After Valentine's yesterday, I'm right back at it with another original monster with more art provided by Vildevitus#2346. For those that have been around awhile, you likely know that undead is my favorite type of monster, so the idea for this monster actually started with the concept of a hermit crab. In fact, the monster's name is derived from hermit crab's superfamily - Paguroidea. I wanted to explore a type of undead that was housed in something else, forming a shell that helped to protect it while a multitude of rotted limbs helped it crawl about. This idea is heavily set in my own campaign setting, but could certainly be adapted to any other!
The lore of this creature plays a bit heavily into some of the design choices I made. Being a mass of bodies broken and shoved into a barrel that became fused into a hideous mass, paguroi have all-around vision because the multitude eyes peeking through the cracks and holes of their barrel. Their stench derives from being a barrel of rotting corpses fused into a hideous mass and gives them a fun little aura. I decided to give them some slight DR thanks to the barrel covering most of them though it can be shattered with bludgeoning damage. To compensate for that, I went for a slightly lower than average AC but it's HP is pretty typical. The multitude of arms coming from the bottom of the barrel actually evokes two nautical creatures - the hermit crab, as mentioned, and the octopus with its multiple limbs and a maw at the center of them. So paguroi like snatching people up with their numerous claws and then shoving them into their mouth, but most people don't fit normally. This leads to one of the core abilities of the paguroi, bone snap!
I ping-ponged back and forth on the name for this ability before settling for something simple. The idea behind it is that the paguroi breaks the limbs of its victims so that it can fit the unfortunate creature into its misshapen maw, but I wasn't quite sure how to demonstrate that at first. I tried looking at a couple things, including bonebreaker bracers, before deciding to settle for Con damage and an added effect based on the limb that was broken. I also tried to make the recovery from this effect somewhat realistic with time being required to heal the broken limb. This might be too realistic for some players, so other options are restoring the creature to full health, healing all its Con damage, or other similar effects. To help mitigate the power of bone snap a bit, I did design it so that the paguroi needs to hit with both of its claw strikes when it uses rake. For its other abilities, I will not deny that cask of spirits might be mostly for the pun, but I also wanted to give it a fun interaction with stench as well. Nauseated is a powerful effect, which is why I have it behind two different saves and don't have high damage for the effect. I do want to mention that, fitting with the paguroi's theme, I envision the sickened condition it inflicts to be akin to severe seasickness.
Feats aren't anything too crazy - I went this creature to be a scuttling, little creep, which led to the pick of Lightning Reflexes and Skill Focus (Stealth). I liked Skill Focus (Intimidation) just to give the paguroi something else to do with its actions for DMs that like spicing it up and because I think paguroi want to instill fear in those they hunt down, repaying them for what they did to them. Things are pretty normal outside of that with the exception of trudge, which I might make a regular ability among some of my creatures - I just really like the visuals of a heavy creature making its way relentlessly across the ocean floor.
Pathfinder 1e:
Bringing the paguroi over to PF2e, I gave them the Uncommon trait - in my setting, they were once limited to the harbor of a single city before stories of them spread. While it's an odd thing to note, I do think this is a creature that could know more languages - I could see it knowing all the languages of its mashed up parts, with it constantly slipping between them as it babbles its threats. Instead of having a regular resistance, I thought it would be fun to give the paguroi Barrel Armor, which is based off of the Construct Armor held by animated objects. Its AC is high until its its armor is broken, at which point it becomes much more vulnerable, so I tried to get a more middle of the road HP, leaning towards the lower side. All-Around Vision also significantly helps it defenses, making it immune to flanking and requiring players to seek out a different means of lowering its AC so they can break that armor. Stench is still around based off of the Stench effects of other creatures.
While the paguroi's claw Strike has a high attack bonus, and is further helped by its agile trait, it went for low damage on it, reducing it a smidgen beneath the suggested amount to make up for its Improved Grab. I was worried about Improved Grab being too powerful on an ability for the paguroi's level, but I found it on a few low-level creatures (such as the Snapping Flytrap at level 3 and Ahuizotl at level 6), so I decided to stick with it. It makes sense to me with how many limbs the paguroi has to wrap people up into. This does mean that the paguroi can make a claw Strike, Improved Grab as a free action, and then Break Bone with its final two actions. Once again, the paguroi has to hit with both claw Strikes to actually deal an extra effect and then attempt an Athletics check. Healing a broken limb is much quicker in 2e than it was in the 1e version of this creature because ability damage isn't really a thing in it. Cask of Spirits is still around though since it isn't quite as crippling, simply increasing a creature's sickened condition if they already are so, I went for better damage on it than I did in 1e. Finally, Trudge is a pretty faithful translation of the ability.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e Version:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Barrel of Laughs: A string of disappearances around the docks lead to a family member of one of the missing persons to approach the heroes and ask them to help. The first challenge in the investigation is discovering the sites of disappearances in the first place – though by talking to the acquaintances of others who have disappeared, they discover that all the targets share a similar distinctive feature. When they finally begin to discover the sites of abductions, they learn that all occurred within the territory of a specific gang and if they somehow get into contact with the gang, they discover that one of its prominent members has the same feature as the targets. The reasons behind these killings become much clearer when the heroes discover the culprit – a paguroi made up of the victims of the criminal. The heroes must put a stop to the undead monstrosities rampage but then still have the criminal to deal with who doesn’t like the idea of living people knowing his crimes.
Bar Crawl: The heroes happen upon the rumor of a strange ship that’s been sailing in the harbor in the dead of night. Some inquisitive sort have tried to discover the identity of the mysterious boat and its captain, but it has always managed to disappear before it can be caught. The source of these rumors is an amateur necromancer who has grown sick of the criminals infesting his city and has been collecting the barrels of their dead and hauling them back to his home on the wharf. He is hastening the creation of paguroi that he intends to unleash upon the criminals, and if the heroes don’t follow up on the rumors, they might start hearing more before the necromancer is ready and unleashes a small army of paguroi upon the docks. While the undead largely seek out those responsible for their death, they don’t have the faculties to determine all and attack wantonly. Perhaps the heroes are drinking at their favorite tavern when a man rushes in, one arm already broken, to warn them of the crawling horde seconds before they begin to burst in. The heroes, possibly slightly sloshed from their night, must defend their favorite drinking hole before confronting the other threats. For variety, the necromancer may have summoned other nautically themed undead, such as draugr, duppies, and maybe even struck a deal with some nefarious underwater denizens.
I had a blast designing this truly hideous and awful creature, and I want to give another thank you to Vildevitus#2346 for the amazing art for it! As always, please share any thoughts you have on the paguroi - I know I like it, but some of its stuff could absolutely be off. Or if you just like it, that's also good for me to know!
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Have a Monstrous Monday!
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