Glaring Tyrant and Descent Into Pandemonium: Difference between pages

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{{StatBlockPathfinder
<div class="meta">
  |name=Glaring Tyrant |CR=13
The idea of the [https://seanmccoy.substack.com/p/dungeon23 #dungeon32] "contest" was to build a megadungeon by creating a brief outline of one room, each day, for the year of 2023, in a [https://www.jetpens.com/Hobonichi-Techo-Weeks-Planners/ct/4080 particular kind of notebook]. This is the result of mine, with an introduction written after it was all done.</div>
  |image=
  |align=LE
  |size=Large |type=Aberration
  |init=+7
  |perception=+38 |othersenses=Darkvision (60 ft),
  |languages=Common
  |tag1=


  |AC=27 |touch=12 |flatfoot=24
== Introduction ==
  |ACdetail=+3 Dex, -1 size, +15 natural
  |miss=
  |hp=180 |HD=19d8+95
  |fort=+13 |ref=+9 |will=+15
  |weakness=
  |tag2=


  |spd=5 ft, fly 30ft (good)
This presentation of what turned into ''Descent Into Pandemonium'' explains, up front in this introduction, some things that became only clear as the design went on. This makes the megadungeon a bit easier to understand, particularly the glossary. For the most part, however, the sections after the introduction remain mostly as they were originally written, so you can sort of see the evolution of the idea. There are a couple of places where an idea from later in the process necessitated changing a prior location slightly, but this was avoided most of the time.
  |melee=bite +8 (2d4)
  |ranged=eye ray +17 (as ray, crit range 19-20)
  |BAB=+14  | CMB=+15 | CMD=28 (can't be tripped)
  |space=10 |reach=5 ft.
  |atkopt=
  |gear=
  |sa=Baleful Eye, Eye Rays, Sustained Barrage
 
  |spelllikecl=19
  |spelllikeother=''at will''&mdash;''mage hand''<br>''2/round''&mdash;''stunning ray'' (DC 21), ''disintegrate'' (DC 24), ''blast ray'', ''slow'' (DC 21), ''telekinesis'' (DC 23)<br>''3/day''&mdash;''charm monster'' (DC 17)


  |str=10 (+0)
=== Premise ===
  |dex=16 (+6)
  |con=20 (+5)
  |int=16 (+3)
  |wis=15 (+2)
  |cha=18 (+4)
  |sq=can't be tripped or flanked
  |feats=Alertness, Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (Eye Ray), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (Eye Ray)
  |skills=Bluff +12, Fly +25, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (Arcana) +23, Perception +38, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +23, Stealth +19, Survival +15
  |possessions=
  |spellbook=
  |tag4=


  |environment=Cold hills
The #dungeon23 pitch suggested making the dungeon have a level a month, but this one is done a level a week. The rough plan was a decent ever downwards, with order giving way to chaos the deeper you go. By the time you get to the bottom, you're accessing planes of chaos.
  |organization=Solitary, pair, or cluster
  |treasure=Double
  |advancement=
  |tag5=


  |variants=
Given that, it seemed right to start with a temple devoted to order at the top, abandoned for two millennia. As it turns out, this time frame obliterates a lot of what you might normally see in a dungeon. Some research discovered that, over 2000 years in an underground, slightly damp environment with breathable air…
}}
== Real World History ==


The glaring tyrant is a re-imaging of a classic monster for the [[system::Pathfinder]] system, refactored based on [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20061028a Mike Mearls' "Monster Makover"] of the same creature. This "makeover" intends to solve the creature's more troubling features, particularly with facing, overuse of save-or-die effects and antimagic, while still keeping the basic flavor of the monster intact. (A Pathfinder version of this creature more true to the original can be found in the netbook [http://www.enworld.org/forum/pathfinder-rpg-discussion/270819-netbook-book-forbidden-lore.html The Book of Forbidden Lore].)
* …stalactites average about 20cm of growth.
* …all wood, cloth, leather, and organic materials decompose to dust and dirt
* …bones will have decomposed to dust
* …teeth will have fully or mostly decomposed; a few might remain intact
* …most metals (e.g. copper, iron, silver) corrode to dust
* …brass and some other metals may or may not have survived, based on their immediate environment
* …glass, stone, gold, platinum, and bronze remain mostly to fully unchanged
* …some crystals (e.g. quartz) remain intact and some (e.g. salt) do not, depending on their chemical makeup


== Appearance ==
This last fact led to the early idea that this temple to order was specifically attracted to crystals as expressions of order spontaneously created in nature, making crystals a theme through much of the megadungeon.


