Kraken Variants

[Cleon]

That looks fine to me!

Updating the Male Krakentua Working Draft and Female Krakentua Working Draft.

Regular kraken have darkvision 60 ft, so we can just stick with that, or we could, say, double it as you like.

All the current Creature Catalog versions of the Krakentua have 120 foot darkvision, so I'm inclined to leave that unchanged.

Come to think of it, regular Kraken also have low-light vision so should we add that as well? Or maybe even superior low-light vision?

Although the AD&D texts don't mention any ability to see in the dark, it does have "ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night" and the female krakentua in OA7 - Test of the Samurai (1989) appears "precisely at midnight" to receive tribute from villagers.

Those suggest it could have low-light vision.

I don't really see anything like DR in the original critter, but I could go for a small amount bypassed by magic. What do you think?

The CC's 3.0 conversion has no damage reduction while the old 3.5 one from 2005 have damage reduction 20/magic and good. It was a long while ago, but I think we/they were trying to make it more "Epic" so thought adding DR was appropriate.

The AD&D originals lacked any weapon resistance or immunity.

I was aiming to make these conversions non-Epic critters, so am fine cutting the "Damage reduction? ##/###" from them.

That said, I'm thinking we should consider improving the NA a bit to, say NA +15 or +16 to make them AC 20 or 21.

The current AC 16 (-8 size, +14 natural), touch 2, flat-footed 16 is a literal translation of the AD&D original's AC 4. In AD&D Kraken have AC 5 heads & tentacles but AC 0 bodies, while the 3rd Edition version have AC 20 everywhere, the equivalent of AD&D's Armour Class 0.

For comparison:

AD&D Kraken (90′+ long)—AC 5/0
3.5 D&D Kraken (Gargantuan)—AC: 20 (-4 size, +14 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 20
3.5 D&D Kraken (Colossal)—AC: 21 (-8 size, +19 natural), touch 2, flat-footed 21​

 

[freyar]

Low-light vision seems good.
OK, no DR for these non-epic krakentua. But I do agree with increasing NA. These should be a little tougher than regular kraken, I think, so I'd actually support going with AC 22. Or 21 for the males and 22 for females. (Or 22 and 23 respectively.)

 

[Cleon]

Low-light vision seems good.

Regular low-light vision or superior low-light vision?

I'll pencil in darkvision 60 ft. like a standard Kraken.

OK, no DR for these non-epic krakentua. But I do agree with increasing NA. These should be a little tougher than regular kraken, I think, so I'd actually support going with AC 22. Or 21 for the males and 22 for females. (Or 22 and 23 respectively.)

Let's give both sexes the same AC like in AD&D.

Am fine with 22, so will add +17 natural armour in the next updates.

 

[Cleon]

Before we get too far ahead, the Male Krakentua Working Draft and Female Krakentua Working Draft don't have movement speeds listed.

Shall we keep the earlier CC version's Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares), swim 30 ft. plus fly 30 ft. for the females.

Do we keep the CC version's (poor) aerial manoeuvrability?

The AD&D stats don't include manoeuvrability for a female krakentua's flight, but just says she flew "as if levitating." That means she can hover stationary in the air, which could suggest (good) like the fly spell or a Beholder's magical flight.

However, if her flight is like the levitate spell that comes with stability issues that reduce weapon accuracy:

Levitate
A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a -1 penalty on attack rolls, the second -2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of -5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at -1.

The CC female has "as if using the air walk spell" but that has a maximum upward or downward angle of 45 degrees so she would be unable to move vertically upwards or downwards as if levitating. That wouldn't match the original text.