My players may (depending on which plot seeds they pick up) be headed into the depths of the ocean to investigate a mysterious shipwreck. The area is tainted by the waters of the Styx (not instantly dangerous, but will cause memory loss if spending an extended period in the area) and inhabited by hydroloths, but I'm looking for suggestions for what other interesting threats they could come across (likely level 14-15, depending on what other threads they follow first). Any suggestions?
Chokeweed - a coral/sea weed that gabs and suffocates anyone nearby causing them to be restrained and unable to speak (including perform verbal components of spells), you could add in some fast & stealthy like a Deep Crow or a Nycanaloth but reskin it and convert it's fly speed to swim speed. That darts in to feast on trapped creatures. And/or add in paralytic poison injected by the Chokeweed.
Elder Oblex - this is the closest thing D&D has to an angler fish, so super thematic for deep-sea diving, have it start out exuding simulacrums of fish and other harmless sea creatures trying to lure the party closer and give it a squid-like ability to exude ink so that even darkvision can't see the main body of the Oblex until they flush it out of its hiding space.
Tunneling Eels - the aquatic alternative to Kobolds, long thing eels that tunnel through whatever floor / walls they are passing by and dart out to attack and then quickly retreat back into the very narrow tunnels. You can have different flavours/types of eel - some might be electric and stun their targets, some might spit acid, some might infest their target with their eggs like Slaad do, some might exude slime creating patches of difficult terrain.
Aboleth is another classic if you want one with more RP value than combat.
Zegana from GGR is fun as well.
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My players may (depending on which plot seeds they pick up) be headed into the depths of the ocean to investigate a mysterious shipwreck. The area is tainted by the waters of the Styx (not instantly dangerous, but will cause memory loss if spending an extended period in the area) and inhabited by hydroloths, but I'm looking for suggestions for what other interesting threats they could come across (likely level 14-15, depending on what other threads they follow first). Any suggestions?
Chokeweed - a coral/sea weed that gabs and suffocates anyone nearby causing them to be restrained and unable to speak (including perform verbal components of spells), you could add in some fast & stealthy like a Deep Crow or a Nycanaloth but reskin it and convert it's fly speed to swim speed. That darts in to feast on trapped creatures. And/or add in paralytic poison injected by the Chokeweed.
Elder Oblex - this is the closest thing D&D has to an angler fish, so super thematic for deep-sea diving, have it start out exuding simulacrums of fish and other harmless sea creatures trying to lure the party closer and give it a squid-like ability to exude ink so that even darkvision can't see the main body of the Oblex until they flush it out of its hiding space.
Tunneling Eels - the aquatic alternative to Kobolds, long thing eels that tunnel through whatever floor / walls they are passing by and dart out to attack and then quickly retreat back into the very narrow tunnels. You can have different flavours/types of eel - some might be electric and stun their targets, some might spit acid, some might infest their target with their eggs like Slaad do, some might exude slime creating patches of difficult terrain.
Aboleth is another classic if you want one with more RP value than combat.
Zegana from GGR is fun as well.