Capricorn

[Celebrim]

Capricorn
Environment: Coastal
Rarity: Rare (Fame +4)
No Appearing: 1d6 (2d20)
Percent in Lair: 20%
Treasure Type: Incidental
AL: Usually CG
Favored Class: Akashic

Capricorn, Female or Young Male
Medium Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water]
CR: 2
HD: 3d10+11 (hp 28)
Init: +1 (Dex)
Spd: 15 ft. / swim 30 ft.
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
AC: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 Natural)
Atk: Butt +4 (1d4+2)
SA: Powerful Charge (+1d8), Spell-like Abilities, Tail Lash (1d4+1), Trample (DC 11, 1d4+1)
SQ: Cold tolerant, DR 5/+1, Wave Mastery
SV: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2
Str 13, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 12, Chr 10
Feats: Heedless Charge, Lunge, Power Attack, Powerful Charge
Skills: Astrology +3, Know (Nature) +6, Swim +15, Speak Language (Aquan plus any three others)

Capricorn, Mature Male
Large Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water]
CR: 4
HD: 6d10+34 (hp 77)
Init: +0 (Dex)
Spd: 15 ft. / swim 30 ft.
Space/Reach: 5’x10’/10’
AC: 15 (+0 Dex, +6 Natural, -1 Size)
Atk: Butt +8 (1d6+5)
SA: Powerful Charge (+2d6), Spell-like Abilities, Tail Lash (1d6+3), Trample (DC 13, 1d6+3)
SQ: Cold tolerant, DR 5/+1, Wave Mastery
SV: Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +3
Str 17, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 12, Chr 10
Feats: Heedless Charge, Improved Overrun, Lunge, Power Attack, Powerful Charge
Skills: Astrology +6, Know (Nature) +9, Know (Religion) +3, Swim +20, Speak Language (Aquan plus any three others)

Capricorn, Beachmaster
Huge Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water]
CR: 7
HD: 9d10+77 (hp 127)
Init: -2 (Dex)
Spd: 15 ft. / swim 30 ft.
Space/Reach: 10’x15’/10’
AC: 14 (-2 Dex, +8 Natural, -2 Size)
Atk: Butt +14 (1d8+11)
SA: Powerful Charge (+3d6), Spell-like Abilities, Tail Lash (1d8+7), Trample (DC 17, 1d8+7)
SQ: Cold tolerant, DR 5/+1, Wave Mastery
SV: Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +6
Str 24, Dex 6, Con 21, Int 17, Wis 17, Chr 12
Feats: Charge Through, Heedless Charge, Improved Overrun, Lunge, Power Attack, Powerful Charge
Skills: Astrology +9, Know (Arcane) +6, Know (Nature) +12, Know (Religion) +12, Swim +25, Speak Language (Aquan plus any five others)

Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day: Water blast, shatter, rhino’s rush; 1/day: control water, stone shape. Capricorns of at least 9HD also gain 1/week: control weather, tidal wave. Caster level is 6 + HD. Spell DC’s are charisma based.
Cold Tolerant (Ex): Capricorns take half damage from cold.
Powerful Charge (Ex): Capricorns receive Lunge and Powerful Charge as a racial bonus feats, and are able to employ their butt attack as an effective weapon even when underwater.
Tail Lash (Ex): If a capricorn is flanked, it may attack one attacker within its reach with its powerful and flexible tail. This attack is made at the capricorn’s full BAB and does bludgeoning damage equal to its trample damage. If the attack hits, the capricorn may attempt to trip its target. It may not attack the same target with its butt attack and its tail lash in the same round.
Trample (Ex): A capricorn can choose to overrun any creature smaller than itself with a contested check. If successful, it does the listed damage and knocks the target prone. With a reflex save (DC 10+capricorn's strength bonus), the target takes half damage and is not knocked prone. The target of the overrun may attempt an AoO, however if they do so they forgo a saving throw to resist the attack.
Wave Mastery (Su): Capricorns are unaffected by waves of natural origin unless they wish to be. They have Spell Resistance equal to 15 plus their HD, versus any Water or Earth spell, and they save at +2 versus all such spells.

Capricorns are magical beasts that live near rocky shores and beaches where large waves frequently form. They especially prize beaches with sea stacks or waterfalls, and claim such as their territory for breeding. It is said to bring bad fortune to settle or build in such areas, as the capricorn’s wrath and curse will cause whatever is built there to quickly erode into the sea.

