Seastars with high AC - 5e idea?

[Cleon]

Shouldn't we get around to finishing the Giant Sea Star?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yes! Lead the way...you were ruminating on a part of it...?

 

[Cleon]

Yes! Lead the way...you were ruminating on a part of it...?

The basic monster was finished I believe, but the Description and various Variants needed finishing.

Here's the relevant post:

Fine by me. I'll update the Giant Sea Star to be sneakier.

I have a fairly clear idea of the Description set out in my head, so let's get started…

…​

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.
 If a giant sea star is killed or loses part of its body to bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage (see Severable Sea Star), it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, with Disadvantage if the injury is particularly catastrophic or Advantage for a neat severing. If it succeeds, the sea star and/or its severed portion survives and slowly regrows into a complete giant sea star. A giant sea star that is cleaved in twain can thus become two new seastars. To form a full-sized giant sea star, Regenerative Regrowth takes 5 to 30 (5d6) days for a "dead" giant sea star and 3 to 6 (1d4 + 2) weeks for a Large portion of one, 2 to 5 (1d4 + 1) months for a Medium portion, 5 to 21 (2d8 + 3) months for Small, and 1 to 6 (1d6) years for Tiny. Note that giant sea star eggs take around 10 (4d4) years to develop into full grown adults.

VARIANT: SEVERABLE SEA STAR?
Sea stars have a very robust biology and some species can survive being torn into pieces, with each piece potentially becoming a new starfish due to their Regenerative Regrowth trait. A region plagued with giant sea star often finds them very hard to eradicate, since killing a sea star can multiply the problem. Sea stars are not immortal, of course, and can die from starvation, disease, age, or being eaten like any animal. There are few creatures that will eat a fully grown giant sea star, but their eggs are very edible and the smaller or partially regrown individuals are sometimes devoured by predators. These giant sea stars have the following trait.
 Severable Parts. Whenever the giant sea star takes at least 8 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from a single attack, roll #d# plus one-fourth [?] of the damage inflicted to determine what happens. If the sea star is grappled by a creature that is Large size and/or possesses a Strength of 26 or higher, roll #d# plus the attacker's Strength bonus to determine what happens, adding +2 for Huge attackers, +4 for Gargantuan.

1-#: Nothing else happens.​

#-#: A Tiny portion is separated from the sea star.​

#-#: A Small portion is separated from the sea star.​

#-##: A Medium portion is separated from the sea star. (may lose an Arm?)​

##-##: A Large portion is separated from the sea star. (loses an Arm, possibly two?)​

##+: The sea star is torn in twain, becoming two Large portions. (divide Arms between them?)​

 More rules.


Description

A giant sea star is 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 live in the lightless depths of the sea where coloration serves no purpose.

VARIANT: THORNY SEA STAR?
???.

VARIANT: POISONOUS SEA STAR?
???.

I'm happy with most the non-red bits, so it's the Severable Seastar next.

Now, I'm undecided as to whether it's better to change the standard Sea Star's Regrowth to the Regenerative Regrowth above or have that be a trait gained by the Severable Seastar.

Upon reflection, I'm thinking the Regenerative version's text makes more sense for the Severable variant, as it mentions "portion sizes," and I think Regenerative Sea Star makes a better name for the variant than Severable Sea Star.

That'd make something like this:

Description

A giant sea star is 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.
 Sea stars have a very robust biology and some species can survive being torn into pieces (see Regenerative Sea Star), with each piece potentially regrowing into a new giant starfish. A region plagued with regenerative giant sea stars often finds them very hard to eradicate, since killing a sea star may only multiply the problem. Giant sea stars are not immortal, of course, and can die from starvation, disease, age, or being eaten like any animal. There are few creatures that will eat a fully grown giant sea star, but their eggs are very edible and the smaller or partially regrown individuals are sometimes devoured by predators. Note that giant sea star eggs take around 10 (4d4) years to develop into full grown adults.

VARIANT: REGENERATIVE SEA STAR
Regenerative giant sea stars have the following traits, the Regenerative Regrowth trait replaces a standard giant sea star's Regrowth trait.

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.
 If a regenerative sea star is killed or loses part of its body to bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage (see Severable Parts), it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, with Disadvantage if the injury is particularly catastrophic or Advantage for a neat severing. If it succeeds, the killed sea star or its severed portion survives and slowly regrows into a complete giant sea star. A giant sea star that is cleaved in twain can thus become two new seastars. To form a full-sized giant sea star, Regenerative Regrowth takes 5 to 30 (5d6) days for a "dead" giant sea star and 3 to 6 (1d4 + 2) weeks for a Large portion of one, 2 to 5 (1d4 + 1) months for a Medium portion, 5 to 21 (2d8 + 3) months for Small, and 1 to 6 (1d6) years for Tiny.

Severable Parts. Whenever a regenerative giant sea star takes at least 8 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from a single attack, roll #d# plus one-fourth [?] of the damage inflicted to determine what happens. If the sea star is grappled by a creature that is Large size and/or possesses a Strength of 26 or higher, roll #d# plus the attacker's Strength bonus to determine what happens, adding +2 for Huge attackers, +4 for Gargantuan.

