Hallway with 5 glyph of warding spells every 1 per 10 feet. The last one at the end of the hall is triggered by anyone near it if they do not utter the password within 3 seconds. The other 4 glyphs are triggered when the one next it goes off. Each glyph stores a Thunderwave spell. Potentially damaging and pushing intruders all the way down the hall and launching back out of the entrance with a horrendous thunderous exit (plus damage). Maybe even have a magic mouth at the end that says "AND STAY OUT!"...
Would need multiple copies, with trigger condition "if glyph series A has triggered AND nobody says the password..." Otherwise they just walk back in there. Really cool idea though
The bad thing about this is that say one of or two of the PCs succeed on the save and aren't pushed back by the first glyph, but fail the the second save and now the position is such that they're pushed further in. However I like the idea of having the PCs pushed against a wall, perhaps even with spikes.
Have another glyph at the end be a glyph of hold person. Holding them in place lo g enough that am the other glyphs have recharged. And the second time the try a few more glyphs go off that do some thing eals! Adding to the challenge each time!
Yo... A villain who's projecting himself throughout the whole dungeon, taunting the players as he punches different "buttons" on his desk of glyphs that activate different effects in the dungeon.
One thing I did as a particularly nasty trap... This BBEG was a Bard, and while not particularly evil, he was extraordinarily mischievous, and a notorious prankster and illusionist. He didn't particularly want to kill the party, but he DID want to tweak their nose since they were trying to hunt him down at the request of the local nobility, whose gala was ruined by him. Knowing that he was an illusionist and trickster, the casters wanted to be sure they could see through any trickery, and so obtained a couple of True Sight scrolls. In one room, they were poking around and noticed that one of the walls was an illusion. So up went True sight. Five feet behind it was the wall. With a Glyph of Insanity. If they hadn't gone with True Seeing, they would not have been affected by the Glyph. Since they did... fun times were had. In another room, there was a Major Image of a wall, which the Bard ran through. Seeing that it must therefore be an illusion, they also ran through it. Into the next wall. Which was Prismatic. Fun times :)
So I had my players encounter an Iron Golem that was dormant (basically at 1 HP and incapable of movement until that changed). Anyway, I set up a bunch of glyphs of warding filled with high level fire spells. The party walked towards the Iron Golem when suddenly, all the glyphs light up and burst into flames that engulf the Iron Golem. The party draws their weapons while the Iron Golem is getting healed to almost max HP (for those who don't know, Iron Golems are healed by fire damage).
The suggestion in the glyph of warding is actually one of my favorites. I've had a pretty easy dungeon for players on a fetch quest to get several items, then 4 different glyphs on the altars of each item. The first 3 more obvious evocation and transmutation spells, then the final a simple suggestion: toss the item into a well. There happened to be a well in the room, and this is how we entered the Underdark.
Glyph of warding: teleports you to the ceiling of a tall room, directly above another glyph that does the same. Alternatively: Glyph to teleport the triggering player to the dungion (jail cell), and programmed illusion to createa copy of the player continuing on as if nothing happened.
How do you program an illusion like that? This looks like an amazing idea but I have some trouble seeing how to implement it. Also, isn't the specific illusion decided upon when you cast it into the glyph?
This is why I like wizard and lich lairs. I had a group that was trying to take down an evil wizard, but had to make their way up the funhouse of terror that was his tower. They even fought a group of mimics that looked like individual pieces of an armored suit and a shield. Freaked them out thinking they were fighting a magic armor until pieces started falling off and bleeding.
@@ashtonpeterson4618 Its a LvLd up ghlyph. I was talking from the DM perspective and the DM doesn't have to follow every little rule if it means making a cool combat...
@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181 True. The DM always had the final say. I was just quoting what I thought the rules were. It's perfectly fine if they want to do this.
My dear Monty and Kelly, I think you haven't unlocked the true power of illusions yet... A high lvl illusionist with malleable illusion can alter illusions while they persist. At 14th lvl they get illusory reality, making illusionary objects real with a bonus action. So, every turn. Couple that with mirage arcane and you got yourself a *mile* radius customizable lair in which you can change the terrain at will, and make parts of it real. And it lasts 10 days! Want a stone cage to spring from the ground and capture a PC? No problem. Create a falling boulder out of nowhere, slamming the party in a narrow hallway? Tell them 'dodge this!' You can change the layout of the dungeon at will. 'There was a door there a moment ago, wasn't there?' Fun part is you didn't use concentration yet. You can use project image alongside it, or sneak alongside the party invisible, changing the scenery as they plod along. Your imagination is the limit here. I used it on my party to staggering effect with a goblin wizard. The final battle with him having a simulacrum up and ability to change the combat arena at will, casting spells as a high lvl wizard was awesomely epic. Edit: as Linnea Sampson pointed out the falling boulder won't do dmg, since illusory reality can't 'directly harm anyone'. Apart from the fact this combo's coolness doesn't really rely on directly damaging PC's, there are still plenty of options though, see my other comment.
Even that major image bridge becomes a death trap with a high level illusionist. Make it real until they're halfway across then let it go back to an illusion and see them plummet down.
You couldn't create a falling boulder to crush them with illusory reality because the object you make real cannot "deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone."
@@lijahsampson6979 I agree with you. RAW it won't work. Allthough I have to say that last caveat sentence is a bit off in my opinion. If I make a 'real' portcullis it will be as hard as steel, and a PC has just as much trouble getting through it as a real one. But when it falls down suddenly it can 'do no harm'. Same goes for the boulder. If it's in a hallway it can block the party like a real boulder but when it moves, suddenly it cannot crush anyone? Does it just suddenly move through you? Does it become soft and fluffy? I think that sentence was meant as an afterthought to prevent abuse from players, like summoning weapons or a bucket of burning oil emptying over someone, or the like. Let's face it, given some time to really think about it, I bet we could easily come up with a few horrible instant death scenarios. But then again, you don't need to *directly* damage anyone for that to happen. I can make an illusionary floor covering a spiked pit which is real, then make it dissappear. Or I can make a real barrier holding back a pile of logs, which can then roll down on the party. Or a fake railing 'protecting' them from falling down a cliff. All of wich render that last caveat sentence a bit moot IMO. Again, the limit is your own imagination.
Illusory Reality states that while the illusion becomes tangible, it cannot deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone. So the boulder, while still having weight and mass, can't actually do any damage if it falls on someone, although there is no restriction about it still applying other effects; the boulder can still pin someone, push them out of the way, or act as a barrier. In fact, if you could keep the effect up longer, you could trap someone under an illusion until they suffocate, but the 1 minute time limit of the effect means they'll likely remain conscious long enough for the effect to end. Furthermore, the class feature specifically mentions that you may only use the spell upon casting it, implying that the effect can't be applied on subsequent turns.
