Is an Aboleth too strong?

[Feuerphoenix]

Hey guys,

I am preparing a new madness for my group and plan that their ship (a small smuggling vessel) encounters an Aboleth, who has already enslaved the whole village where they came from. The Aboleth already gathered a lot of intelligence about the group, by letting the villagers ask questions to the group (which they had no problems, revealing their information).

The Aboleth will face them on this ship, but wants to bargain first, to let the group sacrifice one of them, so he can eat him and let the ship pass, or fight the group.

The group contains a paladin lv 6 (played by me. He is one level stronger than the rest of the party to ensure he does not to down that fast, as the story ends when he dies), a berserk barbarian lv 5, a fighter/warlock multiclass 4/1, and a warlock (chain) lv 5 and a Bard lv 5

My main problem is the enslave ability. As he would grab the barbarian, and tell him, to throw the paladin over board, and take care off the two other characters, the space on the ship is small, so he will control most if not all of the ship. If the enslavement fails, the fight is quite doable, as the damage deliver by the group is quite good.

Should I help the group? Or are they running right in their doom? Does protection from evil and good protect from enslavement? Or should I let the lay on hands Feature end the effect to make the fight more balanced?

[Waterdeep Merch]

Add a story-based defense against it. Maybe there's an herb or even song that the aboleth can't stand which will break his control. Perhaps a talisman that belonged to the last villager that tried to stand against it which protects the mind of the bearer. Make it reasonably apparent that they need this, perhaps told as a legend, perhaps by an enemy of the aboleth- like the aforementioned villager. Then let the party dynamically use this weakness to try and fight back.

[Angelmaker]

Hey guys,

I am preparing a new madness for my group and plan that their ship (a small smuggling vessel) encounters an Aboleth, who has already enslaved the whole village where they came from. The Aboleth already gathered a lot of intelligence about the group, by letting the villagers ask questions to the group (which they had no problems, revealing their information).

The Aboleth will face them on this ship, but wants to bargain first, to let the group sacrifice one of them, so he can eat him and let the ship pass, or fight the group.

The group contains a paladin lv 6 (played by me. He is one level stronger than the rest of the party to ensure he does not to down that fast, as the story ends when he dies), a berserk barbarian lv 5, a fighter/warlock multiclass 4/1, and a warlock (chain) lv 5 and a Bard lv 5

My main problem is the enslave ability. As he would grab the barbarian, and tell him, to throw the paladin over board, and take care off the two other characters, the space on the ship is small, so he will control most if not all of the ship. If the enslavement fails, the fight is quite doable, as the damage deliver by the group is quite good.

Should I help the group? Or are they running right in their doom? Does protection from evil and good protect from enslavement? Or should I let the lay on hands Feature end the effect to make the fight more balanced?

Save or suck spells are hard to calculate and i hate them (as a player ) with a passion since it once caused my 4E psionic tank with good wisdom saving throws to be dominated for an entire figt of 6 to 7 rounds. It was the worst player experience i have ever had. As a dm i always make sure to only use effects which the only hampers players but doesn't take away their control. While it might be a boring way to dm for some, i have found methods to compensate and make my players not feel too safe.

That being said, i am unsure about why you dm and play a charactr in that group at the same time. Again, as a player, i hate dmpc's most of the time, because it feels like the dm is playing with and against himself. Having to track another character uses up time that i feel would be better invested in running a smaller combat encounter.

My 2€ and i have no input on the combat balance of your group regarding this encounter.

[solidork]

A direct confrontation with an Aboleth should be completely impossible for PCs of that level to win. He should hang out 100ft below the ship, issue his demand and sink the boat if they don't comply.

[Coffee_Dragon]

I heard it said in a neighbouring thread that a low-level party can stomp any monster in the MM with ease. So make it two.

[Corran]

Hey guys,

I am preparing a new madness for my group and plan that their ship....

