Merfolk and Undersea Realms in Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, etc.)

[Merman Dan]

While there is already a "Gaming Mers" thread, that discussion seemed dominated by chats about computer games, console games, CCGs, and the like. I felt a new thread was in order, to discuss undersea realms in traditional tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and similar systems.

I currently run a mid-level undersea 3.5e D&D campaign online in a chat room on Sunday nights. I am also considering running an undersea Pathfinder game.

[Merman Dan]

I have a low-mid-level Bronze Dragon whom I actually played in the World's Largest Dungeon back in 2005 (I hope you have/allow Bronze Dragons in your campaign world!). The dragon is 5th Level (meaning that they just got their electrical breath weapon at half strength); I've had plenty of time to become acquainted with and fond of the Bronze, though I am quite intrigued by your especially aquatic dragons too!

Would you be using The 3.5e Draconomicon to level your bronze dragon PC?

In my last undersea game, there was a bronze dragon NPC called Pazos. He was slain by an alu-demon who grafted the dragon's forearms to her own mangled limbs which she injured while escaping from the adventuring party.

As for the hagstone dragons: "As a gift to her daughters of elven blood, the midnight hag devised dragons unique to their domains. For the sylvan woodhags and subterranean greyhags, a host of draconic creatures appeared. For the salt hag, daughter from union with sea elves, an alliance was forged with the humble dragon turtle. Through the powers of her shapeshifting magics coupled with an infusion from her mystic heartstone, the first of the hagstone dragons; coral, pearl, and abalone emerged."

[Merman Dan]

I discussed my desire to run a Pathfinder campaign OVER HERE (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3227-Gaming-Mers-*looks-around*&p=146511&viewfull=1#post146511)

As for my current game: Having explored Turucambi Reef, the Sinking Isle, and the Jungle of Lost Ships the party acquired the third Tome of Apotheosis and a draught of Aqua Mortis, both required to restore life to the spirit hag Xaetra, who resided in an eidolon golem made of ambergris. In so doing, they hoped to weaken or destroy the blackwater hag Diadema, who held part of Xaetra's corpse in her amalgamated body.

Diadema sought to awaken three magical maelstroms, to drain the waters of the Solnor Ocean through a planar portal into a hollow cavern within the lesser moon Celene. There, the twin daughters of Dagon and Olhydra have been imprisoned by their father.


Moments after her restoration, Xaetra was called upon to ascend, to counter the influence of the Blue Coven, who in turn counseled Diadema at the bequest of Olhydra. Upon her resurrection, Xaetra’s unliving deathlock was pulled from the composite form of Diadema, leaving only the salt hag Salkt and sea hag blood magus Tempest behind.


The party learned of the covey of storm hags who sought control of the forgotten ruins and the altar upon which a sacrifice must be made, to awaken the maelstrom. The storm hags dwelt within the remains of a cloud giant’s palace on Cloudsea, a floating cloud island containing a stolen sea. WIthin the waters of Cloudsea, a leviathan known as the hydrimera had been imprisoned.


They also learned of the Ninety and Nine, a mysterious assemblage imprisoned upon a floating island, once home to the krampus, the male offspring of Xaetra. Though the krampus has recently abducted Xaetra’s last born child, the pearl-skinned Jariah, his whereabouts were unknown.


Through dreams and omens, the party learned of the Olio, a bizarre creature comprised of the dead, which now guarded the ruins below. Only the petrifying inks of the hydrimera or the killing song of the Ninety and Nine could defeat the beast.


In an epic battle, the party fought the Olio, with the aid of the hagshead eel. Though the melee was swift and fierce, they were then thrust into combat against the hydrimera, assisted by the amphisbaena eel that had assumed the mantle of Leviathan of the Devils’ Purse.


Having then faced the covey of storm hags, the party’s advance caused the stormfire hag and brimstone hag to retreat back to Cloudsea, after the death of the firewater hag at their hands.


Once the hags had been vanquished the party traveled west, to the undersea fortress of Drawmij, where it was rumored that the child Jaenan, Jariah, and a being known as the Living Song were now imprisoned. Diadema sought the Living Song, for it was the last shred of Xaetra’s physical existence, having formed from the sloughed ambergris infused with bardic magics.


Though the child Jaenan was freed, she was lost again into the Stream of Time. The Living Song was freed and befriended. The child Jariah was under the control of the unholy scion of Dagon himself and now kept company with the krampus and deathlock.


Currently the party rests in a merfolk village, in a tavern called the Highwater under the care of a salt hag known only as Mama Redfish.

[MermaidMichelle]

Would you be using The 3.5e Draconomicon to level your bronze dragon PC?

