Tuna-of-the-Eternal-Waters

The subject of the "Tuna-of-the-Eternal-Waters" came up in another thread, so I thought it may be interesting to convert this creature to 3.5e stats and possibly send it into Paizo (I was thinking of their "Wandering Monsters" section in Dungeon); in any case, I think it will be a fun excercise. Thanks to Echohawk, we have the original stats:

From "The Mythos of Polynesia in Dungeons & Dragons" by Jerome Arkenberg in Dragon #20:

TUNA-OF-THE-ETERNAL-WATERS
Armor Class: -1
Magic Ability: See Below
Move: 22”
Fighter Ability: Lord, 17th Level
Hit Points: 220
Psionic Ability: Nil
Tuna, a great monster, can control the waves of the Ocean. His mouth is huge enough to swallow a man whole. But if stranded on dry land, he loses all his powers and cannot move.

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Not a whole lot to go off of, but I did some research online regarding the actual Polynesian myths and came across the myth of Te Tuna. Also, luckily, "tuna" in various Polynesian languages does not mean "tunafish" but "eel," so my first suggestion would be to rename the beast "Eel-of-the-Eternal-Waters." In any case, it sounds like a formidable foe, with a possible CR in the low 20s.

So far, I thought of the following. "Eel-of-the-Eternal-Waters" would be a NE or CE (based on his description in the various myths) Colossal Magical Beast with the Aquatic sub-type. I wasn't sure what die OD&D HD were based off, so I made the assumption it used the 1d8hp/HD formula from later editions; if each d8 HD provided an average of 4.5hp/HD, then the 220hp of the EotEW would translate to 48HD, which sounds about right. BAB would be +48, the Base Fort and Reflex Save would be +26, and the Base Will Save would be +20.

The central ability of the EotEW would be to generate a tsunami (probably would be a good idea to use the tsunami spell in the Spell Compendium as a basis). Of course, something of this size would also have the Improved Grab and Swallow Whole ability. Other than that, I haven't really thought of any other special abilities that it should definitely have, though it should probably be fairly potent since the EotEW is based on a divine being.

Anyone have any ideas?

i suggest you call it something else and state in the text that it is an eel-like being, and island peoples call it "Te Tuna, or Tuna-of-the-Eternal-Waters"

TUNA-OF-THE-ETERNAL-WATERS
Armor Class: -1
Magic Ability: See Below
Move: 22”
Fighter Ability: Lord, 17th Level
Hit Points: 220
Psionic Ability: Nil
Tuna, a great monster, can control the waves of the Ocean. His mouth is huge enough to swallow a man whole. But if stranded on dry land, he loses all his powers and cannot move.

Click to expand...

Hmmm, he is listed as having the abilities of a 17th-level fighter (Lord was a title for fighters of 9th+ level in AD&D). But at 48 HD, that would cover all the feats it would need.

As an eel-like being of immense size, I would think possibly a Constrict attack may be appropriate. Possibly some sort of eel-like defense.

Also, Armor class needs to be adressed. A 21 AC is too low for our EotEW.

Additionally, in order for it to be a CR 20+ monster we will need more than what we have now. After all, Big T has 48 HD and he's certainly tougher than our Tunafish right now

I've used Te Tuna as
1. a colossal Fiendish Dire Eel (Snake) with Constrict abilities
2. a 'modified' Triton Barbarian/Scorcerer replacing his fish legs with a eels tail (I'll see if I can scan and post the pic I drew if I can find it)

Armour Class
I'd suggest giving him a big deflection bonus due to his slippery skin.

Abilities
Swallow Whole
Constrict
Tsunami
Summon Dire Eel Swarm
Shape Change (to a more humanoid form)


Te Tuna was imho CE.
He was responsible for seducing and/or raping the wife of Maui. Maui defeated Te Tuna in battle and cut him to bits. The bits of his body became the various species of eel whereas his head was buried and became the first coconut (which is why cocnuts have three holes on top - Te Tuna's eyes and mouth)

Tonguez said:

Te Tuna was imho CE.
He was responsible for seducing and/or raping the wife of Maui. Maui defeated Te Tuna in battle and cut him to bits. The bits of his body became the various species of eel whereas his head was buried and became the first coconut (which is why coconuts have three holes on top - Te Tuna's eyes and mouth)

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Hmmm, evil after that description, yes. But not necessarily Chaotic. I am not adverse to said tuna being Chaotic, I just want to make sure we know why we are making him such.

According to Wikipedia:

• Tunas are fast swimmers (they have been clocked at 77 km/h (48 mph))
• Tunas are predatory and high up in the food chain

I'd give it a really good swim speed (maybe 100 feet or more) and swallow whole based on this.

Gothenem said:

Hmmm, evil after that description, yes. But not necessarily Chaotic. I am not adverse to said tuna being Chaotic, I just want to make sure we know why we are making him such.

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Yes Chaotic isn't really implied and of course Polynesians morality was somewhat different from western morality and totally alien to DnDs alignment system so who knows.

Te Tuna was the son of Tangaroa (Sea god) and was wont to mistreat and boss the 'sea people/creatures' around. When he was hungry he would rise up and attack fishing canoes knocking them over and devouring the crews

As another interesting fact the term 'Ika puremu' (swept by the fish) refers to Te Tuna's seduction of Hina and is used an allusion to adultery. Also when Te Tuna used his tail to pull Hina into the water it is said she was covered in slime which means we can give our Te Tuna version some kind of Slime attack (perhaps paralytic slime?)

Tonguez said:

Yes Chaotic isn't really implied and of course Polynesians morality was somewhat different from western morality and totally alien to DnDs alignment system so who knows.

Te Tuna was the son of Tangaroa (Sea god) and was wont to mistreat and boss the 'sea people/creatures' around. When he was hungry he would rise up and attack fishing canoes knocking them over and devouring the crews

As another interesting fact the term 'Ika puremu' (swept by the fish) refers to Te Tuna's seduction of Hina and is used an allusion to adultery. Also when Te Tuna used his tail to pull Hina into the water it is said she was covered in slime which means we can give our Te Tuna version some kind of Slime attack (perhaps paralytic slime?)

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Or perhaps something Abolethy... Like a progenitor to the Aboleth or perhaps a castoff mutant alien Aboleth.... (Just tossing ideas out)...

Yeah, a slime attack would be cool...

Still going with the seduction legend, what about Suggestion as sp-like ability?

freyar said:

Still going with the seduction legend, what about Suggestion as sp-like ability?

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Hmm, not a bad idea. As we are going epic though, should we up it to maybe Dominate Person?