The group contains a paladin lv 6 (played by me. He is one level stronger than the rest of the party to ensure he does not to down that fast, as the story ends when he dies)....
I know you didnt ask about this... but this is just bad.... so bad I cannot even begin describing why.
I say, feed it (ie the aboleth) the DMPC. Fight starts, it isn't going well, and the valiant DMPC decides to sacrifice himself for the PC's and the ship's crew to escape. Find a reason for the story to continue after the DMPC's death, even if it means making some changes here and there in the campaign.

Once again, I understand you asked about somthing else entirely, but that's my advice.

[Coffee_Dragon]

How about after the party easily stomps the first aboleth, the DMPC rips off his mask and laughs. He's another aboleth! Roll initiative again.

[Pex]

The party is level 5.

The aboleth is CR 10.

[Kane0]

Play it straight. My party of 5 level 6s also took on an aboleth and won, in its lair with minions too (though they werent on a ship)
If things go bad just find a way to continue in a way that preserves the fun.

[Thrudd]

Well...isn't an aboleth listed as a challenge level 10? That's a challenge for four level 10 characters, and your guys are only level 5. So if you expect them to actually fight it, and it is actually going to try to kill them, then it seems like they are going to die. Especially since it has an entire village of slaves already.

Many things in your post put up red flags that this situation may not turn out well, that others have pointed out. Saying that you are playing a character is a weird way to say that there's an NPC with the party. You play every NPC and monster in the world, not just one paladin. That the NPC is higher level than all the PCs is a bad sign - unless he's only there briefly, like for a part of a session or a couple fights, that is not cool. Saying that the story ends when he dies is the worst thing of all - designing the story to depend on the dice not rolling badly is not a good idea, because that means you might need to cheat in order to have the story continue. In general, making a story that is all about a special NPC, with the players just being helpers is one of the big no-no's for RPG's. Making an adventure that depends on certain things happening is a bad idea - you never know what the players will do, and you never know how the dice will roll. So if the paladin dies, think of ways for the game to keep going. Change the story.

[Skelechicken]

I think an aboleth is definitely too hard for your party without some sort of nerf on it.

That said I would caution against making the Paladin's Lay on Hands the ability that breaks the enslavement. I tend to be willing to give DMPCs a chance, but a DMPC that is a level higher than the party so that it never goes down and that is given the super special power necessary to stop the aboleth is taking a lot of agency away from your players.

If they have a chance to prepare, have all of your players get a chance at that power instead. The bard can learn of a song that can free a trapped mind, the barbarian can learn a war cry so fierce that it can break even the strongest concentrated will etc etc. Then if they all mess up and you think the aboleth would do what you described let it happen. It sucks, but if they know what they should and ignore all those powers and still face an aboleth your job isn't to protect them forever.

[mgshamster]

Even if it's CR 10, if the party has things that can shut down it's abilities, it makes it a lot easier. When I used it against my players, they had some abilities that completely negated the charmed condition, which removed a lot of the other enemies in the area.

Truth be told, I specifically built that encounter so it would be challenging while also making the player with the anti-charm stuff feel like a badass. He really didn't have much of an opportunity to use those abilities in that campaign.

Also, I agree with those who say to ditch the DMPC. That guy is the DMs personal PC who just happens to not only be more powerful than the PCs, but also is the center character in the story. Your players are all playing weaker second string background roles. That ain't fun.

Use this opportunity to ditch the DMPC, and then allow your players to be all, "Well, ****. We needed him. Now what?" Then let them figure it out from there. Let them be the heroes, the center stage PCs. Not some lackeys to God's (aka the DM) Character.

[Feuerphoenix]

I think an aboleth is definitely too hard for your party without some sort of nerf on it.

That said I would caution against making the Paladin's Lay on Hands the ability that breaks the enslavement. I tend to be willing to give DMPCs a chance, but a DMPC that is a level higher than the party so that it never goes down and that is given the super special power necessary to stop the aboleth is taking a lot of agency away from your players.

If they have a chance to prepare, have all of your players get a chance at that power instead. The bard can learn of a song that can free a trapped mind, the barbarian can learn a war cry so fierce that it can break even the strongest concentrated will etc etc. Then if they all mess up and you think the aboleth would do what you described let it happen. It sucks, but if they know what they should and ignore all those powers and still face an aboleth your job isn't to protect them forever.

