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Cleon Specials – Prehistoric Beasts!
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<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 7947333" data-attributes="member: 57383"><p><strong><em><span style="font-size: 22px">Elasmosaurus</span></em> <span style="font-size: 22px">Redux</span></strong></p><p>Huge Animal</p><p><strong>Hit Dice:</strong> 10d8+60 (105 hp)</p><p><strong>Initiative:</strong> +6</p><p><strong>Speed:</strong> 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 50 ft.</p><p><strong>Armor Class:</strong> 15 (–2 size, +2 Dex, +5 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 13</p><p><strong>Base Attack/Grapple:</strong> +7/+22</p><p><strong>Attack:</strong> Bite +13 melee (1d10+10)</p><p><strong>Full Attack:</strong> Bite +13 melee (1d10+10)</p><p><strong>Space/Reach:</strong> 15 ft./10 ft. (20 ft. with bite)</p><p><strong>Special Attacks:</strong> Improved grab, swallow whole</p><p><strong>Special Qualities:</strong> Hold breath, low-light vision, scent</p><p><strong>Saves:</strong> Fort +15, Ref +11, Will +4</p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong> Str 25, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 9</p><p><strong>Skills:</strong> Hide –4* [<em>+4 in water</em>], Listen +4, Spot +9, Swim +15</p><p><strong>Feats:</strong> Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Focus (bite)</p><p><strong>Environment:</strong> Warm aquatic</p><p><strong>Organization:</strong> Solitary, pair, or herd (5–8)</p><p><strong>Challenge Rating:</strong> 5</p><p><strong>Treasure:</strong> None</p><p><strong>Alignment:</strong> Always neutral</p><p><strong>Advancement:</strong> 11–20 HD (Huge); 21–30 HD (Gargantuan)</p><p><strong>Level Adjustment:</strong> —</p><p></p><p>Though it resides primarily in the water, an <em>Elasmosaurus</em> only breathes air. An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> has a total length of some 40 feet, including a neck half as long as its entire body, and weighs about 10,000 pounds. Observers who see only its head or tail might easily mistake it for a massive snake.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Combat</span></strong></p><p>An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> only hunts prey small enough for it to swallow, but will defend itself aggressively if it feels threatened. The creature is strong, fast, and highly maneuverable, able to turn quickly and lunge at prey. When hunting, it travels with its head out of the water, snapping down quickly to seize prey.</p><p></p><p><strong>Hold Breath (Ex):</strong> An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 10 × its Constitution score before it risks drowning. For a typical <em>Elasmosaurus</em>, this is 220 rounds, or 22 minutes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Improved Grab (Ex):</strong> To use this ability, an <em>Elasmosaurus</em> must hit an opponent of up to one size smaller with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe the following round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Swallow Whole (Ex):</strong> An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to three sizes smaller by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 2d8+7 points of bludgeoning damage and 8 points of acid damage per round from the <em>Elasmosaurus</em>’s gizzard. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 12). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out.</p><p></p><p>A Huge <em>Elasmosaurus</em>’s gizzard can hold 8 Small, 32 Tiny, or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills:</strong> An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> has a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks. It can always choose to take 10 on a Jump or Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.</p><p></p><p>*An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks in water.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: green"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Design Notes</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: green">An <em>Elasmosaurus</em> is not a dinosaur. There seems little point complaining, as it's a grand old D&D tradition to lump other prehistoric beasts under the name "Dinosaur", mostly aquatic reptiles and pterosaurs. The AD&D Dinosaur list includes a few amphibians and at least one shark!</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">Mechanically it's a poor match to the real-world marine reptile, whose comparatively tiny head would have been unlikely to do so much damage. The original description of it having "a tail half as long as its entire body" is way off, since it's an <em>Elasmosaurus's</em> <strong>neck</strong> that is extraordinarily long. Hence I reduced the bite damage and increased its Reach while slightly reducing its Strength. I toyed with the idea of giving it some kind of reduced Str bonus to bite (i.e. +1×Str or +½×Str) but in the end left it with the standard +1½×Str. Some D&D versions of Plesiosaurs have flipper attacks and I dithered about using that as a solution (i.e. give it an attack line containing "Bite or flipper-slap". Maybe I'll add that to a later version. The original creature's feats were a poor selection so were changed in the Redux version. The SRD also gives it an oddly low natural armour bonus of +3 which I bumped up to +5.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">The most significant change was adding an Improved Grab & Swallow Whole attack. The real-world animal wouldn't have eaten anything it couldn't swallow whole, since its teeth and jaws were shaped for holding prey and could not tear or bite food into pieces. It might have been able to swallow meals a bit larger than its head due to the snake-like flexibility of its skull and jaws, but there's no way it would have aggressively hunted anything it noticed like the SRD version's tactics claim. Oh, neither could it have held its head out of the water and snapped down on prey, but I happily overlooked that undramatic fact for the tactics. It is a "dinosaur" in a fantasy RPG after all, so strict scientific accuracy must sometimes take a back-seat to cool imagery.