D&D 5E ideas for an attack on an airship / making the next adventure fun

[animal chubs]

hey i'm just looking to bounce some ideas about what could attack an airship near phandalin. the party's lvl is 5 and im just looking for some creatures or something to take part while traveling to another town. not sure what i want to attack it, the air ship has some weapons but nothing that can really kill a dragon. their are some spare bows and hand-cannons but thats about it.

Oh and also something a barbarian would have a hard time fighting. We have one in the party and he kills 90% of the monsters and i want everyone to feel like they are part of the fight. this is my first dm session and im trying to make everyone feel like they are part of the fight. The last DM gave use some epic loot and the barbarian got a cursed fireball that fused with him and has 2 charges >.> he takes the damage from it but with rage he can cut it in half. Plus he got the flail of Ages which right now has 4 heads each dealing 1d4 damage of different elements. it deals a base of 1d8. its one handed and really badass. So anyway, im not trying to kill him but i want everyone to feel like they are a hero too. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome just dont be a jerk! XD

 

[Boarstorm]

Manticores.
Chimerae.
Harpies.

 

[Jester David]

Harpies flying five feet from the ship would be evil. Especially if the barbarian fails a couple saves from the charm and walks himself off the edge...
Or harpies and their pet manticore.

 

[animal chubs]

Harpies flying five feet from the ship would be evil. Especially if the barbarian fails a couple saves from the charm and walks himself off the edge...
Or harpies and their pet manticore.

i think i can make this work if i have the captain say something like "Harpies! Secure yourselves!" Then point out that there is a few things of rope tied to the ship. Just so players can tie themselves to the ship so no one bitches about falling off to their deaths XD.

 

[trentonjoe]

Reskin drow as some xenophobic winged cloud elves.

Air elementals.

Invisible stalkers.

Dinosaurs!

 

[Jester David]

i think i can make this work if i have the captain say something like "Harpies! Secure yourselves!" Then point out that there is a few things of rope tied to the ship. Just so players can tie themselves to the ship so no one bitches about falling off to their deaths XD.

If the PCs aren't smart enough to tie themselves off they deserve a messy fall.

But you can be coy about the distance to the ground. If the player is okay with the death then the PC takes a huge amount of falling damage. If they seem upset then the PC fell while over a river.

 

[Voort]

They're only CR 2 or so, but I've had great fun with a flock of perytons that try to carry off any gnomes or halflings as meals to go.

 

[Ahrimon]

Go classic. Giant flying squid. The barbarian can only fight one tentacle at a time so there should be plenty for the others to do.

 

[steeldragons]

Make the adventure not about combat? That would give others something to do instead of the barbarian taking all the combat spotlight.

i.e. Sabotage...or storm?...the airship is damaged, going down in some stage of damage if not destroyed outright. How are the PC's getting to the ground? How do they help save the others? Putting out a massive fire? Minimizing the damage? Saving the ship and all of the crew?

 

[The_Gneech]

Aarakocra air pirates!

Many-Arrows orcs riding giant ravens!

A cambion!

A wyvern!

An amorous swarm of very confused flumph who think the airship is the hottest thing ever.

Stirges who think they're going to be feeding on a rare, slow-moving air whale.

A gynosphinx, who doesn't attack, merely lands on the deck and gives everyone the willies.

Grell, that come floating down from the moon silently in the dark.

-The Gneech