Seastars with high AC - 5e idea?

[Cleon]

Description looks all good so far - I'd probs not use "simply" but not overly fussed

Yeah, it doesn't really need either of them. Will remove or reword it later.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Okay - you happy with what's written so far though otherwise. Shall I add the above?

 

[Cleon]

I'm inclined to finish the Red Bits before updating the Enworld version, but you can do what you like with yours!

Speaking of which, I'll get on with working on that. I'll edit the changes into the Description Working Draft.

Here's the old version for posterity:

Regenerative Regrowth. If a giant sea star loses an arm, organ or other body part and survives, it regrows the lost body parts as it heals. It takes 15 (1d10 + 10) days for a giant sea star to replace a missing arm.
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VARIANT: SEVERABLE SEA STAR?
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 Severable Parts. ???.


Description

A giant sea star is simply an enormous version of an ordinary starfish with an arm span of about 20 to 30 feet, large enough to swallow most humanoids. Sea stars, also known as starfish or asteroids, are a familiar sight on beaches. Star shaped marine animals covered in heavy bony armor, they move around very slowly on hundreds of boneless tubular pseudolegs on the underside of their body and five arms.
 Predators and scavengers, sea stars mainly eat bivalves such as clams or scallops plus whatever carrion they come across. A few eat coral, scouring patches of reef down to its rocky skeleton.

 Creeping Hunters. A giant sea star will eat anything it can catch, the trouble it has is catching them. The creature follows the scent of food, sneaking up to its meal so slowly the potential prey might not notice its approach. When it lays an arm on its victim the sea star's myriad tubular legs grips them with great force, then it crawls over the target and slowly wraps them in its arms. Giant sea stars may be very slow but they are incredibly strong; their hydraulic musculature helps them easily pry apart the shells of a giant clam or crack open the exoskeleton of a giant crab (their favorite foods). This attack is just as effective against rigid metal armor worn by humanoids.
 Once a victim is in the starfish's embrace, the giant sea star produces a fleshy pouch from its mouth. This organ is part of the sea star's stomach. If the sea star has broken open it's prey's shell or armor, the starfish inserts its invertible stomach through the broken gap and starts digesting them from the inside, otherwise it just engulfs as much of the target as will fit. If the meal is too big to "swallow" it digests them piecemeal. A giant sea star's digestive enzymes are far stronger than a normal sea star's and it can dissolve a man-sized creature's soft tissues in a few minutes. The indigestible remains are then spat out.

 Cryptic Starfish. Most giant sea stars are colored and patterned to match the sea floor they live on, represented by the Cryptic Coloration trait. This makes it easier to sneak up to prey and avoid the attention of creatures that hunt them. Some cryptic sea stars also have aquatic plants or even animals such as sea anemones growing on them to help them blend into their background. There are giant sea stars that lack Cryptic Coloration, and a few are so brightly colored they have no proficiency in Stealth. These uncamouflaged species are sometimes thorny or poisonous (see below) but others simply live in the lightless depths of the sea where coloration serves no purpose.

VARIANT: THORNY SEA STAR?
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VARIANT: POISONOUS SEA STAR?
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[Cleon]

Speaking of which, I'll get on with working on that. I'll edit the changes into the Description Working Draft.

Okay, I've whipped up Regenerative Regrowth.

That'll have to be it for now, I've got stuff to do!

 

[Casimir Liber]

(a) I like the (currently red) section about a seastar split in half or killed coming back to life - maybe needs 3 sucessful death saves over 6 days? Make it in line with ...umm..dying? Also any reason why +2 stealth instead of +3 (might be some parameter I am missing on my learning curve)

 

[Cleon]

(a) I like the (currently red) section about a seastar split in half or killed coming back to life - maybe needs 3 sucessful death saves over 6 days? Make it in line with ...umm..dying?

I don't much care for the idea of using death saves. It's a lot of rolling, especially as it'll have to make the saves for each part of its body.

Also any reason why +2 stealth instead of +3 (might be some parameter I am missing on my learning curve)

The reason is its DEX modifier is a point lower than a Giant Brittle Star's!

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok makes sense..

 

[Cleon]

ok makes sense..

So shall I dered it?

 

[Casimir Liber]

So shall I dered it?

yep

 

[Cleon]

yep

Deredded that portion of the Description Working Draft.

Added an outline for the Severable Parts trait. Will have to think about it. Don't want to overcomplicate it like I'm wont to!