Large floating sphere with huge central eye, gaping mouth, and ten eye-stalks.
=== Sources ===


== Special Abillities ==
This megadunegon was built for high-fantasy, dungeon-delver roleplaying, but not for any specific game. It pulls references from the entire history of the genre, somewhat at random, and various editions, third-party additions, and knock-offs of popular products, some of which have an SRD and some don't. Names of creatures known to be "protected content" have been changed, but the rough idea used. In cases where different SRDs contain very different ideas of how threatening a particular monster should be, likely the more imposing version is intended. In short, the types of monsters listed act as a tropey shorthand, without having to take up space with stats or references. You might need to look some of them up.


'''All Around Vision (Ex)'''  Glaring tyrants are exceptionally alert and circumspect. Their many eyes give them a +4 racial bonus on Perception checks, and they can't be flanked.
Very little thought was given to ideas of "balance" or "appropriate challenge", but this megadungeon isn't intended for beginners and, as high-fantasy, assumes heroic competence. If you port this to a game of choice, you'll need to do a little work to match the threat level of your PCs and the system you are using.


'''Baleful Eye (Su)''' The glaring tyrant can focus its large, central eye on an area, disrupting all spellcasting that originates within it. As a free action, the glaring tyrant creates a 60 foot cone. Anyone in this area who attempts to cast a spell must make a caster level check (DC 27) to successfully complete the spell. This DC is Charisma based and includes a +4 racial bonus. The cone moves with the glaring tyrant and, as the tyrant is never considered to be inside the cone, does not affect the use of its eye rays.
The three chaos gods behind much of this story are never named, always referred to as "a god of strife", "a goddess of discord", and "a god of insanity". Choosing specific versions of such deities never become important as the design went on, so never happened. Feel free to assign whatever specific faces and trappings you want.


'''Can't Be Tripped (Ex)''' As creatures who float, glaring tyrants cannot be tripped.
=== Rough History ===


'''Eye Rays (Su)''' Each of a glaring tyrant's ten eye stalks can produce a ray of magical energy with a range of 150 feet, once each round. Five different ray effects are available to the glaring tyrant, but it can only use each effect twice per round (that is, each effect can be generated by exactly two eye stalks). No matter the circumstances, the limit of ten rays, two of each type, cannot be exceeded in a single round. Further, the same effect may only be used against a specific target once per round. As a standard action, a glaring tyrant may fire any eye stalks it has not yet used this round. It can target up to three rays at a single target, but each ray must have different effects. Each ray requires a successful ranged touch attack. Save DCs are Charisma based and glaring tyrants gain a +4 racial bonus. Rays function as cast by a 19th level sorcerer.
* The “Kiooliciti” (kiːuˈlɪsɪtiː) refers to a religious movement/culture centered around worship of order and law, particularly in how it manifested in crystals. Though advanced, the Kiooliciti have been forgotten, the Kioolicit language extinct.
* Two thousand years ago, a Kioolicit temple flourished here, on the slope of a temperate mountain forest, part of a magically advanced, but now extinct, civilization.
* Though some activity took place above ground, the bulk of the temple descends, in levels, into the rock.
* Geomantic forces concentrated a potent source of order into a huge geode deep in the rock, with the temple built here to protect and access.
* The Kiooliciti forged a powerful artifact, The Axiom, to harness and use this source of order, ultimately constructing most of their society around it.
* While the priests spread Kioolicit teaching and culture to extend their influence, the culture’s mages became obsessed with using portals to capitalize on that influence, and built a tesseract connecting their labs across the globe.
* Three chaotic gods bristled at the existence of The Axiom, and became briefly obsessed with the idea of corrupting its power to stabilize a permanent path between the plane of Pandemonium and the center of Kioolicit society.
* The machinations of these gods arranged an unlikely alliance of extraplanar chaotic forces, which breached the temple’s tesseract and moved up to attack the temple.
* Kioolicit defenders managed to stall the invaders before they reached the surface.
* The short stalemate was broken by necromantic plague, turning many of the temple defenders into an undead horde.
* Remaining defenders managed to confine the horde to the lower levels of the temple, then gathered what they could and abandoned the temple entirely, burying the surface entrances, and severing portal connections.
* In time, the invaders shattered The Axiom and absconded with its heart.
* The invaders, having accomplished their actual goal, never breached through to the surface as the Kiooliciti feared and, over two centuries, the garrison guarding the surface faded to nothing, along with what was left of the Kioolicit culture.
* Within the temple’s somewhat humid conditions, two millennia have taken their toll on what was left behind.
* Over that time, most of the potent wards and spells used to seal the temple have also faded.
* The chaos gods, being chaos gods, grew tired of their new link between Pandemonium with the temple and abandoned it within a few decades after the invasion, but the elaborate conduit remains.


