Page 110 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

on its grapple checks instead of the normal –20 penalty (see 13); 1st—charm person (DC 14), mage armor, obscuring mist, ray
Improved Grab, page 310 of the Monster Manual, for details). of enfeeblement (+6 ranged touch); 2nd—invisibility, protection
Grell other than hatchlings have a +10 racial bonus on from arrows, summon monster II.
grapple checks. (Paralyzed foes automatically lose grapple
checks.)
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a grell must hit GRELL ANATOMY
an opponent of its size or smaller with a tentacle attack. It Grell are the product of some dark and distant creation. They
can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without arose in a parallel world or alternate plane where the laws of
provoking attacks of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, nature are very different from those of humanoid worlds.
it establishes a hold and can constrict. While adventurers might mistake a grell’s wrinkled, gray
Paralysis (Ex): A grell’s tentacles are lined with small spiny hide for naked brain tissue, the monster is not in fact a dis-
barbs, much like a squid’s. Any creature hit by a grell’s tentacle embodied brain. Its skin is damp and gleams wetly in poor THE EATERS CHAPTER 6
must make a DC 10 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 2d4 light, but its epidermis is quite tough and leathery, measuring
rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a –4 several inches thick on its upper body. The coloration varies
racial penalty. from a pale pink-gray to a faint purple-pink hue. Older grell
Creatures struck by multiple tentacle attacks in the same are darker in color than younger grell.
round do not make multiple saving throws; instead, they make A grell’s ten tentacles are rubbery and strong. Each is com-
a single saving throw, but the DC increases by 1 for every prised of hundreds of ring-shaped muscles sheathed in a tough,

additional tentacle that hit in the same round. For example, a almost fibrous, hide that is much thinner than the epidermis
creature hit by four of a grell’s tentacle attacks must succeed of the main body. Sharp, bony barbs or needles stud each
on a single DC 13 Fortitude save to avoid paralysis, instead of tentacle every 2 to 3 inches, almost to its very tip. These hollow
four DC 10 saving throws. barbs inject the grell’s paralytic venom into its victims. The
Blindsight (Ex): A grell is blind, but it maneuvers and fights grell can partially retract its barbs into its tentacles to handle

as well as a sighted creature by using scent and vibration to or manipulate objects it doesn’t want to pierce or tear. Each
ascertain its surroundings. This ability enables it to discern tentacle is 5 to 8 feet long, although larger grell have longer
objects and creatures within 60 feet. The grell does not need tentacles.
to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range A grell’s beak is made of the same bony substance as its

of its blindsight. tentacle barbs. It is more similar to the calcified shells secreted
Flight (Ex): A grell’s body is unusually buoyant. The creature by some mollusks than it is to true bone, having neither blood
continuously produces an effect like that of the fly spell, which vessels nor marrow. Grell have no “bones” other than their

it can use to move at a speed of 30 feet (perfect maneuverabil- beaks and their barbs. Their bodies are supported by a flex-
ity). This buoyancy also grants the grell a permanent feather ible, soft cagework of cartilage beneath the thick epidermis.
fall effect with personal range. Although they don’t like to do so, grell can easily squeeze
Sightless (Ex): A grell is immune to gaze attacks, visual through surprisingly small openings, compressing their bodies
effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight. to about half their height or width with little trouble.
Skills: A grell gains a +2 racial bonus on Hide and Move The inner arrangement of a grell is quite unusual. The
Silently checks. creature’s brain (labeled 1 on the diagram on the next page)
is a rumpled membrane or sheet that looks like a crumpled
GRELL PHILOSOPHER piece of paper. It is located above the beak, near the front of
A grell philosopher is an exceptionally intelligent and ruthless the creature’s body. Above the brain, at the top of the anterior
member of the race, a malicious and dominating creature that portion of the body, lies a tangled mass of ganglia (2) that serves
tolerates no threats to its native colony. The philosophers of as the center of the grell’s electroreceptive sense. Its lungs
a colony decide matters through consensus and debate with (3) are behind the brain, near the top center of the monster.
each other, and create alien devices and weaponry (such as A grell has no heart, but instead has ten powerful vascular
the lightning lance) for their followers’ use. The most powerful chambers (4) located in the body, near the base of each tentacle.
philosophers are known as patriarchs. A typical patriarch is a Constricting and relaxing in concert, these vascular chambers
Large grell with 11 Hit Dice and 9 levels of wizard. serve to circulate its green, copper-based blood. The stomach

Grell philosophers share the special qualities and abilities of (5) is near the center of its mass, and its digestive tract fills the
the standard grell, but are armed with formidable wizard spells posterior third of its body.
in addition to their special abilities. They like to use spells Grell do not need to eat often. They favor large meals, with
such as invisibility and obscuring mist against sighted creatures, long intervals in between. An adult grell can easily devour a
turning their blindsight into a deadly tactical advantage. 150-pound human in a sitting, but afterward might not need
Spells: A grell philosopher is a 4th-level wizard with 16 to eat for up to three months. If food is plentiful or the oppor-
Intelligence. tunity presents itself, a grell does not hesitate to eat even if it
Typical Wizard Spells Prepared (caster level 4th): 0—daze (DC is not particularly hungry. A grell has to be very full indeed
13), detect magic, mage hand, touch of fatigue (+7 melee touch, DC to turn down a meal.
109