I'm starting a new campaing soon-ish and one of my players decided he'd play a sailor. who'd made a pact with an unknown sea entity to save his life in return for ..... something. I've been trying to come up with something interesting, but all that comes to mind for sea monsters are your usual suspects like a kraken or a leviathan/sea serpent or giant turtle. Maybe a crab or an angler, if you want to be daring. But honestly, all of those feel just so.... overdone. I'm trying to figure out something more interesting I could use instead.
I'm runing out of inspiration for what to do, but maybe someone of you knows of a unique sea creature that isn't used too often that would make for a good patron? Maybe an old folklore or a mythological creature most people aren't aware of.
I would avoid going too obscure - you don’t want to be in a position where your player cannot remember the name or general lore of the fantastical creature own backstory element.
I would probably look to the Odyssey for inspiration. One example you could use - Scylla and Charybdis, two monsters that lived directly across from one another, which Odysseus (and also Jason and Aeneas in different legends). This allows you to have the character be saved from one by the other, both binding them or one of the pair and making an enemy of the other. Built in conflict you utilise in furtherance of your campaign.
Other options might include the witch Circe or sirens, each of which represent a threat other than “big scary monster.”
For things that are actually mentioned in D&D canon, there are creatures such as Olhydra. If you don't care about canon, there's no shortage of weird sea monsters, such as Scylla (a frightful monster with four eyes and six long snaky necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp shark's teeth. Her body consisted of 12 tentacle-like legs and a cat's tail, while six dog's heads ringed her waist) or Charybdis (a hideous bladder of a monster, with flippers for arms and legs, and an uncontrollable thirst for the sea. As such, she drank the water from the sea thrice a day to quench it, which created whirlpools.)
The deep sea is home to many Lovecraftian horrors, including aboleths. D&D lore contains at least one extremely old and powerful aboleth sovereign that lurks in an underwater city.
Sure, it's not an official D&D monster. But that's the best part! That means you can make it whatever you need it to be. The coelacanth were thought to be extinct for sixty six million years. The fossil record indicates that they remained relatively unchanged for over a third of a billion years! And then, less than a century ago, somebody caught one in the Indian Ocean.
It's the perfect warlock patron. Unimaginably old. Completely alien even in its own world. Able to evade detection for hundreds of millions of years. Able to withstand the ravages of time itself! Just imagine - a creature that's older than Pangea, older than crocodiles, older than flowers! A creature that survived the Late Devonian extinction event, the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, and the K-T (Chicxulub) extinction event! A creature impervious to time. A creature that laughs at death. A creature that has seen everything. A creature that survives, at all costs.
There are also the very good subclasses Warlock - Fathomless, and Paladin - Oath of the open sea. Having played those as a Goblin Padlock build to 11th level (3 warlock / 9 paladin) it is awesome fun. I chose the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian myth. It was great.
Warlock patrons should not be monsters with stat blocks. They are otherworldly entities so much more powerful than anything in the Monster Manual that they can bestow power to hundreds, or even thousands of mortals - powerful enough to grant them high level spells. As such, your entity should not be a monster in the traditional sense of the world. It's something that's one step below a god. Any physical manifestation of it is only going to be an avatar. Some D&D sources flex this a bit by allowing Krakens and Lichs, but this basically makes no sense. These kind of entities cannot be killed, they are the kind that get chained in a demi-plane for 10,000 years. They are the kind that exist only in dreams.
How about the patron being something like:
The spirit of a great trench, like the Mariana Trench
The lifeforce of a vast coral reef
An ocean current, responsible both for giving life and dragging ships to their doom
This kind of story-telling allows you to be creative and utterly free to shape the story any way you like.
Your PC was saved by sahuagin, or kuo-toa in the service of a lovecraftian style Great Old One. It might be Dagon, or Cthulu, or whatever is present in your world. It would be a mundane servant of the patron that makes initial contact, as the patron itself is far too busy to be bothered with the physical interaction with a single soul.
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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
If the PC was saved by something from the deep all you really need is a good name.
The rescue probably was not performed by the all-powerful critter. It most likely sent its minions to do the rescuing. The contact that this patron did have is that it responded and the PC knows that s/he is beholden to the entity. You can use the mystery to create narrative hooks for any who know the story. Perhaps this PC is not the only one who was saved in that fashion. Perhaps they are now in the cult of "Kranstlerking the unknowable who lives in the sea that touches all seas". The interactions with the patron can paint as clear or as confusing a picture as you like then.
The PC may want to know more or maybe not. If it becomes relevant to the game you can fill in the blanks later.
I looked around and realized that, by sheer coincedence, the creature I picked to be my BBEG actually has a mythological connecction to a sea monster, so now I have to pick that one, don't I? I will keep your input in mind though. After all, they do need some minions to command.
Once again, thx for all the input and have a most splendid day everyone^^
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Hey, how's it going?
