Giant Harpoon Snail

It's simple, and it probably needs tweaking. Once again, the idea for it came from a comment here, so I thought I'd bring the idea back to the place what spawned it.

Snail, Giant Harpoon
Daniel S. Wall
(7/7/07)

Medium Vermin (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 5d8+20 (42 hp)
Initiative: -4
Speed: 10’
Armor Class: 18 (-4 Dexterity, +12 Natural) touch 6, flat footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d6+3) or Harpoon + 5 ranged (1d4+3 plus poison)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d6+3) or Harpoon + 5 ranged (1d4+3 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
Special Attacks: Harpoon, Improved Grab, Poison
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60’, Mindless, Vermin Traits
Saves: Fort +8, Ref -3, Will +1
Abilities: STR 17, DEX 2, CON 19, INT -, WIS 11, CHR 4
Skills: -
Feats: Ability Focus (Poison)(B)
Environment: Warm Waters
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Neutral
Advancement: 6-7 Medium, 8-10 Large
Level Adjustment: -

Some varieties of cone snail are sufficiently poisonous to be a threat to humans, but this giant version is a positive menace. To the Giant Harpoon Snail, a human is just another potential meal swimming in the water, and any character unfortunate enough to swim by it could easily end its days being eaten alive at the bottom of the ocean.

COMBAT

Ability Focus: Giant Harpoon Snails gain Ability Focus (Poison) as a bonus feat.

Harpoon: A Giant Harpoon Snail may employ its tongue in a harpoon style attack once every 3 rounds. This has an absolute range of 30’ (no increments) and it utilizes the Strength Modifier of the snail rather than its dexterity. Victims struck by the harpoon are subject to poison saves as well as Improved Grab. If used while threatened, this attack does trigger attacks of opportunity.

Improved Grab (Ex): Whenever a Giant Harpoon Snail scores a hit with its harpoon attack, it may immediately attempt a grapple check with its tongue. If successful, then it reels the victim into its square and may begin eating the victim on the following round.

Mindless: As a Vermin, the Giant Harpoon Snail has no intelligence score. It is also immune to all mind affects.

Poison (Ex): When Giant Harpoon Snails use their harpoon attack, they inject the victim with a powerful poison. Victims must make a Fortitude Save (DC 18) or become paralyzed for 1d6 minutes. The DC for this attack is Constitution based, and it includes application of the bonus feat, Ability Focus. A paralyzed creature may not resist the effort to reel it in.

Although Aquatic, a Giant Harpoon Snail does not possess a swim speed. It must crawl along the ocean floor, but it can breathe underwater.

Is it amphibious?

It should be; shouldn't it?

The real ones aren't really amphibious- but they can stay out of water for a couple of minutes, and can attack outside of water via their harpoon-like radula...

They should be marine environment only.

They should probably have a bonus to hide, since their shells can blend in with the environment a little and the harpoon is delivered by a fleshy proboscis which projects well away from the body- they can attack from unusual angles and partial concealment. Think of it kind of like being able to shoot around a corner.

As for the Save DC, I think it should be higher- perhaps based upon the actual HD of the Cone Snail. Even the most dangerous of the little guys only inject a small dose- the giant ones probably inject quite a bit (though it may be weaker poison overall).

You might also want to look into either pumping their HD & AC or have them hunt in small groups to make them more realistic opponents for a party since they don't have a whole bunch of attacks- the little guys are going after solitary prey or critters that will scatter once one is taken. Their basic plan is stalk, harpoon, reel in prey, & eat. Parties fight back. While the snail has one of their buddies stuck & poisoned, it won't really be able to fight the other party members too well...

Perhaps a bludgeon attack with the shell itself- it butts or crushes those trying to divest it of its prey?

I suppose an Aquatic Dependancy with a decent length of time to stay out of the water. Could hunt on shore too. Maybe, I should also bite the bullet and just bump it to large size for the HD and better shell AC. Right now I see it as a hazard for small characters unless the extra HD are taken, but I think one size larger with sufficient bumps could make it a reasonable hazard for characters of a few levels.

I should probably have described the shell in the intro.

I'm not seeing a bump attack with the shell, but you're right that it needs something. Perhaps a two or 3 headed version could make them more dangerous to a party.

One problem I could see in this is that to normal characters, the tougher I make them to kill the more likely a character would be to drown once nailed by the harpoon, long before the battle had played out. I suppose I could make a side effect of teh poison that it slows drowning. So, it actually is the fight that will matter, slowly eating the guy alive.

Saw something on Animal Planet about these guys that I hadn't seen before- they tend to be found in "pairs"- 2 snails hunting within the same couple of square yards.

They're not mated, but the grouping may help with their hunting.