Kraken Tactics

[Tvtyrant]

The Kraken's magical abilities seem best suited to sinking ships, but a 9th level party has access to teleport (lowest level it would probably ever face as a none-cut scene.) Even if it used Control Weather and Control Winds to make an awful storm for sinking a ship, the party could simply escape via porting.

In water only its melee abilities seem pertinent (except maybe dominating the groups Animal Companion.) It can deal plenty of damage, but Freedom of Movement makes it grappling the casters unlikely. It seems to me like the Kraken is deadly against low level characters but easily beaten by appropriate parties.

Are there any tactics that make it work better than I am thinking?

[nyjastul69]

Use 80' spread ink cloud for total concealment. It has blind-fight to mitigate the miss chance. Use a wand of dispel magic to debuff, it has UMD +16. A previously dominated sea creature can help with its action economy. It could use its resist energy before sinking a ship so as to not waste an action during combat. That's not much but it's what I got off the top of my tired head.

What level is the party and where do you anticipate them facing it, or is this a thought exercise?

[Magnera]

Have the party protect the ship in which they are on. If they are on a ship and not teleporting somewhere then they are there for the ship, not for going somewhere else. I personally would use the kraken as either a beast to be slain for terrorizing ships or as a powerful mastermind that is taking over an entire coastal front.

Add some unique templates to the Kraken! I remember one of the best encounters I have ever had was with a Mineral Warrior Kraken. It used a variety of spells to improve its burrow speed to somewhere close to 120' and was trying to collapse the cliff where a city was on. It did lots of other things but that was one nefarious plot created by it.

[Tvtyrant]

It is not for a specific party per say. I was making up the back story for an NPC in an E6 campaign that involved attacking The Kraken and losing the rest of his party. I was looking at the Kraken's statistics and I realized that appropriately leveled PCs should be able to roll it over, so I was asking why that was.

Ink cloud is a good one, especially as a free action. I could have the Kraken jet into the party and then release the ink, making it difficult to attack while it prepares to kill them with its tentacles.

Mineral Warrior Kraken would be pretty awesome, although one would think it would sink..

[Diarmuid]

You're also assuming that every 9th level wizard knows and has prepared a Teleport spell and is only accompanied by no more than three Medium or smaller comrades that he/she cares about and who are all close to hand when the Kraken attacks.

As was previously mentioned, any such wizard who's on a boat likely doesnt want to just abandon ship and watch his ship and all of its cargo get wrecked.

Same thing for Freedom of Movement. Not everyone is going to have it, nor will it always be active. If you're just working in thought exercises you can always figure out a relatively simple solution to an issue, but just because it exists doesnt mean that the monster/encounter/etc is completely useless.

[Humble Master]

You're also assuming that every 9th level wizard knows and has prepared a Teleport spell and is only accompanied by no more than three Medium or smaller comrades that he/she cares about and who are all close to hand when the Kraken attacks.

As was previously mentioned, any such wizard who's on a boat likely doesnt want to just abandon ship and watch his ship and all of its cargo get wrecked.

Same thing for Freedom of Movement. Not everyone is going to have it, nor will it always be active. If you're just working in thought exercises you can always figure out a relatively simple solution to an issue, but just because it exists doesnt mean that the monster/encounter/etc is completely useless.
Yah, but Divination.

Your point about the Wizard not wanting to hightail it at the first sign of trouble is valid. Maybe press that button and have the ship loaded with some precious cargo thus making it more likely that the characters will stay and fight.

[Fouredged Sword]

The Kraken is a nasty threat. Yes a party who is appropriately CR'd and prepared will steam roll it, but think for a second.

With just a few tweaks..

Mageslayer, pierce magical concealment and pierce magical protection...

It is an ambush predator, so combat starts with you in it's reach. The spellcasters can't cast, the melee combatants get grappled, and the ranged characters can't get out of the reach due to the size of the ship. No charging due to difficult ground...

Now a level 12 party is seriously in danger.

[Mutazoia]

The Kraken's magical abilities seem best suited to sinking ships, but a 9th level party has access to teleport (lowest level it would probably ever face as a none-cut scene.) Even if it used Control Weather and Control Winds to make an awful storm for sinking a ship, the party could simply escape via porting.

Keep in mind that teleport isn't an instant "get out of trouble free" card. There are some pretty heavy restrictions on teleport, namely you have to KNOW where your going before hand or risk getting 'ported to a random location. You can only take 1 person per 3 caster levels with you (so a 9th level caster can only take 3 people with him...hope there's nobody left behind), and you all must be touching, so if your party is in different locations defending the ship you can use Kraken tentacles to keep them seperated (ya gotta keep 'em seperated!)


