Assistance with an adventuring day design.

[mgshamster]

In my OotA game using Goober's NPC Companion system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?459858-NPC-Companion-System-Idea), my players are about to enter an underwater temple they believe is vacant. For those familiar with this adventure...

They are re-entering the oozing temple after it flooded. In my game, I've significantly expanded the temple and am using it as their access to Gravenhallow.

I'm going to place an aboleth in there, but I'd like to do a classic 6-8 encounter adventuring day for them. This style of adventuring day encounter design isn't very common in OotA and I think this would be a good place for it. In fact, many of the encounters they've faced so far have been solved by the mighty nova. It's time to draw out their resources across an entire day.

My PCs are effectively level 10 (level 8 with enough magic items and companion support to be equivalent to level 10); they are a liberation (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/172041/Oath-of-Liberation) paladin, lore bard, and mood druid.

What I'd like some help with is designing 6-8 encounters around an aboleth theme. Bonus for tactics that are psychologically scary.

[Malifice]

In my OotA game using Goober's NPC Companion system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?459858-NPC-Companion-System-Idea), my players are about to enter an underwater temple they believe is vacant. For those familiar with this adventure...

They are re-entering the oozing temple after it flooded. In my game, I've significantly expanded the temple and am using it as their access to Gravenhallow.

I'm going to place an aboleth in there, but I'd like to do a classic 6-8 encounter adventuring day for them. This style of adventuring day encounter design isn't very common in OotA and I think this would be a good place for it. In fact, many of the encounters they've faced so far have been solved by the mighty nova. It's time to draw out their resources across an entire day.

My PCs are effectively level 10 (level 8 with enough magic items and companion support to be equivalent to level 10); they are a liberation (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/172041/Oath-of-Liberation) paladin, lore bard, and mood druid.

What I'd like some help with is designing 6-8 encounters around an aboleth theme. Bonus for tactics that are psychologically scary.

Step 1. Give them a definitive time limit, with penalties for failure, and rewards for success.

The party finds out the Aboleth has uncovered an ancient artifact (one of the fabled Nether Scrolls). It intends to use the Nether Scroll to call down a meteor onto the planet (Golarion style) and flood the Inner sea of Faerun, (and much of the surrounding area of the Underdark) linking it with the Dark sea, killing tens of thousands and unleashing a horde [shoal?] of Aboleths on the upper realm.

This particular Nether Scolls magic can only be activated at a planetary conjunction, which only occurs once every 101 years - and the next such conjunction is scheduled to occur in just 4 hours time!

If the party can locate the Scrolls and be in their possession at the time of the conjunction, they can use the magic of the scrolls to obtain one free Boon (alternative rewards from the DMG).

Step 2: Design your 6-8 encounters, themed around this event.

Stat up 6-8 [medium to hard] encounters. The time limit above is 4 hours, meaning the PCs should have enough time for 2-3 short rests, that they can take when they want within that paradigm. Be sure to remind them of the time limits from time to time (cross off 5-10 minutes when they waste time searching a room etc). Maintain a sense of urgency.

Mix your encoutners up. A possible option is one of the encounters is an evil party of [Illithids] who have learnt of the plot, and seek to foil it, as it would result in their home near the Dark Sea being flooded as well and hundreds of Illithids being killed in the flood (they also want the scrolls for themselves).

See if the party are prepared to ally with evil brain eating monsters against the Aboleths. The illithids can also dominate the party to recover the scrolls for them, and turn on the PCs in any event.

[Gastronomie]

many of the encounters they've faced so far have been solved by the mighty nova. It's time to draw out their resources across an entire day. I think your problem here is that the players get a long rest in-between almost every battle if you think of long rests as a 8-hour rest like in normal campaigns. I don't think it would be possible for the characters to get long rests so easily in the dangerous Underdark... perhaps only give it every 6-8 encounters from the beginning?

Since the Aboleth can mind-control enemies, I think it's possible to have a lot of bizarre combinations of monsters to be there in its lair.

I find it that having a single Basilsk in the enemy horde can terribly frighten the players on its own (and with good reason).

Gibbering Mouthers make excellent sidekicks for a lot of monsters, with an terrain effect, the ability to make characters go insane within 20 feet, an attacks that knocks guys prone, and blinds people with an AoE. It's one of the most well-designed monsters in the 5e Manual IMO, with all its interesting abilities.

