River and Lake

Gars are predatory fish that live in deep lakes and rivers. Sleek and swift, they regard anything their own size or smaller as food. A typical gar is 7 feet long and weighs 200 pounds. One species known as the alligator gar can grow to lengths of 10 feet. An alligator gar is a gar with the advanced creature template.

A hippocampus’s scales vary in color from ivory to deep green to cerulean blue with shades of silver. Aquatic races such as merfolk and locathahs often train hippocampi as steeds or as draft animals used to pull cunningly designed underwater carriages. In the wild, hippocampi prefer to dwell in relatively shallow waters where their favorite food (seaweed and kelp) is more plentiful and larger predators are less common. These creatures often travel in large schools, analogous to free-roaming herds of wild horses on the surface world. The hippocampus is relatively easily trained—the amount of work and cost it requires is equivalent to what it takes to train a horse. As armor impacts the creature’s swim speed, those who train hippocampi for war rarely bother to put barding on these creatures—when they do, they generally opt for the lightest armor, such as padded or leather barding. Mounted combat on a hippocampus is similar to fighting while riding a horse, although the hippocampus is a clumsy creature on land and cannot move at all out of the water if it has a rider weighing it down. Although a hippocampus has only two front legs, determine its carrying capacity as if it were a quadruped. Thus, a light load for a hippocampus is up to 228 pounds. Medium loads are up to 459 pounds, and heavy loads up to 690 pounds.

A crocodile is a primeval reptile that dwells in swamps or along the banks of rivers, a habitat that often puts it in violent contact with unsuspecting prey that come to the water’s edge to drink. The typical crocodile is 14 feet long and weighs 1,400 pounds, but larger species exist. You can use these statistics for similar creatures, such as alligators.

The electric eel is a curious fish that breathes air instead of water, yet certainly its most unusual characteristic is its ability to generate powerful jolts of electricity. An electric eel is 6 feet long and weighs 45 pounds.

A kappa is a strange amphibian resembling a humanoid turtle. It dwells in fresh water, preferring a stream or river to a lake or pond. It has a small shell on its back, a blunt face, and webbed hands and feet that end in short claws. A typical kappa is green in color, but kappa skin tones can vary toward blue or yellow hues. The creature has a shallow basin in the top of its head, in which the creature carries water from its home at all times. Kappas are puckish and like to play tricks on those who pass near or swim in their home. Kappa pranks are usually harmless and annoying, such as peeking under robes, stealing a bathers’ clothing, or pretending to be an aquatic predator. A kappa might also challenge others to grappling matches, hoping potential foes underestimate its wrestling ability. An angry kappa can be dangerous, attempting to drown mounts, animal companions, or even people who enter its home waters. The most degenerate kappas have been known to drown bathers and eat them. Those wise to the ways of kappas know the creatures have a few weaknesses. First of all, kappas love cucumbers and horseflesh. If plied with such treats, a kappa is likely to not bother intruders, and might even be convinced to offer aid. Further, despite a kappa’s penchant for pranks, it is unfailingly polite to courteous visitors. A kappa confronted with a verbal rebuke rather than combat quickly and almost shamefully apologizes for its pranks, begging for forgiveness. If its head bowl is emptied, a kappa usually remains stationary and pleads for help, continuing to fight only if forced to. An opponent who refills the kappa’s head bowl after spilling it receives the kappa’s deepest gratitude. Only the wisest and smartest of kappa carry flasks of water with them when they are forced to travel far from their home—most kappa don’t think this far ahead.

Merrows are best described as the aquatic cousins of ogres. Although their green, scaled skin and webbed hands and feet make them appear different, merrows are just as cruel, savage, and wicked as their ogre relatives. The saltwater variety grows much larger than the freshwater variety, but the behavior and society of the two types are otherwise similar. Merrows are known for pillaging small fishing villages and towns under cover of night. Similar to ogres, merrows have a strong sense of family and typically hunt in gangs, preferring to grab a couple of villagers and head back into the water rather than sticking around and dealing with armed resistance. Merrows have a stronger sense of unity than ogres do, and rarely will the leader of a tribe be challenged. When they have chosen a village or town to plunder, they attack as a gang and share the spoils. A freshwater merrow is 12 feet tall and weighs 500 pounds. Saltwater merrows easily reach 20 feet tall and 4,000 pounds, and have been known to hunt whales. The two species do not often come in contact, but when they do, feuding and conflict are swift to develop

Giant dragonflies are rare compared to other varieties of giant insects, and fortunately so, since they are voracious hunters of warm-blooded prey, including humanoids. The creatures typically lair in overgrown or lightly wooded areas, using foliage as cover. When they spot potential prey out in the open, the dragonflies swoop to the attack, using their superior flight speed and maneuverability to run most prey to ground or carrying off smaller foes to eat them somewhere safe. Giant dragonflies feed on carrion when fresh prey is not available, and the scent of a fresh kill often attracts them. Many swamp-dwelling cultures attach religious significance to brightly colored and ravenous giant dragonflies, particularly boggards. The frog-men attach particular significance to a giant dragonfly’s color, and their priest-kings often refuse to eat anything but specific colors of giant dragonflies. Giant dragonflies lay clutches of eggs in swampy terrain or areas of standing water. Their young, called nymphs, voraciously eat carrion and small prey, growing and maturing rapidly until they sprout fully functional wings and become adult dragonflies.