A Aboleth grants 5,9k exp, so by calculation off the chart from the DMG, they can handle this, the question for me was, how near is the calculation towards an actual fight.

The DM Char existed since in this campaign the first chosen one war a player char, who did not like his class anymore and changed his character. So I told myself to make sure this does not happen again, and put the char in my hands. The group is enjoying him as a character and a fighter so far, as he offers a lot of roleplay opportunity plus, because the fights are harder, he is a additional combatant. He is also not an all time follower, but only there in story related situations. The center of my story is still my group, no worries.

Your argument of protection counts half. On the one side, yes I don't want to protect them, on the other hand, my party did not understand the clues, what is going on right now. If I let them run in an open knife, it can be very crucial...

[Basement Cat]

An aboleth is a large genius level intelligent creature that is in its element in the water and your party of characters are on a small boat.

If they refuse the demanded sacrifice it should simply turn over the boat or destroy it from below. It's too smart to just rise up where the party can face it mano y mano.

Unless you nerf the aboleth or something there is absolutely no way in heck your party of adventurers should be able to survive a battle under such circumstances. Not without some undisclosed McGuffin or something. No-way-at-all. :smallfrown:

[Feuerphoenix]

An aboleth is a large genius level intelligent creature that is in its element in the water and your party of characters are on a small boat.

If they refuse the demanded sacrifice it should simply turn over the boat or destroy it from below. It's too smart to just rise up where the party can face it mano y mano.

Unless you nerf the aboleth or something there is absolutely no way in heck your party of adventurers should be able to survive a battle under such circumstances. Not without some undisclosed McGuffin or something. No-way-at-all. :smallfrown:

So, what could I give to the party, to better their chances? Maybe something to keep the Aboleth on the ship? In theory my group is well equipped with potions ( although they do not use them, except healing potions) so maybe this might help.

[Unoriginal]

So, what could I give to the party, to better their chances? Maybe something to keep the Aboleth on the ship? In theory my group is well equipped with potions ( although they do not use them, except healing potions) so maybe this might help.

How do you want to put an Aboleth on a small ship and keep it here?

Though I should note that the Enslave ability isn't that OP because you get a saving throw any time you are damaged, fighting an Aboleth on its favored ground is just too much for this party, in theory. They *could* succeed, maybe, but it'd be ridiculously unlikely.

[Basement Cat]

So, what could I give to the party, to better their chances? Maybe something to keep the Aboleth on the ship? In theory my group is well equipped with potions ( although they do not use them, except healing potions) so maybe this might help.
What those of us replying to you need, really, is some background if we're going to contribute constructively. :smallsmile:

Why is the paladin critical? Why is the aboleth after them? Why did it enslave the village? Why are they on a small boat going where? How small is the boat? Ocean or lake?

EDIT: Look at the picture of the aboleth in the MM. Picture that beast on a small boat.

Does the picture include the boat splintering and being forced into the water (PC's and all) beneath its size and weight? If not then it should. :smallwink:

It sounds like you're treating the aboleth like an aquatic, ogre sized opponent. Think more in terms of a terrifyingly intelligent whale and you'll start to see why we're dismayed not just at you putting 5th to 6th level PC's up against a CH 10 hostile enemy but that they're entirely at its mercy if you play the Big Bad sea monster accurately.

EDIT 2: The only way I see the PC's surviving this encounter would be for the aboleth to enslave them--or one of them--and purposefully leave the others alive. Any genuine fight between them, especially under the circumstances you describe, should be a Curb Stomp Battle in the aboleth's favor. :smalleek:

*shudders*

[GorogIrongut]

To answer your question, the Aboleth is too strong. As has been previously mentioned this is a genius level, evil mastermind who has lived longer than most gods... and you want to use it as an blip encounter...

