Green and black dragons generally prefer fresh water, but there's nothing stopping you from saying that one's made a lair on an island. A white dragon could also work, though they might not be as intelligent as you're looking for. An evil Storm Giant king could be one, though you'd have to considerably buff them to be a challenge for a 20th level party (and throw in a lot of minions).
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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.
I can’t find a challenging intelligent boss for a ocean campaign, can anyone help
Other than the giant monsters mentioned above, there's always monsters that merely don't care much about terrain, such as a lich.
Or a non-monster opponent - a dwarven pirate king with a bunch of magical items and a coterie of powerful underlings, or the high priest of a wrathful sea deity seeking to raise the ocean levels to reclaim vast coastal areas, or a storm sorcerer trying to ascend and carve out a place in the existing pantheon, or a kobold shaman who stumbled on mighty Godzilla's place of slumber right about the time a series of underseas volcanic eruptions have started to wake the king of the monsters.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I mean, the Flying Dutchman is a pretty traditional scary for ocean adventures, and while it somewhat favors undead, it's not a very strong preference.
You could always use Slarkrethel's statblock. If you don't have access to it, it's just a Kraken with 20 levels in Wizard. Probably the toughest sea based monster from an official 5E module.
All of these comments have been a huge help, thanks
just to make Shure this would not be an overpowered final boss, would a level 20 spellcasting leviathan be a little much, for context this leviathan would be hyper intelligent, having the intellect of everyone who died in its domain
I would use a Triton that was built like a PC but most of the heavy stuff would be things he "summoned", mostly through a telepathic or sub-sonic call for assistance.
I would have ghost ships run by undead, a group of warriors "riding" sea horses, several swimming critters, Kracken, Leviathan, ... all available at his summoning. I'd probably have to homebrew at least one crustacean.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I can’t find a challenging intelligent boss for a ocean campaign, can anyone help
A kraken is highly intelligent and is CR 23...with some minions it could be a challenge
Green and black dragons generally prefer fresh water, but there's nothing stopping you from saying that one's made a lair on an island. A white dragon could also work, though they might not be as intelligent as you're looking for. An evil Storm Giant king could be one, though you'd have to considerably buff them to be a challenge for a 20th level party (and throw in a lot of minions).
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.
tromokratis is a really tough legendary kraken-like monster, especially when you make him a mythic encounter.
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Other than the giant monsters mentioned above, there's always monsters that merely don't care much about terrain, such as a lich.
Or a non-monster opponent - a dwarven pirate king with a bunch of magical items and a coterie of powerful underlings, or the high priest of a wrathful sea deity seeking to raise the ocean levels to reclaim vast coastal areas, or a storm sorcerer trying to ascend and carve out a place in the existing pantheon, or a kobold shaman who stumbled on mighty Godzilla's place of slumber right about the time a series of underseas volcanic eruptions have started to wake the king of the monsters.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I mean, the Flying Dutchman is a pretty traditional scary for ocean adventures, and while it somewhat favors undead, it's not a very strong preference.
Is a Leviathan intelligent enough for the GM's purposes?
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.
You could always use Slarkrethel's statblock. If you don't have access to it, it's just a Kraken with 20 levels in Wizard. Probably the toughest sea based monster from an official 5E module.
I suggest using something like a coven of aboleths
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Well that’s just downright diabolical. Time to make a Swarm of Aboleth’s stat block. Hahaha
All of these comments have been a huge help, thanks
just to make Shure this would not be an overpowered final boss, would a level 20 spellcasting leviathan be a little much, for context this leviathan would be hyper intelligent, having the intellect of everyone who died in its domain
I would use a Triton that was built like a PC but most of the heavy stuff would be things he "summoned", mostly through a telepathic or sub-sonic call for assistance.
I would have ghost ships run by undead, a group of warriors "riding" sea horses, several swimming critters, Kracken, Leviathan, ... all available at his summoning. I'd probably have to homebrew at least one crustacean.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
So basically a boss fight against Aquaman?
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.