# Sewer monsters?



## gamecat (Apr 23, 2008)

Plotting for our game tonight,

What would be a good encounter table for slogging through sewers?

The party is at 2nd level.


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## demiurge1138 (Apr 23, 2008)

There's a really nice one in Pathfinder #7: Edge of Anarchy. I know that this helps you none at all. But in summary:

rats, in swarm and dire versions
wererats, perhaps accompanied by the former
ghouls and ghasts
otyughs, of course (perhaps struggling for sewer scavenger supremacy with carrion crawlers)
alligators, if it's in a tropical region or you're feeling facetious
ordinary humans, either beggars or criminals on the lam
giant spiders and centipedes

Unique to Golarion (the setting of Pathfinder) in its sewer association, but something I really like: derro. In the setting, derro are the little blue men (think aliens, not Smurfs). They abduct people at random, drag them underground, paralyze them, conduct horrible and inconceivable medical experiments, then return them hours or days later.

Demiurge out.


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## Hypersmurf (Apr 23, 2008)

gamecat said:
			
		

> Plotting for our game tonight,
> 
> What would be a good encounter table for slogging through sewers?
> 
> The party is at 2nd level.




Are you looking for level-appropriate combat encounters only?

I had a 'wise oracle' in my city game, whom the PCs could occasionally consult.  Marjory the Otyugh lived under the City Dump, and ran the local wererat guild; her two henchrats would vet prospective customers before admitting them to her presence.

(This all sprouted from noticing a single line in the Monster Manual: "Otyughs speak Common.")

But some other typical sewer denizens who shouldn't be too level-inappropriate:
Dire Rats
Wererats
Monstrous Vermin
Oozes
Otyugh
Ghouls
Zombies
Chokers
Slimes and Molds
Ooze Mephits
Skum
Rat Swarms
Centipede Swarms
Giant Crocodiles!

You could also go with some powered-down versions of some other creatures - baby purple worms, baby dragon turtles...

-Hyp.


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## demiurge1138 (Apr 23, 2008)

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> I had a 'wise oracle' in my city game, whom the PCs could occasionally consult.  Marjory the Otyugh lived under the City Dump, and ran the local wererat guild; her two henchrats would vet prospective customers before admitting them to her presence.
> 
> (This all sprouted from noticing a single line in the Monster Manual: "Otyughs speak Common.")
> 
> -Hyp.



Well, that and "Fraggle Rock".

Demiurge out.


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## gamecat (Apr 23, 2008)

Sheer genius with the crocodiles.

Thanks, gents.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 23, 2008)

Other things you might find in the sewers:

1) Demiurge mentioned criminals on the lam...what about criminals & other n'er do wells who _headquarter_ in the sewers- they're a perfect second highway for slavers, smugglers and assassins.

The same logic could be applied to a Secret Society- perhaps your world's equivalent to the Illuminati.

2) Raiders from a subterranean race might wander the sewers a while before realizing they're not in the main thoroughfares of a city- but for the water, after all, they're probably used to looking at tunnels everywhere.

3) Adventurers or City Watch on patrol.

4) Your favorite aquatic/semiaquatic race of choice, especially in a city near a major body of water.  There are lots: Lizard Men, Locathah, Sahuagin, Aquatic Elves, Aboleths, Grippli...

5) A wise, anthropomorphic rat and his students- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtl...Adolecent Drifting Monk Kappas

6) Recently hatched juvenile black dragons, to continue the croc/gator trope.


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## hong (Apr 23, 2008)

A poo elemental.

Like this one.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 23, 2008)

The favorite prey of the Otyugh.


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## blargney the second (Apr 23, 2008)

If you really want to freak out your players, slap the phrenic template on some crocodiles.  "What do you mean, make a Will save?!?"


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## Hypersmurf (Apr 23, 2008)

demiurge1138 said:
			
		

> Well, that and "Fraggle Rock".




Well, yeah.  But the otyugh line was the catalyst 

-Hyp.


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## Rechan (Apr 23, 2008)

A group of kids looking for a ball that went down a drain. 

Ghouls are great. And ghast smell might be mixed with something else.

I love oozes. They can get a smorgusboard, just consuming refuse. A gelatinous cube in a pit makes a great garbage dump. Even better, imagine some criminals disposing of a body. 

Goblins picking through trash hoping to find something useful. 

Aranea meeting.

Some subterrainan race (Grimlocks, Drow, etc) prepping for a surface raid.

Really angry water elementals.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 23, 2008)

> A group of kids looking for a ball that went down a drain.




They all float down here!


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## TheAuldGrump (Apr 23, 2008)

Possible hazards include firedamp (methane+torch=*FOOOMP!*) stinkdamp (if you smell rotten eggs in the sewer then leave the area - concentrations of sulfur dioxide are really bad stuff), sinkholes hidden in effluvium, loose stonework above, infections and diseases, and yes, giant, blind, albino sewer gators! Sewer octopi work well too.

Misty type undead, concealed withing the mist rising from the effluent on cold days (what Egon would call a 'free floating vapor'). Will o the Wisp work well, their glow diffused by the same mists that hide the ghosts.

Transients using a disused channel for shelter. And the seldom used Dark Mantle drifting down from above.

The Auld Grump, who also likes the image of a Grell squeezing out of a pipe that appears far too small for it to fit. Watch an octopus get in and out of a pop bottle to see what I mean.


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## Orius (Apr 23, 2008)

I'd say everyone pretty much covered the bases.  If you've got a sewer, you need the dire rats, wererats, and naturally the gators.  And otyughs, oozes, and gibbering mouthers probably are pretty good too.

  Unless of course you want to surprise the players with something unexpected.


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## Tewligan (Apr 23, 2008)

C.H.U.D.s.