When played properly, an Aboleth IS the BBEG. To even get to one, you have to wade through hundreds if not thousands of his cannon fodder. That's not including the fact that it will be an entirely aquatic encounter, as, why would an Aboleth leaves it's protected lair for something as simple as a 'sacrifice'? I would argue that the only thing scarier in the water than an Aboleth is a Kraken. The Kraken is raw, unmitigated power. The Aboleth is puppet mastering at it's finest, with entire races at it's command, intricate plans worked out millenia in advance.

While it's ridiculous to imagine an Aboleth approaching the party for something so trivial, Aboleth's have henchmen. You could instead have a henchman approach the party. Chuuls are an obvious choice for this. You could also custom create lots of weird, genetically spliced aberrations to serve the Aboleth, as they're well known for genetically modifying entire races to their desires.

Essentially compare the Aboleth to Strahd, because they should be run in similar ways. Don't stand and try and go toe to toe with a party. Hit and run. Use abilities and environment and minions to ambush the party when you have the most advantage.

When run like a 6 INT ogre, monsters like the Aboleth are pretty lackluster. Run like smart villains, they are incredibly rewarding combats that are well beyond the capabilities of your current party.

[Feuerphoenix]

So you requested more information, there you go:

My whole story is playing in a world outside of the regular DnD universe, in an Elder Scrolls setting in Morrowind. But I still use some aspects of the normal DnD to shape encounters etc. mainly the monsters.

The Aboleth is considered as a powerful seamonster with its own codex (one of his weaknesses). He is very new in this part of the world, and has the plan, to control the water arround Morrowind (which is an island) with a powerful fleet, manned by his minions. In the moment, where the group is facing the Aboleth, it just achieved finishing its lair and talking over the village, to use it as an HQ ( far away from other cities, near to water, not controlled etc.).

To gain reccources, he uses the ship the village has, to transport big loads of Skooma to the major city Vivec, and let it sell there to shady traders (or directly gives it to some of his minions). The thing is, that skooma is a dangerous substance, even for him, but he doesn't know that. Because his skin is so moisture, getting into contact with skooma will instantly lead to a horror trip. (Neither him not the group knows that).

One thing off be Aboleth is the before mentioned codex, which says, if outsiders want topass through his territory, they have to offer him knowledge. And this knowledge is given to him via a sacrifice. As the Aboleth never faced an enemy, who could compete with him, his codex also tells him, to fully show himself to his prey, to be more intimidating and "persuasive".

To that's it. All I was thinking about it, before the group was thrown into this part of the adventure.

The group itself btw: fled from a city, which was unter quarantine because of them (the city guards lack of men right now to follow them)

[Beelzebubba]

So, what could I give to the party, to better their chances? Maybe something to keep the Aboleth on the ship? In theory my group is well equipped with potions ( although they do not use them, except healing potions) so maybe this might help.

How about keeping the Aboleth idea back for a while, have the characters start to encounter it's minions and slaves occasionally, and then use it as a foe when the party is the right level?

I mean, I wouldn't want to kill an Ancient Red Dragon at 1st level with a scroll of Wish that the DM dumped in my lap just before the fight.

Let them earn it - save it for when you can play the Aboleth as deviously and dangerously as possible and know that the party will have the resources to take their lumps.

[Contrast]

As the Aboleth never faced an enemy, who could compete with him, his codex also tells him, to fully show himself to his prey, to be more intimidating and "persuasive".


I note aboleths per the book have the ability to project an illusionary image of themselves up to a mile away that they can see through and speak from so still really no reason for the aboleth itself to actually turn up and put itself in harms way. That said it sounds like you're not putting the party up against an aboleth but rather a sea monster vaguely inspired by an aboleth so its entirely up to you what abilities you do and don't pull across.

Also - does the party have any way to cure the disease inflicted by the aboleth tentacles? That seems like that would be pretty crippling without an immediate cure.

[Feuerphoenix]

I note aboleths per the book have the ability to project an illusionary image of themselves up to a mile away that they can see through and speak from so still really no reason for the aboleth itself to actually turn up and put itself in harms way. That said it sounds like you're not putting the party up against an aboleth but rather a sea monster vaguely inspired by an aboleth so its entirely up to you what abilities you do and don't pull across.