Glyph of warding? My personal favorite is "If there are more than 3 creatures within 20 feet, cast enemies abound on the closest target. It really messes with people, use sparingly if you want to keep your players.
Have your villain use the major image walls/doors to the point that your party just assume any wall is a door, then have your villain escape by running at a specific speed at a wall warded by glyphs for pass walls. Your party will run head first into the wall, triggering a programmed illusion of the villain laughing in their faces.
"The Glyph does the concentrating for you, so once it's cast, and the polymorph triggers, it lasts the full duration" Just found a new use for True Polymorph.
Too bad the glyph breaks when you move it. It'd be awesome to be able to make a bunch of scrolls to carry around with all the concentration spells you don't want to have to maintain concentration on.
@@orionshadowveil Just checked, it's a 3rd level spell that can store 3rd level spells, and at higher levels the level for storable spell rises, so it's still possible.
Villain desk senerio "The adventurers have broken through almost all my defences and are just about to enter, which button do I press, what spell do I need?" Adventurers barge in as Villain looks between them and their glyph buttons. 'all of them!!!" The Villain in a panic slams their Glyph keyboard triggering everything
magic mouth is a really effective and cheap spell tht has a lot of potential - for this and for setting "de facto" alarms on your items if they get stolen. An item with magic mouth that starts screaming " i am stolen. Reward for return." very loudly when in public carried by someone else is always fun.
Oh this is brilliant. You could build an entire dungeon that is just traps and no monsters with these spells, and maybe a few interestingly designed rooms. Very fun.
You could build an entire dungeon just with Guards and Wards. Your party needs to map this shit, find or place clues to get past the disorientation, probe walls for doors, etc. And the entire time everyone is shit scared that there's monsters trailing them, ready to jump at the slightest lapse of attention.
The thing I live about the Contingency and Glyphs is that it lets a powerful non-spell caster that has access to magic effects in a pinch. All they need is a magical hireling, minion, friend or thrall to cast the spell a head of time. The advantage here is it limits what the players can get there hands on and keeps say a wall of Force from dooming a Silver dragon to death at the ha da of your villainous PCs but they don’t have to have Magic items that if they do manage to slay the dragon they can unbalance the campaign with. (Minor point - Remember that not all PCs are good and so even Good Big Bads should have defenses like this). Minor off topic point - Private sanctum is really a spell every villain and player should have. If you are a player and the bad guys always seem to know you are coming and have a counter for your plan - maybe there is a extra set of eyes in the planning room.
Yo-ho-ho-oooo, dudes. Playing a homebrew with my group. We're trekking a giant magical cube structure possibly made by Sidghur. We came across a three level area with fogs in certain points. Within the fogged areas... Guards and Wards. That took an entire session to get through. So many rooms and levels and it was petfectly symmetrical and repetitive in design. My buddy did great. Gg, Guards and Wards.
I've actually used Magic Aura as a player... It can be a fantastic tool to increase the subterfuge options available to players. I've used it to smuggle equipment into a fancy dress ball, and am planning on using it with a spy-type character in one of my campaigns to make all of her equipment appear mundane, as soon as we have enough downtime -- it says the item can't be something that's being worn, but it doesn't say you can't then wear it once the spell's cast ;)
One of my most memorable dungeons ended in a TPK when the players crossed a "stone bridge" to a stalactite that was a "wizard tower" that was hanging over a large acid pool in a cave. They got to the door, used detect magic and it radiated multiple strong magic and also triggered a magic mouth which said in a language a player understood "This is my sanctum, and where I practice my magical craft. To succeed in gaining entrance you must respect that and not try and dispel my art." The party proceeded to choose to do an aoe casting of dispel magic. This caused the major illusion of the stone bridge and stalactite, as well as the wall of force structure "which was the bridge and tower" to cease to exist. That gave the players nothing to stand on and they all fell to their deaths.
I'm actually a big fan of Gliph of Warding Villains and on the topic of CR I usually treat each Gliph as a trap of the spell level to determine the total CR of the encounter. It works well for me.
Project Image with a Glyph of Warding holding Phantasmal Force. Not only will it LOOK like the villain cast a spell, but they'll take damage like he did too! If the villain knows the party, he can make a separate Glyph of Warding for each person. My players have never been so confused!
Wow, my group is encountering their first ever Hag Coven... and these spells are absolutely PERFECT for the types of strengths Hags possess, and for creating the environment of the Hags' lair.
My first thought was a wizard that puts fake abjuration magic on random household objects just to trick anyone that walks around detecting magic and throwing off would be arcana thieves
what about a video about simple items that adventurers can buy from general stores (like pitons for climbing) that are more useful than new adventurers think
i love Magic Aura, i use it to had the magical effects of my Magic Jar that a powerful villain has used to achieve functional immortality, and the vampire lord uses it to prevent himself from being seen as a vampire
Thank you for all your renovation tips, I've recently been hired by the Ebon Dawn to renovate his home, he calls it, uh Voidharrow. Regardless of the silly name, he pays well and these tips will surely lead to many adventurers losing their lives just what the boss ordered.
I hear he pays well indeed, just don't slack on the job. Had a friend redo Ebon's torture chamber and the dude used cheap bolts to attach the manacles to the walls and ceiling. Guess who got to test if they were indeed up to specs?
Now I am imagining the players going through one of these dungeons, only for them to reach the wizard and he has already used all his spell slots making the traps.
I love Glyphs. I'm running a new campaign soon and one of the first rooms has a locked door for our party's rogue to unlock. Once they open the door, a wall of force will be cast directly in front of them, so as they confidently stroll through the door they smack their faces on an invisible wall >:D
I love the idea of casting Guards and Wards on a ship/boat, where the boat is used as a haunted house sort of feel. It could even be really cool to say this spell is how Black Beard, Davy Jones, and other famous pirates and their respective ships became such legends.
This is the exact video I needed this week! Setting up for a big mid chapter encounter for my party and these spells are perfect for the stronghold their about to assault. Awesome video as always guys.
So the party returns to the final door after suggestion wears off... open the final door and trigger Major Image. What do they see but this horrendous scene of nightmare fuel; meant to make them rush in to save those they see undergoing torture and death as Demons watch in the background... the truth is theres a large pit with a 5ft lip around the walls. The pit is 500ft deep with 5ft diamond needles pointing up from the bottom. truth is that 360 ft down is the real floor made permanently to look invisible. illusion within other illusions. I rarely use illusions so they are most effective when I do.
