Frightful Fridays! Adaptoad

Hello, and welcome back to Frightful Fridays! I'm sticking with the frog/toad theme this week, thanks to Sarah Counts who pointed me toward this picture. I almost went with a surprise blinding attack, but then I remembered the blindheim, and I didn't want to duplicate its schtick. Instead, I thought it would be fun for this toad to spit out its eyeballs as exploding balls of energy as far as its blindsight can reach. Ribboom!

 

This is another shortish entry, since I'm traveling soon and I will actually be in Key West for a friend's wedding when this posts. I wanted to keep the weekly momentum going with this feature, though. Anyway, I hope you like the adaptoad, and I'll see you next week with a new monster. Thanks for reading!

This real-live mutant can be found here.

This eyeless toad seems to find its way around in spite of its missing organs; the creature opens its mouth to reveal two glowing orbs.
Adaptoad CR 8
XP 4,800
N Small magical beast
Init +7; Senses blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +3

Defense
AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural, +1 size)
hp 95 (10d10+40); fast healing 3
Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +8
Defensive Abilities evasion; Resist variable resistance

Offense
Speed 50 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d8+1)
Special Attacks explosive eyeballs

Statistics
Str 13, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 7, Wis 16, Cha 10
Base Atk +10; CMB +10; CMD 24
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Acrobatics), Wind Stance
Skills Acrobatics +22, Swim +9

Special Abilities
Explosive Eyeball (Su) An adaptoad begins combat with two marble-like eyeballs in its mouth. As a standard action it can spit one or both eyeballs out to a range of 60 feet. Each eyeball explodes in a 20-foot radius, dealing 5d6 damage of a chosen energy type—acid, cold, electricity, or fire—to all creatures caught in the explosion (DC 19 Reflex for half). If the frog spits both eyeballs simultaneously, it can choose to deal 5d6 sonic or force damage instead (the Reflex save DC is unchanged). An adaptoad requires 1d6 rounds to replace an eyeball. The save DCs are Constitution-based.
Variable Resistance (Su) For each eyeball currently in an adaptoad's mouth, it has energy resistance 10 against the type of energy damage the eyeball deals. If the adaptoad has two of the same type of eyeball, its energy resistance increases to 20.

Thanks to their amphibian genetics, toad familiars are likely to absorb the magic abilities of their wizard or witch masters. An adaptoad is an extreme example of such a creature, exchanging physical sight for the ability to grow eyeballs in its mouth that it can spit at opponents to deal elemental damage. Its eyeballs also grant a measure of protection against the energy represented by each eyeball. An adaptoad can sense the effectiveness of each explosion and switch to a different energy type if necessary. As it waits for eyeballs to regrow, it hops around in a haphazard fashion in an attempt to avoid retaliation.

If an adaptoad has any eyeballs remaining in its mouth when it dies, each eyeball can be used like a bead from a necklace of fireballs (5d6 points of fire damage), regardless of the energy type chosen by the adaptoad.

 

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