Archeloon: Giant Magical Tortoise

[jkeown]

Archeloon

The mysterious Archeloon are vast Essence-infused tortoises. Magically grown to great size, they support tropical island life on their great shells. Sailors and those that live near the sea venerate them as good omens. Treasure hunters often pursue them, for ships that have met their end against the Archeloon’s armored body some times leave bits of cargo or valuables lying around on the beast.

They have never been observed while feeding, it is thought that they subsist solely on magic, in a manner similar to Caleon Giants. As with other manavores, they tend toward non-aggressive behavior. There are a few notable exceptions, and in those rare cases the beast has been found to be an unstoppable force of pure magic and destructiveness.

Three attack modes have been observed. Biting and Stomping, common to every report, and two reports of ranged attacks. One by means of an Essence Blast from gem-like protrusions on the creature’s enormous head, and another by means of hidden Essence Bomb launchers concealed in thick jungle overgrowth until needed.

They have only ever been encountered singly. There is one sighting no one in the sage community takes seriously, a bale of thirteen, supposedly sighted off the coast near Carzey some years ago.

Characteristic Roll Average

STR 10D6+75 105

CON 15D6+50 95

SIZ 10D6+100 135

INT 1d6+1 5

POW 12D6 37

DEX 4D6 14

APP 2D6 7

Move: 20

Hit Points: 120

Damage Bonus: +13D6

Armor: 20

Attacks: Bite 50%, 16D6

Stomp 50%, 16D6

Essence Blast 60%, 10D6

Essence Bomb 45%, 10D6/5 meter

Skills: Drain Mana 75%, Swimming 100%

Powers: As manavores, Archeloons can control the ambient magic level around them.

Drain Mana As truly enormous creatures, they can do this over an area of many miles. When attacked by magical force, the creatures can draw all local magic into themselves, simultaneously healing themselves of up to 6D6, and preventing Flowtapping (or other overcharging) by nearby mages.

Mana Source A mage touching an Archeloon can draw off up to 1D6 Magic Points per round. The creature will be aware that this is happening, and may retaliate.

All melee hits to an Archeloon strike the nearest area, do not roll for location.

Edited January 31, 2009 by jkeown
Explain Flowtapping, ya git!

[seneschal]

Dare I say "Gammera"?

[jkeown]

Any resemblance to Monsters Living, Dead or Fictional is entirely on purpose.

Archeloon do not fly... nor do they befriend little Japanese boys. They step on stuff... but otherwise, you're right.

More stuff from the Caleon Bestiary soon.

I did a spreadsheet relating STR, CON and SIZ, to see the progression of the stats to each other as they rise among critters in BRP and RQ. I can make fairly accurate big critters, methinks... we'll see, some of the stuff in my bestiary is pretty huge. More plot device than opponent.

Do we like such beasties?

[frogspawner]

Do we like such beasties?

Well I do. He's great - thanks! Got me itching to expand my campaign area down to tropical climes so I can use 'em (or at least legends).

(But now I'm worrying about SIZ factors. Is 135 - about 200+ tons - enough? How far across are they?)

[Mechashef]

I did a spreadsheet relating STR, CON and SIZ, to see the progression of the stats to each other as they rise among critters in BRP and RQ. I can make fairly accurate big critters, methinks... we'll see,

That would be interesting to see. I did an anlaysis of SIZ for RQIII (I posted it on the RQIII Yahoo group rq3 : RuneQuest 3rd Edition).

I found the weights assigned to the various SIZ values to be ... um ... strange.

Like you, I created an extrapolated table which I used when creating large creatures.

[jkeown]

(But now I'm worrying about SIZ factors. Is 135 - about 200+ tons - enough? How far across are they?)

I figure those Archeloon are about 75 feet across. At least, the one that came ashore in front of my PCs was. It wandered inland, looked around, didn't see anything it like and went back out to sea.

Scared them to death.

As far as accuracy goes... it would be nice to see an expanded SIZ chart. Having the relative values is good, but relating them to "real-world" equivalents would be even better. Was such a chart ever published?

Here's another beastie, created using Examining... I put him in that thread a while ago, but there were no replies, here he is again, a little closer to a proper BRP write up.