Diamond, despite being the hardest naturally occurring substance known to man, fractures quite easily. Better to use iron or steel, even for an illusion.
Glyph of Warding with a Clairvoyence. When the players arrive, the wizard has spells prepared specifically to deal with them, with a not-necessarily-metagaming reason for it. After all, batman with prep time is a monster to fight, and prep time requires knowing your enemy.
These are the spells that can by used to challenge high-level parties. I have been searching for this sort of thing! I was planning a 20th level dungeon, but of course, level 20 characters can kill any monster I send at them. Now I know how to make it a challenge. They are informed that the seven Aboleths have been experimenting on a Tarasque. Because of that, they are partly expecting it when is in the entrance hall. They fight it, and kill it. After it dies, the illusion fades. They realize that there is nothing there, and that they blew all their spell slots for nothing. Then they have to make their way through the dungeon and kill the Aboleths. The catch: the walls are filled with Glyphs of Warding, and any time a creature tries to rest, it wakes them with a Thunderwave. And of course, there are all sorts of illusions and traps leading to each Aboleth, with the final fight against each one containing the Aboleth, 7 Kuo-toa Archpriestesses who also have warlock levels, and 47 Kuo-toa. And each fight is unique, based on what experiments that perticular Aboleth did. One infuses troll regen into creatures with high stats, and immunity to acid and poison. Another uses powder cannons that deal massive damage, with constitution saves against limbs being knocked off. The final battle is against the true Tarasque, wearing welded-on Adamantine armor. While the party is low on hit points and magic items, probably drained of spell slots, and likely layered with curses and missing limbs. As a reward for completing this terrifying challenge, I would homebrew up 21st level for all of them. They reach it instantly.
@@meirwaxman350 roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Rope%20Trick#content 2nd level transmutation that gives them a short rest. Plenty of time for hit die regen, warlock spell refresh...
Evil idea for glyph of warding: The players come across a pit of spikes, it's only about 10 feet across so they will most likly try to jump over it. When they do it activates a glyph of warding that turns the player into an ox. oxen cant jump well so they fall to there death. :)
Evil laugh at 7:41 is epic lol. Plus the intro was reminiscent of the Ghostbusters commercial “Are you troubled by strange noises in the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?”
Several of these spells are some of my favorite to use even as a PC if I can find the time or the space to use them. And they aren't even some of the most viscious ways that you can use some of these spells. For example you can major image that giant adamantium door in place in a spot where there is nothing but a vast amount of solid object behind it and the actual door in is really off to one side hidden in what they take to be the decorative door jam or carving around the door that is masked over as just part of the rock that leads down an unassuming little set of stairs. It will kill reckless teleporter's that are used to just bypassing doors that way. but those that actually search and look for other ways may actually find the actual door.
Love Nystul's. I played in a campaign where the mage kept casting Dectect Magic on party members to make sure they weren't hiding magic items that he wanted... so my character got a pair of boots that radiated magic... to the character's delight it drove both the Mage (and the player) mad trying to figure out what they were
For an 8th Level Bard: Have a glyph of warding set up near the entrance to your stronghold where the trigger is casting the spell Heat Metal, and the effect is a Dimension Door spell bringing you back to the innermost part of your sanctum. Come out to greet any hostile creatures invading your stronghold and, when combat starts, cast Heat Metal at 4th Level on one wearing heavy armor. This allows you to make whatever speech you would like to make, get out quickly, kill one of the invaders (or at least freak them out a bit and cause them to waste resources if they have dispel magic/revivify/a ton of healing spells+potions), and use healing potions to regain any hit points you lost in the opening round of combat before you could act.
I like your humour : ) And the suggestions are excellent, especially, as you mention, to shake up PCs who have become complacent as a result of their ‘standard approach’ being successful several times. Let them get value out of their chosen tricks, spells etc., then pull the rug out from under them, or at least, push them out of their comfort zones. Nice ideas!
Funny he mentions suggestion and saying please leave. I did that to my players once a bit back. They had made it to the final boss of a dungeon and it was an Ulitharid with a few added monsters to spice up the fight. They killed his minions and had gotten him fairly low and it was at that time that I cast Mass Suggestion on everyone. Everyone failed their save throw thanks to some unlucky rolls, so they were all forced to drop their weapons and leave the dungeon and keep following the road south for the next day. Needless to say, 24 hours later when the spell ended they were exhausted and weaponless and had to fight a couple wild animals with bare hands and cantrips pretty much until they obtained some new weapons. They weren't happy about it at first, but it made that return revenge fight so much better and they got to get their equipment back :p Only bad thing was their time away gave the boss time to repopulate his dungeon to some degree :p
My group plays a more long view game. We almost always buy or build a home base. These spells are awesome if your DM allows for longer breaks between adventures.
Watching this has given me many ideas, but not for a villain. This has instead given me an amazing idea for what would essentially be a large trial where the players are meant to do certain objectives and find out who's behind certain things, and realize that the dungeon was an iniation trial to see how well they would do. It is a VERY fun concept that I am gonna use, and I hope others use it too
We used Glyph of Warding defensively when we knew a group of enemies were coming, so we cast Glyph of Warding with Prayer of Healing in it. When the fight got rough, we triggered it and healed the party.
Wonder how hard a dungeon under the affects of strong hold that's little more then several floors of square rooms with a gridded hallways would be to navigate
14:56 i have an idea: make illusion of big bad standing in room, in middle of room is are 2 glyphs of warding: force cage and cloud kill have big bad illusion taunt them then disappear. The players then try to leave after nothing in the room and dimension door glyph of warding into a dungeon thats built to look exactly like the one they were in, except this is an illusion labyrinth and the exit is really behind them the entire time. For the DD glyph it casts its spell on next creature to step on it after a particular phrase is said. Which your villain convienently says while monologueing
I have a wizard tower in my campaign for my level 14 wizard. Our DM gave us a year in game break for the PCs to accomplish some goals. Mine was to put Guards and Wards, Teleportation Circle, and Private Sanctum in my wizard tower. Also I have one of the puzzles for my tower use a major image of an ancient dragon sleeping on a table that holds the puzzle that gives the key to the next floor. The puzzle also impliments Illusory Script to make the ten pages intelligible, five of those papers are blank, and the last five are in different languages with a cypher to crack on each one.
this video got you a subscriber, loved your ideas and thinking. Also brilliant explanations and also just a little thing like mentioning page numbers is so helpful. great work !
