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Nar Mantis Physalia 23

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by

Dale
in

The Nar-Mantis Physalia 23, commonly known by sailors as a “Silent Drifter” or a “Tusk-Jelly,” is a bizarre and deadly aquatic predator. It is a solitary hunter that silently patrols the cold, deep oceans of the world, an unsettling fusion of intelligence, patience, and potent venom.

Original Life Forms — This creature is a magical amalgam of four distinct animals:

  • Mammalia: Narwhal (Monodon monoceros)
  • Insecta: Praying Mantis (Mantodea order)
  • Hydrozoa: Portuguese Man o’ War (Physalia physalis)
  • Cephalopoda: Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)

Appearance

The creature has the large, bulbous mantle and eight powerful, sucker-lined arms of a giant octopus, with skin that can shift in color and texture for camouflage. Protruding from the front of its mantle is a single, incredibly long, spiraled tusk of ivory, identical to that of a narwhal. Its two front-most arms are not like the others; they are elongated, segmented, and end in sharp, serrated, raptorial claws like those of a praying mantis. Drifting above its body is a translucent, gas-filled sail, shimmering with iridescent blues and purples, which acts as a float. Trailing far below it, sometimes for fifty feet or more, are dozens of long, nearly invisible, and highly venomous tentacles of a man o’ war.

Details and Traits

  • Size: The central body or mantle is typically 8 to 10 feet (2.4-3 meters) long, with a tusk that can add another 8 feet. Its main arms are 15-20 feet long, while its trailing venomous tentacles can reach lengths of over 50 feet (15 meters).
  • Speed: It is a surprisingly fast swimmer, using its octopus arms for jet propulsion. It primarily drifts slowly on the currents, using its sail for buoyancy, but is capable of great bursts of speed when attacking or fleeing.
  • Stat Modifiers:
    • Strength: High (+3)
    • Dexterity: High (+3)
    • Constitution: Average (+1)
    • Intelligence: Average (+0)
    • Wisdom: High (+3)
    • Charisma: Low (-4)
  • Skills: Its color-shifting skin makes it a master of Stealth. Its numerous eyes and sensory organs give it exceptional Perception. Its powerful body makes it proficient in Athletics for swimming and grappling.
  • Behavior: The Silent Drifter is a patient, intelligent hunter. It drifts motionless for hours or even days, appearing as a piece of harmless flotsam. It uses its long tusk to stir up the sea floor or probe crevices to flush out prey. Once a target is located, it uses its raptorial mantis-claws to snatch and immobilize it with terrifying speed, while its long, stinging tentacles create a deadly, invisible net in the surrounding water.
  • Diet: Carnivore. It preys on large fish, sharks, sea creatures, and anything else unlucky enough to swim into its trailing tentacles, including sailors who fall overboard.
  • Emotions: The creature displays a cold, alien intelligence. Its primary emotional states appear to be a patient hunger and a calculated, predatory focus. It is not aggressive unless it is hunting or feels threatened.
  • Environment Where Found: It is found exclusively in cold, deep, and open oceans, preferring subarctic and arctic waters. They are often seen drifting silently among ice floes or in the deep, dark waters of northern fjords.
  • Tags: Feral, Magical Beast, Aquatic, Solitary Hunter, Venomous, Camouflage, Intelligent Predator, Tusked, Raptorial Claws, Drifter, Cephalopoid, Nematocysts, Buoyant Sail, Jet Propulsion, Arctic Predator, Ensnaring Tentacles, Chromatophore Skin

Life Cycle

The life cycle of a “Silent Drifter” is a solitary and mysterious process, much of which is unseen by surface dwellers.

  1. The Choral Egg: The creature does not lay eggs in a traditional sense. Instead, it finds a deep-sea volcanic vent and secretes a cloud of fertilized gametes into the superheated, mineral-rich water. This cloud coalesces around a rock outcropping, forming a large, intricate, coral-like egg structure that hardens as it cools.
  2. The Larval Stage: Tiny, translucent larvae hatch from the choral egg. In this stage, they resemble small Portuguese men o’ war, drifting on the deep currents for months or even years. They are planktonic predators, feeding on tiny sea creatures with their underdeveloped stinging tentacles.
  3. Metamorphosis: As a larva consumes enough biomass, it undergoes a gradual metamorphosis. It develops its octopus-like mantle and arms, its mantis-like raptorial claws, and a small nub where its tusk will grow. During this stage, it sinks to the sea floor and becomes a bottom-dwelling hunter.
  4. Adolescence: Once its tusk begins to grow in earnest, the juvenile creature is able to hunt larger prey. It leaves the sea floor and begins its life as a slow-drifting, solitary hunter in the cold, open ocean. It takes nearly a decade for its tusk and trailing tentacles to reach their full, formidable length.

Mating

The Nar-Mantis is a solitary creature that only seeks out another of its kind to mate once every few years. Mating is a rare and dangerous event.

Males will signal their readiness by creating complex, shifting bioluminescent patterns on their skin, a trait from their octopus heritage. They will also use their long tusks to create deep, resonant booming sounds that can travel for miles through the water. A receptive female will respond with her own color display. The actual mating is a brief, tense affair, as both creatures are heavily armed predators. After the gametes are exchanged, they part ways immediately and return to their solitary lives.

Tactics

The Silent Drifter is a masterful ambush predator, combining patience, camouflage, and a multi-stage attack strategy.

  • The Drifting Deception: Its primary tactic is to remain almost completely motionless, using its buoyant sail to drift on the currents and its chromatophore skin to perfectly match the color and texture of the surrounding water. To most creatures, it appears as a piece of kelp or a harmless jellyfish.
  • The Stinging Net: It allows its nearly invisible, venomous tentacles to trail far below and behind it, creating a vast “net” that can be hundreds of feet wide. It doesn’t actively hunt so much as it sets a trap and waits for prey to blunder into it.
  • The Raptorial Snatch: Once a creature is entangled and paralyzed by the stinging tentacles, the Nar-Mantis will use its powerful octopus arms to jet itself towards the victim. It then uses its two lightning-fast, serrated mantis claws to seize the prey and lift it towards its beak.
  • The Tusk’s Purpose: The long narwhal tusk is not primarily used for killing. It is a tool. The creature uses it to probe deep sea crevices, stir up sand on the ocean floor to flush out hidden prey, and to defend itself against the only predators large enough to threaten it, such as krakens or sea dragons.

Actions

In a combat scenario, a Nar-Mantis Physalia 23 can perform the following actions:

  • Multiattack: The creature can make two attacks with its Mantis Claws.
  • Mantis Claw: Melee Weapon Attack. A swift, powerful strike with its raptorial forelimbs that deals heavy slashing damage and can grapple a target.
  • Tusk Gore: Melee Weapon Attack. A powerful thrust with its long, spiraled tusk, dealing massive piercing damage. It typically only uses this against very large or armored targets.
  • Venomous Tentacles (Aura): The creature is surrounded by a wide aura of trailing, nearly invisible tentacles. Any creature ending its turn within 50 feet of the Nar-Mantis must make a Dexterity saving throw to avoid brushing against a tentacle. On a failure, they take a large amount of poison damage and may become paralyzed.
  • Ink Cloud: As an action, it can release a massive cloud of black, disorienting ink, heavily obscuring the water in a large radius around it to cover an escape.

Other Interesting Information

  • Tusk Composition: The creature’s tusk is not made of simple ivory. It is a unique, magically conductive crystalline material. The spiral grooves in the tusk are believed to help it sense changes in water pressure and the faint magical auras of other living creatures, making it an incredibly sensitive sensory organ. The tusks are priceless to enchanters and wand-makers.
  • Alien Intelligence: While feral, the Nar-Mantis possesses a high degree of alien intelligence, primarily focused on problem-solving and predatory tactics. Sailors who have survived encounters speak of the creature’s cold, calculating eyes and its ability to learn from a fight, changing its tactics if one strategy proves ineffective.
  • The Sailor’s Bane: It is considered one of the greatest natural hazards of the northern seas. Its translucent sail is difficult to spot, and its trailing tentacles have been responsible for the silent, mysterious deaths of countless sailors who have accidentally fallen overboard, making it the subject of many terrifying sea shanties and legends.

A party of adventurers would encounter or actively search for a creature as legendary and dangerous as the Nar-Mantis Physalia 23 for several high-stakes reasons, typically revolving around immense profit, dire threats, or desperate needs.

1. The Lucrative Hunt

The components of a “Silent Drifter” are considered some of the most valuable and magically potent natural materials in the world, making it a target for wealthy and powerful clients.

  • The Archmage’s Tusk: The creature’s long, spiraled tusk is not ivory but a unique, magically conductive crystal. An archmage, a high-level enchanter, or a royal wand-maker would pay a king’s ransom for it, as it is the only known material capable of focusing the intricate energies required for a legendary staff or a powerful artifact. This is a quest for a group of renowned monster hunters.
  • The Spymaster’s Venom: The nearly invisible, trailing tentacles of the creature produce a potent, fast-acting neurotoxin that paralyzes its victims. A clandestine organization—be it a government’s secret service or a guild of assassins—would offer a fortune for a pure, stable sample. The venom is the perfect tool for silent, untraceable political maneuvering, and the party would be hired for their skill and discretion.
  • The Noble’s Trophy: A powerful and vain noble might desire the creature’s massive, camouflaged mantle or its terrifying raptorial claws as the centerpiece of a private trophy hall. They would hire the party to hunt the beast and bring back these specific parts perfectly preserved, a task requiring both strength and precision.

2. The Unavoidable Hazard

As a silent, drifting apex predator, the Nar-Mantis is a terror to anyone who travels the northern seas, often creating problems that only adventurers can solve.

  • The Terror of the Trade Route: A vital shipping lane that passes through a northern archipelago has become a deathtrap. Sailors are being silently plucked from the decks of ships at night, and smaller vessels are being found adrift with their crews vanished. A powerful merchant’s guild, facing financial ruin, posts a massive bounty for the head of the “Tusk-Jelly” that has made the route its hunting ground.
  • The Unwitting Intrusion: The party is on an unrelated quest, perhaps seeking a sunken city at the bottom of a fjord or retrieving an item from a submerged ruin. Upon reaching their destination, they discover that the ancient structure has become the lair of a Nar-Mantis. Their original mission is now complicated by the presence of an intelligent, territorial predator guarding the very thing they came to find.

3. The Desperate Mission

The unique properties of the creature can create dire, time-sensitive situations that require immediate action.

  • The Antidote Imperative: An important NPC—a monarch, a mentor, or a loved one—was on a sea voyage and was grazed by one of the creature’s trailing tentacles. They now lie in a state of creeping paralysis that defies all known magical and mundane healing. The only known antidote requires a catalyst synthesized from the creature’s own venom gland. The party is hired for a desperate race against time: find the beast, slay it, and bring back the gland before the victim succumbs.
  • The Deep-Sea Rescue: The Nar-Mantis does not always kill its prey immediately. A person snatched by its raptorial claws might be held captive in its deep-sea lair (often a hollowed-out iceberg or a lightless sea cave) to be consumed later. The party could be hired to mount a perilous underwater rescue, facing not only the creature itself but the crushing pressure and freezing cold of the deep ocean.

Beyond the legendary crystalline tusk and the potent venom from its trailing tentacles, a well-equipped and knowledgeable harvester can procure several other unique and valuable components from the corpse of a Nar-Mantis Physalia 23.

Raptorial Claws

  • What it is: The two large, serrated forelimbs of the creature are a fusion of organic matter and a substance resembling razor-sharp obsidian. They are incredibly hard and retain their edge even in the harshest conditions.
  • What it is used for: These claws are too large and awkwardly shaped for most humanoids to use directly, but a master weaponsmith can break them down and forge the material. The shards can be used to create masterwork serrated blades for swords or axes, granting the weapons a vicious, tearing quality that causes grievous wounds. They are particularly effective when enchanted to inflict extra bleeding damage.

Chromatophore-Rich Mantle

  • What it is: The massive, octopus-like mantle of the creature is covered in a complex layer of chromatophore cells, which allow it to change its color and texture for camouflage. Even after death, these cells retain a latent connection to their magical nature.
  • What it is used for: A skilled tanner can carefully skin the mantle and treat the hide. The resulting leather is supple, durable, and has color-shifting properties. When crafted into a cloak or a suit of light armor, it grants the wearer a significant bonus to stealth, allowing them to blend into their surroundings. This “Drifter’s Leather” is highly sought after by spies, scouts, and assassins.

Buoyant Gas Bladder

  • What it is: The translucent, iridescent sail that floats above the creature is a gas-filled bladder, a trait from its man o’ war ancestry. The gas inside is lighter than air and has a faint magical resonance.
  • What it is used for: The bladder itself can be carefully harvested and used as a key component in the creation of personal flotation devices or small, experimental airships. The gas can also be carefully siphoned into enchanted canisters. When released, this gas can create a temporary anti-gravity field, making it a key ingredient in powerful potions of levitation or the workings of a wizard’s floating tower.

Crystalline Beak

  • What it is: At the center of its octopus-like arms is a massive, incredibly hard beak, similar to a parrot’s but composed of the same crystalline material as its tusk.
  • What it is used for: The beak is too dense to be easily worked, but its primary value lies in its use as a focus. When the beak is ground into a fine powder, it becomes a crucial ingredient for potions of armor and magical resistance. Alchemists use it to create elixirs that can temporarily grant the drinker skin as hard as stone, providing a powerful defensive buff.

Resonant Ink Sac

  • What it is: Unlike a normal octopus, the creature’s ink sac does not produce a simple black cloud. The ink is infused with magical energy and contains microscopic, crystalline particles that disrupt sensory perception.
  • What it is used for: This resonant ink is a priceless commodity for scribes and enchanters. It is the only known ink that can be used to scribe scrolls of confusion or magical silence. When used as a grenade-like weapon, a vial of this ink explodes into a shimmering cloud that not only obscures vision but also deadens sound and can short-circuit magical auras, making it a powerful tool for tactical retreats or ambushes.

Sunken King and the Ivory Spear

This story is a telling from the salt-worn scrolls of a people whose cities are now beneath the waves. The words are crooked, and the meaning is clouded by the deep water of time, for the translator was a scholar, not a sailor, and did not know the sea’s true tongue.

In an age when the world was younger, there was a great King of the Fjord-lands. His name is not remembered, for his pride was so great it scoured his name from the stones. He was a mighty king, and he had conquered all the lands his eyes could see from the highest mountain. His armies were without number, and his fortresses were unbreakable.

But the King’s heart was restless. He would stand on his high cliffs and look out at the grey, northern ocean, and his spirit would grow angry. For the sea would not bend to his will. It wrecked his ships. It swallowed his soldiers. It was the one kingdom he did not rule.

And the King, in his great arrogance, declared a war. He would not war against another king of men. He declared his war upon the ocean itself.

He commanded his smiths, the greatest in the world, to build him a suit of armor from the shells of giant sea-crabs and the bones of whales. He commanded his shipwrights to build him a great vessel, a warship with a hull of ironwood and a sail woven from the hair of a thousand sea-maidens. And for his weapon, he desired the long, spiraled tusk of the Silent Drifter, the great ivory spear of the deep. For he believed that to wield the weapon of the sea’s greatest hunter was to become the master of the sea.

He sent out his bravest hunters in fleets of ships. They sailed for a year into the cold, uncharted waters of the north. They fought great squids and sea-drakes, and many ships were lost. But at last, they cornered a great Nar-Mantis in a narrow, ice-choked channel. After a terrible battle that cost them three ships and a hundred men, they slew the beast and took its magnificent tusk.

They brought the tusk to the King, and it was a thing of terrible beauty, a spear of spiraled crystal as long as a small boat. The King mounted this spear on the prow of his great warship.

And so he set sail to do battle with the ocean. He sailed into the heart of a great storm. The waves rose like mountains, and the wind howled like a legion of ghosts. But his ship was strong, and it did not break. The King stood on the deck, clad in his sea-armor, and he laughed as he plunged the ivory spear into the heart of a great wave, as if to stab the very spirit of the sea.

The storm passed, and the sea grew calm. It became as still and flat as dark glass. The King believed he had won. He believed the ocean had surrendered to his might. In his pride, he ordered his crew to lower him into the water, so that he could stand on the sea floor of his new kingdom.

They lowered him on a great iron chain, and he sank into the cold, green twilight of the deep. He stood on the bottom of the ocean, his great armor making him a man of stone. He looked around at the silent world of strange plants and slow-moving fish, and he was content.

And then he saw it.

It drifted out of the gloom, a shadow within a shadow. It was another Silent Drifter, but it was larger than any ever seen, an ancient beast from the lightless trenches. Its great eye, cold and intelligent, fixed upon the King. Above it floated its sail of ghostly light, and below it trailed a forest of tentacles, each one a whisper of death.

The King was not afraid. He was a conqueror. He drew his great sword, made to slay dragons. The creature drifted closer, its two mantis-like arms unfolding slowly, its great ivory spear of a tusk aimed at the King’s heart.

The King looked upon the creature’s tusk, and then at the tusk mounted on his ship far above. He did not understand. He thought he held the ultimate weapon, but he saw then that he had only stolen a single tooth from a mouth that was as wide as the horizon.

The creature did not charge. It did not need to. The long, unseen tentacles, which had surrounded the King while he was lost in his pride, drew tight. The King’s armor, which could withstand the bite of a kraken, was no defense against the thousand tiny, venomous needles that pierced the joints of his suit.

The King’s strength left him. His great sword fell from his numb fingers. Paralyzed and helpless, he could only watch as the creature’s raptorial claws took hold of him, as easily as a man might pick up a pebble. It lifted him from the sea floor and brought him before its great, unblinking eye. And in that eye, the King saw the cold, deep, and patient soul of the ocean he had sought to conquer.

The warship crew waited. The iron chain that led to the depths grew taut, and then it went slack. They pulled it up, and at the end of it, there was nothing. The King, his armor, and his pride were gone. They had been claimed by the true kingdom of the deep.

The Moral of the Story: You cannot conquer a thing you do not understand, and the silence of the deep is not emptiness, but patience.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

Silent Drifter Huge monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 16 (natural armor) Hit Points 172 (15d12 + 75) Speed 10 ft., swim 60 ft.

STR 18 (+4), DEX 17 (+3), CON 20 (+5), INT 10 (+0), WIS 16 (+3), CHA 7 (-2)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +9, Wis +7 Skills Perception +7, Stealth +11 Damage Immunities poison, acid Condition Immunities paralyzed, poisoned Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17 Languages — Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)

Amphibious. The silent drifter can breathe air and water.

Chameleon Skin. The silent drifter has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the silent drifter fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Venomous Net (Aura). The silent drifter is surrounded by a 50-foot radius of nearly invisible, trailing tentacles. When a creature enters the aura for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage and be restrained. A restrained creature can use its action to make a DC 17 Strength check, freeing itself on a success.

Actions

Multiattack. The silent drifter makes two attacks with its Raptorial Claws.

Raptorial Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 16). The drifter has two raptorial claws, each of which can grapple one creature.

Tusk. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d8 + 4) piercing damage.

Legendary Actions

The silent drifter can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The silent drifter regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

  • Jet. The silent drifter moves up to its swim speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
  • Claw Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The silent drifter makes one Raptorial Claw attack.
  • Reel In (Costs 3 Actions). The silent drifter pulls one creature restrained by its Venomous Net or grappled by its claw up to 25 feet straight toward it.

Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition

The Tusked Calamari (Deep One Abomination) A silent, intelligent horror of the abyssal depths, sometimes worshipped by isolated coastal communities.

Characteristics STR 90, CON 120, SIZ 150, DEX 80, INT 55, POW 70

HP: 27 Move: 2 / 12 swimming Av. Damage Bonus: +2d6 Build: 3 Armor: 3-point rubbery hide.

Attacks Fighting (Raptorial Claw) 60% (30/12), damage 1d10 + DB, plus Grapple. Fighting (Tusk) 40% (20/8), damage 2d8 + DB, with Impale. Stinging Tentacles: Any investigator within 15 yards at the start of the round must make a Dodge roll or be struck by a nearly invisible tentacle. A hit forces a Hard CON roll. Failure means the investigator takes 1d10 damage and is paralyzed for 1d6 rounds.

Skills: Stealth 80% (40/16), Listen 60% (30/12), Track (by water current) 50% (25/10).

Abilities

  • Camouflage: The creature’s skin shifts color and texture, making it incredibly hard to spot, even in clear water. It gains a bonus die on all Stealth rolls.
  • Ink Cloud: As a full-round action, it can release a massive cloud of ink, completely obscuring a 30-yard radius area.
  • Intelligent Hunter: This is not a mindless beast. It learns from a fight, and if outmatched, it will retreat to its lair to set up a more favorable ambush.

Sanity Loss: 1/1d10 Sanity points for seeing the Tusked Calamari. 1d4/1d20 upon being paralyzed by its tentacles and dragged toward its alien beak.

Blades in the Dark

The Silent Drifter A Tier IV Threat. A legendary leviathan of the Void Sea. It doesn’t hunt so much as it sets a trap the size of a city district. It is ancient, intelligent, and utterly alien. Some say the Iruvian navy lost an entire ironclad ship to one.

Drives:

  • To patiently ensnare prey in its invisible net.
  • To guard its deep, abyssal lair.
  • To observe, learn, and then strike with cold, terrifying precision.

Moves:

  • Drag a victim beneath the waves with an unseen tendril.
  • Emerge from the depths, revealing its colossal, alien form.
  • Pierce the hull of a ship with its crystalline tusk.
  • Snatch a sailor from the deck with a lightning-fast claw.
  • Release a disorienting ink cloud the size of a city block.

Mechanics: The Silent Drifter is not a simple monster; it is a force of nature and a strategic threat. An entire score would revolve around just surviving its territory. Its Trailing Venom-Net can be represented by a series of clocks. Every time the crew is in its waters, the GM can tick a clock (e.g., “Crewmate Ensnared” or “Hull Breached”). Its Crystalline Tusk can ignore standard armor on ships. Its Alien Intellect means it won’t just attack mindlessly; it will study the crew’s vessel, test its defenses, and strike at the weakest point. Defeating it would likely require a complex plan involving a powerful ritual or a custom-built electro-plasmic weapon.

Knave, 2nd Edition

Abyssal Drifter HD 10 | Armor 15 | Morale 10 Attack Tusk (d12) or 2 x Claw (d8, grapple)

  • Camouflage: Has advantage on all saves made to hide while in water.
  • Venomous Tentacles: At the start of its turn, all PCs within 50ft of the drifter must save vs. Poison. On a failure, they take 1d8 poison damage and cannot take move actions on their next turn.
  • Ink Cloud: Once per combat, can release a 60ft radius cloud of ink. The area is considered pitch black, and no light sources work within it for 1d6 rounds.
  • Size: The drifter is massive and can be targeted by up to 10 PCs in melee.
  • Aquatic: Can only breathe water and cannot leave it.

Fate Core System

The Ivory-Horned Drifter This creature is a formidable opponent, suitable as the central threat of an entire adventure.

High Concept: Patient Abyssal Predator

Trouble: Alien Intelligence, Inscrutable Motives

Other Aspects: My Net of Venom is as Wide as the Sea; A Crystalline Tusk that Sings to Magic; Two Claws to Snatch the Unwary

Skills

  • Superb (+5): Stealth
  • Great (+4): Physique, Fight
  • Good (+3): Notice, Athletics
  • Fair (+2): Will, Provoke
  • Average (+1): Shoot

Stunts

  • Raptorial Claws: The drifter gets a +2 to Fight when attempting to Create an Advantage by grappling or pinning an opponent.
  • Crystalline Tusk: Because its tusk is magically resonant, the drifter can use Notice to defend against magical attacks it is aware of.
  • Venomous Net: Once per scene, the drifter can inflict a Caught in the Venom-Net situation aspect with two free invokes on the entire zone it currently occupies.
  • Ink Cloud: The drifter can spend a Fate point to create a Pitch-Black Ink Cloud aspect on its zone, and immediately move to an adjacent zone.

Stress & Consequences

  • Stress: ◇◇◇◇◇ (5 Physical Stress boxes)
  • Consequences: One Mild, one Moderate, and one Severe Consequence slot.

Numenera & Cypher System

Abyssal Tusk-Jelly Level 8 (24)

An enormous, intelligent predator from the abyssal depths, possibly a biomechanical creation of a prior world.

  • Health: 32
  • Damage: Inflicts 8 points of damage.
  • Armor: 2
  • Movement: Swims a long distance per round; can use its sail to drift on the surface.
  • Modifications: Stealth as level 9 due to its natural camouflage. Perception as level 9.
  • Combat:
    • The Tusk-Jelly attacks by snatching with its raptorial claws or goring with its tusk.
    • Its primary hunting method is its trailing venomous tentacles. Any character within a long distance below or behind the creature is considered to be in a dangerous area. Each round they remain there, they must make a level 6 Speed defense roll to avoid being stung. A sting inflicts 8 points of damage that ignore armor and, on a failed Might defense roll, the character is paralyzed and unable to act for one minute.
    • Ink Cloud: As its action, it can release a cloud of ink that heavily obscures all sight within a 100-foot (30 m) sphere.
    • GM Intrusion (Tusk Resonance): The GM can intrude by having the creature’s tusk resonate with a cypher a character is carrying. The cypher activates immediately, with its effect centered on the character.
  • Interaction: The creature is intelligent but communicates in ways mortals cannot comprehend, possibly through complex flashes of color and low-frequency sounds. It is generally hostile.
  • Loot: Its crystalline tusk is a level 9 oddity. Its venom glands can be harvested to create 2d6 doses of a level 8 paralytic poison.

Pathfinder, 2nd Edition

Leviathan Drifter Creature 12 N, Gargantuan, Aberration, Aquatic

Perception +23; darkvision, wavesense (imprecise) 120 feet Skills Athletics +25, Stealth +24, Thievery +22 (to snatch items) Str +7, Dex +6, Con +5, Int +0, Wis +5, Cha -2

AC 32; Fort +23, Ref +24, Will +21 HP 225 Immunities poison, paralyzed Resistances acid 15, cold 15

Speed swim 60 feet

Melee [one-action] tusk +26 (Reach 15 feet, Magical), Damage 3d12+13 piercing Melee [one-action] raptorial claw +26 (Agile, Reach 20 feet), Damage 3d8+13 slashing plus Improved Grab

Drifting Death (Aura, Poison) 60 feet. The drifter is surrounded by long, nearly invisible tentacles. When a creature enters the aura or starts its turn there, it must succeed at a DC 32 Reflex save or take 3d6 poison damage. On a failure, it also takes a –10-foot status penalty to its Speeds for 1 round.

Ink Cloud [one-action] The leviathan drifter emits a cloud of black ink in a 30-foot burst. The ink cloud provides total cover and persists for 1 minute. The drifter can see through its own ink.

Snatch and Swallow [one-action] Requirements The drifter has a creature grabbed. Effect The drifter makes a beak Strike against the grabbed creature with a +26 attack bonus. If it hits, the creature takes 3d10+10 piercing damage. If the creature is Medium or smaller, it must succeed at a DC 32 Reflex save or be swallowed. A swallowed creature is grabbed, slowed 1, and takes 2d6 acid damage at the end of its turn.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition

Silent Drifter (Wild Card) A legendary monster of the northern seas, a silent, intelligent predator that can destroy entire fleets.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d10, Strength d12+2, Vigor d12 Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d10, Notice d10, Stealth d12, Psionics d8 Pace: 12 (swimming); Parry: 7; Toughness: 16 (4)

Edges: Arcane Resistance, First Strike, Level Headed (Imp) Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Solitary (Major)

Special Abilities:

  • Armor +4: Rubbery, thick mantle.
  • Aquatic: Pace 12.
  • Gargantuan: +4 Toughness. Creatures hit by the drifter’s attacks are Distracted. Melee attacks against it are made at +2.
  • Improved Frenzy: May make two Fighting attacks per action at no penalty.
  • Reach 3”: Its raptorial claws have a long reach.
  • Raptorial Claws: Str+d8.
  • Tusk: Str+d10, AP 4.
  • Venom Net: At the start of its turn, all enemies within a Large Blast Template placed anywhere within 12″ of the drifter must make a Vigor roll. Failure means they take a level of Fatigue from the potent venom. This Fatigue can lead to incapacitation, but fades at a rate of one level per hour.
  • Ink Cloud: As an action, may place a Large Blast Template centered on itself. The area is considered Pitch Black.

Shadowrun, Sixth World

Abyssal Grappler This paracritter is a deep-sea anomaly, a terrifying fusion of aquatic life that has adapted to the polluted, magic-rich waters of the Sixth World. Corporate survey teams and unwary smugglers in the North Atlantic have reported encounters with this silent, intelligent hunter.

Attributes

  • Body: 9
  • Agility: 6
  • Reaction: 5 (7)
  • Strength: 8
  • Willpower: 5
  • Logic: 3
  • Intuition: 4
  • Charisma: 1
  • Magic: 6
  • Edge: 4

Derived Stats

  • Initiative: 9 + 3d6
  • Defense Rating: 10
  • Condition Monitor (P/S): 13 / 11
  • Armor: 12 (Natural Armor)

Skills: Unarmed Combat 5, Perception 4, Stealth 6

Powers

  • Armor: The creature’s tough mantle and shell provide 12 points of natural armor.
  • Dual Natured: The creature is dual-natured and can perceive and interact with the astral plane.
  • Engulf: The creature can attempt to completely engulf a target of Size 4 (human-sized) or smaller.
  • Mist Cloak: The creature can generate a thick cloud of ink, imposing a visibility penalty equal to its Magic rating.
  • Natural Weapon (Tusk): DV (STR/2) + 4P, AP -4.
  • Natural Weapon (Claws): DV (STR/2) + 2P, AP -2.
  • Venom (Nematocysts): A contact vector with a Speed of 1 Combat Turn and a Power of 10. The effect is Paralysis (causes Stun damage that cannot be healed until the toxin is neutralized).

Starfinder Roleplaying Game

Drifting Leviathan CR 12, XP 19,200 N Gargantuan magical beast (aquatic)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 120 ft., wavesense 100 ft.; Perception +22

Defense

  • EAC 26; KAC 28
  • HP 215
  • Fort +16; Ref +16; Will +11
  • Defensive Abilities camouflage, fast healing 10; Immunities cold, poison, paralysis

Offense

  • Speed swim 60 ft.
  • Melee tusk +25 (4d8+20 P) or raptorial claw +25 (3d10+20 S plus Grab)
  • Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (20 ft. with raptorial claw)
  • Offensive Abilities ensnaring net, ink cloud

Statistics

  • Str +8, Dex +6, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha -2
  • Skills Athletics +27, Stealth +22

Special Abilities

  • Camouflage (Ex): The creature can change the color of its skin to blend in with its surroundings, gaining a +10 bonus to Stealth checks.
  • Ensnaring Net (Ex): The creature is surrounded by a 60-foot aura of nearly invisible, venomous tentacles. A creature that starts its turn in the aura must succeed at a DC 20 Reflex save or become entangled and take 3d6 poison damage.
  • Ink Cloud (Ex): As a standard action, the creature can emit a 40-foot-radius cloud of ink that provides total concealment. The cloud persists for 1 minute in calm water.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition

Kraken-of-the-Fjords A legendary horror of the northern seas, a beast of impossible size and alien intelligence. It is a creature of nightmare, its crystalline tusk said to be a shard of pure Chaos, and its tentacles the grasping envy of the deep.

Kraken-of-the-Fjords Profile

| WS | BS | S | T | I | Ag | Dex | Int | Fel | WP |

| 55 | – | 75 | 80 | 40 | 35 | 30 | 35 | – | 60 |

Traits: Armour (5), Amphibious, Big, Bite +11, Dark Vision, Fear (3), Hardy, Size (Monstrous), Skittish, Tentacles (8), Terror (3), Tusk +13 (Ward), Wallcrawler, Weapon +11

  • Ensnaring Tentacles: Any character within 10 yards of the Kraken must pass a Difficult (–10) Agility Test at the start of their turn or gain the Entangled Condition as they are snagged by a venomous tendril. While Entangled, they suffer from a Virulent Poison that requires a Difficult (–10) Endurance Test each round to avoid taking a Festering Wound.
  • Raptorial Claws (2): These claws count as magical weapons with the Vicious and Grab Qualities.
  • Tusk: The Kraken’s tusk is a magical weapon with the Unbreakable and Magical Qualities. It provides the creature with a 5+ Ward Save against all spells.

Traveller, Mongoose 2nd Edition

Abyssal Drifter (Apex Predator) An enormous, solitary aquatic predator found in the deep, cold oceans of undeveloped worlds. Its high intelligence and unique biological weapons make it a significant threat even to well-armed survey vessels.

UPP: ACAA66 Hits: 50 Speed: 20m swimming Skills: Athletics (swimming) 3, Recon 2, Stealth 3, Survival 2 Attacks:

  • Crystalline Tusk – 10; 4d6+4 (AP 4)
  • Raptorial Claws (x2) – 10; 3d6+4 (Grapple)

Traits:

  • Armor: Dense Mantle (Armor 8).
  • Aquatic: Can only survive in liquid.
  • Camouflage (Aquatic): Gains DM+2 to Stealth checks in water.
  • Enhanced Senses: Can detect vibrations and electrical fields in water up to 1km away.
  • Fear (2): A truly terrifying sight.
  • Intelligent: The creature is intelligent and will use tactics, retreat if outmatched, and set ambushes.
  • Size: Gargantuan (counts as a vehicle for scale).
  • Venom Net: The creature is constantly surrounded by a 100m radius of nearly invisible tentacles. Any character or vehicle in this area must make a Difficult (10+) DEX or Pilot check each round. Failure results in being hit by the tentacles, which deliver a potent neurotoxin. The toxin requires a Difficult (10+) END check to resist; failure results in paralysis for 1d6 hours. Behavior: Solitary Apex Predator.