Giant Catfish for S&W and MF
Let’s return to 1983’s Monster Manual II to find a creature suitable for translation to Swords & Wizardry and Mutant Future. For reasons that become thematically apparent, I’m searching for an aquatic monster. After some flipping out and checking ideas against the Swords and Wizardry SRD, I settle upon the Giant Catfish.
A huge catfish occasionally survives to grow even larger and become a giant of its kind. Catfish of all sorts inhabit fresh waters in warm-temperate to tropical climate regions. Giant catfish are found only in very large rivers or in lakes fed or emptied by them. They are principally bottom-feeding scavengers, although they are sufficiently aggressive to attack any creature recognized as “food” and of a size small enough to swallow. The largest giant catfish reaches a length of 24 feet (Monster Manual II 23).
For Swords & Wizardry
Hit Dice: 7-10
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Attack (Damage): 1 bite (3d4), 1d2 spines (2d4 + poison)
Move: 0/18 swimming
Save: 9, 8, 6, or 5
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 7 HD (9/1,100); 8 HD (10/1,400); 9 HD (11/1,700); 10 HD (12/2,000)
Special: Poison spines, swallow whole
When biting, a giant catfish swallows its prey whole on a natural roll of 18-20, assuming the prey is small enough. A 7-HD giant catfish can swallow a gnome or halfling whole. At 8 HD, a giant catfish can swallow whole a dwarf or elf. At 9 HD, the giant catfish can swallow whole a human, while a 10 HD giant catfish can swallow whole a creature as large as an ogre. In addition to its bite attack, a giant catfish has several stiff feelers around its mouth and gills. A giant catfish lashes its head about in combat, which lets it makes one or two spine attacks each round. A creature hit by a spine must make a saving throw to avoid suffering an additional 1d4 points of damage from the giant catfish’s painful venom.
For Mutant Future
Number Encountered: 1
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Swim 180′ (60′)
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1 (bite) plus 1d2 (spines)
Damage: 3d4+4 plus 2d4+4, poison
Save: L5
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: None
XP: 3,100
Mutations: Gigantism, Toxic Weapon
When biting, a giant catfish swallows its prey whole on a natural roll of 18-20, so long as that prey is no larger than horse. A victim swallowed whole takes 1 point of damage per round from digestive fluids and has a 5% chance of suffocating each round. These hazards stop when the victim dies, the catfish is killed, or the victim escapes. A giant catfish lashes its head about in combat, which lets it makes one or two spine attacks each round. The giant catfish’s spines carry class 1 poison (save or take 1d6 points of damage).
I’ve added Aquatic Depths & Denizens to the short list of Spes Magna OSR products that are on sale this month. If you click on this link, Aquatic Depths & Denizens shall be added to your DriveThruRPG cart for the discount price of 75 cents.
Aquatic Depths & Denizens dives into Old School aquatic environs, offering the Referee and the players several tools to help bring new worlds of excitement to life via guidelines for adventuring underwater, the addition of five aquatic races suitable for PCs, and many new spells and monsters to be cast or fought while submerged.
(N.B. The other two products on sale are That’s a Goblin!? and Terrors of the Toxic Waste, details to be found in this post.)
Leave a Reply