wisdom at a celestial’s aerie, creating encounters in the

Aces High sky generally comes with the assumption of a higher

level. Dragons, wyverns and the like come to mind.

This doesn’t have to be the case. Further, encounters

Environment Monsters
Aerial
originating from above can be applied to any envi-
Sky Raider Goblins (3)
Sky Raider Bats (3)
ronment where space is available. Consider urban
Suggested level
2 — Hard
rooftops, open plains, mountainous regions and open
Scale up — add 1-2 of each Treasure seas as other viable locations for an aerial attack.
monster per character level Grenados Massive caves and canyons could also be perfectly
suitable locations for such encounters. Additionally,
combining lower level foes in an interesting way can
Introduction create memorable encounters.

Aerial encounters, rare and special scenarios, require Aces High is written with an airship in mind, but feel
a bit more imagination than a standard land based free to change the location as you need. Anywhere
encounter. Whether travelling on an airship of some with space for flying creatures to attack from above
sort, wandering the lands of a cloud giant or seeking is suitable.

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Aces High
Description Should they dismount and engage in melee, they carry
shortswords and always have their light crossbows.
A cool wind blows across the deck of the airship
as it glides through broken cloud cover. The sun In addition, the Banshees carry a new weapon,
sets aglow upon the ship though the passing mists. grenados. The Banshees also have parachutes in case
Moisture glistens on the surfaces, and mists dance their mounts are killed, so it’s possible the party may
through the rigging. meet Skeeve’s Banshees again later, or if Skeeve is
defeated perhaps another sky raider goblin steps into
Characters who look up past the envelope (or bal- the role of leader.
loon, depending how airships work in your campaign
setting) of the ship to examine the clouds see strange The sky raider goblins will not dismount until they
irregular shadows appear from above. think it’s safe or until Skeeve orders them to do so.
They would rather escape a strong opponent than
dismount and face anyone in melee. The swords are
Before they can shout a warning, riders on mon-
a last ditch weapon when they have boarded and are
strous winged creatures pass by in a flash. Crossbow
looking for treasure and other loot.
bolts pepper the deck like rain, and two ceramic
spheres crash upon the deck, exploding into flames.
The Banshees attack in slashes. Sky raider bats have
Skeeve’s Banshees have launched an assault and they
a normal flight speed of 60 feet, but if they are in a
circle around for another pass!
dive then the bats use the Dash action to move 120
feet past the ship, with the sky raider goblins attack-
Skeeve’s ambitions reach far beyond his goblin kin.
ing midway as they pass the ship. Their speed makes
Building on their natural affinity with rats and
it challenging for characters to make attacks against
wolves to great advantage, Skeeve and his fellow them. Characters have a difficult time determining
sky raider goblins trained massive bats as flying the target between the sky raider bat and the sky
mounts. Calling themselves the Banshees, they have raider goblin during a pass. During a slash, attacks
been raiding airships for months now with great suc- against a sky raider goblin or sky raider bat are made
cess and have improved their tactics over time. with disadvantage.

The Banshees attack in waves called “slashes.” They Accuracy with alchemist’s fire during a slash is simi-
Flyby targets and focus more on creating mayhem larly difficult. When a sky raider bat drops an alche-
for as long as possible before attacking the ship’s mist’s fire, determine the target randomly. The target
occupants. Getting away with as much treasure as must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw to
possible informs their every action. avoid the blast. Alchemist’s fire deals 1d4 fire dam-
age, with an additional 1d4 at the start of each of
Banshees ride sky raider bats equipped with goblin the target’s turns unless they succeed on a DC 10
sized saddles, with the Banshee symbol — a Dexterity check and use an action to extinguish the
white skull with bat wings — painted on both wings. flames. However, if an alchemist’s fire misses, the
The sky raider bats hold ceramic pots loaded with ship begins to burn at whatever location it lands.
alchemist’s fire in each claw, trained to drop them This creates its own series of problems.
when given the right signal by their sky raider goblin
pilot. The Banshees meanwhile target the deck and fire at
anything moving. They are experienced at attacking
The Banshees are strapped into their saddles so they in this manner, so their attacks with light crossbows
won’t fall out — Skeeve is nobody’s fool — and carry during a slash are not made with disadvantage. If
light crossbows. They wear leather pilot helmets they direct the sky raider bats to Flyby the target
with white bat wings painted on each side, goggles airship at normal fly speed, they can also throw a
and red scarves. grenado.

