A song snakes through the cooling air of the marsh as night descends upon it, reaching across miles to fill the ears of man and beast alike with its beauteous tune. The elders making their way through the sodden lands knew better than to approach the song, no matter how beautiful, but the younger travelers were victims of their own curiosity. Some had the sense to approach with caution, but others lacked such self-preservation. They blundered through the swamp to a clearing where the silhouette of a long-haired maiden swayed in the darkness. Mist swirled about her and as the young man took curious steps into it, towards her, his steps grew slow and his eyelids heavy. Panic began to bubble within him as sleep overtook him and he stumbled into the water, collapsing with a splash. As he snored in the mud, the 'maiden' turned and the somnacanth slithered through the water with an unnatural grace, her song now replaced with a hiss as she regarded her sleeping prey.
Sorry for the absence, everybody, I had family visiting from across the country and was pretty busy with them, so I took a week off. But now I'm back with the somnacanth, a siren-like monster from Monster Hunter Rise based on the ningyo of Japanese mythology. While it enjoys singing, its song doesn't have any unnatural properties and its main weapons are instead a sleep powder it can breathe out as well as shells that it cracks to unleash a variety of effects. In-game, somnacanth will often wind up for a big tail slam attack against sleeping foes and I wanted to represent that a little bit with its sneak attack, letting it get a powerful attack against unaware foes - such as people that are sleeping. The somnacanth's crack shell ability gives it some versatility in its abilities but using its regenerative shell without benefiting PCs will typically require it to retreat from combat, making its Mobility feat useful to evade attacks of opportunity.
Pathfinder 1e
As with a lot of MH creatures, I made the somnacanth an animal in PF2e, but kept it as an otherwise faithful translation of the 1e creature. Not really too much to say on it - I gave its tail some impressive reach because of how long it is but hopefully its quills still have enough range to make them still useful. With how degrees of success work, I was able to let the somnacanth protect itself a little bit from its Explosive Crack Shell. In MH, somenacanth doesn't take any damage from the exploding shell, but I couldn't figure out a way for that to make sense, so I was happy that I could work that in.
Pathfinder 2e
Blue's D&D 5e
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Mash in the Marsh: A foolish merchant tried to take his caravan through the swamp in hopes that it would be a shortcut. Unfortunately, several of his wagons became mired in the mud and beasts of it descended upon them before his team could get them unstuck. They fled in haste but lost some of their number. However, the merchant is unwilling to let his goods and wagons go so easily and seeks out a band of heroes to venture into the swamp and retrieve them. While swampdwellers have already raided some of the wagons, if the heroes can at least get the caravans out of the mud, the merchant will be appeased. Several threats have gathered about them, but the most vicious of them is a somnacanth that has taken up residence in a trapped covered wagon. It defends its new home with the full extent of its savagery, unwilling to give it up.
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Until next time, have a Monstrous Monday!
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