Hello Frightful Fridays! fans. Today's entry presents the first construct for this feature. When Paris pointed this out, I knew I had to work up something for Frightful Fridays! Paris also mentioned that someone on one of the shared Facebook posts referred to these as "clockodiles." Admittedly, I couldn't come up with a better name for them, so I...borrowed it.
I hope you enjoy this week's entry! I'm still working away on April's FF! festivities, but I'll be back next week with a new monster. Have a great weekend!
The creature, fashioned to look like an ordinary crocodile, is constructed of metal sheets and gears, a pair of which makes the creature’s jaws more powerful than those of the creature it mimics.
Clockodile CR 5
XP 1,600
N Large construct
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +9
Defense
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +6 natural, –1 size)
hp 63 (6d10+30)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +3
Immune construct traits
Offense
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +11 (2d6+6 plus disease and grab), tail slap +6 (1d8+3 plus trip)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks constrict (1d8+6), disease, locking jaw
Statistics
Str 23, Dex 16, Con —, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 5
Base Atk +6; CMB +13 (+17 grapple); CMD 26 (30 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Intimidate +5, Perception +12; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
Ecology
Environment any terrestrial
Organization solitary, pair, or colony (3–12)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Disease (Ex) Tetanus: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 15; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1 day; effect 1d4 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC includes a +2 racial bonus.
Locking Jaw (Ex) When a clockodile grabs an opponent with its bite, it has a +8 circumstance bonus to its CMD against attempts to break the grapple. Additionally, if a clockodile is destroyed while it has a grappled opponent, it still constricts its grappled foe on its next turn, after which it releases the opponent.
A clockodile hails from an alternate Material plane where constructs have evolved as the dominant life forms. While the sentient constructs seem to have no designs on this plane, occasionally an errant animal-like predator like the clockodile slips through a portal and wreaks havoc. The creature is 15 feet long and weighs 2 tons.
A clockodile hunts in a much more straightforward fashion than its flesh and blood counterpart. Rather than lurking along river banks, the clockodile charges its foes and bites down on the first accessible victim. Its gears lock into place to hold its victim in a vise-like grip, squeezing the life out of the unfortunate soul, while the clockodile uses its tail to keep any of its victim’s potential allies away. The creature does not require food to survive; its attacks arise from its aggressive nature, which strengthens as the creature takes more and more damage from which it cannot naturally heal.
Construction
A handful of arcane casters have reverse engineered the clockodile, but it does not have even the animal intelligence of the “natural” creature. A constructed clockodile loses its Intelligence, and its Intimidating Prowess and Skill Focus (Perception) feats. A clockodile’s body is built from 4,000 pounds of iron or other suitable metal.
Clockodile
CL 11th; Price 16,400 gp
Construction
Requirements Craft Construct, arcane lock, cat’s grace, contagion, geas/quest, creator must be caster level 11th; Skill Craft (armor) DC 17; Cost 8,400 gp
