prepping for underwater combat

[Foxhound438]

outside of magic items or "pick this race", any good ways to get a swim speed for the whole party? at least some of it? breathing underwater is easy enough, there's a ritual spell for that by name. If nothing else, what level of hoops would you make players jump through to get a swim speed outside of any RAW method? assume 7th level party.

[Cynthaer]

Well, it depends on a couple of things.

How long would the swim speed be relevant? A whole underwater chapter of the campaign? An underwater quest? A single climactic underwater battle?

Relatedly, how crucial should it be for each character? Is it "get a swim speed or be useless"? Is it a convenience or optimization, like a half-sunken temple or a fight in a cave, where you can contribute from the water's edge but you're much less effective?

If it's necessary for the plot to move forward, just give them a temporary effect and be done with it. Magic items, dolphin mounts, an enchantment from a friendly NPC—whatever gets it out of the way so you can proceed.

If it's just "nice to have", and/or you only need one or two swimmers for things to work (e.g., only one person needs to swim to reach the underwater puzzle, or two people can pull the party through the water and the rest only need to be able to breathe), you could (A) do some quick individual challenges to earn the blessing, or (B) give the whole party X items depending on how well they succeed at a collective challenge. Then just let them distribute what they got among themselves.

[Vogie]

There isn't really a way to give everyone a swim speed with RAW. If the entire party doesn't want to build around it, but it's going to be an issue throughout, and the flavor works, you could give all of them the Mariner fighting style.

Also, an object that gives all of the party the Aquatic Adaptation portion of Alter Self would be a perfect object for that party.

[hymer]

Animal Shapes can turn the party into underwater animals. Conjure Animals may be able to give you Giant Sea Horses as underwater mounts,

[Chugger]

Why not magic items?

They could be temporary - or potions - or a scroll or whatever. They only grant 8 hrs and don't work any more, if you don't want them having too many magic items.

The only way to do this w/out magic items and w/out race picks is to allow them to train in underwater fighting and moving for weeks - make some rolls - and learn this as a skill - perhaps taught by some triton or something. And that's boring, honestly, when you could just let them have a few magic items and get on with the adventure. The magic user and cleric, for example, don't need - they can be stuck w/ clunky underwater movement. Meleers need this the most.