Ghosts of Saltmarsh DM's Bundle New creatures, adventures, tables and maps for use with the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. Credits & Legal Writing, Editing and Layout: Mark A. Wilson Acknowledgements: Maps created using Dungeon Designer 3 by ProFantasy Software. Cover image and all internal artwork was obtained on Pixabay and is released under Creative Commons CC0. My thanks to the Reddit creator community for the D&D visual assets and fonts used on the cover. D&D cover fonts are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Mark's other work can be found on his website, Bumbling Through Dungeons Legal: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laSamplews of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the materia l or artwfileork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. ©2020 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. Manufactured by Hasbro SA, Rue Emile-Boéchat 31, 2800 Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK. Table Of Contents Pg. 4 - Alternate Hooks & Adventures Pg. 7 - Aquatic Creature Compendium Pg. 12 - Ship & Sailor Names Pg. 14 - Nautical Nonsense Chart Maps are included as separate files Sample file Alternative Hooks & Adventures Using This Resource Room/Encounter Adjustments: This document outlines alternative hooks and adventures for Room 15: This is where Iouna is being held captive, the maps included in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. These can be instead of Ned (who is removed from this adventure). used outside of the Saltmarsh adventure, or incorporated Iouna is familiar with the secret doors from rooms into it. Some are relatively minor hooks that will not 20 to 21, and 21 to 25. She will share this constitute a full adventure. Others will take longer to resolve, knowledge to try to goad the party into an and may be used as standalone adventures. Dungeon encounter with Sanbalet. She remains unaware of Masters are encouraged to mix and match ideas to best suit the secret entrance to 24. the needs of their table. Conclusion: The fisherman will offer them 5d10 gp, most Wherever possible, I tried to keep the layout, room of his life savings, and a few trinkets rolled from your furnishings and even enemies the same as in the book, to favorite trinket table. facilitate easy integration with the existing Saltmarsh location descriptions. However, when encounters or descriptions change to facilitate the new hook, they are Fungal Growth indicated in this supplement. Map: 2.3 Sea Ghost APL: 2 Hook: The Sea Ghost’s first mate, Bloody Bjorn, was the Encounter Adjustments only escapee from a strange series of events on his ship. After The new hooks and encounters are largely intended discovering a patch of mushrooms growing in the wood of to be balanced for the same average party level one of the decks, the crew quickly removed the worst of them (APL) as they exist in the official adventure. and threw them into the sea. However, as they were doing However, an APL key is included for each new this, the mushrooms produced a spore cloud which infected hook to account for variations to this. the ship’s inhabitants. Within minutes, several of the crew In general, the APLs listed assume a group of were acting erratically and Bjorn was forced to flee with five players. Minor adjustments may need to be some of the crew’s gold to seek out those who could aid him. made to account for differences in level or player A local alchemist has seen these effects and sold Bjorn a count. dozen potions that reverse the effects. Having heard of a local group of adventurers, he’s eager for their assistance. He’ll hesitantly offer a gold reward, going as high as 500gp depending on the party’s negotiating. Adventure Summary: The potions can be force-fed to living The Fisherman's Daughter enemies, once they are grappled, with a successful melee Map: 2.1 Haunted House and 2.2 Haunted attack. They can also be fed to unconscious enemies. Bjorn House Cellar and Caverns can get the party onto the ship, at which point the crew are zombie-like with patches of fungal growth on their forms. APL: 1 However, they will not attack immediately. This will give the party at least one surprise round of their choice. Once the Hook: A local fisherman was powerless to stop his daughter, first of the crew has been turned by the potions, the entire Iouna, from falling in with a gang of thieves. Last night, she crew will be alerted to the danger and will attack on sight. came to her senses, but instead of being allowed to leave the Any crew who are fed the potion will pass out and be group, was kidnapped. The group is led by a would-be wizard unconscious or severely groggy for 1d4 hours. named Sanbalet. If the party will rescue her, he’ll reward them with what little gold he has, and his eternal gratitude. Room/Encounter Adjustments: The fisherman can point them toward the abandoned house they call a base, which is far enough outside Saltmarsh Room 9: The chest contains only five electrum ingots, as jurisdiction that the local guards won’t deal with it. Bjorn took the others to pay for the potions. Room 13: The brass box is no longer beneath the bed, as Adventure Summary: While many of the enemies remain Bjorn took it to pay for the potions. the same, the mission is one of rescue and escape. Once they Room 14: Oceanus remained unaffected by the spore locate Iouna, she’ll request that they kill Sanbalet for his cloud, but was unable to escape. betrayal, and will offer to lead the party to him. In return, she In addition to any other information he gives the promises them several hundred gold. This is a lie, which party, Oceanus will be able to share rumors of she’ll Samplefreely admit once Sanbalet is killed. Failing this, she’ll spore clouds and malevfileolent fungi in The Drowned claim to know a sea exit from the house (which is the truth) Forest. He does not know the Abyssal origins of that may help them avoid pursuit. In truth, it is to bring them these phenomena, but the information may be used near Sanbalet’s room. to seed further adventures in the area. 4 Stop the Summons Ambush on the Waves Map: 3.1 Lizardfolk Lair Map: 4.1 Emperor of the Waves APL: 3 APL: 4 Hook: A amateur conjurer named Obbleroy recently Hook: A barnacle-crusted human walks into Saltmarsh and discovered a powerful tome capable of summoning a is taken into guard custody. He bears a warning from the powerful demon. Before he was able to alert those who could Lady of Rot, Zuggtmoy, that the region has been claimed by destroy it, his home outside of Saltmarsh was raided and the her to expand her glorious realm of decay. As an example of tome stolen. Obbleroy tracked the tome back to a lizardfolk her power, the crew of the Emperor of the Waves has been lair approximately 10 miles along the coast from Saltmarsh. destroyed and the boat claimed as her own. He is eager to see is returned and ultimately destroyed, and Two days later, the ship will be spotted floating adrift. Its will offer a band of adventurers 500gp and a minor magical former captain, Aubreck Drallion, has a large fortune in staff as recompense. Additionally, he knows the lizardfolk to promissory notes on the ship that he is eager to get back. He not be overtly hostile toward other humanoids. Thus, he was will approach the party as outlined in the book, and the surprised at the attack, and is hopeful that the situation can Saltmarsh Council will also approach them to reclaim the be rectified without bloodshed. He will provide the name of vessel and investigate any attack that was made on it. the lizardfolk queen and suggest a diplomatic course of Adventurers who view the messenger will see similarities action to begin. in characteristics to the spore-controlled crew members from the “Fungal Growth” adventure in this collection. Adventure Summary: The lizardfolk queen, Othokent, is unaware of the raid. Secretly, one of her shamans, an evil Adventure Summary: The warning from the messenger is a priest named Silponesh, who is a traditionalist and not loyal calculated trap, designed to draw the area’s most powerful to the queen took a small group of traditionalists on the raid. adventurers to the ship before sinking it with them aboard. For background on these factions, refer to the introductory The giant octopus that ultimately destroys the ship is notes in Chapter 3 of Ghosts of Saltmarsh. This hook may be similarly under Zuggtmoy’s sway. The party can be escorted run alongside existing hooks in the book. to the ship as per instructions in the book. Silponesh hopes to summon and control the demon to seize control over the lizardfolk community. During the Room/Encounter Adjustments: adventure, he will be in the process of preparing the ritual. Make the following creature replacements.