* The ''stunning ray'' can either Stun the target on a failed Fortitude save (DC 21, calculated as if a third level spell).
=== Glossary ===
* The ''blast ray'' does 6d6 points of energy damage, with the glaring tyrant choosing one of the five energy types (acid, cold, electricity, fire or sonic) as it fires.
* The ''telekinesis ray'' functions as a telekinesis spell (DC 23). The alternative Combat Maneuver Bonus provided by the spell (see description) is based on Charisma (CMB +17). A telekinetic effect may be sustained over multiple rounds (as per the spell), but this requires that the ray remain focused on the target. In combat, glaring tyrants most often use this ray to bull rush, trip or grapple approaching melee fighters.
* The ''slow ray'' works as per the spell if it hits (DC 21).
* The ''disintegrate ray'' works as the spell (DC 24, base damage 26d6).


'''Flight (Ex)''' A glaring tyrant's body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly at a speed of 30 feet and grants it a permanent ''feather fall'' effect (as the spell) with personal range. The glaring tyrant may hover without needing to make a Fly skill check.
* The '''enropics''' are a collection of related, large, frog-like, humanoid species, native to a chaotic outer plane, who reproduce by infecting others. Along with demons and proteans, the entropics formed the bulk of invasion force.
* '''Kiooliciti''' (adjective Kioolicit): an ancient, now extinct, multi-species culture driven by a worship of order and law that flourished in this region two thousand years ago.


'''Sustained Barrage (Su)''' Glaring tyrants continually seethe with arcane energy, allowing them to create a sustained barrage of rays. As a free action, the tyrant may fire one of its eye rays at a target within 60 feet. Only one ray of each type may be fired in this way per round. Use of these rays counts against the per turn usage and targeting limits of the eye rays.
=== Scale ===


For example, suppose a glaring tyrant encounters a party of four adventurers: a fighter, a cleric, a rogue, and a wizard. Both the fighter and the wizard get higher initiative rolls than the glaring tyrant, so it uses its sustained barrage ability, taking a free action at the start of the round to fire a ''slow'' ray at the fighter and another free action firing a ''stun'' ray at the wizard. Later in the round, on its own turn, it has eight rays left to fire. Since it already fired rays at the fighter and wizard, it can only target them with, at most, two rays each. It decides to use one against the fighter and two against the wizard. It casts three of the remaining rays against the cleric. The rouge, however, is under cover but has not yet acted in the round, so the glaring tyrant holds two rays in reserve for him. The rogue uses its action to attack, moving into the open. As he moves, the glaring tyrant uses the sustained barrage ability to target its two remaining rays at the rogue as free actionas. Since it can only use a given effect once per target, it spreads the rays around like so:
Until the later months, maps use a scale of one square being a square meter. If you want to say that each is five feet on a side instead, no one will stop you.


* Fighter: ''slow'' (from sustained barrage), ''disintegrate''
== The Temple Beneath ==
* Wizard: ''stun'' (from sustained barrage), ''telekinesis'' (grapple), ''blast ray'' (cold)
* Cleric: ''stun'', ''disintegrate'', ''telekinesis'' (bull rush)
* Rogue: ''slow'' (from sustained barrage), ''blast ray'' (acid) (from sustained barrage)


== Design Choices ==
=== A. The Surface ===


All of the advice in the monster makeover was followed, with two exceptions. The first is the telekinesis ray. The Pathfinder version of this spell, while still complicated, leverages the combat maneuver rules in a good way, so using them instead of adding arbitrary "save or be moved" mechanics seems like a better idea. The second change is to the sustained barrage ability, which fits in more closely with Pathfinder's action system.
Half-way up a forested mountain, an ancient trail leads to ruins.


The starting point for the stats was to keep the CR at 13. According to the Pathfinder SRD [http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-creation monster creation guidelines] a CR 13 aberration should have 19 hit dice, around 180 hp, AC 28, attacks of 22/16, do around 45-60 points of damage per attack, have save DCs in the 15-21 range, and make saves in the 12-16 range. I stayed mostly close to this advice, but kept a bit of the "glass cannon" nature of the original creature.
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==== 1.1 Stone-Capped Well ====


* WIth the two disintigrates and two blasts each round, the tyrant's damage output is ''much'' higher.
* Rune-covered
* The save DCs range slightly higher than typical for the CR.
* Repellent
* Hit dice: standard for CR
* Feats: uses the standard number of feats, but feats are intentionally unoptimized. (As an example, Lightning Reflexes would help the tyrant more than some of its other feats. This is an easy change, if you want to make it. I don't.)
* AC is slightly lower than normal for the CR.
* Caster level: Default is to give the creature a caster level equal to its hit dice (19). Earlier versions reduced this, but playtesting suggested keeping the default as is. The only real result of this is that disintegrate does even more damage.
* Saving throws are a bit lower than usual for the CR.