And it works best when paired with a Roper or some other creature who can move people around. Say, 2 Ropers + 2 Gibbering Mouthers + something random could be an interesting encounter. For a party of 3, perhaps reduce the HP or AC of the Ropers. You could refluff the Ropers to be bigger Gibbering Mouthers, or at least similar abberations, with long reaching hands.

Will post more when I think them up.

[Nah Son]

The PCs walk into a large room, mostly submerged, with one visible exit: a door with ten diamond-shaped keyholes. The door cannot be unlocked or broken down. There are thirteen statues of genderless humanoids arranged in a circle around the room. They appear to be made of marble, but touching them reveals them to be made of a spongy, malleable material.

It is very possible (no check required) to pull apart the spongy material, and this is nominally a good idea, as the ten keys needed for the door are concealed inside each one. Each statue, however, also contains a trigger. If a character reaches into the statue and touches a trigger, they feel a cold, clammy, gelatinous substance slither over their fingers. This paralyzes that character's hand, and a deep sense of unease begins to fill the room, as well as an unintelligible whispering. As the characters accidentally touch more triggers, both sense and sound amplify and multiply.

As soon as the PCs touch three triggers, the statues' mouths open, and each sings a different note of the chromatic scale in a bright, nasal, deafening voice. An inky blue-black substance begins to flow UP from the statues' mouths, convalescing into a black cloud in the room's centre. In three rounds, the cloud begins to take a humanoid shape. This is the Hunger of Juiblex.

The Hunger is essentially an amorphous erinyes with a swim speed instead of a fly speed and an amorphous body able to squeeze through cracks. After it manifests, the noise stops, and it collapses into the water and out through a crack in the submerged wall, only to hound the PCs incessantly as they explore the other rooms of the temple, waiting (perhaps) just around every corner.

There SHOULD probably be a hint to tell the PCs where to reach for the key in each statue (one could be smiling wide for the mouth, have its hands on its knees for the knee, be sitting cross-legged for the foot, etc.). Or you could be sadistic and let the PCs deal.

[mgshamster]

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

[Falcon X]

It's at times like these that I turn to Sir Bogleech for some wonderful ideas. The word here is PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. Here are some monsters and possible uses (some of which I have used). Must convert to 5e:

Morkoth (http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/morkoth.html): This creepy little guy is great. He lures you into his spiral tunnels which hypnotize people so he can much on them while they are still alive. Try to pull out some good Lovecraftian imagery.
I used this once. My players were sleeping for the night by an old bridge. One of them found a door under the bridge that opened to a small room with a pool of water and the symbol for one of the Demon Lords on the wall. Turns out this was an ancient ad-hock temple by some trolls. They also found a water-breathing device (that it took them way too long to figure out how to use, and there was only one...).
Swimming down into the pool, they found a lizard cave and an underwater puzzle. Getting through the puzzle, they swam into a tunnel that spiraled in an odd manner.
Eventually the underwater tunnel opened into a large room with tunnels branching off from it that all spiral and get smaller. As soon as they start looking around the room and notice the tunnels, they all make a will save or get hypnotized. If they all get hypnotized.... well... you're going to have to find a way for someone to get another will save.
The Morkoth attacks hit and run from sides the conscious people don't expect so they only get little flashes of what it is.
If they survive, one of the tunnels leads to the actual shrine (or the way forward, if it's a larger complex).

Meenlock (http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/meenlock.html): So, this guy is incredible at stealth. He picks ONE of your party members and telepathically taunts the character to try to drive them insane. They might think you are just utilizing insanity mechanics. Eventually, it lures the character off on their own or drag the person off in their sleep. Then, the person is turned into one of them...

Blindheim (http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/blindheim.html): Because how fun is it to fight creatures that make you blind?

Suwyze (http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/forgotten.html): Pretty weak enemy, but with one key ability. Anyone attacking it is made to see the attack through it's perspective, feeling fear of the adventurers who are trying to kill it. It's a magical guilt-trip attack!

Death Minnow (http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/forgotten.html): It's a small guy, but it swims up to you and all of a sudden it's mouth gets big enough to swallow you, which it does. Then, it turns back to it's normal size. Rumored to be made by Aboleths.

Flumph (http://www.bogleech.com/dnd/flumph.html): Because after all you put them through, they run into this thing and won't be able to be convinced not to kill it :)