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## Scarbonac (Apr 23, 2008)

This guy:


[Edit: I must be blind.]


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## Whimsical (Apr 23, 2008)

Slimes, Molds, and Fungi.


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## Cyberhawk (Apr 23, 2008)

If you want some encounters with a bit more flavor try these:

Not only could you find criminals down there but the sewers would be a perfect spot for a hidden shrine or temple to a forbidden god.  Especially the disgusting ones. 
Maybe the PCs somehow stumble in just as they're about to sacrifice some poor sap.  

Sewers are a traditional spot for dumping bodies.  Dumped bodies=undead.  This could create a nice spot for a ghost with a backstory or adventure hooks of some kind.

Blind Albino Owlbears.  Kids buy the chicks at fairs, you see, and then they dump them in the sewer when they get bigger and nastier.  They adapt down there and they get hungry.  A friend of a friend of my adventurer totally ran into them once...


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## Neil Bishop (Apr 23, 2008)

If you have a Libris Mortis, a sewer could be an interesting place for undead with the swarmshifter template. I can just see several swarms of undead flies or rats transforming into a ghoul pack. 

Full disclosure: one of the leading crimelords in a city in one of my games is a swarmshifter human wererat vampire who can assume the following swarm forms: bat, rat and fly as well as a living spell: contagion.


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## Rechan (Apr 23, 2008)

TheAuldGrump said:
			
		

> The Auld Grump, who also likes the image of a Grell squeezing out of a pipe that appears far too small for it to fit. Watch an octopus get in and out of a pop bottle to see what I mean.



The only problem there is that the image will likely be lost or unappreciated; PCs would more than likely just blast it as it's crawling out of the pipe than watch.

(Unless the thing can move real fast).


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## Rechan (Apr 23, 2008)

Neil Bishop said:
			
		

> If you have a Libris Mortis, a sewer could be an interesting place for undead with the swarmshifter template. I can just see several swarms of undead flies or rats transforming into a ghoul pack.



Here's a suggestion for Swarmform: Give the undead regeneration but a weakness for fire.

Why? Every time the undead receives a hit, bugs fly off of them, and then flit back into the wound.


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## Darklone (Apr 23, 2008)

Cannibalistic halflings. I have them in almost every sewer.


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## the Jester (Apr 24, 2008)

demiurge1138 said:
			
		

> Unique to Golarion (the setting of Pathfinder) in its sewer association, but something I really like: derro. In the setting, derro are the little blue men (think aliens, not Smurfs). They abduct people at random, drag them underground, paralyze them, conduct horrible and inconceivable medical experiments, then return them hours or days later.




swipe


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## TheAuldGrump (Apr 24, 2008)

Rechan said:
			
		

> The only problem there is that the image will likely be lost or unappreciated; PCs would more than likely just blast it as it's crawling out of the pipe than watch.
> 
> (Unless the thing can move real fast).



It is a second level party - with even a little bit of beefing up (character levels, etc.) It can easily survive two rounds or so of squeezing out of the pipe. Put the pipe up high, and allow Notice checks to see if the PCs catch a glimpse while it is oozing out, and before it drops down on its prey.

The Auld Grump


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## Orius (Apr 24, 2008)

Cyberhawk said:
			
		

> Not only could you find criminals down there but the sewers would be a perfect spot for a hidden shrine or temple to a forbidden god.  Especially the disgusting ones.
> Maybe the PCs somehow stumble in just as they're about to sacrifice some poor sap.




Juiblex sounds like a good candidate.


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## hong (Apr 24, 2008)

Jubbliex?

MACHINE-GUN Jubbliex, BAY-BEE?


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## diaglo (Apr 24, 2008)

hong said:
			
		

> A poo elemental.
> 
> Like this one.




mudmang

shambler

rot grubs

violent fungi ... relative of the violet fungi but meaner.

shriekers too.


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## SiderisAnon (Apr 24, 2008)

Kobolds, of course, because they're perfect for hiding out in cramped sewer tunnels.

Old undead that someone forgot about.

A sentient potion that lives in a pool under the drains from the Street of Alchemists.

The Sewer Rats of Nimh (sp?) living under the Wizard's Guild.


I also once had an encounter where the party came across a group of goblins banging on a pipe in the mostly dark. The party immediately attacked everyone and everything, not even stopping to figure out what was going on. Turns out a pair of sewer workers had enslaved the goblins and were using them to do their work, while the two humans oversaw. 

Once the paladin in the party realized he's just struck down two legitimate city employees without a second thought, he immediately used his healing to save one, but the other was too far gone. The paladin set up a fund to care for that man's family as part of his penance. (All the paladin PC's idea too. I didn't have to actually assign him any. He came up with his own list and went to it.)


There's also the old standby of a gleatinuous cube.


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## Rechan (Apr 24, 2008)

Here's an idea: sentient plant. 

Something that could survive with the low lighting. Perhaps its roots come in from above. But for some reason, I think it'd be hilarious to have some talking creature like Little Shop of Horrors. Maybe with some followers, or a makeshift "court" as it were of sewer denizens.


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## Arkhandus (Apr 25, 2008)

A few dire rats with the Phrenic template...some 1 hit die, one or two of 2 HD, and one with 3 HD.  Call them Cranium Rats.....muhahah.  They'll freak when one of the rats starts attacking their minds and the others appear to be protected by short-lived forcefields.

But you absolutely must have a poo monster of some sort.  Justice demands it!  ....okay, really just _I_ demand it.


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## diaglo (Apr 25, 2008)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> But you absolutely must have a poo monster of some sort.  Justice demands it!  ....okay, really just _I_ demand it.



even if it is just an escaped monkey from the zoo with the throw anything feat.

diaglo "who flung poo" Ooi


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 26, 2008)

Everybody was flung-poo fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they fought with expert timing


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