Aboleths. How have you used them?

[Darcand]

I am thinking about using an aboleth in an upcoming microcampaign. The basic premise being that it has made it's home in a nearby marsh, enslaved the local orc, goblin, and cyclops populations, and using them to gain information about the human colonists (by eating them) who recently moved into the region.

There is surprisingly little information about Aboleths out there however and I have never used/ faced one before, so I would like to ask my fellow playgrounders for any personal Aboleth experiances, both from the DM and Player's perspective to help me get a few ideas.

[FoE]

Aboleths can be hella nasty with that gunk they spurt on you.

[Claudius Maximus]

There's an entire chapter on Aboleths in Lords of Madness. I think it goes into some detail about their behavior and society and goals.

[Elfin]

I've never actually used one directly in a game (as in a combat encounter), but they're always lurking in the shadows, hiding in the deeps of the earth and spinning their schemes.
Just too creepy to pass up completely, plus I like the air of mystery it gives them.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I've only ever used them directly in 2e; they usually serve as behind-the-scenes manipulators in my 3e campaigns.

[FMArthur]

I can't bring myself to take aboleths seriously after seeing the illustrations of them; they look absolutely ridiculous. I would ordinarily find it a very appealing monster - in fact, I love aberrations, I love the spooky ocean depths, and I like using 'ancient evils' as campaign centerpieces. But I can't help but crack a smile when my eye strays from the underwhelming stat block to the goofy-looking images that always accompany them.

[JonestheSpy]

I can't bring myself to take aboleths seriously after seeing the illustrations of them; they look absolutely ridiculous.

Maybe you've been looking at the wrong pictures.

[T.G. Oskar]

A single, unimproved, non-Mage Aboleth can be an awesome encounter. Be it a stray Aboleth that was trapped in a dungeon but that's not your average mastermind, to the kind of aquatic mastermind that serves as the right BBEG for a fully aquatic campaign, they are a tad difficult to face as a player.

First, their Dominate ability. This can take any ECL-equivalent-to-CR character out of the battle. It does not need to be used to fight; it can be used as an aid another, or perhaps to heal the mooks or whatnot.

Second, their gunk (as mentioned before) is pretty nasty. It's the kind of thing that makes a Chaos Beast or Vargouille the kind of monster that, along with the Rust Monster, makes a player throw the books in frustration to a DM. Except that this one, much like a Vargouille, can be "fixed".

Third, it has reasonable Psionics, although they require a reasonable degree of understanding on the matter of illusions to make full use of the abilities.

Finally, the cloud. It is a move that easily gives the players the idea of "don't go near me".

That's without mentioning the full attack, which can be pretty devastating, and the swim speed which is insanely fast.

I haven't used it (yet...), but I had to face one. And I'm not speaking about facing one with the right CR; it was a literal "boss" battle against a single Aboleth that could have spelled TPK if done wrong. The concept was a puzzle integrated with the battle: the room (20x20, IIRC) was composed of a 10x10 altar of sorts, with some symbols representing the four elements. The idea was to spin the altar so that the symbol met the right "element", then press the symbol so that it made the altar lower. Meanwhile, the room was filling with water, up to mostly 20 feet high: the water filled by 5 feet per round, so at 4 rounds it was completely full.

So, how does the aboleth mixes with that? First, the aboleth appeared after the third or so round. It instantly dominated a character, which had the double mission of facing the rest of the party and make sure that the altar was not activated, and in a desperate situation, actually return the altar to its original position. So, not only did we faced a hazard (the water), but also the aboleth and a puzzle at the same time. It made for an exciting battle, which wasn't meant to be won by conventional means (suffice to say we won the battle by mostly escaping, and then essentially completing another puzzle to take the darn thing down).

As you can see, it took a bit of thought (plus choosing a monster which was of a CR of 2-3 beyond our own average ECL) to defeat it, but it was worthwhile. It made good advantage of nearly all the Aboleth's abilities (underwater supremacy, domination, slime, multiple attacks) while giving the players a method to "defeat" it.

[FMArthur]

Maybe you've been looking at the wrong pictures.

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, man. Cracks me up every time I see it! How am I supposed to make such an absurd creature scary?

[Yora]

I'm with Jones on this: That picture is awsome! One of the greatest monster designs in D&D.

[Mordokai]

Pretty much, yeah. I can see why they would be scary.

I believe one adventure in Savage Tide adventure path had a whole lot of bussines with aboleths. Granted, there were koprus mixed in and some other hazards, but you really see what these monsters can do on their own territory, that is, an ancient underwater city. They can, in fact, be pretty damn scary.

[Totally Guy]

I put one in a sewer and it was meant to be the BBEG and solution to all the mysteries.

But...

