Stuff with which to attack a flying ship

[Dave Blewer]

How about a invisible Sorcerer who casts several Animate Objects, so in effect you attack them with the ship

Of course while they are dealing with this the real attack force makes itself known...

 

[Tzarevitch]

Air Elementals and Arrowhawks are a good idea, as wulf## pointed out. Ythraks (whatever the blind sonic using flyers are called) could also work, and could damage the ship.

There's the obvious mirror choice - attack them with another flying ship. Arr! We be flying pirates!

Adapting sea creatures could work. I've always thought some kind of flying jellyfish creature could be cool.

If you have the 2e Dark Sun monstrous compendium there is a psionic flying jellyfish called a Floater.

Ythraks would be one of my first choices. Rocs with riders also work well because they can carry VERY heavy objects and dive-bomb from beyond the range of the ship's defenses.

In any case, be sure to attack from the underside of the ship where the defensers can't fight back effectively, or drop boulders from the Rocs from very high (20d6 damage) so the defenders can't shoot back.

By far the coolest way to attack a flying ship though is with cloud giants in a floating cloud castle. Imagine the look on the PCs faces when they realize that an entire castle is folowing them. Also, the range on giant boulders is pretty astounding.

Tzarevitch

 

[Aeolius]

You sound like you are doing my campaign in reverse.

"Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor'alq" is set primarily beneath the sea, yet I have massive stone towers which jut above the surface. There you will find dragons, a phoenix, aarakocra, harpies, and a host of other creatures.

 

[Greatwyrm]

How about those flying kobolds from 2e with a few sorceror levels each.

Maybe a druid and a heck of a lot of Warp Wood. If your druid is high enough level, maybe Control Wind or Control Weather. Both spells would make controlling such a ship difficult and probably do a real number on the rigging.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

I like wyverns, personally. Poison stingers, doncha know.

 

[nameless]

I love half-dragon things. If they're large, they get wings, too. As a DM, one of my favorite encounters ever was sending two half-dragon griffins at the party while their real enemy scried on them to see what they were capable of. Deadly and devious at the same time.

-nameless

 

[Maldur]

One of my old time favourites : Fogsharks.

Take a shark, make them a magical beast and give them the ability to swim in fog. Maybe schools of fogsharks generate fog around them, or give them a fog generating spell.

And you can do the jaws theme, high up in the air

 

[Geoff Watson]

Use dragons anyway.

Don't be scared off by B.A.D.D. They'll have to catch you first.

Seriously, use the dragons, so you can get some experience using them. You just have to think carefully about their tactics, powers, and spells, like you would with any other powerful bad guy.
If you want, use White dragons, they're dumb, so you have an excuse for mistakes. Unlike what BADD will tell you, not all dragons are omniscient or omnipotent.

Geoff.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Besides all the creatures, don't forget that nature itself can be very dangerous. Turbulence, thunder storms (complete with blinding rain, hail, and/or lightning), tornadoes, monsoons, heck even meteor showers.

 

[Aeolius]

Of course, one could always opt for a fiendish dire shark.