In Storm King's Thunder, how are the players meant to survive chapter 11?

[DMLoeffe]

Rhovandir, Morko, Flex and Isabel, please look away

So, my players are just about to board the The Morkoth, the ship where king Hekaton is being held captive and according to the book, the kraken Slarkrethel will show up shortly after they've rescued Hekaton. The problem is, I have no idea how players are meant to survive this encounter, let alone king Hekaton. They don't have their Conch of Teleportation nor any other way to get away quickly. And even if they manage to survive the encounter and get away somehow, how are they supposed to bring Hekaton with them, seeing as the kraken is supposed to try to drag him down into the depths?

I think it's a cool encounter and I very much want use the Slarkrethel attack in the game, but I just don't see how the death of either Hekaton or the players can be prevented. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Update: They killed it, details below.

[DeTess]

Rhovandir, Morko, Flex and Isabel, please look away

So, my players are just about to board the The Morkoth, the ship where king Hekaton is being held captive and according to the book, the kraken Slarkrethel will show up shortly after they've rescued Hekaton. The problem is, I have no idea how players are meant to survive this encounter, let alone king Hekaton. They don't have their Conch of Teleportation nor any other way to get away quickly. And even if they manage to survive the encounter and get away somehow, how are they supposed to bring Hekaton with them, seeing as the kraken is supposed to try to drag him down into the depths?

I think it's a cool encounter and I very much want use the Slarkrethel attack in the game, but I just don't see how the death of either Hekaton or the players can be prevented. Any advice would be highly appreciated.

What is the level of the party?

Anyway, I suspect this one is about discouraging the Kraken. Unless the creature has some great personal grudge against the king, knocking about half it's health off should discourage him enough to back off.

[DMLoeffe]

What is the level of the party?

Anyway, I suspect this one is about discouraging the Kraken. Unless the creature has some great personal grudge against the king, knocking about half it's health off should discourage him enough to back off.

They're level 9. As for discouraging the Kraken, I'm just a bit worried that they'll already be pretty tapped out from a possible fight with the crew of the Morkoth. I had originally planned it to be a difficult fight, with the captain being a pretty powerful wizard, but maybe I should tone down the difficulty in anticipation of the Kraken encounter?

[Unoriginal]

How powerful is the King, once rescued?

[DMLoeffe]

How powerful is the King, once rescued?

Pretty powerful, but not compared to the Kraken. He's a CR 13 Storm Giant. Maybe he could tank the Kraken while they keep the tentacles from destroying the ship. But then I run into the problem of him probably not surviving the encounter, since they don't have an escape plan.

[DeTess]

Right, I should have probably gotten the full breakdown in one go. How many players are there, what levels, and what major magic items do they have?

[dreast]

If they know about the Morkoth, how did they not get any clues about the kraken? Also, you could put a conch onboard (even give the King one) if you want to give the players an out. Parties without an out are pretty much supposed to lose the king, full stop, IIRC, as he heroically sacrifices himself.

[DMLoeffe]

Right, I should have probably gotten the full breakdown in one go. How many are there, what levels, and what major magic items do they have?

All right, the situation is:

They're four level 9 characters, two fighters, a druid and a sorceress. Since the giants are very powerful, they've acquired some powerful weapons throughout the game and can deal a lot of damage. Other than that they have a few potions and some magic items that probably won't be useful in this scenario. They're a smart group, they've taken down some powerful foes in the past, but that has been on their own terms and not in the middle of the sea.

[cotofpoffee]

How did your players find out that the Morkoth had King Hekaton? As far as I know, you don't even know about Hekaton until you reach the Oracle, who then tells you to go to Serissa, who is then the one that gives you the hook eventually leading to the Morkoth.

Consider giving them some warning before hand. Like a crew member telling them a rumor they heard about a Kraken, or some guardsmen talking about it to give your party the ability to prep.

The other thing you could do is just let them fail. If you don't want them to TPK, you could have Hekaton stay behind to fend off the Kraken. It doesn't prevent the rest of the story from happening and could have interesting implications once the party does reach the storm giants.

