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View Full Version : Lake Merfolk based on Harry Potter (PEACH)



Debihuman
2011-06-14, 06:55 AM
I've been watching the Harry Potter movies again. The merfolk in the lake at Hogwarts aren't well represented by the typical merfolk stats. So, I played around and came up with this. The higher Charisma score represents how threatening they are to outsiders rather than personal magnetism and attractiveness, but I'm not sure it works.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_40JIWrtw7UU/TK91CDQZq6I/AAAAAAAAAGE/mE5XJzbFGpE/s1600/harry_potter_mermaid.jpg

Merfok, Lake (Aquatic)
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square), Swim 60 ft.
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
BAB/Grapple: +3/+5
Attack: Trident + 5 melee (1d8+2)
Full Attack: Trident +5 melee (1d8+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Captivating song
Special Abilities: Blindsense 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., water dependent, xenophobia
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 12
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) +7, Perform (Sing) +7, Swim +9
Feats: Ability Focus (captivating song), Power Attack
Environment: Cold and Temperate Freshwater Lakes
Organization: Company (2-4), patrol (11-20 plus 2 3rd-level lieutenants and 1 leader
of 3rd-6th level), or band (30-60 plus 1 3rd-level sergeant per 20 adults,
5 5th-level lieutenants, 3 7th-level captains, and 10 grindylows)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually Neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +1

Unlike their more human-looking brethren, lake merfolk have adapted to living in cold, murky lakes. Lake merfolk have grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes are yellow, as are their broken teeth, and they wear thick ropes of pebbles around their necks.

The voices of merpeople sound like screeching above water but are understandable beneath the waves, where they sound dulcet. They speak Common and Aquan.

Lake merfolk rarely tolerate visitors to their underwater cities. Their xenophobia makes relations with them difficult, as they are generally hostile and unfriendly. However, lake merfolk are wonderful underwater gardeners and take great pride in their gardens. Despite their mistrust of strangers, they can be persuaded, through flattery if not bribery, to allow visitation to their gardens. A successful Diplomacy check (DC 35) is needed to convince a merfolk to allow visitors to his or her underwater garden. They also cultivate long-lasting though bitter-tasting air plants (See Stormwrack pg.108) that grow at the water’s edge.

Lake merfolk have been known to domesticate grindylows and keep them as pets. The grindylow is similar to the ahuizotl from Fiend Folio, but with 2 fewer hit dice, an Intelligence of 3 and can only mimic voices but not speak.

COMBAT

Anyone not invited to the merfolk city is considered a threat. They patrol their cities in groups and are quick to respond to any disturbances with excessive force.

Blindsense (Ex): Lake merfolk can locate creatures underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability works only when the lake merfolk is underwater.

Captivating Song (Su): The most insidious ability of the lake merfolk is its song. When a lake merfolk sings, all creatures (other than lake merfolk) within a 100-foot spread must succeed on a DC 14 Will save or become captivated. This is a sonic mind-affecting charm effect. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same merfolk’s song for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a +2 racial bonus. A lake mermaid’s captivating song can be heard above the water’s surface if the lake mermaid is underwater, but the range is only 50 ft. A lake mermaid cannot use ability this above the water.

A captivated victim walks toward the merfolk, taking the most direct route available. If the path leads into a dangerous area, that creature gets a second saving throw. Captivated creatures can take no actions other than to defend themselves. A victim within 5 feet of the lake merfolk stands there and offers no resistance to the monster’s attacks. The effect continues for as long as the lake merfolk sings and for 1 round thereafter. A bard’s countersong ability allows the captivated creature to attempt a new Will save.

Creatures that cannot hear the merfolk’s song (such as deaf creatures or those who have stopped up their ears with soundproof wax) are unaffected by the merfolk’s captivating song.

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

Xenophobia (Ex): All merfolk are generally reclusive and avoid contact with others, except when they are in combat. When faced with strangers (outside of combat), a lake merfolk must succeed on DC 15 Will check in order to make contact with anyone he or she does not already know. Furthermore, the lake merfolk takes a -4 morale penalty to Diplomacy checks and gains a +2 morale to Intimidate checks when in the company of strangers. This lasts 24 hours or until the merfolk is in the company of someone he or she knows.

Skills: Lake merfolk gain a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. They always can choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered when swimming. A lake merfolk can use the run action while swimming, provided that it swims in a straight line.

Trident: This weapon can be thrown. If you use a ready action to set a trident against a charge, you deal double damage on a successful hit against a charging character. A thrown trident has a 10-foot range.

Debihuman
2011-06-15, 08:17 AM
Not one comment in over 24 hours? Not even a "meh"? I'm so not feeling the love here...

Debby

super dark33
2011-06-15, 12:54 PM
thats nice, try giveing them stat bonuses for Lake merfolk charecters

(-2 cha is for sure)

Debihuman
2011-06-15, 04:48 PM
They have a +2 Charisma bonus. I don't think they should get a charisma penalty since they should intimidate everyone they meet.

At the same time, I think Xenophobia could increase the penalty to Diplomacy checks to -4. That offsets the +2 bonus they get for charisma.

Updated the Lake Merfolk's Xenophobia in the first entry to reflect the additional -2 penalty to Diplomacy checks.

Anything else?

Debby

Mulletmanalive
2011-06-15, 07:14 PM
These are one of those things i can't really place; you've created a creature that can do all the roles of the tribe...

Harry fights the big members [presumably warriors] while others dive for cover and we have no real reason to assume the warriors were doing the singing.

While i agree, they look tougher than humans, i'm not sure they warrant 3 RHD, when they seemed to have class levels too.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-15, 07:35 PM
Monstrous Humanoids have Full BAB so the mermaid presented here should have +3 BAB, and all other attacks/grapples adjusted accordingly.

Debihuman
2011-06-15, 10:02 PM
These are one of those things i can't really place; you've created a creature that can do all the roles of the tribe...

Harry fights the big members [presumably warriors] while others dive for cover and we have no real reason to assume the warriors were doing the singing.

While i agree, they look tougher than humans, i'm not sure they warrant 3 RHD, when they seemed to have class levels too.

Actually the singing is something that all of them do (it's mentioned in the books and I think the movie as well). Ditto for the gardening (though I think only the books made mention of it). The major problem with converting a movie monster to stats is that often you have to sacrifice form for function. I'd much rather the rules make it playable than the creature match the movie exactly.

I thought Harry just fought generic members of the race. Obviously, they can take classes, but I think the racial HD is warranted for captivating song. That's pretty powerful. It seemed over-powered at 2 HD, although that's where I started. Once I figured out how to apply their blindsense and xenophobia, it made sense to add the 3rd HD.

This is a race that is almost exclusively going to be encountered underwater and that makes it difficult to judge. Normal merfolk can be encountered at the water's surface and can interact with PCs. These can't and so I had to account for that. First, they can't talk above the surface. Second, they are xenophobic so they are unlikely to initiate contact. Right there it is going to take a skillful DM to get the PCs into an encounter with them.

Debby