Capricorns have the upper body of a large goat, but the lower body like the tail of great fish, not dissimilar to a marlin but more serpentine and strong. The breathe air, but are capable of holding their breath for long periods and diving to great depths. Capricorns are quite intelligent, and learn many languages, and are fond of conversing on philosophical matters but they make no crafts and have no use for possessions. Capricorns otherwise live lives not too dissimilar to elephant seals or sea lions, however, they are vegetarians and consume principally sea grasses and sea weeds, both on land and off shore. They delight in fruits and vegetables, and also alcohol, and these they accept gladly as gifts and offerings. No amount of inducement however can convince a Capricorn to depart from its basic nature, or to befriend or serve another for any length. They tend in their personalities toward melancholy, passivity, fatalism, and stoicism. Capricorns have been known to save fools from folly, or to rescue children from drowning, but also to watch dispassionately when boats capsize or are broken upon rocks. For this reason, they are seldom trusted and sometimes despised and cursed.

The amount of vegetation that Capricorns consume is small compared to their size, allowing large herds to live in small areas. They seem to derive at least part of their nourishment from magic or the power of the waves themselves, and it is not infrequent to see them lying motionless in the midst of the most powerful of waves.

Male capricorns grow to a much greater size than females and continue to grow throughout their long lives, and older males fight in order claim large harems of breeding females. Males aggressively defend their beach from intruders, but avoid fighting to the death, and if injured or intimidated by a powerful foe will prefer to flee with their herd into the sea and wait out invaders. In any group of capricorns, there will always be at least one adult male. Fifty-five percent of Capricorn bands will be family bands, with a single mature male and the remainder females. Such groups will also have additional young equal to 100% of the group’s number. The other 45% of Capricorn bands are herds of bachelor males who have not claimed a harem. Such bands will have one mature male per ten members. In any capricorn herd, there is a 3% chance per member of the herd that the largest male has attained beachmaster status. In the case of a bachelor herd, the beachmaster will be an elderly breeding male who has been disposed of his position by a younger and fitter male, and who is nursing his wounds and pride.

Capricorns seldom study or train sufficiently to gain class levels, and if they do, they must train and learn on their own, for they have no tradition of mentorship. Males are mostly content to grow in size and strength, therefore it is most often females which develop particular skill. One in 15 females encountered, and one in 40 males will have class levels beyond their HD. The most commonly observed classes among females are Akashic (50%), Scholar (40%), and Shaman (10%). The most common classes among males are Akashic (30%), Scholar (50%), and Brute (20%). To determine level, roll d3 and if a 3 is rolled, roll again and increase the result by two for each three rolled.

Capricorns naturally live long lives, and are capable of reaching their fourth century or more. However, capricorns seldom live to reach full maturity. Sharks and orcas prey upon capricorns, especially the young. The great white shark is especially feared, and such a creature observed offshore may cause herds to seek to graze further inland to avoid the water. There is great enmity between capricorns and sahaugin, and such that in their rage, capricorns may lose all their timidity and attack their hated enemy with fanatical ferocity. Yet, for all that, humans may be the greatest foe of capricorns, as in some cultures capricorn meat is greatly prized as a delicacy and their horns and other body parts are commonly traded as magical reagents of legitimate puissance. Though it is dangerous work, human hunters sometimes descend on capricorn colonies in large bands, decimating them with arrows and harpoons, and taking them with nets and spears before they are able to reach the safety of the water. Likewise, not every fishermen finding a Capricorn in his nets, cuts it free or heeds its pleas for mercy. For this reason any strange human is likely to be distrusted until he has proven himself, and cases where humans and capricorns live together in mutual respect and occasionally mutual benefit are becoming more rare. Capricorns do generally enjoy mutually respectful relationships with sea elves and merfolk, though even some of the more fierce tribes of merfolk do not disdain their flesh.

Capricorns which die normally reincarnate in as one of their young, and so live life after life through the ages. Thus, young capricorns are born aware and knowledgeable, though not necessarily with complete access to their past memories. Capricorns produce eggs, but like some sharks, give live birth – the female incubating the fertilized eggs within their body until the young begins to break forth. Females produces 1-3 young per clutch. These young are small and grow slowly, and must be carefully protected by the herd for several decades. Comparatively few reach maturity. Like many magical beasts, capricorns can be produced not only by ordinary breeding, but spontaneously arise from certain power releasing events – such as the wake of mega-tsunami caused by landslides, the collapse of glaciers, or volcanic eruptions. In theory this should keep the number of capricorns stable, but in recent times capricorns have become a rarer and rarer sight on the beaches of Korrel and the capricorns themselves note that many of their greatest spirits no longer dwell among them. Many scholars, both among the free peoples and the capricorns themselves, believe that capricorns are not returning to the material world because have increasingly taken to life on other planes but exactly where they have found this safe haven none either can say or are willing to reveal.