The choice to use free actions for the sustained barrage ability is intentional, and a result of playtesting. It gives the tyrant a lot of flexibility and helps it manage groups of foes in a more fearsome way. Essentially, it can interrupt enemies very easily. Without this ability, essentially the fighter closes the distance on his turn and lays a smackdown on the tyrant, ending the fight quickly.
==== 1.2 Feet of the Colossus ====


== PCGen Data ==
* All that remains of a massive granite statue, created by magic.
* Overgrown, no paths remaining.
* Scattered haphazardly on all sides of the left foot are balls of hair and bones (like owl pellets), about volleyball size, as well as larger solitary bones, skulls, and antlers.
* Ancient and weathered
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The following data can be added to your "vendor data" files if you want to add this creature as a kit to [http://pcgen.sourceforge.net PCGen]. To use the data, you'll need to replace the &dagger; characters with tabs.
=== Week title ===


Add this to your *_races.list file:
Week description


<pre>
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Glaring Tyrant&dagger;STARTFEATS:1&dagger;SIZE:L&dagger;MOVE:Walk,5,Fly,30&dagger;FACE:10&dagger;REACH:5&dagger;LANGAUTO:Common&dagger;BONUS:COMBAT|AC|15|TYPE=NaturalArmor.REPLACE&dagger;BONUS:STAT|DEX|6&dagger;BONUS:STAT|CON|10&dagger;BONUS:STAT|INT|5&dagger;BONUS:STAT|WIS|4&dagger;BONUS:STAT|CHA|7&dagger;CSKILL:Knowledge (Arcana)|Perception|Stealth|Survival&dagger;ABILITY:Special Ability|AUTOMATIC|Eye Rays ~ Glaring Tyrant|All Around Vision ~ Glaring Tyrant|Flight ~ Glaring Tyrant|Baleful Eye ~ Glaring Tyrant|Sustained Barrage ~ Glaring Tyrant|Can't Be Tripped&dagger;LEGS:0&dagger;HANDS:0&dagger;NATURALATTACKS:Eye Ray,Weapon.Natural.Ranged.Piercing,*1,0|Bite,Weapon.Natural.Melee.Finesseable.Piercing.Slashing.Bludgeoning,*1,2d4&dagger;MONSTERCLASS:Aberration:19&dagger;RACETYPE:Aberration&dagger;SPELLS:Innate|TIMES=ATWILL|CASTERLEVEL=HD|Mage Hand&dagger;SPELLS:Innate|TIMES=3|CASTERLEVEL=HD|Charm Monster,13+CHA&dagger;CR:13&dagger;SOURCELONG:wiki&dagger;SOURCESHORT:wiki&dagger;SOURCEPAGE:p.5
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Add this to your *_abilities.lst file:
=== Week title ===


