Post/Author/DateTime	Post
John Bezo 02-18-05, 03:07 PM	Hi. I am hoping that some of you would bless my humble person with a couple of ideas concerning a bit of devious DMing about: A maze, a minatuar and some dragons In the near future my players will be asked to go to the foothills in the north to investigate some reports of dragons. Now there are not any true dragons in the area, but the local peasants don't really know the difference between a fell drake, and a dragon. Behind the recent "dragon" problem is a NE druid that is breeding these "dragons" to go forth and cleanse the land of the vile humans. The druid happens to be an ex fighter minatuar, who always was a bit different. After some migrating orcs wiped out his small tribe, he limped off into the woods and prepared to die. But after a while the forest and the animals seemed to start to take care of him. And he converted to being a druid. Now he is a high level druid who lives in a valley not to far to the north, in a dark grove of trees, that has a hedge/thorn maze as its center. I fully expect the PC's to try to get rid of this problem, but given the fact that there are 2 druids and a ranger in the group, they might end up having "moral" problems with this one. All of this leads to my questions. 1: the hedge maze: I am thinking that it will be a 2 level maze with ramps and pits that go from the above ground hedge/thorn part to a tunnel complex. The tunnel complex is what will house the breeding pits for the "dragons". The maze will end up being about 1/4-mile sq. Does any one know of a program, a download, or books that would have easy to read mazes that are multiple levels? Or am I just stuck drawing it up my self 2: The dragons: I have the Dracononicon being sent to me as we speak, and it will give me a bunch of things to look at. But has anyone every come across a dragon subtype creature that has the minatuars maze logic. I was thinking I could look into crossing fell-drakes, with green dragons, to get a NE, forest type of wingless beast that still has a breath weapon and trackless step. But there might be something out there like that now and I just don't have it yet. And I still want them to be able to use the maze to the fullest. Any ideas? 3: The druid: He has multiple animal companions along with feats/items to increase number of HD he can have. He has a family of brown bears guarding the northern exit to the valley. And murder of crows, to act as scouts. And a nest of small vipers, that wiggle through the maze to cause chaos. And a wolf pack that he hunts with. But he has 10 HD left to fill. And I am at a loss for what he should have. It is a standard mid-northern climate, on the southern end of a large mountain range. So lions and tigers are out. I was thinking apes. Or even dire apes, but between himself, the "dragons", and bears he already has allot of big bruisers. And the wolves cover the speed/pack issue. So I am just at a loss, I might end up leaving those HD empty, if nothing ends up fitting just right. J.
Tusz 02-18-05, 03:21 PM	For the extra 10 HD of animals: You could give him a pack of wolves to serve as his honor guard, so to speak. Can't help with the dragons. For the maze, you could always take two random normal mazes, and connect them via the pits and ramps at corresponding dead ends.
Vharuck 02-18-05, 03:38 PM	http://www.math.com/students/puzzles/mazegen/mazegen.html Adjust H and W to make larger or smaller mazes. Try the other Theorems for different patterns. Have fun!
Crossover-Chronicler 02-18-05, 03:50 PM	1. I think you're stuck drawing it yourself. There are mapmaking programs out there, but I have yet to find good downloadable ones. 2. Aren't felldrakes "always Neutral Good"? As for crossbreeding , order for the druid to create half-Green felldrakes, there would probably still need to be a green dragin involved. 3. What about mountain cats, to act as lone hunter/scouts? Another option would be "more of any of the above." Finally, you might want to include a body of water (a river, perhaps) and some aquatic minions. As far as the party's ranger and druids: the evil druid is producing unnatural and dangerous creatures, so you could always try to spark some moral outrage that way...
+1 GM of Waffling 02-18-05, 04:16 PM	You'll want something that can fly, so that your clever PC's don't try to go above the maze, but through it. D.
John Bezo 02-18-05, 04:19 PM	Yeah fell drakes are "always" good. and Interbeeding them with a green dragon would involve a dragon at somepoint. Which I want to avoid. Greens are LE and that just doesn't fit with the druid at all.. Plus I like to keep real dragons few and far between.. making them all the move awsume when they do show up. But that is another reson why I am waiting on the Dracononicon. To see what kind of beasties I can use. OTOH: I think it might be possible thru DM nastyness, and dark druid magics to craft a beast that uses a fell-drake as a base, but have them be NE, and green dragon like. With out ever having to involve a actual green dragon. I can seem to reason out how to incorparate the maze/cunning of a minataur though. I could always just do it being a DM and all. But I like to know why my creatures can do the thing they do. -------------------------------------------- Flyers might be a good idea, but I was planing on having the maze being grown over. An interlocking archway or thorns and vines. Somethey could hack thru, but then the maze itself wouldn't support their weight once they are up there. They would all sink into the thorn walls, and get entangled. they might come up with a way for all of them get above it and stay above it. And that might be a problem. Are Spider-eaters, considered animals.. they fly and are nasty in a group. Or since the maze is in a dark grove of trees there could be snow monkies swinging from vines, trying to knock the PCs back down into the maze. Hmmmmmmm.... J.
Fixxxer 02-18-05, 07:18 PM	Any time you're in need of maze maps with different levels, do a google search for "Wizardry +maps" and see what you come up with. The old Wizardry games....ah, my youth rehashed and chopped up to conform to d20 specs. Tasty.
Saurenda 02-18-05, 07:38 PM	Tartaurian dragons share minotaurs maze logic and cannot be imprisoned while they have freedom of movement and entrapment spells as natural abilities. They fly too. ^^ Also in the Draconomicon.
John Bezo 02-19-05, 08:55 AM	WOW, Fixxer those maps/mazes are perfect. Thanks allot, I think my players might grow to hate you for showing me that link.. if I told them where I got it... As for the "dragons" minus finding somthing really cool in the Dracononicon, I am either going to go with "Ambush drakes" or "lesser Bramblthorns" Both from MM3. the Ambush drakes, are NE, mostly ground based dragon type monsters, with a "slow" BW and a telepathic pack ablity. They do fly by only when needed. They Won't fit the maze idea, but.. Or the lesser Bramblethorn impaler, Which is a plant/thorn construct, that is farther away from dragons then I wanted to go, but it makes sense with a high level druid. I am still torn between a water based animal, or a airborn animal to fill out the druids coompainions but Thanks to everyone for all the ideas and info. You "guys" are all great. J. P.S. the info Fixxer provided is really great, it provided a ton of sites, each having a large number of maps/mazes that link to others to create multiple level mazes. It is really outstanding stuff.