I get that Delayed Blast Fireball is a really niche spell, and one that many players instantly dismiss. But gifting them a necklace with that glowing orange orb inside one of its crystals, which explodes one minute after the courier has gotten out of there can really be a nice way of attempting to assassinate the party from afar, and quite effectively with a big „ohhh!“ moment at the table as the crystal explodes for a whole 22d6 damage! (Yes, the usual 12d6 increases by 1d6 every round for one minute after which the spell ends and explodes)
Glyph of warding that is holding true polymorph, turns them into a permanent chicken since it requires no concentration. Probably only for the BBEG dungeon though, at almost max level party.
Book with gyph of warding in it ->PC gets teleported in a cubic room clustered with gelatinous cubesand only the middle one missing, which is where the get teleported to and another glyph of warding there, that frees all gelatinous cubes to move, so all the cubes come and disolve the players at the same time
Combine Mordenkainen's sanctum with major image (which includes audible effects) to create a doorway into fogged darkness, with horrible cries and screams coming from the dark fogged shadows.
I have a campain that is (at least for tier 1) locked to a giant dungeon no I can lock of areas that are to high level without killing half the party on acciedent.... again... trust me. The bard wanted to change character in still...
Major image is just a fun spell to use in general, you can also use it to great effect as a player, blocking passages, getting enemies to waste spell slots on illusory "summoned" monsters and so on. If you have the capacity to cast level 6 spells you can even use it to troll the BBEG and his minions by leaving illusory mocking statues where they are guaranteed to find them. For extra laughs you can use one of these as the bait for a careless spellcaster by also inscribing a glyph of warding nearby set to go off when the illusion is dispelled, use a save or suck spell that targets fortitude for extra nasty effects.
Book on a pedestal in a relatively small room of a lich's/powerful undead's stronghold, two Glyphs of Warding - one on either the book or pedestal that casts Arcane Lock on the door if the book is picked up, the other Glyph on the door that triggers Sickening Radiance in the room if the door is Arcane Locked...? Bonus points if the area is affected by Private Sanctum to prevent teleportation.
Have a room with a hell of a lot of glyphs of warding all hand put by some evil people, place coins or arrows near the glyphs, do whatever command you want for when they activate, put catapult onto the glyphs of warding
Yeah, but then you need 2 9th level spell slots, which are not easy to come by. The best way to do this is through the spell clone. 8th level, costs less and you could even get younger!
This ties in with one of my core DM philosophies about NPC making. I don't like to make up abilities and magic for my NPCs. I like to mak sure that the NPCs still only use the tools and spells available to players as well. This way players recognize that the DM isnt just whipping out fiats of doom, but they get more excited when they recognize 'oh crap the NPC we want to kill has cast Guards and Wards on the castle!'.
This stuff stresses me out. I'd just rather create some spell to do what I need, rather than scouring the PH or other books to find a spell that does what I need. However this is some good stuff guys. You did much of the work for me.
I had a magic dungeon where the players fell into a pit that was lined with a lot of Glyphs of Warding that cast Hold Person and Feather Fall on anyone trying to fly up through the hole in the ceiling. The goal was to solve the puzzles to unlock stairs that would let them climb out.
1:35 Nystul's magic aura
4:30 Glyph of warding
10:20 Major Image
14:50 Mordenkainen's private sanctum
19:20 Guards & Wards
Cheaper and easier to breed & Feed Trolls, Orcs, Goblins, & Kobolds.
The hero we need but not the one we deserve.
The real mvp
Somehow I have never read these smells, I just kind of glaze past them. They will helpt greatly for designing dungeons :D
Thank you.
Hallway with 5 glyph of warding spells every 1 per 10 feet. The last one at the end of the hall is triggered by anyone near it if they do not utter the password within 3 seconds. The other 4 glyphs are triggered when the one next it goes off. Each glyph stores a Thunderwave spell. Potentially damaging and pushing intruders all the way down the hall and launching back out of the entrance with a horrendous thunderous exit (plus damage).
Maybe even have a magic mouth at the end that says "AND STAY OUT!"...
Hehe. That's cool.
Would need multiple copies, with trigger condition "if glyph series A has triggered AND nobody says the password..." Otherwise they just walk back in there.
Really cool idea though
Or even glyphs with Thunderwave scribed on the ground beneath stalactites
The bad thing about this is that say one of or two of the PCs succeed on the save and aren't pushed back by the first glyph, but fail the the second save and now the position is such that they're pushed further in.
However I like the idea of having the PCs pushed against a wall, perhaps even with spikes.
Have another glyph at the end be a glyph of hold person. Holding them in place lo g enough that am the other glyphs have recharged. And the second time the try a few more glyphs go off that do some thing eals! Adding to the challenge each time!
3 glyphs of warding: polymorph into a T-Rex, Enlarge, Dominate Beast
you are evil i love it im stealing this
Just stick a rabbit in there for the polymorph
Yo... A villain who's projecting himself throughout the whole dungeon, taunting the players as he punches different "buttons" on his desk of glyphs that activate different effects in the dungeon.
And he can watch them all with a crystal ball
Like the dog in the joke ending of Silent Hill?
@@talongreenlee7704 that's going to be my next bbeg now
A Saw style dungeon, with the Jigsaw villain using Glyph of Warding to kill victims if they don't complete puzzles
Scooby doo meets batman and robin did that
One thing I did as a particularly nasty trap...
This BBEG was a Bard, and while not particularly evil, he was extraordinarily mischievous, and a notorious prankster and illusionist. He didn't particularly want to kill the party, but he DID want to tweak their nose since they were trying to hunt him down at the request of the local nobility, whose gala was ruined by him.
Knowing that he was an illusionist and trickster, the casters wanted to be sure they could see through any trickery, and so obtained a couple of True Sight scrolls.
In one room, they were poking around and noticed that one of the walls was an illusion. So up went True sight. Five feet behind it was the wall. With a Glyph of Insanity. If they hadn't gone with True Seeing, they would not have been affected by the Glyph. Since they did... fun times were had.
In another room, there was a Major Image of a wall, which the Bard ran through. Seeing that it must therefore be an illusion, they also ran through it. Into the next wall. Which was Prismatic. Fun times :)
I hope you don't mind me stealing those for a funhouse setup.
...Well, fun for me anyhow. 😉
😈
Oof, Prismatic Wall. A truly horrifying spell for a dungeon. Just slap one behind any old illusory wall and you can annihilate whomever you want...
You absolute evil genius. That is the most genius evil thing I could imagine.
So I had my players encounter an Iron Golem that was dormant (basically at 1 HP and incapable of movement until that changed). Anyway, I set up a bunch of glyphs of warding filled with high level fire spells. The party walked towards the Iron Golem when suddenly, all the glyphs light up and burst into flames that engulf the Iron Golem. The party draws their weapons while the Iron Golem is getting healed to almost max HP (for those who don't know, Iron Golems are healed by fire damage).