[DMLoeffe]

If they know about the Morkoth, how did they not get any clues about the kraken? Also, you could put a conch onboard (even give the King one) if you want to give the players an out. Parties without an out are pretty much supposed to lose the king, full stop, IIRC, as he heroically sacrifices himself.

They already know about some powerful entity that's connected to this, which they seem to suspect is a kraken, but I don't know if they expect it to show up. Having the king's own conch on the ship is a good idea and not something I had thought of. I'll use this if nothing better comes up. Thanks!

[DMLoeffe]

How did your players find out that the Morkoth had King Hekaton? As far as I know, you don't even know about Hekaton until you reach the Oracle, who then tells you to go to Serissa, who is then the one that gives you the hook eventually leading to the Morkoth.

Consider giving them some warning before hand. Like a crew member telling them a rumor they heard about a Kraken, or some guardsmen talking about it to give your party the ability to prep.

The other thing you could do is just let them fail. If you don't want them to TPK, you could have Hekaton stay behind to fend off the Kraken. It doesn't prevent the rest of the story from happening and could have interesting implications once the party does reach the storm giants.

They learned about the Morkoth from Drylund, pretty much like the book describes. I think I have a good way of warning the players beforehand, since one of them has been feeling the krakens psychic touch for a while. We've just had two character deaths so I don't think anyone would enjoy a TPK right now, but having them fail would indeed be interesting, I just wanted them to have a fighting chance. Thanks for the suggestions.

[DeTess]

All right, the situation is:

They're four level 9 characters, two fighters, a druid and a sorceress. Since the giant are very powerful, they've acquired some powerful weapons throughout the game and can deal a lot of damage. Other than that they have a few potions and some magic items that probably won't be useful in this scenario. They're a smart group, they've taken down some powerful foes in the past, but that has been on their own terms and not in the middle of the sea.

Honestly, if the fight against the crew isn't too punishing, and they know about a possible Kraken fight after it, I'd say they might be able to take it. I'm currently part of a homebrew campaign, and between the 3 of us we (barely) took down an ancient red dragon after two encounters, one technically deadly, the other deadly (12 kobold dragonshields and 3 scale sorcerers in one fight, 2 young and 2 wyrmling red dragons in the other). We did know that dragon-fight was coming, so we preserved most of our big guns for it.

In your case, I'd ensure the party gets a short rest before the fight against the Kraken, and knows that it's likely that they'll have to face it. In that case, I'd say you'll probably be fine.

[Temperjoke]

They're not really supposed to fight the kraken, they're supposed to leave with the King immediately, either via the conch, or swimming. And the Kraken won't show up for an hour after the King has been freed. So unless the party decides they want to keep the boat or take forever in looting, they shouldn't encounter the kraken. Even then, the kraken doesn't care about the players, he'll sink the boat, kidnap the king if he's still there (and kill him soon after), and leave the players to drown.

[DMLoeffe]

Some people on Reddit suggested that I just run it as written, where Hekaton dies unless the players figure out some way to save him. Even though that would suck a bit for the players, it would make logically sense, since they've painted themselves into quite the corner here. Temporarily giving their conch to a storm giant in the court, then stealing all of the storm giants' gold and teleporting out of there using the meditation cave, without the conch, probably wasn't a good idea. And there's also the fact that they then sailed to the island where they knew the Morkoth would dock, where they told their captain to leave them there for a few weeks, without any plan for how to board the ship.

[Zene]

Some people on Reddit suggested that I just run it as written, where Hekaton dies unless the players figure out some way to save him. Even though that would suck a bit for the players, it would make logically sense, since they've painted themselves into quite the corner here. Temporarily giving their conch to a storm giant in the court, then stealing all of the storm giants' gold and teleporting out of there using the meditation cave, without the conch, probably wasn't a good idea. And there's also the fact that they then sailed to the island where they knew the Morkoth would dock, where they told their captain to leave them there for a few weeks, without any plan for how to board the ship.

Yup. Let their actions have consequences.

