Should I give PC's special abilities?

[Oryan77]

I'm concidering giving each of the 7th lvl PC's a different special water-based ability which would be granted to them by Deep Sashelas. He is known to grant visitors to his realm the water breathing ability and I thought I would play this out in an upcoming session. Rather than just water breathing, I would like it to be a different gift for each PC. Water Breathing would be nice to give to 1 PC, but I can't seem to come up with equal water-based abilities for the other PC's.

I've thought of giving a swim speed, Bless Water ability, & Toothed Blow feat from Stormwrack. Based off of magic item prices for similiar powers, the Water Breathing ability still seems the most valuable.

Any ideas or thoughts about this? Am I about to make a mistake by giving special abilities to PC's like this? I figured this would be cool because they will be playing in an underwater adventure soon. After that, those abilities won't come into play unless they happen to have an encounter under water again...and water based adventuring is rare in my game.

If it helps, the group consists of:

female half-elf sorcererss
male dwarf monk
male aasimar cleric worshiper of Bahamut
male human fighter

 

[Herobizkit]

I would think every PC should gain water breathing, else your underwater adventures will be short and fatal.

Here's my idea:

Sorceress: Free Energy Conversion: Ice feat. Any energy spell she can cast can be cast as an Ice spell instead... or invent "Water" damage and do the same thing.

Monk: Free Action underwater so s/he can hand-to-hand like crazy without penalties.

Cleric: Free access to the Water Domain. Bahamut shoudn't be TOO mad.

Fighter: Regen or Fast Healing/1, but only while completely submerged in water.

If underwater action isn't common, I'd suggest giving the monk a shape change ability (like the druid) into a weak Water Elemental for a limited amount of time or times/day.

 

[EdL]

Let's see. You're sending them someplsce where they expect/hope to gain the Water Breathing ability. Then you are going to put them through an underwater adventure. But you don't want to give them all Water Breathing? What's wrong with this picture?

 

[Oryan77]

Let's see. You're sending them someplsce where they expect/hope to gain the Water Breathing ability. Then you are going to put them through an underwater adventure. But you don't want to give them all Water Breathing? What's wrong with this picture?

What's wrong with that picture is that you thought of it all on your own. You should use common sense next time you assume someone else isn't using common sense Reading comprehension is an important tool...I never said the PC's expect/hope to gain the Water Breathing ability. Feel free to reply back with information that is a little more helpful to my original question rather than a lame attempt to make me look like a fool.

Other methods for PC's to breath water without needing Deep Sashelas to grant them the ability of water breathing:

1. DMG pg 230, Potions: Water Breathing, 750gp

2. Planar Handbook pg 81, Rings: Water Breathing, 12000gp

3. PHB pg 300, Spells: Water Breathing, Clr 3, Drd 3, Sor/Wiz 3, Water 3

4. DMG, Scrolls: Create Water Breathing scrolls

5. Planescape MM3, Homucunlous, Elementals, used like an oxygen tank, grants Water Breathing.

There are many alternate methods for breathing underwater which is why I thought it would be more exciting for them to each have different water related abilities among the group rather than 4 PC's with water breathing and the complete elimination of a challenge to overcome.

 

[Purzel]

Things (non-game-breaking) you could consider:

Permanent bonus to swim checks.
Casterlevel +1 to spells which have anything to do with water.
+4 bonus to checks to hold your breath underwater.
Permanent bonus to Handle Animal (water creatures only).
Permanent bonus to Survival (oceanic).
Speak with Animal 1/day (water creatures only).
Create Water 1/day.
Or this psionic ability: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/float.htm
Give them a swim speed.
Bonus Language: Aquan
Gills.
+1 morale bonus to attacks, damage and saves when in contact with water (be it an ocean, a river or just rain)

If you permanently give out special abilities to characters keep the power balance in mind. It would be best to think of these abilities as magic items you cannot remove from a character. "Create Tattoo" feats or the "Permanancy" spell can help you to calculate how much money a ability represents, adjust the treasure from the adventure accordingly.

 

[Purzel]

For the sorceress: water elemental familiar, or give the current familiar an aquatic/half-water elemental template.

The fighter would enjoy a weapon, which you can use underwater without penalty (although not giving out full "Freedom of Movement", since this is a quite expensive ability). Maybe just a dagger, or a trident, which can even be thrown underwater at no penalty.

 

[Oryan77]

Lots of great ideas Purzel, thanks!

Ideas I've taken note of so far for possible abilities are:

Speak with Animals 1/day (water creatures only)
Create Water 1/day
Bonus Language: Aquan
Aquatic template for familiar
Free access to the Water Domain
Regen or Fast Healing 1 while completely submerged in water

I just want to make sure whatever I choose won't be too overpowering.

 

[EdL]

What's wrong with that picture is that you thought of it all on your own. You should use common sense next time you assume someone else isn't using common sense Reading comprehension is an important tool...I never said the PC's expect/hope to gain the Water Breathing ability. Feel free to reply back with information that is a little more helpful to my original question rather than a lame attempt to make me look like a fool.

Sorry I came across as such a Smart @$$, I was trying for ironic. My main concern is that most, if not all, of the other methods have a time limit. If the time limit ends and someone can't get re-upped for some reason (being cut off from the others with no item of his own on hand, for example), someone dies. I guess I'm just really uncomfortable with the possibilty of killing off characters due to such a fluke. (Pun intended.) YMMV.