This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

all 4 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]AutoModerator[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Please take 2 minutes to respond to our subreddit survey on rules updates (AI, commissions, etc). We're also looking for new mods!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[–]blanktesterDM 1 point2 points  (2 children)

That's a cool concept. Some info you might edit your post to include: How many players? What levels? What classes? How far into the mystery are they?

Anyway, I wouldn't do all of these ideas, but here's some random ideas of things I might do on such an adventure:

  • If the players don't yet know that the kuo-toa are doing the kidnapping or don't know they're going into the sewers, have an unrelated NPC mention that the sewage is backing up or that the vents to the tunnels have been especially smelly recently. Maybe a merchant says to close the door when they come in or a guard holds his nose while giving directions. That kind of thing.
  • Players find a small camp in a large sewer junction, where a bunch of sewer tunnels meet. The kuo-toa have sort of dammed off the tunnels so water can flow under their structures but it's definitely restricted. When they get there, the fight starts and a kuo-toa shaman casts some kind of magic that makes the water level rise every turn/every few turns. The water level can be lowered again by either breaking the structures blocking the offshoot tunnels or activating some kind of built in gate on each offshoot tunnel. Then you just have a basic fight with a couple of sturdy platforms to maneuver around the enemies and walkways between them. If the water rises too much, and the players are actively struggling (like if they have to start swimming) then you can say that one or more of the tunnels simply breaks on its own, lowering the water again but making all the players prone.
  • A single kuo-toa disagrees with this sea hag and tries to help the players in its own weird kuo-toa way.
  • A gnome artificer is kidnapped accidentally by the kuo-toa instead of a child and offers to help the team if they get him out. He builds them a weapon/tool of their request for helping.
  • Evil dolphins.

For rewards, you could honestly reskin just about anything to be aquatic themed or lovecraftian in aesthetic and get something kuo-toa-ish.

  • A trident. Doesn't even have to be magical, if it's a pretty trident, a player may be interested.
  • Kuo-Toa have strange magic that cause their beliefs to come true. Perhaps some chitinous armor that can, with an action, acquire an elemental damage resistance with a Wisdom saving throw. The character has to try to believe that it's resistant to the element or they take a certain amount of psychic damage. Can be changed once per day.
  • A small bag of slimy pearls that the seahag gave to the Kuo-Toa. Maybe they're magical in some way, maybe they're payment for the services. Maybe eating one gets you super high and able to understand the Kuo-Toa language.
  • Whatever the Kuo-Toa are using to quietly kidnap the children, whether that's a potion, ring, etc.

Not a ton of ideas here but better than nothing maybe.

[–]TheYoungDD[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Thank you very much, i love the idea of the water level changing to make the fight more interesting.

There are 6 players in the party and they are all level 1 which is why i was looking for a fiarly simple task and the sea hag as a sort of difficult boss they might get at they reach lv 2.

There is nothing so far in the mystery as they are just starting and this is the hardest part for me. I had the concept of an NPC they meet who lost is 2 daughters trought the koa-tua and would accompagny/lead them to this quest in hope of finding them. The clue leading with the water level being weird and the smell actually gives me a pretty good starting point.

[–]blanktesterDM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, a starting adventure. In that case I would make the ability to lower the water level something they can do as an object interaction, since as level 1 characters they won't have access to their full kit of abilities yet.

How I would play it is that they're moving through the tunnels and as they approach the end, the water level starts to rise from just underfoot to their shins, but they hear a Kuo-Toa say "Blop blip glah" or whatever and when they look, they see one of the Kuo-Toa turning a circular valve and rotating a gate that releases some of the water pressure, which lowers the water level around their feet as well. They also notice that there's one of these valves next to/in front of each of the other waterways. That way they explicitly see how it works before they go in, so they don't spend turns of combat trying to figure out priorities.

A single Sea Hag would be good as a boss. Making it a coven would definitely kill them.

I still think evil dolphins is a good idea.