Monday, April 9, 2012

A to Z Challenge, H is for Homard


Today will be another monster post.  Homard is french for Lobster and I'm of the opinion that Lobsters are an extremely underutilized in D&D's monster ecology.  Lobsters have giant claws, can escape quickly and most interestingly:

Longevity
(. . .) It has been argued that lobsters may exhibit negligible senescence and some scientists have claimed that they could effectively live indefinitely, barring injury, disease, capture, etc.[12] Their longevity allows them to reach impressive sizes. According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster was caught in Nova Scotia, Canada, and weighed 20.15 kilograms (44.4 lb).  --Wikipedia



Lobsters are immortal!  So without further ado I present the Homard, Lobster-men of the seven seas.  They terrorize shipping vessels of mercantile empires demanding tribute to their underwater immortals.  They wage war against any nation foolish enough to put their foundries waste into the waters edge.  Hommards grow larger and more wise with age, being the second longest lived sentient creature on the planet they have acquired a mass of knowledge that allows them to build sophisticated war machines and they have amassed spellcraft from the last age.  Their Nautilus ships can move freely beneath the waves and terrorize surface faring vessels, their fell magics can create whirlpools and towering waves.




HOMARD
  • Hit Dice
    • 1-2  Juvenile
    • 3-4  Adult
    • 5-9  Elder
    • 10 - 13  Revered One
    • 14+  Progenitor
  • Number Appearing:  
    • War Party:  3d6 Adults, 2d6 Juvenile, 1 Elder
    • Synod:  2d6 Elder, 5d6 Juvenile, 1 Revered One
    • Sunken City:  1d6x100 Juvenile, 2d6x10 Adult, 3d6 Elder, 1d6 Revered One
  • Armor Class
    • 5 Juvenile / 4 Adult / 3 Elder / 2 Revered One / 1 Progenitor
    • Reduce all incoming damage by 1
  • Attacks
    • Massive Claws x2
  • Damage
    • 2d6 each
  • Save
    • Cleric of Appropriate Hit Dice
  • Morale
    • 5 Juvenile
    • 9 Adult +
  • Special Abilities
    • All Homards can flee twice as fast as their movement.
    • Elders+ can cast Clerical spells with a caster level equal to half their Hit Dice
    • Revered ones can channel their spells together, summing their Hit Dice to improve their caster level
    • Progenitors release a subsonic call that causes all within range who Save vs Death to go Insane while they remain within range.  Those who fail their save have their blood boiled and die.

The Nautilus is a giant smooth shelled ship composed of underwater materials and bound with ancient techniques.  It is larger than the surface dwellers dreadnaughts and nearly indestructible.  It is capable of moving through the seas completely underwater, destroying seafaring ship from underneath.  Many sea tales mention that the ship itself is alive but none have managed to verify the tale.  The Nautilus is however extremely vulnerable to elevated temperatures, should you be able to boil the seas you will be quite capable of handling a Nautilus.




    6 comments:

    1. The lobstrosities from Stephen King's The Dark Tower were pretty nasty, too, with their big, snippy claws.

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      1. I never read any Steven King books although my Mother loves them. If the Dark Tower has giant Lobstermen then sign me up!

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    2. I didn't know lobsters could grow indefinitely. Most invertebrates give me the willies, but the idea of them being people sized sounds straight out of Lovecraft.

      "Those who fail their save have their blood boiled and die." Always a good tip-off you've been outmatched.

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      1. What about invertebrates gives you the jibblies? To be honest I find Lobsters adorable, although man-sized lobsters makes a good parallel with Lovecraft, good point!

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    3. Wow! They might live inderinately? I knew they grow slowly. In Australia, the size suitable to eat is already 15 years old. Aren't we humans callous? Much better to use the look of them as a monster.

      http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com

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      1. Yes I was surprised they could keep on growing. I do a lot of cooking myself but never Lobster. I know I certainly wouldn't want to be tossed in boiling water so I wouldn't do it to something else.

        Thanks for visiting!

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