Charybdis
Description
Sailors tell many tales of the creatures of the deep, from the terrible kraken to the beautiful mermaid. Yet few are stranger or more feared than the dread charybdis, for it exists to capture ships, crack them open like nuts, and feast on the doomed sailors within. So legendary are these violent attacks that many sailors have come to view the charybdis not as a species of aberrant life, but as the vengeful personification of an angry sea god.
In truth, the charybdis is not the sending of an angry deity, but in fact little more than a monstrous predator capable of churning even the calmest of seas into a whirling maelstrom. The charybdis uses this vortex ability not only to capture prey like sharks or small whales, but also to entrap ships on the ocean surface above. The monster's claws are particularly well suited to puncturing the hulls of ships, and most charybdises have learned that a single large merchant vessel contains enough sailors to make a perfectly sized meal. Often, a charybdis settles in along a well-known shipping route near the shoreline or amid an archipelago of islands where ships are forced along relatively narrow lanes between rocky isles—such locations allow the charybdis to lie in wait and increases the chance of its prey being unable to circumvent its vortex.
A charybdis is 60 feet long and weighs 26,000 pounds.
Combat Stats
- Melee
- bite +20 (2d8+12/19-20 plus grab), 2 claws +20 (2d6+12)
- Space
- 20 ft.
- Reach
- 20 ft.
Ability Scores
Special Attacks
Rending Claws — A charybdis's claws are particularly devastating when used against objects, and ignore the first 10 points of an object's hardness rating.
swallow whole (6d6 bludgeoning damage plus 6d6 acid damage, AC 21, hp 18)
Vortex — A charybdis can generate a whirlpool as a standard action at will. This ability functions identically to the whirlwind special attack (see the Universal Monster Rules in Appendix 3), but the whirlpool can only form underwater and cannot leave the water. It's a DC 25 Reflex save to avoid being caught by the charybdis's vortex. The vortex itself is 20 feet across and 120 feet deep, and deals 2d6+12 points of damage per round. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Feats
Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Vital Strike
Special Abilities
Universal Monster Rules
Special Abilities
Feats, Traits & Items
As a standard action, the creature may perform an awesome blow combat maneuver. If the creature's maneuver succeeds against a corporeal opponent smaller than itself, its opponent takes damage (typically slam damage plus Strength bonus) and is knocked flying 10 feet in a direction of the attacking creature's choice and falls prone. The attacking creature can only push the opponent in a straight line, and the opponent can't move closer to the attacking creature than the square it started in. If an obstacle prevents the completion of the opponent's move, the opponent and the obstacle each take 1d6 points of damage, and the opponent is knocked prone in the space adjacent to the obstacle.
You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a bull rush combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks made to bull rush a foe. You also receive a +2 bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense whenever an opponent tries to bull rush you.
When using the weapon you selected, your threat range is doubled.
When you use the attack action, you can make one attack at your highest base attack bonus that deals additional damage. Roll the weapon's damage dice for the attack three times and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon special abilities (such as flaming), precision based damage, and other damage bonuses. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total.
You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls. This bonus to damage is halved (–50%) if you are making an attack with an off-hand weapon or secondary natural weapon. When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by –1 and the bonus to damage increases by +2. You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus damage does not apply to touch attacks or effects that do not deal hit point damage.
When you use the attack action, you can make one attack at your highest base attack bonus that deals additional damage. Roll the weapon's damage dice for the attack twice and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision based damage, and other damage bonuses. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total.
Skills
Perception +23, Swim +20
- Type
- Aberration
- Alignment
- CN
- Size
- Gargantuan
- Environment
- any oceans
- Organization
- solitary
- Treasure
- standard
- Senses
- blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +23
- Languages
- Aquan
- Source
- Bestiary 2