Capable Clambering. A giant basket 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.
Plant Disguise. A giant basket star can stay in one place and pose its many-branched limbs to resemble a large mass of aquatic vegetation swaying in the water currents. It requires a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check for a creature to realize the gorgonocephalid is not a treelike growth of seaweed. If the basket star is concealed within a kelp forest or similar flora, observers have disadvantage on this Wisdom (Perception) check.
Regrowth. If a giant basket 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 brittle star to replace a missing arm.
Rudimentary Vision. The giant basket stat 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 basket star can breathe only underwater.
Multiattack. The giant basket star uses Net of Arms and then makes a bite attack.
Net of Arms. Each creature of the giant basket star's choice that is within 50 feet of the basket star is affected as follows:
If the Basket Star is Not Grappling the Creature: The creature must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be grappled (escape DC 17*). A giant basket star can grapple as many creatures as will fit within the 50 foot radius of its arms. A creature can also free themselves from the grapple by doing at least 10 slashing damage to the net with a single attack (AC 15; immunity to bludgeoning, piercing and psychic damage). Damage to individual arm branches does not harm the basket star or reduce the effectiveness of its Net of Arms (the Net has hundreds of branches so losing a few does not hamper it).
If the Basket Star is Grappling the Creature: The grappled creature must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity or Strength saving throw (creature's choice) or be restrained by sticky mucus, which increases the escape DC of the grapple to 20.* As an action, the restrained target can make a DC 17 Strength check*, bursting free of the mucus on a success. If the Strength check result is 20 or higher they also escape the basket star's grapple, on a 19 or lower they are still held by the Net of Arms. A creature can also free themselves from being restrained by doing at least 10 slashing damage to the mucus with a single attack (AC 15; immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, poison, and psychic damage); if the damage is 20 or higher the creature can simultaneously breaks free of the net's grapple.
In addition, the basket star can choose to move any creature it is grappling up to 20 ft. in any direction; it normally pulls the creature inwards towards its bite attack. If the creature isn't restrained they can prevent the movement by succeeding on a DC 17 Strength check (a free action).
* Large creatures have Advantage on escape and Strength checks against the Net of Arms. Huge and Gargantuan creatures automatically succeed on escape and Strength checks against the Net of Arms, so a giant basket star can only net creatures of Huge or larger size that are dead or incapacitated.
Bite. Can only attack grappled targets. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8+6) slashing damage plus 15 (2d8+6) bludgeoning damage.
Description
Basket stars, or Gorgonocephalids, are starfish closely related to brittle stars. They have five arms which branch many times into hundreds of thin appendages, so the animal resembles a radiating bush or flower with a disc-shaped body buried at the center. Normal basket stars grow up to a couple of feet across, but giant basket star are monstrously big with arm baskets spanning 100 feet or so and bodies about 20 feet across. Like most echinoderms, they have an external skeleton of small calcareous plates that mesh together, this bony armor gives a giant basket star hide as tough as chainmail.
Regular basket stars are mainly filter feeders but may also grab tiny animals (fish, crustaceans, etc.) who wander into their arms. When filter-feeding, a basket star rhythmically flexes its arms to sweep food from the water and towards the five-jawed mouth at the center of the beast.
A Gorgonocephalid's arms can only handle active prey much smaller than itself: the biggest normal basket stars reach up to 2¼ ft. across but can only catch miniscule animals about an inch in length. A giant basket star, however, is so enormous it can manage creatures the size of a horse.
A basket star's limbs have a thin coating of mucus to trap plankton and other edible detritus. If a snared creature resists capture, the arms exudes more mucus to entangle the victim in adhesive slime. Basket stars sometimes hold cocooned prey to eat later, often waiting until nightfall to feed under the cover of darkness.
Tree of Sticky Death. While normal basket stars are primarily filter feeders the giant basket star is a more active predator. A giant basket star is an ambush hunter. It waits atop a rocky seamount or at the edge of a kelp forest pretending to be part of the local vegetation, then reaches out its arms to snatch at creatures that swim or walk within reach. Giant basket stars will only pursue a meal if they sense it is large and immobile, such as the carcass of a whale. Otherwise they normally only move to find a better perch for catching prey or to retreat from danger.
(Original monster designed by Casimir Liber and Cleon on the Creature Catalog Monster Homebrews forum)
Previous Versions
| Name | Date Modified | Views | Adds | Version | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
6/28/2022 11:25:00 AM
|
25
|
0
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
Comments