Song in the Blood (PEACH)

Damu Chura

http://www.grosssegler.de/jungle.gif

Large Monsterous Humanoid (aquatic)
Hit Dice: 7d8+21 (52 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (4 squares), swim 40 ft.
Armor Class: 16 (+1 dex, +6 natural, -1 size),
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+15
Attack: Slam +10 melee (1d8+4 plus poison)
Full Attack: 2 slams +10 melee (1d8+4 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Harmony of the marsh, poison, pounce, veinburst
Special Qualities: Amphibious, blindsight 120 ft., low-light vision, immunity to poison, scent, song cycle
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +7
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16
Skills: Jump +10, Listen +9, Perform (Percussion or Wind) +13, Perform (sing) +13, Spot +9, Swim +12
Feats: Dive for Cover, Great Fortitude, Leap Attack(B), Power Attack
Environment: Warm Marsh (aquatic)
Organization: Mates, Family (2-12), Tumble (20-60)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: -

A damu chura appears as an enormous man of slick black skin with vibrant red veins twitching and stretches all across his body. His neck is so thick that his head merely seems to meld into the body, and a great fleshy throat-sac expands with each breath. His eyes are amphibious looking, with nictitating membranes that flashes across the orbs every few moments. Atop the hairless head is a large fleshy looking lump with pulses with the hearbeat. The legs are strong and muscular and end in flippers, as do the hands.

Damu Chura are frighteningly strange beings rarely seen by those who live on land. Within the waters of the deepest swamps they are to be found, where the mud is thick and the water dark with silt. Great masses of reeds, grass and bamboo are woven to the the deep reaching roots of nearby trees and buried into the mud, so coated in algae and slime that the entrance must often be burrowed into.

Damu chura live not by the day or season, but by the rise and fall of enviromental patterns. For years on end they remain within their rank dwellings, surrounded by a thick bubble of slime and poison. Only when the swamps are thick with the sweltering fogs and the rain falls til great floods spread through the forest do they awaken. It is within these brief drips and puddles of time that they emerge.

Even then they hide within the waters until the cloudy wet nights and the thickest fogs cover the land in unpiercable darkness to sing their songs and feast.

Damu churas weigh nearly 300 lbs. and stand some 8-10 feet high. They speak Giant and their own language of Swallok.

Combat
Damu churas when they come out of their hibernation are often greatly hungered. They perform a ceremony to aid them in melding their spirits with their surroundings and luring its inhabitants to them. Waiting within the fogs, seeing by sound and scent, are damu chura hunters ready to pounce upon potential meals to feed the gathered. With blows of their feet and hands and their poison touch they seek to paralyze their victims into docility. They are then dragged down into the waters to rot and gather flavor.

Blindsight (Ex): Damu chura can 'see' by scent and emitting high-frequency sounds, inaudible to most other creatures, that allow them to locate objects and creatures within 120 feet. A silence spell reduces this to a mere 10 feet.

Harmony of the Marsh (Su):
When a damu chura sings or plays the swamp momentarily goes silent before every creature who lifts its voice in the heat of the night joins in. Every cricket and frog, cicada and heron mixes in with the melody thats both eerie yet invigorating. All creatures not joined in the song within 200 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Will save or suddenly lose their way in the fogs. A new will save must be made each round or every movement they make takes them in the direction of the damu chura. For each damu chura involved in the music the DC increases by 1. The save DC is Charisma-based.
In the hands of a damu chura a hollow reed or bamboo becomes a masterwork woodwind instrument, and a mossy log or tree trunk a masterwork percussion instrument.

Poison (Ex): A damu chura constantly secretes a powerful neural poison. Those hit must succeed on a DC 16 fortitude save or take 1d4 Dexterity damage, and paralysis as secondary damage. The save DC is Consitution-based.

Pounce (Ex): If a damu chura charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two additional slam attacks. A damu chura may even pounce underwater. If it succeeds in hitting with two of its attacks while submerged it may then shove its opponent away with a backward flip, sending both 10 feet in the opposite direction.

Song Cycle (Ex):
Damu chura can exist in temperatures between 80 and 130 degrees comfortably without having to make fortitude checks. If the temperatures drop below this for more than a week a damu chura dives back for its home to instinctively weave a slimy sack about itself that fills with a special poison. While within this sack it go into a state of suspended animation, aging at a rate of one day per year spent within. Starvation can occur, though at the extended rate mentioned above. While in this state the damu chura can survive temperatures down to 0 degress before having to make fortitude checks. When the right mixture of temperature and flooding begin once more the damu chura awakens.

Veinburst (Ex): If a damu chura is injured with a slashing or piercing melee weapon the wound literally screams as hundreds of miniscule, bright red frogs leap forth, wailing piercingly. The injurer must succeed on a 16 reflex save or have a spray of these tiny creatures cling to the weapon and then leap for the wielder. These frogs cling momentarily, giving a dose of the poison mentioned above.

If harmed while underwater these frogs fill a five-foot square for 1d4 rounds. Those who begin their turn in the square must make a save against the poison each round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills: A damu chura has a +8 racial bonus on swim checks. 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.

I like it a lot, alone they aren't that bad, but when the conditions are right and they have the advatnage of numbers (Both as a biological result of their hibernation habbits, a touch I really like) they are a fearsome opposition.

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Originally Posted by Prometheus

I like it a lot, alone they aren't that bad, but when the conditions are right and they have the advatnage of numbers (Both as a biological result of their hibernation habbits, a touch I really like) they are a fearsome opposition.

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Aye, and since even spells like True Seeing don't work through fogs, only other creatures with blindsense will be able to combat them affectively while the Damu Chura won't have any problem seeing them.

Also, if one of these can get you in the water you're in trouble. I added a bit more about their eating habits of dragging folks down into the muck to age a bit. They have no teeth, so its easier to swallow that way if nothing else.

Hey, VT have you ever thought of writing a book? You could use some of your creations and you're good with flavor so that'd work as well.

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Originally Posted by Gezina van den Vechte

Hey, VT have you ever thought of writing a book? You could use some of your creations and you're good with flavor so that'd work as well.

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I'm actually working on a couple books that I'll be putting a few of my dream-based monsters in, though neither are actually the sort to have supernatural beasts within.

The main one for instance is a sort of colonial fantasy about a famous child painter whoes got telepathic powers and visits the dreams of the townspeople and puts them to canvas, which needless to say causes a bit of a problem, especially as one guy comes along to see the latest work, sees a rendering of a nightmare he's been having for years and drops over dead with a heart attack.

As he gets nearer adolescence his ties to reality become more and more loose till he's basically living two lives, one in the dream world, one in reality, and he can bring things from own place to the other. In fact, while sleep walking one night he accidently pulls his parents who are chasing him down the beach into the dream, thinks them nightmare creatures trying to trick him and 'does away' with them, only to awake and find out what he did.

Thats just the beginning in a nutshell... the majority of it is based on my own personal dreams I've been writing down for years.

I would love to read those, but I'm afraid I won't let you make any money from me reading it.

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Originally Posted by Gezina van den Vechte

I would love to read those, but I'm afraid I won't let you make any money from me reading it.

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Heh, why's that?

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Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

Heh, why's that?

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Because I would download it.

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Originally Posted by Gezina van den Vechte

Because I would download it.

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Now thats class... ::)

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Originally Posted by The Vorpal Tribble

Now thats class... ::)

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Hey, I'd probably have to pay a ton of shipping costs, I do not consider paying 15 euro's shipping costs for a book reasonable.

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Originally Posted by Gezina van den Vechte

Hey, I'd probably have to pay a ton of shipping costs, I do not consider paying 15 euro's shipping costs for a book reasonable.

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Kinda reminds me of some folks on my brother's baseball team. Had a number of folks who weren't all that well off and they were talking about how if they saw gloves or bats lying in the yard of those who were better off they'd 'borrow' them. Permanently. And I remember wondering how they got their minds around that...

But that's illegal, downloading stuff is legal in the NL

Wait....you DREAM all these bizzare monsterrs? :o

Ever considered a bit of therapy, dude? ;D :D

I like it, but ... two questions.

First, Isn't a DC 11 will save somewhat low for a CR 8 monster? The usual formula of half its' hit dice plus its charisma modifier would put it at a DC 16 or 17.

And second... I don't know, it sounds to me like it makes a much better Monstrous Humanoid than Giant. Too many qualities that are ... out there. Veinburst being the most 'monstrous' of the abilities, but most of its SA and SQ are a little outside the normal realm of giantdom; taken all together and it's much more of a monstrous creature. Flavor text also would factor into my decision.

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Originally Posted by Gezina van den Vechte

But that's illegal, downloading stuff is legal in the NL

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Thats... interesting.

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Wait....you DREAM all these bizzare monsterrs?

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Every now and again.

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Ever considered a bit of therapy, dude?

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What, and be derived of free inspiration? Pfaw, just have the drool bucket ready.

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First, Isn't a DC 11 will save somewhat low for a CR 8 monster? The usual formula of half its' hit dice plus its charisma modifier would put it at a DC 16 or 17.

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Well, considering how you often find the band in at least groups of 6 or more I thought it'd make sense. Then again, by 8th level... yeah, might as well adjust it.

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And second... I don't know, it sounds to me like it makes a much better Monstrous Humanoid than Giant. Too many qualities that are ... out there.

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Maybe, though it also could easily be a fey or aberration. MH does seem to work best though. Adjusted.

How'd you get the name, VT?

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Originally Posted by MagFlare

How'd you get the name, VT?

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When I got the idea it kinda reminded me of african folktales, so... supposedly it means 'frogs in the blood' in Swahili.

However, now that I think on it this guy seems much more Amazonian.