Steelhide Crocodile
| by Jason D |
|
| Climate/Terrain: |
Swamp |
| Frequency: |
Common (65% chance)
|
| Organization: |
Solitary
|
| Activity Cycle: |
Day
|
| Diet: |
Carnivore |
| Intelligence: |
Low Intelligence (5-7) |
| Treasure: |
Steelhide skin |
| Alignment: |
Lawful Evil
|
|
| No. Appearing: |
250
|
| Armor Class: |
+30 |
| Movement: |
Walk/swim
|
| Hit Dice: |
4d6 |
| THAC0: |
|
| No. of Attacks: |
6
|
| Damage/Attack: |
Bite =100, Claw= 40, Constrict:with tail= 25, with
|
| Special Attack: |
Swallow whole, improved grab, constrict, |
| Special Defences: |
Fast healing, regeneration, damage resistance, sce
|
| Magic Resistance: |
None |
| Size: |
Titanic |
| Morale: |
high |
| XP Value: |
Very high
|
| General Introduction: A steelhide crocodile is a titanic
creature. It can swallow whole 1
colossal creature (such as a T.
Rex), 2 gargantuan creatures (such
as certain dragons), 4 huge
creatures (such as smaller
dragons), 8 large creatures (such
as bears), 16 medium creatures
(such as humans), 32 fine creatures
(such as small elves), 64 small
creatures (such as halflings,) 128
tiny creatures (such as gnomes),
256 dimunitive creatures (such as
fairies), and 512 miniscule
creatures (such as pixies.) A
steelhide crocodile is 120-180
feet long, with more of them
leaning to the 180 side. They have
a layer of bony armor over thier
skin, 21 layers of tough, scaly
skin underneath that armor,
another layer of bony plates
embedded beneath that skin, and
over 100 more layers of leathery
hide underneath that. This gives
thier hides a steel-like hardness,
and can actually be harder than
some steel if scar tissue develops.
Steelhide crocodile can heal very
fast. For example, if they have
suffered a wound that goes down
just before hitting thier brain,
they can simply press the two
sides of skin separated by the
wound together, hold it for a few
seconds, and the bleeding will
coagulate, and a long scab will
form. Steelhide crocodiles can
also regrow limbs. If they lose a
leg, a toe, thier tail, or almost
any other part of thier body (they
CANNOT regrow thier entire head,
although theyt can regrow a lost
jaw), it will grow back. A toe
will regrow in a matter of hours,
a foot will regernate a a few
days, the entire tail will
regenerate in a few weeks. This
regeneration has led some to
believe that steelhide crocodiles'
skin is impenetrable. It isn't,
but is VERY hard, and will heal so
fast that it is "effectively
imepentrable" in certain
situations.
|
| Combat: Steelhide crocodile fight in a
fast and furious manner. They
usually overwhelm thier opponents
in seconds, almost always killing
them. Their primary attack is
biting and swallowing. A steelhide
crocodile will eat nearly any
creature there is. Once inside the
stomach, a swallowed creature will
be unable to exit until the
steelhide crocodile is dead. The
hide and organs are very tough and
as one layer is cut away, another
behind will regrow, so trying to
cut out isn't an option. Muscular
action from the esophagus and
intestinal tract prohibits escape
until the steelhide is dead. Then
a swallowed character can leave
via the mouth of excretory tract.
In addition to biting, steelhide
crocdiles also claw at thier
opponents. One random claw swipe
can cut an elf in two. They also
will try to smash thier opponents
to a bloody pulp with thier tails
(which are like a huge steel
beam.) Also, steelhide crocodiles
will try to constrict thier
opponents and suffocate them.
Sometimes they will try to drown
them, but mostly they will try to
crush them in between thier huge
toes (a steelhide crocodile has
more strength and muscle in its
weakest, smallest toe than an elf
has in its entire body) or try to
crush them with thier tail (wrap
thier tail around an opponent and
crush them.)They also try to stomp
opponents with thier huge feet and
may even try to body slam thier
opponents. |
| Habitat/Society: You may be surprised to know that
steelhide crocodiles can speak
common, and that common is their
primary language (although many of
them can speak the crocodile
language also.)The steelhide
crocodiles are very arrogant,
believing that they are the chosen
race to inherit the world. They
THINK they are the strongest
(they're not far off), and as
such, think that the worlds'
resources rightfully belong to
them. To them, all other creatures
are evil. Even other crocodiles.
