Sea Based Encounter?

[killem2]

Between this last land based session and the next, the party is going to have to use a ship. It's going to be a long long ride. Probably a keel boat, maybe a long ship, and they have approx 3600 miles to ride.

They are all level 4. Not sure what kind of encounters can be had in this situation.

Not even sure how I should go about bringing it up. They obviously need to get cross this ocean. The area they are is just comprised of two large islands, that are a good 600 miles from the nearest beach, but it is not a civilized area. They will have to take the whole trip.

There are four ports in the area that they started in, but none deal with going outside of the islands on a normal basis..

What type of encounters would be adequate and how would you get them to the destination?

[Lateral]

There are plenty of aquatic monsters you can throw at them. You can also throw things that don't need any specific terrain, like flying undead. Pick some kind of encounter you think is thematic- maybe they're attacked by a giant squid or something.

[Gallowglass]

Well 3600 is a very long distance. I think that's about atlantic ocean size or close to it. So doing that in a keelboat or longboat, while viable by game rules, is awkward. If they really want to buy, rent or steal a longboat, crew it with enough people to row it, pack it full of supplies and commit to a months long sea cruise, that's certainly one way to go.

As the GM you can turn it into a side adventure though. Perhaps while asking around for boats for rent, or people stupid enough to help them out, they find out about a deep water pirates cove 90 miles up the coast where some ocean going pirates occasionally dock to load and offload. Then they can go up there and steal a pirate ship, or sneak aboard one, or join a pirate crew for the length of the journey. Perhaps they find out about an abandoned and haunted ocean going ship marooned on some rocks a few miles out to sea and they can go out and recover it, perhaps crewing it with some undead they figure out how to command. Perhaps one of the keel boats can take them out to a shipping lane where there is a small floating supply base they can camp out at for another week until a better ship comes along and they can have a side adventure on the supply base. (someone is stealing the supplies, turns out to be some ocean grippli living under the base. Perhaps they find the supply base abandoned, an ocean going barge docked but unmanned, and signed of mysterious creatures who broke free of cages in the barge, then it turns into a velociraptor hunt.

I would probably fit in a side quest like that rather than make the PCs buy, crew, stock a small boat, then deal with dehydration and starvation saves, survival checks for fishing and such for a long time. But some PC groups may enjoy that as well. I don't know the temperature of your PCs.

[Adamosaur]

Do you have any aquatic civilizations in your world? There are possible interactions for diplomacy, otherwise there are plenty of baddies to choose from, even in just the MMs.

The most memorable encounter I've had (as a player) was waking up to a giant ooze being on the deck of the ship. It was quite the adventure, even for a cleric (we were low lvl also at the time…searing light ftw :smallbiggrin:).

I recommend checking out the book/pdf Stormwrack if you haven't already. Basically a key book for sea-faring adventures (from temporary to campaign based). They have plenty of monsters there, though I've never DM'd an ocean campaign so not sure how usable they are. I have used some magic items and rules from there though for the short-term, so be sure to check it out!

[Invader]

I'd have to agree that it would be really hard to travel that far in a boat of that size. You could go with a sloop or a small schooner and that would give you slightly more leeway in encounters as they're both big enough to have something board and have a fight that way. With a long boat you whole party is pretty much just sitting in the open with keel boats being slightly bigger but not really made for long open water voyages.

As far as encounters; any aquatic type monster is obviously a good choice, flying creatures depending on type and how far you are from land, pirates and or rival nations navy's, it doesn't necessarily have to be a creature encounter either. You can set a skill encounter where the party gets hit with a storm and has to continually make various sailing skill checks handle rope, navigation, balance, etc to keep from getting blown off course, keep from getting the ship damaged etc.

[killem2]

Thanks for the replies, the ship type isn't really a concern for me, so I can use whatever you think is best, as long as I can find some info on it. I use all 3.5 material, wotc, dragon, dungeon, 3rd party, and to an extent home brew.

I do have a question though, I bought a dm screen a while back from eberron, so I have their map, and I will probably use it for a lot of things.

I read in stormwrack, that encounters are dependent on the activity along the coast as well, well traveled ect.

Anyone know where to look to see where I can identify the actual activity of the coast they will be traveling along?

[Gwendol]

Please note that vikings crossed the atlantic using longboats. Granted, they made stops along the way (most probably) in places like the Faroe islands, Iceland and Greenland, but still.

[Hbgplayer]

You could also have them have to deal with a pirate attack.

