Landshark trap monster

RPG Skulking Monster Landshark

This monster is a roving “save-or-die” trap used to cull large parties or punish careless characters.

This thing Uses psycho social skills to mislead players and henchmen.  The goal is to get a character isolated, comfortable and even develop or assume a friendly rapport or existing relationship.

Get them alone and get them to unlock the door for him.  Get them to rush into his tooth lined maw.  No meal tastes better than one that serves itself.

The stealthy landshark is often followed by a couple of giggly gnolls.  This little entourage is there for the hilarity of watching the master baiter at play.  If the joke goes on too long they can’t hold it in anymore and light giggles can be heard where they are hiding.  This sometimes gives him away and he’s probably going to eat one or two of them for his troubles.

Weaker characters are selected first and the monster spends time listening to the characters conversations and interactions to determine their associated ability scores.

When near and securely hidden, he will call out - pretending to be a service laborer hired to assist, a delivery person bringing much needed gifts or even a loved one.  Anything to get you to drop your guard, go sit alone and unlock the door.

When the door is opened he lunges, diving onto whoever is there and stuffs them in his mouth.

The landshark uses brains and charisma to lure his prey right into his mouth.

His bite causes 6d6hp+”execution”, slaying anyone struck who’s hp drop below 17.

This will destroy a group of unwary weak willed commoners.  If they stop to rest for more than a few minutes, assume he’s learned all the characters names and a few of the figures of each of their lives.

An astute listener, the landshark regards names as we would flavors.  Rachel, David or Mica, you may as well ask Ranch, Dill or Barbeque!

Bane of the illithid, the lonesome and solitary landshark wanders the surface world just as comfortably as the underdark using the layered eyelids to strike in dark or light equally and possessing an unparalleled sense of smell

Their legs are very stubby but betraying their appearance is their ability to dash and dive at prey.

They are slow moving patient predators that track their prey, studying numbers distances armor weapons equipment and positions always waiting for an opportunity to arise.  When they find a single member of their prey group alone they focus on their keen stealthy nature and their habit of using themselves as a trap.  Their mouth snaps like the bear trap it resembles, locking in place and shredding side to side with serrated teeth or flashing open and closed with blinding speed snapping repeatedly at anything unlucky enough to exist in front of it.

This hunger and fervor is the result of their very making.

 The elf who fused this thing together used feeding something of the troll to the bullette in the first landsharks and their strength and regeneration are combined in this self fertile, egg pouch laying monstrosity.

When a particular elven technomage found a way to control the minds of powerful monsters such as the trolls, he used them as weatherproof sentinels and tireless bloodhounds until his rival built herself a creature that can eat a troll- whole and alive- and digest it without fear of regeneration from within.  instead of regenerating trolls , they would reproduce themselves.  They stalk and hunt by cunning and brute force, always singly and with a preference for two things- squid and troll.  With the inability to swim they are nervous around bodies of water, terrified of the ocean and rarely taste the source of their addiction.  Cured squid is an irresistible bait for those wishing to slay a landshark.

If lone prey is not close they remain concealed but begin vocal mimicry to bring the target within range of a charge and dive combo.

When prey is alone and sedentary, such as a guard resting behind a door or around a corner they use more than vocal mimicry.

Immune to psychic and psionic assault themselves, they begin a rapid series of psychological assaults of their own.

Repeated attacks on the targets mind through intelligence wisdom and charisma quickly wear down lone prey.  Left confused or charmed the target readily reveals themself to the landshark unarmed unarmored and unexpectant.  A sudden and massive mauling is the result.

Their skin is thick and plated with near microscopic osteoderms giving it resistance to acid fire water slashing and piercing weapons and it’s antifreeze blood grants resistance to cold and crushing damage.  It has a seemingly endless endurance and the ability to consume itself from within using HP to restore hp when in danger, resting for a round here and there then continuing without stopping.

Their stealthy nature and sudden bursts of speed allows the landshark to disengage from an attack gone south using juke and dive along with the terrain to escape.

They will return if the attack was thwarted by a group but a single target is now safe.

The psychological attacks cannot be used against the same target more than one time in a given week or it must pass a mental check with a difficulty of -5 or be left stammering and dumb himself for ten to fifteen seconds (1d6+9).  The landshark won’t risk this recoil as he hates forgetting his lines and looking foolish during a performance.

They bear a particular fondness for illithid flesh.  It’s a flavor they will pursue first if at all possible ignoring all other prey.  Once they’ve downed an illithid or giant squid or octopus they must pass a mental check any round they choose to do anything other than devour the illithid as quickly as possible.  A handy side effect discovered when most of the elves left the planet for the stars and the mind flayers emerged hungrily from the darkness beneath the world to fill the vacuum of power.  The endless hunger and mindless tenacity is what pushed them into the ocean.  Damned squid brain monsters.

Landsharks don’t have hands or feet but flippers and stumps.  They can use low tech equipment nearby if they have access but they are incapable of using hi tech and notoriously have trouble with the locks and knobs on doors.  Latches levers ropes gears and even pulleys are no problem for them to use but they cannot craft low tech, only use it.  They generally fear hi tech since they don’t understand it but ignore arcana for the same reason.  They don’t have a taste for elf and will choose an elf last as a target.  When attempting to seduce an elf though they may offer fresh baked cookies instead of the candy it offers most humans.

The landshark roams not only the wilds of the overgrowth and the underdark but it wanders through the ruins and the settlements.  The walls are no deterrent to a landshark.  They may not be able to climb or swim well but dig?  Oh yeah!

They essentially eat all of the ground that they dig through, passing it through powerful acidic juices and muscular contraction and grinding before being ejected as grimy sandy rubble.

They cannot pass through dense stone but can slowly chew through soft or porous stone, rows of teeth replacing themselves as they are ground away.

The noise and wrenching sounds they make when they do this ensures it isnt used to circumnavigate doors to take unwary prey but their weather resistance and ability to see clearly in darkness with just the tiniest light from the sky means that in places where no one is, the landshark can make its way through fortifications with time.

Besides that it will just get you to open the door when you’re all alone.  It is his specialty after all.

The landshark readily stalks line characters at rest.  Resting characters cannot be left alone in the presence of a landshark and this can even be used to draw him in.

When a player character is drawn away from the group it is usually while on watch.  Give them an opportunity to resist and warn the party but if they fail they are distracted and move off alone- leaving the party without a watch.  His gnoll companions will act on this once their host has taken his share.

The landshark will attempt to impersonate someone that the character would come for and the narrator may need to openly ask the player in control exactly who the character would go to without thinking or knowingly walk into danger for those towers of will we often find d brooding in the back of a tavern at the beginning of a game session.  The player and narrator are now actively engaged in the cooperative storytelling that I live so much.

It might be a long lost brother or missed loved one, it could be the sound of the legendary stag that draws out a hunter or the sound of marauding goblins.  It could be the Avon lady the plumber or the woodsman come to save red riding hood.

If the player fails the check then the landshark gets to make a single attack from the best position of advantage available.  The player is unaware of the danger unless at the last moment they pass an awareness check related to their “alert” proficiency.  Without this, the standard double damage for a sneak attack applies.

The landshark will make  a single strike on a potential victim, no more.  Success or failure, he will either drag off the overwhelmed victim to consume or quickly dash away and dive into one of its nearby burrow holes like a mischievous rabbit.

Often these burrows are the only sign of his activities, other times splashed of blood or viscera leave trails and mangled pieces of victims are left in the short simple tunnels for later enjoyment.