Fish, Giant

Giant fish are a diverse group of creatures with varying attack and defense capabilities. While fish are all basically waterdwellers, some have the ability to survive out of water and breath atmospheric oxygen.

Giant Catfish

A naturally occurring mutation of the normal catfish, giant catfish look like their smaller relations, from their grayish-brown skin to the feelers at the corners of their mouths.

When hunting. a giant catfish tries to bite its prey, causing 3d4 points of damage or, if possible, swallow it whole. A 7-Hit Die catfish can swallow an object up to 3½ feet in length. For each additional Hit Die the catfish has, add one foot to the maximum length that can be swallowed. Any creature swallowed whole suffers normal bite damage plus, for each round the creature remains inside the catfish, 1 point of damage, and has a 5% chance of suffocating. If the victim has a sharp-edged weapon, it may cut itself out of the catfish by inflicting internal damage equal to at least half of the catfish's original total hit points. Any attack from the outside that pierces the catfish has a 20% chance of damaging a swallowed creature as well.

The catfish can also employ its feelers as weapons by whipping its head back and forth. These feelers secrete a minor toxin and cause 2d4 points of poison damage if they strike a creature. A successful saving throw vs. poison limits this damage to 1d4 points. Two additional opponents can be attacked if they are within the range of the feelers.

Since they are primarily bottom-feeing scavengers, catfish require a large area in order to find enough food to survive. Consequently, catfish live alone rather than in groups.

Giant Gar

A more agressive version of the normal gar, the giant gar inhabits deep fresh water lakes and rivers. The gar's long, streamlined body is covered with hard overlapping scales and its alligator-like mouth contains needle-sharp teeth.

The gar attacks with its teeth, inflicting 5d4 points of damage per bite. On a score of 20, the gar swallows its victim whole. On average, a giant gar can swallow an object up to five feet long. Any creature swallowed has a 5% chance of suffocating each round it remains inside the gar. A swallowed creature may use a sharp-edged weapon to cut its way free of the gar. (The weapon must be in the vittim's hand when he is swallowed, however.) To escape, the victim must inflict internal damage totaling at least 25% of the giant gar's original hit points. Anyone attacking and successfully piercing the gar from the outside has a 20% chance of also damaging any victims inside the gar.

Giant Pike

An inhabitant of deep fresh-water lakes, the giant pike has a long, flexible body and greenish-yellow coloring.

The giant pike uses both its speed and camouflage when hunting. Though a pike will sometimes stalk its prey, its most common approach is to wait in the weeds for a likely target and then dart out to catch it, biting its prey for 4d4 points of damage. Because of their speed and natural camouflage, pike have a good chance to surprise their intended victims (-2 penalty to opponent's surprise roll).