Although the devilfish superficially resembles a seven-armed octopus, it is an altogether different creature. Possessing a rudimentary intellect, a devilfish can understand and even speak a few words and phrases in various languages, although when it speaks, it has a tendency to mix languages together, making it somewhat difficult to understand for anyone who doesn’t speak all the languages known by the devilfish. More than those of a mere animal, the devilfish’s intelligence and several of its abilities are gifts from a fiendish legacy—most sages believe that the original devilfish were once outsiders from the Abyss, and that over the course of thousands of years they became true natives of the Material Plane’s oceans. Rumors of far more intelligent devilfish dwelling in the deepest ocean trenches persist, although if these rumors are true, these deep-dwelling devilfish do not often come to the surface. A devilfish is 10 feet long and weighs 500 pounds.

A kelpie is a deadly shape-changing predator that, in its natural form, appears as a hideous combination of emaciated horse and sickly humanoid, with slimy, transparent skin and long, stringy hair. Its face is long and equine, with a mouth filled with jagged teeth. Few, however, ever see a kelpie in its true form, for kelpies almost always encounter other creatures while in disguise as a humanoid, horse, or hippocampus, reverting to their true form only after their targets have drowned so that they can feast on their victims, leaving behind only the heart and liver (as both of these organs are distasteful to most kelpies). Kelpies can be found in saltwater and freshwater environments, including fens, rivers, swamps, and underground pools and lakes. Communities living near kelpie lairs believe that folk who die on the water or are killed by a kelpie become kelpies themselves. Kelpies may serve as steeds for aquatic fey or other water monsters while in their hippocampus forms, sometimes without their riders ever knowing the truth of the steed’s sinister nature. A typical kelpie is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds.

Cunning and aggressive, vooniths are amphibious nocturnal predators with voracious appetites and mild intelligence. A voonith’s howl is said to freeze the blood and is more than capable of stopping a creature in its tracks. Vooniths usually howl when they see prey too far away from the water’s edge to ambush. While the vooniths are native to the strange Dimension of Dream, many have found their way out of that realm and into the waking world to take up lairs in the swampy fens and remote coastlines of the world. How the vooniths originally managed to make this transition between worlds is unclear. Although they look like little more than wild beasts, vooniths are actually rather intelligent. While certainly not as sharp as the average human, a voonith is smart enough to know how to speak and often does so with others of its kind. Vooniths do not often choose to communicate with other creatures, giving rise to the misconception that they’re little more than dumb animals, but on occasion, travelers in swampy regions tell tales of overhearing strange piping voices speaking among the reeds. Those few who know the secrets of the Aklo tongue can understand these words, although understanding of what the vooniths whisper in the night when they think no one else can hear is not always for the best. While not evil, vooniths have a decidedly dark sense of humor, and take great pleasure in concocting violent poems or grisly jokes. Punch lines in which non-voonith creatures—particularly humans, cats, and gnomes— meet gory and ironic fates are the most entertaining to vooniths. Some tales speak of canny travelers who, with the ability to speak Aklo, manage to strike up unlikely conversations with lurking vooniths. In truth, vooniths are quite social, and when one breeches the awkwardness arising from interspecies conflict, a friendship with a voonith can be an unexpected reward. Vooniths who befriend travelers often escort them, quietly and unseen, through dangerous bogs, and when such travelers fall prey to other dangers of the swamp, a friendly voonith will provide what aid it can. Vooniths are 4 feet long and weigh 70 pounds, yet rumors tell of vooniths that have grown to much larger sizes than this.

The ill-tempered “river horse” has a well-earned reputation for hostility, despite the fact that it is a herbivore.

Vodyanois resemble humanoid salamanders. They have short noses, bulging eyes, and broad mouths covered with thickets of fleshy tendrils. Skin color varies wildly depending on the climate and terrain, from drab greens and grays to vibrant oranges and reds. Vodyanois stand roughly 5-1/2 feet tall and weigh just over 100 pounds. They can live up to 120 years. Vodyanois are well known as enemies to boggards— another amphibious race often encountered in proximity to vodyanoi lands. While vodyanois themselves are rarely evil, they are capricious and often quick to anger, particularly when they feel their territories have been intruded upon. Their hatred of boggards is another sure way to arouse their anger—a vodyanoi who suspects one of boggard collusion will often attack on sight. Those who live in close proximity to vodyanoi tribes learn quickly to leave the folk alone, and when visits or intrusions into vodyanoi lands are necessary (such as when one might need to seek out a vodyanoi for aid in curing a disease), gifts of magic potions and exotic fruits are highly recommended.