Ooo! I like this one. 👍🤣
The suggestion in the glyph of warding is actually one of my favorites. I've had a pretty easy dungeon for players on a fetch quest to get several items, then 4 different glyphs on the altars of each item. The first 3 more obvious evocation and transmutation spells, then the final a simple suggestion: toss the item into a well. There happened to be a well in the room, and this is how we entered the Underdark.
After all this time, you just tell me there's a spell that makes Darksouls boss fog in D&D?
Yup
I’m using that idea now
Glyph of warding: teleports you to the ceiling of a tall room, directly above another glyph that does the same.
Alternatively: Glyph to teleport the triggering player to the dungion (jail cell), and programmed illusion to createa copy of the player continuing on as if nothing happened.
How do you program an illusion like that? This looks like an amazing idea but I have some trouble seeing how to implement it.
Also, isn't the specific illusion decided upon when you cast it into the glyph?
This is why I like wizard and lich lairs. I had a group that was trying to take down an evil wizard, but had to make their way up the funhouse of terror that was his tower. They even fought a group of mimics that looked like individual pieces of an armored suit and a shield. Freaked them out thinking they were fighting a magic armor until pieces started falling off and bleeding.
Gliph of Warding a simulacrum of the PCS and make them fight themselves.....
Medusa is the Boss ruclips.net/video/VgMOu2Aros0/видео.html
@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181 i think glyphs of warding have to have spells of 1 action. I believe simulacrum takes much longer to cast.
@@ashtonpeterson4618 Its a LvLd up ghlyph. I was talking from the DM perspective and the DM doesn't have to follow every little rule if it means making a cool combat...
@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181 True. The DM always had the final say. I was just quoting what I thought the rules were. It's perfectly fine if they want to do this.
If I play in one of Monty's dungeons I am bringing a slingshot and testing EVERYTHING with rocks at a distance
If you're going old school bring along a 10 foot pole as well to test for pit traps.
Or Mage Hand and a 10 foot pole.
But what if the condition for the glyph is 'when the glyph is hit'... oh no...
@@leodouskyron5671 And remember a quarter staff or spear is not a suitable substitute for a 10ft pole
I’m bringing True Seeing.
My dear Monty and Kelly, I think you haven't unlocked the true power of illusions yet...
A high lvl illusionist with malleable illusion can alter illusions while they persist. At 14th lvl they get illusory reality, making illusionary objects real with a bonus action. So, every turn. Couple that with mirage arcane and you got yourself a *mile* radius customizable lair in which you can change the terrain at will, and make parts of it real. And it lasts 10 days!
Want a stone cage to spring from the ground and capture a PC? No problem. Create a falling boulder out of nowhere, slamming the party in a narrow hallway? Tell them 'dodge this!' You can change the layout of the dungeon at will. 'There was a door there a moment ago, wasn't there?'
Fun part is you didn't use concentration yet. You can use project image alongside it, or sneak alongside the party invisible, changing the scenery as they plod along.
Your imagination is the limit here.
I used it on my party to staggering effect with a goblin wizard. The final battle with him having a simulacrum up and ability to change the combat arena at will, casting spells as a high lvl wizard was awesomely epic.
Edit: as Linnea Sampson pointed out the falling boulder won't do dmg, since illusory reality can't 'directly harm anyone'. Apart from the fact this combo's coolness doesn't really rely on directly damaging PC's, there are still plenty of options though, see my other comment.
So...Labyrinth with David Bowie?
Even that major image bridge becomes a death trap with a high level illusionist. Make it real until they're halfway across then let it go back to an illusion and see them plummet down.
You couldn't create a falling boulder to crush them with illusory reality because the object you make real cannot "deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone."
@@lijahsampson6979 I agree with you. RAW it won't work.
Allthough I have to say that last caveat sentence is a bit off in my opinion.
If I make a 'real' portcullis it will be as hard as steel, and a PC has just as much trouble getting through it as a real one. But when it falls down suddenly it can 'do no harm'. Same goes for the boulder. If it's in a hallway it can block the party like a real boulder but when it moves, suddenly it cannot crush anyone?
Does it just suddenly move through you? Does it become soft and fluffy?
I think that sentence was meant as an afterthought to prevent abuse from players, like summoning weapons or a bucket of burning oil emptying over someone, or the like. Let's face it, given some time to really think about it, I bet we could easily come up with a few horrible instant death scenarios.
But then again, you don't need to *directly* damage anyone for that to happen. I can make an illusionary floor covering a spiked pit which is real, then make it dissappear. Or I can make a real barrier holding back a pile of logs, which can then roll down on the party. Or a fake railing 'protecting' them from falling down a cliff.
All of wich render that last caveat sentence a bit moot IMO.
Again, the limit is your own imagination.
Illusory Reality states that while the illusion becomes tangible, it cannot deal damage or otherwise directly harm anyone. So the boulder, while still having weight and mass, can't actually do any damage if it falls on someone, although there is no restriction about it still applying other effects; the boulder can still pin someone, push them out of the way, or act as a barrier. In fact, if you could keep the effect up longer, you could trap someone under an illusion until they suffocate, but the 1 minute time limit of the effect means they'll likely remain conscious long enough for the effect to end. Furthermore, the class feature specifically mentions that you may only use the spell upon casting it, implying that the effect can't be applied on subsequent turns.
Glyph of warding?
My personal favorite is "If there are more than 3 creatures within 20 feet, cast enemies abound on the closest target.
It really messes with people, use sparingly if you want to keep your players.
I had to look that spell up; cool choice.
Have your villain use the major image walls/doors to the point that your party just assume any wall is a door, then have your villain escape by running at a specific speed at a wall warded by glyphs for pass walls.
Your party will run head first into the wall, triggering a programmed illusion of the villain laughing in their faces.
Permanent fake sleeping dragon with major illusion
I was thinking fake huge CR 21 fiend, but that's even better XD
Permanently hide the sleeping dragon
"The Glyph does the concentrating for you, so once it's cast, and the polymorph triggers, it lasts the full duration"
Just found a new use for True Polymorph.
Too bad the glyph breaks when you move it. It'd be awesome to be able to make a bunch of scrolls to carry around with all the concentration spells you don't want to have to maintain concentration on.
I think the spell stored in the glyph must be of a lower level than the glyph itself, so sadly, no auto-perma true poly
@@orionshadowveil Just checked, it's a 3rd level spell that can store 3rd level spells, and at higher levels the level for storable spell rises, so it's still possible.
@@orionshadowveil Could you upcast the glyph?
