"Suddenly, the statue comes to life..." [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Suddenly, the statue comes to life..." [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
sspiroff
07-08-05, 12:02 PM I have an idea for an encounter I want to try, but I'm not sure how to apply rules to it, or if I even need to. Basically our brave adventurers will come upon a statue of a relatively weak create (orc, goblin, or something) in the center of a small room, maybe 30x30. If someone touches the statue, or maybe comes within 5 ft. of it, it will spring to life an attack.

The next room they enter will be a long corridor, say 100+ ft long, lined with statues of various really nasty creatures. The kicker is that these are just plain statues.

So what would the statue in the previous room be? I thought of a mimic, but I'd rather have the group *think* that the statues second room will actually become the creatures they portray and not just a room full of mimics. Is there some spell or other magic that would hold this first creature in stasis until someone touches or approaches it? Or maybe I don't need a rule of some sort, and it's just a darned magical statue. Thoughts?
Radijs
07-08-05, 12:07 PM What would be an extra kicker is if you make the first statue a tough fight. Make the players use a lot of their resources. Then the corridor full of even tougher statues look even more intimidating. Oh and if the first statue is magical make sure there's a magical aura in the corridor to make it look even more like the statues in the hall will come to life.
StormCrow42
07-08-05, 12:10 PM You could make the statue an animated object. You can use this to increase the difficulty of the combat slightly, as animated objects have the hardness of whatever they're made out of. This should give your players something to think about when they're looking at the hallway.
Amurmur_In_The_Shadows
07-08-05, 12:11 PM Maybe in the last room have it filled with statues yet only have a few come to live.
cambric
07-08-05, 12:22 PM Have it be a gargoyle?

Or just an "animated" stone statue?

The toughest part could be having a "reason" why this statue is sitting all by itself in a large room.

I would have it in the center, with a bunch of other items...like a cluttered closet, but obviously 30x30...maybe a wizard puts his discarded stuff in this room and forgot that this particular item was magical...?

Cam
Bruunwald
07-08-05, 12:43 PM In a current side-quest, I have three statues left animated by an ancient culture, that are keyed to begin moving when the party gets halfway across the chamber.

This is a ancient D&D trick. Living creatures can't survive without an ecology, which means to populate an abandoned dungeon you need non-living creatures, such as constructs and undead.

I don't always want to use golems, because their nature gives them away quickly and they're often too powerful for what I need them for.

It's perfectly acceptible to think that some ancient wizard used his Craft Wonderous Item feat to use only animate object to create a guardian. Most magical items, wonderous ones included, give only a single spell in their creation blocks. You can choose any trigger. It is magic, after all.

Use animated object from the MM. For a more memorable encounter, choose a material for your statue that has a greater hardness. Muck with it a little. Increase the hit points without increasing the size, or vice-versa. It's really up to you. I have one of my statues with two weapons in its hands, so I gave it an extra attack, a haste ability like a clay golem has, and a magical "venom" from a bite attack (it's a snakeman statue), that casts slow on a failed save (4 rounds). I created it as a large size stone statue and increased the CR by 2.

Or if you want something really new, pick up Complete Arcane and use an effigy creature.
Mystyc
07-08-05, 12:50 PM For pure simplicity's sake, the statue could be a goblin who has been Flesh to Stone'd. When the players breach the "trap zone," that being your 5' radius, the "trap" casts Stone to Flesh. The "trap" DC to find or disarm should, however, be pretty high if you don't want a lucky rogue to foil your well-laid plans.
DragonDeadite
07-08-05, 12:54 PM Mmmmmm... Effigy creature... Those are always fun. I was going to suggest the same thing!!! If not that then look in the Lords of Madness and have it be a Greater Echilon (spelled wrong I'm sure..) which is a form of Golem that's a bit nastier. If they're too low of a level for a golem then I'd just leave it as an animated object.
Siduakal
07-08-05, 01:27 PM A way to explain why there is just one or two statues in the room (The ones they fight)

Make it two, and make them on each side of the door into that hallway. Have'em come to life and attack when they touch the door to open it (Or touch the statues or something of value in the room)

Then have the corridor FULL of statues, but none that come to life. Make the two they fight a tough fight so that they're worried the whole way down the hall.
Elendur
07-08-05, 01:36 PM You don't need to conform to an existing monster, but you do need to work out the rules for it. ie stat the monster out correctly. You can just make it a construct with enough HD to be a challenge.

