Wanted: Sea Monster Sighting Reports!

[cure]

I was really reaching for something crawly that swims. It was better than suggesting penguins.

Well, penguins are acceptable familiars, from Frostburn I believe.


So how about an undead, stitched penguin dread familiar for your next sea mage?

[cure]

Humongous zombie sea-lizards could be creepy.

I was really reaching for something crawly that swims. It was better than suggesting penguins.

I toyed with a snake. But it would have be constricting to be of much use, and sea snakes are poisonous rather than constricting.

Scrags (undead trolls) are a candidate, although large humanoids seems so ungothic to me, to say nothing of the Enlarge spell.

[The Giamarga]

A quick search on the very handy World of Sulerin Monstrous Index for "aquatic" in sub-type and ordered by CR yields a sizable list of candidates to be whittled down:

Name CR Source

Dragon Eel 11 Monster Manual 3
Megalodon 11 3E Monster Manual 2, Monstrous Compendium Volume 2, Menace Manual, 1E Monster Manual 1, Monstrous Manual

Sea Drake 15 3E Fiend Folio

Afanc 17 Tome of Horrors 3, Monstrous Compendium Annual 1, 1E Monster Manual 2, City of Delights
Demon, Wastrilith 17 3E Fiend Folio, Planescape Appendix 1, Dragon Mountain

Abyssal Shark 18 Seafarer's Handbook
Ocean Strider 18 3E Monster Manual 2
Siege Crab, Greater 18 Monster Manual 3

Giant, Ocean 19 3E Monster Manual 2, Master Boxed Set



How about a Storm Giant btw. ? Or a Reef Giant if you have the 2E Al Qadim MC.

[cure]

A quick search on the very handy World of Sulerin Monstrous Index for "aquatic" in sub-type and ordered by CR yields a sizable list of candidates to be whittled down

Nice tool. Thanx. But no giants please.

Does the Sea of Sorrows have crocidiles incidently? Looking at the various coast lines only Malkovia strikes me as possible candidate for them. A question that is also of some importance if one ever tries to figure out what can actually be conjured with Summon Monster spells.

[cure]

Incidently, we might want to add Kelp Anglers to our seas. From Fiend Folio, especially as they are a summonable creature.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

If Markovia didn't have crocodiles immediately after its move to the Sea, I'm sure "Dr. Fran" could've imported some as research specimens. Let one gravid female escape, and before long you'd have loads of them.


Personally, I'd just go ahead with the zombie octopus, if that's what fits your plans best. The Animate Dead spell only says that potential zombies need a "true anatomy" (i.e. no zombie oozes), not that they need bones ... and who says that the zombie template needs to have the same limitations in Ravenloft as elsewhere, anyway?

[cure]

http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 17237.html

[Boris Drakov]

Zombie or skeletal orca?

link

That would be pretty nasty.

And this is just so bizarre that I had to add it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_wrestling

-edit-
cleared up uber-long link
-Jester

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Well, folks, between the end of semester, the hype/panic/confusion over 4E, and some other projects, I've let this new monster-book slide for far too long. (Bad Sharon! Bad, bad! ) But with the summer setting in, it's high time the sea monsters got some serious attention ... the moreso, in that this will most likely be the last FoS book that can get away with being exclusively 3E/3.5-oriented.


So, to get this project back on track, and to ensure the netbook can be handed over to Stephen not long after he's done converting the NS Gaz, it's time to set a new deadline for sea-monster text submissions. Barring emergencies, all major entries for the VRF:Sea Monsters will be due in my hotmail-box by July 1st, along with any supplemental text or artwork (monster/NPC stats, Dread Possibilities, artwork) to go along with them. Work on the DM Appendix can continue for an additional two weeks (July 15th), but anything which needs its own chapter has to be ready for incorporation by the end of this month.


As of now, the following major submissions are still pending from various writers:

Marine lycanthropes - NeoTiamat

Marine fey - DeepShadow

Sea spawn - DeepShadow & Nathan

Reavers - Joel

Will-o'-sea, blackskate, scyllan - Jakob?

Kraken/soul-kraken - Nathan

Kopru & morkoth - Nathan

Template undead - Me (Yikes! Gotta get back to those! )


Several minor submissions, like Dread Possibilities or bracketing artwork, are also still pending. A few topics with are 90% finished are still in need of polishing, proofreading, illustrations, etc.