<pre>
Week description
#Glaring Tyrant
All Around Vision&dagger;KEY:All Around Vision ~ Glaring Tyrant&dagger;CATEGORY:Special Ability&dagger;TYPE:SpecialQual.Extraordinary&dagger;VISIBLE:YES&dagger;BONUS:SKILL|Perception|4|TYPE=Racial&dagger;DESC:Glaring tyrants are exceptionally alert and circumspect. Their many eyes give them a +4 racial bonus on Perception checks, and they can't be flanked.
Flight&dagger;KEY:Flight ~ Glaring Tyrant&dagger;CATEGORY:Special Ability&dagger;TYPE:SpecialQual.Extraordinary&dagger;VISIBLE:YES&dagger;BONUS:SKILL|Fly|4|TYPE=Racial&dagger;DESC:A glaring tyrant's body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly at a speed of 30 feet. This buoyancy also grants it a permanent feather fall effect (as the spell) with personal range. The glaring tyrant may hover without needing to make a Fly skill check.&dagger;
Eye Rays&dagger;KEY:Eye Rays ~ Glaring Tyrant&dagger;CATEGORY:Special Ability&dagger;TYPE:SpecialAttack.Supernatural&dagger;VISIBLE:YES&dagger;SPELLS:Eye Rays|TIMES=ATWILL|CASTERLEVEL=HD|Disintegrate,16+CHA+4|Scorching Ray|Slow,13+CHA+4|Telekinesis,15+CHA+4&dagger;DESC:Each of a glaring tyrant's ten eye stalks can produce a ray of magical energy with a range of 150 feet, once each round. Five different ray effects are available to the glaring tyrant, but it can only use each effect twice per round (that is, each effect can be generated by exactly two eye stalks). No matter the circumstances, the limit of ten rays, two of each type, cannot be exceeded in a single round. Further, the same effect may only be used against a specific target once per round. As a standard action, a glaring tyrant may fire any eye stalks it has not yet used this round. It can target up to three rays at a single target, but each ray must have different effects. Each ray requires a successful ranged touch attack. The Stunning Ray can stuns a target on a failed Fortitude save (DC %1). The Blast Ray does 6d6 points of energy damage, with the glaring tyrant choosing the energy type as it fires. The Telekinesis Ray functions as a telekinesis spell (DC %3). The alternative Combat Maneuver Bonus provided by the spell (see description) is based on Charisma (CMB +%5). A telekinetic effect may be sustained over multiple rounds (as per the spell), but this requires that the ray remain focused on the target. In combat, glaring tyrants most often use this ray to bull rush, trip or grapple approaching melee fighters. The Slow Ray works as per the spell if it hits (DC %2). The Disintegrate Ray works as the spell (DC %4). Save DCs are Charisma based and glaring tyrants gain a +4 racial bonus. Rays function as cast by a %6th level sorcerer.|13+CHA+4|13+CHA+4|15+CHA+4|16+CHA+4|13+CHA|HD
Baleful Eye&dagger;KEY:Baleful Eye ~ Glaring Tyrant&dagger;CATEGORY:Special Ability&dagger;TYPE:SpecialAttack.Supernatural&dagger;VISIBLE:YES&dagger;DESC:The glaring tyrant can focus its large, central eye on an area, disrupting all spellcasting that takes place there. As a free action, the glaring tyrant creates a 60 foot cone. The tyrant gains Spell Resistance %1 against any spell cast from inside this area. (This value calculated using 10 + half hit dice + Charisma bonus + 4 racial bonus). The cone moves with the glaring tyrant and, as the tyrant is never considered to be inside the cone, does not affect the use of its eye rays.|10+(HD/2)+CHA+4
Sustained Barrage&dagger;KEY:Sustained Barrage ~ Glaring Tyrant&dagger;CATEGORY:Special Ability&dagger;TYPE:SpecialAttack.Supernatural&dagger;VISIBLE:YES&dagger;DESC:Glaring tyrants continually seethe with arcane energy, allowing them to create a sustained barrage of rays. As a free action, the tyrant may fire an eye ray at a target within 60 feet. Only one ray of each type may be fire this way each turn. Use of these rays counts against the per turn usage and targeting limits of the eye rays. For example, if this ability is used prior to the glaring tyrant's action to fire two rays, it will only be able to fire the remaining eight rays on its standard action. Similarly, if the glaring tyrant fires all its rays as its standard action prior to using this ability, no ray uses will remain to power this ability later in the round.
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Add this to your *_kits.lst file:
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<pre>
=== Week title ===
STARTPACK:Glaring Tyrant ~ Default&dagger;TYPE:DefaultMonster.Aberration VISIBLE:QUALIFY&dagger;EQUIPBUY:0&dagger;PREMULT:1,[!PRERACE:1,%],[PRERACE:1,Glaring Tyrant]
RACE:Glaring Tyrant&dagger;!PRERACE:1,%
NAME:Glaring Tyrant
ALIGN:LE
SKILL:Bluff&dagger;RANK:8
SKILL:Fly&dagger;RANK:17
SKILL:Intimidate&dagger;RANK:18
SKILL:Knowledge (Arcana)&dagger;RANK:17
SKILL:Perception&dagger;RANK:19
SKILL:Sense Motive&dagger;RANK:10
SKILL:Spellcraft&dagger;RANK:17
SKILL:Stealth&dagger;RANK:17
SKILL:Survival&dagger;RANK:10
FEAT:Alertness
FEAT:Flyby Attack
FEAT:Great Fortitude
FEAT:Improved Critical (Eye Ray)
FEAT:Improved Initiative
FEAT:Iron Will
FEAT:Point-Blank Shot
FEAT:Precise Shot
FEAT:Skill Focus (Perception)
FEAT:Weapon Focus (Eye Ray)
STAT:INT=11|WIS=11|CHA=11|STR=10|DEX=10|CON=10
</pre>


[[Category:Creature]]
Week description
 
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== Appendices ==
 
=== Appendix A: The Arch Keys ===
 
The early Kiooliciti experiments with portals led to the five "polyhedral" portals. The location of these are summarized here, in addition to the location of the keys that allow their use:
 
* Tetrahedral (yellow): 3.26, tesseract entrance. Keys: 2.2, 4.7, 4.8
* Cubic (orange): 1.28, smashed. Keys (shattered): 2.14, 4.26
* Octahedral (purple): 3.11, near geode. Keys: 1.13, 2.14, 4.7
* Dodecahedral (green): 4.16. Keys: 2.11, 4.4, 4.14
* Icosahedral (blue): 5.17. Keys: 5.3, 5.10, 5.27
 
