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Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Random Fish-Man (Sahuagin?)

The sea is an alien place to us: an environment nothing like the surface world we inhabit, dark, inhospitable. It is earth's last unexplored frontier. It is full of monsters, or at least beasts we'd call monsters: sharks, squids and killer whales. In a fantasy world it has far, far worse waiting. These tables were originally intended to be part of the 'Random Monstrous Humanoids' series but it spun off into it's own thing fairly early on.

Sahuagin from the D&D 4e monster manual.

Fish people have a very strong presence in mythologies and folklore so it is no surprise they made their way into fantasy and horror stories. There is something inherently alien about sea life, as mentioned previously.

How big are they?

d8Size and Shape
1-2
Shrunken Pigmies: These creatures are smaller than the average adult human. Use Goblin stats.
3-4
Man-Sized: These creatures are within the range of human size, at least in terms of height. Use Orcs stats.
5-6
Hulking: Bigger than average, either taller or more muscular. Use Hobgoblin stats.
7
Monstrous: Larger, meaner than even the most intimidating of human brutes. Use Gnoll stats.
8
Giant: These may as well be some form of ‘lesser giant’. Use Ogre stats.

What do they look like?

d8 Appearance
1-2 Human-Like: Despite being sea creatures, they appear more human than fish. Roll 1d2 times on the Human-Like table.
3-4 Fish-Man: These creatures are part-fish. Roll 1d2 times on Monstrous Features and once on the Fish table.
5 Chelonian: They are more like turtles than fish. Roll 1d2 times on Monstrous Features.
6 Reptilian: These creatures are more sea reptile than fish. Roll 1d2 times on Monstrous Features and once on the Reptile table.
7 Cetacean: They are more killer whales than fish. Roll 1d2 times on Monstrous Features.
8 Sea Monster: Roll twice on this table and combine. Roll 1d4 times on the Sea Monster table.

d8 Human-Like (These creatures looks like bald humans except...)
1 ...their skin, which is more like their related animal.
2 ...their hands and feet end in small webbed claws.
3 ....skin is mottled and covered in random spots/stripes of green, blue, brown or white.
4 ....they have a mouth filled with shark-like fangs.
5 ....they are hunched, twisted brutes covered in kelp.
6 ...they have oversized eyes, either milky white or void black.
7 ...their skin is encrusted with coral and seashells.
8 ...they have large fins on their arms, legs, back or head.

d8 Monstrous Features
1 Their mouth is oversized and filled with large fangs. They have a bite natural weapon. Likewise, their head is more animal than human.
2 Their hands end in large claws. They have two claw natural weapons.
3 Their skin is covered in thick scales (or particularly thick and scarred if Cetacean). Improve their AC by 1.
4 They have a tail.
5 Gills on their torso. Don't stare, it gets weird.
6 No neck. Hunched body.
7 Their skin constantly ooze slime.
8 Their body proportions are nothing like human and they look more like fish with legs or something suitably grotesque. Reduce land movement speed by 20' but gain +20' Swim Speed and +1 to hit in water.

d6 Fish
1 Piranha
2 Shark
3 Coelecanth
4Cat Fish
5Barracuda
6 Eel

d4 Reptile
1 Crocodilian
2 Marine Iguana
3 Sea Snake
4 Prehistoric Sea Reptile

d10Sea Monster
1Multi-Jointed Limbs: The creature’s limbs are jointed in a way no known beast is. Increase land movement by +20’.
2Exoskeleton: An arthropod-like exoskeleton partially cover this beast’s body. Improve it’s AC by 1.
3Crab Claws: One or more hand is replaced by a crab claw, giving the creature a claw attack.
4Additional Arms: The creature has 1d4 extra arms.
5Eyes don’t Belong Here: 1d4+1 eyes erupt from various spot on it’s body in places no normal creature would have eyes. It has 360 degrees vision.
6Tentacle Scalp: It has ‘hair’ made of squirming tentacles.
7Jagged Spurs: Long, jagged spurs of bone erupt from it’s body on the shoulders and forearms. Increase natural attack damage by one size category.
8Bioluminescent: It has glowing spots or similar markings.
9Squid Tentacles: A pair of squid tentacles replace a pair of arms. They can extend, increasing the attack range by 5’.
10Transparent Flesh: The creature has translucent skin, like some abyssal fish. Maybe give some bonus when hiding?


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