In my last undersea game, there was a bronze dragon NPC called Pazos. He was slain by an alu-demon who grafted the dragon's forearms to her own mangled limbs which she injured while escaping from the adventuring party.

I have had the Draconomicon since the month it was released in 2003, though I went a step beyond with my Bronze Dragon to ensure its advancement was as officially acceptable (and, as it turns out, difficult) as possible. I referenced the metallic dragon PC advancement chart which appeared in the June 2004 issue of DRAGON Magazine, for it specifies exactly what abilities are gained and at what level up until 20th (at which point the Bronze Dragon is mid-way between fully-fledged Young and fully-fledged Juvenile). I would be happy to send you a scan of this if you like!

Likewise, I would be happy to play with you. Play-by-post would be best for me, for as a (Roman Catholic) Carmelite Aspirant I won't always have Sunday nights free, unless you mean "night" in the sense of 10 p.m. or later. If that is the case, then I shall simply need to acquire this chat program and work out the details with you! :mermaid kiss:

P.S. Your campaign sounds exciting and well-realized; I hope things will be compatible!

[Azurin Luna]

I'm now playing Pathfinder, though I did play D&D 3,5 for quite a few years. We are now a pirate group as we are playing Pathfinder's Skulls and Shackles. I'm an Undine sorcerer with the water bloodline and I'm able to cast fireballs underwater due to my steamcaster's feat. Even though my character is level 5 I do like how she came out.

I've played a few sessions of D&D with american friends when I just started playing D&D, which made it quite hard, but I think it would work better now. That is, if you don't mind to have a European player ofcourse

[Rivertee]

I'm now playing Pathfinder, though I did play D&D 3,5 for quite a few years. We are now a pirate group as we are playing Pathfinder's Skulls and Shackles. I'm an Undine sorcerer with the water bloodline and I'm able to cast fireballs underwater due to my steamcaster's feat. Even though my character is level 5 I do like how she came out.

I've played a few sessions of D&D with american friends when I just started playing D&D, which made it quite hard, but I think it would work better now. That is, if you don't mind to have a European player ofcourse


I just finished up an epic level Undine Cleric with the water bloodline and Pharasma as my Goddess (water and healing domains). The undine are an interesting race that have a lot of abilities that go with casting feats.

[Merman Dan]

Game Night!

In last week’s game (09/07/14) the party remained within the wreck of the Enora Norray, a wooden ship which served as the lair for the ghost Pl’tax. The spectral hobgoblin was once known to the party, when they fought to gain control of the cloud island known as Cloudsea. This was the fourth ship the party had discovered to bear the name Enora Norray. Yet the shipwreck had not been twice-named, as the others.


Within the shipwreck, the party had received the gifts of Pl’tax; a pegleg made of crystal, a hooked hand made in the likeness of three tentacles, and an artificial eye which seemed as black at pitch. Each had been unwillingly bestowed upon the pirate by the storm hags of Cloudsea.


They had also received gifts from the undead skeleton known as She Who Watches. The enormous mermaid skeleton had given the party her eyes, gemstones of ruby and emerald, so long as they return her tail to Cloudsea, where the lost graveyard of the afanc, enormous intelligent fish capable of summoning whirlpools, was hidden in the Stolen Sea.


When the viletooth lizardman Dorman spoke of seagrass, it prompted Pl’yax to speak of the green flash. At that moment the emerald began to glow. Dorman remembered the words of the hobgoblin pirate. 

"Should you find my people, the Clan of the Severed Claw, you must tell them that I died bravely and with honor. My birthright shall be yours, if you do this.” The ghost began to fade into nothingness as he whispered his final words “They are a seafaring people, dwelling in a fleet of massive ships, though they now seek the waters of Phytotelma. The mystic waters may only be entered during the green flash.”


The lizardman druid examined the eyes of She Who Watches. The gems seemed to be filled with shifting sands, while the red gem seemed filled with viscous fluid. The sands in the green opal began to settle, revealing what appeared to be strands of seaweed frozen within the crystal.


The salt hag known as Mama Redfish used her new hand, forged of black metal and tipped with three tentacles, to retrieve a handful of pearls from a pouch on her belt.

"The gift of nacremancy begins with a choice." she spoke to Reiko. In her hand were pearls colored red, white, gold, black, blue, and one the hue of abalone. The half-elf child touched the pearl of red.


“Interesting. It is yours.” the hag smiled “Look into the pearl, Reiko. Fill your mind with its color.”


As Reiko looked into the pearl, Mama Redfish placed a hand upon her shoulder. In a flash of crimson, Reiko disappeared.