@@jasonreiyn9311 it has to be of a spell lower leveled than the glyph. Similar to the Contingency spell for the wizard list.
Villain desk senerio
"The adventurers have broken through almost all my defences and are just about to enter, which button do I press, what spell do I need?"
Adventurers barge in as Villain looks between them and their glyph buttons.
'all of them!!!" The Villain in a panic slams their Glyph keyboard triggering everything
magic mouth is a really effective and cheap spell tht has a lot of potential - for this and for setting "de facto" alarms on your items if they get stolen. An item with magic mouth that starts screaming " i am stolen. Reward for return." very loudly when in public carried by someone else is always fun.
Oh this is brilliant. You could build an entire dungeon that is just traps and no monsters with these spells, and maybe a few interestingly designed rooms. Very fun.
You could build an entire dungeon just with Guards and Wards. Your party needs to map this shit, find or place clues to get past the disorientation, probe walls for doors, etc.
And the entire time everyone is shit scared that there's monsters trailing them, ready to jump at the slightest lapse of attention.
The thing I live about the Contingency and Glyphs is that it lets a powerful non-spell caster that has access to magic effects in a pinch. All they need is a magical hireling, minion, friend or thrall to cast the spell a head of time. The advantage here is it limits what the players can get there hands on and keeps say a wall of Force from dooming a Silver dragon to death at the ha da of your villainous PCs but they don’t have to have Magic items that if they do manage to slay the dragon they can unbalance the campaign with. (Minor point - Remember that not all PCs are good and so even Good Big Bads should have defenses like this).
Minor off topic point - Private sanctum is really a spell every villain and player should have. If you are a player and the bad guys always seem to know you are coming and have a counter for your plan - maybe there is a extra set of eyes in the planning room.
Yo-ho-ho-oooo, dudes.
Playing a homebrew with my group. We're trekking a giant magical cube structure possibly made by Sidghur. We came across a three level area with fogs in certain points. Within the fogged areas... Guards and Wards.
That took an entire session to get through. So many rooms and levels and it was petfectly symmetrical and repetitive in design. My buddy did great. Gg, Guards and Wards.
I've actually used Magic Aura as a player... It can be a fantastic tool to increase the subterfuge options available to players. I've used it to smuggle equipment into a fancy dress ball, and am planning on using it with a spy-type character in one of my campaigns to make all of her equipment appear mundane, as soon as we have enough downtime -- it says the item can't be something that's being worn, but it doesn't say you can't then wear it once the spell's cast ;)
One of my most memorable dungeons ended in a TPK when the players crossed a "stone bridge" to a stalactite that was a "wizard tower" that was hanging over a large acid pool in a cave. They got to the door, used detect magic and it radiated multiple strong magic and also triggered a magic mouth which said in a language a player understood "This is my sanctum, and where I practice my magical craft. To succeed in gaining entrance you must respect that and not try and dispel my art." The party proceeded to choose to do an aoe casting of dispel magic. This caused the major illusion of the stone bridge and stalactite, as well as the wall of force structure "which was the bridge and tower" to cease to exist. That gave the players nothing to stand on and they all fell to their deaths.
diabolical
I'm actually a big fan of Gliph of Warding Villains and on the topic of CR I usually treat each Gliph as a trap of the spell level to determine the total CR of the encounter. It works well for me.
Project Image with a Glyph of Warding holding Phantasmal Force.
Not only will it LOOK like the villain cast a spell, but they'll take damage like he did too! If the villain knows the party, he can make a separate Glyph of Warding for each person. My players have never been so confused!
Wow, my group is encountering their first ever Hag Coven... and these spells are absolutely PERFECT for the types of strengths Hags possess, and for creating the environment of the Hags' lair.
Magic mouth plus some illusion spell. "you look tired, have a drink" the water is acid.
My first thought was a wizard that puts fake abjuration magic on random household objects just to trick anyone that walks around detecting magic and throwing off would be arcana thieves
Thief 1 "BEHOLD! a magic stack of toiler paper!"
Thief 2 "toilet paper?"
Thief 1 "no. MAGICAL toilet paper"
@@Sethoshini95 Magic toilet paper that never runs out! Just reuse it...
what about a video about simple items that adventurers can buy from general stores (like pitons for climbing) that are more useful than new adventurers think
This would be a great one.
Common items are only limited by the players' lack of imagination.
They do have the exploration video that covers some of those things in kits that people don't think of.
@@michaelsorensen7567 I wasnt aware of that, thank you for telling me
i love Magic Aura, i use it to had the magical effects of my Magic Jar that a powerful villain has used to achieve functional immortality, and the vampire lord uses it to prevent himself from being seen as a vampire
All im hearing is Glyph of Warding + Entangle all over my Jungle Temple dungeon....
Thank you for all your renovation tips, I've recently been hired by the Ebon Dawn to renovate his home, he calls it, uh Voidharrow.
Regardless of the silly name, he pays well and these tips will surely lead to many adventurers losing their lives just what the boss ordered.
I hear he pays well indeed, just don't slack on the job. Had a friend redo Ebon's torture chamber and the dude used cheap bolts to attach the manacles to the walls and ceiling.
Guess who got to test if they were indeed up to specs?
Now I am imagining the players going through one of these dungeons, only for them to reach the wizard and he has already used all his spell slots making the traps.
"He/she spent many years recasting the till they became permanent ."
All good villains build their plans and empires over many years .
The glyph of warding that banishes celestials sounds like the blood glyph from Supernatural.
Compare cost of 1,000 Zombies, 12 Vampires, 45 Trolls, 1200 Orcs, 2300 Goblins, and 2600 Kobolds for a year.
Vampires might like some expensive virgins but imagine the cost of air fresheners fo 1000 zombie. 😁
This video is dangerous.... to ths PCs that are going after my BBEG
This is why I love your videos: you give me ideas to make my players think. Thank you for the tips guys!
I love Glyphs. I'm running a new campaign soon and one of the first rooms has a locked door for our party's rogue to unlock. Once they open the door, a wall of force will be cast directly in front of them, so as they confidently stroll through the door they smack their faces on an invisible wall >:D
you just blew my mind. im playing an illusionist and i never read that bottom text on Major Image! i just got level 6 spells too. this is awesome
I love the idea of casting Guards and Wards on a ship/boat, where the boat is used as a haunted house sort of feel. It could even be really cool to say this spell is how Black Beard, Davy Jones, and other famous pirates and their respective ships became such legends.
This is the exact video I needed this week! Setting up for a big mid chapter encounter for my party and these spells are perfect for the stronghold their about to assault. Awesome video as always guys.
