Help with sea encounter

[Neumannium]

Hi all,

I'm trying to set up an encounter that will occur when the PCs are travelling on a ship to a city on a different continent.

I'd like to have something cool happen to them while they're on the ship. I figure my options are:

1. Kraken-like sea monster attack
2. Dragon attack from above
3. Attacked and possibly boarded by pirates.

I'd prefer to stay away from #3, as the last few sessions they've had similar land-based combat.

I figure that #1 or #2 would be a change of pace and kind of fun.

The problem is -- I've never run an encounter like this.

The party consists of 2 paladins, 1 sorceror, and 1 sorc/fighter/dragon disciple. The average level of the party is 14-15.

Questions...how do I deal with damage to the boat? I really don't want to kill the party, so I really don't want the boat completely destroyed, but I want the party to feel like they are in imminent danger and need to get rid of the problem ASAP.

The party has limited ranged attacks...the 2 pallys have no real way to attack anything in the water or in the air, so I'm afraid I might be taking them out of the equation by introducing one of these scenarios.

Also, how do you run an encounter like this? Any suggestions? I would like advice on rules (I use 3.5 rules) and ideas to make the combat exciting and fun.

I was planning on them travelling on a small sailing ship, with a crew of about 20. I don't know if I should have ballista or catapults on the deck or not...Also, what do I do with the crew while the fight is going on?

As an aside, this is NOT a major encounter in the game -- but I wanted a change of pace/fun encounter that served as a good distraction from the main campaign and let the PCs flex a little muscle.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[XCorvis]

The problem with sea creatures is that they immediately want to sink the boat - it kills the air breathers fast, and they can get at the goodies easier. I'd go with an air creature, but one not as smart as a dragon - try a wyvern or 2. The dragon is smart enough to leave, or to disable their boat and come back when they're out of fresh water. Or that might be fun too...

The wyverns are looking for some easy food. It knows sailors are typically unarmored and usually easy pickings. They could swoop down for a leisurely lunch and be rudely suprised by beings actually capable of fighting back. They could probably be driven off instead of killed outright. They could be living on a nearby rocky island and survive mostly by fishing. The wyverns could also snatch and run - grab a PC, fly off with him and drop him in the nest for later on. Then the rest of the ship would have to detour to get him back. Meanwhile, he's totally out matched by the family of wyverns and has to hide in a crack in the rocks or something...

If the wyverns are too wussy, add the half-fiend template, or just advance them a bit and slap some more special abilites on them.

 

[DMH]

To really scare the players, why not use something like the scuttling ooze from the Fantasy Bestiary? It drills into the ship and then uses its body to keep the water out while it eats crew members. If they kill it, the boat starts to sink. If they keep it alive, they have to feed it...

Or what about a flying fire elemental? A cinder swarm (MMIII) should do the trick. They do have access to water to put out fires, but the thought of the ship burning down...

Or, instead of a typical combat scene, how about kelp that attaches its self to the hull and stops the ship dead in its tracks? How do you cut your way out of hundreds of tons of weeds?

Or a chaos roc (MMII) that causes the crew to go mad (from fear)? All it has to do is pass overhead. The only way to save the ship is to subdue them.

 

[Hand of Evil]

To me you set the stage, rumors of monster in the area and stories of bad things happening, red sky in the morning and such.

You have to make conditions right - be it a storm, the dolldrums, foggy night.

Undersea creature to me have cover based on their depth, 5 feet 25%, 10 feet 50%, 15 feet 75%, and 20 feet 100% (see cover rules) and suprise, sure you may see an attack coming but most times you will not.

 

[diaglo]

combined #1 and #2.

Dragon turtle.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

If you don't mind sinking the ship, you could have a whirlpool suck the ship beneath the waves. An airpocket could form inside the ship, allowing the characters a chance of survival. Maybe the ship would sink to the bottom and the P would then have to find a way out before the air runs out. If they don't have magic to do so, perhaps some tritons come along and agree to rescue them in exchange for their services against a band of sahuagin in the area. If the party is successful, maybe the tritons would even raise the ship back to the surface for them.

 

[Darren]

Hmm....

How about a large eel-like creature rather than the Kraken? It has a gaping maw for a mouth, and a fleshy appendage sprouting from the top of its head that it uses to poison targets. Go and google "deep sea angler" to get the basic idea, but on a much larger scale. For stats, just use a purple worm, but change its physical description and switch its burrow and swim speeds. It rears up about 30 feet out of the water and tries to grab anyone on deck.

Put ballistae at the bow and stern of the ship. The creature eats the crewmen on one of them, and no crew members seem eager to replace them. This will give something for your paladins to do (think Greater Magic Ballista...). The creature dives below the surface from time to time only to resurface at a different point after a few rounds. This goes on until it has lost about half its hit points. If the ranged attacks are very ineffective, the creature may heave part of its bulk across the deck in an attempt to sink the ship, putting it in melee range for a round or two. This causes a lot of damage to the railing, but no real structural damage. Once the PCs reduce it to about 50% of its hit points they drive it away.

You shouldn't have the creature try to swallow one of your PCs though. Given the circumstances that would almost certainly result in character death, either through digestion or drowning. I'm not sure if this scenario would be a chance for the PCs to really flex muscle though... the surviving crew would be extremely grateful, no doubt, but the PCs' true melee combat potential would probably not be realized. Of course, if the paladins are set up to be useless in ranged combat that is their problem, and I have no difficulty with punking a paladin from time to time. IMHO, YMMV, etc., of course.

 

[was]

Have you considered sea trolls? (scrags) They're tactics are pretty straight forward. Maybe clawing up the sides punches a few holes in the side and the ship starts taking on water. Not enough to sink it, unless left unattended for 8-10 hours, but enough to be unsettling. Plus you have the added bonus of the trolls healing after hitting the water and clawing their way back up to rejoin the fight....just a thought...

 

[J_A_Garlock]

Here's one: the ship that they find is a strange one, seems no one is even aboard, they board the ship out of curiosty ( perhaps a scream from a lady in distress from inside the ship ) only to find it empty of any occupants. Only to find out later that its inhabited by the restless spirits of a mutinous crew.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Sahuagin attack by night. The picture of those guys is just plain creepy. Might make interesting pirates?

Or a ship to ship duel? Catapults/Balistae or even a cannon depending on the technology level. would be markedly different from the usual land brawls?


You could combine all 3 original ideas? A Kraken with potions of Air Breathing and Fly. Complete with a parrot on their shoulder and a wooden tentacle.