladiators battle through high level opponents in their prefered territories running man style.

I kinda figured the 'Mage Watch' tm. would be kinda like pay-per-view. :D You know, so that they could watch the games in pubs or people's homes (and the guy putting them on could get even more money).
Dei
10-19-07, 08:35 AM I am aware of the whole Gladiators rarely killing each other thing. However these games are being put on by a high level necromancer (he wouldn't nessisarily mind the variatable font of raw materials).

Well in that case :D:

Minions and Master: The arena is turned into a rocky landscape that is pockmarked with the myriad entrances of a network of tunnels, too small for a medium creature but just right for small creatures to pop in and out of. The minions comprise several teams of small grappling monsters. Maybe variant kobolds with levels in monk/fighter. The fact that there's several of them and that each will have improved grapple will negate their size penalties. Their job is not to kill, it is to strip away the party's resources for when they face the master. Three or four of them jump onto a PC and pin him and then perhaps begin to strip away his items (pg 157phb, once they've pinned they can disarm well secured objects(such as gloves, amulets, rings, boots, helms) but the PC gets a +4 on the grapple check to resist). Once an item has been successfully removed, the kobolds leave the grapple and dive into the tunnels, taking the item with them before the other PCs can arrive and give aid. Perhaps for spellcasters they pour a vile tasting concotion down their throat (relatively low Fort save or suffer 15% spell failure chance for 1d6 hours for vocal components. Possibly stacks with repeat applications up to a maximum of 60%). Once the PCs are sufficiently disrobed/all the kobolds have been killed the true challenge arrives. A troll/ogre or something similar would be a good example of this depending on the PCs levels. Should they survive, the items the kobold's took are returned. Perhaps you could have mundane weapons and shields hanging from the arena walls so that the PCs will not be left completely helpless should the minions succeed in taking all their weapons and armour.

The Dead live!: In the centre of the arena is a large pyramid with steps leading up to the platform at the top and the darkly glowing crystal that resides thereon. This crystal will spawn fairly weak undead every 1d4 rounds and is guarded by (CR appropriate monster). The PCs must battle their way across an arena swarming with enemies who are constantly replenished and fight their way to the top of the pyramid to shatter the crystal.

Both of these scenarios will require the PCs to drastically adapt their tactics from normal battles and should go a long way towards keeping them on their toes. Hope these help.
leo_neil316
10-19-07, 12:38 PM Roninwolf, yeah thats exactly what I was thinking aswell. I mean hell people still go fill the arena's regardless right?

28) The deathsquad. The gladiators must fight a large group of, while individually weaker, opponents that have huge tactical and group feats/bonuses/etc and have to try and spilt them up and whitle them down without getting slaughtered.

29) IT CAME FROM BELOW!!! Teams of gladiators are sent into a featureless sand covered arena one squad at a time, to be greeted by nothing but white sand and the occasional abandoned weapon. Suddenly they get attacked by (insert high burrow speed monster here), darting up to try and snatch them below the sand one at a time.

30) THE ULTIMATE FANSERVICE SHOWDOWN. Low cha gladiators need not apply as they take on a large number of succubi in a posh hotel. Rake in the fans as little miss hot rogue/paladin/whatever fights to avoid being compleately 'level drained'.

31) Catastrophe on ice. Balance checks abound as the gladiators face off against animalistic preadators on their home turf, trying to stay upright and on the ice while under attack providing a new level of challange.
roninwolf1981
10-19-07, 02:25 PM Roninwolf, yeah thats exactly what I was thinking aswell. I mean hell people still go fill the arena's regardless right?

28) The deathsquad. The gladiators must fight a large group of, while individually weaker, opponents that have huge tactical and group feats/bonuses/etc and have to try and spilt them up and whitle them down without getting slaughtered.

29) IT CAME FROM BELOW!!! Teams of gladiators are sent into a featureless sand covered arena one squad at a time, to be greeted by nothing but white sand and the occasional abandoned weapon. Suddenly they get attacked by (insert high burrow speed monster here), darting up to try and snatch them below the sand one at a time.

30) THE ULTIMATE FANSERVICE SHOWDOWN. Low cha gladiators need not apply as they take on a large number of succubi in a posh hotel. Rake in the fans as little miss hot rogue/paladin/whatever fights to avoid being compleately 'level drained'.

31) Catastrophe on ice. Balance checks abound as the gladiators face off against animalistic preadators on their home turf, trying to stay upright and on the ice while under attack providing a new level of challange.