Super helpful for a newish DM. Thank you guys
one thing i love to do with illusion: prepare a MASSIVE hole that obstruct the way. Illusion water in it
Hahaha, I'm picturing the PC's diving in and realise immediately they dun goofed up
So the party returns to the final door after suggestion wears off... open the final door and trigger Major Image.
What do they see but this horrendous scene of nightmare fuel; meant to make them rush in to save those they see undergoing torture and death as Demons watch in the background... the truth is theres a large pit with a 5ft lip around the walls. The pit is 500ft deep with 5ft diamond needles pointing up from the bottom. truth is that 360 ft down is the real floor made permanently to look invisible. illusion within other illusions.
I rarely use illusions so they are most effective when I do.
Diamond, despite being the hardest naturally occurring substance known to man, fractures quite easily. Better to use iron or steel, even for an illusion.
Wait with glyphs of warding can a sorcerer use meta magic onto the glyphed spell? Like a fireball impowerd?
I mean, there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t...
Oh god
Have a Glyph of Warding with the Haste spell in your office. XD
Glyph of Warding with a Clairvoyence. When the players arrive, the wizard has spells prepared specifically to deal with them, with a not-necessarily-metagaming reason for it. After all, batman with prep time is a monster to fight, and prep time requires knowing your enemy.
You Could Have a powerful villain use a glyph of warding with simulacrum to give your party a fight while the original slinks away
These are the spells that can by used to challenge high-level parties. I have been searching for this sort of thing!
I was planning a 20th level dungeon, but of course, level 20 characters can kill any monster I send at them. Now I know how to make it a challenge.
They are informed that the seven Aboleths have been experimenting on a Tarasque. Because of that, they are partly expecting it when is in the entrance hall. They fight it, and kill it. After it dies, the illusion fades. They realize that there is nothing there, and that they blew all their spell slots for nothing. Then they have to make their way through the dungeon and kill the Aboleths. The catch: the walls are filled with Glyphs of Warding, and any time a creature tries to rest, it wakes them with a Thunderwave. And of course, there are all sorts of illusions and traps leading to each Aboleth, with the final fight against each one containing the Aboleth, 7 Kuo-toa Archpriestesses who also have warlock levels, and 47 Kuo-toa. And each fight is unique, based on what experiments that perticular Aboleth did. One infuses troll regen into creatures with high stats, and immunity to acid and poison. Another uses powder cannons that deal massive damage, with constitution saves against limbs being knocked off. The final battle is against the true Tarasque, wearing welded-on Adamantine armor. While the party is low on hit points and magic items, probably drained of spell slots, and likely layered with curses and missing limbs.
As a reward for completing this terrifying challenge, I would homebrew up 21st level for all of them. They reach it instantly.
My rope trick laughs in the face of your anti rest glyphs...
Characters will find a way out of EVERYTHING
@@michaelsorensen7567 What rope trick? Please tell
@@meirwaxman350 roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Rope%20Trick#content
2nd level transmutation that gives them a short rest. Plenty of time for hit die regen, warlock spell refresh...
Lolz
Major image the hard to find entry to the stronghold
It’s the back wall of the tavern they all met in at very beginning!
Could you make a video about spells for homebases? Spells that last until theire banned and stuff.
This is a really useful video, and I had never even considered using some of these spells... but the best parts of the video are Monty's evil laughs.
These spells are awesome for my Dr Doom villain castle!!
Guards and wards and suggestion to leave; I've been trying to leave for 50years!
Evil idea for glyph of warding:
The players come across a pit of spikes, it's only about 10 feet across so they will most likly try to jump over it. When they do it activates a glyph of warding that turns the player into an ox. oxen cant jump well so they fall to there death. :)
You also can combine glyph of warding, cloudkill and ambushed skelettons with nets
Glyph of warding dimension door into an airtight sealed room of antimagic with no lights
Evil laugh at 7:41 is epic lol. Plus the intro was reminiscent of the Ghostbusters commercial “Are you troubled by strange noises in the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?”
Several of these spells are some of my favorite to use even as a PC if I can find the time or the space to use them. And they aren't even some of the most viscious ways that you can use some of these spells.
For example you can major image that giant adamantium door in place in a spot where there is nothing but a vast amount of solid object behind it and the actual door in is really off to one side hidden in what they take to be the decorative door jam or carving around the door that is masked over as just part of the rock that leads down an unassuming little set of stairs. It will kill reckless teleporter's that are used to just bypassing doors that way. but those that actually search and look for other ways may actually find the actual door.
Private sanctum-dark souls boss arena.
Kelly's knowing smile at the mention of "Giggle Shorts" tells me Monty uses the phrase often in games, or it's his actual nickname.
Love Nystul's. I played in a campaign where the mage kept casting Dectect Magic on party members to make sure they weren't hiding magic items that he wanted... so my character got a pair of boots that radiated magic... to the character's delight it drove both the Mage (and the player) mad trying to figure out what they were
For an 8th Level Bard: Have a glyph of warding set up near the entrance to your stronghold where the trigger is casting the spell Heat Metal, and the effect is a Dimension Door spell bringing you back to the innermost part of your sanctum. Come out to greet any hostile creatures invading your stronghold and, when combat starts, cast Heat Metal at 4th Level on one wearing heavy armor. This allows you to make whatever speech you would like to make, get out quickly, kill one of the invaders (or at least freak them out a bit and cause them to waste resources if they have dispel magic/revivify/a ton of healing spells+potions), and use healing potions to regain any hit points you lost in the opening round of combat before you could act.
The BBEG when the players fall for the major image rope over an acid pit; "I honestly, truly didn't think you'd fall for that."
I like your humour : ) And the suggestions are excellent, especially, as you mention, to shake up PCs who have become complacent as a result of their ‘standard approach’ being successful several times. Let them get value out of their chosen tricks, spells etc., then pull the rug out from under them, or at least, push them out of their comfort zones. Nice ideas!
Glyph of warding into true polymorph...
Funny he mentions suggestion and saying please leave. I did that to my players once a bit back. They had made it to the final boss of a dungeon and it was an Ulitharid with a few added monsters to spice up the fight. They killed his minions and had gotten him fairly low and it was at that time that I cast Mass Suggestion on everyone. Everyone failed their save throw thanks to some unlucky rolls, so they were all forced to drop their weapons and leave the dungeon and keep following the road south for the next day. Needless to say, 24 hours later when the spell ended they were exhausted and weaponless and had to fight a couple wild animals with bare hands and cantrips pretty much until they obtained some new weapons. They weren't happy about it at first, but it made that return revenge fight so much better and they got to get their equipment back :p Only bad thing was their time away gave the boss time to repopulate his dungeon to some degree :p
This is the best video you guys have ever done. Can you make more villain plans for those of us who are paladins in real life and can't think evil?!
