Mutant Monday

Ketos


No. Enc.: 1(1)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 30' (10')
          Swim: 180' (60')
Armor Class: 1
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 5 (4 claws, 1 bite)
Damage: 1d8/1d8/1d8/1d8 or 4d8
Save: L10
Morale: 20
Hoard Class: XV
XP: 5200

The Ketos, or Fish-Dragon, is an ocean dwelling monstrosity that preys on ships and coastal regions. Appearing as a 60' to 80' long blue-gray muscular, shark-like reptile out of nightmare, it's body consists of an elongated lizard-scaled serpentine shape, with shark-like anal, caudal, dorsal and pelvic fins along the serpentine tail. There are eight other limbs; four powerful lizard like arms with webbed claws near the head of the beast, and two sets of whale-like flippers behind them. A horned dragon's head with shark teeth and a black forked tongue is used to bite large prey and swallow smaller prey whole.

Fish-Dragons are capable of breathing air and water, and can operate in a limited fashion on land, though, if forced to retreat, they will often head toward the nearest body of water. When attacking at sea they prefer to capsize boats and ships. To determine the chance of capsizing a vessel, divide the Ketos's size by the size of the ship. For instance, a 75' Ketos attacks a 150' long sailing ship has a 50% chance of success. The chance of success never exceeds 95%, in other words, any vessel that is the same size as or smaller than the Fish-Dragon has a 95% chance of being capsized. Any sailors unlucky enough to be dumped into the water will then be attacked. If their attack roll is equal to or greater than 18, the poor sailor is swallowed. A being that is swallowed takes 2d6 hit points of damage per round inside the Ketos’s belly. In addition, if a victim does not succeed in a saving throw versus paralyze, he is paralyzed with class 10 poison. Otherwise, he may attack the Ketos from the inside with a –4 to the attack roll versus an effective AC 7. Any other prey killed will be dragged back to the Ketos's lair for later consumption.

Dominating an area of a few hundred square miles of ocean, these aquatic carnivores generally lair is large underwater caves, occasionally being found in ship graveyards or large underwater habitats, such as pre-apocalypse dome cities. Those Fish-Dragons located near coastal area have been known to attack coastal communities by crawling onto land and "going to town."

Mutations: Echolocation, Night Vision, Reflective Epidermis (Cold), Regenerative Capability, Dietary Requirement Change (Carrion) [from Creatures of the Tropical Wastes], Epidermal Dependence (Water) [from Creatures of the Tropical Wastes].