Vicejaw Crocodile

[Uruush]

Players are headed into a swamp next session and I was considering bringing out a couple of these guys but there are two points of concern.

1) Their Clamping Jaws attack triggers at the start of their turn but it's a Standard action? So... it's not really at the start of their turn, no? It's just that they have to dedicate their Standard action that turn to the grabbed PC in their mouth and they have to do it before any Move Action?

2) In their tactics section it suggests once they've got a critter in their mouth they start moving back toward water with their Move actions.

But the standard rules (PHB p290) for moving a grabbed creature require a standard action and a STR v FORT roll to move move a grabbed creature at half speed.

So do crocs break this rule, or once they're doing their required Clamping Jaws Standard action attack is it actually impossible for them to drag a player back towards the water?

Don't want to get this wrong as the results could be pretty nasty ultimately...

 

[James McMurray]

It looks like they intended for the clamping jaws to be a replacement for the bite, since the croc can no longer bite them, but clamping jaws does more damage. The wording also makes it look like it was meant to be a free attack, with the standard action converted to dragging the prey away.

It's possible that the grappling rules changed between the croc's creation and printing.

 

[Mengu]

1) Their Clamping Jaws attack triggers at the start of their turn but it's a Standard action? So... it's not really at the start of their turn, no? It's just that they have to dedicate their Standard action that turn to the grabbed PC in their mouth and they have to do it before any Move Action?

They just have to start their turn with a grabbed target, their first standard action does not have to be Clamping Jaws. If they started their turn with a grabbed target, they qualify for the Clamping Jaws attack any time during their turn, so they can take their actions in any order.

2) In their tactics section it suggests once they've got a critter in their mouth they start moving back toward water with their Move actions.

But the standard rules (PHB p290) for moving a grabbed creature require a standard action and a STR v FORT roll to move move a grabbed creature at half speed.

It seems they missed something. I would add the following to both varieties of crocodiles.

Drag Pray (move; at-will)
If a visejaw crocodile begins its turn with a target grabbed in its jaws, it may make an attack against the grabbed creature: +8 vs. Fortitude; the vicejaw crocodile may move up to half its speed and drag the grabbed target with it.