Participantes y contexto

Description

In some regions, a dungeon’s passages and chambers may extend below the local water table or extend into a river bed, subterranean sea, or other body of water. These flooded cav- erns are home to aquatic monsters and pose a difficult challenge to the characters. While even a low-level character can withstand bitter cold or sweltering heat for a short time, drown- ing is equally lethal for a 20th-level fighter as it is to a 3rd-level wizard. Water breathing is a 3rd-level spell, making it difficult for parties below 5th level to even consider exploring a flooded cavern. Even then, the party’s spell- casters are forced to use some of their most powerful spell slots to simply ensure the char- acters’ basic survival.

Despite these hurdles, a flooded cavern can produce challenging and memorable dungeon adventures. The unique environment allows you to use creatures that adventurers do not often face, create encounters that require the characters to utilize all three dimensions of movement, and face a variety of practical chal- lenges that must be overcome with cunning and planning.

Flooded caverns can form in a variety of ways. They may simply be the lowest levels of a dun- geon built too close to a body of water, allow- ing you to combine this template with others. You could set a flooded dungeon within an ice- berg, forcing the characters to deal with both the cold and the watery depths. In this case, simply apply the cold or heat hazard to the flooded areas. Sea caves, ruins set upon the ocean floor, and other aquatic environments also make for good flooded dungeons. Keep in mind that the characters most likely need magic or some other assistance to move through water. Thus, placing a flooded cavern system far from an area where they can rest in open air may overly tax their capabilities.

Environment

Obviously, a flooded cavern is filled with water. Use the standard rules for swimming and drowning while the characters explore these dungeons. You can simulate freezing cold or boiling hot water by using the drown- ing hazard below with any of the heat or

cold hazards given in Chapter Three and reprinted with the appropriate templates in this section.

Drowning: Constitution check DC 10; 1 round

interval; –1 penalty/interval; Special: A charac- ter can hold his breath for a number of rounds equal to twice his Constitution score. After that interval, apply the effects given for this hazard. On a failed check, a character immediately drops to 0 hit points. On the next round, he drops to –1 hit points and is dying. On the third round, he dies.

Features

Aside from the obvious environmental danger posed by traveling in a flooded area, the second most important facet of this template is that it allows movement in three dimensions rather than just along a dungeon’s floor. The charac- ters can just as easily swim up or down as they can north, south, east, or west. When building a flooded dungeon, consider making such move- ment a critical part of the battles and puzzles the characters face. Monsters can surround a fighter from above and below, while a secret door may be hidden in a chamber’s ceiling.

Currents: Water does not have to remain stag-

nant throughout a dungeon. Strong currents can threaten to sweep aside the party and carry them into dangerous regions or directly into a trap. Determine in which direction a current flows, how hard it is to resist, and how far it carries a character. The following hazard repre- sents a typical current. You can increase the Swim DC and the distance it moves a character to represent a powerful current or decrease them for a weaker one.

Current: Swim check DC 10; 1 round;

Special: On a failed check, the character is pushed 2d6 feet in the current’s direction. This check is made before the character attempts to use his Swim skill to move. If a character is forced into a wall or other obstacle, he suffers 1d4 points of subdual damage.

Whirlpool: This water hazard swirls around at

an incredible speed, catching loose debris and weak swimmers in its grip and dragging them down its powerful current. A whirlpool results when water rapidly drains downward. A magi- cal effect or a creature such as a water elemen- tal can also cause a whirlpool to form.

CHAPTER FO

UR: Dungeon Design

CHAPTER FO

UR: Dungeon Design

Swim check DC 20; 1 round; Special: On a failed check, the character is pulled 4d6 feet per round down the whirlpool’s spout. This may drag him down to the cavern’s floor, through a crack to a wholly different chamber, or into an elemental gateway, depending on the source or nature of the whirlpool.

Monsters

Creatures that can breathe water or do not need air to live are best suited to this environment. Other creatures can function here, but like the characters they need magic items that allow them to breathe under water. All creatures with the aquatic type modifier can breathe water, unless common sense or the creature’s descrip- tion indicates otherwise.

Water breathing creatures include aboleths, dragon turtles, green dragons, krakens, kuo- toas, locathah, mephits (ooze, water), merfolk, nixies, oozes, sahuagin, sea hags, sea lions, skum, storm giants, tojanidas, tritons, and water elementals.

Often overlooked for use in underwater encounters, undead are well suited to these dungeons. Obviously, dead creatures do not need to breathe. Similarly, constructs are also at home in an undersea environment.