[3.5]Fighting a Dragon underwater

[lokoone]

Hey ppl,
i need some help here
first: The Party

Warlock 11 (invocations: (least: See the Unseen, Eldritch Spear, Eldritch Glaive)(lesser: Fell flight, Flee the Scene, Brimstone Blast)(greater: Vitriolic Blast)) 8d-6 eldritch blast including itens . < my character
Cleric 11 (no DMM, but still the strongest in the party)
Wizard 9 (like to blast, but sometimes cast something usefull to the party)
Sorcerer 9 (new player, terrible spell list)
Fighter 9 (Archer but not that good at it)

extra info:
our campaign is about hunting the orbs of dragonkind(not exact like the ones in the book) to use it as a diplomatic weapon.
now everyone in the world is looking for the orbs.

the mage BBEG have the red dragon one.
and we have the silver dragon one.

in the last session we got our orb, and put in the Portable Hole to hide it from the rest of the world and the BBEG (dont know if it will work).

The problem is: the BBEG do know where the silver dragon orb was supposed to be, but he cant go there, and he also know that we were trying to get the orb. so he will come after us soon or late.

our GM's improved orbs do have better powers than the regular ones, but they powers are limited by the level of the owner, so the BBEG can try to control old red dragons, against our young silver dragons(but its better not to use.. because we're all good aligned and we dont want to enslave the good silver dragons)

Soo playground i need some ideas on how to stay alive with a lvl 20 mage(BBEG), and (if we use the orb) all the dragonkind after us.

AND how can we survive the pressure underwater AND fight against dragons underwater.. because the next orb is at the bottom of the ocean.

i need ideas on itens/spells we can use to improve our fight capability underwater

i assume damage reduction do work against the damage of the pressure, am i wrong?

thanks
(sorry for the bad english, english is not my first language)

[TurtleKing]

For starters it would be best to look in Stormwrack since it is all about water campaigns. In particular their is a spell on the Blackwater domain list that lets you survive the deep ocean depths. Problem is that is a higher level spell than what you can cast plus the evil aspects of the domain.

The biggest question is how deep? If the orb is at most a few hundred feet down then a spell that lets a ship "dive" should be enough. If it is past 500' then that would be harder to pull off.

Curious of how the spell Telekinetic Sphere would work. Could you use that to "sink" since you are not on level surface at a rate of 60" instead of controlling it at a rate of 30" movement. Other questions are the inhabitants protected from the pressure, do you need to worry about breathing water, and can the orb pass through the sphere? If the sphere does not keep out the water then you have a few spells to chose from or even the Auran Mask for a duration of 10 minutes under water. The Flash Torch can also work even in water. Both of those items are from Complete Mage.

The best thing overall is to look at Stormwrack in all regards. The necessary breathing of water and movement. The weapons and spells that can work underwater effectively. As for some of the most damaging spells that can be used underwater are the ones that make the target drown if not waterbreathing.

[lokoone]

thanks for the hint,
Stormwrack is a very usefull book, detect ship will be veery usefull

Telekinetic Sphere is a very good idea, too bad is wiz 8.. but we will try to buy one or two scrolls to use it to search veery down.

water breathing its not the problem, exept if the dragon dispel us..
the biggest issue is movement, but i think we can use somekind of aquatic monster as a mount.

what we know is: the orb is on some dragon lair or sunken ship.
we cant use boats because the orb is in a constant whirlpool.

[Cartigan]

If you fight underwater and a dragon is intent on dispelling you, you are going to die because the only way to get down there is spells. Or an Apparatus of the Crab (I think that may a bit outside price range). Either way, fighting a dragon at the bottom of the sea in the sea is going to lead to everyone dieing.

Though you may want some more air.

[person29]

hire some aquatic elves or other local aquatic creature that your party trusts and befriends to steal the orb while you have the guardian distracted and get you raised if you die :)

[lokoone]

the cleric and wiz are going to prepare extra water breathing spells,
if we do find the dragon we know he will be a lot stronger than us, so we will try to avoid the dragon.

but we have a plan, in case of a good dragon, the dragon probablly wont kill us at sight, i ill try to fool the dragon with flee the scene and search the orb while the party gain time.
in case of a evil dragon i will use the same trick but the rest of the party is dead.

[Aravir]

This may be at the expense of two decent magical items. As long as the treasure you want is not on the monster.

Place your portable hole inside a bag of holding (buy the smallest one) via an unseen servant within 10 feet of the dragon. This should draw the Dragon to the Astral Plane and give you enough time to loot his lair for your goal.

[jiriku]

The spell airy water in Stormwrack will be very helpful to you. Apart from that, make sure that melee types are equipped with piercing weapons, use freedom of movement liberally, and have a game plan for what to do if your water breathing magic is dispelled (backup potions are good start). Prep a teleport or two (or get them on scrolls) to get out of trouble fast.

[herrhauptmann]

Finned gauntlets and the Aquatic armor crystal in MIC.

Swim speed, waterbreathing, freedom of movement, take 10 on swim checks, +8 on swim checks.
If your items get dispelled, it should be possible to hold your breath long enough to regain the magics. Granted, you might not be able to fight effectively, and could be taking damage from the pressure/cold.

Are your casters able to cast underwater? I was always under the impression that you couldn't use spells with verbal components while underwater. Not unless you had a way of actually speaking underwater. Nor do I think that waterbreathing lets you gain the ability to converse underwater.

[lokoone]

hmm i think if you can water breath you can say properly the verbal components...

thanks for the advice on the items too
and airy water its a very good spell indeed.

[herrhauptmann]

hmm i think if you can water breath you can say properly the verbal components...

thanks for the advice on the items too
and airy water its a very good spell indeed.

Well doublecheck with the DM please. I'd hate to see you all die because of something minor like this. But if you know your DM isn't likely to turn into a jerk, don't worry.
Waterbreathing as a spell just lets your lungs process water, and the spell says nothing about allowing speech. Waterbreathing as a racial feature like aquatic elves however...

[TurtleKing]

Carry a Auran Mask or two as backup for everyone. They are nonmagical and you get 10 minutes of air. The spell Air Breathing is alot better since the duration is 2 hours/level instead of 10 minutes/level. The spell Transformation of the Deeps is the spell to aim for. You gain waterbreathing, Darkvision, and protection from the temperature and damage from pressure. As for fighting the dragon diplomacy is a better choice if you have a chance of it working. If you could get a Siege Crab then practically nothing could phase you since it is a Monstrous Crab on steriods and turned into a mount.

Edit: Also check the book on how the spellcasting works underwater. Such as fire spells have no affect unless you possess either Steam Magic from Stormwrack or Aquatic Spellcasting from LOM.

[lokoone]

omg transformation of the deeps is perfect, with this spell we can stop worrying about being killed by the pressure and cold.
i ill buy lots of Auran Masks.

yeah we know diplomacy its the best way to survive the encounter without fighting, we got our first orb using diplomacy(in game diplomacy, not the overpowered skill diplomacy)
but a evil dragon wont listen to us..