[Invader]

I'm not sure where you'd find specific information on activity along the coast in ebberron other than the campaign setting and the Players guide to Ebberron.

In the Players guide you can look at Lhazaar Principalities p.98 Riedra pg.130 and Seas of Ebberron pg.132

[Roguenewb]

Something you have to keep in mind: at level 4, falling into the water is the same as dying. Only a strange character will have ranks in swim, and armor check/low strength will take everyone down into the deep abyss. I think the best way to do it would be aquatic monsters that come on board the ship (like Rich did in OotS), otherwise you are risking the players interacting with the side of the boat and falling to their deaths. Even NPCs in a storm might be a terrifying and climatic encounter.

[killem2]

No doubt on the swimming part, any encounter is going to be taking place on the ship.

That's why if possible, I'd like to find the biggest ship with flatest deck.

[killem2]

Alight tell me what you think about this encounter on the high seas, aboard an Iron Clad.:

I'm thinking am ambush of a ghost pirate ship during a thunderstorm, and they have been moved off course slightly.


Problem is, I'm not sure what is considered TOO much for my party and too easy, because ghosts are pretty fickle with their ethereal status and they have an onslaught of abilities it seems.

[Same Person]
Level 4 Rogue
Level 4 Cleric

[Same Person]
Level 4 Ranger
Level 4 Fighter

Level 1 Rogue/Level 3 Wizard

2x Level 4 Barbarian


Now normally, this group has 2 vipers, a wolf, a dog, a bear cub and a swindle spitter but those will be locked away as conditions on riding the boat.

Before this visit, they will get to spend their gold they just got from a 4 month session of going through a bandit hideout thing. I believe they will walk away with nearly 60k in gold, so they may get to load up a bit for this.

I was thinking a few level 1 ghosts, maybe some ghost parrots, and then an assortment of level 2-3 swashbucklers.

[Feralventas]

You might want to take a look at Ghostwalk Campaign Setting for options of undeath and ghostly powers to more easily match your players rather than using the Ghosts in the MM1 (of which are pretty dangerous if used effectively, but that could be what you're going for.).

If you haven't already, peruse Stormwrack as well; lots of oceanic options and opportunities.

[Invader]

I don't know, I think as long as your melee characters have some magic weapons you could apply the ghost template to some 1st level warriors (pirates) and only give them the corrupting touch ability which only does 1d6 damage. If your party has magic weapons they should be able to handle (6-8 easy), (8-10 moderate), (11-13 hard) 1st level warrior ghosts. The captain could be a 3rd level warrior with 2-3 special abilities to make him a bit more difficult.

Don't forget to add the ghost template to an owl and call it a parrot! (Unless you can find stats for a parrot somewhere)

[killem2]

Leave it to me to completely overlook a book called Ghostwalk. >_<

I will check that out then.

[killem2]

Ok so I went back to the drawing board after figuring that ghosts might be just a bit over the top, and offer up a bit more EXP than I really want to offer up, for just a transition to the begin start of the next campaign.

I was looking through Stormwrack, found this thing called the Sea Wolf. Now at first I thought it was just an aquatic mammal but didn't realize it is actually a shapechanger!

I'm thinking of having a group of these little buggers, maybe 11-15 in human form, 6 of which splashing about in the water, screaming, acting like they are drowning. Their will be peices of plank and crates floating about for effect.

I assume, if I went this route, according to the PHB the party gets a -5 to sense motive if convincing. I don't know how you judge this, but I suppose if you have a party who is signed up as gaurd duty, and they are all of good or at least lean towards the good side of alignments, they would feel compelled to assist.

It also could be quite believable to see a small bunch of people, floating in the open ocean if their ship was recently destroyed.

I would say they pull the 6 up, give it a few minutes and they get jumped. from sea wolfs vaulting out of the water onto the flat deck.





----------------------
Some info on the ship:

I decide to go with the Ironclad, but it is altered a bit, and is ran by what we would think of the mississippi paddle boats, but the paddles are a bit larger, and are powered by two stone golems that are commanded to nothing but turn these wheels.



Now, normally an Iron clad runs at 1 mph. Would it be save to say, two golems could power this thing upto maybe 5mph? 10 mph? It doesn't seem that unrealistic when you think about how strong stone golems are.

[Invader]

That's sounds like a pretty good encounter to me. I always wanted to play in a nautical campaign but I've never got the chance. Good luck!

[killem2]

That's sounds like a pretty good encounter to me. I always wanted to play in a nautical campaign but I've never got the chance. Good luck!

