Kraken Variants

[Cleon]

That looks fine to me!

Updating the Male Krakentua Working Draft and Female Krakentua Working Draft.

Regular kraken have darkvision 60 ft, so we can just stick with that, or we could, say, double it as you like.

All the current Creature Catalog versions of the Krakentua have 120 foot darkvision, so I'm inclined to leave that unchanged.

Come to think of it, regular Kraken also have low-light vision so should we add that as well? Or maybe even superior low-light vision?

Although the AD&D texts don't mention any ability to see in the dark, it does have "ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night" and the female krakentua in OA7 - Test of the Samurai (1989) appears "precisely at midnight" to receive tribute from villagers.

Those suggest it could have low-light vision.

I don't really see anything like DR in the original critter, but I could go for a small amount bypassed by magic. What do you think?

The CC's 3.0 conversion has no damage reduction while the old 3.5 one from 2005 have damage reduction 20/magic and good. It was a long while ago, but I think we/they were trying to make it more "Epic" so thought adding DR was appropriate.

The AD&D originals lacked any weapon resistance or immunity.

I was aiming to make these conversions non-Epic critters, so am fine cutting the "Damage reduction? ##/###" from them.

That said, I'm thinking we should consider improving the NA a bit to, say NA +15 or +16 to make them AC 20 or 21.

The current AC 16 (-8 size, +14 natural), touch 2, flat-footed 16 is a literal translation of the AD&D original's AC 4. In AD&D Kraken have AC 5 heads & tentacles but AC 0 bodies, while the 3rd Edition version have AC 20 everywhere, the equivalent of AD&D's Armour Class 0.

For comparison:

AD&D Kraken (90′+ long)—AC 5/0
3.5 D&D Kraken (Gargantuan)—AC: 20 (-4 size, +14 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 20
3.5 D&D Kraken (Colossal)—AC: 21 (-8 size, +19 natural), touch 2, flat-footed 21​

 

[freyar]

Low-light vision seems good.
OK, no DR for these non-epic krakentua. But I do agree with increasing NA. These should be a little tougher than regular kraken, I think, so I'd actually support going with AC 22. Or 21 for the males and 22 for females. (Or 22 and 23 respectively.)

 

[Cleon]

Low-light vision seems good.

Regular low-light vision or superior low-light vision?

I'll pencil in darkvision 60 ft. like a standard Kraken.

OK, no DR for these non-epic krakentua. But I do agree with increasing NA. These should be a little tougher than regular kraken, I think, so I'd actually support going with AC 22. Or 21 for the males and 22 for females. (Or 22 and 23 respectively.)

Let's give both sexes the same AC like in AD&D.

Am fine with 22, so will add +17 natural armour in the next updates.

 

[Cleon]

Before we get too far ahead, the Male Krakentua Working Draft and Female Krakentua Working Draft don't have movement speeds listed.

Shall we keep the earlier CC version's Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares), swim 30 ft. plus fly 30 ft. for the females.

Do we keep the CC version's (poor) aerial manoeuvrability?

The AD&D stats don't include manoeuvrability for a female krakentua's flight, but just says she flew "as if levitating." That means she can hover stationary in the air, which could suggest (good) like the fly spell or a Beholder's magical flight.

However, if her flight is like the levitate spell that comes with stability issues that reduce weapon accuracy:

Levitate
A levitating creature that attacks with a melee or ranged weapon finds itself increasingly unstable; the first attack has a -1 penalty on attack rolls, the second -2, and so on, to a maximum penalty of -5. A full round spent stabilizing allows the creature to begin again at -1.

The CC female has "as if using the air walk spell" but that has a maximum upward or downward angle of 45 degrees so she would be unable to move vertically upwards or downwards as if levitating. That wouldn't match the original text.

 

[freyar]

I'd probably stick with regular low light vision. 60 ft darkvision is also good. They can be like regular kraken.

