Hi,
my party has decided to use a ship to get to their next destination. I'm a big advocate of making sure the travel takes days, and making appropriate day to day events happen to give the time traveling some life and make it seem like it's not just a quick easy thing to get from point a to point b and for the players to not just arbitrarily choose to go 12 days away whenever they feel like it.
That being said, I have done this well on land, across multiple terrain types .. .but never by sea.
The APL is 7 and closing in on 8.
What types of monsters do you like for sea battles?
Are there any that you can think of that can hop out of the water and fight on deck or do they need the party to fight in the water with them?
Do you know any short length modules that happen on a ship? Maybe like a ghost on the ship or a mystery that needs to be solved along the way?
Any other tips in general to make the experience better?
Anything will help and is appreciated.
Thanks.
Hi,
my party has decided to use a ship to get to their next destination. I'm a big advocate of making sure the travel takes days, and making appropriate day to day events happen to give the time traveling some life and make it seem like it's not just a quick easy thing to get from point a to point b and for the players to not just arbitrarily choose to go 12 days away whenever they feel like it.
That being said, I have done this well on land, across multiple terrain types .. .but never by sea.
Historically, the big problem with sea travel was not encounters, but navigation. There's a good chance that contrary winds or currents will either strand them or put them in the wrong spot, creating an opportunity for other sorts of encounters. If they're hugging the coast, running around on sandbars is a real risk, and even if it doesn't damage the ship, it will make them vulnerable to attack by coasters. Out of sight of land, they have no real way of knowing where they are (this was a problem up until the 18th century in the real world).
In general, I find that ship-to-ship encounters are boring; while the Skull and Shackles adventure path has rules for this type of encounter, it's not very much fun for the party. There are a few aquatic monsters that will be a danger to the ship itself (e.g., a CR 10 whale can capsize the ship), but otherwise you need to find a way to get the party into the water. Fortunately, the same storm that drew them off-course can also damage the McGuffin, which needs field repairs from a team in the water....
Avian monsters (e.g. rocs) are also good for attacking ships.
The Skull and Shackles Adventure Path is a good source of ideas if you can borrow a copy or flip through one at your local game store. Or buy it, since it's fairly cheap and Paizo can always use the money.
Flying fire breathing monsters, like dragons. Attack the ship, watch it burn, see what happens.
I do an Oregon trail, table, a different one for every terrain. Each day a player rolls d100 (with bonuses or penalties depending on skills), and I set in motion the days encounter, 1/3 are bad (monsters, storms, rigging fails, leaks etc), 1/3 are good (school of fish, strong winds, resupply island, clear navigation points, etc), and 1/3 neutral (normal day, interesting sight, other ship on the horizon, shipwrecks, etc).
I agree that the sea is not dangerous because of monsters or pirates, it is dangerous because it is hard to navigate, the ship is vulnerable to the elements, and the ship itself becomes a vital survival component. A few days with no wind, and food and drink can become strained as well (hard to hunt on a boat). Disease, infestations (rats eating food and eating the ship), stowaways (good moral conflicts), mutinies (choose a side), and outright theft (and subsequent punishments) are other common sailing hazards.
Remember that sailing ships can have anywhere from 10 to 500 people on board.
Sometimes a big storm can be exciting, but just days of no wind can give players a chance to get creative to solve the problem.
I do an Oregon trail, table, a different one for every terrain. Each day a player rolls d100 (with bonuses or penalties depending on skills), and I set in motion the days encounter, 1/3 are bad (monsters, storms, rigging fails, leaks etc), 1/3 are good (school of fish, strong winds, resupply island, clear navigation points, etc), and 1/3 neutral (normal day, interesting sight, other ship on the horizon, shipwrecks, etc).
That's awesome! I especially like the part about being stranded or big storms changing the course of the ship.
Do you have your tables handy? Do you mind sharing them?
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APL 7-8, on the sea, so many possibilities for encounters.
-A Tojanida Elder, looking for high sensation across the seas with his cult of followers.
-Sea dragons are CG and often claims many coral reefs and thousand of miles of oceans as their domain, maybe a young Adult Sea Dragon is giving them capricious orders to go fetch him/her something under the sea or on a nearby island for passage.
-Evil Merfolk tribes could be interesting encounters, look at the list of bonus languages, some of them apparently work with witches or Aboleth, keep that in mind. Evil humanoids, Merrows, Sahuagin, Sea hags etc...
-Aquatic monsters are a bit harder to use but usually, your players would need a reason to go underwater, maybe they need to get an item/piece of information etc...unless they are very big. You could just have them in a survival like encounter vs Kraken or Sea Serpent without having them to defeat the monster.
-Nereid for the classic, you see a beauty bathing in the water and end up being seduced and drowning.
Sirens or mermaids sing to attract the crew -- PCs have to go after them if they don't want to sail the ship themselves.
