Frightful Fridays! A-Z! is heading into the home stretch, and today's "U" monster appropriately lands underwater. The unictopus is another mashup that Patrick discovered, and I liked that I could finally put a unconditionally helpful creature in the underwater lineup. Sure, it might look scary to characters who encounter it for the first time; hopefully, they'll stick around long enough to find out that this creature has their interests at heart. The extra feature is more of a living relic than a magic item--the unictopus sheds its horn to make way for a new growth, but that old horn is still quite useful, and the creature gives it to a Good character to help in its fight against aquatic evil-doers.
Only five more monsters to go before the A-Z challenge concludes. I'll see you tomorrow for monster "V". Thanks for reading!
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| Artist: ~DeathDragon111 |
This impossible creature features the head and main body belonging to a unicorn, but its legs transition into octopus tentacles, with another set of octopus tentacles added for good measure.
Unictopus CR 5
XP 1,600
LG Large aberration (aquatic)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +14
Defense
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, -1 size, +8 natural)
hp 59 (7d8+28); regeneration 5 (acid or fire)
Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +9
Immune charm, compulsion, fear, poison
Offense
Speed 10 ft., swim 60 ft.
Melee gore +9 (1d8+4), 4 tentacles +3 (1d4+2 plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tentacle)
Special Attacks constrict (tentacle, 1d4 + 2), powerful charge (gore, 2d8+8)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th; concentration +13)
At Will—detect good, light
3/day—cure moderate wounds, water breathing
1/day—cure serious wounds, daylight, neutralize poison, remove disease, water walk
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 19, Cha 22
Base Atk +5; CMB +10 (+14 grapple); CMD 22 (can't be tripped)
Feats Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Diplomacy), Weapon Focus (Gore)
Skills Acrobatics +12, Diplomacy +12, Perception +14, Sense Motive +11, Stealth +12, Survival +10, Swim +16
Languages Aquan, Common
SQ wild empathy
Ecology
Environment any aquatic
Organization solitary, pair or current (3–8)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Wild Empathy (Ex) A unictopus has the same ability as a druid’s wild empathy, except it only affects aquatic animals and the unictopus has a +6 racial bonus on the check.
Terrifying in aspect, but beneficent in temperament, a unictopus is an experiment gone wrong—to the benefit of peaceful aquatic creatures and terrestrial visitors. A unictopus is an implacable hunter of the evil monsters that seem to infest the world under the waves. However, the creature will forestall its hunt to provide aid to the injured and those hopelessly lost at sea. A unictopus measures nearly 15 feet in length and weighs 1,200 pounds.
When a dread kraken’s minions dragged a pair of bloody and unconscious unicorns to its lair, it saw an opportunity to marry the magical might of the unicorn to an octopus in the creation of yet another aquatic monstrosity. The resulting creatures were a success and served the dread kraken for a few months, before the unicorns’ inherent goodness reasserted itself and the creatures rebelled. They managed to escape from the kraken and its followers and carried out missions where they could to thwart their former master. To their surprise, the mated unictopus pair found they could breed true and raised their young to continue their crusade. After a few generations, the creatures have spread throughout all underwater areas where they combat evil and render aid to the helpless.
During a unictopus’s 80-year lifespan, the creature sheds its horn a total of 7 times as a new horn grows in its place and pushes the old one out. For the first 3 months with its new horn, a unictopus can only use its at-will spell-like abilities and cannot employ its gore attack, and, for an additional 3 months, it cannot use its once-per-day abilities. However, the creature’s old horn remains magically potent, provided the unictopus gifts the horn to another good creature. Often, a unictopus will rise up out of the water, bestow the horn to a random person on shore, and then dive back into the water, leaving the recipient more than a little baffled.
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Unictopus Horn
A unictopus horn is an odd magic item whose abilities can be replicated in a crafted item, but no one has been able to duplicate the horn exactly. It takes 1 day for the horn to attune itself to a Good owner, after which the owner can use the horn to its fullest abilities. While held, the horn renders the wielder immune to fear and poison, and the owner can command the horn to shed light per the light spell as a free action. The owner can use the horn to cast cure light wounds and water breathing 5 times per day (CL 3rd), and he can cast cure moderate wounds, neutralize poison and remove disease once per day. With the exception of water breathing, the horn’s owner can only cast these spells to benefit others. After a year and a day, the horn no longer functions, but it bestows bless on the owner as long as he has it in his possession (he is not required to carry the horn to benefit from this effect). A unictopus horn has 30 hit points and hardness 20.