=== Appendix B: Shards of the Axiom ===
 
Since reassembling the Axiom forms an overriding goal of this megadungeon, here is a list all the locations that mention containing shards of the shattered artifact:
 
 
 
=== Appendix C: Tesseract Connections ===
 
When the Kiooliciti built their tesseract, they labelled the ''edges'' of its graph not the ''nodes''. (After all, it is the edges that are the hard things to create and monitor.) Each edge (a connection between rooms of the tesseract) has been given an alchemical symbol. Most are two way (↔), some are one way (→), and some are broken (—). The edges are:
 
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* 🜁 air 3.26 → random destination.
* 🜂 fire 1.21 — 3.26
* 🜃 earth 3.26 ↔ 4.15
* 🜄 water 3.26 ↔ 5.1
* 🜉 aqua vitæ 4.15 ↔ 6.2
* 🜌 vinegar 4.15 ↔ 5.1
* 🜍 sulphur 4.29 ↔ 5.11
* 🜏 black sulfur 5.7 ↔ 5.17
* 🜑 mercury sublimate 5.10 ↔ 5.17
* 🜔 salt 5.6 ↔ 5.7
* 🜕 nitre 5.11 ↔ 5.21
* 🜖 vitriol 5.3 ↔ 5.7
* 🜨 verdigris 5.21 ↔ 5.30
* 🜶 alkali 5.17 ↔ 5.31
* 🜳 regulus 5.4 ↔ 5.5
* 🜬 sublimate of antimony 5.4 ↔ 5.8
* 🜢 sublimate of copper 5.5 ↔ 5.8
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* 🝁 quicklime 5.15 ↔ 6.3
* 🝅 alum 5.15 ↔ 6.3
* 🜩 tin 5.2 ↔ 5.8
* 🜚 gold 5.16 ↔ 5.19
* 🜛 silver 5.20 ↔ 6.1
* 🜠 copper 5.29 ↔ 6.2
* 🜪 lead 5.2 ↔ 5.14
* 🜜 iron 5.8 ↔ 5.31
* 🜫 antimony 5.20 ↔ 6.1
* 🜾 bismuth 5.16 ↔ 6.4
* 🜺 arsenic 5.8 ↔ 5.13
* 🜼 realgar 5.30 ↔ 6.4
* 🜸 marcasite 5.20 ↔ 6.4
* 🜿 tartar 5.10 ↔ 5.16
* 🝃 borax 5.31 ↔ 6.1
* 🜘 rock salt 5.2 ↔ 5.11
* 🝉 gum 5.9 ↔ 5.13
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* 🝊 wax 5.2 ↔ 5.20
* 🝕 urine 5.2 ↔ 5.29
* 🝞 sublimation 5.2 ↔ 5.22
* 🝟 precipitate 5.10 ↔ 5.24
* 🝠 distill 5.15 ↔ 5.23
* 🝢 dissolve 5.8 ↔ 5.25
* 🝣 purify 5.2 ↔ 5.27
* 🝤 putrefaction 5.17 ↔ 5.26
* 🝩 crucible 5.9 ↔ 5.28
* 🝪 alembic 5.25 ↔ 7.3
* 🝭 retort 5.23 ↔ 7.31
* 🝑 trident 5.24 ↔ 6.5
* 🝎 caput mortuum 5.20 ↔ 5.27
* ⍚ “evaporate” 5.26 ↔ 6.1
* ⍝ “encase” 5.27 ↔ 5.31
* ⍢ “grind” 5.27 ↔ 6.2
* ⌱ “extract” 5.28 ↔ 6.3
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Revision as of 21:47, 26 December 2023

The idea of the #dungeon32 "contest" was to build a megadungeon by creating a brief outline of one room, each day, for the year of 2023, in a particular kind of notebook. This is the result of mine, with an introduction written after it was all done.

Introduction

This presentation of what turned into Descent Into Pandemonium explains, up front in this introduction, some things that became only clear as the design went on. This makes the megadungeon a bit easier to understand, particularly the glossary. For the most part, however, the sections after the introduction remain mostly as they were originally written, so you can sort of see the evolution of the idea. There are a couple of places where an idea from later in the process necessitated changing a prior location slightly, but this was avoided most of the time.

Premise

The #dungeon23 pitch suggested making the dungeon have a level a month, but this one is done a level a week. The rough plan was a decent ever downwards, with order giving way to chaos the deeper you go. By the time you get to the bottom, you're accessing planes of chaos.

