gaaran
My players are going to be kidnapped in an upcoming game and taken to an Arena on the plane of shadows, to be forced to fight as punishment for interfering in one of the big bad's plans. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for fun gladiator fights/scenarios for a group of three pcs between level 13-15. Anything goes for monsters, magic and traps and I thought you guys might have some fun ideas or maybe have done something similar. Thanks in advance!
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I am Spartacus! (A bunch of dangerous monsters - but only one is real!)
Are you not amused?! (Combat round based on crowd entertainment - descriptive attacks are everything. Normal ones don't work at all. Party lives or dies at the whims of the crowd.)
Edited to add: Or you could do something like The Running Man, and have them navigate a game field, where they are constantly hunted by baddies. Throw in some puzzles or other brain-based problems to change pace a bit.
One fun session we did started with each character in a separate fighting ring, against only a few opponents, tailored to that characters fighting style (my ninja was fighting a rogue and a sorcerer with lots of spells for negating invisibility for example). Each fight was run simultaneously, on the same initiative tracker, although we could not effect the other fights in progress. As we each won (or lost) our fights the winner was instantly teleported to another arena with a big bad beastie that we really needed the whole party to face.
This changed the entire dynamic of the fight, as the name of the game for the early victor (a psion who overtaxed himself in the first round to win quickly) became survival while he waited for the rest of us to finish our own fights. With the added layer of knowing that if we lost we would be reinforcing the rest of the party's opposition, this led to a very tense and engaging fight. Even talking about it makes me want to play a similar set up again. Very fun.
My players visited a gladatorial arena style underground fight club in the final chapter of my game (haven't posted about it yet). The combatants were dressed in leather and chains like some kind of dungeon and the particulars of this place were that blood and pain were what the crowd was looking for. There was no idea of fairness or a "good clean fight". The crowd just wanted to see people get messed up. So what I did was a made a chart with a list of weapons, and made the PC's roll to see what weapon they were allowed. So one guy could have a dagger and another a two handed axe. Also they had to roll on another chart, it was full of bonuses and penalties. Bonuses were potions like bulls strength, cats grace, etc, but penalties were poisons that took HP all at once or over time, or slowed them down. They didn't know what they got until they sipped it too. In game I said they were pulling rune stones from a bag. I also designed a few arenas. One with pits, another with fire, and another with spikes.
We do odd things when going through football withdrawal in March. Entire nights just simulating sports or inventing them.
1. Hazards Galore: In the arena, there is a pit in the center, there are raised platforms, there are pools of acid, there are hidden flame jets, there are stationary boulders (cover/weapons if they can utilize them), and entry points for monsters, if the fight isn't interesting enough.
2. Using DarkMagus's idea, I came up with a battle royale map. there will be eight teams (for ease, there will be the party, one other unique group, and 6 generic "fighter" or "barbarian" or "rogue" type teams. the goal is to control the center-most point of the map, which is raised up on a pyramid (think american gladiators). Each starting point is 8 squares. which means 6 random weapons and 2 random power-ups. 4 of the points are further away from the center, which means better power-ups and weapons (the further will be just simple weapons, whereas the closer will be martial and simple). on the steps of the pyramid, there are random squares that trigger power-ups, some that trigger traps, and there are some weapons strewn about the steps as well. The winner is the group that manages to have all three of their members on the top for one minute. To discourage a team from hiding on the outskirts while everyone else fights each other, there is a "cannon" on the top of the pyramid that shoots fireballs as per the spell, caster level 8th. it takes two rounds to charge, and a full-round action to fire though, so it's not too useful in the thick of things.
3. Taking Alatheon's idea, I've created a multi-tiered fight. on the floor of the arena, there will be four starting areas, one for each character, and one for the big bad (undecided at this time). each area will be surrounded by a wall of force, and when the first character wins their fight, their wall of force will dispel, as will that of the big bad. I imagine them using the other walls of force as barriers to buy time until their other party members can help.
Now, if anyone has any thoughts on gladiator teams or monsters that would be interesting to fight, I'd love to hear suggestions. The party consists of a 13th level sorcerer, a 13th level ranger, and a 12th level cleric of bahamut. I'm also trying to think of one other unique arena style scenario, so that I can have them go through 5 rounds (two would be the generic hazard map, and the other three would be unique). perhaps a scenario based on Rase's idea "are you not amused" of course all gladiator games are based on crowd approval, but perhaps a point based game with judges... but it's almost 5am so I'm having trouble getting any further than that. Thanks for the great ideas guys.
Example. I createsd a hybrid monster for my group to fight when they were lower levels than your group. I called it a blink beast: they hybrid of a blink dog and displacer beast. It had the abilities of both so it was VERY hard to hit. For creatures that are easier to hit but harder to kill I'm thinking of an armored troll perhaps. If they don't have access to fire spells that could be quite difficult. OOOOH! What about a troll with a ring of fire resistance? They'd have to chop off his finger or arm before they killed him.
Maybe you can use my idea and find appropriate monsters for their challenge rating? It sounds like you've got a great adventure coming up. Have fun!
The bloodsport takes place over several weeks in a carefully manufactured "wilderness" area. Combatants start in a cirlce around "the cornucopia", which is filled with food, water, survival supplies and weapons (they don't get to bring anything with them). The initial fight over the supplies is a bloodbath, and then things become a game of cat and mouse, where the fighters need to forage for food if they didn't score any before.
The overseers of the game use traps and barriers to force combatants together if things go too long with out a kill, and before the game, combatants can lobby for patrons, who will send them supplies when neccessary.
It would require some tweaking, since it is a last man standing contest, which doesn't leave a lot of room for team play. Of course it could be fun to pit the party against each other too.