 

[Celebrim]

I'm using my house rules for this creature, so even aside from any mistakes I may have made, some things will look a bit off.

In particular, if you want to use as written for 3.X, you'll need to give them an additional ability to make things line up, along the lines of:
Hardy (Ex): Capricorns get 8 bonus hit points as medium sized creatures, 16 bonus hit points as large sized creatures, and 32 bonus hit points as huge creatures.

Alternatively, you can just forgo the bonus hit points and remove them from the entry, determining hit points as 3.X does normally.

Classes mentioned in the text are homebrew. You can substitute as follows:

Akashic: Monte Cook's akashic from Arcana Unearthed, or Factotum from 3.5
Scholar: The scholar NPC class by me elsewhere on EnWorld, or Expert from 3.5
Brute: The brute NPC class by me elsewhere on Enworld, or Warrior from 3.5. You could also replace with Barbarian if you wanted to increase the challenge slightly.
Shaman: The Green Ronin Shaman class from the Shaman's Handbook, or Druid from 3.5

Homebrew spells mentioned in the text are listed below.

 

[Celebrim]

Homebrew spells mentioned in the text:

Water Blast
Conjuration [Water]
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25’ + 5’/2 levels)
Effect: Varies
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Varies
Spell Resistance: No

This spell allows the caster to direct a violent stream of water toward the target of their choosing. The effect depends on the width of the blast which is chosen by the caster at the time the spell is cast.

Fountain: The total amount of water created by the spell is the same as the spell create water, and it moves in a line from the caster to the limit of its range. Any target in this line is forced back and to the side unless they win an opposed combat maneuver check. Large size or larger creatures are bull rushed, and smaller creatures are tackled. The fountain blast is considered medium size, the caster may use their spell-caster level in place of their BAB if they prefer, and strength bonus of the fountain is equal to the caster’s caster ability score bonus. Effected creatures are pushed back 1d6+4 feet, and have an equal chance of moving straight backwards, or 5’ to the left or right. (1d6: 1-2: left, 3-4, straight back, 5-6: right). Every target in the line is normally effected, however huge creatures or larger which successfully resist the fountain stop the blast at that point, as does any creature which is using the Covering Defense feat which resists the fountain. Any creature in the line of the fountain which is sensitive to water takes damage as if doused by the spell create water.

Geyser: As fountain, but the blast of water is only about a hand span wide and has greater pressure. As such, it is easily blocked by a single target in its path, but may be used to effect that target over a longer period, allowing for more dramatic effects. The caster chooses a single target within the range of the spell. The target is allowed a reflex save. If the save is failed, the target takes 1d6 non-lethal damage and must make an opposed combat maneuver check. Large size or larger creatures are bull rushed, smaller creatures are tackled. The geyser blast is considered large size, the caster may use their spell-caster level in place of their BAB if they prefer, and strength bonus of the fountain is equal to the caster’s caster ability score bonus. The caster may continue to make opposing combat maneuver checks until the target either resists successfully, or is pushed back to the limits of the range of the spell. Small sized or smaller targets so effected are pushed back with such velocity, that they are treated as falling half the distance that they are so pushed. This is edition to any incidental falling damage, such as if the object is pushed off a ledge. If any target is pushed into a solid object within the first 15’, they take double the normal non-lethal damage. If the reflex save to resist this attack succeeds, the target takes but half damage and does not have to make an opposed combat maneuver check.

Jet: Only a fairly small amount of water is produced, but at great pressure. It moves in a narrow line toward the target indicated, and the jet is so thin and of such great velocity that it can pierce and cut its target. This is treated as a ray attack. The spell-caster makes a ranged touch attack on the target, and if successful the target takes 1d8 plus the caster ability bonus slashing/piercing damage. On a critical hit, the target takes triple damage. The cutting power of the jet is so great, that this attack does full damage to all objects and ignores half of the object’s hardness, and half a target creature’s damage resistance.