Given that, it seemed right to start with a temple devoted to order at the top, abandoned for two millennia. As it turns out, this time frame obliterates a lot of what you might normally see in a dungeon. Some research discovered that, over 2000 years in an underground, slightly damp environment with breathable air…

  • …stalactites average about 20cm of growth.
  • …all wood, cloth, leather, and organic materials decompose to dust and dirt
  • …bones will have decomposed to dust
  • …teeth will have fully or mostly decomposed; a few might remain intact
  • …most metals (e.g. copper, iron, silver) corrode to dust
  • …brass and some other metals may or may not have survived, based on their immediate environment
  • …glass, stone, gold, platinum, and bronze remain mostly to fully unchanged
  • …some crystals (e.g. quartz) remain intact and some (e.g. salt) do not, depending on their chemical makeup

This last fact led to the early idea that this temple to order was specifically attracted to crystals as expressions of order spontaneously created in nature, making crystals a theme through much of the megadungeon.

Sources

This megadunegon was built for high-fantasy, dungeon-delver roleplaying, but not for any specific game. It pulls references from the entire history of the genre, somewhat at random, and various editions, third-party additions, and knock-offs of popular products, some of which have an SRD and some don't. Names of creatures known to be "protected content" have been changed, but the rough idea used. In cases where different SRDs contain very different ideas of how threatening a particular monster should be, likely the more imposing version is intended. In short, the types of monsters listed act as a tropey shorthand, without having to take up space with stats or references. You might need to look some of them up.

Very little thought was given to ideas of "balance" or "appropriate challenge", but this megadungeon isn't intended for beginners and, as high-fantasy, assumes heroic competence. If you port this to a game of choice, you'll need to do a little work to match the threat level of your PCs and the system you are using.

The three chaos gods behind much of this story are never named, always referred to as "a god of strife", "a goddess of discord", and "a god of insanity". Choosing specific versions of such deities never become important as the design went on, so never happened. Feel free to assign whatever specific faces and trappings you want.

Rough History

  • The “Kiooliciti” (kiːuˈlɪsɪtiː) refers to a religious movement/culture centered around worship of order and law, particularly in how it manifested in crystals. Though advanced, the Kiooliciti have been forgotten, the Kioolicit language extinct.
  • Two thousand years ago, a Kioolicit temple flourished here, on the slope of a temperate mountain forest, part of a magically advanced, but now extinct, civilization.
  • Though some activity took place above ground, the bulk of the temple descends, in levels, into the rock.
  • Geomantic forces concentrated a potent source of order into a huge geode deep in the rock, with the temple built here to protect and access.
  • The Kiooliciti forged a powerful artifact, The Axiom, to harness and use this source of order, ultimately constructing most of their society around it.
  • While the priests spread Kioolicit teaching and culture to extend their influence, the culture’s mages became obsessed with using portals to capitalize on that influence, and built a tesseract connecting their labs across the globe.
  • Three chaotic gods bristled at the existence of The Axiom, and became briefly obsessed with the idea of corrupting its power to stabilize a permanent path between the plane of Pandemonium and the center of Kioolicit society.
  • The machinations of these gods arranged an unlikely alliance of extraplanar chaotic forces, which breached the temple’s tesseract and moved up to attack the temple.
  • Kioolicit defenders managed to stall the invaders before they reached the surface.
  • The short stalemate was broken by necromantic plague, turning many of the temple defenders into an undead horde.
  • Remaining defenders managed to confine the horde to the lower levels of the temple, then gathered what they could and abandoned the temple entirely, burying the surface entrances, and severing portal connections.
  • In time, the invaders shattered The Axiom and absconded with its heart.
  • The invaders, having accomplished their actual goal, never breached through to the surface as the Kiooliciti feared and, over two centuries, the garrison guarding the surface faded to nothing, along with what was left of the Kioolicit culture.
  • Within the temple’s somewhat humid conditions, two millennia have taken their toll on what was left behind.
  • Over that time, most of the potent wards and spells used to seal the temple have also faded.
  • The chaos gods, being chaos gods, grew tired of their new link between Pandemonium with the temple and abandoned it within a few decades after the invasion, but the elaborate conduit remains.

Glossary

  • The enropics are a collection of related, large, frog-like, humanoid species, native to a chaotic outer plane, who reproduce by infecting others. Along with demons and proteans, the entropics formed the bulk of invasion force.
  • Kiooliciti (adjective Kioolicit): an ancient, now extinct, multi-species culture driven by a worship of order and law that flourished in this region two thousand years ago.

Scale

Until the later months, maps use a scale of one square being a square meter. If you want to say that each is five feet on a side instead, no one will stop you.

The Temple Beneath

A. The Surface

Half-way up a forested mountain, an ancient trail leads to ruins.

