The group I DM are adventuring around the town of Loudwater. They have got wind of a plot by the Church of Shar to retrieve a fragment of Mythallar (a powerful arcane source) from a lost temple to Karsus in the Dire Wood. They want to get the fragment to safety before the Church of Shar can whisk it away for evil purposes.
Irrespective of the setting, I'm quite stumped for types of dungeon rooms or non-combat elements to add to the temple. The temple is thousands of years old but has recently been occupied by the evil church. I've considered unholy chapels, torture rooms and chatty ghosts, but I'm looking for something a bit different, ideally using interesting terrain or room design. I like to have plenty of non-combat areas that would feasibly be there.
Anyone got any ideas I can steal? :-)
Basically it is eight floors teeming with columns to support each floor. Thats eight very big rooms where all manor of horror can be hiding in the ruins or could just as well be a monastary of monks here with the grand master of flowers on the top floor meditating before the prize they covet.
You ever hear of Game of Death with Bruce Lee?
The Lost Temple
An eight Teir Pagoda Temple
Level 1: 200' x 200' with 19x19 columns spaced 10' apart
Level 2: 180' x 180' with 17x17 columns spaced 10' apart
Level 3-5: 150'x150' with 14x14 columns spaced 10' apart
Level 6: 140' x 140' with 13x13 columns spaced 10' apart
Level 7-8: 120' x 120' with 11x11 columns spaced 10' apart
Columns are 20' high to the ceiling and floors are 10' thick stone making the temple 250' high to the temple rooftop.
Simple as that.
Throw in Treasure Vaults A&B (reminiscent of the discovery in a temple in India) which are below the temple.
Vault A containes 30,000,000gp in gold and sacks of diamonds.
Vault B is said to contain a Demon...but if A is that rich B must be a lie to scare you away from the really valuable stuff.
The dungeon could then be built in a humanoid shape, albeit with various areas blocked by cave-ins and whatnot. If this in the post-Spellplague Realms, I would have the dungeon be the battleground between the Order of Blue Fire and the Netherese. Those two factions should suggest a few different encounters plus allow the party to potentially play one group off against the other.
(Personally, I would also throw in a cabal of spellweavers but that's another topic.)
I would also have Uthgardt barbarians and/or elves/Feywild denizens guarding the site (and as a source of potential allies).
If you have a sharp eyed PC in the group, they can spot something high up near the cieling. Old cathedrals have lots of little nooks and crannies high up that could have been used for storage. Perhaps an old scroll cabinet is stored in the crawl space and the floor has rotted out just enough for an observant PC to see the corner of it. If the stairs have rotted away, then you've got a possible platforming challenge straight out of a video game. First gotta get to the ledge above the altar, then jump across to the crumbling gargoyle, then shimmy along to the two inch ledge along the side of the room before leaping out over open space to grab the edge of the hole in the ceiling. This could give an acrobatic/athletic character a chance to show off their skills.
A failure can not only do falling damage, but the noise could alert nearby inhabitants who come to investigate.
Another idea would be to have an ancient vault where they stored their old relics. Could be locked by a series of rotating rings with pictographs/runes on them. Religion, thievery, and history skill challenge right there. Failure activates the wall crushing trap.
I like the altar idea giving an alignment affect too - but perhaps not the way the PCs might expect!