One of the players (the captain) has max ranks in Profession (sailing), and is better than Amella. Another has maxed out Knowledge (Geography) and trumps Urol as navigator. Additionally, the mage has a stormrunner's ward spell, and the party invested in a horn of the tritons (to calm rough waters, no less!). How am I going to force the Sea Wyvern to wreck without blatantly railroading them, if they make their checks and use their magic? I want to be fair, but I don't want to ruin the adventure path.
throw them off the ship by a freak wave.. but the ship making it safely home?
or then maybe really skip whole or a portion of the forth adventure if they are high level anyway...
EDIT: but arriving safely, and weeks ahead of schedule, why not go for a bit exploring.. still much unknown about the isle.. and voila part 4 happens. sort of.
arriving safely, and weeks ahead of schedule, why not go for a bit exploring.. still much unknown about the isle.. and voila part 4 happens. sort of.
That may just work--they'll want to help Lavinia as much as possible (one of the PCs has a crush on her). That player also suggested inserting the Isle of Dread adventure from Dungeon #114, and we'd all like this AP to last as long as possible. I may let them play it as higher-level PCs; they'll get that much less XP, so they'll still be on track for adventure #5, hopefully.
It may be time for a sea-monster to pop a hole in the hull. Maybe that one the module says they spot earlier. Release the Kraken!
It may be time for a sea-monster to pop a hole in the hull. Maybe that one the module says they spot earlier. Release the Kraken!
Stress: "Without blatantly railroading them." Besides, at least one of the stinkers would be savvy enough to spot the inconsistency with a deep-water monster hovering over a shallow reef, and call me on it...
Or a dragon turtle from below.. breathing a hole in the hull..
But thats just nasty.
Well, the high ranks and the Stormrunner's Ward spell all contribute to make it unlikely the characters will fail their sailing checks, but it's not the failed checks that deal the damage - it's Masher Reef, which the PCs don't know about, and in the weather conditions can't really avoid.
The Horn of the Tritons, on the other hand, is maddeningly vague in its effects. It calms water in a 1 mile radius, yes, but for how long? And does the effect travel with the horn or is it static? The ship will be in a heavy storm for a far longer distance than one mile.
I'd say it's very unlikely that the party will blow the horn at just the right moment to avoid hitting the reef. What is more likely is that they can use it to calm the waters once they're lodged on the reef, making it a lot easier to dislodge the vessel. By that time, however, the damage is done - the hull is holed, and the only hope is to reach land before the ship sinks.
The Horn of the Tritons, on the other hand, is maddeningly vague in its effects. It calms water in a 1 mile radius, yes, but for how long? And does the effect travel with the horn or is it static? The ship will be in a heavy storm for a far longer distance than one mile... What is more likely is that they can use it to calm the waters once they're lodged on the reef, making it a lot easier to dislodge the vessel. By that time, however, the damage is done - the hull is holed, and the only hope is to reach land before the ship sinks.
Well thought, Mark. I may just go that route; after all, if I don't let the horn benefit them at all, there will be sheer mutiny. I've also toyed with the idea of the horn's three effects needing some experience to differentiate by winding it, so that when they sound the horn, the waters aren't calmed and they still wreck on the reef, but a school of sharks appears to take care of the mashers.
How am I going to force the Sea Wyvern to wreck without blatantly railroading them, if they make their checks and use their magic? I want to be fair, but I don't want to ruin the adventure path.
I have not yet read through the entire adventure, so this may not work.
Would it be possible for the other ship to founder and the PCs have to affect a rescue? Perhaps Amella's ship has its keel broken, and the group is forced to decide who can continue on in the one remaining vessel, while the others travel overland.
If that wouldn't work, an attack by sahuagin might also cause the PCs ship to run aground (a sea anchor placed to steer the ship off course, one of the attackers jams the rudder, etc.).
The ship's mainmast might snap under the strain of the storm, and a suitable tree is needed to replace it? That won't work if the PCs make a successful Profession (sailor) check, they'd know to reef the sails. However, if the two ship's captains had a wager on who reaches port first, that might tempt the PCs to risk running under full sail in a storm...
You'd have to arrange that sort of rivalry before leaving port, but it is a possibility.
Just a couple suggestions. I hope they help.
Creative Director
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If the PCs had the foresight to invest in a horn of the tritons or the DM approval to use non-core rules that would prevent the Sea Wyvern from wrecking, then you shouldn't railroad them into a wreck. Allow them to reach Farshore safely only to discover that the Blue Nixie never arrived. In this case, they'll need to sail around the island and they'll eventaully find the Blue Nixie wrecked on the reef where the Sea Wyvern should have wrecked. Assume that Lavinia and the Jade Ravens and some other colonists/NPCs from the Blue Nixie headed inland, and in order to find and rescue them the PCs'll need to follow along. You can even hold off on the entire Demogorgon Shrine encounter in "Here There Be Monsters" for whenever the PCs wander into that area later in the campaign.
As for the horn of the tritons; this magic item is fantastically powerful for a 5th level character to own. According to the DMG (page 135) you'd have to be 7th level before a PC would be likely to own an item that costs 15,000 or so gp, and even then the horn'd be the majority of that character's gear. When we build adventures for Dungeon, we assume that these wealth levels are relatively close, and thus we assume that a party won't be able to afford a horn of the tritons until after they've shipwrecked on the Isle of Dread. In fact, this was a primary reason TO have a shipwreck adventure at no later than 7th level in the first place.
Alternately, it sounds like your characters are pretty powerful as they are (which tends to happen when you allow access to a wider range of character building options and gear). You might want to simply considder skipping "Here There Be Monsters" entirely and moving right along into "Tides of Dread."
As for the horn of the tritons; this magic item is fantastically powerful for a 5th level character to own. According to the DMG (page 135) you'd have to be 7th level before a PC would be likely to own an item that costs 15,000 or so gp, and even then the horn'd be the majority of that character's gear. When we build adventures for Dungeon, we assume that these wealth levels are relatively close, and thus we assume that a party won't be able to afford a horn of the tritons until after they've shipwrecked on the Isle of Dread. In fact, this was a primary reason TO have a shipwreck adventure at no later than 7th level in the first place
Agreed. On several occasions now, they've pooled wealth to buy an item for the group that would be far beyond the reach of a single character (at one point, they decided a single +1 keen falchion for the barbarian was better than a +1 weapon for each character!). I also note that Mr. Pett's original horn (from the sea hag encounter) was removed from the final magazine--perhaps for that very reason.
Thanks for your interest and advice, Mr. Jacobs. Your magazine in general, and the Savage Tide in particular, have massively revitalized a flagging hobby.