Remember the monsters you use don't have to be in a book, and the items and effects in your dungeon don't have to conform to standard spells and creation rules.
CryoSilver
07-08-05, 01:40 PM Or a stone golem. Stone gooems always work, if the party is the right level to take one on.
PenderGrass
07-08-05, 01:42 PM You can go all the way back to the original Greyhawk Castle for this scenario.

Gygax used Caryatid<sp?> for his epic dungeon setting.

I don't remember seeing them in any of the MMs, though.

:dragon:

****
Bruunwald
07-08-05, 01:42 PM You don't need to conform to an existing monster, but you do need to work out the rules for it. ie stat the monster out correctly. You can just make it a construct with enough HD to be a challenge.

Remember the monsters you use don't have to be in a book, and the items and effects in your dungeon don't have to conform to standard spells and creation rules.

Absolutely, as long as the stats and the reward are fair, you can think up anything.
Sildatorak
07-08-05, 03:19 PM I suggest that you have the statue be inanimate to begin with, but a magical trap is set in the area that casts animate object when triggered. Just make sure that the conditions that trigger it are something the monsters in the dungeon won't trigger.

Gygax used Caryatid<sp?> for his epic dungeon setting.
They're in fiend folio.
RavenoftheCrags
07-08-05, 04:06 PM Perhaps it could be a stone golem that has actually been fashioned. Most are vaguely humanoid but I don't see why a constructive wizard couldnt give it the likeness of a demon, a dragon or a walrus.
High Octane
07-08-05, 04:25 PM I have an idea for an encounter I want to try, but I'm not sure how to apply rules to it, or if I even need to. Basically our brave adventurers will come upon a statue of a relatively weak create (orc, goblin, or something) in the center of a small room, maybe 30x30. If someone touches the statue, or maybe comes within 5 ft. of it, it will spring to life an attack.

The next room they enter will be a long corridor, say 100+ ft long, lined with statues of various really nasty creatures. The kicker is that these are just plain statues.

So what would the statue in the previous room be? I thought of a mimic, but I'd rather have the group *think* that the statues second room will actually become the creatures they portray and not just a room full of mimics. Is there some spell or other magic that would hold this first creature in stasis until someone touches or approaches it? Or maybe I don't need a rule of some sort, and it's just a darned magical statue. Thoughts?

That is evil and sadistic in ways that warp players minds and leave them piping mad at their DM for their own paranoia.

I tip my hat to you sir. I love it.

Anyway, you can use animated object, or just build a construct using the monster manual.
Edymnion
07-08-05, 04:30 PM I'd use a Small sized Clay or Stone Golem.
They can be sculpted to look like anything you want them to, so all you'd have to do is scale one down to the size you want, say it looks like a goblin, and there you go. Just don't TELL your players what it is. Far as they know, its just a stone statue of a goblin thats come to life, they don't know what it is.
Aeolus91
07-08-05, 04:33 PM I did something like this once. I had a HUGE statue of a balor demon with glowing ruby eyes and holding a giant flaming whip standing in front of an open doorway with piles of gold in the room beyond. The statue was just a statue, but the characters were so scared of it that they never took the treasure. I never told them that it was just a statue.

All my players are such metagamers that they automatically assume that all statues, paintings, anything that I describe that I wouldn't normally is actually something really dangerous. The rogue once spent 30 mins poking and prodding at a statue because he thought it would animate. It was just a normal statue, but just because I was mad at him for metagaming, it animated and squished his head in one attack. This guy was kicked out for a variety of reasons soon after.

I think my players are so paranoid because of this one adventure I wrote where nearly every unattended object was either a trap, or animated, or was something even more devious. The torch brackets on the walls shot fireballs if you got near them, all the statues animated, the paintings concealed poison darts, the doorknobs jolted you with electricity.... God, I loved that one.
Phrennzy
07-08-05, 05:03 PM I have an idea for an encounter I want to try, but I'm not sure how to apply rules to it, or if I even need to. Basically our brave adventurers will come upon a statue of a relatively weak create (orc, goblin, or something) in the center of a small room, maybe 30x30. If someone touches the statue, or maybe comes within 5 ft. of it, it will spring to life an attack.

The next room they enter will be a long corridor, say 100+ ft long, lined with statues of various really nasty creatures. The kicker is that these are just plain statues.

So what would the statue in the previous room be? I thought of a mimic, but I'd rather have the group *think* that the statues second room will actually become the creatures they portray and not just a room full of mimics. Is there some spell or other magic that would hold this first creature in stasis until someone touches or approaches it? Or maybe I don't need a rule of some sort, and it's just a darned magical statue. Thoughts?

