The karkinoi are evil, brutal, foul-tempered crab-men. What more do you need to know? Well, and where there are karkinoi you may also have a karkinoi brood swarm to add to the fun.
And these guys fill a niche: they're a CR 6 melee brute that happens to be amphibious, so you can use them in any coastal situation. And in addition to their striking appearance, they have the tactically interesting Sideways Scuttle: they can take a 10' step instead of a 5'. Since the designers have wisely given them Combat Reflexes, this opens up all sorts of fun options if you're the sort of DM that really grooves on melee tactics.
The plot hooks for this one pretty much write themselves, no? Straight up: a karkinoi is raiding a coastal settlement. Bam, simple one-off encounter for a low level party made tactically interesting by the monster's reach and scuttle. Higher level party? Okay, now it's a group of half a dozen karkinoi, led by a chieftain who's a fourth level barbarian. Throw a twist: the person asking the PCs for help is actually the local sea hag in disguise; the village is her turf, and she wants the rival dealt with. Dungeon addition: the dungeon has a connection to the sea, and now a karkinoi has moved in -- maybe invited, maybe not. It's a female, and she has acquired a couple of humanoid corpses. Each of these is hosting a karkinoi swarm, who will burst out if Mom is attacked. Go planar: an underwater connection to the Abyss is guarded by a tribe of fiendish karkinoi, led by a huge half-fiend. Okay, these are all pretty straightforward, but then the karkinoi is a pretty straightforward creature... with a giant crab claw. What's not to like?
Doug M.