Gorram priceless! I especially like the Icecapades of DOOM! idea :D
roninwolf1981
10-19-07, 04:51 PM 32. Electrified Hell in a Cell. An caged in area with Shocker Lizards tied to it or maybe small Fire Elementals running all over it. (toss your opponent into it and watch the fun!)

Or here's a few of my favorites from ECW back in the day:

33. Barbed Wire match. The interior of the arena has barbed wire hung around it. If you really want to see how nasty something like this can get I'd advise finding a video of a Barbed Wire match between Sabu and Terry Funk in the late ninties...:eek:

34. Scaffolding Match. A series of scaffolding is set up in the middle of the arena (maybe 30 to 40 feet high) with a prize on top. Much scaryness insues as the competitors try to climb to the top of the (shoddy) scaffolding while fighting each other.
echelon_house
10-21-07, 12:31 AM Oho, it's run by a necromancer, is it? Sweet. Have the PCs all enter the arena and fight off other gladiators/monsters/etc in a normal-ish encounter ... except that whenever someone dies (*including* the PCs!) they are revived as undead in 1d4 rounds. The fight keeps going on forever before an endlessly cheering crowd, earning the necromancer ever more gold. The real goal here isn't for the PCs to defeat their enemies like it appears - it's to escape from the arena, and then avoid the necromancer's vengeance at having broken their contract with him.
roninwolf1981
10-23-07, 12:01 PM Fear the Thayan Gladiator and Reaping Maulers?!

I actually thought about having a monster with levels in Reaping Mauler...then I came to my senses and realized I didn't want to spend half the gorram session resolving a gazillion Grapple checks because I can never rememeber the stupid rules for it. Also I realized I could make the critter MUCH scarier if I used the feats I needed for the class for something else...:D
roninwolf1981
10-23-07, 12:08 PM Oho, it's run by a necromancer, is it? Sweet. Have the PCs all enter the arena and fight off other gladiators/monsters/etc in a normal-ish encounter ... except that whenever someone dies (*including* the PCs!) they are revived as undead in 1d4 rounds. The fight keeps going on forever before an endlessly cheering crowd, earning the necromancer ever more gold. The real goal here isn't for the PCs to defeat their enemies like it appears - it's to escape from the arena, and then avoid the necromancer's vengeance at having broken their contract with him.

This sounds interesting, but right now I only have 2 players with 6th level characters. I'm not trying to kill them...YET :plotting: :schemes: :rofl:

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
roninwolf1981 10-16-07, 12:24 PM	Okie dokie....I'm going to be running a campagain based around Gladiatoral combat. Here's the problem: I was going to come up with a whole mess of interesting ideas for the fights and hence the title of this thread. GO GO GO!! 1. The arena is flooded to hold mock naval battles. 2. The Beast Hunt (all manner of critters are loosed into the arena to be slaughtered by the Gladiators). 3. Military Reenactments (Gladiators portray both sides in a reenactment of famous battles. Think watching your local Civil War reenactors but with real bullets!). 4. Gladiator matches.
meto30 10-16-07, 02:24 PM	Most gladitorial fights in the late imperial era of the Roman empire were centered around gladiator companies that trained gladiators and managed them much like sports teams do with their athletes. So... 5. Team Deathmatch between companies. 6. Survival Maze Game. Gladiators are in a maze filled with deadly traps and beasts, and have to make it outside to survive. 7. Tournies. Like knights do, but with deadly weapons and poor or no armor.
icuall 10-16-07, 04:24 PM	In your Gladiatorial fight.... imagine, you have a lone wizard, standing on a high platform on the edge of the seats..... he finishes his spell.. and summons (Summon Monster or Call etc.) the most hideous, terrifying, horrible monsters for the audience... like a bad train wreck :eek: , they are afraid but want to see....the gladiators are in a fight for their lives against the horrible beasts, aberrations, aliens, & demons. It's the greatest show in the world.
SilithanDanter 10-16-07, 07:15 PM	9. Trapped matches. Grates spewing out fire, acid pits, spiked walls, all the good stuff. 10. Layered fight. Have some way to add platforms above eachother for combatants to face eachother on. Watch as fighter lunges down at fighter below. 11. Turret matches. A wizard(s) periodically casting AoEs down into the arena to keep combatants moving. Alternatively, arrows can be used in place of spells. 12. Invisibility matches. Have combatants under a Greater Invisibility spell duking it out, with some sort of dome that allows the crowd to see invisibility. The crowd yells, but the combatants have no idea why. 13. Aerial fight. Have a constant fly affect on the combatants, making the fight 3 dimensional. Alternatively, have combatants mounted on flying creatures. 14. Illusions. Have a wizard cast a multitude of illusions around the arena prior to fighting. Watch chaos ensue. For greater fun, have what at first appeared to be an illusion to be a real trap/monster.
Angel Black 10-16-07, 08:29 PM	15 Arena has traps as in Battlebots or World Heroes.
Unluckylukey 10-16-07, 09:38 PM	How is this? Have an arena appearing normal. 2 or more gladiators enter to fight each other but are placed on each side of the arena. What they do not realise is the arena is full of pit traps. instead of spikes at the bottom, there are all sorts of monsters that the gladiator needs to fight, then get to the surface and find the opponent and defeat him. a gladiator might fall in 3 pits before encountering his enemy. This could be cool for a lucky gladiator because he may avoid the pits. Or defeat hois monster quickly and get to his opponents pit while the opponent is fighting another monster. the trick is to escape the pit with as little injury as possible and as quick as ppossible. What do you rekon?
leo_neil316 10-17-07, 10:28 AM	16) A silent jungle full of lots of (harmless but distracting) animals where the gladiators battle it out against a crack team of ninjas/rouges/blackdragons with maxed hide and move silently. 17) Platforms floating on lava, you know you want to. 18) Fill arena with water and have gladiators attempt to retrieve sunken treasure from the shark infested depths. 19) A gigantic chess board with animated pieces that play out a game and strike at anyone who enters their square while two teams battle it out around them. 20) Have three really really tall towers (magical scrying so the audience can watch) for a capture the flag type game, theres platforms on each tower and everyone gets huge bonuses to jump checks (but -no- flight) so the only way to another tower is a leap of faith. 21) Giantslaying (ish). Have a truely -huge- contruct that the gladiators must bring crashing down. 22) AIRBORNE IAJITSU. Gladiators are hurled through the air (by whatever means) and get one strike to put their opponent down. 23) The siege. The gladiators have to hold/assault a small fortress from a horde of monsters/goblins etc. Remember, this is dnd. Your gladitorial matches don't need to be in the arena anymore. Scrying, viewing and gladiator control is all brought to you by 'MAGE WATCH' tm. Have the audience watching gladiators battle through high level opponents in their prefered territories running man style.
DungeonMastering 10-17-07, 11:30 AM	24) Gladiators have no weapons or only mundane items for weapons but they have to kill the opposition nonetheless. Probably a very gory finish.
