Trying to figure out how to DM an encounter with a sea hag as my players sail from point A to point B. The players are level 4.
Sea hag: http://paizo.com/PRD/monsters/seaHag.html
First, mechanics: 1(a) I don't understand how it says her two main special abilities have a "Charisma based DC", yet it also says their DCs are "DC 14 Fortitude" and "DC 14 Will". Uh, what? So do my players make a fortitude save and will save, or a charisma save? I just don't get it...
1(b) It seems super easy for the sea hag to permanently kill a player. Please let me know if I am doing this right. She casts evil eye on a player. If a player misses his DC 14 will save, then he is staggered and cursed (for how long!? it never says!). Then, if she does the same thing a second time on the same player who is already staggard, then he must make a second DC 14 Fort save or go into a 3 day coma. Once in the 3 day coma, he's pretty much auto-dead since he has to hit ALL 3 DC 14 saves in a row (one each day), and if he misses 1 he just dies.
(my players would have no way on the boat to remove a curse).
So... if a player misses a couple DC 14 Fort saves, his PC dies? Yikes... am I reading this right?
1(c) I have no idea how to do 'water' combat. Assuming the sea hag is swimming alongside the boat, cursing the players, and then just dives underwater when spotted and attacked, how could my (level 4) players ever find/attack/kill her? Seems like she could just keep going underwater, popping out at a random spot near the boat (hours or days later), curse someone on deck, go back underwater in the sea, and do that for days until she TPKs the party.
Roleplaying questions: How would a sea hag encounter a random barge with 10 people on it and what are the sea hag's motivations? Any full-frontal assault would lead in her death, so I feel like she would just silently swim under the water, pop out when only 1 person on deck would see her, give him a couple evil eyes, and then disappear back underwater. She could harass the boat for days like this, right? My party has no 'waterbreathing' or other aquatic spells, so they'd just be at the complete mercy of this 1 sea hag giving them random evil eyes and never in any danger herself since she just swims under the boat or whatever if they engage her?
How would you roleplay the sea hag encounter with your level 4 players as they sail from point A to point B?
The DC that the players are saving against are based on the Charisma of the hag. So, for instance, if you give the hag a headband of alluring charisma, it would increase the DC of the saves.
You are cursed until you save against DC 14 at the beginning of the day. I don't believe you need to make 3 in a row. You will just be free of the curse but still in a coma for the remaining days (not 100% on this one).
The game assumes 2d combat so all water and air combat is messy as hell. Your players would need to be prepared. It is easy to hold your breath for tactical periods of time. Air Bubble and Touch of the Sea help to alleviate other problems.
Why would a hag attack the boat at all? Hags want to cause misery as well as propagate their race, but it is rarely through full scale assaults. They use their coven powers to act more as masterminds.
Why would a hag attack the boat at all? Hags want to cause misery as well as propagate their race, but it is rarely through full scale assaults. They use their coven powers to act more as masterminds.
I don't know, that's one of the things I'm actually asking here. Finding out her motivation would help me build the encounter. The reason I'm asking is because she's on the random encounter table for the module I'm running, and she seems like an interesting encounter.
I just worry since I'm pretty sure if I play her correctly, she just never, ever dies (since she can just go underwater whenever), and possibly kills a couple party members. Seems like a bad situation for my PCs.
The other possibilities on the random encounter table are : large water elemental, 1d8 constrictor snakes, or a ghost.
Why would a hag attack the boat at all? Hags want to cause misery as well as propagate their race, but it is rarely through full scale assaults. They use their coven powers to act more as masterminds.
I don't know, that's one of the things I'm actually asking here. Finding out her motivation would help me build the encounter. The reason I'm asking is because she's on the random encounter table for the module I'm running, and she seems like an interesting encounter.
I just worry since I'm pretty sure if I play her correctly, she just never, ever dies (since she can just go underwater whenever), and possibly kills a couple party members. Seems like a bad situation for my PCs.
The other possibilities on the random encounter table are : large water elemental, 1d8 constrictor snakes, or a ghost.
"Reveling in discord, the foul creatures drag sailors to watery graves and torment the peoples of the oceans with wicked promises."
She could hit and run and attempt to grab a single PC or NPC. There is no reason for her to commit to attacking the entire boat.
"Sea hag covens can call up powerful storms with call lightning storm and whirlwind, and disable or slay opponents with eyebite, finger of death, and power word blind and stun."