Also - does the party have any way to cure the disease inflicted by the aboleth tentacles? That seems like that would be pretty crippling without an immediate cure.


They have a magic item that they can use several times that acts like a healing potion plus cleanse from any poison or disease. In the worst case I use the lay on hands ability to fix this.

Mmh I was thinking about the image. But the thing is, the aboleth is pretty arrogant and does not see a dangerous threat in the party but rather more a toy to play with.

[Contrast]

They have a magic item that they can use several times that acts like a healing potion plus cleanse from any poison or disease. In the worst case I use the lay on hands ability to fix this.

Mmh I was thinking about the image. But the thing is, the aboleth is pretty arrogant and does not see a dangerous threat in the party but rather more a toy to play with.

Pretty sure neither that potion or lay on hands counts as a 6th level spell or higher but as I said - your game, import whichever abilities you like.

Edit - Also, even assuming the aboleth does go to see them and swims close enough to the surface that they can realistically attack it, surely when it started to take some damage it would just retreat to a depth sufficient that the party can't hurt it. Does the party have any realistic way of pursuing and fighting the aboleth underwater? If not, how can they win?

For the record I agree with others who have suggested having the aboleth send minions.

[Vaz]

The party is level 5.

The aboleth is CR 10.

And an under CR'd CR10 at that.

[tieren]

Perhaps have another option, maybe the aboleth enslaves the paladin and will only give him back if the party agrees to go inland and retrieve a MacGuffin for him.

That will give them time to learn about ways to fight it better and maybe even level up some before the big fight.

[GorogIrongut]

Aboleths are definitely arrogant, but they're not stupid arrogant. They have the cumulative memories/knowledge base of everything they eat. And everything their parents ate. And everything their parents knew... All the way back to the dawn of time. They've seen LOTS of stuff bigger and tougher than they are... and looking directly at their stats, it doesn't seem likely that they would rival the gods.

This is where their self preservation and millenia long plans come into effect. They're able to manipulate things in such a way that a butterfly's breath results in the death of a kingdom 500 years from now (a slightly extreme example, but used purely to demonstrate how an Aboleth would be).

The closest example to how they act would be Vecna. He was just a lowly necromancer who worked his way up. He had nice powers... but really his strengths lay in his being a know it all, manipulative son of a b!tch. As such he worked his way up to lichedom, demigod status and then eventual godhood. Each time being 'beaten' by his opponents for them to only realize that they'd played right into his hands and had helped him become even stronger than he was before. Now he's the God of Secrets. His eventual goal is to be the only god left.

Aboleths have a ridiculous amount of cumulative knowledge, enough where it might be worth it just as a quest to ask an Aboleth an impossible question. They're equally as manipulative as Vecna... and as stated, their long term goal is to return to their primacy from the days when the gods supplanted them.

I'm guess what I'm trying to say is that what you're describing isn't an Aboleth. You wouldn't waste Vecna or Strahd on a blip encounter. If however you want to change Aboleths in your particular universe, that's perfectly up to you.

To which I would continue by answering your original question... that even without assistance from minions. Even being stupidly arrogant and directly confronting your party... if played even remotely correctly, an Aboleth is WAY too strong for your party to succeed against. They're not even in the water, they're on a boat. All your aboleth would have to do is:
-destroy the boat and they drown. Enslave whoever has the ability to cast waterbreathing. Invite sharks to come along and play.
-submerge itself only to reappear at completely different sides of the boat so that it's out of reach and likely to be attacked by only one person at a time. Pick everyone in the party off one by one. Enjoy eating everything they know.
-sink the ship and claim the rowboat. Watch as everyone has to drop their weapons/armour/casting foci to stay afloat. Let them then have the rowboat and spend the next 24 hours accompanying them back to port as you warp the party's minds so much that they consider the aboleth to be their friend by the time they do hit land. Watch as the aboleth puppetmasters everyone. Once he finds out the paladin is important, he sends the rest of the party to bring the paladin as an hors' d'oeuvres.
-give your party lots of aboleth 'hugs'. Watch as they can no longer breath outside of the water. Steal the boat as they try to walk out of the sea. Drop stuff on them as they have no familiarity with underwater environs and no adaptability to move/fight/interact in them. Hurt them just enough where sharks smell the blood and come and kill them for you.
-wait until the night or until a violent storm. Spend your time talking to them telepathically in an overfriendly voice. Anytime one of them falls a sleep wake them up so they have to continue joining in your Aboleth party. Reveal deep dark secrets that no one else knows so that they have an incentive to stay awake as well as start to get creeped out. Once they've become so exhausted as to be unable to act, board the ship and give them Aboleth 'hugs'. Take them down into the depths to continue your aboleth party.

