I am starting a campaign that begins defending a lighthouse and eventually leads to a journey to the bottom of the ocean. Characters will have magic items and potions to allow them to move regularly and breathe underwater.
I am looking for any suggestions on monsters or scenarios the party could encounter on the bottom of the ocean. Any suggestions are welcome.
The players arrive at an abandoned shipwreck, after exploring for a while they find a relic and as they take it the whole ship starts to collapse (heheh very cinematic). As they try to escape they are violently harassed within the ship (dangerous, good potential for interesting mechanics) by some sea creatures (dunno). And as they manage to finally escape the rest of the ship collapses.
A lot of potential for plot hooks in their, the relic, a reason for the creatures attacking, the reason the boat sunk.Very good.
If it were me, I'd establish at least a few natural hazards for an underwater adventure, just to set the tone that the party's current environment is neither safe nor familiar: poisonous jellyfish, sharp coral growths, and massive undersea creatures (note that the largest animals on earth live in the ocean). An enormous crab might be mistaken for a mass of coral or generic underwater terrain, with coral and plants growing on its shell... until someone ventures too close and discovers that it's really an ambush predator. And wherever the players go, sharks and other predators can smell blood in the water from great distances, so any injuries sustained underwater may draw new threats to the party. It sounds like the party might be given a swimming speed for this, allowing them to theoretically just swim out in the open directly toward their destination, but there's a reason why a lot of undersea creatures prefer to lurk in the shelter of seabed plants. Basically, you could have a whole mini-adventure just getting from point A to point B while underwater, because the environment is so different than land travel.
Sentient undersea creatures (such as merfolk) give you a variety of other options: they might not want surface-dwellers encroaching on their territory or disturbing their kelp fields. I'm also a fan of planting some lost city ruins or a completely new undersea species, for an adventure like this, so the players have stuff to explore and not just stuff to fight or run away from.
One partly-underwater adventure I used on the group I DM for, involved a group of cursed merfolk. They'd been afflicted with a lesser form of vampirism, half disease and half curse, which required them to consume blood from living creatures, and when they didn't consume enough they degenerated into mindless, bloodthirsty beasts. The one "survivor" was a mermaid sorceress on the verge of losing herself to the affliction, who tried to mesmerize the party and feed on them. When they resisted, they were able to ask her why she was trying to eat them. Then they still had to deal with attacks from the "turned" merfolk while they finished their quest, and found a way to cure her. She's been a loyal friend to the party ever since. (The real treasure was the friend they made along the way.)
I was thinking that anemone would make for an interesting obstacle. I need to make a grid map of the ocean floor. I appreciate any input on the variety of obstacles I could put in their way.
I am starting a campaign that begins defending a lighthouse and eventually leads to a journey to the bottom of the ocean. Characters will have magic items and potions to allow them to move regularly and breathe underwater.
I am looking for any suggestions on monsters or scenarios the party could encounter on the bottom of the ocean. Any suggestions are welcome.
Sure!
The players arrive at an abandoned shipwreck, after exploring for a while they find a relic and as they take it the whole ship starts to collapse (heheh very cinematic). As they try to escape they are violently harassed within the ship (dangerous, good potential for interesting mechanics) by some sea creatures (dunno). And as they manage to finally escape the rest of the ship collapses.
A lot of potential for plot hooks in their, the relic, a reason for the creatures attacking, the reason the boat sunk.Very good.
If it were me, I'd establish at least a few natural hazards for an underwater adventure, just to set the tone that the party's current environment is neither safe nor familiar: poisonous jellyfish, sharp coral growths, and massive undersea creatures (note that the largest animals on earth live in the ocean). An enormous crab might be mistaken for a mass of coral or generic underwater terrain, with coral and plants growing on its shell... until someone ventures too close and discovers that it's really an ambush predator. And wherever the players go, sharks and other predators can smell blood in the water from great distances, so any injuries sustained underwater may draw new threats to the party. It sounds like the party might be given a swimming speed for this, allowing them to theoretically just swim out in the open directly toward their destination, but there's a reason why a lot of undersea creatures prefer to lurk in the shelter of seabed plants. Basically, you could have a whole mini-adventure just getting from point A to point B while underwater, because the environment is so different than land travel.
Sentient undersea creatures (such as merfolk) give you a variety of other options: they might not want surface-dwellers encroaching on their territory or disturbing their kelp fields. I'm also a fan of planting some lost city ruins or a completely new undersea species, for an adventure like this, so the players have stuff to explore and not just stuff to fight or run away from.
One partly-underwater adventure I used on the group I DM for, involved a group of cursed merfolk. They'd been afflicted with a lesser form of vampirism, half disease and half curse, which required them to consume blood from living creatures, and when they didn't consume enough they degenerated into mindless, bloodthirsty beasts. The one "survivor" was a mermaid sorceress on the verge of losing herself to the affliction, who tried to mesmerize the party and feed on them. When they resisted, they were able to ask her why she was trying to eat them. Then they still had to deal with attacks from the "turned" merfolk while they finished their quest, and found a way to cure her. She's been a loyal friend to the party ever since. (The real treasure was the friend they made along the way.)
Very cool ideas, thank you.
I was thinking that anemone would make for an interesting obstacle. I need to make a grid map of the ocean floor. I appreciate any input on the variety of obstacles I could put in their way.
I like it. I can work that in to the beginning of my campaign.
Check out "Underwater Campaigns" on the DmsGuild. Bought the book. Pretty cool.