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Converting "Real World" Animals and Vermin
- Thread starter Shade
- Start date
Cleon
Legend
I'm against giving them a racial bonus to Craft (jewelery). It doesn't feel like its part of their nature, like a gnome or dwarf, more that it's a cultural thing, maybe just a way to pass the time.
I'm okay for leaving most of the Craft skills to those Deep-Dwellers that pick up levels in an NPC class, such as Expert.
I like the suggestion of Knowledge (nature), it makes more sense than Profession (farmer) or Handle Animal. Let's give it a point or two in that.
Stealthy is a good pick for one feat, Maybe Alertness or Skill Focus (Knowledge (nature)) for the other one?
I'm okay for leaving most of the Craft skills to those Deep-Dwellers that pick up levels in an NPC class, such as Expert.
I like the suggestion of Knowledge (nature), it makes more sense than Profession (farmer) or Handle Animal. Let's give it a point or two in that.
Stealthy is a good pick for one feat, Maybe Alertness or Skill Focus (Knowledge (nature)) for the other one?
Shade
Monster Junkie
Updated.
Organization: Solitary or colony (10–40)?
Challenge Rating: 2?
Treasure: No coins, double goods, standard items?
Alignment: Usually neutral, often good?
Advancement: By character class?
How's this?
Deep dwellers speak their own language, a combination of clicking sounds and altering patterns of their bioluminescence. A non-deep dweller can learn to understand their language, but cannot "speak" it without the ability to produce bioluminescence.
Organization: Solitary or colony (10–40)?
Challenge Rating: 2?
Treasure: No coins, double goods, standard items?
Alignment: Usually neutral, often good?
Advancement: By character class?
How's this?
Deep dwellers speak their own language, a combination of clicking sounds and altering patterns of their bioluminescence. A non-deep dweller can learn to understand their language, but cannot "speak" it without the ability to produce bioluminescence.
Cleon
Legend
Looks very good, but I'll raise a few minor niggles.
First, it's still got shortsword listed as a weapon, despite it mentioning spears in the Combat section. One or the other needs changing.
Secondly, I'd tweak the language explanation a bit since presumably you don't need a living glow to speak deep-octopus, since you could create the same lights by other means. Something like:
Deep dwellers speak their own language, a combination of clicking sounds and altering patterns of their bioluminescence. A non-deep dweller can learn to understand their language, but cannot "speak" without duplicating the bioluminescent patterns by some means, such as the silent image spell.
Shade
Monster Junkie
D'oh! I meant to fix that shortsword/shortspear error earlier.
Good suggestions on the languages.
Updated.
Here's the next one, which thankfully is an animal.
Octo-jelly
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Ocean depths
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVE TIME: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Animal (1)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: 10
MOVEMENT: Sw 9
HIT DICE: 8
THAC0: 13
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6+1d10
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Smother
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Luminous cloud
Magic Resistance: Nil
SIZE: L (9’ long, 5’ across)
MORALE: Fearless (19)(see below)
XP VALUE: 2,000
This deep-water predator is a bell-shaped octopus with a pair of swimming fins protruding from its body. Its tentacles appear to be very short, as they are connected by webbing for nearly their entire length, creating a fleshy bag in which to trap prey. Further, the creature is effectively blind, using touch and sensing vibration to pinpoint its prey. While it can instinctively change color in an instant to match the ocean floor, the lack of light in the depths makes camouflage largely irrelevant.
Combat: Moving in the manner of a jellyfish or sculling slowly along the ocean floor, the octo-jelly’s hunting method is to position itself directly above its intended prey and then drop down, enfolding the prey completely in its webbed tentacles. The octo-jelly has two attacks agains the trapped prey; a bite with its horny beak that inflicts 1d10 points of damage and a smothering attack in its clammy mass, which causes another 1d6 points of damage. Once trapped, no further attack rolls are necessary, both types of damage are inflicted each round until the prey escapes or is consumed. A trapped prey can free itself at the beginning of any round with a successful saving throw vs. petrification (at a -1 penalty). Because the octo-jelly is so soft, all attacks directed at it cause full damage to anyone trapped inside its mass.