[Human Paragon 3]

I think it makes more sense for the Aboleth to create a network of minions that's terrorizing the entire trade route. When a minion encounters a ship, it pings the Aboleth and it uses its projection power to issue threats.

If the people do not agree to the threats, it pretends to engage the ship (through illusion) but then it's the minion that's actually attacking. The minion could be an orca, or some merfolk, or a giant snake, or pretty much anything you want. It will take some time for the party to realize what's actually happening, but once they do they should be able to beat the minion no trouble. When they're higher level they can take out the Aboleth itself as an optional quest, freeing the terrorize waterway.

[Unoriginal]

Now I want a campaign where the PCs have to summon Tiamat to counter the Aboleths' plans


I think it makes more sense for the Aboleth to create a network of minions that's terrorizing the entire trade route. When a minion encounters a ship, it pings the Aboleth and it uses its projection power to issue threats.

If the people do not agree to the threats, it pretends to engage the ship (through illusion) but then it's the minion that's actually attacking. The minion could be an orca, or some merfolk, or a giant snake, or pretty much anything you want. It will take some time for the party to realize what's actually happening, but once they do they should be able to beat the minion no trouble. When they're higher level they can take out the Aboleth itself as an optional quest, freeing the terrorize waterway.


Not a bad idea, but I don't think the Aboleth would reveal itself as an Aboleth like that. Would probably appear as a sinister, but not recognizable presence

[Feuerphoenix]

Perhaps have another option, maybe the aboleth enslaves the paladin and will only give him back if the party agrees to go inland and retrieve a MacGuffin for him.

That will give them time to learn about ways to fight it better and maybe even level up some before the big fight.

This in fact sounds like a pretty good idea. Also it gives me the opportunity to let them face the Aboleth in his lair and equip them, so they do stand a chance. Should I enslave one or two, and send them with the party, so they have to watch out, they to not tell too much how their plans are, while a spy is nearby?

[Basement Cat]

This in fact sounds like a pretty good idea. Also it gives me the opportunity to let them face the Aboleth in his lair and equip them, so they do stand a chance. Should I enslave one or two, and send them with the party, so they have to watch out, they to not tell too much how their plans are, while a spy is nearby?

If you go for enslaving one of them to serve as a spy then the DM played paladin is the prime choice because none of the PCs will know he's been taken over. Unless the paladin's importance--whatever that is--makes that impossible.

Like GorogIrongut said an aboleth is usually a BBEG but I see how your setting it into a new area without its standard puppet-web could require it to be more hands on. I agree with the others that using minions while the PCs level up would be a great idea. It would also give you a chance to build their suspense leading to a big Boss fight.

Of course your world's aboleths could be different from the Monster Manual's standard aboleths. That's part of the fun of world building--you can make things your own.

By the way...what is a "codex"? I'm not familiar with the term's application here, I'm afraid.

[GorogIrongut]

In the campaign I'm running, they were dealing with a mild case of mutant wererats, when they looked a little deeper. The wererats had occupied a series of tunnels previously used by Kuo Toa millenia past who had been brought in to worship 'The Voice' (obviously being an Aboleth much farther down in the Underdark in an underground sea). They were then subsequently wiped out, but the Aboleth was still there whispering to the Rat King, slowly driving him mad.

