Hallucigenia, acidic
| Climate/Terrain: | Shallow sea floor |
|---|---|
| Frequency: | Rare |
| Organization: | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle: | Day |
| Diet: | Carnivore/Scavenger |
| Intelligence: | Animal(1) |
| Treasure: | Nil |
| Alignment: | Neutral |
| No. Appearing: | 1-2 |
| Armor Class: | 5 |
| Movement: | 4 |
| Hit Dice: | 5 |
| THAC0: | 15 |
| No. of Attacks: | 13 |
| Damage/Attack: | 1d4 (x13) |
| Special Attacks: | Acid jet |
| Special Defenses: | Resistance to acid |
| Magic Resistance: | Nil |
| Size: | L (8' long) |
| Morale: | Average (10) |
| XP Value: | 2,000 |
Here's another land-dwelling subspecies of Hallucigenia, one that actively hunts its prey. When it corners its prey, or is attacked by an enemy before it can turn around, it rears up on its four rear pairs of legs and lunges forward to counterattack. It can strike with its front three pairs of spinelike legs and all seven pincertipped tentacles at once. Each attack does 1d4 points of damage, and the BUGHUNTERS game's UTRPF troops refer to this as “death by paper cuts."
When its prey has been slain, Hallucigenia squirts digestive acid on it from the hollow tube that is its tail, softening the body enough for the tentacle pincers - its true mouths - to tear it apart and devour it. If pressed, the creature also uses this as an offensive weapon, one that does 2d8 points of damage. Effective range is ten meters (or 30' in AD&D terms), and the acid is a thin jet several inches wide, only wide enough to hit a single foe. AD&D characters can avoid this attack by making a successful save vs. breath weapons. This jet may be used three times a day. Due to its particular metabolism, Hallucigenia is immune to all acid-based attacks.