Traveling by Long Ship on the Sword Coast

[Dax Doomslayer]

Hi Folks,
I've never really done a 'ship' type element all too much. I have PCs going from Neverwinter to Baldur's Gate by ship which is about a 10 day trip. I could hand wave it and just say it goes uneventful. However, I'd like a couple of encounters (any type - not necessarily combat but that would be fine too) aboard a ship. I'm thinking a meeting with Felgolas perhaps (maybe in human form); perhaps some cultists on the ship too somehow interacting hostile toward him and the PCs save him setting up the later chapter in STK. The PCs will be 3rd level and it's actually part of a combo campaign of Tyranny of Dragons and Storm King's Thunder. Does anyone have any thoughts/ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I had a storm hit a ship my players were on. A mast broke and they were responsible for cutting it away with a chance the ship would capsize every turn after the third. They missed severing the mast from the ship by one rope and the ship went over. I then asked everyone what they were doing as they were thrown into the storm-tossed sea. Those in metal armor were most in peril. Some found flotsam to cling to and others didn't and a series of Strength checks and Con saves followed to keep from slipping under the waves. Two PCs would of died but I had a Sea Hag make a deal with them (they both lost an eye) to save them. The next morning they washed up on shore.

 

[Draegn]

Discipline problems on board with the crew.

 

[Eltab]

"Nessie" tries to knock the boat over and eat anything / anybody that falls overboard.
Describe a Plesiosaur, but its primary attack is a Bite - and add the Swallow Whole ability.

I did this in Tiamat on the way home from the Sea of Moving Ice; use the "freezing-cold water gives you Exhaustion" rules for more excitement.
(Almost all the PCs managed to stay aboard the ship but almost all the crew fell overboard! Go figure.)

 

[Eltab]

Non-combat: a pod of whales surfaces nearby to catch their breath and a few decide to breach ("jump" out of the water).
There should be some video - YouTube style or National Geographic style - findable on the Web. Show that while you 'take 5'.

 

[TheSword]

Have the ship sink of the coast of a rocky island. There is a village on the island of strangely accented folk who say they are being terrorized by werewolves on the other side of the island. When the PCs defeat the werewolves living in the wrecked hulk of another ship have one of them contract lycanthropy. When they return to the villagers they turn on the PCs because they are actually wolfwere’s and can smell the werewolf PC. The party must defeat the villagers they were helping as they turn into slavering beasts and then eventually find the villagers boat that lets them carry on their journey.

[Edit: this seems familiar somehow ]

 

[The Thrasson]

Have the ship sink of the coast of a rocky island. There is a village on the island of strangely accented folk who say they are being terrorized by werewolves on the other side of the island. When the PCs defeat the werewolves living in the wrecked hulk of another ship have one of them contract lycanthropy. When they return to the villagers they turn on the PCs because they are actually wolfwere’s and can smell the werewolf PC. The party must defeat the villagers they were helping as they turn into slavering beasts and then eventually find the villagers boat that lets them carry on their journey.

[Edit: this seems familiar somehow ]

Tales of the Sword Coast. Durlag's Tower is one of my favorite video game adventures of all time.

All of the suggestions were terrific. The Forgotten Realms, in general, is plagued by pirates. This could lead to a semi-regular villain.

 

[LordEntrails]

Weather.

Though I wouldn't sink the ship unless you want them to not reach their destination anytime soon. But it can drive them to take shelter in a harbor and then provide for many opportunities like others have mentioned.

- Other passengers with nefarious motives.
- Locals to trade with or pacify or ...
- Marine race offended by the ship intruding on their "place"
- kuo-tao etc

 

[aco175]

You could have some sort of investigation. One of the crewmates is a thief trying to steal from the PCs or even have something stolen that another ship is coming for. The PCs can be the direct targets or on the sidelines. Perhaps the captain asks the PCs to look into a series of thefts or another ship is perusing the one the PCs are on looking for the thief. The real thief has stashed the item in the PCs gear and trouble ensues.

 

[Unwise]

I would definitely go with action, but not a real combat. It is pretty unrealistic/unlikely for PCs to get attacked doing a trip that hundreds of merchants do every season. My suggestion is that they have some positive interactions with a very drunk captain of a different ship before leaving port. Turns out the guy is an alchoholic and on the way there, they find his ship being wrecked on an easily avoidable but terrifying reef. He was drunk at the wheel.

This leads to an action sequence in which they have to convince their captian to risk his ship to come closer (but not too close), then they have to try and rescue everybody that they can and maybe even save the ship by tying it up and having it dragged somewhere safer where is can be salvaged later. If you want to spice up the action, some sharks start circling and will pick off the sailors if the PCs don't help. If you must have a traditional combat (my group needs it sometimes) then undead from another wrecked vessel try to hinder the salvage, harpies circle around trying to pick off lone sailors or sirens are drawn to the wreck to feed.

I have also run a damaged ship as a huge solo monster in 4th edition. They needed to cut the mast down, knock down pullies and cut through ropes and sails. This basically meant doing HP damage. The ship 'attacked' with lair actions e.g. falling lantern lighting the deck up, wildly swinging pullies on roped, booms swinging past at head height etc using normal combat rules. It worked very well, but that was in 4th edition which lent itself to set piece combats very well.