So, I'm thinking of having them travel via a Cloud Ray Elder (DSCC p. 26). From the cloud ray entry: "Cloud ray elders settle onto the land, cover themselves in sand or debris, and fall into a deep slumber until material hunger or an external disturbace rouses them. Tales tell of travelers who camped on a choice piece of high ground that turned out to be a sleeping elder and awoke high in the sky ... A cloud ray elder is as much a setting for combat as it is an opponent, if adventurer's inadvertently set fot on it. While riding on the creature's back, they are sitting ducks for other flying predators ..."
So, any interesting ideas for encounters or skill challenges that could take place high in the sky on top of an elder? I was thinking the obvious for a level 6 party - an Aarakocra (DSCC p. 10) ambush. But what else do you think could happen? What dangers are there in the skies of Athas?
1 encounter with multiple things going on within.
So, I ran the encounter on Wednesday night. I did in fact have them camp on a dune that turned out to be a cloud ray. As the sun was rising, they were ambushed by Veiled Alliance assassins (my PCs are Templars of Hamanu). The disturbance woke the cloud ray, and sent it dashing up into the air. After that, we had an encounter with a band of Aarakocra, and then an encounter with a winged Behir (custom monster) that the PCs avoided through roleplaying/diplomacy.
Pictured below is the start of the Aarakocra encounter. The party is standing on the Cloud Ray Elder, and the Aarakocra are flying in formation at the front.
I added a few nuances to the encounter. For example, I also decided to include a bunch of Cloud Ray Pups flying below the Elder, as pictured in the encounter below. I included monsters that had the ability to both push and slide characters , and I wanted there too be some kind of contingency for falling characters. After falling onto a Pup, characters could use either an acrobatics or athletics check to make it back to the Elder, or use a Nature check to move the pup like a mount, anywhere within the battlefield (This ended up happening; our Battlemind and Ranger rode it for a bit. We used a Huge Blue Dragon mini to represent this.)
Also, as part of a skill challenge within the encounter, I had the Aarakocra Divers begin to attack the Cloud Ray Elder's eyes when things looked grim for them. Each round, 2 Divers started to jab their spears into the eyes, and I began to mark the damaged eyes with bloodied tokens. Each time an eye was damaged, I had everyone standing on the Cloud Ray make a DC20 acrobatics or athletics check, or be pushed 3 squares towards the back of the Cloud Ray and knocked prone. This caught the attention of our Sorc King pact Warlock and our Runepriest, who both intervened - The Warlock AOE pushed all the Aarakocra away, while the Runepriest healed the eyes. If all of the eyes were damaged, I would have had the encounter end, and a crashing Cloud Ray skill challenge begin. The PCs were fast on their feet though, and only 3 eyes were damaged.
Falling also came into play here, as our Runepriest was pushed onto a cloud ray pup, and then knocked off of the pup. He then failed his save to grab on, and started falling. Luckily, we have a Monk in the party who thinks he is nightcrawler from the X-Men. He dove off the edge, grabbed onto the Runepriest, and used a teleportation ability to bring both of them back on top of the Cloud Ray.
Overall, I'd say this encounter setting worked out really well. Though, it may be better suited to higher-level characters who have means by which they can avoid falling to their deaths. Afterward, my PCs were sad to have left the Cloud Ray, and I was even more sad to be erasing the battlemat to make way for the next (and not nearly as epic) encounter.
Looks like it was a great encounter. I will definitley be stealing this in the future for my game.
Same here. I absolutely loved how the Barbarian and Ranger maneuvered the Cloud Pups, and the part about protecting the Elder's eyes. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait quite a few levels before that, since the players are in a city now, and will be in it for a long time still.
What level do folks think the party should be for this encounter?
My party was level 6 and it worked out, but there were some close calls. I'd say paragon tier and above would be ideal.
Btw, care to enlight me on a few things?
1- First, how high in the sky did the ray was?
2- Why did the PC didn't jumped off the ray once they started feeling the ground shaking?
3- How did the PC managed to get back on the ground?
4- What is that teleport ability you are talking with your monk?
5- You said something about challenge skill check to stay on the ray, what where they?
6- Did you used the weather to augment the difficulty?
Sorry for the bunch of questions, but that's my kind of encounter when you need to use your muscles, wits and brain.