The material component of this spell is a gallon of water. The conjured water has the same general characteristics as the spell component, thus if the water is not potable the resulting water is not potable, if the water is briny, the resulting water is also briny. Hot, acidic, or poisoned water results in water that is warm, mildly acidic, or highly bitter and undrinkable but has no additional effects on the target.

Tidal Wave
Evocation [Water]
Level: Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Extreme (400’ + 20’/level)
Area: Wave 40’ wide per caster level
Effect: Wave of water
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude Partial
Spell Resistance: No
You cause a massive wave to rise up in a nearby body of water. The body of water must be at least 400’ across and at least 20’ deep. The wave you create is 40’ wide per caster level and must form a straight line which is initially entirely contained within the range of the spell, and must be roughly perpendicular to the nearest shoreline. The wave is 5’ tall + 1’ per level of the caster. The spell automatically fails if the caster level is 10 or less.

Once created, the wave begins immediately moving at 240’ per round in the direction of the nearest shoreline. The wave inflicts 4d6+14 damage to any creature or unattended, unfixed object in its path, and sweeps such objects a distance equal to 3 times the height of the wave in the direction the wave is travelling. A successful fortitude save half’s this damage, and prevents the object from being swept away. Creatures already in the body of water when struck by the wave may substitute their swim skill bonus for their fortitude save if their swim skill bonus is superior. Creatures that are taller than the wave receive a +4 bonus on their save. Note that the wave explicitly effects objects, so creatures without a Constitution score are not immune to the effects of the wave.

The wave continues its movement until it reaches a shoreline, after which it sweeps ashore a distance equal to six times the height of the wave or until the shoreline rises higher than the height of the wave. If the wave does not reach a shoreline within four rounds, it dissipates.

Any fixed structure in the wave’s path such as buildings, trees, and the like takes quadruple damage, and the wave will attempt to break such structures as a creature with a +21 bonus on the check.

Any boat in the waves path which is not as long as the wave is tall requires a DC 20 boating check or will capsize unless it is moored and anchored. Boats which are not moored and anchored are swept by the wave as any other object, and if swept ashore take damage as if ship wrecked. Boats which are moored and anchored are treated as fixed structures.

 

[Cleon]

Thanks Celebrim.

The first Homebrew monster since the Great Database Hiccup, I was wondering how long it'll take!

Freyar and I are hoping to get a moderator to return some of the AWOL Homebrew threads here eventually, but not much has been done about it.

I'm using my house rules for this creature, so even aside from any mistakes I may have made, some things will look a bit off.

Yes, I was noticing it uses a 3.0-style "rectangular" Space rather than the always square one of 3.5.

It doesn't have a line for BAB/Grapple which is a bit more problematic, since the Tail Lash attack mentions BAB and it's used in its water blast SLA.

Hardy (Ex): Capricorns get 8 bonus hit points as medium sized creatures, 16 bonus hit points as large sized creatures, and 32 bonus hit points as huge creatures.

Sure that works.

3E Hit Dice are rounded down, so 3d10+11 (average 27.5) would be 27 hit points and 9d10+77 is 126 hp.

Is the rounding up to 28 and 127 another of your tweaks?

 

[freyar]

Speaking of AWOL threads, this one shows up twice, both in Monster Homebrews and in the "super-forum" for the CC. I wonder if that would happen with new threads in General Monster Talk, too. :/

 

[Celebrim]

Yes, I was noticing it uses a 3.0-style "rectangular" Space rather than the always square one of 3.5.

3.0e >> 3.5e

My house rules are to 3.0e roughly what Pathfinder is to 3.5e. Also, you probably notice DR 5/+1 rather than DR 5/magic. There is a fairly high degree of compatibility with 3e, but the more you look the more odd things you are going to notice.

It doesn't have a line for BAB/Grapple which is a bit more problematic, since the Tail Lash attack mentions BAB and it's used in its water blast SLA.

Do you think that's needed? BAB can be inferred directly from type and HD, but if you think it's valuable enough to have a derived stat line in the block I'll put them in. I like to have stat blocks that can be highly compacted so that they can be easily copied into an encounter text. (I very much dislike the 3e era practice of having the stat blocks in an appendix.)

Sure that works.

Pretty much all my creatures have bonus hit points based on their size (sort of similar to 3e oozes). Since the monsters are written up mostly for my benefit, I don't feel like rejiggering them to 3e, 3.5e, or Pathfinder standards. However, hopefully the stat blocks are familiar enough that they can be tweaked to whatever you are playing without too much trouble.