Bony Jaws

The Bony Jaws rules the White Sea region as the top predator. Able to kill the vast Hairy Whales in mere seconds, humans and similar creatures steer well clear of the beast with two exceptions.

The first is in the case of those caught unaware by the monstrous fish. They are large, fast and terrifying, most who are caught in small craft, downed sky castles or shipwrecks encounter one fatally.

The second case is that of enchanters and those in their employ. The fist-sized jewel in the upper skull of the creature is used to create the wildly popular Unseen Amulets, an item that grants the wearer invisibility.

Characteristic Roll Average

STR 8D6+10 42

CON 6D6+10 32

SIZ 10D6+12 55

INT 1D6 4

POW 1D6+6 10

DEX 2D6+12 12

APP 1 1

Move: 12

Hit Points: 43

Damage Bonus: +5D6

Armor: Bony Plates (Head Only AP6)

Thick Skin (Body & Tail AP 3)

Attacks: Bite 50%, 9D6

Spiky Bits 50%, 2D6 (Only When Touched or Grappled)

Skills: Sense 95% Swimming 100%, Stealth 90%

Powers: As a magically altered creature, its engineers gave it strange powers of invisibility and senses.

There is Not a Giant Spiky Fish Here The Bony Jaws attacks by using a variant of the invisibility spell employed by the more disreputable mages and talented rogues. They cannot be observed with normal senses, nor can they be skryed for, they are literally “Not Here” until they attack. They always attack from ambush. Defenders may be allowed a chance to notice the on rushing swell and displacement in the water, unless the beast is attacking from below, which is the usual, most unfortunate, case.

Observation has revealed it is very similar to the Ysnar Variant taught by the Wyzadri Max College in Chalasa proper. The spell uses a Skrye Shield component favored by that breed of Formulaic Wizards. This suggests a strong connection between the two, and the possible creation of the Bony Jaws from a prior, unknown species within the last 2000 years.

Ytrann-Laced Lateral Line The Bony Jaws seeks out prey by a kind of lateral line-sense. Unless this sense is specified in the Spell or Power description, the creature cannot be blinded.

Oh, But There is a Giant Spiky Fish Here anyone attempting to touch or grapple the Bony Jaws will find them very spiky indeed, as they thrash about sending dozens of spines, protrusions and Sharp Body Parts into their flesh every round. The unfortunate grappler takes 2D6 damage every round of contact.

Edited February 1, 2009 by jkeown
Added another Critter

[frogspawner]

I figure those Archeloon are about 75 feet across. At least, the one that came ashore in front of my PCs was. It wandered inland, looked around, didn't see anything it like and went back out to sea.

Scared them to death.

As far as accuracy goes... it would be nice to see an expanded SIZ chart. Having the relative values is good, but relating them to "real-world" equivalents would be even better. Was such a chart ever published?

Thanks. Yes, that seems about the best way to meet one (or as just a shell).

As for RW-equivalences, as well as the "Character SIZ Chart" on p26, there's the "Object SIZ Examples" on p277 (which goes up to Airliner SIZ 110), and the "Comparative Sizes" on p296 (which goes up to SIZ 350 = 3500 tons, with a formula for higher). Are they not good enough, somehow?

PS: yes, I saw Bony Jaws. Didn't like him so much, though. (BTW, av. Dex should be 19, I think).

[jkeown]

Thanks. Yes, that seems about the best way to meet one (or as just a shell).

As for RW-equivalences, as well as the "Character SIZ Chart" on p26, there's the "Object SIZ Examples" on p277 (which goes up to Airliner SIZ 110), and the "Comparative Sizes" on p296 (which goes up to SIZ 350 = 3500 tons, with a formula for higher). Are they not good enough, somehow?

PS: yes, I saw Bony Jaws. Didn't like him so much, though. (BTW, av. Dex should be 19, I think).

Holy Crap. I didn't run across that yet! Thanks for the direction! Dude... you're my favorite BRP player now! ADD is a rough disorder to cope with at times. Builds character, sure, but one often feels clueless and frequently makes one appear foolish.

Bony Jaws DEX corrected in my ms. Thanks!