Chuul
Chuul (CR 12)
A chuul is a massive beast, and truly horrible to behold. It's appearance is all armored chitin and massive snapping claws and wet, dangling palps. Chuuls are scavengers and ambush predators, and are more than willing to feed on carrion, rotting plant matter, any undead they can catch, and whatever else they can get a death grip on.
Despite appearances, chuuls are not mindless beasts. That said, chuuls are certainly aberrant things, and there is little to no basis for conversation or peace between a chuul and anything not-chuul. Chuul's seem to exist to eat and reproduce and make weird spiky designs in mud, sand, trees, or whatever else happens to be to hand. Indeed, a sure sign of a chuul incursion is weird alien patterns showing up in unlikely places.
Chuul are amphibious, but definitely not aquatic. They do not swim well, being far too massive, and they cannot breathe water, but they can hold their breath for five times as long as you would expect them to be able to and suffer no ill effects for it. Chuuls prefer to live in places where there is shallow water, and are not terribly picky beyond that. Chuul haunt deserted beaches, swamps, bogs, watery caves and tunnels, dark mountain lakes, sewers in cities, ruins and dungeons of all kinds, clear forest streams, crashing rocky surf, fens and marshes, mud pits, peat bogs and many more places besides. They are hardy and horrible.
They like to lurk and creep, and their hard outer surface is often crusted with debris from their environment, making them incredibly stealthy for their size.
Chuul are not aggressive. They will not raid settlements and kill wantonly. They prefer to pick off victims with more discretion, but they can and will eat sentient races without hesitation. A chuul infestation must be confronted, and quickly, before tragedy happens.
GENERAL
CR 12 Hit Dice 17
XP 19,200
NE (or CE) Large Aberration
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +22
DEFENSE
AC 32, touch 20, flat-footed 27 (+7 armor, +5 dex, +5 natural, +5 deflection)
hp 249
Fort +15, Ref +12, Will +12
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: -
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., Swim 20 ft
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 10 ft.
Single Melee 2x Claws +20 (2d6+4/x2) + Grapple + Deathgrip
Full Melee Bite +20 (2d8+13/x2), 2x Claws +20 (2d6+4/x2) + Grapple + Deathgrip
Ranged Disgusting Jet +20 (2d8+7/x2), Reflex save vs DC 21 or be Sickened, Range Increment 30 ft.
Special Attacks Deathgrip, Slimy Doom
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 24, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 5
Base Atk +12; CMB +19 (+21 with grapples); CMD 28 (+30 vs grapples)
Feats Improved Grapple (EFFECT: Start grapple as a free action after claw hits, does not provoke.)
Skills Stealth +20, Knowledge (Local) +16
Languages Aquan
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Improved Grapple
A Chuul can initiate a Grapple as a free action after any successful claw attack. It can sustain the grapple per the standard Grapple rules. A Chuul can have up to one sized-large foe grappled at a time, in addition to any foe it may have entangled by its Slimy Doom power.
- Deathgrip
While it has a foe Grappled, the Chuul may use Deathgrip as a damage action, which inflicts 6d6+1 points of damage. (It must use a standard action to sustain a grapple, making a grapple check against the foe's CMD. If successful, it deals the Deathgrip damage automatically, if it chooses to perform a damage action.)
- Slimy Doom
If the Chuul begins its turn with a foe Grappled, as a move action it makes the Grapple check to sustain the grapple, and if successful, stuffs its victim into the fringe of slimy paralytic palps hanging from its head...parts.... A Chuul can have one foe up to size large trapped in its Slimy Doom. Having a foe in Slimy Doom grapples that foe, but the Chuul is NOT considered to be in a grapple and retains its full array of actions in each following round.
In all future rounds, the check to sustain the grapple and perform a damage action to victims of Slimy Doom are free actions for the Chuul.
In addition, damage actions inflicted on a victim of Slimy Doom use the Chuul's Deathgrip damage, and to make things even worse, if the foe takes damage from that Deathgrip, they must make a Fort save, DC 21, or be Paralyzed. Making the save negates the condition, but the Chuul may certainly try again in future rounds. Paralyzed victims may make additional Fortitude saves at the end of each of their turns to attempt to end the condition.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 8,000 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Chuuls are ambush predators and terribly, implacably, evil. They will hide in water, near trails and docks, and strike when their victims have their guard down.
In all cases, every claw attack is a chance to start a grapple attempt, for free. Chuul always try for a grapple, but will move a victim into its Slimy Doom tentacles as fast as possible. This allows it to grapple a foe and damage or paralyze them, and still move and attack unimpeded.
Chuul who have attacked are likely hungry. They will never consider retreat unless they have a victim in their Slimy Doom. If they do, and the combat is going poorly, a chuul will not hesitate to flee battle, abandoning its comrades without a second thought.