Is the rounding up to 28 and 127 another of your tweaks?

Yes.

 

[Cleon]

3.0e >> 3.5e

My house rules are to 3.0e roughly what Pathfinder is to 3.5e. Also, you probably notice DR 5/+1 rather than DR 5/magic. There is a fairly high degree of compatibility with 3e, but the more you look the more odd things you are going to notice.

Well that's more consistent with my preferred homebrew rules, which owe as much to AD&D and RuneQuest as they do to 3E.

Actually, I hadn't noticed the DR 5/+1. I like the variant DR where ALL damage reductions have a magical plus equivalent, e.g. an Iron Golem might be, say, DR 15(+3)/adamantine so if you have an adamantine weapon or a +3 weapon you can do full damage.

Similarly, I prefer the rectangle-or-square Face rules of 3.0 too. It never made sense to have a horse or similar creature occupy a 10-ft. square.

Indeed, I'd argue there ought to be a "line" Face for sinuous creatures like Lung Dragons and Giant Constrictor Snakes, allowing them to occupy any series of consecutive squares.

Do you think that's needed? BAB can be inferred directly from type and HD, but if you think it's valuable enough to have a derived stat line in the block I'll put them in. I like to have stat blocks that can be highly compacted so that they can be easily copied into an encounter text. (I very much dislike the 3e era practice of having the stat blocks in an appendix.)

I find it a great time saver having the BAB/Grapple prefigured for a stat block.

You could include it in the attack line I guess, i.e.:

Atk (BAB/Grp +6/+7): Butt +4 (1d4+2)

Another way to save space would be to move the Challenge Rating so it's after the monster name or type rather than in a line by itself, i.e.:

Capricorn, Female or Young Male (CR 2)

or

CR 2 Medium Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water]

There are plenty of official 3E monster stats that use the first option.

Pretty much all my creatures have bonus hit points based on their size (sort of similar to 3e oozes). Since the monsters are written up mostly for my benefit, I don't feel like rejiggering them to 3e, 3.5e, or Pathfinder standards. However, hopefully the stat blocks are familiar enough that they can be tweaked to whatever you are playing without too much trouble.

Yes, I've played around with various rules for size-based bonuses (hit points, damage, attack modifiers, et cetera). It solves a lot of 3E inconsistencies with big mundane creatures having much better saves, skills and attack values than is "realistic".

I don't tend to use them in play - at least not with D&D - because the game is pretty much built on a foundation of BIGGER = MORE HD.

Besides there are so many monsters it'd take forever to do them all.

 

[Celebrim]

Well that's more consistent with my preferred homebrew rules, which owe as much to AD&D and RuneQuest as they do to 3E.

I play 3e in what I think is very much a 1e inspired style. Some of my rules owe their inspiration as much to GURPS as 3e, but 1e AD&D is still a fairly large influence.

Actually, I hadn't noticed the DR 5/+1. I like the variant DR where ALL damage reductions have a magical plus equivalent, e.g. an Iron Golem might be, say, DR 15(+3)/adamantine so if you have an adamantine weapon or a +3 weapon you can do full damage.

I tend to solve this problem slightly differently. Most DR tends to be on the small side, roughly half of what would be typical in 3.5e. This means overcoming DR is nice, but not essential. When DR is based on magic, having less than the required DR partially negates the DR at the rate of 5 per +1 enhancement bonus you have. So if a monster has DR 15/+3, and you have a +2 weapon, the effective DR is only 5. Adamantine weapons count as +3 higher for the purposes of overcoming DR, so you can overcome DR 25/+5 with just a +2 adamantine weapon. Adamantine also counts as cold iron, and mithril counts as silver. It's thus not as essential to have a golf bad, as one good weapon will overcome most of the DR's you'd actually face and not overcoming DR while bad is not as crippling.

Indeed, I'd argue there ought to be a "line" Face for sinuous creatures like Lung Dragons and Giant Constrictor Snakes, allowing them to occupy any series of consecutive squares.

I agree, but writing rules to handle facing on line creatures is difficult, and while I sometimes run a monster as if it had line facing, I've never formalized it in the rules because it gets ugly in a hurry. I'm convinced that 3.5e went to square bases solely to keep the miniature rules simple and easy to understand, which really was necessary if you were going to port them over to a two player tactical skirmish game with no game master.

