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My party has had an interesting time with the aboleth.
In hindsight I find it kind of odd that the author did not include a sidebar suggesting what to do in this instance. My players are unlikely to hold their breath as they charge through the double doors in front of them into unknown peril. And the other 2 are probably inconvenience enough to hesitate before jumping headfirst into the echo..
I am tempted to simply decree that the water breathing end shortly after the aboleth is slain and include a scroll or two of heal somewhere within the Echo. But I'd first like to throw this situation out to the community in general for suggestions. Thanks.
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My party has had an interesting time with the aboleth.
** spoiler omitted **
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Or have a secret treasure chest at the bottom of the abolth's pool that holds a water-proof scroll case, which just happens to have enough scroll to fix everyone. But they have to go looking for it.
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** spoiler omitted **
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Just a thought here is an opportunity to remind folks that "scrolls" aren't always made of paper.
A scroll is just a fragile object imbued with 'writing' that grants a one time use of a spell. Scrolls could be:
- clay tablets etched with runes of power, that crumble to dust once cast.
- Or runes carved sticks that you must snap in two while to perform the spell.
- A chain of tiny shells of different colors arranged in an complex arcane matrix.
It would feel a lot less 'deus ex' if the Aboleth had a non-standard scroll that it used to go hunting in the air when hunting in the water becomes slim pickings.
My party has had an interesting time with the aboleth.
Mine...
The only thing that worked was they fell for the illusions, and were rather confused they couldn't hurt this floating elf... but they just shrugged and opened the next door, while the elf was calling out to them, "Fear me! I am the power of the very depths, you cannot walk away from me!"
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My party has had an interesting time with the aboleth.Mine...** spoiler omitted **
After thinking about it, having a magical tablet of air breathing is only slightly cheesy and will solve the problem at hand quite well.
Spoiler:After thinking about it, having a magical tablet of air breathing is only slightly cheesy and will solve the problem at hand quite well.
Sounds good, just use two (they could use another some other time maybe), and swap out a bit of treasure.
*Chuckles* We made our saves or were protected by spells from its opening round of spells, and then the Druid dropped 1d3 Large Sharks on it. We then watched as it swam for its life, unsuccessfully. ;p
Aboleth not so scary when Jaws is eating its face. They aren't to great in melee.
The 14d6 fireball trap, which spoiled my party's day, did do them one favor; the aboleth didn't care for it at all, and swam away. So we didn't have that encounter. I killed two PCs at the Academy of Arts anyway and didn't really need to dump anything else on them. (One via fireball, one via vrock.)
When they hit House Azrinae next week there'll be another aboleth for them to enjoy, though.
*Chuckles* We made our saves or were protected by spells from its opening round of spells, and then the Druid dropped 1d3 Large Sharks on it. We then watched as it swam for its life, unsuccessfully. ;p
Aboleth not so scary when Jaws is eating its face. They aren't to great in melee.
I know this is a bit of a thread necro, but if threads weren't meant to be necro'ed, they'd be closed so we couldn't necro them :) I've been doing some research on Aboleths and found this post kind of amusing.
But it was nice of this GM to go easy on his PCs.
An average Aboleth should have no trouble killing 3 large sharks in melee. With it's 4 attacks/rd it only needs to roll a 4 or better to hit their AC14, and if it rolls no 3's or less each round it is pretty much guaranteed to kill one shark per round with 4d6+20 tentacle damage vs the large shark's 22hp. The Aboleth also has 15' reach which could be an advantage, and 84hp which is more than three large sharks can possibly deal before all three are dead in 3 rounds even if every attack hits (unlikely since the sharks have to roll a 16 or better to hit the Aboleth's AC21) and deals max damage (which is a theoretical max of 72 damage).
Not to mention that the Aboleth's swim speed is exactly the same as the sharks at 60' so if it has room to run, all it needs to do is keep going for a couple minutes until the spell's duration runs out or just hop out of the water in a safe spot with it's 10' land speed and go where the sharks can't touch it. Even if not amphibious, an Aboleth can hold it's breath for almost 4 and a half minutes.
Or maybe he meant "enlarged" sharks or something?
"Necro-ing" a thread this old is somewhat frowned upon, even if not forbidden. And one reason for that might be that...
The posts earlier in this thread refer to stats from D&D 3.5 for the Aboleth and the Large Shark... which are somewhat different from those of the Pathfinder versions you are referring to.