1.1 Stone-Capped Well

  • Rune-covered
  • Repellent

1.2 Feet of the Colossus

  • All that remains of a massive granite statue, created by magic.
  • Overgrown, no paths remaining.
  • Scattered haphazardly on all sides of the left foot are balls of hair and bones (like owl pellets), about volleyball size, as well as larger solitary bones, skulls, and antlers.
  • Ancient and weathered

Map

Week title

Week description

rooms

Map

Week title

Week description

rooms

Map

Week title

Week description

rooms

Map

Appendices

Appendix A: The Arch Keys

The early Kiooliciti experiments with portals led to the five "polyhedral" portals. The location of these are summarized here, in addition to the location of the keys that allow their use:

  • Tetrahedral (yellow): 3.26, tesseract entrance. Keys: 2.2, 4.7, 4.8
  • Cubic (orange): 1.28, smashed. Keys (shattered): 2.14, 4.26
  • Octahedral (purple): 3.11, near geode. Keys: 1.13, 2.14, 4.7
  • Dodecahedral (green): 4.16. Keys: 2.11, 4.4, 4.14
  • Icosahedral (blue): 5.17. Keys: 5.3, 5.10, 5.27

Appendix B: Shards of the Axiom

Since reassembling the Axiom forms an overriding goal of this megadungeon, here is a list all the locations that mention containing shards of the shattered artifact:


Appendix C: Tesseract Connections

When the Kiooliciti built their tesseract, they labelled the edges of its graph not the nodes. (After all, it is the edges that are the hard things to create and monitor.) Each edge (a connection between rooms of the tesseract) has been given an alchemical symbol. Most are two way (↔), some are one way (→), and some are broken (—). The edges are:

  • 🜁 air 3.26 → random destination.
  • 🜂 fire 1.21 — 3.26
  • 🜃 earth 3.26 ↔ 4.15
  • 🜄 water 3.26 ↔ 5.1
  • 🜉 aqua vitæ 4.15 ↔ 6.2
  • 🜌 vinegar 4.15 ↔ 5.1
  • 🜍 sulphur 4.29 ↔ 5.11
  • 🜏 black sulfur 5.7 ↔ 5.17
  • 🜑 mercury sublimate 5.10 ↔ 5.17
  • 🜔 salt 5.6 ↔ 5.7
  • 🜕 nitre 5.11 ↔ 5.21
  • 🜖 vitriol 5.3 ↔ 5.7
  • 🜨 verdigris 5.21 ↔ 5.30
  • 🜶 alkali 5.17 ↔ 5.31
  • 🜳 regulus 5.4 ↔ 5.5
  • 🜬 sublimate of antimony 5.4 ↔ 5.8
  • 🜢 sublimate of copper 5.5 ↔ 5.8
  • 🝁 quicklime 5.15 ↔ 6.3
  • 🝅 alum 5.15 ↔ 6.3
  • 🜩 tin 5.2 ↔ 5.8
  • 🜚 gold 5.16 ↔ 5.19
  • 🜛 silver 5.20 ↔ 6.1
  • 🜠 copper 5.29 ↔ 6.2
  • 🜪 lead 5.2 ↔ 5.14
  • 🜜 iron 5.8 ↔ 5.31
  • 🜫 antimony 5.20 ↔ 6.1
  • 🜾 bismuth 5.16 ↔ 6.4
  • 🜺 arsenic 5.8 ↔ 5.13
  • 🜼 realgar 5.30 ↔ 6.4
  • 🜸 marcasite 5.20 ↔ 6.4
  • 🜿 tartar 5.10 ↔ 5.16
  • 🝃 borax 5.31 ↔ 6.1
  • 🜘 rock salt 5.2 ↔ 5.11
  • 🝉 gum 5.9 ↔ 5.13
  • 🝊 wax 5.2 ↔ 5.20
  • 🝕 urine 5.2 ↔ 5.29
  • 🝞 sublimation 5.2 ↔ 5.22
  • 🝟 precipitate 5.10 ↔ 5.24
  • 🝠 distill 5.15 ↔ 5.23
  • 🝢 dissolve 5.8 ↔ 5.25
  • 🝣 purify 5.2 ↔ 5.27
  • 🝤 putrefaction 5.17 ↔ 5.26
  • 🝩 crucible 5.9 ↔ 5.28
  • 🝪 alembic 5.25 ↔ 7.3
  • 🝭 retort 5.23 ↔ 7.31
  • 🝑 trident 5.24 ↔ 6.5
  • 🝎 caput mortuum 5.20 ↔ 5.27
  • ⍚ “evaporate” 5.26 ↔ 6.1
  • ⍝ “encase” 5.27 ↔ 5.31
  • ⍢ “grind” 5.27 ↔ 6.2
  • ⌱ “extract” 5.28 ↔ 6.3