It’s been a while since I read SKT, but IIRC it’d make sense for the kraken to sink the ship and abduct Hekaton and just leave the PCs behind, since it doesn’t care about them.

[Biggstick]

They're not really supposed to fight the kraken, they're supposed to leave with the King immediately, either via the conch, or swimming. And the Kraken won't show up for an hour after the King has been freed. So unless the party decides they want to keep the boat or take forever in looting, they shouldn't encounter the kraken. Even then, the kraken doesn't care about the players, he'll sink the boat, kidnap the king if he's still there (and kill him soon after), and leave the players to drown.

Absolutely this. I was curious as to what the issue was, as the Kraken doesn't care at all about the PC's. It just cares about preventing anyone from having the boat, and is threatened enough by Hekaton to drag him down along with the boat should he still be around.


Some people on Reddit suggested that I just run it as written, where Hekaton dies unless the players figure out some way to save him. Even though that would suck a bit for the players, it would make logically sense, since they've painted themselves into quite the corner here. Temporarily giving their conch to a storm giant in the court, then stealing all of the storm giants' gold and teleporting out of there using the meditation cave, without the conch, probably wasn't a good idea. And there's also the fact that they then sailed to the island where they knew the Morkoth would dock, where they told their captain to leave them there for a few weeks, without any plan for how to board the ship.

So they stole/lied to the Storm Giants. They deserve whatever might be coming their way. Hopefully they have a way to deal with the fact that they're going to be on water without readily available transportation.


Yup. Let their actions have consequences.

It’s been a while since I read SKT, but IIRC it’d make sense for the kraken to sink the ship and abduct Hekaton and just leave the PCs behind, since it doesn’t care about them.

You do remember correctly. The Kraken should grab the ship and Hekaton, but not care at all about the PC's. It's a simple enough encounter, and it sounds like the PC's deserve something like this to happen to them, considering how they treated the Storm Giants.

[sky red hunter]

Just about to run this encounter myself, my party have their conch so should be ok, they've played it smart so far.

If they hang around too long just run it as the book suggests, if you're worried about the party have a convenient bathysphere on the morkoth that they can shelter in as the ship is destroyed and maybe have them rescued by a trade ship/pirate ship afterwards.

try not to railroad one outcome over another. If the king dies, he dies. Its already accounted for in the book, it also gives even more reason to pursue the doom of the desert.

Could be kept ambiguous too, he's dragged down by the kraken but has his gandalf moment when he roars at them to flee and kill the B*****d blue dragon, might be he turns up sans one arm and possibly an eye too saying he managed to fend it off at a later stage.

[DMLoeffe]

Welp, they killed it.

The druid polymorphed Hekaton into a giant eagle and then used wildshape to also turn into a giant eagle. That got them all away, except for one that stayed behind to fight the kraken. Now, you might wonder, how can a single level 9 fighter stand a chance against a CR 25 kraken? Well, Potions of Giant Size is one hell of a potion, it triples your damage output and doubles your HP. The only reason he almost died was because he got feebleminded and vulnerability to piercing damage due to wild magic surge. I can't believe how crazy that potion is, but thanks to this guy staying behind on a suicide mission, they flipping did it.

[Unoriginal]

Welp, they killed it.

The druid polymorphed Hekaton into a giant eagle and then used wildshape to also turn into a giant eagle. That got them all away, except for one that stayed behind to fight the kraken. Now, you might wonder, how can a single level 9 fighter stand a chance against a CR 25 kraken? Well, Potions of Giant Size is one hell of a potion, it triples your damage output and doubles your HP. The only reason he almost died was because he got feebleminded and vulnerability to piercing damage due to wild magic surge. I can't believe how crazy that potion is, but thanks to this guy staying behind on a suicide mission, they flipping did it.

Even with double the HPs, it's still only the health of one single Lvl 18 fighter. And while having 3 time the weapon die (without bonus) and a STR of 25 (so +7) is great... well, a Kraken can inflict 60 damages per round with a +17 to hit.

