Monster Monday: Ichthyosaurs - Prehistoric Sea Monsters

"Two prehistoric sea monsters in a row?  What is your problem, d20 despot?" you might be asking.  To that I say "Shut up, sea monsters are awesome.  Especially when they're prehistoric.  It's not my fault you don't run more aquatic caveman campaigns."

"I'm sorry," you might reply, "I won't complain anymore that you are spending so much of your free time making awesome monsters and giving them to me for free."

Wow, what a great segue into some site business before we get started on today's Monster Monday.  Last week, I put d20 Despot on patreon and asked you to tell me what kind of rewards you would like to see for backers.  If I don't get any feedback by the end of the month, I'll default to the 'occasional gifts of random content' option, with a distinct probability of me adding more rewards tiers when I'm less busy/actually have backers.  So go on over and leave your feedback, or sign up to Patreon and become a backer of d20 Despot!

All self-promotion aside, today's Monster Monday is actually a 3-for-1 deal, because there is such a variety of Ichthyosaurs that I couldn't stat up just one.  So we've got your basic dolphin-sized Ichthyosaurus, your much larger, deep-diving, gigantic-eyes Ophthalmosaurus, and (as a variant option) your saw-nosed Eurhinosaurus.

Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) via Wikimedia

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is (C)2014 Jonah Bomgaars.

Ichthyosaurus        CR 2

XP 600

N Medium animal

Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +9

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)

hp 19 (3d8+6)

Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2

OFFENSE

Speed swim 50 ft.

Melee bite +5 (1d6+3)

STATISTICS

Str 14, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4

Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 16

Feats Endurance, Weapon Focus (bite)

Skills Acrobatics +6, Perception +9, Swim +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception

SQ hold breath

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Hold Breath (Ex)

An ichthyosaurus can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 6 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.

ECOLOGY

Environment any ocean

Organization solitary, pair, pod (3-18)

Treasure none

This aquatic reptile looks like a cross between a dolphin and a fish.  Its long snout is lined with conical teeth and its large eyes peer into the depths.  Its skin is smooth and streamlined, ranging from reddish-brown to charcoal grey in color.  Ichthyosaurs often hunt in packs, usually eating squid, ammonites, belemnites, and fish, though some species will take on creatures their own size.  Ichthyosaurs use their formidable bites defensively as well as offensively. 

Ichthyosaur, Ophthalmosaurus        CR 4

XP 1,200

N Huge animal

Init +6; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +13 (+17 in the dark)

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +6 natural, -2 size)

hp 51 (6d8+24)

Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +5

OFFENSE

Speed swim 50 ft.

Melee bite +9 (2d6+9)

STATISTICS

Str 23, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 4

Base Atk +4; CMB +12; CMD 24

Feats Endurance, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (bite)

Skills Perception +13 (+17 in the dark), Swim +20; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception (+8 in the dark)

SQ deep diver, hold breath

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Deep Diver (Ex)

An ophthalmosaurus takes no damage from water pressure for the first 1000 feet of a dive, and gains a +4 bonus to Perception checks made in the dark.

Hold Breath (Ex)

An ophthalmosaurus can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 6 times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.

ECOLOGY

Environment any ocean

Organization solitary, pair, pod (3-6)

Treasure none

This huge ichthyosaur reaches up to 19 feet in length, but its most distinctive features are the huge round eyes that take up most of its head.  These nearly-black reptiles dive deeply in search of squid and ammonites, which they crush with their strong teeth. 

Eurhinosaurus: This ichthyosaur is of similar size to an ophthalmosaurus, but is not as adapted to deep diving (loses the Deep Diver ability).  Eurhinosaurus has an exceptionally long snout lined with sideways-jutting teeth that it can rapidly sweep side to side to stab at its prey.  Instead of a bite attack, Eurhinosaurus has a saw attack which deals 1d8+9 piercing damage.  In addition, it also gains the Saw Sweep special ability:

Saw Sweep (Ex): As a full-attack action, the Eurhinosaurus can make two separate saw attacks at a -2 penalty, dealing saw damage plus strength.  Saw sweep +7/+7 (1d8+6)

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Ichthyosaurs are such an iconic prehistoric creature that I was really surprised they hadn't been statted up for Pathfinder yet.  I know a lot of people incorporate prehistoric beasts into their medieval-fantasy campaign worlds because, when you are looking for tough monsters, you need look no further than tens of millions of years into the past.  Ichthyosaurs aren't just for aquatic caveman campaigns, they are useful low-level aquatic antagonists capable of attacking a part of adventurers exploring a sunken ruin, wreaking havoc on local fishing grounds, cracking open an Apparatus of Kwalish, or whatever other purposes you can think of for aquatic reptilian predators with the agility of a dolphin and mouths full of sharp teeth.

But mostly, I just wanted an opportunity to post my favourite early 19th century paleontology-themed cartoon:

by Henry Thomas de la Beche (1796--1855), via Wikimedia

If you are wondering how big the eyes of Ophthalmosaurus were, take a look at its skull:

Ghedoghedo, via Wikimedia

And check out the teeth on Eurhinosaurus:

Ghedoghedo, via Wikimedia

These were formidable creatures, well adapted for hunting in their environments.  Many ichthyosaurs had powerful, toothy jaws for crunching into armoured ammonites, and would be more than capable of taking on armoured adventurers.  Even the littler ichthyosaurs might have hunted in packs like much more terrifying dolphins.

Don't go fishing in my campaign worlds, I guess is the lesson here.

-your Ichthyopterygian d20 despot