I'm starting a new campaing soon-ish and one of my players decided he'd play a sailor. who'd made a pact with an unknown sea entity to save his life in return for ..... something. I've been trying to come up with something interesting, but all that comes to mind for sea monsters are your usual suspects like a kraken or a leviathan/sea serpent or giant turtle. Maybe a crab or an angler, if you want to be daring. But honestly, all of those feel just so.... overdone. I'm trying to figure out something more interesting I could use instead.
I'm runing out of inspiration for what to do, but maybe someone of you knows of a unique sea creature that isn't used too often that would make for a good patron? Maybe an old folklore or a mythological creature most people aren't aware of.
Thx for you input in advance everyone.
In return for power? Which is relevant if the PC is a warlock or cleric.
I would avoid going too obscure - you don’t want to be in a position where your player cannot remember the name or general lore of the fantastical creature own backstory element.
I would probably look to the Odyssey for inspiration. One example you could use - Scylla and Charybdis, two monsters that lived directly across from one another, which Odysseus (and also Jason and Aeneas in different legends). This allows you to have the character be saved from one by the other, both binding them or one of the pair and making an enemy of the other. Built in conflict you utilise in furtherance of your campaign.
Other options might include the witch Circe or sirens, each of which represent a threat other than “big scary monster.”
For things that are actually mentioned in D&D canon, there are creatures such as Olhydra. If you don't care about canon, there's no shortage of weird sea monsters, such as Scylla (a frightful monster with four eyes and six long snaky necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp shark's teeth. Her body consisted of 12 tentacle-like legs and a cat's tail, while six dog's heads ringed her waist) or Charybdis (a hideous bladder of a monster, with flippers for arms and legs, and an uncontrollable thirst for the sea. As such, she drank the water from the sea thrice a day to quench it, which created whirlpools.)
Maybe it was a beautiful mermaid who saved his life in return for his promise to come back and marry her some day.
How about a Marid?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
One possible tactic is to pick an existing dnd monster and modify it. If you want it to to be scarier you can make it really big
From folk lore there are creatures like:
You can also pick a non sea monster and turn it into a fish. Like a mer-vampire
The deep sea is home to many Lovecraftian horrors, including aboleths. D&D lore contains at least one extremely old and powerful aboleth sovereign that lurks in an underwater city.
COELACANTH!
Sure, it's not an official D&D monster. But that's the best part! That means you can make it whatever you need it to be. The coelacanth were thought to be extinct for sixty six million years. The fossil record indicates that they remained relatively unchanged for over a third of a billion years! And then, less than a century ago, somebody caught one in the Indian Ocean.
It's the perfect warlock patron. Unimaginably old. Completely alien even in its own world. Able to evade detection for hundreds of millions of years. Able to withstand the ravages of time itself! Just imagine - a creature that's older than Pangea, older than crocodiles, older than flowers! A creature that survived the Late Devonian extinction event, the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, and the K-T (Chicxulub) extinction event! A creature impervious to time. A creature that laughs at death. A creature that has seen everything. A creature that survives, at all costs.
Cthulhu? That's cute. No.
COELACANTH!
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
There are also the very good subclasses Warlock - Fathomless, and Paladin - Oath of the open sea. Having played those as a Goblin Padlock build to 11th level (3 warlock / 9 paladin) it is awesome fun. I chose the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian myth. It was great.
Or Maybe Davy Jones was really a particularly powerful mindflayer with the power to capture souls lost at sea and grant powers to a chosen few :)
Warlock patrons should not be monsters with stat blocks. They are otherworldly entities so much more powerful than anything in the Monster Manual that they can bestow power to hundreds, or even thousands of mortals - powerful enough to grant them high level spells. As such, your entity should not be a monster in the traditional sense of the world. It's something that's one step below a god. Any physical manifestation of it is only going to be an avatar. Some D&D sources flex this a bit by allowing Krakens and Lichs, but this basically makes no sense. These kind of entities cannot be killed, they are the kind that get chained in a demi-plane for 10,000 years. They are the kind that exist only in dreams.
How about the patron being something like:
This kind of story-telling allows you to be creative and utterly free to shape the story any way you like.
“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
If the PC was saved by something from the deep all you really need is a good name.
The rescue probably was not performed by the all-powerful critter. It most likely sent its minions to do the rescuing. The contact that this patron did have is that it responded and the PC knows that s/he is beholden to the entity. You can use the mystery to create narrative hooks for any who know the story. Perhaps this PC is not the only one who was saved in that fashion. Perhaps they are now in the cult of "Kranstlerking the unknowable who lives in the sea that touches all seas". The interactions with the patron can paint as clear or as confusing a picture as you like then.
The PC may want to know more or maybe not. If it becomes relevant to the game you can fill in the blanks later.
Thank you for everyone's input.
I looked around and realized that, by sheer coincedence, the creature I picked to be my BBEG actually has a mythological connecction to a sea monster, so now I have to pick that one, don't I? I will keep your input in mind though. After all, they do need some minions to command.
Once again, thx for all the input and have a most splendid day everyone^^