D&D 3.5 Large Shark: 38 hp; AC 15; Bite +7 (1d8+4)
D&D 3.5 Aboleth: 76 hp; AC 16; 4 tentacles +12 (1d6+8 plus slime)
Pathfinder Shark: 22hp; AC 14; Bite +5 (1d8+4)
Pathfinder Aboleth: 84 hp; AC 20; 4 tentacles +10 (1d6+5 plus slime)
Large Sharks were much more of a threat to the Aboleth in 3.5 than they are in Pathfinder. Generally, summoned creatures are expected to be more of a nuisance or distraction than a true threat to the enemy, but in the case of the D&D Aboleth vs a D&D Large Shark, that's not so much the case.
"Necro-ing" a thread this old is somewhat frowned upon, even if not forbidden. And one reason for that might be that...
The posts earlier in this thread refer to stats from D&D 3.5 for the Aboleth and the Large Shark... which are somewhat different from those of the Pathfinder versions you are referring to.
D&D 3.5 Large Shark: 38 hp; AC 15; Bite +7 (1d8+4)
D&D 3.5 Aboleth: 76 hp; AC 16; 4 tentacles +12 (1d6+8 plus slime)Pathfinder Shark: 22hp; AC 14; Bite +5 (1d8+4)
Pathfinder Aboleth: 84 hp; AC 20; 4 tentacles +10 (1d6+5 plus slime)Large Sharks were much more of a threat to the Aboleth in 3.5 than they are in Pathfinder. Generally, summoned creatures are expected to be more of a nuisance or distraction than a true threat to the enemy, but in the case of the D&D Aboleth vs a D&D Large Shark, that's not so much the case.
I may never understand why some people hate thread necro so much. As long as you know what you're talking about what's the problem? I freely admit at least some of the time I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's neither here nor there. :) Thanks for taking the time to reply though Urath, you seem like a cool person.
It may take the Aboleth more recovery time in 3.5, but exactly the same thing would happen.
Even by 3.5 the Aboleth only needs to roll a 3 or better to hit the shark, and does an average of 44 damage each round (average, not maximum), killing one shark per round, which makes the maximum possible damage the sharks can do to the Aboleth (barring any critical hit for both the sharks and the Aboleth) before all 3 are dead a mere 72 damage (this is maximum, not average), meaning the Aboleth's survival is almost guaranteed.
"Necro-ing" a thread this old is somewhat frowned upon, even if not forbidden. And one reason for that might be that...
The posts earlier in this thread refer to stats from D&D 3.5 for the Aboleth and the Large Shark... which are somewhat different from those of the Pathfinder versions you are referring to.
D&D 3.5 Large Shark: 38 hp; AC 15; Bite +7 (1d8+4)
D&D 3.5 Aboleth: 76 hp; AC 16; 4 tentacles +12 (1d6+8 plus slime)Pathfinder Shark: 22hp; AC 14; Bite +5 (1d8+4)
Pathfinder Aboleth: 84 hp; AC 20; 4 tentacles +10 (1d6+5 plus slime)Large Sharks were much more of a threat to the Aboleth in 3.5 than they are in Pathfinder. Generally, summoned creatures are expected to be more of a nuisance or distraction than a true threat to the enemy, but in the case of the D&D Aboleth vs a D&D Large Shark, that's not so much the case.
I may never understand why some people hate thread necro so much. As long as you know what you're talking about what's the problem? I freely admit at least some of the time I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's neither here nor there. :) Thanks for taking the time to reply though Urath, you seem like a cool person.
It may take the Aboleth more recovery time in 3.5, but exactly the same thing would happen.
Even by 3.5 the Aboleth only needs to roll a 3 or better to hit the shark, and does an average of 44 damage each round (average, not maximum), killing one shark per round, which makes the maximum possible damage the sharks can do to the Aboleth (barring any critical hit for both the sharks and the Aboleth) before all 3 are dead a mere 72 damage (this is maximum, not average), meaning the Aboleth's survival is almost guaranteed.
Still, the situation was "1d3 large sharks"... not a specific number. Odds are it would be 2, but could equally well be 1 or 3. If it is 1, the Aboleth could, indeed, take it out in one round.. probably. When talking about averages, the thing to remember is that any specific roll doesn't have to obey them. You can roll high and get a critical hit, or low and miss. There's a 5% base chance of either, on each attack.. and it is possible to roll four 1s or four 20s.
If there was more than 1 shark, then while the Aboleth is working on one, the other(s) is/are working on the Aboleth.
The GM may have reasoned in that case that, if the PCs are going to move on, spending several rounds off-screen to play out the battle might not be the best use of time. That's just a guess, of course, but describing it as the Aboleth fleeing for its life is less of a stretch under 3.5 than under Pathfinder.