If they see ANY other creature,
even a frog, they are expected to
kill it in order to save resources
which "rightfully" belong to them.
Steelhide crocodiles are
uncivilized, and as such are both
polygamous and polygynus (there
are multiple mates on both the
male and female side.)They are
quite evil in many ways. For
example, if a hatchling (which is
already 8 feet long!) has a birth
defect or mental condition, it is
crushed by the foot of its mother
and left to rot, beliving
that "weak" members of thier
species will "taint" thier blood.
|
| Ecology: Steelhide crocodiles are becoming
more numerous and at an alarming
rate. They can mate at the age of
35 (they live to be 250 on
average), can continue to mate
until they die, and have a very
low hatchling mortality rate. The
mothers also protect thier
hatchlings in a very odd way;
(before I continue, I want you to
know that the following ideas are
NOT mine, but are the work of my
friend, "Non name7" who came up
with the basic premise for this
monster)the mothers will lick
thier hatchlings, putting thier
saliva over thier hatchlings
entire body. This will protect the
hatchlings from the acid in their
mother's stomach, as the mother
will then proceed to swallow her
children whole, but keep them
alive inside of her. Once inside
of thier mother, the hatchlings
will eat food from thier mothers
stomach, and when the stomach
becomes too full for the children
(such as when the mother swallows
a fully grown T. Rex), the
children can hide in a pouch in
thier mothers' mouth beneath her
tongue. Also, mother steelhide
crocodiles will manpulate the
muscles of thier stomach and
esophagus in order to stimulate
the muscles of thier hatchlings
and make the hatchlings stronger
(by massaging the muscles of thier
children , a steelhide crocodile
mother will strengthen her
children, without having to risk
losing them in the outside world.
The children also enjoy the
feeling of it.)The children often
sleep for the first 25 years of
thier lives, and will be fed by
thier mother the entire time from
inside of her. She controls
wheather they stay inside of her,
or leave, as her muscles dictate
thier fates (her muscles can
massage them, move them through
the stomach or esophagas, give
them food and water from the
intestine, and even open pores in
the stomach to let in some air for
the children.)Steelhide mothers
will almost NEVER let thier
children go until the children are
big enough to swallow an elf
whole. When this happens, the
steelhide crocodiles are
approaching the limit of being
comfortable inside of thier
mothers' stomach. Another facet of
steelhide crocodiles is thier
vulnerability to lactic acidosis.
Lactic acidosis occurs when the
body relies on anerobic
respiration, rather than aerobic
respiration. When this happens,
lactic acid builds up in the
muscles. For humans, this is
easily solved by catching ones
breath, but for crocodiles, it
isn't that simple. When a
crocodile is exerting itself or is
under stress, lactic acid builds
up. Unlike humans, lactic acid
does NOT simply leave thier
muscles. In fact, the lactic acid
may build up so much in a short
time that it will get into the
crocodiles' bloodstream and kill
it. The larger the crocodile, the
more vunerable it is to lactic
acidosis. Steelhide crocodiles
know this and have a way of
solving the problem. They know
which plants can be mixed to cure
lactic acid. They will eat these
plants. If one steelhide sees
his/her mate suffering for lactic
acidosis, he/she will chew up the
plants, mix it with his/her
digestive juices/saliva, and then
regurgitate it into the mouth of
the afflicted steelhide crocodile.
Then he/she will massage the feet
of their afflicted mate in order
to restore his/her mobility in the
shortest time possible. It takes a
minumum of 2 hours for a steelhide
crocodile to even partially
recover from lactic acidosis. This
partial recovery simply means that
they have regained conscoiusness,
and it can take hours more to
regain mobility. Steelhide
crocodiles cosider physical
confort very important. Steelhide
crocodiles have such strong salt
glands (which excrete excess salt)
that they can drink salt water
with no ill effects whatsoever.
Steelhide crocodiles have fully
webbed feet. They have five toes
on thier front feet and four toes
on their back feet. To prove
thier "superiority" over other
creatures, they will often boast
of thier ability to cruch
creatures between their toes, or
to swallow almost anything whole. |
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