Even imagining the Kraken only does tentacle attacks, it would take it 4 rounds to kill the Fighter.

So... how did the Fighter pulled it off?

[Motorskills]

The main thing is that they shouldn't still be there. They have an hour to win the fight and sail away, preferably in a different boat.

They should have a conch with them, why not?

Finally, if all else fails, they will be able to jump overboard as the ship is destroyed, and can presumably be rescued somehow before they drown or freeze.

Fun times either way.




(IMC, they rescued Hekaton, but then hung around (they wanted to keep their new boat!).

I used a "lair action" equivalent for Slark to indicate an unnatural storm was brewing instantly above them, triggered when Slark was three or four rounds away. Hekaton confirmed he was not responsible for the storm and was very concerned. The party took the hint and teleported out of there stat!)

[Envyus]

Even with double the HPs, it's still only the health of one single Lvl 18 fighter. And while having 3 time the weapon die (without bonus) and a STR of 25 (so +7) is great... well, a Kraken can inflict 60 damages per round with a +17 to hit.

Even imagining the Kraken only does tentacle attacks, it would take it 4 rounds to kill the Fighter.

So... how did the Fighter pulled it off?

Yeah this also does not make sense to me.


Welp, they killed it.

The druid polymorphed Hekaton into a giant eagle and then used wildshape to also turn into a giant eagle. That got them all away, except for one that stayed behind to fight the kraken. Now, you might wonder, how can a single level 9 fighter stand a chance against a CR 25 kraken? Well, Potions of Giant Size is one hell of a potion, it triples your damage output and doubles your HP. The only reason he almost died was because he got feebleminded and vulnerability to piercing damage due to wild magic surge. I can't believe how crazy that potion is, but thanks to this guy staying behind on a suicide mission, they flipping did it.

Uhhh were did he get the potion of giant size. From what I remember of the book they only get that as a reward after saving the king. It also does not triple your damage output. It triples a damage die. A level 9 fighter still only has two attacks. I don't see how his bigger weapon could take down the Krakens average of 472 hp. This kraken is also a powerful caster that knows powerword kill so it can just insta kill the fighter once he is sub 100 hp.

Also the Kraken has a 30 ft reach on his most basic attack and never has to go near the enemy so how was he able to fight back. Cause the second the kraken attacks he is going to get restrained by the Tentcles in the water and have no effective way of fighting back. The more I think of this the less sense this makes.

[DMLoeffe]

Yeah this also does not make sense to me.



Uhhh were did he get the potion of giant size. From what I remember of the book they only get that as a reward after saving the king. It also does not triple your damage output. It triples a damage die. A level 9 fighter still only has two attacks. I don't see how his bigger weapon could take down the Krakens average of 472 hp. This kraken is also a powerful caster that knows powerword kill so it can just insta kill the fighter once he is sub 100 hp.

Also the Kraken has a 30 ft reach on his most basic attack and never has to go near the enemy so how was he able to fight back. Cause the second the kraken attacks he is going to get restrained by the Tentcles in the water and have no effective way of fighting back. The more I think of this the less sense this makes.

As far as I remember they got the potion the same time they stole the storm giants' 23,000 gold. I think the main reason the fighter survived the damage was his high AC from haste and then the Shield spell at opportune times, which ultimately resulted in him never really getting restrained. With action surge, hasted action and a magical weapon, he was able to do around 50 damage on every hit, many times a turn, which is just absolutely madness. Also, the Kraken (or me, the DM) didn't quite expect him to have 160 HP when it used Power Word Kill. As for the range, the way I saw it was that if the Kraken could hit him with the tentacles, he could at least try to hit the tentacles. Also, at one point when he got vulnerability to piercing damage, the kraken got pretty close to bite and try to swallow him.

I think it all came down to an amazing plan and some unreasonably (un)lucky rolls. What a fight though, what a fight...

[DMLoeffe]

Even with double the HPs, it's still only the health of one single Lvl 18 fighter. And while having 3 time the weapon die (without bonus) and a STR of 25 (so +7) is great... well, a Kraken can inflict 60 damages per round with a +17 to hit.

