Dire Beaver Dam Battle Map - Launch (Patreon)

Hello Adventurers! I’ve been working hard on our latest map, the Dire Beaver Dam. It's a wilderness encounter map built around a giant Beaver Dam that could be used as a bridge over a river, with the added hazard of being full of angry monstrous beavers.

Next Maps

I’ll be off on a short break for the next few days, so I will not be responding to messages. After I get back I’ll be onto creating the Extradimensional Prison with the Beacon Hill map coming later in the month.

• Extradimensional Prison
  I want to create a floating prison in a pocket dimension, it will be a strange ruined structure with floating stone blocks, archways that lead to nowhere (or do they?) and a central room that contains some kind of magical prison. I’m still deciding on the theme or what exactly will be in the centre, any suggestions would be appreciated!
• Beacon Hill
  I want to create a lookout post at the top of a hill. The first defence against danger, it's a great place to set a battle encounter with something attacking a settlement. Or maybe the fire must be lit and your party is tasked with doing it before time runs out!

Thanks so much for your continued support. I’m going to continue to create Foundry Scene files for new maps and will be adding to older maps as well, but currently, I need to be sure everyone can use them, as Foundry 10 and 11 are not backwards compatible it seems. So I’ll do a little more experimentation before creating older map files. Have a great weekend and as always happy adventuring! Now let's use this conveniently placed Beaver Dam to cross this river! Mmm… The teeth marks on these logs are really large…

You can find all the files on the Map List Page Here. You must be a Patron and signed up to the correct tier to get access to the files.

Map Description

Between the trees water fills every hollow, creating stagnant pools. Long grass, reeds and ferns grow in a thick green carpet around them. The perpetual buzzing of biting insects fills the air, along with the pungent scent of sodden leaf mould.

Soon you arrive at a substantial flooded clearing. A river flows out of the forest to the north, across the clearing, but seems to be blocked at the far end by a huge dam of logs, sticks and branches. The lake is full of dead wood, much of it heaped at the centre into a mound that rises above the water. Making your way around the edge of the lake you notice tree stumps cut into sharp jagged spikes.

Notes and Tips

• 30x30 Grid Map
• Shallow water can contain any number of dangers. Monsters for sure, but also mud that locks a character in place, or even worse can suck them under. Have the edges of the lake be difficult terrain, getting through the reeds could take longer or may need a strength check.
• Getting across the river is not an easy task. It's fast-moving and its bottom is thick with mud which is both slippery and easy to get stuck in. The cliffs on the far side should help funnel the players towards the lake, the beaver lodge and the dam.
• The dam and lodge could have been abandoned by the beavers and something else has taken up residence:
  • Down and Out: A Troll is down on his luck. He’s been evicted from his bridge home by adventurers and this abandoned beaver dam is his only option. He isn’t happy to find more adventurers at his door.
  • The Lake Dragon: A Bog Drake (find stats for a Drake or Wyrm and add some watery touches), is using this Beaver Lodge as its Lair. The locals want it removed. Draining the lake will do the job, but the Drake isn’t going to be evicted without a fight.
  • Frogs Spawn: A Murderous family of Bullywugs (Frog people) have taken up residence here. Maybe they use this pool as a spawning ground. They will jump out of the water and attack if the party gets too close. Crossing the Dam will trigger a shove attack, pushing a target off the dam into the sharp branches and sticky mud below.
  • Dire Beavers: Making a beaver ‘dire’ shouldn’t be all that hard. Pick a large dangerous animal like a bear. Modify its attacks to be Beaver-themed. Add a Tail Slap, this could have a stunning effect (careful stuns can be very powerful and frustrating). Or maybe use an area-of-effect spell like Thunderwave as a template, but have it only work on water.

Variants

As always you have a day/night version for each map variant.

If you just need a place to ford a river you have this here as well. Plus a massive reed bed that could have something large living in it.

I've also created a snow/winter version of the Beaver Dam.

And the same for the Ford/Reed Ded.