For most of the campaign i've been running i've been setting up this giant mountain in the corner of the map, the players know it has a city at its top where warriors train to fight and that in order to get there you need to climb the mountain which in it self is a trial as it keeps changing to create more challenges for the individuals climbing it. the journey should take a week or two to get to the top.
The party is level 10 and already they've been warned that flying wont work due to gravity magic on parts of the mountain and I plan on them to make choices like do they scale part of the mountain or go through a tunnel which has a lake (and an aboleth) in it. I'm open to other ideas people might have to make this journey more fun but difficult for them.
I wouldn't use an Aboleth in this scenario. If you look at its abilities and lore, it's designed to be a behind the scenes mastermind. They have eternal memories, and there is no possibility of an aboleth allowing its presence to be known unless it wants the PCs to find it (it is an easy challenge for a level 10 party, so it wouldn't) and it is immortal so it has no reason to engage in combat if it has absolutely no choice.
If the party can't fly, then an adult white dragon would pose a significant challenge for them.
I ran encounters a few months back with duergar rolling giant boulders down the mountainside towards the party. The boulders travelled a certain distance on their own initiative, squishing whatever was in front of them and it made for a dynamic combat.
Ensure that the freezing temperature and its weather are challenges. Characters without warm gear should automatically be on 1 or 2 points of exhaustion. Tax the characters through exhaustion as they ascend.
I had my PCs do ability checks for general travel, with advantage for those with climbing gear, or they had to roll on a mishap table. The mishaps included falling and taking damage, getting wet to reduce their coats ability to keep them warm, finding a mundane item had fallen out of their backpack when they took a tumble etc.
If the idea is to prevent them from flying to the city, maybe have the path to the city be the tunnel that you've already eluded to. Set up several encounters that would test all of the PCs attributes, not just combat. Crossing an underground chasm on a thin rock bridge with Gibering Mouthers beneath(may need to homebrew the save DCs to make them a threat of causing a PC to fall). Elemental exposure is a great method of challenging the party. Start with the cold outside, and change to heat/lava inside. Swimming through a long, winding, dark tunnel can be disorienting and exhausting. Particularly in very hot or cold water while you are taking small little ticks (1d4) of damage every turn. Grasping vines that sting, stun and slow the party members down.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
For most of the campaign i've been running i've been setting up this giant mountain in the corner of the map, the players know it has a city at its top where warriors train to fight and that in order to get there you need to climb the mountain which in it self is a trial as it keeps changing to create more challenges for the individuals climbing it. the journey should take a week or two to get to the top.
The party is level 10 and already they've been warned that flying wont work due to gravity magic on parts of the mountain and I plan on them to make choices like do they scale part of the mountain or go through a tunnel which has a lake (and an aboleth) in it. I'm open to other ideas people might have to make this journey more fun but difficult for them.
I wouldn't use an Aboleth in this scenario. If you look at its abilities and lore, it's designed to be a behind the scenes mastermind. They have eternal memories, and there is no possibility of an aboleth allowing its presence to be known unless it wants the PCs to find it (it is an easy challenge for a level 10 party, so it wouldn't) and it is immortal so it has no reason to engage in combat if it has absolutely no choice.
If the party can't fly, then an adult white dragon would pose a significant challenge for them.
I ran encounters a few months back with duergar rolling giant boulders down the mountainside towards the party. The boulders travelled a certain distance on their own initiative, squishing whatever was in front of them and it made for a dynamic combat.
Ensure that the freezing temperature and its weather are challenges. Characters without warm gear should automatically be on 1 or 2 points of exhaustion. Tax the characters through exhaustion as they ascend.
I had my PCs do ability checks for general travel, with advantage for those with climbing gear, or they had to roll on a mishap table. The mishaps included falling and taking damage, getting wet to reduce their coats ability to keep them warm, finding a mundane item had fallen out of their backpack when they took a tumble etc.
I would agree that an Aboleth might not be the best creature for an encounter with your party. They really aren't up front fighters. As far as underwater creatures, I might suggest Wastrilith, Morkoth, Sea Fury, or either an Adult Green Dragon or an Adult Black Dragon.
If the idea is to prevent them from flying to the city, maybe have the path to the city be the tunnel that you've already eluded to. Set up several encounters that would test all of the PCs attributes, not just combat. Crossing an underground chasm on a thin rock bridge with Gibering Mouthers beneath(may need to homebrew the save DCs to make them a threat of causing a PC to fall). Elemental exposure is a great method of challenging the party. Start with the cold outside, and change to heat/lava inside. Swimming through a long, winding, dark tunnel can be disorienting and exhausting. Particularly in very hot or cold water while you are taking small little ticks (1d4) of damage every turn. Grasping vines that sting, stun and slow the party members down.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
All I know is that you need to make sure that the top of the mountain is basically the Aggro Crag from Nickelodeon GUTS.
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