Although fragile, it has virtually unshakable morale. An octo-jelly will not retreat until it has lost 75% of its hit points; under absolutely no other circumstances will it ever retreat. When attacked by a stronger foe, the octo-jelly can release a luminous cloud of glowing blue-green particles. Anyone caught in this cloud (20 feet high by 30 feet wide by 30 feet long) is blinded for one full turn, losing all initiative and defending against any attacks at a -2 penalty.
Habitat/Society: The octo-jelly is solitary, due largely to the difficulty of finding a stable food source for even a small gathering in the ocean depths. No more than two (a male and a female) will be found together, and then only during the mating season. When the creature’s eggs hatch, the young live for a short time within the mother’s protecteive tentacle bell, but they soon disperse in search of food. These creatures rarely come to the surface, unless driven upward by some major undersea disturbance or cataclysm.
Ecology: The octo-jelly eats any animal it has a chance to kill. In return, it is eaten by anything that can catch and kill it, meaning virtually all of its neighbors; there are few clear-cut distinctions between predator and prey in the ocean depths.
Because it is softer than octopi that live near the surface, the skin of the octo-jelly is useless for commercial purposes. It is edible, however. 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.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #235 (1996).
Good suggestions on the languages.
Updated.
Here's the next one, which thankfully is an animal.
Octo-jelly
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Ocean depths
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVE TIME: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Animal (1)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: 10
MOVEMENT: Sw 9
HIT DICE: 8
THAC0: 13
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6+1d10
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Smother
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Luminous cloud
Magic Resistance: Nil
SIZE: L (9’ long, 5’ across)
MORALE: Fearless (19)(see below)
XP VALUE: 2,000
This deep-water predator is a bell-shaped octopus with a pair of swimming fins protruding from its body. Its tentacles appear to be very short, as they are connected by webbing for nearly their entire length, creating a fleshy bag in which to trap prey. Further, the creature is effectively blind, using touch and sensing vibration to pinpoint its prey. While it can instinctively change color in an instant to match the ocean floor, the lack of light in the depths makes camouflage largely irrelevant.
Combat: Moving in the manner of a jellyfish or sculling slowly along the ocean floor, the octo-jelly’s hunting method is to position itself directly above its intended prey and then drop down, enfolding the prey completely in its webbed tentacles. The octo-jelly has two attacks agains the trapped prey; a bite with its horny beak that inflicts 1d10 points of damage and a smothering attack in its clammy mass, which causes another 1d6 points of damage. Once trapped, no further attack rolls are necessary, both types of damage are inflicted each round until the prey escapes or is consumed. A trapped prey can free itself at the beginning of any round with a successful saving throw vs. petrification (at a -1 penalty). Because the octo-jelly is so soft, all attacks directed at it cause full damage to anyone trapped inside its mass.
Although fragile, it has virtually unshakable morale. An octo-jelly will not retreat until it has lost 75% of its hit points; under absolutely no other circumstances will it ever retreat. When attacked by a stronger foe, the octo-jelly can release a luminous cloud of glowing blue-green particles. Anyone caught in this cloud (20 feet high by 30 feet wide by 30 feet long) is blinded for one full turn, losing all initiative and defending against any attacks at a -2 penalty.
Habitat/Society: The octo-jelly is solitary, due largely to the difficulty of finding a stable food source for even a small gathering in the ocean depths. No more than two (a male and a female) will be found together, and then only during the mating season. When the creature’s eggs hatch, the young live for a short time within the mother’s protecteive tentacle bell, but they soon disperse in search of food. These creatures rarely come to the surface, unless driven upward by some major undersea disturbance or cataclysm.
Ecology: The octo-jelly eats any animal it has a chance to kill. In return, it is eaten by anything that can catch and kill it, meaning virtually all of its neighbors; there are few clear-cut distinctions between predator and prey in the ocean depths.
Because it is softer than octopi that live near the surface, the skin of the octo-jelly is useless for commercial purposes. It is edible, however. 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.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #235 (1996).
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