I find it a great time saver having the BAB/Grapple prefigured for a stat block.

Ok, I'll put it in.

Another way to save space would be to move the Challenge Rating so it's after the monster name or type rather than in a line by itself, i.e.:

Capricorn, Female or Young Male (CR 2)

The way these are intended to use replaces all line breaks with ';', resulting in something like this lovely little block:

Capricorn, Female (5); Medium Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water];CR: 2;HD: 3d10+11 (hp 28);Init: +1 (Dex);Spd: 15 ft. / swim 30 ft.;Space/Reach: 5’/5’;AC: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 Natural);Atk: Butt +4 (1d4+2);SA: Powerful Charge (+1d8), Spell-like Abilities, Tail Lash (1d4+1), Trample (DC 11, 1d4+1);SQ: Cold tolerant, DR 5/+1, Wave Mastery;SV: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 12, Chr 10;Feats: Heedless Charge, Lunge, Power Attack, Powerful Charge;Skills: Astrology +3, Know (Nature) +6, Swim +15, Speak Language (Aquan plus any three others)

That is not much less compact than the inline blocks of 1e.

 

[Cleon]

The way these are intended to use replaces all line breaks with ';', resulting in something like this lovely little block:

Capricorn, Female (5); Medium Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water];CR: 2;HD: 3d10+11 (hp 28);Init: +1 (Dex);Spd: 15 ft. / swim 30 ft.;Space/Reach: 5’/5’;AC: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 Natural);Atk: Butt +4 (1d4+2);SA: Powerful Charge (+1d8), Spell-like Abilities, Tail Lash (1d4+1), Trample (DC 11, 1d4+1);SQ: Cold tolerant, DR 5/+1, Wave Mastery;SV: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 12, Chr 10;Feats: Heedless Charge, Lunge, Power Attack, Powerful Charge;Skills: Astrology +3, Know (Nature) +6, Swim +15, Speak Language (Aquan plus any three others)

It'd be lovelier if you remembered to put a space after the semi-colons.

Capricorn, Female (5); Medium Magical Beast [Amphibious, Earth, Water]; CR: 2; HD: 3d10+11 (hp 28); Init: +1 (Dex); Spd: 15 ft. / swim 30 ft.; Space/Reach: 5’/5’; AC: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 Natural); Atk: Butt +4 (1d4+2); SA: Powerful Charge (+1d8), Spell-like Abilities, Tail Lash (1d4+1), Trample (DC 11, 1d4+1); SQ: Cold tolerant, DR 5/+1, Wave Mastery; SV: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 11, Wis 12, Chr 10; Feats: Heedless Charge, Lunge, Power Attack, Powerful Charge; Skills: Astrology +3, Know (Nature) +6, Swim +15, Speak Language (Aquan plus any three others)

That is not much less compact than the inline blocks of 1e.

Anyhow, the above statblock is pretty much what I expected. It's not that different to the 3.5 D&D compact blocks that are in quite a few published 3E modules that are along the lines of:

Name (Medium Magical Beast; Hit Dice: d10+ (hp); Init: +; Speed: ft. ( squares); AC: (+ Dex, + natural) touch , flat-footed ; Base Attack/Grapple: +/+; Attack: Bite + melee (d+); Full Attack: Bite + melee (d+) and 2 claws + melee (d+); Space/Reach: ft./ ft.; Special Attacks: ; Special Qualities: ; Saves: Fort +, Ref +, Will +; Abilities: Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha ; Skills: Balance +, Climb +, Hide +, Listen +, Spot +, Swim +; Feats: ; CR: )

Name CR ; Medium Animal (Aquatic); HD d8+; hp ; Init +; Spd ft. ( squares), swim ft.; AC ( size, + Dex, + natural) touch , flat-footed ; Base Atk +; Grp +; Atk + melee (d+, bite); Full Atk + melee (d+, bite); Space/Reach ft./ ft.; SA —; SQ ; SV Fort +, Ref +, Will +; AL N; Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha .
. Skills and Feats: Listen +, Spot +, Swim +; Alertness
. Ability (Ex): X.
. Skills: X.

I like them better than the revised 3.5 block that are similar to what Pathfinder now uses. They just take up way too much space on the page.


EDIT: I tend to use italics for the compact statblock's special abilities and skill notes, so a wolf would have "Trip (+1 modifier)" and "Survival +1* (+5 track by scent)".