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Aces High
Grenados are a new weapon. They are a black pow- Characters have access to all sorts of abilities, fea-
der weapon with a new concept — weapon initiative. tures and magic to engage with Skeeve’s Banshees in
Grenados can be thrown and have a range of 30 feet, different ways. Spells like animal friendship cast on
so the Banshees must fly close. When a grenado is one of the sky raider bats can dramatically alter the
thrown, roll initiative for it. The grenado explodes scenario. And many characters have a penchant for
on its next turn. That means it may explode next, or collecting creatures and monsters as pets, so consid-
last, or not even until the next turn. Grenados win er how the dynamic may change if the Banshees have
any initiative ties. to contend with mayhem of their own when their
mounts turn against them. Charming the beast is
When a grenado detonates, it has a blast radius of one thing. It will be hard and take a successful DC 20
10 feet, and creatures caught in the explosion must Wisdom (Animal Handling) check at the very least to
succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking calm and potentially mount a sky raider bat.
1d6 piercing and 1d6 fire damage on a failed save, or
half as much on a successful one. The grenado also Skeeve is a crafty goblin, too, and he might parley
ignites flammable materials in the blast radius. with the party under the right circumstances. Gob-
lins are greedy and malicious, and delight in having
the upper hand. Trying to trick Skeeve with a show
Complications of surrender might not be the best approach. But a
chance for greater power of some kind would cer-
Loads. There are two different ways for the ship to tainly pique the interest of the Banshee gang leader.
catch fire. The Basic Rules provide guidelines on
object damage, to help determine how airships and
other vehicles can be damaged. However, you can have
separate areas of the ship burn with different effects.

If the envelope (or balloon) of an airship starts to

burn, there’s a real issue. This same thing applies if
magical sails hold the ship aloft. What happens or
how fast the fire spreads is up to you, but it’s a great
way to build tension in the fight between slashes by
the Banshees.

Characters next to the rails can be knocked or

thrown overboard using the guidelines for Shoving
a Creature. Using the Attack action, a creature can
make a special melee attack to shove a creature, ei-
ther to knock it prone or push it away. If you’re able
to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this
attack replaces one of them.

The target must be no more than one size larger than

you and must be within your reach. Instead of mak-
ing an attack roll, you make a Strength (Athletics)
check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or
Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the
ability to use). You succeed automatically if the target
is incapacitated. If you succeed, you either knock the
target prone or push it 5 feet away from you.

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Aces High
 This encounter could also begin
a whole tradition of humanoid/
mount combos, depending on the
challenge required. Orcs on grif-
fons, hobgoblins on wyverns or
sprites on giant wasps are a few
possibilities. The sky is the limit —
pun intended.

A great thing about encounters

at low levels is the tremendous
impact they have on the party
of adventurers. They may come
to hate goblins henceforth. They
might witness terror as ship’s oc-
cupants fall to their doom or even
lose a companion themselves.
They could wind up with a pet
giant bat.

Particularly if Aces High is part of

your first session of a new cam-
paign, you may find the players
so engaged that it becomes the
campaign itself. Consider a fresh
Alternatively, Skeeve might start on travelling the route may hire group of adventurers beginning
off the Banshees’ attack with mercenaries for protection, and a campaign aboard an airship en
threats in attempts to intimidate adventurers with some experience route to a fantastic city where
the party into giving up treasure against the Banshees would find a surely they’ll earn fame and for-
so that there is no fight. great opportunity. Characters may tune.
very well try to find the Banshee’s
The direction you want to take hideout and put a stop to their A run in with Skeeve’s Banshees
this encounter is up to you. Skeeve raiding all on their own.
could very well take them in an
is more than an average goblin,
entirely different direction al-
with more than average goals and Maybe Skeeve is in a sticky situa-
together. And that’s okay! If the
skills. Feel free to give character tion himself, with more dangerous
players in your game become
class features if you want to ramp monsters bullying the Banshees
up the encounter or to make him into paying tribute. Larger cousins immersed with an encounter, and
a reoccuring villain. If any of the like bugbears and hobgoblins could take away new goals, motivations
Banshees escape, they’ll almost be the culprit here, or a manticore, and interests from the experience,
certainly raid the skies another day. a hill giant — you name it. congratulations.

Stories of their wickedness The party might have forewarn- It’s my hope that Skeeve’s Ban-
spreads, and airship travel routes ing of the attack and are the hired shees creates an exciting and
may be altered or heavily patrolled. hands of nobles in an effort to colorful encounter for your airship
Nobles or merchants who depend thwart this band of Banshees. campaign. Enjoy!

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Aces High