Converting prehistoric creatures

[Rappy]

I'm ready if the others are.

 

[demiurge1138]

Totally ready. Those turned out rather well. What's next?

 

[Shade]

These are still awaiting conversion...

Agnath, Electric
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Shallow ocean bottoms
FREQUENCY: Common
DIET: Omnivore
NO. APPEARING: 1d4
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVEMENT! 4
HIT DICE: 1/2 (1d4 hp)
THAC0: 20
NO. OF ATTACKS: None
DAMAGE/ATTACK: None
SPECIAL ATTACKS: None
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Electrical discharge
SIZE: S (1. long)
MORALE: Unreliable (3)
XP VALUE: 15

Agnaths are the first fish of any type to appear in the oceans of the world. These creatures are small bottom dwellers, slowly gliding over the sea bed while grubbing up whatever organic matter they can find in the mud. They have no regular jaws or biting teeth, relying solely on a passive defense. All agnaths, even those without special powers, have heavy armor for protection.

Some agnaths in fantasy universes have developed a special defense mechanism. If an enemy grabs (or in the case of adventurers, steps on) the fish, it generates an electrical shock. This should be considerable, as it was meant to be used against the man-sized eurypterids described next. The electrical jolt does 1-4 hp damage in a 5’ radius underwater, double that if the target (presumably human or humanoid) is clad in metal armor. The agnath will not actively seek combat, but the existence of this creature should at least make characters watch where they put their hands and feet when in murky water.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #176 (1991).

Agnatha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We might also use it as a springboard for other swarms or giant versions of fossil agnathans.

 

[freyar]

Ooh, I get nice illithid-y vibes from the Cephalis sketch on wikipedia for some reason.

Let's start with the electric and maybe do a giant mundane version, I think.

For the electric one, Tiny magical beast?

Borrow/modify this from the shocker lizard:

Lethal Shock (Su): Whenever two or more shocker lizards are within 20 feet of each other, they can work together to create a lethal shock. This effect has a radius of 20 feet, centered on any one contributing lizard. The shock deals 2d8 points of electricity damage for each lizard contributing to it, to a maximum of 12d8. A Reflex save (DC 10 + number of lizards contributing) reduces the damage by half.

 

[Leopold]

These would be lamprey like or we going with the Whale shark type of feeding off shrimp/plankton?

Found a lamprey here, could be a good baseline:

Lamprey CR 1/2

N Small animal (aquatic)

Init +3; Senses blindsense; Listen +2, Spot +2
Defense

AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12
(+3 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)

hp 5 (1 HD)

Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1

Weakness susceptible to fire
Offense

Spd swim 30 ft.

Melee bite +4 (1d3-1)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks attach, blood drain
Statistics

Str 9, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2

Base Atk +0; Grp -5 (-1 attached)

Feats Weapon Finesse

Skills Listen +2, Spot +2, Swim +9
Special Abilities

Attach (Ex) A lamprey that hits with its bite attack latches onto the victim’s body. An attached lamprey loses its Dexterity bonus to AC and can use blood drain on subsequent rounds. An attached lamprey can be struck by a weapon or grappled, but it receives a +4 bonus when opposing grapple checks. To remove a lamprey through grappling, the victim must successfully pin the lamprey. A lamprey receives a +4 bonus to any grapple check to resist a pin due to the incredible strength of its mouth.

Blindsense (Ex) A lamprey can locate creatures underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability works only when the lamprey is underwater.

Blood Drain (Ex) Once a lamprey has attached itself to a victim, it can drain blood at the start of each subsequent round. A lamprey inflicts 1 point of Constitution damage each round it remains attached.

Susceptible to Fire (Ex) Lampreys make their saving throws against fire-based attacks with a -2 penalty.

Skills A lamprey can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

 

[demiurge1138]

I do not like them as attachers. I don't think it's ever been determined what they eat, but they're slow and bulky-armored, so the stealthy parasite route doesn't work. I'm going to go ahead and guess that they scraped algae from rocks or something like that.

 

[Rappy]

Agnaths do include lampreys. If we use the prehistoric cephalaspidomorphs, however, we're looking at a suctioning bottom-feeder in a suit of armor. Interestingly enough, there is a precedent for cephalaspidomorphine electrical organs, so the electrical agnath could very well be an example of them.

 

[freyar]

Agnaths do include lampreys. If we use the prehistoric cephalaspidomorphs, however, we're looking at a suctioning bottom-feeder in a suit of armor.

The original D&D text suggests bottom-feeding, so let's go that route.

Interestingly enough, there is a precedent for cephalaspidomorphine electrical organs, so the electrical agnath could very well be an example of them.

Interesting, do you think we could stick to animal instead of magical beast? Is a 5 ft radius burst at all reasonable for a natural electric organ? Can you tell I'm not a biologist?

 

[Rappy]

Interesting, do you think we could stick to animal instead of magical beast? Is a 5 ft radius burst at all reasonable for a natural electric organ? Can you tell I'm not a biologist?

While most gymnotiform fishes capable of forming electrical discharges only produce longer-rang fields for what D&D would classify as blindsight, there are unsubstantiated reports of electric eels managing to take down prey from at least 20 feet away. So...no, 5 feet certainly isn't a problem.

 

[RavinRay]

Ooh, electric fish, how juicy. As it so happens, I have an old Scientific American article in the office about the fish Gymnarchus, and it shows that electric abilties evolved independently in several different lineages of fish. And it does have that low-level electrical field that as rappy said is functionally blightsight, and that more powerful electrical burst. Five feet for the agnathan is fine for me.