Dei 10-17-07, 02:08 PM	An important point is that contrary to hollywood lore most gladiatoral matches were actually non-lethal in intent. Gladiators, as has been mentioned, were treated like sporting heros. They were well paid and looked after and had hordes of rabid fans. Training, equipping and maintaining a full team/star gladiator was a massive investment on the part of the managers of said teams and they would be extremely reluctant to risk that investment in a match they felt was likely to end in their death(s). A gladiator would have to be an out and out coward or similarly annoy the crowd for them to call for his death and there was a high degree of proffessional curtesy between gladiators. They would rarely, if ever actully drive home a blow that would be lethal or maiming and matches usually ended once such a blow was seen to be viable. The gladiator who would have struck the blow held back, the other stood down and both lived to fight another day. Yes there were occassionally spectacles that were meant to be lethal such as the famous man-eating lions, but these usually involved convicted criminals who were as far removed from professional gladiators as a cart horse is from a thoroughbred racehorse. Perhaps there is a magical effect in the arena that makes all damage non-lethal which is only turned off for special occasions. For things like the tower games (really cool idea btw) perhaps a featherfall effect pervades the arena. Maybe, for a fee, the gladiators can obtain something like a contingency spell which teleports them to the arena infirmary should they go unconscious though perhaps wearing such an item makes them unpopular with the crowd.
Raumz 10-17-07, 05:15 PM	25) Gladiators start on either side of the arena. In the middle on a pedestal about 15 feet high sites a cross bow that is cocked and loaded. It has some sort of insta-kill arrow loaded in it. The gladiators are equipped with armor that can only be pieced by that bolt, all damage is non-lethal. To get the cross bow the gladiators have to have a really good jump skill or climb the pedestal. If a gladiator misses with the cross bow another loaded crossbow appears on the pedestal.
Aryxbez 10-18-07, 06:49 PM	Also please forget not that the thumbs down and thumbs up misconception! That Thumbs down meant you live (drop the weapon), and thumbs up means they die (stab him in the throat). 26.) a arena surrounded by fire, perhaps in a 6x6 square room or something, pretty much the fire burns up oxygen needed to breath, and the fight thus has to end swiftly. 27.) Siege/team battle/capture the flag Team of Gladiators (PC's working together ya!) to take down a fort in the arena. Where they have to use a catapult outside the fort using rocks nearby and there's mud moat in the middle of it, with rocks too. Then they have to fight their way through the fort to the top, and either take a flag, or capture a leader or something? While the enemies have archers at top of wall fort raining down arrows on the PC's, 2-3 or more other gladiators on the outside of the fort to try to stop the PC's using the catapults. Soldiers ready to attack inside, once PC's break door down. Man I love Gladiators, so roninwolf1981, how do you plan to run this effectively? Without it getting boring for you and the players and all?
Archon-John 10-18-07, 07:19 PM	24) Gladiators have no weapons or only mundane items for weapons but they have to kill the opposition nonetheless. Probably a very gory finish. Fear the Thayan Gladiator and Reaping Maulers?!
roninwolf1981 10-18-07, 08:41 PM	I am aware of the whole Gladiators rarely killing each other thing. However these games are being put on by a high level necromancer (he wouldn't nessisarily mind the variatable font of raw materials). Basically I started this thread to try to keep things interesting (I don't know how long we'd be playing this campagain, probably only a week or three of two sessions a week). Also, I'm trying to wrack my brainmeats to come up with the most bizarre, arcane monsters/NPCs as possible. I'd really like to somehow outdo the look on my player's faces when I threw a troll at them with levels in Monk :D . Me: Okay....a Troll jumps out of the bushes. Players: Crap! Somebody get a fire spell ready! Me:Troll wins init...takes a five foot step and....Flurry of Blows!. Players: :noway: :uh-huh: :bigeyes: :help: Also there's going to be various and sundry subplots in addition to the horrendous slaughter. Good ideas, all! Keep them coming!
roninwolf1981 10-19-07, 08:14 AM	Remember, this is dnd. Your gladitorial matches don't need to be in the arena anymore. Scrying, viewing and gladiator control is all brought to you by 'MAGE WATCH' tm. Have the audience watching gladiators battle through high level opponents in their prefered territories running man style. I kinda figured the 'Mage Watch' tm. would be kinda like pay-per-view. :D You know, so that they could watch the games in pubs or people's homes (and the guy putting them on could get even more money).
Dei 10-19-07, 08:35 AM	I am aware of the whole Gladiators rarely killing each other thing. However these games are being put on by a high level necromancer (he wouldn't nessisarily mind the variatable font of raw materials). Well in that case :D: Minions and Master: The arena is turned into a rocky landscape that is pockmarked with the myriad entrances of a network of tunnels, too small for a medium creature but just right for small creatures to pop in and out of. The minions comprise several teams of small grappling monsters. Maybe variant kobolds with levels in monk/fighter. The fact that there's several of them and that each will have improved grapple will negate their size penalties. Their job is not to kill, it is to strip away the party's resources for when they face the master. Three or four of them jump onto a PC and pin him and then perhaps begin to strip away his items (pg 157phb, once they've pinned they can disarm well secured objects(such as gloves, amulets, rings, boots, helms) but the PC gets a +4 on the grapple check to resist). Once an item has been successfully removed, the kobolds leave the grapple and dive into the tunnels, taking the item with them before the other PCs can arrive and give aid. Perhaps for spellcasters they pour a vile tasting concotion down their throat (relatively low Fort save or suffer 15% spell failure chance for 1d6 hours for vocal components. Possibly stacks with repeat applications up to a maximum of 60%). Once the PCs are sufficiently disrobed/all the kobolds have been killed the true challenge arrives. A troll/ogre or something similar would be a good example of this