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">Even with Swallow Whole and a better choice of feats, I think the <em>Elasmosaurus</em> is way too weak to be Challenge Rating 7 like the SRD claims so reduced it to CR 5. That said, a Huge plesiosaur with a mid-sized head would possess a more damaging bite with a shorter reach like the SRD <em>Elasmosaurus</em> does and likely be CR 6, while one with a large head that specialized in hunting large prey should definitely have a higher Challenge Rating. I believe I have rough drafts for a few such Sauropterygians lying around somewhere.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 7947333, member: 57383"] [B][I][SIZE=6]Elasmosaurus[/SIZE][/I] [SIZE=6]Redux[/SIZE][/B] Huge Animal [B]Hit Dice:[/B] 10d8+60 (105 hp) [B]Initiative:[/B] +6 [B]Speed:[/B] 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 50 ft. [B]Armor Class:[/B] 15 (–2 size, +2 Dex, +5 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 13 [B]Base Attack/Grapple:[/B] +7/+22 [B]Attack:[/B] Bite +13 melee (1d10+10) [B]Full Attack:[/B] Bite +13 melee (1d10+10) [B]Space/Reach:[/B] 15 ft./10 ft. (20 ft. with bite) [B]Special Attacks:[/B] Improved grab, swallow whole [B]Special Qualities:[/B] Hold breath, low-light vision, scent [B]Saves:[/B] Fort +15, Ref +11, Will +4 [B]Abilities:[/B] Str 25, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 9 [B]Skills:[/B] Hide –4* [[I]+4 in water[/I]], Listen +4, Spot +9, Swim +15 [B]Feats:[/B] Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Focus (bite) [B]Environment:[/B] Warm aquatic [B]Organization:[/B] Solitary, pair, or herd (5–8) [B]Challenge Rating:[/B] 5 [B]Treasure:[/B] None [B]Alignment:[/B] Always neutral [B]Advancement:[/B] 11–20 HD (Huge); 21–30 HD (Gargantuan) [B]Level Adjustment:[/B] — Though it resides primarily in the water, an [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] only breathes air. An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] has a total length of some 40 feet, including a neck half as long as its entire body, and weighs about 10,000 pounds. Observers who see only its head or tail might easily mistake it for a massive snake. [B][SIZE=5]Combat[/SIZE][/B] An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] only hunts prey small enough for it to swallow, but will defend itself aggressively if it feels threatened. The creature is strong, fast, and highly maneuverable, able to turn quickly and lunge at prey. When hunting, it travels with its head out of the water, snapping down quickly to seize prey. [B]Hold Breath (Ex):[/B] An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 10 × its Constitution score before it risks drowning. For a typical [I]Elasmosaurus[/I], this is 220 rounds, or 22 minutes. [B]Improved Grab (Ex):[/B] To use this ability, an [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] must hit an opponent of up to one size smaller with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe the following round. [B]Swallow Whole (Ex):[/B] An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to three sizes smaller by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 2d8+7 points of bludgeoning damage and 8 points of acid damage per round from the [I]Elasmosaurus[/I]’s gizzard. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 12). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. A Huge [I]Elasmosaurus[/I]’s gizzard can hold 8 Small, 32 Tiny, or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents. [B]Skills:[/B] An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] has a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks. It can always choose to take 10 on a Jump or Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. *An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks in water. [COLOR=green][B][SIZE=5]Design Notes[/SIZE][/B] An [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] is not a dinosaur. There seems little point complaining, as it's a grand old D&D tradition to lump other prehistoric beasts under the name "Dinosaur", mostly aquatic reptiles and pterosaurs. The AD&D Dinosaur list includes a few amphibians and at least one shark! Mechanically it's a poor match to the real-world marine reptile, whose comparatively tiny head would have been unlikely to do so much damage. The original description of it having "a tail half as long as its entire body" is way off, since it's an [I]Elasmosaurus's[/I] [B]neck[/B] that is extraordinarily long. Hence I reduced the bite damage and increased its Reach while slightly reducing its Strength. I toyed with the idea of giving it some kind of reduced Str bonus to bite (i.e. +1×Str or +½×Str) but in the end left it with the standard +1½×Str. Some D&D versions of Plesiosaurs have flipper attacks and I dithered about using that as a solution (i.e. give it an attack line containing "Bite or flipper-slap". Maybe I'll add that to a later version. The original creature's feats were a poor selection so were changed in the Redux version. The SRD also gives it an oddly low natural armour bonus of +3 which I bumped up to +5. The most significant change was adding an Improved Grab & Swallow Whole attack. The real-world animal wouldn't have eaten anything it couldn't swallow whole, since its teeth and jaws were shaped for holding prey and could not tear or bite food into pieces. It might have been able to swallow meals a bit larger than its head due to the snake-like flexibility of its skull and jaws, but there's no way it would have aggressively hunted anything it noticed like the SRD version's tactics claim. Oh, neither could it have held its head out of the water and snapped down on prey, but I happily overlooked that undramatic fact for the tactics. It is a "dinosaur" in a fantasy RPG after all, so strict scientific accuracy must sometimes take a back-seat to cool imagery. Even with Swallow Whole and a better choice of feats, I think the [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] is way too weak to be Challenge Rating 7 like the SRD claims so reduced it to CR 5. That said, a Huge plesiosaur with a mid-sized head would possess a more damaging bite with a shorter reach like the SRD [I]Elasmosaurus[/I] does and likely be CR 6, while one with a large head that specialized in hunting large prey should definitely have a higher Challenge Rating. I believe I have rough drafts for a few such Sauropterygians lying around somewhere.[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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