Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mdunham2 03-24-04, 09:39 AM	Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions for how to play up mauntains in my campaign. Unfortunately, I failed to figure the audacity of the sea voyage they have to make to reach the land that *borders* on the mountains. It's about 1,200 miles as the seagull flies, but given all the peninsulas and various twisting and turning they have to do, it turns out to be a 55-day tour... plenty of time for adventure! I've read the threads I could dig up here... plenty of good hooks. And I'm planning on picking up the seafarer's handbook in the next few days. Still, other than rolling up a couple of encounters and conditions in advance, I'm not sure how to lay our various events. Besides random encounters, do I just make it contingent on entering a region of water? Also, the PCs aren't really in command of the boat, so how can they contribute to avoiding/engaging encounters/events? And most importantly, what sort of web resources are there for DMs? I'm having a bit of a hard time scaring up things relating to sea/ocean-based adventures? Any other suggestions are, of course, welcome! ~ Connor
Quithion 03-24-04, 11:57 AM	AVAST YE ! :D Well, for one a nasty storm would make for a challenging encounter for the pcs While not very adventuristic it may be fun to play. Whati s yourp arties level ?
mdunham2 03-24-04, 12:04 PM	It's a good idea, and will probably happen in some form or another. They are 2nd level... I hope they're 3rd level by the time they arrive in port! ;) ~ Connor
Quithion 03-24-04, 12:44 PM	There are several good CR 2 encounters for the see From the SRD SAHUAGIN Medium Monstrous Humanoid (Aquatic) Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp) Initiative: +1 Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 60 ft. Armor Class: 16 (+1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 15 Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+4 Attack: Talon +4 melee (1d4+2) or trident +4 melee (1d8+3) or heavy crossbow +3 ranged (1d10/19–20) Full Attack: Trident +4 melee (1d8+3) and bite +2 melee (1d4+1); or 2 talons +4 melee (1d4+2) and bite +2 melee (1d4+1); or heavy crossbow +3 ranged (1d10/19–20) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Blood frenzy, rake 1d4+1 Special Qualities: Blindsense 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., freshwater sensitivity, light blindness, speak with sharks, water dependent Saves: Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4 Abilities: Str 14, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 9 Skills: Handle Animal +4*, Hide +6*, Listen +6*, Profession (hunter) +1*, Ride +3, Spot +6*, Survival +1* Feats: Great Fortitude, MultiattackB Environment: Warm aquatic Organization: Solitary, pair, team (5–8), patrol (11–20 plus 1 3rd-level lieutenant and 1–2 sharks), band (20–80 plus 100% noncombatants plus 1 3rd-level lieutenant and 1 4th-level chieftain per 20 adults plus 1–2 sharks), or tribe (70–160 plus 100% noncombatants plus 1 3rd-level lieutenant per 20 adults, 1 4th-level chieftain per 40 adults, 9 4th-level guards, 1–4 underpriestesses of 3rd–6th level, 1 7th-level priestess, and 1 baron of 6th–8th level plus 5–8 sharks) Challenge Rating: 2 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Usually lawful evil Advancement: 3–5 HD (Medium), 6–10 HD (Large), or by character class Level Adjustment: +2 (+3 if four-armed) Most sahuagin feature green coloration, darker along the back and lighter on the belly. Many have dark stripes, bands, or spots, but these tend to fade with age. An adult male sahuagin stands roughly 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds. Sahuagin are the natural enemy of aquatic elves. The two cannot coexist peacefully: Wars between them are prolonged, bloody affairs that sometimes interfere with shipping and maritime trade. Sahuagin have an only slightly less vehement hatred for tritons. Sahuagin speak their own language, Sahuagin. Thanks to their high Intelligence scores, most sahuagin also speak two bonus languages, usually Common and Aquan. COMBAT Sahuagin are savage fighters, asking for and giving no