You answered your own question.
Mirikon
07-08-05, 06:16 PM Statue spell + Permananecy. Think about it. They appear to be perfectly normal statues, but at a moment's notice they can come to life, and attack!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sspiroff 07-08-05, 12:02 PM	I have an idea for an encounter I want to try, but I'm not sure how to apply rules to it, or if I even need to. Basically our brave adventurers will come upon a statue of a relatively weak create (orc, goblin, or something) in the center of a small room, maybe 30x30. If someone touches the statue, or maybe comes within 5 ft. of it, it will spring to life an attack. The next room they enter will be a long corridor, say 100+ ft long, lined with statues of various really nasty creatures. The kicker is that these are just plain statues. So what would the statue in the previous room be? I thought of a mimic, but I'd rather have the group think that the statues second room will actually become the creatures they portray and not just a room full of mimics. Is there some spell or other magic that would hold this first creature in stasis until someone touches or approaches it? Or maybe I don't need a rule of some sort, and it's just a darned magical statue. Thoughts?
Radijs 07-08-05, 12:07 PM	What would be an extra kicker is if you make the first statue a tough fight. Make the players use a lot of their resources. Then the corridor full of even tougher statues look even more intimidating. Oh and if the first statue is magical make sure there's a magical aura in the corridor to make it look even more like the statues in the hall will come to life.
StormCrow42 07-08-05, 12:10 PM	You could make the statue an animated object. You can use this to increase the difficulty of the combat slightly, as animated objects have the hardness of whatever they're made out of. This should give your players something to think about when they're looking at the hallway.
Amurmur_In_The_Shadows 07-08-05, 12:11 PM	Maybe in the last room have it filled with statues yet only have a few come to live.
cambric 07-08-05, 12:22 PM	Have it be a gargoyle? Or just an "animated" stone statue? The toughest part could be having a "reason" why this statue is sitting all by itself in a large room. I would have it in the center, with a bunch of other items...like a cluttered closet, but obviously 30x30...maybe a wizard puts his discarded stuff in this room and forgot that this particular item was magical...? Cam
Bruunwald 07-08-05, 12:43 PM	In a current side-quest, I have three statues left animated by an ancient culture, that are keyed to begin moving when the party gets halfway across the chamber. This is a ancient D&D trick. Living creatures can't survive without an ecology, which means to populate an abandoned dungeon you need non-living creatures, such as constructs and undead. I don't always want to use golems, because their nature gives them away quickly and they're often too powerful for what I need them for. It's perfectly acceptible to think that some ancient wizard used his Craft Wonderous Item feat to use only animate object to create a guardian. Most magical items, wonderous ones included, give only a single spell in their creation blocks. You can choose any trigger. It is magic, after all. Use animated object from the MM. For a more memorable encounter, choose a material for your statue that has a greater hardness. Muck with it a little. Increase the hit points without increasing the size, or vice-versa. It's really up to you. I have one of my statues with two weapons in its hands, so I gave it an extra attack, a haste ability like a clay golem has, and a magical "venom" from a bite attack (it's a snakeman statue), that casts slow on a failed save (4 rounds). I created it as a large size stone statue and increased the CR by 2. Or if you want something really new, pick up Complete Arcane and use an effigy creature.
Mystyc 07-08-05, 12:50 PM	For pure simplicity's sake, the statue could be a goblin who has been Flesh to Stone'd. When the players breach the "trap zone," that being your 5' radius, the "trap" casts Stone to Flesh. The "trap" DC to find or disarm should, however, be pretty high if you don't want a lucky rogue to foil your well-laid plans.
DragonDeadite 07-08-05, 12:54 PM	Mmmmmm... Effigy creature... Those are always fun. I was going to suggest the same thing!!! If not that then look in the Lords of Madness and have it be a Greater Echilon (spelled wrong I'm sure..) which is a form of Golem that's a bit nastier. If they're too low of a level for a golem then I'd just leave it as an animated object.
Siduakal 07-08-05, 01:27 PM	A way to explain why there is just one or two statues in the room (The ones they fight) Make it two, and make them on each side of the door into that hallway. Have'em come to life and attack when they touch the door to open it (Or touch the statues or something of value in the room) Then have the corridor FULL of statues, but none that come to life. Make the two they fight a tough fight so that they're worried the whole way down the hall.
Elendur 07-08-05, 01:36 PM	You don't need to conform to an existing monster, but you do need to work out the rules for it. ie stat the monster out correctly. You can just make it a construct with enough HD to be a challenge. Remember the monsters you use don't have to be in a book, and the items and effects in your dungeon don't have to conform to standard spells and creation rules.