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I do an Oregon trail, table, a different one for every terrain. Each day a player rolls d100 (with bonuses or penalties depending on skills), and I set in motion the days encounter, 1/3 are bad (monsters, storms, rigging fails, leaks etc), 1/3 are good (school of fish, strong winds, resupply island, clear navigation points, etc), and 1/3 neutral (normal day, interesting sight, other ship on the horizon, shipwrecks, etc).That's awesome! I especially like the part about being stranded or big storms changing the course of the ship.
Do you have your tables handy? Do you mind sharing them?
I do not have one for the ocean, only rivers. I might be able to make a quick one. I will let you set the DC's for your party. I suggest low numbers, these are interesting events not full challenges, it should be possible to overcome. I let my players roll a survival check (on land) to add up to 10 to the d100. It is funny because since one player is rolling (we call them the days scout) they get the blame and the praise. And each player gets a chance to roll, so the blame and praise get spread around.
0-5 Cloudy night and day, lose navigation point (lose 1 day getting back on track if they cannot pass navigation DC check).
6-11 Pass by a mass of floating trash (Mundane loot or food as per appraise rolls if PC's can pass perception check).
12-17 Large School of fish follow your boat for a few hours (chance to fish if they have the tools and can pass survival to bait and cook).
18-24 Rough sea storm (Possible ship damage, delays, knocked overboard, etc).
25-30 Pass a familiar ocean rock formation, Pass DC to find a current that increases travel by 1 day (gain 2 days travel today).
31-36 Pass a natural ocean funnel, see pretty fish.
37-42 Pass a deserted island.
43-48 Find rats on board (Players rolls for quantity) PC's have limited time to find before they breed (swarms)
49-54 Uneventful, sunny day.
55-60 Disease outbreak (pass disease DC to not get sick).
61-66 Trading vessel traveling the opposite way (Diplomacy captain to stop and trade?)
67-72 Pirate Vessel traveling the opposite way (Sail or fight).
73-78 Crewmate celebrates a birthday, eat pancakes from ship stores (no food cost this day)
79-84 Pass a familiar landmark seen as lucky by the crew, get drunk with the captain.
85-90 Rigging/oars/rowers break/mutiny - fix, fight or diplomacy (or lose 2 days doing nothing as it resolves itself?)
91-96 rainstorm. 1d4 - 1:Food damaged lose 20%. 2:Ship damaged. 3:Crewmembers lost/injured. 4:Refill water barrels.
97-99 Sea monster, air monster attack.
Choose a value, if the dice lands precisely on that value then have a second crazy table to draw from (Pirate nest, stowaways, secret island people, sunken haunted treasure ship, mutiny, etc).
This is just a rough list, I am sure you can come up with something better.
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Sahaugin are the orcs of the sea! I enjoy making use of raiding parties of Sahaugin. I have them be accompanied by iron-helmeted boat-ramming sea turtles, a large-sized "Sahaugin-ogres", but that's crap I usually just make up. I'm sure there are substitutes in the bestiaries that would work better. (though maybe with level 7 characters, this wouldn't be challenging enough)
Another tactic I've used against players is a thrill encounter that turns out to be harmless. Narrate that the crow's nest spots something large and flying, then moments later he calls out..."DRAGON!".... the sailors scramble, ballistas are loaded, etc. The party gets all scared. Then the dragon flies in out of the sun, (thus disguising that it is a metallic dragon until it gets close) divebombs RIGHT NEAR the ship and lifts a huge swordfish out of the sea, glistening in the sunlight, splashing some crew with seawater. The dragon flies away. (picture an eagle pulling a trout from a lake, but on a grander scale)
A fun side encounter might be evil druids who despise civilization use warp-wood on planks of the party's ship, causing it to sink. This prompts a battle encounter with the druids. The party then swims or paddles to the nearest island, which turns out to be inhabited by savages and dinosaurs, giants and magical plants. --something way different than the lands they've been in thusfar. They explore the island and eventually find another ship to escape the island, and its dead crew who were eaten by giants or something.
Weather is a nice encounter too. Like what was mentioned above, navigation can be a challenge, especially during/after a storm. Maybe ignore the sinking of the ship I mentioned above, but the mainmast got damaged and the party must search nearby islands for a proper replacement, which could lead to a forgotten temple or misc encounter.
Another tactic I've used against players is a thrill encounter that turns out to be harmless. Narrate that the crow's nest spots something large and flying, then moments later he calls out..."DRAGON!".... the sailors scramble, ballistas are loaded, etc. The party gets all scared. Then the dragon flies in out of the sun, (thus disguising that it is a metallic dragon until it gets close) divebombs RIGHT NEAR the ship and lifts a huge swordfish out of the sea, glistening in the sunlight, splashing some crew with seawater. The dragon flies away. (picture an eagle pulling a trout from a lake, but on a grander scale)
Love this! Stealing this exact scene.
Thanks.