"Sea hags are aquatic, and are known to destroy ships and drown sailors, causing suffering to those poor folk living near the water’s edge."
You could use coven powers for her to create a storm. Thus, the 'encounter' with the Sea Hag is actually a storm she created. She might even strike during the storm.
Would it be within the roleplaying/powers of the sea hag for her to know the character's names? Like, she would call their names when they were alone on deck, and then when they look overboard, she evil eyes them.
Would it be within the roleplaying/powers of the sea hag for her to know the character's names? Like, she would call their names when they were alone on deck, and then when they look overboard, she evil eyes them.
Covens have access to the spell vision, so it could make sense.
Evil eye based on her charisma = this sets the DC of the save but the characters still need to make fortitude and will saves as described at the adjusted DC for a modified Sea Hag Charisma score.
For water combat see the skill swim and read it well. Also see Cover and Concealment with stealth if the hag wants to play the hiding game. You may need to declare the clarity of the water. Next see Combat modifiers table of swimming and attacking underwater I believe it's -4 unless you have a natural swim speed. Most spells have no problem with water or crossing that boundary condition.
If it is a random encounter the sea hag could be simply policing it's territory. It certainly might have better things to do than harry the party for days on end getting farther and farther away from it's coven. This may be one or 2 strikes over a few hours depending on what you determine the Sea Hag's territory size to be, and the speed of the boat.
If the Sea Hag Flees dropping them out of initiative they technically have defeated her, they might not get the loot but they should still get the exp. If she shows back up again another day this should be a separate encounter, especially if it is another day where everyone gets all their HP and spells back etc, if she flees again technically they should get exp again as well.
"Sea hags prefer to dwell relatively close to shore where fishermen and trading vessels are more commonly encountered. Most choose to live far from urban areas so that their acts don't draw as much attention from would-be enemies, but it's not uncommon for a particularly brave or eager sea hag to settle in a city harbor or in the mouth of a deep river."
Perhaps as the party's boat leaver her area the Hag will leave them alone.
If the Sea Hag Flees dropping them out of initiative they technically have defeated her, they might not get the loot but they should still get the exp. If she shows back up again another day this should be a separate encounter, especially if it is another day where everyone gets all their HP and spells back etc, if she flees again technically they should get exp again as well.
There is 0 chance I'd do this. Picking off easy (preferably alone) targets on the deck of the boat and the disappearing and refusing to engage in a full-frontal brawl seems to be the natural way a sea hag would act (unless anyone can show me otherwise). Giving the party full XP every hour she shows up and kills another sailor, and then disappears, would be incredibly stupid.
"Over the last day the sea hag has killed 1 PC and 2 sailors, you haven't even damaged her, and she's still alive and threatening, but congrats on getting XP for her 3 times over and leveling up!" Nope, no way. In that world, the farmer who watched a red dragon swoop down, crab his cow, and fly off with his meal would instantly gain tons of levels from "defeating the red dragon".
Can anyone confirm how long the "staggered" condition lasts from the first use of the evil eye? Is it a curse?
Also, was I correct in my original post for how easy it is for the hag to kill a PC? --> PC looks overboard, seas Hag, immediately gets evil eyed. Fails the DC 14 save. For whatever reason in the next few rounds, the PC gets evil eyed a second time and fails another DC 14 save. At this point, after failing two DC 14 fort saves, the PC is basically a dead man walking ,right? Since it has to pass ALL three of the next DC 14 saves to survive?
Can anyone confirm or add to this? How could they remove the curse once in the comatose state on the boat?
Also, how do you determine how much an NPC would charge for a spell like remove curse? Assuming the PCs go to a temple and find a cleric that has it (it's a level 3 spell), is there some formula for determining how much NPC charges for a curative spell like remove curse based on the spell level?
http://www.pathfinder-srd.nl/wiki/Remove_Curse_(Spell)
Also, how do you determine how much an NPC would charge for a spell like remove curse? Assuming the PCs go to a temple and find a cleric that has it (it's a level 3 spell), is there some formula for determining how much NPC charges for a curative spell like remove curse based on the spell level?
http://www.pathfinder-srd.nl/wiki/Remove_Curse_(Spell)
Spellcasting cost is... Caster level × spell level × 10 gp
Ok, cool. So a level 6 cleric casting a level 3 remove curse would only charge 180 gold? Seems pretty cheap.
Remove Curse can fail, so it might get more expensive due to multiple castings.