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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 9244613" data-attributes="member: 6915329">Here’s some giant animals for you. And not just any giant animals: giant Cambrian animals. Dinos are cool, ain’t gonna deny that, but I love the weirdness of the Cambrian Period. This article has stats in both AD&D and Amazing Engine’s Bughunters game, which is a game I know absolutely nothing about. I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen a copy, not even back in the day at my FLGS. Judging by the article, it seems to be about hunting alien monsters on alien planets. Anyone play it?The real joy of the animals of the Cambrian Period is that you can very easily change the monster type to aberration and nobody would know the difference. That’s how weird they were. Sure, they’re not magical or psychic, but not everything aberrant has to be.I’m doing four of these animals: the <a href="https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/opabinia-regalis/" target="_blank">Opabinia regalis</a>, <a href="https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/hallucigenia-sparsa/" target="_blank">Hallucigenia sparsa</a>, <a href="https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/anomalocaris-canadensis/" target="_blank">Anomalocaris canadensis</a>, and <a href="https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/wiwaxia-corrugata/" target="_blank">Wiwaxia corrugata</a>. These links are for the Burgess Shale website, where these creatures’ fossil remains were found, and each of those pages includes a nice little animation of how such creatures would have moved.In real life, anomalocaris was an apex predator that measured a mighty 1’3” long, while the bizarre hallucigenia was barely over an inch long. Obviously, these are giant versions of those creatures so aforementioned Anomalocaris has been enbiggened to a 80 feet long. It’s a cool creature to use in a deep-sea adventure where you need to always have a bigger <s>fish</s> arthropod on hand, and it’s a great substitute for the standard-issue sea serpents or kraken.Fun fact: Anomalocaris means “not like other shrimp,” which makes me imagine it posts obnoxious pictures to Instagram.This article contains a bit of outdated information; I’ve tried to correct it where possible. For example, the prevailing belief about hallucigenia at the time of publishing is that it had a big, rounded blob for a head, walked on long, rigid spike-legs, and had a series of mouth-tipped tentacles along its back. The current believe flips them upside down. The blob is a stain commonly associated with soft creatures fossilizing; the tentacle-mouths were actually blunt legs—one of the markers that indicates that they’re in the same phylum as modern velvet worms—and the spikes were, well, spikes that protected its back.Unfortunately (unfortunate for sadistic Narrators, I mean), this bit of Science Marching On means that the Level Up hallucigenia does not get the seven pincer-tipped tentacle attacks that do 1d4 damage each, or to trample with fourteen spikes that do 1d8 damage each anymore, and their anatomy is no longer suitable for a tail constrict. Yes, that was each round. So to make up for that, I made them live up to their name and gave them a hallucination-causing venom.I also decided to take wiwaxia out of the water, mostly because the article’s artwork made them look like very large, spiky tribbles to me. So now they can be a nuisance on land as well as in the see. Anyway, AD&D used to have giant land urchins, so there’s precedent.Giant Cambrian AnimalsCreatures That Time Forgot, Dragon Magazine #204Creatures by Gregory W. Detwiler; art by Tony DiTerlizzi[ATTACH=full]343724[/ATTACH]The anomalocaris is a tremendous, aggressive crustacean, eighty feet from tip to tail. They are native to shallow oceans, where they prey on large fish and octopuses—and on merfolk and sea elves. An anomalocaris’ bullet-shaped body is lined with undulating fins, and its head sports two long, spiked, curling limbs, which they use to grab their prey—cold- and warm-blooded alike, and transfer them to their circular maw, where they are swallowed whole. Those who are swallowed don’t have to contend with stomach acids but with a gullet lined with row upon row of grinding teeth.Climate/Terrain: temperate, subtropical, tropical; coast, ocean.AnomalocarisGargantuan beast; Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)AC 16 (natural armor)HP 170 (11d20+55)Speed 0 ft., swim 50 ft.STR 27 (+8) DEX 8 (-1) CON 20 (+5)INT 2 (-4) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 4 (-3)Proficiency +4; Maneuver DC 20Skills Perception +9Senses tremorsense 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 19Languages —Aquatic. The anomalocaris breathes only waterFeel The Currents. The anomalocaris' tremorsense only works underwater.ActionsMultiattack. The anomalocaris makes two claw attacks and one bite attack.Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 24 (3d10+8) piercing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature grappled by the anomalocaris, and the anomalocaris has not swallowed anyone else, the target is swallowed. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover from attacks from outside the anomalocaris, and it takes 10 (3d6) slashing damage and 10 (3d6) acid damage at the start of each of the anomalocaris’ turns.If a swallowed creature deals 30 or more damage to the anomalocaris in a single turn, or if the anomalocaris dies, the anomalocaris vomits up the creature.Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6+8) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 20). The anomalocaris has two claws and can grapple one creature in each.*[ATTACH=full]343723[/ATTACH]Capable of leaving the water for short periods of time to hunt on the coastlines, hallucigenias vaguely resemble 25-foot long velvet worms, with seven pairs of long, blunt legs that raise it to over eighteen feet tall—and they’re made even taller by a double line of huge spikes that line its back. Its head is little more than a mouth and pair of small eyes at the end of its neck, and it has six long, stinging tendrils just in front of foremost limbs. They are vicious predators of both sea and land.Climate/Terrain: temperate, subtropical, tropical; coast, ocean.HallucigeniaHuge Type; Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)AC 15 (natural armor)HP 108 (12d12+30; bloodied 54)Speed 30 ft., swim 20 ft.STR 19 (+4) DEX 10 (+0) CON 17 (+3)INT 2 (-4) WIS 11 (+0) CHA 5 (-3)Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15Skills Perception +3Senses tremorsense 30 ft., passive Per 13Languages —Feel The Currents. The hallucigenia’s tremorsense only works underwater.Limited Amphibiousness. The hallucigenia can breathe both air and water. When breathing air, it must immerse itself in water once every 4 hours or begin to suffocate.ActionsMultiattack. The hallucigenia makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its tendrils.Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10+4) piercing damage.Tendrils. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) piercing damage and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw against being poisoned. On a failure, the target is confused for 1 minute. It may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.*[ATTACH=full]343722[/ATTACH]Giant opabinias are creatures not unlike segmented worms, with fifteen paddle-limbs that double as gills. They have five stalked eyes and a long proboscis which it uses in the same ways that elephants use their trunks, but which also ends in a toothed pincer used to attack. They swim in shallow oceans, hunting for prey; they normally limit themselves to whatever they can find on the ocean floor. However, they also lie in ambush, using their limited chromatophores to blend into the sandy bottom where they wait for larger air-breathing creatures to approach, and then use their long, strong proboscis-pincer to grab onto such a creature and drag it under the water, holding it there until it drowns.Climate/Terrain: temperate, subtropical; oceanOpabiniaMedium beast; Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)AC 12 (natural armor)HP 11 (2d8+2; bloodied 5)Speed 10 ft., swim 20 ft.STR 14 (+2) DEX 10 (+0) CON 12 (+1)INT 2 (-4) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 5 (-3)Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 12Skills Perception +3; Stealth +2 (+1d4)Senses tremorsense 30 ft., passive Perception 14Languages —Aquatic. The opabinia only breathes water.Feel The Currents. The opabinia’s tremorsense only works underwater.ActionsPincher. Melee Weapon Attack; +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 12) and pulled 5 feet towards the opabinia.*[ATTACH=full]343721[/ATTACH]Wiwaxias resemble three-foot-long, highly mobile sea urchins, although they are as home on the land as they are in the water. Their scales range in color from dark steel to dark bronze colored, leading many to incorrectly believe they are made out of metal; they’re actually more like an armored slug. They do have a very tough hide, though. For the most part, wiwaxia are harmless grazers, feeding on moss, decaying leaves, tree bark, and any tiny insects that happen to get in their way, but they can deliver a nasty bite to anyone who tries to harm it, and they can rotate their spikes somewhat, allowing them an extra measure of defense against attackers.Climate/Terrain: temperate, subtropical, tropical; cavern, coast, forest, jungle, oceanWiwaxiaSmall beast; Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)AC 14HP 3 (1d6)Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.STR 5 (-3) DEX 10 (+0) CON 10 (+1)INT 2 (-4) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 4 (-3)Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 10Senses tremorsense 30 ft., passive Perception 10Languages —Amphibious. The wiwaxia breathes both air and water.Spiky. A creature that hits the wiwaxia with a melee attack while within 5 feet of the wiwaxia takes 3 (1d6) piercing damage.ActionsBite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage.</blockquote>

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