One of the encounter I did once was that a Shom Caravan was going from Altaruk to Balic and the PC where inside. They had manage to corrupt the guards at the stairs so they could actually be on the higher level of the caravan (where the rich peoples where). But eventually, the huge caravan was ambushed by a group of giant, hidden in the silt sea nearby the road. I had the giants throw boulders to the caravan and everybody was gathered to save their lives in the caravan. All the ranged weapons where used to attack the giants, but weren't really effective (long distance). Though, I had assigned a number to each opening of the caravan where somebody could hide with a ranged weapon. Each time a boulder was a successfully hit to the caravan, I had dices rolled to determine the area where the refrigerator (rock size refrigerator) would go through the wall.
OMG, you should have seen their eyes as they were getting frightened each time the dices would hit the table!
Real nice encounter!
Thats a great map I too enjoy giant sized monsters and have often made them maps as well. I sort of made most creatures on Athas giant sized. With the normal races being so small there pretty much ignored like birds that eat meat out of gaters teeth.
Perhaps a dungeon sized monster should be in order.
(note Brom art tokens, because I'm a Brom Fan Boy)
1- First, how high in the sky did the ray was?
2- Why did the PC didn't jumped off the ray once they started feeling the ground shaking?
3- How did the PC managed to get back on the ground?
4- What is that teleport ability you are talking with your monk?
5- You said something about challenge skill check to stay on the ray, what where they?
6- Did you used the weather to augment the difficulty?
1- I had the Cloud Ray pack cruising at around 5,000 feet by the time the Aarakokra encounter started. So, a fall would have meant instant death. But, hey, Dark Sun is brutal.
2- They were distracted by Veiled Alliance assassins that ambushed them as the sun was rising.
3- The Runepriest in our party healed the Cloud Ray Elder's eyes, which gave him a very large circumstance bonus to a nature check that guided the Cloud Ray into a soft landing.
4- A magic item that allows the user to expend a number of charges to teleport an equal number of squares. I had the monk expend charges for both him and the PC he was rescuing.
5- Every time an eye was damaged, the Cloud Ray Elder shook violently. I had the PCs make a DC20 acrobatics or athletics check, or be pushed back 3 squares and knocked prone.
6-I did not, but that's a very good idea.
You don't happen to have any other pictures with different angles of the map do you?
I do. I will post them when I get a chance to upload them.
1- First, how high in the sky did the ray was?
2- Why did the PC didn't jumped off the ray once they started feeling the ground shaking?
3- How did the PC managed to get back on the ground?
4- What is that teleport ability you are talking with your monk?
5- You said something about challenge skill check to stay on the ray, what where they?
6- Did you used the weather to augment the difficulty?
1- I had the Cloud Ray pack cruising at around 5,000 feet by the time the Aarakokra encounter started. So, a fall would have meant instant death. But, hey, Dark Sun is brutal.
2- They were distracted by Veiled Alliance assassins that ambushed them as the sun was rising.
3- The Runepriest in our party healed the Cloud Ray Elder's eyes, which gave him a very large circumstance bonus to a nature check that guided the Cloud Ray into a soft landing.
4- A magic item that allows the user to expend a number of charges to teleport an equal number of squares. I had the monk expend charges for both him and the PC he was rescuing.
5- Every time an eye was damaged, the Cloud Ray Elder shook violently. I had the PCs make a DC20 acrobatics or athletics check, or be pushed back 3 squares and knocked prone.
6-I did not, but that's a very good idea.You don't happen to have any other pictures with different angles of the map do you?
I do. I will post them when I get a chance to upload them.
Thanks for the answer DB. Still I have a question regarding #2. I have old experienced players and as in RL, if there was a fight between two or more peoples and an earthquake was to strike a building, I don't think the fight would continue, the peoples would stop and get outside asap. So it's why I was wondering why they didn't had the time to jump off while they could (since the ray wasn't too high at this point).
But hey! A good GM call is good too
. Like "two flaps of wings and you are already a 100 feet off the ground guys!"Like falling off a cliff fighting all the way down, only to be swallowed whole by a cloud ray and the crazy fight to get out of the monster.
(Your post inspired a small village next to the sea of silt in my campaign of course called "Cloud Ray Villiage" there its locals hop aboard these to net food that escapes the rays mouth. (skill checks of course for the would be hunters)
Any other crazy over the top ideas you use in your campaign?