In the process of interacting with the Kuo Toan ruins, the druid willingly activated a ritual wherein he would begin the process of turning into a Kuo Toa by unwittingly agreeing to worship said Aboleth. The Monk got a sacrificial dagger that ate the souls of the people he killed (and granted him THP everytime he did). They confronted a Balor which had been imprisoned by The Voice and dealt with all the rats. Not once did they know they were dealing with an Aboleth. Not once did they get anywhere near it.

It's only later, now that the druid is beginning to change more, that they're even thinking about it. Also, they'd just been thrown/stupidly placed themselves into a situation involving high stress and even higher magics in which they mistakenly triggered the release of a completely different Aboleth (CR10) (and an Ancient Bronze Dragon (CR 22)) that took control of half the party and caused to be diseased the other half of the party (bar one) so that they would get in the dragon's way while the Aboleth made it's escape (cause it doesn't like direct confrontation, especially when it doesn't have the upper hand). The druid and the sorceror (a devout follower of Bahamut) both put themselves between the ABD and the Aboleth so it could get away. The rest of the party were lying in foot deep water as that was the only way they could breath. This party was all level 8.



p.s. Now before you guys freak out and wonder what the heck I'm doing as a DM throwing an Ancient Bronze Dragon and an Aboleth at a party of 5 level 8 characters... All I can say is that I operate a sandbox world... and that my party has a tendency to make stupid decisions that lead them towards the parts of the sandbox that are WAY beyond their abilities. At level 5 they decided to pick a fight they could have easily avoided with a (CR17) Death Knight in tight quarters while half of their party was down. Or later on in that same adventure the Druid felt he was capable of facing down 30 Ghosts (CR4).

To date there have been roughly a dozen deaths because of their aforementioned stupid decisions. While I don't go out of my way to save them from their poor choices, I do give them big hints that they're playing in areas that require big boy pants that they currently do not possess. If they keep moving on, then they deserve their Darwin Award.

[Feuerphoenix]

If you go for enslaving one of them to serve as a spy then the DM played paladin is the prime choice because none of the PCs will know he's been taken over. Unless the paladin's importance--whatever that is--makes that impossible.

Like GorogIrongut said an aboleth is usually a BBEG but I see how your setting it into a new area without its standard puppet-web could require it to be more hands on. I agree with the others that using minions while the PCs level up would be a great idea. It would also give you a chance to build their suspense leading to a big Boss fight.

Of course your world's aboleths could be different from the Monster Manual's standard aboleths. That's part of the fun of world building--you can make things your own.

By the way...what is a "codex"? I'm not familiar with the term's application here, I'm afraid.

A codex is a guideline, how you handle problems. For example when boys fight in a school yard, they almost never use their teeth or scratching, because of an unspoken codex, that this is not how a "real man" fights. But in theory, nothing stops you from doing so.

And for the Aboleth, it is a codex he made for himself, as he thinks this "hornorable".

The party is involved in serval mindgames of the big players, or are about to become part of it. Another layer with an Aboleth is quite hard and becomes disturbing from the main story. I just wanted him was a big fight for the lv 6 lv up :D

And now it is again becoming bigger than I thought 😋. Especially since we are playing with gritty realism for a long rest...

[MrMcBobb]

A codex is a guideline, how you handle problems. For example when boys fight in a school yard, they almost never use their teeth or scratching, because of an unspoken codex, that this is not how a "real man" fights. But in theory, nothing stops you from doing so.

And for the Aboleth, it is a codex he made for himself, as he thinks this "hornorable".

What you're thinking of is a "code"/ "code of honour"/ "code of conduct" (I have now read the word "code" so many times it looks wrong).

A codex is a large book of paper with notes and information. A codex on the Aboleth would be if someone started taking notes on the Aboleth and compiled them into one book, the Aboleth having a codex just means he has a large book.

I think the codex is a nice idea though, if someone has been secretly spending a long time studying Aboleths they might have uncovered his plot. Perhaps it is a whole society of people who want to be controlled by the Aboleth because they have this weird messed up notion that it would be cool/they would live forever or some muck like that. Then you could have the Aboleth trying to hunt down this tome of knowledge because it has his weaknesses/some of his minions in it and it could weaken his plans.