Other topics that are still unclaimed:

Sea serpents (as DwarfPcFan seems to have lost interest)

Scrags, merrows, vodyanoi

Bowlyn & aquatic remnants (unless cure still wants them)

Undersea equipment (still interested, DoctorEvil?)


Also, we now have articles addressing the general undersea ecology (magical beasts included) of the Sea of Sorrows, the Nocturnal Sea, Souragne's Murky Sea, and the waters of Rokushima. Paridon's harbor is adequately addressed in the Z-Gaz, IMO, but Saragoss surely deserves a similar treatment. DeepShadow, if you're willing to write something on that, it'd be super; if not, perhaps you could pass your notes from your Saragoss campaign on to someone else, so they can do it?


I'll admit, I've let this one slide for too long, but we can still wrap things up in ample time for another Halloween release. If anyone listed above has had second thoughts about their commitment to submitting text, please let me know ASAP, so I can re-assign your topic to someone. Likewise, if anyone would like to take over one of the topics that aren't currently assigned, by all means, post your preferences here.


Time to spend our summer on the (dread) seashore, folks!

[NeoTiamat]

Hum. I'd sort of figured the VRS had come to rest in Development Hell, but if we're going to try and see it through, I'm game.

I believe you still owe me some Dread Possibilities, and I'll get on the aquatic lycanthropes ASAP. Have some vague ideas that need patching.

[cure]

Prestige classes: A must! At the very least, let's add a "Deep-hunter" option to the roster of specialty monster-hunters. Other ideas are more than welcome, if they'll expand PCs' ability to penetrate the depths and face off against such critters.

Given the importance of Lamordia in respect to the Sea of Sorrows and given that no ideologically correct Lamordian captain is going to have a godmonger tending to the sick and injured (and amputating their limbs) on his ship, might this be an occasion to revive the Chiurgeon? I could try writing Wyatt and see if he himself is interested in doing an update to 3.5 or whether he would sign off on the update that I have attempted . . . .

For any would be Lamordian biologists who take their work a little too seriously I have also penned the Mad Scientist. I provide an example in the form of Vjorn Hostman who is in fact a biologist, although not of the marine variety. Perhaps of lesser interest?

Finally, would this be a good occasion to clean up the Scholar class a bit, or is that better done independently?

Thoughts?

PS
Who were we to contact about getting artwork done?

And are we interested in any century(ies) old artwork that is no longer/never was copyrighted?

[doctor-evil]

I think that this is possibly a good opening for chiurgeon PrC, allowing Stephen Maturin (Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander series of books) type characters.

Roti - we could make Stellar a scholar/chiurgeon...

[NeoTiamat]

I dunno.... I'm rather leery of creating entirely new classes and prestige classes.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Given the importance of Lamordia in respect to the Sea of Sorrows and given that no ideologically correct Lamordian captain is going to have a godmonger tending to the sick and injured (and amputating their limbs) on his ship, might this be an occasion to revive the Chiurgeon? I could try writing Wyatt and see if he himself is interested in doing an update to 3.5 or whether he would sign off on the update that I have attempted . . . .

If Wyatt is willing, we could do that. If not, better to leave that class out, so we don't lose focus on sea monsters (as opposed to seamen).

For any would be Lamordian biologists who take their work a little too seriously I have also penned the Mad Scientist. I provide an example in the form of Vjorn Hostman who is in fact a biologist, although not of the marine variety. Perhaps of lesser interest?

Horstman may be involved in some respect. Statting him up fully shouldn't be necessary, however, as we've already got several NPCs in the works for the DM Appendix. In general, I think it's more useful for DMs if we create interesting new NPCs, rather than revisit established ones.

Finally, would this be a good occasion to clean up the Scholar class a bit, or is that better done independently?

Sounds like a great article for QtR #15, to me. That way, folks whose RL games are entirely land-based won't miss out.

Who were we to contact about getting artwork done?

Isabella's willing, last I checked. Jakob? Are you still interested in doing some artwork also?

And are we interested in any century(ies) old artwork that is no longer/never was copyrighted?

If it's not going to get us sued, it should be okay.

[HuManBing]

Could some mod please edit the link in Boris Drakov's post? It's making my screen cry.