quarter. When swimming, a sahuagin tears with its feet as it strikes with its talons or a weapon. About half of any group of sahuagin are also armed with nets. Blindsense (Ex): A sahuagin can locate creatures underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability works only when the sahuagin is underwater. Blood Frenzy: Once per day a sahuagin that takes damage in combat can fly into a frenzy in the following round, clawing and biting madly until either it or its opponent is dead. It gains +2 Constitution and +2 Strength, and takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. A sahuagin cannot end its frenzy voluntarily. Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +2 melee, damage 1d4+1. A sahuagin also gains two rake attacks when it attacks while swimming. Freshwater Sensitivity (Ex): A sahuagin fully immersed in fresh water must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or become fatigued. Even on a success, it must repeat the save attempt every 10 minutes it remains immersed. Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds sahuagin for round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled while operating in bright light. Speak with Sharks (Ex): Sahuagin can communicate telepathically with sharks up to 150 feet away. The communication is limited to fairly simple concepts such as “food,” “danger,” and “enemy.” Sahuagin can use the Handle Animal skill to befriend and train sharks. Water Dependent (Ex): Sahuagin can survive out of the water for 1 hour per 2 points of Constitution (after that, refer to the drowning rules on page 304 of the Dungeon Master ’s Guide). Skills: A sahuagin has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. *Underwater, a sahuagin has a +4 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, and Spot checks. *A sahuagin has a +4 racial bonus on Survival and Profession (hunter) checks within 50 miles of its home. *A sahuagin has a +4 racial bonus on Handle Animal checks when working with sharks. SAHUAGIN MUTANTS About one in two hundred sahuagin has four arms. Such creatures can make four claw attacks or use extra weapons, in addition to the claw and bite attacks. If a community of aquatic elves is located within 100 miles of a sahuagin community, about one in one hundred sahuagin looks just like an aquatic elf. These creatures, called malenti, have a swim speed of 40 feet, can remain out of water for 1 hour per point of Constitution, and have freshwater sensitivity and light sensitivity (dazzled in bright light). Malenti have no natural attacks. They are otherwise identical with sahuagin. Have and encouter where 2 Sahuagin are attacking a Malenti. If there is an elf in the party ham this up. Equip the party with a magickal item that allows them to breath under water ( have the Malenti give them rings of water breathing or some such asa reward) And then have him tell them a sob story about how his other half was capture by the vile sahhaugin. Make his lover a Evil Aquatic ELF Sorceress or some such. Have them betray and attack the elven community and have pcs defend them agianst it.
Rasmus 03-24-04, 01:04 PM	I made this encounter/event table for my last campaign. You might find it useful, or just get a few ideas. Happy gaming! :D Events at Sea: The thrill of journeying at sea is the voyage into the unknown. There are many variables when travelling at sea and many things which can go wrong, which is why sea travel is considered extremely dangerous and uncertain. To reflect this here is a list of random events. 1d10 should be rolled every day at sea. On a roll of 10, something unexpected happens. Roll again (1d20) on the events chart. Events: 1-3: Sudden change of weather. Consult the random weather chart again. 4-6: Ship ahoy! Another vessel is encountered. Roll again (1d12) on the random ship chart. - 1: A merchant ship. - 2: A corsair or pirate. - 3: A merchant ship with problems (damaged, fleeing, in need of supplies etc.). - 4: An orc corsair. - 5: A derelict vessel. - 6: A slaver. - 7: A ghost ship. - 8: A submersible. - 9: A flying vessel. - 10: An exotic vessel (1-3 friendly/4-7 neutral/8-10 hostile). - 11: A military vessel. - 12: A working vessel (whaler, fisher etc.). 