Even imagining the Kraken only does tentacle attacks, it would take it 4 rounds to kill the Fighter.

So... how did the Fighter pulled it off?

Well ****, your comment made me check again and there appears to be an error in the Roll20 version of SKT, so the kraken only had +7 to hit. That certainly explains a lot.

[Angelalex242]

Well ****, your comment made me check again and there appears to be an error in the Roll20 version of SKT, so the kraken only had +7 to hit. That certainly explains a lot.

So the Kraken was apparently drunk and blinded when fighting your fighter. :P

[Kyrinthic]

Well ****, your comment made me check again and there appears to be an error in the Roll20 version of SKT, so the kraken only had +7 to hit. That certainly explains a lot.

I was going to ask what the fighters AC was if he was just tanking +17 attacks, even with haste and shield, and say a 24 base ac, he is going to take a hit every round on average. But really, why no DC 22 flesh to stone?

[Envyus]

Well ****, your comment made me check again and there appears to be an error in the Roll20 version of SKT, so the kraken only had +7 to hit. That certainly explains a lot.

You should probbably inform him he beat a crippled kraken rather then an actual Kraken and see if he wants to rematch it under the same circumstances.

[Motorskills]

Regardless of how this was goofed, the main thing is that you want your big set pieces to be SPECTACULAR.
For the above, if everyone enjoyed themselves, don't worry about it, learn some lessons and move on.

BUT....!

Quite a few people have had lacklustre Grand Finales with Iymrith. You want to avoid that.

The SKT DM's Group has had multiple posts over the past few months with people describing how they avoided that, you have lots and lots of options, including using the Epic Ancient Blue Dragon from the EN World thread, ignoring Iymrith's hit points until you decide she should retreat underground, etc.

As a DM, consider how you want the fight to go so that everyone - including yourself - has a good time. Be flexible, don't paint yourself into either a TPK corner or a "meh, that was it?!" corner.

Let us know how it goes!

[Rogerdodger557]

Slarkrethel only shows up an hour after the party gets to the Morkoth. As long as they leave after freeing and calming Hecaton down, they should be fine.

[GlenSmash!]

Well ****, your comment made me check again and there appears to be an error in the Roll20 version of SKT, so the kraken only had +7 to hit. That certainly explains a lot.

That's a pretty big typo. In effect if not in number of text characters.

Might want to report that to Roll20.

[Envyus]

Given that you confirmed that you are doing roll20. I might as well tell that last I checked Iymirth has an error on her sheet as well. namely her bite does not do the extra lightning damage it's supposed to do.

[coyote_sly]

God, this OP might be the best D&D encapsulation I've ever seen: how the hell could my players ever hope to survive the monst.....nevermind, they killed it.

[strangebloke]

Just goes to show, sometimes you need to throw your players at a problem and see what they come up with.

[Unoriginal]

God, this OP might be the best D&D encapsulation I've ever seen: how the hell could my players ever hope to survive the monst.....nevermind, they killed it.


Just goes to show, sometimes you need to throw your players at a problem and see what they come up with.

It just shows that if you remove 10 to the attack bonus of a monster, it's going to be less effective.

Not to mention the Kraken kind of not used its many magic powers..

[BeefGood]

The SKT DM's Group has had multiple posts over the past few months with people describing how they avoided that, you have lots and lots of options, including using the Epic Ancient Blue Dragon from the EN World thread, ignoring Iymrith's hit points until you decide she should retreat underground, etc.


SKT DM’s Group sounds useful. Where can it be found?

[DeTess]

It just shows that if you remove 10 to the attack bonus of a monster, it's going to be less effective.

Not to mention the Kraken kind of not used its many magic powers..

That was in a 1vs1 situation though. I think the party as a whole would have been able to kill it, even at its full power.

[Unoriginal]

That was in a 1vs1 situation though. I think the party as a whole would have been able to kill it, even at its full power.

Given that the Kraken and several options to one-shot them? Not likely.