The PCs decided to check the sewers. And then on a speeding raft they manage to pick the absolute right route through the one way passages. And they find my Aboleth.

And despite them moving a set distance every round they nearly killed it.

Phew, BBEG gets away?

No. They go back in and find it again. Guess the right combination of Lefts and Rights even though I'd moved it. Then they killed it.

So then I plonked in a Drow and his comedy siblings as the new BBEG team. 1st encounter they killed off the comedy siblings and only the leader of the gang could continue.

[Ecalsneerg]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, man. Cracks me up every time I see it! How am I supposed to make such an absurd creature scary?

Jaws just had a child with Cthulhu?

[Ganurath]

I recently brought Aboleths to the attention of my friend I'm co-DMing with. His first thought was sock puppets on the tentacles to lure victims in to "hugs." It's not a very serious game.

That being said, illusions could be used to similar effect.

[Yora]

What is usually less relevant for the PCs, but a considerably scary aspect of aboleths, is that they take slaves to their underwater cities.
It first uses its illusions to lure its victims to him and then just dominates them. They walk into the water, get a glob of mucus in their face and follow the aboleth home. Then they are herded to an alien aboleth underwater city on the bottom of oceanic trenches or in the deepest caves of the underdark, were they are transformed into fish people, never to see the light of day again.

A solitary aboleth that has its lair in a sewer or a swamp, where water is mostly waist-deep is not that hard to defeat. But you really need a lot of andvanced magic to even get to their cities. And dealing with hundreds of them, of which many are advanced wizards, is an entirely different thing.

[Fishy]

I put one in a sewer and it was meant to be the BBEG and solution to all the mysteries.

But...

The PCs decided to check the sewers. And then on a speeding raft they manage to pick the absolute right route through the one way passages. And they find my Aboleth.

And despite them moving a set distance every round they nearly killed it.

Phew, BBEG gets away?

No. They go back in and find it again. Guess the right combination of Lefts and Rights even though I'd moved it. Then they killed it.

So then I plonked in a Drow and his comedy siblings as the new BBEG team. 1st encounter they killed off the comedy siblings and only the leader of the gang could continue.

Quantum Sewers, my friend. You know that saying, "It's always in the last place you look?"

[Darcand]

The actual encounter I have in mind takes place in the ruins of a village, now sunken into the marsh, with the PCs either in a boat (the water is deep here, 20+ feet, they'll need a boat to navigate with armor on) or on a rooftop. Somewhere the Aboleth can make use of his greater mobility and keep the PCs stationary to make use of hit and move tactics.

My only issue with the monster is that aside from it's slime attack, it seems to lack any real combat power. Of course it has dominate person, which is a TPKiller, especially three times a day against a party of four.

[wadledo]

Aboleths are not melee creatures. They are 'casters' in the sense that they are not front line fighters, but behind a wall of slaves, servants, and monsters.
If an aboleth has to go into melee (much like mind flayers and their ilk), they're doing something wrong.

[Vangor]

My only usage of an Aboleth has been one Mage direly, persistently wounded stealing the essence of offspring to sustain itself. Meant to give a sense of peril to the group, four level sixes, as the Archivist was able to identify the aquatic creatures ransacking an underwater tower. Gave an absolute fear of entering the darker waters or allowing any enemy to survive long enough for the Aboleth to telepathically know what was happening.

An eventual encounter occurred which contained Merrow and Skum, the true fight meant for the party, after a Marut burst through a massive bronze gate leading to the main lair. It distracted and injured the Aboleth, who was finished off by the party. Felt great for everyone to kill what is considered a CR15 enemy, with slaves.

Not sure if this is what you wanted, but my thoughts on Aberrations, which I love to use, are the machinations should not be as immediately obvious. Amassing power, treasure, etc., should be a means to an end, and the party divined the Aboleth was seeking the name of the demon who wounded him amidst the libraries, and had been patiently for decades.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, man. Cracks me up every time I see it! How am I supposed to make such an absurd creature scary?

Because it's absurd-looking. I mean, hey, a mind flayer is an old guy with an octopus multiple-amputee for a head, and a rust monster is a turtle-insect crossbreed with a propeller on its tail. No one laughs at the mind flayer or rust monster (in-game, at least; I always smile at the rust monster picures) because in game they're freaking scary--no one giggles at a brain-melting wave or a tentacle that eats your armor.

In the same vein, an aboleth encounter could feasibly go something like:

Bob the Fighter: "Ha! Lookit that ugly fish-thing! Who's an ugly fishie fishie fishie?"

Joe the Fighter: "Yeah! I mean, really! When the gods were creating sea creature, it obviously got last pick of--YES MASTER."

Bob: "Uh, Joe? You...you okay?"

