Terrain Tuesday! Fisherman Fluff

Yesterday we introduced you to Ewan McHook! He’s Waterdeep’s best boat builder, carpenter, and expert fisherman all rolled into one big hunk of a fella. Now our manly mariner needs a little scatter terrain to make any encounter with ’em feel a bit more…fishy.

So we dropped another hook in the STL Miniatures sea and reeled in the perfect piece from their Fish Vendor Set. Again, for us, any NPC setup is about quantity so don’t try to do too much in the short amount of session prep time you have. Pick the right starting piece and then just add more to it in a future print and paint sesh.

We immediately gravitated to this cool creature container, accompanied by sea critters and a heavy fish net! It’s the perfect backdrop for ol’ Ewan McHook’s bustling business affairs. This piece is unique and helps pull the party into the scene.

Our newly built NPC’s father was an avid seadog so he’s grown up around the ocean his entire life. Ewan then became a self-taught carpenter so he could build and repair his own sea vessel (as well as do the same for others on the side). We gave him a Scottish accent just to top off the flavor here.

DM Ben wanted to create a quick list of bullets that demonstrate how this NPC might impact the overall campaign. DM’s need easy references and subtle reminders when the group engages others in town or poof go the ideas.

• Rescue his lost boy Shamus from the spooky old lady in the woods.
• Receive a reward in the form of his services to repair the group’s new hideout.
• Commandeer a vessel should the party ever need a ride on the sea.
• Offer a couple of items for sale to aid their adventures (see below).

And it’s this last bullet that we wanted to invest some more brain cells.

It seems like ol’ Ewan McHook never sleeps. He just can’t hold still and is always looking for his next gold piece. As such, he has a few water-themed items that he can sell the group from time to time:

• Handmade fishhooks (grant adv on any applicable survivor checks) | 100 gp
• Gillbane Net (see Reddit post but tweaking the stats) | 800 gp
• Masterwork shark teeth daggers (+1 to attack, extra d4 to damage) | 400 gp
• Sea Snake Venom to counteract most poisons | 50 gp
• Octopus & squid inks for spell books (the best of the best; never dries out)
• Rare pearls for the Identify spell component (grants the spell twice a day) | 125 gp
• Turtle Shell Bracers (+1 to AC with no armor or shield equipped) | 900 gp
• Potion of Water Breathing | 180 gp
• Monster harvest buyer | will buy certain elements of water-themed kills

To keep the group guessing and coming back, DM Ben advises sprinkling these items in rather than making them all available at once.

Lastly, Ewan’s seafaring business still needed a name so we went with, “Hook, Line & Sinker” – the very name DM Ben’s dad used for his fishing store back in West Bend, WI waaaaaaay back in the 80s. Nostalgia for the win, people. 😉