Chuul
CR 7, CE Large Aberration (aquatic)
Senses: Perception 19, Darkvision 60
Speed: 30 ft., swim 20 ft. Skills: Athletics 14, Stealth 9
Languages: Common
Ability Scores: Str 25 (+10), Dex 16 (+6), Con 18 (+7), Int 10 (+9), Wis 14 (+11), Cha 5 (+6)
INIT: +7 CP: +7 HP: 85 (10d8+40) SA: -- DC: 20
AC: 22 Touch: 12 Flat-footed: 19 [+3 Dodge, +10 Natural, -1 Size]
SR: -- Vulnerable: -- Resistant: Slashing 5 Bypass: Adamantine
Immunity: Poison Effect Immunity: --
Blind-Fight (ex) - The Chuul is proficient in fighting without the use of sight and gets +3 on all vision-based cover rolls. They are also not flat-footed when defending against invisible Chuuls and can move at full speed while blinded.
Combat Reflexes (ex) - The Chuul gets a number of reactions equal to its dexterity bonus.
Expert Swimmer (ex) - The creature gains advantage on checks related to swimming.
Water Breathing (ex) - The creature can breathe under water.
Attacks
- Melee (Natural) - 2 x claws +13 (2d6+7 plus grab). Reach: 5 ft. Constrict - Each time the Chuul successfully hits an opponent, it can make a grapple check as a free action to see if it holds its opponent. If successful, the creature is grappled. On any successful grapple check (including this initial one) the target automatically takes bludgeoning damage equal to the damage typically dealt by this attack. Grab - Each time this attack is successful, the Chuul can make a grapple check as a free action to see if it holds his opponent. If successful, the opponent is grappled. Grabbing does not provoke an attack of opportunity
Paralytic Tentacles (Movement)(ex, Paralysis) - A Chuul can transfer a grappled victim from a claw to its tentacles as a move action. The tentacles grapple with the same strength as the claw but deal no damage, instead exuding a paralytic secretion. Anyone held in the tentacles must succeed on a DC 19 Con save each round on the Chuul's turn or be stunned (level 2) for 6 rounds. While held in the tentacles, paralyzed or not, a victim automatically takes 1d8+7 points of damage each round from the creature's mandibles.
Environment: temperate swamps
Organization: None
Treasure: standard
This lobster-like creature has a thick armored shell. A pair of tiny eyes gleams above a mouth full of writhing tentacles.
Chuuls are armored, crustacean-like predators that lurk beneath the surfaces of shallow ponds and mires, bursting from concealment to snatch up prey in their chitinous pincers and then paralyzing them with their mouth tentacles before eating them alive. Chuuls are excellent swimmers but prefer to attack land-bound creatures or those wallowing in shallow water. Once they seize their victims, chuuls often drag grappled foes back into deep water to drown them. Lizardfolk are by far the chuul's favorite prey, though those pale chuul breeds that live underground prefer morlocks, duergar, unwary drow, and other unfortunates who get too close to their subterranean waterways-with the exception of troglodytes, whose flavor chuuls find particularly offensive. Chuuls are surprisingly intelligent, leading many to speculate fruitlessly on their origins and motivations. They speak a chittering, burbling dialect of Common, but few are inclined to speak to those outside their race, and if chuul society exists beyond their frenzied mating season, humanoids have yet to record it. Instead, chuul intellects seem entirely devoted to seeking out the perfect ambush sites to attack other intelligent creatures and decorating their elaborate lairs with trophies from their kills. Though the chuuls themselves seem uninterested in using tools of any kind, they have an almost compulsive need to collect keepsakes from their victims. A typical chuul is 8 feet tall and weighs 650 pounds.
