Yes, that's going to be my tagline. I couldn't resist. I'll probably have to put up a mockup image of a "Warriors Weekly" cover at some point featuring Gimli, if only to have an amusing image to attach to the series.
Please note that all encounters in this series will be balanced against a party of 5 unless stated otherwise. Sometime in the future I may consider using abnormally large or small parties as a theme, but I won't be doing so today.
At my friends suggestion, the very first theme of this series will be Underwater. All of these encounters somehow take place underwater and involve combat and skill use underwater. I'm using some classics like the Sahuagin and Apparatus of Kwalish for this one, as well as adding a new monster called the Murkon, based off of creatures like Mirelurks from the Fallout series and various sorts of crustacean monsters.
Encounter 1: Cave of Teeth
Difficulty: Hard for level 3
This encounter is supposed to take advantage of the Sahuagin's unique Blood Frenzy trait to cancel out the effects of magical darkness, and assumes the players have a method of magical breathing. The encounter takes place in a small cave about 50 feet wide and 25 feet tall, deep beneath the surface of the ocean. The cave includes three small tunnels which extend a little way and then loop back into it. All of the tunnels are about 5 feet wide and just over 5 feet tall, making for cramped conditions. The entrance and exit into the cavern are both meant for Small swimming creatures, and as such requires Medium characters to squeeze through them. The primary chamber of the cave is filled with magical darkness, making it difficult for anybody to hit their targets.
The cave contains 5 Sahuagin, all of whom begin the encounter inside of the tunnels if they can help it. The Sahuagin will attempt to hide before the encounter begins so as to get a surprise round, preferably while the last member of the party is still trying to squeeze through the cavern entrance. The Sahuagin will fight intelligently, using the magical darkness as cover and trying to split the players up. If a player goes into a tunnel, the Sahuagin will attempt to flank them; if a Sahuagin reaches half of their health, it is best to have them hang back a bit, only coming out to harass injured players. Any form of magical light used to clear the darkness will be a main priority for the Sahuagin, who will attempt to steal it from the players and put out its light in order to keep their advantage.
The swimming speed and Blood Frenzy trait of the Sahuagin is what bumps this encounter up to Hard difficulty. If the players have no method of breathing underwater, magical or otherwise, then the encounter difficulty can be increased to Deadly due to the risk of drowning. In this case, feel free to add a small pocket of air near the ceiling of one or two of the tunnels where players can freely replenish their air; alternately, place a single pocket of air at the top of the main cavern, forcing the players to return to the magical darkness to replenish their air supply.
Encounter 2: It Came from Below!
Difficulty: Variable, likely Deadly, for level 3
This encounter probably falls under the definition of a Deadly encounter, but it's tough to say since it calls for an Apparatus of Kwalish from the DMG. First of all, this encounter calls for a Murkon, so here's the stat block for one. I'll probably bring these back in the future, I like the concept of them. This first one, the Murkon Zoea, is the smallest variety of Murkon.
Murkon Zoea
Medium monstrosity, neutral evil
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (6d8+18)
Speed 25 ft, swim 25 ft
Str 19 (+4) Dex 10 (+0) Con 16 (+3) Int 5 (-3) Wis 7 (-2) Cha 8 (-1)
Saves: Str +6
Skills: Athletics +6, Stealth +2
Damage Resistance: force, bludgeoning
Senses: darkvision 120 ft, passive Perception 10
Languages: Aquan
Challenge 3
Crushing Grip. A Murkon automatically critically hits any creature it attacks if that creature is grabbed or Restrained.
Chitin Plating. A Murkon is immune to all damage from particularly high or low pressure environments.
Actions
Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grabbed. On a critical hit, the target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, losing 1 minute of air on a failed save. In the case of an underwater sealed environment like the Apparatus of Kwalish, the object is considered to automatically fail the saving throw.
Back to the encounter. This encounter is best used to scare the party in the event that they get a hold of an Apparatus of Kwalish, and consists of only a single Murkon Zoea.
This encounter takes place as the players are exploring the ocean floor, traveling through a large, flat cavern. The cavern can be as long as you please, but is about 60 feet wide and 25 feet tall. There is a system of tunnels directly beneath the floor of the cavern which are generally about 5 feet wide; in some spots, these tunnels turn into vertical rifts, which deal 10 (3d6) fire damage to any creature or object which starts its turn in them. Each rift should be about 15 to 20 feet long, and 5 feet wide.