1-#: Nothing else happens.​

#-#: A Tiny portion is separated from the sea star.​

#-#: A Small portion is separated from the sea star.​

#-##: A Medium portion is separated from the sea star. (may lose an Arm?)​

##-##: A Large portion is separated from the sea star. (loses an Arm, possibly two?)​

##+: The sea star is torn in twain, becoming two Large portions. (divide Arms between them?)​

More rules.

 

[Casimir Liber]

O-kay - so regenerative as within same statblock or separate statblock

 

[Cleon]

O-kay - so regenerative as within same statblock or separate statblock

I was thinking of putting the Regenerative Sea Star in the Giant Sea Star's Special Traits section like we did the Brittle Limbs variant of the Giant Brittle Star, and put the other variants (i.e. Thorny & Venomous) in the Description.

 

[Cleon]

Anyhow, the next thing to figure out is what roll tears off what sized portion. Upon reflection, it's easier if the check uses the damage inflicted rather than a fraction of the damage like the current draft.

How's this for a revision:

Severable Parts. Whenever a regenerative giant sea star takes at least 5 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from a single attack, roll 2d6 plus the damage inflicted to determine what happens; should the sea star takes more damage than its current hit points, use its current hit points for the inflicted damage (i.e. a sea star with 9 hit points that takes 14 damage rolls 2d6 + 9 not 2d6 + 14).​

 If the sea star is grappled by a creature that is Large size and/or possesses a Strength of 26 or higher, roll a Strength check to determine what happens, with advantage if the attacker is Gargantuan, The maximum result of this Strength check is twice the sea star's current hit points or 15, whichever it higher (i.e. a sea star with 12 hit points can have a maximum result of 24 on this grapple check, losing a Medium portion and an arm).​

 If a sea star has a portion torn off by a grapple, it takes damage equal to the grapple or the hit points of the separated portion (see below), whichever is higher – e.g. 5 (2d3 + 1) damage for a Small portion.​

• less than 12: Nothing else happens.
• 12-14: A Tiny portion is separated from the sea star.
• 15-17: A Small portion is separated from the sea star.
• 18-20: A Medium portion is separated from the sea star.
• 21: A Small portion is separated from the sea star and it loses an arm.
• 22-26: A Medium portion is separated from the sea star and it loses an arm.
• 27 or more: If the regenerative sea star has more than 25 hit points remaining, a Large portion is separated the sea star and it loses an arm.
   If the sea star has fewer than 25 hit points remaining it is torn in twain, becoming two Large portions with its remaining hit points and Arms divided equally between them.

A giant sea star that loses an arm is not inconvenienced, but if it loses more arms its speed and combat effectiveness start to drop:​

 A sea star with three arms has speed 15 feet and fights normally.​

 A sea star with two arms has speed 10 feet and its Engulf attack does not have advantage against creatures with rigid shells.​

 A sea star with one arm has speed 10 feet and its Arms attack is reduced to 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage. Its Engulf attack does not have advantage against creatures with rigid shells.​

 A sea star with no arms has speed 5 feet; it can still make an Arms attack with the stumps of its limbs with range 5 ft. but it has disadvantage on the attack rolls. In addition, the bludgeoning damage of its Arms and Engulf attacks is reduced to 5 (1d4 + 3). The Engulf does not have advantage against rigid armored opponents.​

​

Separate portions of a regenerative sea star must make DC 15 Constitution saving throw to survive and regrow (see Regenerative Regrowth). On a failure the portion only remains mobile for 5 (1d10) minutes.​

 Tiny Portions have 2 (1d4) hit points, 5 ft. speed and cannot attack.​

 Small Portions have 5 (2d3 + 1) hit points and 5 ft. speed. If it has an arm attached it has 10 ft. speed and can make an Arms attack with a 5 ft. reach that does 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage.​

 Medium Portions have 10 (2d4 + 5) hit points and 10 ft. speed. If it has an arm attached it can make an Arms attack that does 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage.​

 Large Portions have 20 (2d6 + 13) hit points. It can make an Arms attack that does 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage or an Engulf attack that does 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage. The Engulf does not have advantage against creatures with rigid shells.​

That covers everything I could think of.

 

[Casimir Liber]

agree - flat hp not proportions easiest. Looks like a fun statblock

 

[Cleon]

agree - flat hp not proportions easiest. Looks like a fun statblock

So can you think of any tweaks or additions to the wording or shall I update the Giant Sea Star with what we've got so far and start on the other Variants?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Looks good - I'm not good on detail but I think this is a really fun concept and is worth doing

 

[Cleon]

Looks good - I'm not good on detail but I think this is a really fun concept and is worth doing

Updating the Giant Sea Star.

How's this for the remaining variants:

VARIANT: THORNY SEA STAR​

The bony ossicles covering a sea star make its skin feel as rough and hard as rock, and in some species form sharp spines that give it the following trait:​

​

Thorny Defense. A creature that touches a giant thorny sea star or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must succeed at a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.​

​

VARIANT: VENOMOUS SEA STAR​

A few sea stars, such as the crown-of-thorns starfish, are covered in venomous spines. Giant venomous sea stars are usually brightly colored in blues, purples, reds or oranges to warn creatures not to meddle with them, such creatures do not have the Cryptic Coloration trait of a normal giant sea star. Venomous sea stars have a Challenge Rating of 3 (700 XP) and the following trait:​

​

Venomous Thorns. A creature that touches a giant poisonous sea star or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must succeed at a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage. If the creature is injured, it must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.​