Riptide Horror

This vile, grayish-tan tubeworm is longer than a man. It has six eyeless heads and each mouth is lined with inward curving, serrated teeth. Six long grayish-tan tentacles protrude from the middle of its body.

Riptide Horror CR 8

XP 4,800
LE Medium magical beast (aquatic)
Init +6; Senses blindsight 30 ft.; Perception +4

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex, +8 natural)
hp 63 (6d10+30)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +4
DR 10/piercing or slashing
Weaknesses vulnerability to electricity

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee 6 tentacles +5 (1d4+1 plus grab plus poison) and 6 bites +4 (1d6+1),
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with tentacle)
Special Attacks paralytic poison
Spell-like Abilities (CL 6th):

At willspider climb

TACTICS

Riptide horrors prefer to attack from ambush; sitting unmoving until potential prey moves within range. Often, they use their spider climb ability to cling to sea cave walls where their unsuspecting prey walks underneath them. Once prey wanders too close, the riptide horror lashes out with its tentacles and attempts to grab its meal. Grabbed foes are subjected to its paralytic poison and are bitten by its razor-sharp teeth.

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 8
Base Atk +6; CMB +7; CMD 19
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Weapon Focus (tentacle)
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +7 (+17 in murky water), Swim +16; Racial Modifiers +8 Swim, +10 Stealth in murky water
SQ amphibious

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Poison (Ex)

Tentacle—contact; save Fort DC 18; frequency 1/round for 1d4 rounds; effect 1d4 Dex plus paralysis Fort DC 18 1d4 rounds, cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate marshes
Organization solitary, pair, or colony (2-8)
Treasure none

The terrifying riptide horror is a giant, sightless tubeworm found in sea caves or deep within desolate marshes. They are carnivorous creatures and have a voracious appetite that is only sated with meat, preferably that of warm-blooded humanoids or reptiles.

Opportunistic, ambush hunters, riptide horrors wait for prey to come to them. They can go several weeks without eating, and sometimes do, but if a meal is readily available, the horror does not hesitate to kill and devour it. Such a meal is placed in a “reserve” stomach-like sac. When the food supply is low, the riptide horror delves into its reserve and draws sustenance from the stored food.

Riptide horrors mate once a year, usually in flooded sea caves. The female crawls into the male’s lair and deposits a sticky, greenish-tan mass of eggs on the wall of the cave. The male fertilizes the eggs and in 4 months, the eggs begin to hatch. Juveniles are excellent swimmers and leave the cave as soon as they hatch. As a riptide horror ages, its body secretes a substance that forms a shell-like carapace on its dorsal side.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Riptide Horror from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Erica Balsley.

scroll to top