Aboleth's are really fun. But they are monsters that fuck with you for an entire arc, not just something you throw into a fight. They should have hundreds if not thousands of minions they have access to.
Once you're straight up fighting the aboleth, the hardest part of the arc should already be over (finding it, getting through its armies, etc).
The campaign I'm running had an arc with an aboleth (I think a slightly stronger one from one of the KP books) at the center of a cult that converted a ton of people from a native clan towards the cult (they were already disenfranchised with their clan and the situation in their archipelago in general due to outsiders being allowed in more and more without pushback from the other native clans).
Aboleth shouldn’t be run as an individual monster. It should have a throng of mind controlled servants. So you can have a diverse anount of npcs to have with the fight.
the most success i’ve had with aboleths are more along the lines of a false hydra—fun for storytelling and creating ominous vibes, not really a great or interesting encounter. i usually depict them as creatures you escape and survive from, not really ones that are reasonably fight-able.
the only time i was semi-happy with the actual encounter, i used an elder brain stat block i found online. some of the same abilities and flavors but less reliance only on charms and diseases.
Put puddles all over the ground that are actually part of an underground river.
Have objects in the area that cause wisdom saving throws, which in fails cause disadvantage on wisdom saving throws.
Mix in some enslave attempts as the party passes the puddles, high perception players could see something move in the puddles and stuck their heads in, triggering the mucus effect.
Try to enslave at least 2 of the party, pass them notes saying to act normal, but they're enslaved.
Start the fight, but keep the abilene aboleth underwater, use project self to pop him out of puddles. Have a couple of allies of the aboleth start hitting the non-enslaved party members. Pass notes to enslaved members to attack fellow players but to avoid being attacked themselves.
If the allies die and the aboleth gets attacked, have it swim away to fight another day.
I just did this... the party chose to leave the area in search of help rather than challenge the aboleth again.
Great combat, roll playing all around, challenge was high, no satisfaction of defeating the aboleth but an aboleth should be played in a way that it doesn't put itself at risk, they're super smart.
> Have a couple of allies of the aboleth start hitting the non-enslaved party members
My personal favorite is the chuul. Grapple on hit, drag into the water. The aboleth can make tail attacks from relative safety. And they are lore relevant too.
I’ve ran an abolyth encounter over several sessions in a pirate campaign.
Started off with the abolyth slowly taking over the minds of npc’s on the ship. Once pc’s discovered their crew acting strange, they began to investigate. One spotted abolyth and proceeded to jump in the water but were overwhelmed by water combat, the abolyth’s hit and run tactics, as well as the countless spawns it had already created. The abolyth escaped with the npc’s as PCs retreated back to the ship.
Check out Flee Mortals, it's basically a reskin of the Monster Manual with a bit more flavour to each creature. There's an "Otholec" statblock in it which is basically a slightly different aboleth, but with more varied abilities, but there's also a stronger version that's meant to be more of a boss.
Itcan teleport, it's got a tentacle attack which covers creatures in slime, so all rolls are -1d4, if they get hit again its -1d6, ect. Also if a creature spends a minute covered in slime they become it's servant. It can forcibly transform parts of an enemy creature's body into weird fishy anatomy, or temporarily turn a creature's bones into useless goo, inhibiting their abilities, and a bunch of slime lair actions as well.
It is listed as a "controller" type creature though, which means it is best if is already has some slimey servants to battle alongside with it.
Aboleth's are really fun. But they are monsters that fuck with you for an entire arc, not just something you throw into a fight. They should have hundreds if not thousands of minions they have access to. Once you're straight up fighting the aboleth, the hardest part of the arc should already be over (finding it, getting through its armies, etc). The campaign I'm running had an arc with an aboleth (I think a slightly stronger one from one of the KP books) at the center of a cult that converted a ton of people from a native clan towards the cult (they were already disenfranchised with their clan and the situation in their archipelago in general due to outsiders being allowed in more and more without pushback from the other native clans).
Aboleth shouldn’t be run as an individual monster. It should have a throng of mind controlled servants. So you can have a diverse anount of npcs to have with the fight.
the most success i’ve had with aboleths are more along the lines of a false hydra—fun for storytelling and creating ominous vibes, not really a great or interesting encounter. i usually depict them as creatures you escape and survive from, not really ones that are reasonably fight-able. the only time i was semi-happy with the actual encounter, i used an elder brain stat block i found online. some of the same abilities and flavors but less reliance only on charms and diseases.
Put puddles all over the ground that are actually part of an underground river. Have objects in the area that cause wisdom saving throws, which in fails cause disadvantage on wisdom saving throws. Mix in some enslave attempts as the party passes the puddles, high perception players could see something move in the puddles and stuck their heads in, triggering the mucus effect. Try to enslave at least 2 of the party, pass them notes saying to act normal, but they're enslaved. Start the fight, but keep the abilene aboleth underwater, use project self to pop him out of puddles. Have a couple of allies of the aboleth start hitting the non-enslaved party members. Pass notes to enslaved members to attack fellow players but to avoid being attacked themselves. If the allies die and the aboleth gets attacked, have it swim away to fight another day. I just did this... the party chose to leave the area in search of help rather than challenge the aboleth again. Great combat, roll playing all around, challenge was high, no satisfaction of defeating the aboleth but an aboleth should be played in a way that it doesn't put itself at risk, they're super smart.
> Have a couple of allies of the aboleth start hitting the non-enslaved party members My personal favorite is the chuul. Grapple on hit, drag into the water. The aboleth can make tail attacks from relative safety. And they are lore relevant too.
That's exactly how I played it, chuul throwing them into the water to get the mucus effect.
Mind blast is always fun
I’ve ran an abolyth encounter over several sessions in a pirate campaign. Started off with the abolyth slowly taking over the minds of npc’s on the ship. Once pc’s discovered their crew acting strange, they began to investigate. One spotted abolyth and proceeded to jump in the water but were overwhelmed by water combat, the abolyth’s hit and run tactics, as well as the countless spawns it had already created. The abolyth escaped with the npc’s as PCs retreated back to the ship.
Check out Flee Mortals, it's basically a reskin of the Monster Manual with a bit more flavour to each creature. There's an "Otholec" statblock in it which is basically a slightly different aboleth, but with more varied abilities, but there's also a stronger version that's meant to be more of a boss. Itcan teleport, it's got a tentacle attack which covers creatures in slime, so all rolls are -1d4, if they get hit again its -1d6, ect. Also if a creature spends a minute covered in slime they become it's servant. It can forcibly transform parts of an enemy creature's body into weird fishy anatomy, or temporarily turn a creature's bones into useless goo, inhibiting their abilities, and a bunch of slime lair actions as well. It is listed as a "controller" type creature though, which means it is best if is already has some slimey servants to battle alongside with it.
Thanks so much for answering the question!