[3.5, Monsters] Where can I find a gargantuan eel-like creature?

[blargney the second]

I'm thinking of trimming things down a little so I can play it harder and smarter:

* Remove 1 tentacle so it has 3 total. It's guaranteed to hit on anything above a 1, and they can survive 3 or 4 hits max. It'll make the chopped tentacle at 1/2 hp more important as well.

* Pare down the shark to CR 7ish; AC 11, 70 hp left, F+11 R+9 W+4, bite +12 for 2d6+7, grapple +20, swallow for 1d6+5 crush and 1d8 acid.

[sblock]Mutant Dragon Eel, gargantuan aberration (aquatic), CR 13

Init +2; Senses Listen +26, Spot +26; DV 60’, blindsense 500’

AC 25, touch 11, ff 25 (-4 size, -2 Dex, +14 natural, +7 deflection)
hp 253 (22d8+154); Bloodied 126, creates Ink Cloud & loses 1 tentacle
Ink Cloud 60’ total darkness immediately when first bloodied
Fast healing 5 at start of turn, regrows severed tentacles in 1d6 days
Fort +14, Ref +5, Will +14; Willful (can re-save vs mind-affecting next round)

Speed swim 50’, Burst (can charge 5x speed, or run 10x with no AoO and Backwash behind)
Melee full-attack 1 tentacle trip +21 touch, trip check +25, rake and Hurl
and 2 tentacle rakes +21 (2d6+9/19-20) and Improved Grab
Hurl on successful trip, can throw 10’/size difference in direction of choice
Backwash 60’ cone, trip check +21 and Hurl, if within 15’ take 3d6+9 from tail Reflex DC 30 for half.
Improved Grab +37 or +17, if two tentacles grapple same foe make immediate swallow whole attempt.
Swallow Whole +37 if starts round with creature in tentacle for rake damage & swallowed. No light, 2d6 acid, Shark In Gullet, Swim DC 15 (succeed 1d3s and act normally, or fail 1d6s and Swim or drowning), interior AC 17, 25 damage with light slash or pierce = get vomited out immediately.
Sonic Lance once/two rounds, 240’ ranged touch +10, 6d6 sonic and Fort DC 25 or dazed one rnd.
Keening once/encounter, 120’ spread, Will DC 25 or stunned for duration +1d4 rnds. If victim attacked or violently shaken (full-round action) they save again. Mind-affecting sonic compulsion, 1/24 hrs
Attack options Power Attack, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Dire Charge (pounce on surprise round and first round of combat), Swim-by Attack (1 move, standard anywhere)

Str 28, Dex 7, Con 25, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 18
Space/reach 30’/30’
BAB/grapple +16/+37
Feats Power Attack, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Improved Critical, Improved Initiative, Dire Charge, Swim-by Attack
Skills Listen +26, Spot +26, Hide +8, Swim +39 (take 10, can run)



Shark In Gullet as Dire Shark, squeezing and can’t see in darkness
AC 11, touch 6, ff 11 (-2 size, +2 Dex, +5 natural, -4 squeezing)
hp 70 of 126 (15d8+66); Bloodied 63
takes 7 acid damage per round
Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +4

Melee bite +12 (2d6+7) and improved grab +20
Swallow Whole +20 if it starts round with a creature in its bite for bite damage and swallowed and still grappled, 1d6+5 crushing plus 1d8 acid per round, interior AC 12, 25 damage with light slash or pierce = get vomited out immediately.[/sblock]
Thoughts?

 

[Aeolius]

Thoughts?

You could always make the creature an offspring of an aquatic demon:

Just for the pure chaos of it all.

 

[blargney the second]

Damnit, it took me a lot of hard-earned drugs with no small quantity of side-effects to acquire that SAN!

 

[Wycen]

I'm looking at two scenarios right now - which one do you guys think sounds cooler? If it matters, I'm not running further adventures in the Savage Tide. We're moving on to Eyes of the Lich Queen after Tides of Dread is done.

-blarg

Did you play the Savage Tide up to this point, or just pick Tides of Dread because it fit what you needed? I just want to hear more about the ST part, since we got to Tides of Dread, but then our game died when one of our hosts decided he wasn't having fun anymore.

 

[blargney the second]

We played all of the Tide up until now. I found both Sea Wyvern's Wake and Here There Be Monsters to be incredibly railroady and not particularly subtle about it. The former is understandable because it's a voyage, but HTBM... not so much. We could fork a thread for comparing Savage Tide experiences if you want.

I'm putting the finishing touches on this encounter now, and trying to come up with a few pieces of furniture to flesh out the empty sea. So far I've got 120' deep water, a very deep fissure, and a couple of kelp masses to entangle flung combatants.

 

[Leatherhead]

Here's what I've come up with for my gargantuan mutant dragon eel (this is in Xen'drik, so mutants are traditional)

I would have just slapped the aquatic template on a purple worm and called it a day. This is quite impressive.

 

[blargney the second]

I get to play on Saturday. Hopefully it pans out!

Wycen, I've forked the Savage Tide discussion to this thread.
-blarg

 

[Herobizkit]

I am surprised that the thread got this far without anyone saying "my pants". I guess I just have a weird sense of humour. Sorry, Eric's Grandma.

 

[blargney the second]

I ran this fight today... it was something else.

Things that I really didn't expect:
- The PCs didn't get out of the ink cloud. They griped about it but didn't go anywhere even though they were totally blinded.
- Once it was bloodied, the eel ended up doing an interesting pattern. Charge away, backwashing anyone nearby. Next round do a sonic lance, then the round after charge straight back in. This tactic gave the fast healing some extra time to do its thing.

Things that could have gone better:
- The fight lasted over four hours. The players were taking much longer turns than usual because they figured out pretty quickly that they were overmatched and didn't want to make a bad move. It had a LOT of hit points.
- Once PCs started going unconscious, the party's focus lost all cohesion. This was partly due to the ink cloud - it blocked access to some crucial information, which made decision-making much trickier.
- The ink cloud needed a better-defined end point. I had the cloud dissipate once the eel had jetted away twice.

Things that went well:
- The action-control abilities made it a fantastic solo monster. The stunning, dazing, and tripping abilities really helped prevent the party from out-acting it at any particular time.
- The stunning also made them drop their primary weapons into the abyss... the looks of horror were classic.
- The complete change of combat once it was bloodied was a cool feature. The loss of a tentacle and the miss chance from the ink cloud dastically slowed down the rate at which it could kill the PCs, while giving it some time to fast heal up.
- The shark in the gullet was *awesome*. "Something large, bullet-shaped, and extremely rough bumps into you in the dark. Rows of serrated teeth clamp onto your leg painfully." It was extremely satisfying getting a nested swallow whole.

All around, it felt like an epic fight against a very large and powerful creature. Mission accomplished!
-blarg

 

[megamania]

Awesome.

Its a great feeling when a lot of thought and hard work pays off.