Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin

[Shade]

Updated.

Do we want to do anything special with the "luminous ink", or does the standard octopus ink suffice?

Skills: 11
Giant octopi have a rank each in Listen and Spot, and the rest in Hide. These things are blind, so we can drop Spot.

Feats: 3
Giant octopi have Alertness, Skill Focus (Hide), Toughness. I hate Toughness.

 

[Cleon]

Updated.

Do we want to do anything special with the "luminous ink", or does the standard octopus ink suffice?

Obscuring ink like the standard octopus does it for me.

Skills: 11
Giant octopi have a rank each in Listen and Spot, and the rest in Hide. These things are blind, so we can drop Spot.

It needs Hide and Move Silently to be any good at its sneak-up-and-engulf tactic, probably with a hefty racial bonus. Any odd points left over could go into Listen.

Maybe 5 ranks in Hide, 4 ranks in MS and 2 ranks in Listen with a +6 racial bonus to all three skills? If we give it Skill Focus (Hide) and Stealthy, that works out as:

Skills: Hide +12, Listen +9, Move Silently +12

Feats: 3
Giant octopi have Alertness, Skill Focus (Hide), Toughness. I hate Toughness.

I'd swap Alertness for Stealth, keep Skill Focus (Hide) and substitute Toughness for something actually useful.

How about Great Fortitude, since its hard to kill despite its soft flesh?

 

[Shade]

That all sounds good!

Updated.

CR 7, since it has less attacks than a standard giant octopus?

 

[freyar]

All looks good, and CR 7 sounds ok.

Though I do kind of like the idea of ink that dazzles. Something like the deep-dwellers above.

 

[Cleon]

CR 7, since it has less attacks than a standard giant octopus?

Its challenge rating should be much less than a giant octopus, I'd put it at Challenge Rating 5.

A giant octopus has 9 attacks, 8 of which have a 20 foot reach, and can attack multiple foes simultaneously.

The Octo-Jelly has only one attack with a 10 foot reach, and much lower damage capacity (one 1d6+4 constriction plus a 1d10+6 bite) than a giant octopus's eight tentacles (1d4+5 attack or 2d8+6 constriction) plus bite (1d8+2).

Stat-wise, a Octo-Jelly is more comparable to a Giant Constrictor Snake than a Giant Octopus. The snake is CR5 and is in several respects (grapple check, AC) tougher than the Octo-Jelly.

Oh, and do you think it needs a racial bonus to grapple checks like a standard SRD squid or octopus?

EDIT: Come to think of it, the SRD octopus does NOT have a racial bonus to grapple. That does not seem right to me.

 

[freyar]

Hmm, you're right about the CR.

Yes, I'd give it a racial grapple bonus, too.

 

[Cleon]

Hmm, you're right about the CR.

Yes, I'd give it a racial grapple bonus, too.

+4 racial bonus to grapple like the SRD squid, giving it grapple +18?

 

[freyar]

+4 racial sounds right.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

An octo-jelly is 9 feet long and 5 feet across, weighing about x pounds. (Most deep sea creatures lack weight, so we can drop it if you'd like).

Do we want to do anything with this?

If its ink particles can be collected, they might be used as an ingredient in the ink used to create such spell scrolls as light, continual light, and the various prismatic spells. An octo-jelly carries enough particles to provide sufficient ink for one written spell.

 

[freyar]

If we're not doing the luminescent ink, let's drop that.