Bugblatter Beast
“The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal” © Richard Svensson, accessed at his deviantArt gallery here
[There have been an enormous number of different versions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: radio play, book, miniseries, video game, film. All of them at least mention the ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal, a creature so stupid that it thinks that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you. There’s a mechanical hook if I’ve ever heard one. Remember, bugblatter beasts will make a fine meal for of any tourists visiting Traal!]
Bugblatter Beast CR 10 N Magical Beast This creature is a quadruped of faintly reptilian aspect, with an enormous head making up about half of its body. Its pillar like legs end in sharp claws, and its maw is filled with irregular teeth. It wears a very hungry, very stupid, expression.
A bugblatter beast is a carnivorous monster as dull minded as it is ravenous. A bugblatter beast can barely distinguish self from non-self, and exists in a perpetual state of hallucination. Some of the things it attempts to eat are not real, leaving it perennially hungry and angry. Its state of perception is so loosely tied to reality that, if a creature cannot see it, it forgets that it can see the creature, and so generally ignores it. With such a preposterous behavioral regimen, it is apparent that the bugblatter beast was created as a joke, perhaps by some powerful fey or protean.
Bugblatter beasts are so weak-willed that they are easily controlled by more intelligent creatures, but so stupid that it is usually not worth the effort. Some species use them as a method of executions, as their voracious attacks are not soon forgotten by those that witness them. The prisoner’s face is usually covered by a staring mask, else they might close their eyes and the bugblatter beast might lose interest. The practice of having a cloth to cover one’s head and avoid the creature’s gaze is common in areas where bugblatter beasts roam.
Bugblatter beasts are solitary creatures. If two of them come across one another and either is hungry, they soon turn on and fight each other, usually to the death. If both are well fed and not ravenous, they will mate in a swift, perfunctory fashion. The female lays her eggs, covers them with earth or vegetation, and then promptly forgets about them. As the first thing a newborn bugblatter beast sees is typically its siblings, it then tries to eat them. Rarely does more than one bugblatter beast survive a nest.