7-8: Land ahoy! The ship has come a little of course or has come upon an uncharted island. Roll 1d4. - 1: Small uninhabited island. - 2: Small island inhabited by uncivilized humanoids. - 3: Small island with civilized settlement. - 4: Small island with exotic inhabitant(s) (magical beasts, dinosaurs, dragon, undead etc.) 9: Spoiled! The freshwater or food has spoiled, been infested with rats, vermin or otherwise been destroyed (1-3water/4-6 food). There is a threat of disease, starvation or dehydration if another source of food or water cannot be found. 10-11: Attack! The ship is attacked by hostile undersea creatures. Roll again (1d10) for random enemy. - 1: Merfolk (4-24 warriors, one leader 4th lvl. warrior or cleric). - 2-3: Sauhagin (1-3; (band of 5-8) or 4-6; (patrol of 11-20 + 3rd lvl. Lieutenant and two sharks)). - 4: Skum (1-3; brood (2-5) or 4-6; pack (6-15)). - 5-6: Kuo-toa (1-3; patrol (2-4 plus one 3rd lvl. whip) or 4-6; squad; (6-11 plus 1-2 3rd lvl whips, 1-2 4th lvl. monitors, and 1 8th lvl. fighter)). - 7: Sea Hag - 8: Drowned dead (1-3; squad (6-10) or 4-6; mob (11-20)). - 9: Kapoacith ( 1-3 pair or 4-6 wing (5-16)). - 10: Kopru (1-3; solitary 4-6 ;pair 7-8; patrol (3-5)). 12: Monster! The ship is attacked or threatened by some sort of sea monster or flying creature. Roll again on the random sea monster table (1d20). - 1: Giant Squid - 2: Dragon (1-2 good, 3-4 neutral, 5-6 evil). - 3: Kraken - 4: Megalodon - 5: Tempest - 6: Ocean Giant - 7: Water Elemental (1-2 large, 3-4 huge, 5-6 greater, 7-8 elder). - 8: Elamosaurus - 9: Dire Shark - 10: Roc - 11: Chaos Roc - 12: Ocean Strider - 13: Quetzalcoatlus - 14: Arrowhawk (1-2; (juvenile clutch 2-4) 3-4; (Adult solitary) 5-6; (Adult clutch 2-4) 7-8; (elder solitary). - 15: Air Elemental (1-2 large, 3-4 huge, 5-6 greater, 7-8 elder). - 18: Wyvern - 19: Ah, it was just a floating log! - 20: Leviathan. 13: Sea battle! Two or more ships are engaging in a naval battle for some reason, could be between rival nations, merchants, pirates or something else entirely. One or more ships could also be battling a monster. 14: Unnatural environment. The ship has run into an area of special environmental conditions. It could be a spill over from the elemental plane of water or the astral plane. It could be a giant whirlpool, a magical storm, an undersea volcanic eruption, a mirage, a supernatural battle in the sky etc. 15: Survivors. The ship encounters shipwrecked crewmembers, marooned sailors signalling for help, a boat with a mutinous crew or a captain whose crew mutinied etc. 16-17: Trouble with the crew. Something has happened or will happen with one or more crewmembers. They might mutiny, one might steal food from the galley, one of the crewmen is murdered, there is a big brawl, the crew gets scared of something (real or imagined) etc. 18-19: Accident! There is some kind of accident on board. A sail might split, a fire erupts, a crewman gets injured or dies, a crewman falls overboard, the rudder gets stuck etc. 20: Disease! Someone gets sick on board, possibly from an infectious disease.
mdunham2 03-24-04, 01:12 PM	These are awesome ideas! I don't know if I'll be able to use the table exactly as posted, but there's a lot of good ideas in there. Thanks! Keep 'em comin'! :) ~ Connor
grumpy DM 03-24-04, 01:48 PM	My group played the Maiden Voyage module by Atlas Games and had a lot of fun with it. I end up using many pre-published adventures and adding my own spin to them (work, family leaves little time to do things from scratch).
Donnavin Snowolf 03-24-04, 03:25 PM	AHOY! Have ye some sea-farin' dwarves. They're te like fer it aren't they! They be gruff, grumblin', tough, an' stable. The paaarfect type fer sailorin' yar.
Dresdor 03-24-04, 07:01 PM	If I were in your shoes, this is what I would do. Make sure that the PCs encounter a pirate ship with a Dread Pirate at the helm...an evil one at that. It's a lot of fun if they haven't seen that PrC before or faced one. Better yet, when that NPC talks, have him sound just like Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribbean. This is only what I would do, and I'm pretty messed up.