Saturday, July 22, 2017

Frightful Fridays! Krakitten

Hello, and welcome to another Frightful Fridays! I'm going to say that jet lag still makes it Friday. The family trip to Europe was awesome, and I saw a lot of great art, great architecture, and beautiful mountains and countrysides. One of the things which provided inspiration for this feature was the image below, featured on a t-shirt (one of which I now own). The krakitten just wants to play, and its targets include sailing vessels. If the vessels would just sit still, the krakitten wouldn't even notice them.

I hope you enjoy this week's monster, and I'll see you again soon with another monster. Thanks for reading!

It's adorably causing a shipwreck

This tabby kitten towers over most seagoing vessels. It flails its paws in playful, yet deadly, exuberance.
Krakitten      CR 6
XP 2,400
N Colossal magical beast (aquatic)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 7, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +12 natural, –8 size)
hp 84 (8d10+40)
Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +4
DR 5/magic; Immune electricity
Weaknesses distractible
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., swim 60 ft.
Melee bite +9 (2d6+8 plus grab)
Ranged hairball +4 (2d4+8 plus entangling hairball)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks capsize, cornered rage, rake (2 claws +8, 2d6+8), structural damage
STATISTICS
Str 26, Dex 19, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 17
Base Atk +8; CMB +24 (+28 grapple); CMD 39 (43 vs. trip)
Feats Athletic, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Acrobatics +11 (+19 to jump), Climb +14, Perception +8, Swim +18
ECOLOGY
Environment warm and temperate ocean
Organization solitary, pair, or clowder (3–8)
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Cornered Rage (Ex) A krakitten always retreats when reduced to 15 hp or fewer. However, if it cannot retreat, it goes into a rage as a free action. It gains +2 Constitution and +2 Strength, but takes a –2 penalty to AC. The rage lasts for 1 minute or until it can retreat, whichever is shorter. It cannot end its rage voluntarily.
Distractible (Ex) A krakitten takes a –4 penalty on saves against illusion spells and effects. Additionally, pattern spells treat a krakitten as if it had 1/2 of its Hit Dice when determining the spells’ effects.
Entangling Hairball (Ex) If a krakitten’s hairball attack strikes a target, the target creature must succeed on a DC 19 Reflex save or become entangled. An entangled creature can break free of the hairball with a successful DC 19 Escape Artist check or Strength check. A krakitten’s entangling hairball can also affect a creature if the hairball hits the creature’s touch AC, but the affected creature receives a +4 bonus on the Reflex save to avoid becoming entangled and the checks to break free. The save and check DCs are Constitution-based.
Structural Damage (Ex) A krakitten's rake ignores up to 5 points of a target object’s hardness.

Many creatures protect their young by hiding them in well-protected locations, safe from the predations of larger creatures. Some young have inherent means of protection in the form of camouflage or other natural defenses. Oftentimes, one or more of the parent creatures remain with the young to drive off predators. In the case of at least one type of sea cat, the sea cats deposit their eggs near a source of wild arcane energy which has no affect on the adult creatures, but causes the immature sea cats to grow to prodigious size as krakittens.

Krakittens are terrors of the sea lanes, but this is an unfortunate and incidental side effect of their great size coupled with their playfulness. Fortunately, they are clumsy and rarely land direct hits on the objects of their attention. They are also prone to distraction and will follow figments which capture their notice and “play” with the illusory objects until they grow bored or finally realize the objects are not real. Dumping a load of fish in the water also keeps them from attacking ships. Finally, when they become severely injured, they return to their lairs where they can nurse their wounds and recover. Maritime wisdom warns sailors not to trap an injured krakitten, since it becomes enraged and even more destructive.

After a year, the arcane energy infusing krakittens fades, and the creatures mature into sea cats to begin the cycle anew. Oceanic druids have tried in vain to gain krakittens as companion creatures, but the best they can do is lure the overgrown kittens to ships they want destroyed.