D&D 5E ghouls in the water

[pukunui]

Ghosts are only CR 5? I'm used to 1e ghosts, even one of which can be a handful for a 7th or 8th level party. (I don't remember, but it's possible 4th level characters would be forced to flee from a ghost with no save)

I just checked and they're actually only CR 4! A ghost's Horrifying Visage does cause fear, yes, but it doesn't make the frightened person run away. A bad failure can make you age prematurely, though.

It could be worse. At night, a PC without Darkvision pulled into water is being pulled into a heavily obscured area. This means that he is blind for all intents and purposes, at disadvantage to attacks, and the ghoul (if it has darkvision) has advantage on all attacks against him. His allies also will have a difficult time finding him in the water in the dark unless he can make it to the surface (which will be difficult while grappled).

Terrain is one of the best features a DM has in his toolkit to make a fairly easy encounter extremely threatening.

Yeah, I can see that turning particularly nasty quickly. If I were to go that route, I think I'd have the ghouls target one of the "redshirts" first. My goal isn't to kill any PCs so much as just show how the magical second sun works.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

To put a bit of a twist on it, you could make one or two of the opponents ghoulish wild animals, say a crocodile or a wolf rather than a ghoul humanoid. If the players ask about it, you can just tell them it's "ghouls gone wild." (rimshot)

 

[Herobizkit]

♪ Ghouls in the water...
A Drider in the sky-y... ♫

 

[pukunui]

Hey, I just had an idea! I could set it up similar to that scene from Game of Thrones were Jorah and Tyrion are boating through Old Valyria. I could have the PCs come to a part of the river where the ruins of an old bridge cross, and the ghouls could be hanging around on the bridge like the Stone Men. And maybe I could even have a dragon fly overhead to distract everyone so that the first they know something is up is when they hear splashes as the ghouls jump into the water.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

If this is the only safe spot for undead for miles around, there should logically be tons of them there all taking refuge.
Perhaps a phalanx of zombies or skellies stood on the river bottom so the barge starts to "run aground" on their heads?

 

[Schmoe]

I would approach it a little differently. As the barge approaches the bend, describe how the shadows of the trees and the banks hang over the water, casting it into darkness. This should make the crew nervous. As they get further into the bend, the wreck of the other boat comes into view, clearly the scene of a massacre. The captain immediately recognizes the danger they are in and shouts orders to the crew to keep in the fastest part of the current. As the PCs struggle to piece together what's going on, the captain points to a disturbance in the black waters and tells them, "Lacedons. Hold them off. We have to make the light, or we're all done for."

Then have several waves of lacedons attack, swarming over the sides, trying to take control of the tiller to ground the barge on a large sandbar.

 

[Hand of Evil]

location, location, location... river is shallow but why?

Maybe once there was a bridge that has now collapsed blocking part of the channel, part of the bridge could be used as death from above platform and ghouls attack from it.

Then you have the river bank, how far away from the barges, are they cliffs or just a smooth bank into the water, any ghoul reinforcements will be coming from there. Any landmarks on land, old battle site, ruins, etc?

Now, the nature of the river, what is underwater, you can have drop offs, pits, traps like shifting logs or stones, mud, etc.

Thrown in a Shambling Mound as part of the river wreckage or a mimic or two as logs or cargo lost.

 

[pukunui]

If this is the only safe spot for undead for miles around, there should logically be tons of them there all taking refuge.
Perhaps a phalanx of zombies or skellies stood on the river bottom so the barge starts to "run aground" on their heads?

I dunno. I mean, the Chionthar is a well-traveled river and Elturgard is a realm run by paladins. I don't think hordes of undead would go unnoticed - and undealt with - for long. I was thinking these particular ghouls would be recent arrivals - perhaps they came up from under the ground or swam down the river under the cover of the water or something. Who knows.

I would approach it a little differently. As the barge approaches the bend, describe how the shadows of the trees and the banks hang over the water, casting it into darkness. This should make the crew nervous. As they get further into the bend, the wreck of the other boat comes into view, clearly the scene of a massacre. The captain immediately recognizes the danger they are in and shouts orders to the crew to keep in the fastest part of the current. As the PCs struggle to piece together what's going on, the captain points to a disturbance in the black waters and tells them, "Lacedons. Hold them off. We have to make the light, or we're all done for."

Then have several waves of lacedons attack, swarming over the sides, trying to take control of the tiller to ground the barge on a large sandbar.

That might work.

location, location, location... river is shallow but why?

Maybe once there was a bridge that has now collapsed blocking part of the channel, part of the bridge could be used as death from above platform and ghouls attack from it.

Then you have the river bank, how far away from the barges, are they cliffs or just a smooth bank into the water, any ghoul reinforcements will be coming from there. Any landmarks on land, old battle site, ruins, etc?

Now, the nature of the river, what is underwater, you can have drop offs, pits, traps like shifting logs or stones, mud, etc.

Thrown in a Shambling Mound as part of the river wreckage or a mimic or two as logs or cargo lost.

Some good ideas. Thanks!