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I have just gotten to the end of Shadow in the Sky, but I don't own the AP that has reefclaws in it. Is there a good substitute I can use for the scene where the tsunami washes them ashore? I do want to play that little bit out because my players need a little bit of XP to hit fourth level, but I don't want top run the set piece right now. Any help would be appreciated.
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The reefclaw that is at the end of the Crimson Throne AP book, "Edge of Anarchy", is a CR1 CN small aberration with 2HD. Advancement is 3-8 HD (small), 9-15 (medium), and 16-21 (large), just in case you want to beef'em up a little bit. :)
I'd say anything aquatic with some interesting water-based attacks (tentacles, squid ink, and so on) would be a good replacement although the reefclaw above is not much of an aquatic creature: it relies on grappling and a couple of special abilities, like a numbing poison and constricting.
Personally, I'd use an aquatic large monstrous scorpion and describe it as a reefclaw:
Larger Monstrous Scorpion, Aquatic (Aka Reefclaw)
Large Vermin
Hit Dice: 5d8+10 (32 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (10 squares); Swim 60ft;
Armor Class: 16 (–1 size, +7 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+11
Attack: Claw +6 melee (1d6+4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +6 melee (1d6+4) and sting +1 melee (1d6+2 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Constrict 1d6+4, improved grab, poison
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., vermin traits
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +1
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 10, Con 14, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Skills: Climb +8, Hide +0, Spot +4
Feats: —
Environment: Warm seafronts (like Riddleport)
Organization: Solitary or colony (2–5)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: 1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items
Advancement: 6–9 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —
Monstrous scorpions are likely to attack any creature that approaches, and they usually charge when attacking prey.
Constrict (Ex): A monstrous scorpion deals automatic claw damage on a successful grapple check.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a monstrous scorpion must hit with a claw attack. A monstrous scorpion can use either its Strength modifier or Dexterity modifier for grapple checks, whichever is better.
Poison (Ex): A monstrous scorpion has a poisonous sting. The details vary by the scorpion’s size, as follows. The save DCs are Constitution- based. The indicated damage is initial and secondary damage.
Size Fort DC Damage
Large 14 1d4 Con
Skills: A monstrous scorpion has a +4 racial bonus on Climb, Hide, and Spot checks.
Otherwise, here is the small reefclaw (someone with MSG-Board-Power, please delete if this part is non-kosher; Thanks);
~D
Reefclaw
This horrifying creature has the chitinous head, claws, and front end of a lobster, but the lower body of a spiny eel. A row of bright red spines runs down the length of its back.
Reefclaw CR 1
CN Small aberration (aquatic)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +1, Spot +1
Defense
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 13
(+1 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 11 (2d8+2)
Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +4
Resist cold 5
Offense
Spd 5 ft., swim 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws +3 (1d4 plus numbing poison)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks death frenzy, constrict 2d4, improved grab, tenacious grapple
Tactics
During Combat A reefclaw charges at the nearest opponent and uses its claws to attempt a grapple. Once a reefclaw establishes a grapple, it maintains that grapple until either it or its victim dies. If a creature escapes a reefclaw’s grapple, the enraged reefclaw pursues that creature until one of them is dead. In a group, reefclaws each attack different creatures and never aid one another.
Morale A reefclaw grappling a creature fights until killed. If unable to grapple a creature, a reefclaw flees if reduce to 1 or fewer hit points.
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 13
Base Atk +1; Grp +5
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse(B)
Skills Swim +13
Language understands Common
SQ amphibious, ferocity, numbing poison
Special Abilities
Amphibious (Ex) Although reefclaws are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely on land.
Constrict (Ex) On a successful grapple check, a reefclaw deals 2d4 points of damage.
Death Frenzy (Su) When a reefclaw is killed, its body spasms horrifically. Immediately upon dying, the reefclaw makes a full attack action against creatures it threatens. If more than one creature is within reach, the reefclaw makes each attack against a random target (even against other reefclaws).
Ferocity (Ex) A reefclaw is such a tenacious combatant that it continues to fight without penalty even while disabled or dying.
Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, a reefclaw must hit a creature of any size with both claw attacks. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict. Reefclaws receive a +8 racial bonus on
grapple checks.
Numbing Poison (Ex) The spines covering a reefclaw secrete a slightly tacky ooze that is mildly anesthetic. As a part of its self-grooming, a reefclaw rubs the tines of its powerful claws against its spines, transferring some of the ooze onto its claws, which it then combines with its saliva to create a numbing poison (injury DC 12; initial numbness, secondary 0). The save DC is Constitution based. This numbness confers a –2 penalty on grapple and Strength checks for 1 minute.