In water only its melee abilities seem pertinent (except maybe dominating the groups Animal Companion.) It can deal plenty of damage, but Freedom of Movement makes it grappling the casters unlikely. It seems to me like the Kraken is deadly against low level characters but easily beaten by appropriate parties.

Unless your entire party strolls around with rings of free movement grappling attacks can and will be quite effective. Start with grappling the party wizard and yanking him overboard. Since the grapple attempt is a free action after a tentacle strike and doesn't provoke an AOP you can shut down the part's "teleport away" plan pretty quickly.


Are there any tactics that make it work better than I am thinking?

As I said above, grappling and yanking your party overboard is your first order of action. Once the PC's are in the water the Kraken is going to have the upper hand, as the PC's are going to have to make swim checks (not easy to swim in that plate armor) wory about getting dragged under (they can't grow gills) and with the ability to dominate animals your Kraken turns into Aqua-man and summons a school of sharks to assist in the battle (a smart Kraken, and that's really all there are, will bring a bunch of sharks with him when he goes up to the surface). With 60' tentacles and 30' arms you should have no trouble keeping the PC's apart, just keep working on the mage first (the Kraken is intelligent enough to know who the biggest threat is) and a full attack from a Kraken should be more then enough to do some SERIOUS damage. Couple that with the Control Winds and control Weather your party is going to be sucking some pretty serious penalties to swim checks while in the water....even on deck they're going to have to be making dex checks every round due to the pitching, rolling deck (and maybe con checkes for sea sickness if you want to be mean). Attack and defence penalties for unsure footing.... but your Kraken is going to make it's first order of business to get everybody in the water...capsizing the boat should be pretty easy in a huricane...I'd almost give it a free action to do so. Have it start with whiping up said huricane..let the PC's sail around in that for a few days, the winds and waves can damage the ship, spring leaks, wear out the party as they attempt to keep the ship afloat, then a day or two of huricane later the Kraken strikes as the ship rolls from a huge wave the Kraken rams the ship flipping it over...SURPRISE!

[RFLS]

Have the party protect the ship in which they are on. If they are on a ship and not teleporting somewhere then they are there for the ship, not for going somewhere else. I personally would use the kraken as either a beast to be slain for terrorizing ships or as a powerful mastermind that is taking over an entire coastal front.

Mind if I swipe this?


The Kraken is a nasty threat. Yes a party who is appropriately CR'd and prepared will steam roll it, but think for a second.

-snip-

I like the way you think. A lot....

Hm. If I were to run a nautical campaign over in the PbP, would you be interested? I've enjoyed playing with you in the RHoD campaign so far, so consider this an invite and a close to secure spot in any future games. A game I was playing in just died, so I have time for another right now, and a nautical one would be fun.

[Twilightwyrm]

Yah, but Divination.

Your point about the Wizard not wanting to hightail it at the first sign of trouble is valid. Maybe press that button and have the ship loaded with some precious cargo thus making it more likely that the characters will stay and fight.

What divination did you have in mind exactly? Because maybe Omen of Peril aside, I'm not seeing any 4th level divination spells on the Wizard list that reveal significant enough information about the future to even know if a Kraken is in the area, let alone that the wizard will be fighting one today.

[dascarletm]

PS: Make sure your kraken has defenses against shivering touch.

[Diarmuid]

What divination did you have in mind exactly? Because maybe Omen of Peril aside, I'm not seeing any 4th level divination spells on the Wizard list that reveal significant enough information about the future to even know if a Kraken is in the area, let alone that the wizard will be fighting one today.

Thanks for pointing that out Twilightwyrm. I was thinking the exact same thing but didnt feel like pouring through the books looking for a spell I might not be familiar with.

I think the whole "divination + spells = win" scenario is thrown around way too much on the boards assuming that every wizard has days and days to gather informaiton on what they're looking to do and will never ever be caught unawares.

Random encounters aside, I just dont think that most campaigns/games/modules/etc allow for that kind of preparation time between encounters.

[Magnera]

Mind if I swipe this?

Not at all! :smallsmile:

[mregecko]

One of my favorite fights from my Living Greyhawk days was a bunch of advanced krakens.

They had been advanced and used magic items (potions or UMD, can't remember) to gain flight and air-breathing (revamped water breathing spell, basically).

And the module writer was even smart enough to put multiple castings of the buffs on so that they weren't vulnerable to a single dispel.

The krakens used control weather to make conditions of concealment, then used their huge Spot/Listen checks + blind fighting to decimate us.

So yeah... 3-4 advanced kraken with 30'/60' reach, tentacles and arms coming out of nowhere in a heavy downpour, power attacking and grappling us...

It was frightening as @#$!

-- Mr

[RFLS]

Not at all! :smallsmile:

Done and done. I'd been searching for an appropriate plot to a setting I've toyed with for a long time, and now I have one...

(Self plug: Check out my sig for a link to the recruitment thread).