Kraken Variants

[Cleon]

You can drop the question mark; that base damage is fine.

Let's go with Superior Initiative for the bonus feat.

Fine by me.

Updating the Krakendraugr (Undead Kraken).

I guess we can drop Imp Init then, logically speaking, though some part of me kind of wants both of them.

Yes, Improved Initiative is superfluous as bonus feats don't require prereqs.

 

[freyar]

Always NE would make sense, but I'd think these don't keep treasure.

Anything else, or time to guess the CR? Probably not too much better than a standard kraken. Say 13 or 14? What do you think?

 

[Cleon]

Always NE would make sense, but I'd think these don't keep treasure.

Works for me.

Updating the Krakendraugr (Undead Kraken).

Anything else, or time to guess the CR? Probably not too much better than a standard kraken. Say 13 or 14? What do you think?

Let's go for Challenge Rating 14. It's a fair bit tougher and does more damage, plus it's got all those Undead Immunities.

 

[freyar]

Tactics: Krakendraugr are driven by a hatred of all living creatures and attack indiscriminately. They jet only if in danger of imminent destruction.

 

[Cleon]

Tactics: Krakendraugr are driven by a hatred of all living creatures and attack indiscriminately. They jet only if in danger of imminent destruction.

I don't care for the final sentence. There's no indication the undead kraken has any interest in self-preservation. It's only motivation is mindless vengeful hatred of the living.

Hmm…

A krakendraugr's sole motivation is mindless vengeful hatred of life. It kills indiscriminately, but prioritizes targets the kraken had a grudge against when it died, typically air-breathing creatures and vessels crewed by surface dwellers. An undead kraken fights until destroyed unless some mighty power's control compels it otherwise. Thus, they almost never jet away from a fight, instead using jet to speed their pursuit of victims.​

 

[freyar]

I'm not entirely sure, but do you want to emphasize the creation of a krakendraugr as a "punishment" of a kraken, like it hints at in the original text? Perhaps they are created when a kraken fails to destroy enemies that a foul deity has tasked it with eliminating? That would explain the grudge.

 

[Cleon]

I'm not entirely sure, but do you want to emphasize the creation of a krakendraugr as a "punishment" of a kraken, like it hints at in the original text? Perhaps they are created when a kraken fails to destroy enemies that a foul deity has tasked it with eliminating? That would explain the grudge.

I was going to mention that, but it belongs more in the Background section rather than Tactics.

Speaking of which, the "sole motivation" bit may belong better in its Background and the rough draft Tactics above seems a bit wordy.

How about:

A krakendraugr mindlessly obeys the orders of whatever evil power created it. Left to its own devices it kills indiscriminately, prioritizing enemies that remind the undead kraken of grudges it held when it died. It fights until destroyed, harpooning opponents with its arms to drag into a bite attack. A krakendraugr only flees combat if compelled to by an outside power, so its jet ability is usually only used to pursue victims.​

That just leaves Description and Background.

 

[freyar]

That looks pretty good to me!

I think I'll leave description and background to you, since you're much better at that!

 

[Cleon]

That looks pretty good to me!

Updating the Krakendraugr (Undead Kraken).

I think I'll leave description and background to you, since you're much better at that!

I'll whip something up when inspiration strikes.

 

[Cleon]

Let's see…

A vast octopus or squid as big as a ship whose slimy body reeks of decay and ammonia. Its barrel-sized eyes are milky white like a dead fish but shine with malevolence. The creature is obviously a deliquescent corpse that moves by some unnatural agency. Its strangely mutilated tentacles have cruelly-hooked blades fused to their ends, tipping each leathery limb with a harpoon of hardened cartilage.

An undead cephalopod animated by some evil entity to become a mindlessly malevolent servant.

A krakendraugr only has six functional limbs. The two long tentacles of a living kraken have been stripped to stumps and the pieces grafted into its six shorter arms, turning them into barbed impaling weapons. These augmented arms are about 40 feet long.

Undead krakens cannot speak.​

It's a bit basic but does the job.

Hmm, should we expand the Languages to give it a Golem or Zombie style ability to understand commands? Like so:

Undead krakens cannot speak, but they understand commands given in any language. They have no intelligence, so their master's instructions must be very simple.​

What do you think?

Didn't include any "how to create" rules since I don't want to give PCs the option of making one. Also, the most powerful undead that create greater undead can produce is the CR 11 Devourer at CL 20th, but the Krakendraugr is a higher Challenge Rating than that.

Does it need an In Cerilia entry?