CryoSilver 07-08-05, 01:40 PM	Or a stone golem. Stone gooems always work, if the party is the right level to take one on.
PenderGrass 07-08-05, 01:42 PM	You can go all the way back to the original Greyhawk Castle for this scenario. Gygax used Caryatid<sp?> for his epic dungeon setting. I don't remember seeing them in any of the MMs, though. :dragon: ****
Bruunwald 07-08-05, 01:42 PM	You don't need to conform to an existing monster, but you do need to work out the rules for it. ie stat the monster out correctly. You can just make it a construct with enough HD to be a challenge. Remember the monsters you use don't have to be in a book, and the items and effects in your dungeon don't have to conform to standard spells and creation rules. Absolutely, as long as the stats and the reward are fair, you can think up anything.
Sildatorak 07-08-05, 03:19 PM	I suggest that you have the statue be inanimate to begin with, but a magical trap is set in the area that casts animate object when triggered. Just make sure that the conditions that trigger it are something the monsters in the dungeon won't trigger. Gygax used Caryatid<sp?> for his epic dungeon setting. They're in fiend folio.
RavenoftheCrags 07-08-05, 04:06 PM	Perhaps it could be a stone golem that has actually been fashioned. Most are vaguely humanoid but I don't see why a constructive wizard couldnt give it the likeness of a demon, a dragon or a walrus.
High Octane 07-08-05, 04:25 PM	I have an idea for an encounter I want to try, but I'm not sure how to apply rules to it, or if I even need to. Basically our brave adventurers will come upon a statue of a relatively weak create (orc, goblin, or something) in the center of a small room, maybe 30x30. If someone touches the statue, or maybe comes within 5 ft. of it, it will spring to life an attack. The next room they enter will be a long corridor, say 100+ ft long, lined with statues of various really nasty creatures. The kicker is that these are just plain statues. So what would the statue in the previous room be? I thought of a mimic, but I'd rather have the group think that the statues second room will actually become the creatures they portray and not just a room full of mimics. Is there some spell or other magic that would hold this first creature in stasis until someone touches or approaches it? Or maybe I don't need a rule of some sort, and it's just a darned magical statue. Thoughts? That is evil and sadistic in ways that warp players minds and leave them piping mad at their DM for their own paranoia. I tip my hat to you sir. I love it. Anyway, you can use animated object, or just build a construct using the monster manual.
Edymnion 07-08-05, 04:30 PM	I'd use a Small sized Clay or Stone Golem. They can be sculpted to look like anything you want them to, so all you'd have to do is scale one down to the size you want, say it looks like a goblin, and there you go. Just don't TELL your players what it is. Far as they know, its just a stone statue of a goblin thats come to life, they don't know what it is.
Aeolus91 07-08-05, 04:33 PM	I did something like this once. I had a HUGE statue of a balor demon with glowing ruby eyes and holding a giant flaming whip standing in front of an open doorway with piles of gold in the room beyond. The statue was just a statue, but the characters were so scared of it that they never took the treasure. I never told them that it was just a statue. All my players are such metagamers that they automatically assume that all statues, paintings, anything that I describe that I wouldn't normally is actually something really dangerous. The rogue once spent 30 mins poking and prodding at a statue because he thought it would animate. It was just a normal statue, but just because I was mad at him for metagaming, it animated and squished his head in one attack. This guy was kicked out for a variety of reasons soon after. I think my players are so paranoid because of this one adventure I wrote where nearly every unattended object was either a trap, or animated, or was something even more devious. The torch brackets on the walls shot fireballs if you got near them, all the statues animated, the paintings concealed poison darts, the doorknobs jolted you with electricity.... God, I loved that one.
Phrennzy 07-08-05, 05:03 PM	I have an idea for an encounter I want to try, but I'm not sure how to apply rules to it, or if I even need to. Basically our brave adventurers will come upon a statue of a relatively weak create (orc, goblin, or something) in the center of a small room, maybe 30x30. If someone touches the statue, or maybe comes within 5 ft. of it, it will spring to life an attack. The next room they enter will be a long corridor, say 100+ ft long, lined with statues of various really nasty creatures. The kicker is that these are just plain statues. So what would the statue in the previous room be? I thought of a mimic, but I'd rather have the group think that the statues second room will actually become the creatures they portray and not just a room full of mimics. Is there some spell or other magic that would hold this first creature in stasis until someone touches or approaches it? Or maybe I don't need a rule of some sort, and it's just a darned magical statue. Thoughts? You answered your own question.
Mirikon 07-08-05, 06:16 PM	Statue spell + Permananecy. Think about it. They appear to be perfectly normal statues, but at a moment's notice they can come to life, and attack!