"The talisman is ancient and filled with mysteries.” the shrunken head Meir mumbled to herself. Having surrendered the beak of the kraken Mikros in order to accept the eye given by Pl’tax, the undead shellycoat assimilated the power of the storm hags “There.... there is more to Cloudsea than we have known. What did the mermaid say? 'The giant rests in final sleep / His home below is yours to reap.’? Then… then there is another tomb in Cloudsea!”


Without warning, Mama Redfish vanished in a cloud as red as blood. She joined Reiko to guide her upon her journey through the Path of Pearls. Together they traveled to a monster’s lair and the chamber of a sleeping mermaid, using glimmering portals within the pearls themselves.


"Mama told us not to worry." Meir explained “I believe the pearls act as a gateway for those with the skill for nacremancy. I have seen similar magics with mirrors.”


As her journey concluded, Reiko was left with a choice of two portals. One led directly to her friends while the other led to an elderly male sea elf being pursued by a hammerhead shark.


When the oceanid NeeKaa spoke of the Region of Dreams, her specialty as a Oneironamncer, Meir spoke once more.


“Dreams... What was it the octopus Dofleni told us? ‘The pale hag sleeps. The Sleeping Opal holds a frozen dream’ “


As NeeKaa took the gem from Dorman’s grasp, she found the opal felt like ice in her hand. The green strands within the opal seemed to be miniature strands of kelp. Other inclusions, the size of grains of sand, appeared to be colored orange, silver, and gray. In the center of the gem, a white speck was seen.


Warmed by the blue flames of Phosphyre, summoned by the tiefling mermaid Hana, a doorway was opened.


Without warning, NeeKaa found herself in a sea blanketed by strands of kelp. Orange garibaldi fish, silver lookdown fish, and gray wolffish swam here. The oceanid knew this magic. The gem was a pocket dimension not unlike the Tidepool she now commanded.


In the center of the forest of kelp, a lone figure slept. Lusca the Bloodless was unmoving, asleep in a translucent mucus cocoon. The albino tauric sea hag had a bite wound on her neck. She also wore an unusual necklace made of glass-like coral.

[MermaidMichelle]

I appreciate the update (and assume that your recap of Sept. 7th bled into the description of what happened on Sept. 14th), but if I am to join your group I shall need contact information. Shall I PM you?

I don't know exactly what your chat program is or how it works, but depending upon what time you play Sunday night I and my Bronze Dragon should be able to show up for it....

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

I just finished reading through the D&D player's handbook (what, is this 5th edition or something... whichever)... I think it tried to do some good things and be more flexible, but it also comes off as rather bland. That said, the deities section DOES mention both Eadro (god of the merfolk) and Deep Sashelas (god of the sea elves and dolphins), along with Zeboim (Dragonlance goddess of sea storms), Umberlee (Forgotten Realms goddess of sea storms), Poseidon, Njord, Habbakuk (dragonlance god of animals and sea life), but it doesn't have a separate clerical domain for the sea, exactly... all the sea gods are given either the Nature (primarily involving plants or animals) or Tempest (primarily involving lightning) domains, which are also shared by various Earth, druidic, judgment and sky gods.

That said, has anyone read the Pathfinder "Blood of _____" series of guidebooks? Blood of Fiends was good fun for exploring tieflings and the possibilities involved (I'd really love to make one descended from a drowning devil a.k.a. sarglagon), Blood of Angels went into a lot more detail on different kinds of aasimar, Blood of the Moon introduced Skinwalkers and a bunch of rules for people descended from different kinds of lycanthropes/therianthropes, including weresharks, Blood of the Elements explored the geniekind (Sulis, Sylphs, Oreads, Ifrits, and Undine), and Blood of the Night explored the possibility of vampire characters and various kinds of dhampir. I'm hoping for a Blood of Dragons, Blood of the Fey, and maybe a Blood of the Sea for marine hybrids and human-merfolk offspring.

[MermaidMichelle]

I'm always one to go "full"; ie. I have played a dragon, a succubus, and a Trumpet Archon ('angel') yet never any half-bloods. However, before I sound too much like a Malfoy, I must say that playing someone descended from a celestial is especially appealing to me. Type II Angel Encounters (read the Deuterocanonical Book of Tobit for an example in the form of the Archangel Raphael) are of angels disguised as humans, yet Type IIIs (arguably John the Baptist and Joan of Arc) are of angels in human form sans memory and usually sans access to miraculous powers (at least at first). I wonder if one could use such a half-blood template to play as something like that....

[Merman Dan]

I was watching a live video feed from an underwater ROV (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html), when they came across a venus flytrap anemone. It reminded me of an NPC in my game.