Although typical gars are frightening enough, tales of enormous giant gars that lurk in the deepest rivers and lakes persist in many regions. These creatures are true monsters, often growing to lengths of 30 feet or more and capable of swallowing a horse and rider in a single gulp. Fortunately, giant gars are much rarer than their smaller kin. Giant gars are often kept as pets and guard animals by aquatic creatures such as merrows, scrags (aquatic trolls), and the rare sea hags who dwell in freshwater dens.

River giants traverse inland waterways, moving where the current takes them on their makeshift rafts. Tall but lean and lithe, river giants typically grow to a height of 10 feet and weigh about 900 pounds. River giants have skin color that ranges from the yellowish green of algae or duckweed to the rich jade of a bamboo stalk. Their hair color is much less varied, usually a sooty black or muddy brown color. River giants can live to be 300 years old. River giants are as likely to be evil as they are good, though all members of a family usually have the same alignment. Whether kind or cruel, all river giants are quick to anger and capable of erupting with little or no cause. Among their own kind, arguments usually result in one or both participants getting pushed into the water to cool off. Good river giants typically switch between bouts of great, jovial laughter or physical comedy (such as nearly tipping a raft with passengers), followed by quiet introspection while listening to the sounds of a slow river. Evil river giants often see themselves as the embodiment of a river’s most chaotic elements, like waterfalls, rapids, or ice floes; they might hold someone underwater for a minute or two as a bit of fun, and they take no more responsibility for their violence than the river itself would. River giants love water travel, and they can often be hired to ferry travelers across or along a waterway for a price. Shrewd though not overly intelligent, river giants usually base such transport fees on the estimated wealth of their passengers—typically 100gp each for adventurers. In combat, river giants prefer to attack from the water whenever possible, or keep opponents in deep water where the giants’ bigger lungs are an advantage. If they are losing a fight, they swim underwater to escape or use their rafts as cover. River giants prefer to lair on small islands, rock formations, or sediment banks where rivers come together. A river giant uses its home, usually a simple earthen hut of mud and reeds, to store its valuables or as a place to gather with others of its kind.

The immense sarcosuchus, or dire crocodile, is an enormous predator capable of catching and eating prey as large as the largest dinosaurs.

The behemoth hippopotamus is a true monster. Standing taller than an elephant, this animal has few enemies in the natural world—even dinosaurs and dire crocodiles avoid fights with them. Making them even more dangerous is the fact that they are practically carnivores—while not above eating plant matter, they devour carrion or foolish creatures that come too close.

Nereids are capricious and often dangerous aquatic fey that appear as strikingly beautiful women, often seen bathing unclothed in the water. Many sailors have met their doom following a nereid, for though a nereid’s beauty is otherworldly, her watery kiss is death. Others seek out nereids, for if one can secure control over the creature’s shawl, the cloth can be used to force the nereid’s compliance. A nereid forced to obey in this manner immediately attempts to slay her master as soon as she can secure her shawl’s safety.

Just as sailors tell stories of sea serpents, so do denizens on the shores of remote lakes whisper of strange, secretive monsters lurking in the depths of these large bodies of water. Like sea serpents, proof of their existence is as elusive as the beasts themselves. Known as water orms and believed by some to be a strange link between linnorms and sea serpents, most locals refer to any such local monster (real or imagined) by a pet name or the name of the lake it calls home. Water orms are craftier than sea serpents, and generally inclined toward curiosity rather than violence. Nevertheless, a water orm does not hesitate to attack any creature it views as a threat to itself or its lake. Water orms are extremely long-lived. Several different variants have been reported. With sightings rare and unverifiable, it is unclear whether these are variations within a single species, or several unrelated creatures. Some are described as long-necked aquatic reptiles, some as fresh-water sea serpents, others as bizarrely elongated seals or whales, and still others as impossibly large sea horses. Most are 40 to 45 feet in length, and weigh 2,000 to 3,000 pounds.

Rusalkas are cruel and bitter fey who inhabit waterways near humanoid settlements. Although rusalkas are not undead, some persist in believing that these fey form from the spirits of those who met a sinister end in the water. Rusalkas do little to dissuade such rumors. Rusalkas are fond of keeping a few charmed monsters or powerful humanoids nearby to aid in their defense or for other forms of cruel and humiliating entertainment, but quickly grow bored with such pets. When this occurs, rusalkas generally murder the creatures and seek more interesting replacement pets.