Hello All,
I'm setting up an encounter where I have a party of seven rowing a boat across a wide river (300 ft). The boat has 4 oars and I was thinking to have the boat move 20 ft per round as long as 4 characters were rowing. Now there's a River Drake that will attack if it hasn't been paid tribute. I want to make this a memorable encounter, so I was thinking:
1st
4 characters rowing, against the strong, will move 20 ft per round,
3 characters 15ft per round, etc.
If no one rows they get taken by the current
*Can characters loose their Dex bonus to AC if they are rowing for
all their worth? If they defend themselves are they rowing?
2nd
The River Drake is cunning, if the party defends themselves well
he will spit his Caustic Mucus to hit the floor of the boat.
I was thinking to make the hull of the boat like a
strong wooden door for term of strength Hardness 5 Hp 20 Break 23
If the boat has a hole burned in the floor it will sink in 2-3
rounds. How many rounds do you think?
I was thinking 3, but 2 might be more exciting.
I will have a bucket in the boat so if there is a hole in the hull
someone can shave a round off sinking if they are constantly bailing
water (same question as to dex to AC). Also, if the party blocks the
hole with a shield or something that will slow sinking (add a round
to the sinking time, say 4 rounds)
Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. Some of my players are kind of rule lawyers, so I don't want to ruffle feathers. Thanks in advance!
One thing to consider is that the encounter virtually guarantees the boat will sink. If this happens in the middle of a 300' river, the party would need to make a lot of swim checks to get to shore (while presumably fighting the drake possibly in heavy armour). Not sure what level they are
As for rowing the party members can still duck, move to the side. Perhaps a flat -2 to their AC may work better.
Sounds like a fun encounter.
Losing dex while rowing might be feasable, but don't forget to give them cover / concealment modifiers.
I'd probably give the boat more hp's and figure out at what thresholds it starts taking in water and then at what point it effectively breaks apart.
In general, it should probably take more than 12 seconds (2 rounds) to completely sink unless it breaks apart.
You may also want to consider the effects that things like Mending or other spells will have on the boat if cast by PCs during the combat.
Also, may want to determine the rate the boat moves with the current as that may have an interesting effect on the combat, especially if the river drake can effectively ignore the current. PCs may also want to use the current tactically, as well, and will likely ask about it.
-TimD
I really like the idea of a flat -2 to AC, thanks!
For sinking, I was thinking in terms of rounds to fill up the boat with water. So, if someone is constantly bailing it will add one round or negate the the round the water filled the boat. Like keeping the boat at 2/3's of the way full if they started bailing at on the third round.
...have shallows defined in the river (deep enough for the boat to row, but too shallow for the drake to swim)...perhaps requiring a perception check to see (unless the character goes in the water, then they automatically realize they can "stand up from prone"). With deeper "channels" that the drake to remain in, I think the battel would be more fun even if the boat flounders (at least the armored PC's could "walk" back to shore). I would set it up that there was only one deep channel (maybe 10 feet wide) blocking the PC's path across the river, once they figure that out everyone can "walk" across except for 1 or 2 swim checks (and boards/debris from the boat maybe adding a +2 to the swim check if they are used). If the "channels" are carefully selected, a combination of rowing, bailing, and drifting could provide the tactical decisions (with the drake taking the "long way around" to avoid the shallow water).
Thanks TimD
I was thinking that if all the characters stopped rowing altogether that the current would take them down the river.
there's 4 rowing, but how many others are in the boat?
There will be 7 characters in the boat
Here's a few more details,
The party is comprised of 2 monks, 2 rangers, 1 sorcerer, 1 cleric and 1 paladin. Both the rangers are using the archery combat style. All seven of the characters are 5th lvl for an APL6.
I do like the idea of the casting a mending to fix the boats hull.
The other thing to remember is that Caustic Mucus does 2D8 points of damage for a Max 16 points of damage. It does 1D4 of acid damage per round if "entangled". I was going to make the boats hull: Hardness 5 Hp 20 Break 23. Which means the max damage it can do is 11 hit points and the hardness will negate the 1D4 points of damage. The River Drake (CR3) can only use its breath weapon once every 1D6 rounds. I consider this to be a fairly hard encounter and was going to consider it an EL5 or EL6.