Joe: "YOU WILL NOT INSULT THIS MAJESTIC SPECIMEN OF AQUATIC PERFECTION."

Bob: "Ohhhh ****."

[Thrawn183]

The first thing to realize is the aboleth mage is garbage. Whoever decided the 10 levels of wizard should be associated levels is a fool.

That said, the standard aboleth can be really useful. I had a party of 5 level 10 PC's. I was throwing them up against what was to be the final encounter of an entire adventure arc.

The setup was two CR 7 aboleths and two CR 8 melee guys. The PC's enterred the room from the south. It appeared to be a rectangular room, with the object the PC's were trying to find in the middle. In reality, it was much longer north south than it appeared and was cross shaped. The melee bruisers were hidden behind illusory walls on the east and west sides of the room. On the north side of the room, was an illusion of an elven sorceress. The wall behind her was also an illusory wall, behind which was an aboleth. The tricky part, was the wall behind the first aboleth was ALSO an illusory wall, behind which was the second aboleth, and then a third third illusory wall to where the item the PC's were looking for actually was.

The psion in the party actually had true seeing, and I couldn't wait to describe to her what she saw when she used it, but she got enslaved before that happened. I think the final tally was 2 PC's enslaved, 1 dead and 2 escaped.

[Totally Guy]

Quantum Sewers, my friend. You know that saying, "It's always in the last place you look?"

I should have hid it in the same place I put Xykon's phylactery.

[Muz]

There were two aboleths in the 2nd ed. Rod of Seven Parts module. That had a well planned encounter with them (they were using slaves in an underground tunnel system that was semi-aquatic) and gave a good number of ideas on how to play them. It's 2nd edition, but behavior's behavior.

[Jair Barik]

Aboleths aren't that bad appearance wise. Now a Roving Mauler on the other hand... thats just plane rediculous

[jiriku]

In my DMing I have used an aboleth once as a lurking horror inhabiting an underground lake. The players mostly avoided/fled from it.

Many years ago I played a campaign in which the DM had developed an entire aquatic empire of aboleths. They tricked us into traveling back in time on our behalf to assassinate an evil tyrant who was seeking to bring the entire world under his domination. We succeeded...unfortunately it seems that tyrant's control was the only thing that had allowed the surface races to stand against the ancient aboleth empire...when we returned to our present time most of the world was underwater, the aboleths were everywhere, and most humans/demihumans had been wiped out. :(

[Myshlaevsky]

Something I saw a while back suggested 'aleboleths'. Aboleths who have grown in or infested huge dwarven pits used exclusively to cast off the bad ale of each year and ward off the bad luck associated with it. It was a pretty neat idea I thought, and I'd like to use it someday - although it may be sadly restricted in practice to comic games.

[Zaq]

I had an Aboleth set up behind the scenes once, but the players never got to it before the campaign ended.

Long story short, a capital city had basically been burnt and flooded, completely gutting the infrastructure and leaving it a shell of a city perfect for monsters to inhabit. The PCs fled and tried to rally an army to retake the city. They knew about the Sahuagin who had moved in, and about the Mind Flayers who were fighting the Sahuagin for supremacy. They didn't know about the massive orc army (most of whom ended up as Mind Flayer or Aboleth minions), the underground mafia (who did NOT take kindly to these uggos moving in on THEIR city), or the Aboleth who had a finger in every pie and was pulling a few gentle strings in every faction. Yes, just one Aboleth. I think it's scarier that way.

Yeah, they never met the Aboleth or even figured out it existed, but I had big plans for it.

[Oslecamo]

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, man. Cracks me up every time I see it! How am I supposed to make such an absurd creature scary?

Ok, you're made of the same stuff as brave fearless heros. You'll sure roleplay great if you ever face an aboleth in a game. But for us common people that thing is scary!

[FMArthur]

Well, I guess I must be weird, then. I'm not trying to imply that I fear nothing and all that; I truly do fear mind flayers and many other aberrations. The Far Realm in particular is a fantastic source of the spooky, otherworldly aberrations that I adore. I've read (cover to cover) LoM, so I know all about the things. But I don't find their default behavior particularly threatening to PCs, especially given that the other slave-driver aberrations, illithids, have better thralls than mere fish people.

Still, this thread is giving me more confidence that my players will, unlike me, react properly to aboleths. I'm already thinking up an encounter that involves an enormous dark area completely underwater. They'll get amulets of water-breathing or something. But the whole theme of the encounter will be fear of the unknown, because it's going to be deep in the underdark in murky water - they may never even see the creature in its entirety, which is a creepy enough effect alone. Add in some dark-templated fishman minions and the XPH for a better aboleth... I can make it work. Thanks, guys, for the inspiration.