The Donjon Dudes
My group plays a more long view game. We almost always buy or build a home base. These spells are awesome if your DM allows for longer breaks between adventures.
Watching this has given me many ideas, but not for a villain. This has instead given me an amazing idea for what would essentially be a large trial where the players are meant to do certain objectives and find out who's behind certain things, and realize that the dungeon was an iniation trial to see how well they would do. It is a VERY fun concept that I am gonna use, and I hope others use it too
We used Glyph of Warding defensively when we knew a group of enemies were coming, so we cast Glyph of Warding with Prayer of Healing in it. When the fight got rough, we triggered it and healed the party.
Wonder how hard a dungeon under the affects of strong hold that's little more then several floors of square rooms with a gridded hallways would be to navigate
You should try this trap ruclips.net/video/VgMOu2Aros0/видео.html
14:56 i have an idea: make illusion of big bad standing in room, in middle of room is are 2 glyphs of warding: force cage and cloud kill have big bad illusion taunt them then disappear. The players then try to leave after nothing in the room and dimension door glyph of warding into a dungeon thats built to look exactly like the one they were in, except this is an illusion labyrinth and the exit is really behind them the entire time.
For the DD glyph it casts its spell on next creature to step on it after a particular phrase is said. Which your villain convienently says while monologueing
Great video friends! This was a really interesting topic
This was your best episode yet and earned my sub! Thanks
Thank you!
I have a wizard tower in my campaign for my level 14 wizard. Our DM gave us a year in game break for the PCs to accomplish some goals. Mine was to put Guards and Wards, Teleportation Circle, and Private Sanctum in my wizard tower. Also I have one of the puzzles for my tower use a major image of an ancient dragon sleeping on a table that holds the puzzle that gives the key to the next floor. The puzzle also impliments Illusory Script to make the ten pages intelligible, five of those papers are blank, and the last five are in different languages with a cypher to crack on each one.
Question for Kelly. Does Monty pontificate often?
this video got you a subscriber, loved your ideas and thinking. Also brilliant explanations and also just a little thing like mentioning page numbers is so helpful. great work !
This is hands down my favorite episode!
Thank you for all your delicious evil!
I get that Delayed Blast Fireball is a really niche spell, and one that many players instantly dismiss. But gifting them a necklace with that glowing orange orb inside one of its crystals, which explodes one minute after the courier has gotten out of there can really be a nice way of attempting to assassinate the party from afar, and quite effectively with a big „ohhh!“ moment at the table as the crystal explodes for a whole 22d6 damage! (Yes, the usual 12d6 increases by 1d6 every round for one minute after which the spell ends and explodes)
Glyph of warding that is holding true polymorph, turns them into a permanent chicken since it requires no concentration. Probably only for the BBEG dungeon though, at almost max level party.
Would need two level 9 spell slots to pull off. So Acererak could do it, and that's about it.
Glyph of Warding, Delayed Fireball Blast, wait.
Coupled with another GoW for suggestion telling the player to stand still for a couple minutes.
Maybe this reference will fly over your head, but...
_Killer Queen has already touched that doorknob_
but would moving a glyph of warding through a portal or teleportation trigger it
The signal to noise ratio of the magic aura is incredibly clever 3:14
Book with gyph of warding in it ->PC gets teleported in a cubic room clustered with gelatinous cubesand only the middle one missing, which is where the get teleported to and another glyph of warding there, that frees all gelatinous cubes to move, so all the cubes come and disolve the players at the same time
Combine Mordenkainen's sanctum with major image (which includes audible effects) to create a doorway into fogged darkness, with horrible cries and screams coming from the dark fogged shadows.
I have a campain that is (at least for tier 1) locked to a giant dungeon
no I can lock of areas that are to high level without killing half the party on acciedent.... again... trust me. The bard wanted to change character in still...
Just a heads up, all of these spells are great ways to keep DMs away from your stuff.
9:42
Somehow reminds of Vector in the Despicable Me Movie. I feel the security keyboard is a mechanical version of a board covered with glyphs
Major image is just a fun spell to use in general, you can also use it to great effect as a player, blocking passages, getting enemies to waste spell slots on illusory "summoned" monsters and so on. If you have the capacity to cast level 6 spells you can even use it to troll the BBEG and his minions by leaving illusory mocking statues where they are guaranteed to find them.
For extra laughs you can use one of these as the bait for a careless spellcaster by also inscribing a glyph of warding nearby set to go off when the illusion is dispelled, use a save or suck spell that targets fortitude for extra nasty effects.
Book on a pedestal in a relatively small room of a lich's/powerful undead's stronghold, two Glyphs of Warding - one on either the book or pedestal that casts Arcane Lock on the door if the book is picked up, the other Glyph on the door that triggers Sickening Radiance in the room if the door is Arcane Locked...?
Bonus points if the area is affected by Private Sanctum to prevent teleportation.
Have a room with a hell of a lot of glyphs of warding all hand put by some evil people, place coins or arrows near the glyphs, do whatever command you want for when they activate, put catapult onto the glyphs of warding
Glyph of warding + true resurrection.
Then a month after they killed the BBEG he ambushes them and is like:
"Oh, you thought you killed me?"
IronEntropy The spell has to be 3rd level or lower, unfortunately.
@@goldflame3390 not if you upcast Glyph of Warding, it can hold a spell equal to the level the glyph was cast at.
Yeah, but then you need 2 9th level spell slots, which are not easy to come by. The best way to do this is through the spell clone. 8th level, costs less and you could even get younger!
This ties in with one of my core DM philosophies about NPC making. I don't like to make up abilities and magic for my NPCs. I like to mak sure that the NPCs still only use the tools and spells available to players as well. This way players recognize that the DM isnt just whipping out fiats of doom, but they get more excited when they recognize 'oh crap the NPC we want to kill has cast Guards and Wards on the castle!'.
Project Image is (IMO) the most evil spell a villain can cast at a party. A nearly unstoppable monologue with a range measured in miles.
This stuff stresses me out. I'd just rather create some spell to do what I need, rather than scouring the PH or other books to find a spell that does what I need. However this is some good stuff guys. You did much of the work for me.
Monty is now my favorite villain
I had a magic dungeon where the players fell into a pit that was lined with a lot of Glyphs of Warding that cast Hold Person and Feather Fall on anyone trying to fly up through the hole in the ceiling. The goal was to solve the puzzles to unlock stairs that would let them climb out.
I love that as a DM watching my players fall for those illusions.