I'm wanting to have a starfish in my aquatic campaign (most likely as a familiar for my wizard) and don't want to have to re-invent the wheel if there are already starfish stats out there somewhere. Am willing to buy the product, if someone can just tell me which product.
Am playing a 3.5/ pathfinder campaign.
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I looked through some of my more obscure books for a sea star and turned up nothing so here's a common sea star I statted up for Pathfinder. I don't how much you know about sea stars, but I think I'm being generous with some of these abilities.
Sea Star
CR -
XP: -
N Diminutive Vermin
Initiative: -5 Senses: blind, tremorsense 10ft. Perception -1
Defense:
Armor Class: 9 touch 9, flat-footed 9 (+4 Size, -5 Dex)
Hit Dice: .25 d8 (2hp)
Fort +2 Ref -5 Will -1
Defensive Abilities: regeneration (see below)
Offense:
Speed: 0ft. (.5ft underwater)
Melee: -
Space: 1ft. Reach: 0
Statisitics
Str 1 Dex 1 Con 10 Int - Wis 8 Cha 1
Base Atk +0 CMB -5 CMD 5
Ecology:
Environment: any aquatic
Organization: solitary to groups of 2-12
Treasure: nil
Special Abilities:
Regeneration (Ex) – A sea star possesses a rudimentary form of regeneration allowing it to regrow lost limbs and heal at the rate of 1 hit point per hour. Acid, Cold, Fire and Electricity damage will halt this regeneration and the creature dies if reduced to -10hp.
The common sea star (Asterias rubens) is the most common and familiar sea star. It has five arms and usually grows to between 10-30cm across, although larger specimens (up to 52cm across) are known. The common sea star is usually orange or brown, and sometimes violet; deep-water specimens are pale. The common sea star is to be found on rocky and gravelly substrates.
As a familiar, I guess they might give a wizard a bonus on moving really slow or being really easy to kill.
But seriously, sea stars are pretty good contortionists and they're grabby so a bonus to escape artist or climb might work. I also hope your wizard is planning on spending a lot of time in the water because these little guys will dry out and die if they're out of the water too long.
I hope this helps.
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At most a STR 2 or 3. They're pretty strong for what they need to do to survive but I gave them such a low strength because, for game purposes, they don't really have any way to push/pull, strike or lift. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to pull a sea star off of a piling or a rock so I don't figure they deserve anything above a 3.
Also, after thinking about it, I realized I didn't give them any natural skills. Despite their low STR and DEX, they probably need a climb speed equal to their underwater land speed which includes the standard "always take 10 on climb checks" rule. They are, unfortunately, too slow to use they're natural contortion ability to escape all but the slowest predators but they are capable of flipping themselves over in a fashion many other creatures would find impossible so I suppose a +5 to escape artist wouldn't be out of the question.
I've got a game to get to now, but maybe later I can stat up a Dire Star. Maybe tack on a natural armor bonus, etc.
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Okay, so here's a sea star that might make a worthy familiar. After discovering the largest real sea star (the sunflower sea star) would still make a pretty terrible familiar, I created my own. This thing could easily be dropped into any campaign world and isn't so big a wizard couldn't carry it around a good-sized fish bowl. Not that he'd have to since I made it amphibious.
I'm also keeping these things as vermin-type creatures because I haven't seen anything to indicate stars have even a basic intelligence. That said, a sea star familiar would lose its mindlessness and other vermin qualities upon becoming a magical beast.
Titan Sea Star
CR 1/8
XP: 50xp
N Tiny Vermin (amphibious)
Initiative: +0 Senses: blind, tremorsense 10ft. Perception -1
Defense:
Armor Class: 13 touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Size, +1 Natural)
Hit Dice: 1d8 (4hp)
Fort +2 Ref -4 Will -1
Defensive Abilities: regeneration (see below)
Offense:
Speed: .5ft Climb .5ft
Melee: Touch attack +2 (0+constrict)
Space: 2.5ft. Reach: 0
Special Attacks: Constrict (1d2-3)
Statisitics:
Str 4 Dex 10 Con 10 Int - Wis 8 Cha 1
Base Atk +0 CMB -7 CMD 3
Feats: Weapon Finesse
Skills: Climb 10 Escape Artist 10
Ecology:
Environment: any aquatic
Organization: solitary
Treasure: nil
Special Abilities:
Regeneration (Ex) – A sea star possesses a rudimentary form of regeneration allowing it to regrow lost limbs and heal at the rate of 1 hit point per hour. Acid, Cold, Fire and Electricity damage will halt this regeneration and the creature dies if reduced to -10hp.
Constrict (Ex) – A giant sea star eats by moving food toward its mouth with its myriad tube feet before swallowing its meal whole. While the creature has no teeth with which to bite prey, the strength of the star is powerful enough to crush and strangle tiny creatures. A giant sea star is actually capable of slowly swallowing creatures up to one category larger than itself but typically only after they have succumbed to this constriction.
The titan sea star is considered one of, if not, the largest species of sea stars in the world with some specimens growing up to a little more 3.5 ft in diameter. Most titans stars possess five arms (or rays,) but some have been shown to sport up to eight. Titan star color ranges from orange to deep purple. The titan star is a voracious predator but will scavenge for sustenance when food is scarce.
Deep-sea explorers have reported sightings of sea stars reaching diameters of up to 5 feet capable of drowning full-grown men, but none of these reports have been confirmed. Whether these so-called “death stars” are simply overgrown titans or another species entirely is unknown.
i just have to say that you are amazing. for the record.
the entire campaign is going to be spent under water, at least as far as its been planned out so far. And i really do appreciate the building you did, because it went far beyond anything that i expected.
We've decided that the familiar bonus it will give is +3 hitpoints. mostly because i need the extra hitpoints.
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We've decided that the familiar bonus it will give is +3 hitpoints. mostly because i need the extra hitpoints.
Or maybe something related to the star's regeneration... heal 1 extra hp/day or 1 hp/hr ... something much slower than real regeneration or fast healing, but enough to be helpful.
Or maybe you can eat something larger than your head?
If a player asked me, I'd use the stats of an octopus (maybe without the "jet" ability).
Or maybe you can eat something larger than your head?Or the ability to disgorge your stomach onto your prey, dissolving it before sucking the liquifed goo back up and eating it? ^_^
gah, if im playing a game i don't want to do the same things i do every night
Easy fix? Go through the list of familiars for wizards. Remove the names. Look at their abilities. Decide what's closest to what you want the PC to have. Reduce land speed to like 5 feet per minute or something, add aquatic template. Starfish abilities for optional flavor can be stuck on later. Personally, I think they really can't swim at all so I wouldn't give them a Swim score. I would give them +8 to Balance checks and maybe a low Climb score. They advantage to a starfish is that they are size Fine, can cling to the character like a campaign button, and function as a familiar. The disadvantage is that they can't scout out the Coral Palace of the Steam Vents for the party.