depending on the PCs levels. Should they survive, the items the kobold's took are returned. Perhaps you could have mundane weapons and shields hanging from the arena walls so that the PCs will not be left completely helpless should the minions succeed in taking all their weapons and armour. The Dead live!: In the centre of the arena is a large pyramid with steps leading up to the platform at the top and the darkly glowing crystal that resides thereon. This crystal will spawn fairly weak undead every 1d4 rounds and is guarded by (CR appropriate monster). The PCs must battle their way across an arena swarming with enemies who are constantly replenished and fight their way to the top of the pyramid to shatter the crystal. Both of these scenarios will require the PCs to drastically adapt their tactics from normal battles and should go a long way towards keeping them on their toes. Hope these help.
leo_neil316 10-19-07, 12:38 PM	Roninwolf, yeah thats exactly what I was thinking aswell. I mean hell people still go fill the arena's regardless right? 28) The deathsquad. The gladiators must fight a large group of, while individually weaker, opponents that have huge tactical and group feats/bonuses/etc and have to try and spilt them up and whitle them down without getting slaughtered. 29) IT CAME FROM BELOW!!! Teams of gladiators are sent into a featureless sand covered arena one squad at a time, to be greeted by nothing but white sand and the occasional abandoned weapon. Suddenly they get attacked by (insert high burrow speed monster here), darting up to try and snatch them below the sand one at a time. 30) THE ULTIMATE FANSERVICE SHOWDOWN. Low cha gladiators need not apply as they take on a large number of succubi in a posh hotel. Rake in the fans as little miss hot rogue/paladin/whatever fights to avoid being compleately 'level drained'. 31) Catastrophe on ice. Balance checks abound as the gladiators face off against animalistic preadators on their home turf, trying to stay upright and on the ice while under attack providing a new level of challange.
roninwolf1981 10-19-07, 02:25 PM	Roninwolf, yeah thats exactly what I was thinking aswell. I mean hell people still go fill the arena's regardless right? 28) The deathsquad. The gladiators must fight a large group of, while individually weaker, opponents that have huge tactical and group feats/bonuses/etc and have to try and spilt them up and whitle them down without getting slaughtered. 29) IT CAME FROM BELOW!!! Teams of gladiators are sent into a featureless sand covered arena one squad at a time, to be greeted by nothing but white sand and the occasional abandoned weapon. Suddenly they get attacked by (insert high burrow speed monster here), darting up to try and snatch them below the sand one at a time. 30) THE ULTIMATE FANSERVICE SHOWDOWN. Low cha gladiators need not apply as they take on a large number of succubi in a posh hotel. Rake in the fans as little miss hot rogue/paladin/whatever fights to avoid being compleately 'level drained'. 31) Catastrophe on ice. Balance checks abound as the gladiators face off against animalistic preadators on their home turf, trying to stay upright and on the ice while under attack providing a new level of challange. Gorram priceless! I especially like the Icecapades of DOOM! idea :D
roninwolf1981 10-19-07, 04:51 PM	32. Electrified Hell in a Cell. An caged in area with Shocker Lizards tied to it or maybe small Fire Elementals running all over it. (toss your opponent into it and watch the fun!) Or here's a few of my favorites from ECW back in the day: 33. Barbed Wire match. The interior of the arena has barbed wire hung around it. If you really want to see how nasty something like this can get I'd advise finding a video of a Barbed Wire match between Sabu and Terry Funk in the late ninties...:eek: 34. Scaffolding Match. A series of scaffolding is set up in the middle of the arena (maybe 30 to 40 feet high) with a prize on top. Much scaryness insues as the competitors try to climb to the top of the (shoddy) scaffolding while fighting each other.
echelon_house 10-21-07, 12:31 AM	Oho, it's run by a necromancer, is it? Sweet. Have the PCs all enter the arena and fight off other gladiators/monsters/etc in a normal-ish encounter ... except that whenever someone dies (including the PCs!) they are revived as undead in 1d4 rounds. The fight keeps going on forever before an endlessly cheering crowd, earning the necromancer ever more gold. The real goal here isn't for the PCs to defeat their enemies like it appears - it's to escape from the arena, and then avoid the necromancer's vengeance at having broken their contract with him.
roninwolf1981 10-23-07, 12:01 PM	Fear the Thayan Gladiator and Reaping Maulers?! I actually thought about having a monster with levels in Reaping Mauler...then I came to my senses and realized I didn't want to spend half the gorram session resolving a gazillion Grapple checks because I can never rememeber the stupid rules for it. Also I realized I could make the critter MUCH scarier if I used the feats I needed for the class for something else...:D
roninwolf1981 10-23-07, 12:08 PM	Oho, it's run by a necromancer, is it? Sweet. Have the PCs all enter the arena and fight off other gladiators/monsters/etc in a normal-ish encounter ... except that whenever someone dies (including the PCs!) they are revived as undead in 1d4 rounds. The fight keeps going on forever before an endlessly cheering crowd, earning the necromancer ever more gold. The real goal here isn't for the PCs to defeat their enemies like it appears - it's to escape from the arena, and then avoid the necromancer's vengeance at having broken their contract with him. This sounds interesting, but right now I only have 2 players with 6th level characters. I'm not trying to kill them...YET :plotting: :schemes: :rofl: