Seastars with high AC - 5e idea?

Casimir Liber said:

I was really tired - that looks much better. Typo "bristle stars".

Click to expand...

Gah, it's more a brain bug than a typo.

While I know they're called brittle stars I have "bristle stars" stuck in my head and keep on making that error and having to retype it. Sometimes I miss one. It doesn't help that many brittle stars look pretty bristly!

Anyhow, that's fixed and I've updated the Giant Basket Star.

So I think this one's done, pending a final check and releasing to the wild shores of D&D Beyond.

Giant Seastar (Asteroid) next?

sure!

Casimir Liber said:

sure!

Click to expand...

I'll start a Working Draft using the Giant Brittle Star as a foundation.

Sea Star, Giant (Asteroid)
Large beast, unaligned
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 66 (7d10 + 28)
Speed 10 ft., climb 10 ft.


Saving Throws CON +6
Skills Stealth +2
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened
Senses Blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages —
Challenge 2 (450 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Capable Clambering. A giant sea star ignores difficult terrain penalties caused by slippery or smooth surfaces and can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Cryptic Coloration. The giant sea star has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when in its native environment.

Hold Breath. While out of water, the giant sea star can hold its breath for 1 hour.

Regrowth. If a giant sea star loses an arm, organ or other body part and survives, it regrows the lost body parts as it heals. It takes 15 (1d10 + 10) days for a giant sea star to replace a missing arm.

Rudimentary Vision. The giant sea star has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. It perceives patterns of light and darkness and can only see the silhouette or shadow of a creature or object; it can not see colors or fine details.

Water Breathing. The giant sea star can breathe only underwater.

Actions

Arms. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d4 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and the sea star can't grapple another target.

Engulf. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit but target must be restrained, with Advantage against creatures with rigid shells (giant crabs and insects, humanoids in plate or banded armor, etc.), reach 5 ft., one restrained target. Hit: 10 (2d4 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) acid damage. Once an Engulf hits, if the sea star misses the same target with a subsequent Engulf attack it still does 7 (2d6) acid damage provided the target is still restrained.

VARIANT: REGENERATIVE SEA STAR
Regenerative giant sea stars have the following traits, the Regenerative Regrowth trait replaces a standard giant sea star's Regrowth trait.

Regenerative Regrowth. If a giant sea star loses an arm, organ or other body part and survives, it regrows the lost body parts as it heals. It takes 15 (1d10 + 10) days for a giant sea star to replace a missing arm.
 If a regenerative sea star is killed or loses part of its body to bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage (see Severable Parts), it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, with Disadvantage if the injury is particularly catastrophic or Advantage for a neat severing. If it succeeds, the killed sea star or its severed portion survives and slowly regrows into a complete giant sea star. A giant sea star that is cleaved in twain can thus become two new seastars. To form a full-sized giant sea star, Regenerative Regrowth takes 5 to 30 (5d6) days for a "dead" giant sea star and 3 to 6 (1d4 + 2) weeks for a Large portion of one, 2 to 5 (1d4 + 1) months for a Medium portion, 5 to 21 (2d8 + 3) months for Small, and 1 to 6 (1d6) years for Tiny.

Severable Parts. Whenever a regenerative giant sea star takes at least 5 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage from a single attack, roll 2d6 plus the damage inflicted to determine what happens; should the sea star takes more damage than its current hit points, use its current hit points for the inflicted damage (i.e. a sea star with 9 hit points that takes 14 damage rolls 2d6 + 9 not 2d6 + 14).
 If the sea star is grappled by a creature that is Large size and/or possesses a Strength of 26 or higher, roll a Strength check to determine what happens, with advantage if the attacker is Gargantuan, The maximum result of this Strength check is twice the sea star's current hit points or 15, whichever it higher (i.e. a sea star with 12 hit points can have a maximum result of 24 on this grapple check, losing a Medium portion and an arm).
 If a sea star has a portion torn off by a grapple, it takes damage equal to the grapple or the hit points of the separated portion (see below), whichever is higher – e.g. 5 (2d3 + 1) damage for a Small portion.

• less than 12: Nothing else happens.
• 12-14: A Tiny portion is separated from the sea star.
• 15-17: A Small portion is separated from the sea star.
• 18-20: A Medium portion is separated from the sea star.
• 21: A Small portion is separated from the sea star and it loses an arm.
• 22-26: A Medium portion is separated from the sea star and it loses an arm.
• 27 or more: If the regenerative sea star has more than 25 hit points remaining, a Large portion is separated the sea star and it loses an arm.
   If the sea star has fewer than 25 hit points remaining it is torn in twain, becoming two Large portions with its remaining hit points and Arms divided equally between them.

A giant sea star that loses an arm is not inconvenienced, but if it loses more arms its speed and combat effectiveness start to drop:
 A sea star with three arms has speed 15 feet and fights normally.
 A sea star with two arms has speed 10 feet and its Engulf attack does not have advantage against creatures with rigid shells.
 A sea star with one arm has speed 10 feet and its Arms attack is reduced to 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage. Its Engulf attack does not have advantage against creatures with rigid shells.
 A sea star with no arms has speed 5 feet; it can still make an Arms attack with the stumps of its limbs with range 5 ft. but it has disadvantage on the attack rolls. In addition, the bludgeoning damage of its Arms and Engulf attacks is reduced to 5 (1d4 + 3). The Engulf does not have advantage against rigid armored opponents.

Separate portions of a regenerative sea star must make DC 15 Constitution saving throw to survive and regrow (see Regenerative Regrowth). On a failure the portion only remains mobile for 5 (1d10) minutes.
 Tiny Portions have 2 (1d4) hit points, 5 ft. speed and cannot attack.
 Small Portions have 5 (2d3 + 1) hit points and 5 ft. speed. If it has an arm attached it has 10 ft. speed and can make an Arms attack with a 5 ft. reach that does 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage.
 Medium Portions have 10 (2d4 + 5) hit points and 10 ft. speed. If it has an arm attached it can make an Arms attack that does 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage.
 Large Portions have 20 (2d6 + 13) hit points. It can make an Arms attack that does 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage or an Engulf attack that does 5 (1d4 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage. The Engulf does not have advantage against creatures with rigid shells.


Description

A giant sea star is an enormous version of an ordinary starfish with an arm span of about 20 to 30 feet, large enough to swallow most humanoids. Sea stars, also known as starfish or asteroids, are a familiar sight on beaches. Star shaped marine animals covered in heavy bony armor, they move around very slowly on hundreds of boneless tubular pseudolegs on the underside of their body and five arms.
 Predators and scavengers, sea stars mainly eat bivalves such as clams or scallops plus whatever carrion they come across. A few eat coral, scouring patches of reef down to its rocky skeleton.
 Sea stars have a very robust biology and some species can survive being torn into pieces (see Regenerative Sea Star), with each piece potentially regrowing into a new giant starfish. A region plagued with regenerative giant sea stars often finds them very hard to eradicate, since killing a sea star may only multiply the problem. Giant sea stars are not immortal, of course, and can die from starvation, disease, age, or being eaten like any animal. There are few creatures that will eat a fully grown giant sea star, but their eggs are very edible and the smaller or partially regrown individuals are sometimes devoured by predators. Note that giant sea star eggs take around 10 (4d4) years to develop into full grown adults.

 Cryptic Starfish. Most giant sea stars are colored and patterned to match the sea floor they live on, represented by the Cryptic Coloration trait. This makes it easier to sneak up to prey and avoid the attention of creatures that hunt them. Some cryptic sea stars also have aquatic plants or even animals such as sea anemones growing on them to help them blend into their background. There are giant sea stars that lack Cryptic Coloration, and a few are so brightly colored they have no proficiency in Stealth. These uncamouflaged species are sometimes thorny or poisonous (see below) but others simply live in the lightless depths of the sea where coloration serves no purpose.

VARIANT: THORNY SEA STAR
The bony ossicles covering a sea star make its skin feel as rough and hard as rock, and in some species form sharp spines that give it the following trait:

Thorny Defense. A creature that touches a giant thorny sea star or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must succeed at a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.

VARIANT: POISONOUS SEA STAR
A few sea stars, such as the crown-of-thorns starfish, are covered in venomous spines. Giant venomous sea stars are usually brightly colored in blues, purples, reds or oranges to warn creatures not to meddle with them, such creatures do not have the Cryptic Coloration trait of a normal giant sea star. Venomous sea stars have a Challenge Rating of 3 (700 XP) and the following trait:

Venomous Thorns. A creature that touches a giant poisonous sea star or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must succeed at a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or take 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage. If the creature is injured, it must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

(Original monster designed by Casimir Liber and Cleon on the Creature Catalog Monster Homebrews forum)

While writing the above I realized I'd forgotten the em-space (" ") before the Tree of Sticky Death of the Giant Basket Star.

Just amended it to be consistent with the formatting of the other Enworld 5E critters.

Okay, the Giant Sea Star currently has most of the Giant Brittle Star's stats in red so we need to decide what to keep as they are and what to adjust.

The only numerical change I've made so far is reducing the Speed to 10 ft., climb 10 ft. and removing the swim speed.

Sea stars are way slower than serpent stars and cannot swim, so it seemed inappropriate leaving those at 20 ft.

I'm fine keeping the Hit Points the same and maybe the Armour Class but would be fine with increasing the AC to 16 if only to differentiate them (plus seastars are as, well, brittle as ophiuroids).

The Ability Scores could do with a tweak - starfish are very slow but quite strong, able to pry shellfish open with their arms, so maybe give them STR 18 or 20 and DEX 6 instead of the brittlestar's STR 14, DEX 8?

Ok here is basket star.

Re sea star - yes - I'd go with STR 20 - they pry open shellfish etc. and DEX 6 (slow), AC 16. other stats are fine

Casimir Liber said:

Ok here is basket star.

Click to expand...

That looks fine. I could find no differences with the Enworld version of the Giant Basket Star.

I am wondering about tweaking the last sentence of Net of Arms to "so a giant basket star can only net creatures of Huge or larger size that are dead or incapacitated" since the current "if they are" wording is slightly less clear as to the meaning.

What do you think?

Casimir Liber said:

Re sea star - yes - I'd go with STR 20 - they pry open shellfish etc. and DEX 6 (slow), AC 16. other stats are fine

Click to expand...

Updating the Giant Sea Star.

Trying to think - I visualise it as really slow and really strong. Trying to think how to make it threatening. A really severe grapple?

Okay - tweaked the wording of giant basket star (yeah can see the rationale) - so now published here

Casimir Liber said:

Trying to think - I visualise it as really slow and really strong. Trying to think how to make it threatening. A really severe grapple?

Click to expand...

Common Starfish have an interesting method of predation.

First the sea star grab its prey with an arm and wrap its arms and body around it, cracking open the victim's shell (starfish arms move very slowly but very powerfully, they are literally hydraulically powered).

The sea star then everts its cardiac stomach from its mouth and either engulfs their prey entirely or stick their stomach inside the prey's cracked-open shell. It then flood their everted stomach with digestive enzymes to break down their meal. The resulting meat slushie is sucked into the starfish's internal pyloric stomach and guts to be digested.

So sea stars use external digestion and are able to eat prey too large for them to swallow whole. The cardiac portion of the stomach of most starfish can dissolve a meal piecemeal if it's too large to engulf in one piece. (There are some primitive species that can only handle smaller prey they can swallow whole, but I'll assume our Monster Version isn't one of them.)

So I was thinking the Actions would be:

1. An Arms attack that restrains and does bludgeoning damage.
   
   
2. A Engulf attack that does continuous acid damage plus bludgeoning damage to a restrained creature, maybe with advantage to hit a rigid armoured opponents (giant clams, crabs, guys in plate armour et cetera) as Sea Stars specialize in cracking open such creature's hard exteriors.

I mused about giving it Multiattack so it make an Arms attack for crushing plus an Engulf attack for the acid digestion but decided it made more sense if the Engulf just included bludgeoning damage to reflect that the starfish is continuing to pry open its meal with its arms.