24621

The Prophet A'nan - Years ago, a child was born to the Tribe Farosh, a small band of humans which live upon a single spire. The child, in his infancy, would not develop as would his peers, for he had shown signs of "the stiffening", a disabling palsy. The elder shaman of the Farosh, claiming to have foreseen the coming of the child in dreams and omens, sacrificed the infant on the night when both moons shone full. Casting the child into the open ocean, the shaman claimed that the boy was A'nan, an undying prophet whose people would suffer a terrible plague. The elder shaman hoped, that by sacrificing the child, he would alter his premonition.


Years later, stories emerged regarding the emergence of the anemoid, a race of diminutive humanoid anemones. Their leader, whom they called A'nan, had been nurtured by a giant anemone. The boy and anemone had bonded, gifting the child with the ability to survive beneath the waves and immunity to the toxins of sea creatures. The anemone flourished, as it partook of the child's remarkable intellect. The anemoid claim that their founding members were born from A'nan himself, having grown from buds which separated from his body. The anemoid have recently counted clerics among their numbers.

[Merman Dan]

I appreciate the update (and assume that your recap of Sept. 7th bled into the description of what happened on Sept. 14th), but if I am to join your group I shall need contact information. Shall I PM you?
I don't know exactly what your chat program is or how it works, but depending upon what time you play Sunday night I and my Bronze Dragon should be able to show up for it....

PM will work fine. :)

IRC is a chat protocol that one can either access with a client app or a simple web interface.

The game is run from 8pm-11pm (Eastern) on Sundays.

[MermaidMichelle]

Ah, thank you for getting back to me...but I really can't play at that time. As a religious, Sundays are usually my busiest, and between the potential evening service and Christian film showing it would be just a bit too awkward. I really do appreciate the opportunity, though! :mermaid kiss:

[Miyu]

Ooh, I'm enjoying the updates! I'm still a little nervous to jump in to the game myself, as I'm still really, really new to tabletops (though I do love them so)... I never can seem to find more than one person to play a full session with me, so I've only played two real sessions (though I count it as one, because it was a weekend). I'm still very lost on all the fancy-shmancy classes and races you guys are talking about, it's been a very long time since I got to look at even a basic D&D book...

[maressa]

Commenting to follow! :) All the local campaigns are full but I'm looking to hop into one when there's an opening.

[Merman Dan]

Game Night!

In last week’s game (10/19/14) the party returned to the Highwater, the inn and tavern which served the merfolk village of Tridacna. The village was the closest settlement to the undersea fortress of the archmage Drawmij, where the party had both located the amorphous ooze known as the Living Song and lost their companion Jaenan into the Stream of Time.


The proprietress of the Highwater, a salt hag known simply as Mama Redfish, had recently joined the party on an excursion to the Cave of Secrets, where the ghost of the pirate Pl’tax haunted the shipwreck of the Enora Norray. Retrieving the tentacle-clawed hook of the hobgoblin ghost, Mama Redfish was once again capable of commanding nacremancy, the magic of pearls.


As the party rested, three mysterious creatures entered the tavern. All seemed to be pseudomorphs, creatures crafted of ink.


"There is a small island off Sybarate Isle, home of the Sea Princes. It hosts a sizable protected harbor." the inkling shaped in the form of a mermaid had spoken "The land is filled with poisonous plant life and the waters are said to be home to a monster. The mad hag awaits in exile, safe from the Sinking Isle. Safe with the Eye of Oblivion, twin to Eyebite. Safe beyond death.”


"Aiptasia was known by her sisters as the Mad Hag, in days gone by” the undead shrunken head Meir interjected "If you will recall, it was Aiptasia who surrendered the pearl from which Jariah was born. If memory serves she was vampiric, at least in part. Perhaps she had fully embraced undeath, for I swear she had died in the waters of the Sinking Isle.”


Once the inklings had departed, the merman Varian, who tended the patrons of the Highwater in the salt hag’s absence, served inkwine trapped within semi-solid bubbles.


A lone sea sprite playing music on a flute fashioned from a conical shell was joined by shrimpie, diminutive cousin to the crabman, who plucked out notes on metal strips attached to a sea turtle's skull. To the rhythm of the thumb harp, the young sea sprite began her song. The words were in an unfamiliar tongue, an ancient tongue, yet the melody was inspiring nonetheless. The two were joined by the newcomer Harven, who produced an ornate stringed instrument for the occasion.


"The tail of She Who Watches is still in our possession." Meir began, speaking of the skeletal mermaid that dwelt within the Enora Norray. “We must carry it to the Stolen Sea to fulfill our promise to the afanc. I sense Cloudsea is near but we need to once again summon the waterspout which will carry us skyward.”


As Mama Redfish returned to her kitchen the sea sprite swam, trailing luminous sea sparkle in her wake. The room was soon aglow with swirls and designs.