The Vorpal Tribble
2007-07-28, 03:43 PM
Dire Duck-Billed Platypus
Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 40 ft., burrow 5 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+4
Attack: Spur +4 melee (1d6+2 plus poison)
Full Attack: 2 spurs +4 melee (1d6+2 plus poison) and bite +2 melee (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 11
Skills: Hide +2, Listen +6, Spot +4, Swim +10
Feats: Ability Focus (poison), Alertness(B), Multiattack
Environment: Any Aquatic
Organization: Solitary or Mates
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 4-5 HD (Medium), 6-8 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: -
This creature seems a bizarre, predatory mix of several different creature. It is a low, stream-lined body with close-fitting fur set upon two pair of short, sprawled legs. These legs end in great webbed feet with curving claws, and the back two feet each have an evil looking spur jutting out half a foot from the heel. Behind them is a large, flat tail with a knobby bit of bone at the tip. Its head is small and round, with an enormous fleshy bill filled with ridged, bone-crushing teeth. Its eyes are tiny and glint darkly on land, and are covered over with a protective membrane.
Dire duck-billed platypi are predators of rivers and streams, eating voraciously anything that dwells there that they can. They prefer shellfish and aquatic worms, but few creatures are safe from their insatiable appetite. They live in large burrows tunneled out of the sides of hills or raised land nearby if not practically touching the water.
A dire platypus is from 5 to 7 feet in length and can weigh up to 300 pounds.
Combat
A dire platypus senses its prey with its blindsight and may stalk it for some time, keeping to the mud or thick aquatic vegetation, before with a swish of its tail diving upon its prey and stinging it repeatedly with its poisonous spurs. It continues until the creature dies. It then tears off enormous chunks to store in its cheek pouches to eat at its leisure upon land.
Poison (Ex): A dire platypi's spurs hold a deadly poison that deals initial and secondary damage of 1d6 Con (DC 15 fortitude negates). Those affected by the poison suffer wracking pains that impose a –4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks. These penalties last for 1 hour, and do not stack from multiple attacks. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Blindsight (Ex): Underwater a dire platypus is blind (and immune to gaze attacks and similar abilities), but it maneuvers and fights as well as a sighted creature by using scent, vibration and electroreception to ascertain its surroundings. This ability enables it to discern objects and creatures within 60 feet. The platypus does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range of its blindsight.
Blinding A Dire Platypus
A dire platypus senses the faint electrical auras of living creatures and inanimate objects in its immediate vicinity. As such it does not lose its blindsight until both its hearing and electrical senses are impaired. Hearing can easily be damaged by means of spells or effects that create deafness or silence. The electric sense is harder to obscure. Powerful discharges of electricity can do it. If a dire platypus takes 10 or more points of electricity damage, the creature must make a DC 15 fortitude save or lose its electrical sense for 1d4 rounds. If it would take 20 points or more, the save DC is 20, and its electroreception is lost for 2d4 rounds.
Skills: A dire platypus has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 40 ft., burrow 5 ft.
Armor Class: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+4
Attack: Spur +4 melee (1d6+2 plus poison)
Full Attack: 2 spurs +4 melee (1d6+2 plus poison) and bite +2 melee (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 11
Skills: Hide +2, Listen +6, Spot +4, Swim +10
Feats: Ability Focus (poison), Alertness(B), Multiattack
Environment: Any Aquatic
Organization: Solitary or Mates
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 4-5 HD (Medium), 6-8 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: -
This creature seems a bizarre, predatory mix of several different creature. It is a low, stream-lined body with close-fitting fur set upon two pair of short, sprawled legs. These legs end in great webbed feet with curving claws, and the back two feet each have an evil looking spur jutting out half a foot from the heel. Behind them is a large, flat tail with a knobby bit of bone at the tip. Its head is small and round, with an enormous fleshy bill filled with ridged, bone-crushing teeth. Its eyes are tiny and glint darkly on land, and are covered over with a protective membrane.
Dire duck-billed platypi are predators of rivers and streams, eating voraciously anything that dwells there that they can. They prefer shellfish and aquatic worms, but few creatures are safe from their insatiable appetite. They live in large burrows tunneled out of the sides of hills or raised land nearby if not practically touching the water.
A dire platypus is from 5 to 7 feet in length and can weigh up to 300 pounds.
Combat
A dire platypus senses its prey with its blindsight and may stalk it for some time, keeping to the mud or thick aquatic vegetation, before with a swish of its tail diving upon its prey and stinging it repeatedly with its poisonous spurs. It continues until the creature dies. It then tears off enormous chunks to store in its cheek pouches to eat at its leisure upon land.
Poison (Ex): A dire platypi's spurs hold a deadly poison that deals initial and secondary damage of 1d6 Con (DC 15 fortitude negates). Those affected by the poison suffer wracking pains that impose a –4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks. These penalties last for 1 hour, and do not stack from multiple attacks. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Blindsight (Ex): Underwater a dire platypus is blind (and immune to gaze attacks and similar abilities), but it maneuvers and fights as well as a sighted creature by using scent, vibration and electroreception to ascertain its surroundings. This ability enables it to discern objects and creatures within 60 feet. The platypus does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range of its blindsight.
Blinding A Dire Platypus
A dire platypus senses the faint electrical auras of living creatures and inanimate objects in its immediate vicinity. As such it does not lose its blindsight until both its hearing and electrical senses are impaired. Hearing can easily be damaged by means of spells or effects that create deafness or silence. The electric sense is harder to obscure. Powerful discharges of electricity can do it. If a dire platypus takes 10 or more points of electricity damage, the creature must make a DC 15 fortitude save or lose its electrical sense for 1d4 rounds. If it would take 20 points or more, the save DC is 20, and its electroreception is lost for 2d4 rounds.
Skills: A dire platypus has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.