Skills A reefclaw has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, school (2–5), or harem (6–12)
Treasure none
Advancement 3–8 HD (Small), 9–15 (Medium), 16–21 (Large)
Ferocious hunters, reefclaws terrorize both coastal waters and major rivers, feeding voraciously on fish, crustaceans, dolphins, and even land mammals come to riverbanks to drink. Once a reefclaw latches onto a victim it stays attached until either it or its prey is dead. Reefclaws were originally created by Runelord Alaznist to act as guardians in her moats and rivers. Even before the fall of Thassilon, reefclaws occasionally escaped their lives of servitude and became legendary terrors of coastal villages across Varisia. Reefclaws understand the most prevalent language used near their lairs (usually Common or Varisian), but they lack the ability to speak and they cannot normally read.
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This is one of my beefs with the Pathfinder AP's.
I OWN the earlier AP's, but when i am running an adventure, i don't want to have to carry another book with me, just for a stat block. IMHO if they want to include something as a possible wandering monster, at least put the stat block in the bestiary (note: I'm not asking for the 2 page write up... just the stat block). I carry far tooo much stuff to my game every week.
I solved this by scanning and printing the stat block (I only recently succumbed to the temptation of the subscription - which gives you PDF's and makes printing things MUCH easier and faster) but this is a waste of my limited prep time.
Hopefully James will see this and decide it is worth 1/4 of a page to make all our lives easier ;)
Arnold
Ive been looking for the reefclaw stats too
and after looking it over
what the heck...
why does a CR1 monster have such powerful special abilities?
Creative Director
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This is one of my beefs with the Pathfinder AP's.
I OWN the earlier AP's, but when i am running an adventure, i don't want to have to carry another book with me, just for a stat block. IMHO if they want to include something as a possible wandering monster, at least put the stat block in the bestiary (note: I'm not asking for the 2 page write up... just the stat block). I carry far tooo much stuff to my game every week.
I solved this by scanning and printing the stat block (I only recently succumbed to the temptation of the subscription - which gives you PDF's and makes printing things MUCH easier and faster) but this is a waste of my limited prep time.
Hopefully James will see this and decide it is worth 1/4 of a page to make all our lives easier ;)
Arnold
We almost always reprint full stat blocks for creatures that we use in an adventure and said creature isn't from the SRD or the MM. The only real exception to that rule is when monsters appear in wandering monster lists, or very rarely, when they appear in an optional encounter. In those cases, we usually try to provide enough alternate choices that if there's a monster you don't have access to, you can just go one or two up or down the table and pick one you do have.
In the case of the reefclaws at the end of Shadow in the Sky... they actually fall into the "optional encounter" category. There's a LOT going on at the end here, and we can't assume the PCs will be in any one location. Heck; they might miss the entire event if they're underground the whole time! In this case, we mention that several creatures might have been washed ashore by the event and might make menaces of themselves. Although we mention reefclaws, bunyips, and sharks specifically... this can be ANYthing that's in the harbor. That includes all of the appropriate aquatic monsters from the SRD (of which there are, unfortunately, not many), but also swamp barracudas (printed on page 86 of that volume of Pathfinder). Any of those monsters work if you want to spice up the event with some displaced aquatic predators, but the event works just as well without them. That's why we didn't bother reprinting the stats; if the reefclaws had been encountered in an actual legitimate encounter in the main body of the adventure, their stats would have been there.
That said... reprinting the reefclaw stat block would have taken up about half a page. They're low level, but not super simple creatures. In my opinion, there's not a half page in Pathfinder #13 that could be easily cut just to add in a stat block for an optional encoutner's support.
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Creative Director
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Ive been looking for the reefclaw stats too
and after looking it over
what the heck...
why does a CR1 monster have such powerful special abilities?
The reefclaw is indeed a pretty tough monster, made even more so since it's most likely to be encountered in aquatic areas where PCs are likely to be out of their element (although when calculating CR, it's also a good idea to assume that the PCs are equipped well enough to handle the area in which the creature is encountered; the "out of their element" part of it gets represented by the encounter's EL, technically).
Anyway, comparing the reefclaw to other CR 1 monsters...
Its AC is above average by a point (equal to CR 2).
Its hit points are 1 hp above the average (and 9 below CR 2).
Its primary attack is +3, equal to the average for a creature of its level.
Its average damage is 5, assuming both claws hit. 1.5 points lower than CR 1 average. If it also constricts, its average damage is 10, which is 3.5 over average, which is pretty good, but it has to hit with both claws and THEN make a grapple check, so that makes it tougher to do.
Its ferocity is kind of unfair, basically bumping its hit points up to 21 (about on par for CR 2).
Its poison is hardly life threatening in and of itself, but it does make its grapple check more likely to happen. And its death frenzy is pretty nice too, although it hurts the reefclaw's allies as much as its enemies.
If encountered out of water, of course, it's suuuuper slow and easy to dance circles around.
At the end of the day, the reefclaw is in fact a really tough CR 1 creature. But it's also a pretty weak CR 2 creature. In hindsight, I'd probably reduce its Strength by 2 and remove its frenzy, which would put it much more into a solid CR 1 slot. The changes to make it a CR 2 creature would have to be quite a bit more harrowing. But as it stands, I think it still works as a CR 1 monster... but it certainly is at the high end of that scale.