Thanks, I hope it will work out. I was having a lot of trouble finding a ship with the right area to hold everyone. I think though an 80x30 battle grid should be ok.

I have to admit, I am worried, because one of our players can no longer attend and he was one of our more powerful characters. A dual rapier wielding ranger, with an elven hound. I had to write him out of the story for now.

I won't be able to test this fight as in depth as I usually do before each session, I'm making a new 8ft x 8ft table top :D, so we have room for books and our selves.






Just another question though:

I have decided that I'll have this ship travel at 10 mph. By D&D standards of ships this almost seems like warp speed lol. The distance they will travel would equal right around 2 weeks.

What is the best way to pass 2 weeks of open ocean in a session? Sure, the crew and captain just happen to be from the same area they are going, so some of the local info can come from them, but I am just afraid this will turn into an hour of fighting sea wolves, then just talking and social interaction until its time to do something else. Nothing wrong with that I guess, but can make for a slow game. :smallsigh:

[Invader]

Gambling, drinking, training/studying, I'd say there's not tons of activities but if you want them to actually spend some on the ship instead of just having the encounter and fast tracking the rest you can add skill challenges and even give them the chance to increase skill ranks in things like swim, navigation, use rope, cooking, whatever they could do aboard.

[Downysole]

Sahaugin - orcs of the sea.

One or two merrows would be good too.

Hope the wizard took mending because attacking the ship's hull would be a good way to get all the booty from a ship like this.

If your party was really resourceful, they could track down the lair of these beasts and find an ancient sunken city or something.

[killem2]

Sahaugin - orcs of the sea.

One or two merrows would be good too.

Hope the wizard took mending because attacking the ship's hull would be a good way to get all the booty from a ship like this.

If your party was really resourceful, they could track down the lair of these beasts and find an ancient sunken city or something.


That might be something we could do later on, this is meerly to pass time as they get to the starting point of the next camp settings.

I'm not sure it would be entirely wise to try and over throw the ship. The captain does have control of two stone golems and I'm sure they would destroy my party.

I am interested though in these monsters you suggested, where is the stat blocks and such for them, like what book?

[Invader]

That might be something we could do later on, this is meerly to pass time as they get to the starting point of the next camp settings.

I'm not sure it would be entirely wise to try and over throw the ship. The captain does have control of two stone golems and I'm sure they would destroy my party.
I am interested though in these monsters you suggested, where is the stat blocks and such for them, like what book?

Sahuagin is in the MM pg. 217

Not sure what book merrow are in but their stats are here
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Merrow

[killem2]

Alright, our session will start in just under 2 hours, the sea based travel will most likely start in under 3 hours. :smallbiggrin:

I would like to try and gather any last tactical advice on the seawolf encouter and I thought posting the actual ship would help, and I just like posting pictures.


(Just finished building the new gaming table too!) Here is a few angles of the ship. It is a slightly modified iron clad. It runs by sail and by Golem Powered paddles. (I figured with winds in its favor it could travel at around 15 mph. )

Anyway, the two monopoly pieces, represent custom made, self loading, turret mounted double great crossbow. Shoots two bolts, full round action to reload. Damage is 1d12 each. Range 140ft. x4 crit, 19-20. However, comes with a -2 penalty as none of the people here know how to use such a weapon.

Onward now, here are the pictures, they are large.



http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3853.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3852.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3851.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3850.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3849.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3848.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3847.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i168/ica171/Brandon%20Misc/IMG_3846.jpg



Anyway, any last comments?

[Kol Korran]

cool looking ship and gaming table! hope i have time to make such models when my seafaring campaign shoots off, though i think not. :smallsigh::smallfrown::smallannoyed:

[killem2]

I think we ending up passing almost 3 hours on the ship. Probably not accurate for a 4000 mile trip that was estimated to take 16 days, but we did a lot. The encounter was a divided one, the captain said as a condition, they would not stop for anything, couple lucky diplomacy later and we hit the dc 20.

We stopped, and they got ambushed. The sea wolves bit off way more than they could chew. half way through and 2 of them died and were not make a dent they jumped off. I should have went with something strong for sure as that would have been the only encounter for them.


Anyway, we played through nearly 6 different gambling games that were found in dungeon and dragon magazines. Some lost thousands of gold some won thousands of platinum only to lose it in future matches.

Merchant's Dice is probably the funnest game of all time lol.

We have jumped into the Whispering Cairn now, so our sea faring days will be long gone for a while.

[Invader]

Glad everything worked out well!