During combat, the Murkon will try to hide in the tunnels underneath the floor. When the players get near a rift, the Murkon will try to jump out and grab them; on a success, the Murkon will then drag the players toward the nearest rift and hold their Apparatus of Kwalish in place over the rift. If the Murkon loses its hold or takes too much damage, it will abandon the attempt and retreat back into the tunnels to try again at the next rift. Consider giving it a couple of health potions stashed in the tunnels to facilitate the hit & run strategy. If the players escape successfully, you should definitely give them experience as though they had killed it. It is best to introduce the Murkon with this encounter, and describe it in vague terms while making clear the horrifying effects of its crushing claws on the Apparatus as the metal walls bend and dent and jets of water begin to flood the craft.
For the best possible results, I suggest giving the Murkon a charm which provides resistance or immunity to fire damage, provided by a small shrine in the tunnels which is too fragile to be handled as treasure. I warn you though, the players will likely find some method of taking it! Applying a variation of the Drow magic items rule to the shrine may be the best idea if the players will not be returning to the ocean floor any time soon, such as stating that the Murkon's shrine will permanently lose its magic if it is not kept fully submerged. If you do this, remember to apply the rule in future situations, as consistency improves the quality of any campaign.
Encounter 3: Iron and Glass House
Difficulty: Hard for Level 5
This is a fun one! Instead of going with a traditional underwater encounter, this encounter revolves around a cramped, airtight space which can be used for a villains underwater base, an underwater research facility, an Atlantean outpost, a Dwarven submarine- anything of that sort!
While most of this encounter can be applied with any humanoid monster types at any level, the purpose of this series is to provide encounters, not just traps and battlefield features. So for the sake of example, we're going to set this in a world like Eberron; the enemy will be made up mostly of Hobgoblins and Warforged, using the Veteran NPC type combined with the Warforged racial features like not needing to breathe.
In this case, we'll be adding a new trap, the Flood Wall. The Flood Wall can really be used with any sort of substance like sand or oil, but in this case we'll just be using ocean water; the wall will be a window in this case. The exact details on how the Flood Wall works can be found in the immediate next post going up today.
The encounter battlefield consists of a 60 by 60 feet area; the outermost part of this area is taken up by a 10 feet wide hallway which hugs the outer edge of the battlefield area. Beyond that is simply the ocean floor. At each corner there are two metal doors, with a windowless 10 by 10 feet space in between forming an airlock, which can be opened and closed with an action, and sealed or unsealed with a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. If there is a flow of water on the other side, then a DC 15 Strength check is required to close the door if the water is coming from the other side.
In addition to the outer ring, there are 3 hallways taking up the rest of the area. Each hallway is 5 feet wide and has a small curve at its halfway point, resulting in a slight S shape which prevents creatures from seeing both ends of a hallway, as well as having an iron door at each intersection; two of the hallways are parallel and divide the area into thirds, while the remaining hallway is perpendicular to the first two and splits the area in half. This leaves 6 spaces in between the hallways; of these spaces, 2 are barracks with cots, 2 are storage areas (one filled with weapons, the other with cleaning and breathing equipment), 1 is a small study, and the final space is a vertical airlock for entering and exiting the area. None of these spaces has any windows, but all of them have iron doors; however, each hallway has 5 1-foot wide portholes, except for the eastern hallway which replaces them with two 20-feet wide observation windows stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
The enemies include 3 Hobgoblins, 1 Hobgoblin Captain, and 2 Warforged Veterans. Of these enemies, the 3 Hobgoblins begin the encounter asleep in their bunks; meanwhile, the Warforged Veterans both patrol the halls. The Hobgoblin Captain is awake in their study.
If the players are detected by anyone, they will sound an alarm, waking all of the enemies in the encounter, who immediately retrieve their weapons from beneath their beds. In this case, all Hobgoblin enemies are considered to be wearing Studded Leather armor, due to being sailors rather than soldiers. The Hobgoblin Captain and Warforged Veterans are unchanged.
If the players are causing enough damage, consider drawing them toward the eastern hallway; have the Hobgoblins seal off the hallway and leave a Warforged Veteran to smash one of the windows. Be warned! This is highly likely to result in a TPK if the players are not prepared to deal with the risk of drowning, and is best left to the party Fighter or Barbarian to make a heroic sacrifice should they feel the need to do so.
Conclusion
Well, that wraps up the first installation of this series! Underwater encounters certainly seem quite fun after this, and I think I'll try to bring back as many of these as possible for a future underwater adventure. I hope you'll come back next Sunday for the next round of encounters! Please, feel free to suggest desired themes for new encounters in the comments below, and have a wonderful week!
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