Seastars with high AC - 5e idea?

[Casimir Liber]

I lowered the arm damage as suggested (to 1d4+2) as that made sense. Is CR 1 with that

Had a marathon session of Dnd so a bit braindead...

 

[Cleon]

Had a marathon session of Dnd so a bit braindead...

Okay, we can continue with our star monsters once you're mentally revivified.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Okay, coffee in hand...latest looks like this:

 

[Cleon]

Okay, coffee in hand...latest looks like this:

Proceeding nicely, although it's missing the Condition Immunities and the Arms "up to 5 targets" paragraph:

The giant ophiuroid has five arms (unless it lost some to a Shed Arm reaction), each of which can grapple one target.​

Updating the Giant Brittle Star (Ophiuroid).

So it's just the Shed Arm reaction to figure out for them.

Still not entirely decided how to approach this. A real life Brittle Star can deliberately shed an arm to distract an enemy and scurry away, and they can also just break off due to damage.

So how to do this. Does the attacker roll or the Brittle Star or does it depend on the circumstances.

Maybe have a Strength check to snap off the arm, usually by the attacker but if the Brittle Stars wants to it can make a Strength check too?

It could be automatic (if brittle star takes X+ damage or just 'cause it wants to shed an arm) or be triggered by the brittle star taking Y+ damage and then making a save to avoid losing an arm.

Obviously, losing an arm releases any creature it is grappling, but does it have any other effect?

It could "cushion" the damage from the blow that broke it - since excess damage that shreds an arm won't do anything to a brittle star that's no longer attached to the arm.

Decisions decisions.

 

[Casimir Liber]

...so to make it a bit like the troll variant, with the arm squirming about maybe...?

 

[Cleon]

...so to make it a bit like the troll variant, with the arm squirming about maybe...?

The Loathsome Limbs one? Something like that could work.

I wouldn't have the severed arms attack independently like a troll's arms and head can, since a Brittle Star's lost arms just flop about a bit as their muscles loosen (at least if I remember correctly).

Also, I'd likely have the arms be separable by bludgeoning damage as well as slashing damage so they can be snapped off by brute force.

Should we have the Giant Brittle Star lose speed as it loses arms like a troll is slowed by losing legs?

Hmm, my first notion was to have it lose 5 feet of speed per arm until it has only one arm, which reduces it to a 2½ ft. speed, or 5 ft. when dashing (so speed 20/15/10/5/2½ ft. for 5/4/3/2/1 arms).

Or maybe the first lost arm doesn't reduce movement and it goes down 5 feet per subsequent arm (so speed 20/20/15/10/5 ft. for 5/4/3/2/1 arms).

 

[Casimir Liber]

Also, I'd likely have the arms be separable by bludgeoning damage as well as slashing damage so they can be snapped off by brute force.

Or maybe the first lost arm doesn't reduce movement and it goes down 5 feet per subsequent arm (so speed 20/20/15/10/5 ft. for 5/4/3/2/1 arms).

Yes x 2

 

[Cleon]

Dang it, I just noticed a lot of "Bristle Stars" that should be "Brittle Stars" so I'll have to go through my posts and correct them.

Can't call the thing the wrong name. Ophiuroids usually have bristles, but it's not part of their name!

EDIT: Turned out there weren't that many of them, so it didn't take long to fix.

 

[Casimir Liber]

oh noes! ok...description now? I had a go above

 

[Cleon]

oh noes! ok...description now? I had a go above

The arm shedding needs to be sorted out first, so let's have a stab at that.

Shed Arms. Whenever the giant brittle star takes at least ## damage at one time from an attack that required a Melee or Ranged Attack roll or if the brittle star is grappled by a creature that is Large size and/or possesses a Strength of ## or higher, roll a d## to determine what happens.

01-##: Nothing else happens.
##-##: The attacker makes a DC ## check (Strength for weapon hits, spellcasting ability for magic hits). If they succeed, one arm is severed from the brittle star if it has any arms left.
##-##: One arm is severed from the brittle star if it has any arms left, but the brittle star takes half damage from the attack that severed the arm.

In addition, if a giant brittle star is threatened or attacked by a creature larger than itself, or its hit points are reduced to ## of fewer, it can attempt to deliberately tear off an arm. The brittle star makes a DC ## Strength check and severs one of its own arms if it succeeds.
 A severed arm flops and writhes about for #d# rounds as it dies. The arm is unable to attack or grapple and has a speed of 5 feet. The brittle star has no control over its severed arms.
 A giant brittle star's speed is reduced to 15 ft. if it loses one or two arms, 10 ft. if it loses three and 5 feet if it loses four. If it loses all five arms it has a speed of 0 feet.
 If the brittle star finishes a long rest its arm stumps regrows enough to remove one "arm's worth" of speed reduction, so it has speed 20 ft. with one lost arms, 15 ft. with two or three lost arms, 10 ft. with four lost arms, and 5 ft. if is has lost all five arms. The brittle star regains its speed and arm attacks when its Regrowth trait replaces the lost arms.

Option: A giant brittle star with a shortened, partially regrown arm might be able to attack with it, but the arm attack will have a 5 ft. reach or 10 ft. reach instead of the 15 ft. reach of a full length arm.