Monster Monday: Trecouche, A Crabomination

Today's Monster Monday is the trecouche, a crab-like river beast that walks on dozens of pincers and drags its unsuspecting victims down into the muddy depths.  The trecouche (or traîcousse) is a creature of obscure Franco-Belgian folklore, used to frighten children from straying too near dangerous bodies of water.

I discovered the traîcousse through the excellent blog, A Book of Creatures, a site that collects and illustrates the cool, obscure, and downright weird creatures that populate human myth and folklore.  Not only that, but they provide sources and references, and occasionally do book reviews, which gets me all excited.  It updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so there are always new critters to learn about.  It's not strictly fantasy RPG related, but I think if you like my Monster Mondays and my digressions into the histories and origins of mythical beasts, then you'll really enjoy A Book of Creatures as well.

Anyways, as soon as I saw the trecouche, I knew I had to stat it up.  A creepy crab-like creature that has a toothy lamprey mouth and has a mess of pincers instead of legs?  Count me in!  You can bet your last copper piece that I will be statting up other monsters from A Book of Creatures as well.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

The great brown-shelled creature skitters forward on dozens of pincer-tipped legs, its shapeless, hungry mouth lined with needle-sharp teeth

Trecouche                 CR 6

2,400

NE Medium aberration (aquatic)

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 21, touch 12, flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +9 natural)

hp 67 (9d8+27)

Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +7

Defensive Abilities retract

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., swim 20 ft.

Melee 4 claws +10 (1d4+3 plus grab), bite +9 (1d6+3)

Special Attacks constrict (1d4+4), gnaw

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 6

Base Atk +6; CMB +9; CMD 21 (33 vs. trip)

Feats Weapon Focus (claw)

Skills Climb +7, Perception +5, Stealth +9 (+13 in mud or rocks), Swim +9; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth in mud or rocks

SQ water dependency

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Gnaw (Ex)

If the trecouche begins the round with a grabbed foe, it inflicts automatic bite damage (1d6+3).  It cannot make another bite attack that round. 

Retract (Ex)

A trecouche can lower itself so that only its shell is exposed, increasing its natural armor bonus by +6.  It cannot move or attack while retracted.  It can return to normal as a free action.  It cannot retract if it is prone. 

Water Dependency (Ex)

A trecouche can survive outside of water for a number of hours equal to its Constitution score.  Beyond this limit, the trecouche risks suffocation as if drowning. 

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate swamps/marshes and rivers/lakes

Organization solitary

Treasure incidental

This crab-like monster with dozens of pincer-tipped legs has a thick, mound-like shell that helps it blend in with muddy riverbanks and rocky crags.  It preys almost exclusively on humanoids, especially children, who wander too close to its damp hiding place.  It prefers to ambush its prey, latching onto them with its many pincers and dragging them into the water where it can chew on them with its toothy, lamprey-like mouth.  It later vomits up the bone and shredded skin; sightings of such frothy masses on the banks are a sure sign that a trecouche has made its home in the area. 

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-your acaranguejado d20 despot