The levitate spell also doesn't allow for horizontal motion unless you can push off something, so I don't think that's good maneuverability. I think the old CC speed entry is probably ok, but we can drop the bit about air walk.

 

[Cleon]

I'd probably stick with regular low light vision. 60 ft darkvision is also good. They can be like regular kraken.

I can go along with that.

The levitate spell also doesn't allow for horizontal motion unless you can push off something, so I don't think that's good maneuverability. I think the old CC speed entry is probably ok, but we can drop the bit about air walk.

The point is the AD&D description of their flight ability says they can hover in midair as if they are levitating, which isn't possible with a poor maneuverability. It requires either good or perfect maneuverability or the Hover feat.

I suggested fly 30 ft. (good) because that's the aerial ability of a Beholder, which are also described as levitating in their flavour text.

Can agree to dropping the mention of air walk.

I was thinking:

Flight (Su): A female krakentua is able to move 30 feet per round in the air with good maneuverability. She can use this power for a maximum of 10 hours per day, at which point she must fully immerse herself in sea water for 24 hours to regain the ability.​

 

[freyar]

Sure, I can go with that.

Are we ok to de-purple Weapon-Wielding Tentacles and Imp Grab? They look fine to me.

What do you want to tackle next on these?

 

[Cleon]

Sure, I can go with that.

Are we ok to de-purple Weapon-Wielding Tentacles and Imp Grab? They look fine to me.

Updating the Male Krakentua Working Draft and Female Krakentua Working Draft.

I assumed that included de-greening the "A krakentua's default tentacle-wielded weapon is a Medium katanas for 1d10+6/19-20 damage, most popular alternatives are Medium greatsword, Large longsword or Huge wakizasha for 2d6+6/19-20 damage" bit of Weapon-Wielding Tentacles and de-magentad the Constrict and Trample while I was at it.

What do you want to tackle next on these?

Before getting to that, can we agree to keep the following from the previous 3.0/3.5 versions?

Speed: 50 ft. on land, swim 30 ft. for both male & female
Organization: Solitary
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Level Adjustment: —

For the advancement, I'd like "Advancement: by character class" way more than the current versions' 50–150 HD (which should obviously not start at 50!), but would compromise with "Advancement: 51–150 HD (Colossal) or by character class" if you'd rather keep the advancement by Hit Dice.

As for what next to tackle, let's do the Water Dependent or Water Breathing question next.

The 3.0 version didn't have the ability to breathe water but the Monstrous Compendium entry clearly has "The krakentua breathes both water and air".

We can't keep the previous 3.5 version's Water Breathing (Ex): because this version has the (Aquatic) subtype. The simple solutions are a choice between:

Amphibious (Ex): Although krakentua are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely on land.

Water Dependent (Ex): Krakentua can survive out of the water for 1 hour per 2 points of Constitution (after that, refer to the drowning rules).
​

Of those, Amphibious is a clear match to Water Breathing since, apart from the females having to soak themselves to recharge their flight ability, there's no mention of krakentua suffering any ill effect from being out of the water.

Speaking of flight, the MC entries have:

When flying, she sheds a mysterious “trail” of dead octopi. The octopi seldom exceed 3 feet in diameter. It is thought that the krakentua gates in octopi from the ocean, and absorbs their life-force to power her flight.
​

So I'll add the relevant fluff text of the previous 3.5 Female Krakentua's to her entry so we won't forget it later. That is:

A female krakentua is able to fly, whereas the male cannot. As she flies, she leaves a trail of small, dead octopi that she seems to “shed” from her body. Legends attempt to explain this odd byproduct by suggesting that the female is able to power her flight by summoning octopi from the ocean and draining their life force. There is no evidence to support that a krakentua has any of these powers, so this phenomenon is a total mystery.
​

If we can agree on the above I guess we might as well just go through the abilities shared by both males & females in alphabetical order, which'd mean Mist is first.