[Our newest theme batch is a return to hoaxes and hysteria, a topic I’ve played with multiple times in the Codex in the past. This monster is a syncretic combination of the electric penguin from Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ “Scott of the Antarctic” episode with “Ol’ Three Toes”, a series of hoaxed footprints that Ivan T. Sanderson claimed were made by a giant prehistoric penguin. In Florida. Modern cryptozoologists would probably have claimed they were an Allosaurus or something, so I give Sanderson props for creativity.]
Electric Penguin
CR 12 N Magical Beast
This creature resembles an oversized penguin, taller than a house, with coiling green tentacles where its flippers should be. A visible aura of electricity crackles around it.
Strange chimerical sea creatures, electric penguins are clumsy on land but agile in the water. They are capable of great feats of endurance, and although they originated in cold lands, may be found globally. An electric penguin can sleep in the water, spending months at a time following shoals of fish or pods of marine mammals, which are its primary prey. They must return to land, however, in order to lay eggs and rear chicks. This is when they are most likely to encounter humanoids, and are belligerent in defending their nests.
An electric penguin fights the same way whether beached or at sea—it grabs foes with its tentacles and reels them into a deadly embrace. Creatures grabbed by an electric penguin are both constricted and electrocuted simultaneously. If attacked by multiple foes at once, it can release bolts of lightning from its tentacles, snapping them like whips. Under most conditions, an electric penguin will flee if badly injured or if its enemies seem unaffected by electricity. They fight to the death, however, in defense of their eggs or young.
Electric Penguin CR 12
XP 19,200
N Huge magical beast
Init +3; Senses blindsense 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft., Perception +14
Defense
AC 26, touch 13, flat-footed 26 (-2 size, -1 Dex, +6 deflection, +13 natural)
hp 161 (14d10+84)
Fort +15, Ref +10, Will +7
Immune electricity
Defensive Abilities crackling shield
Offense
Speed 20 ft., swim 50 ft.
Melee bite +21 (1d10+9 plus 2d6 electricity), 2 tentacles +19 (2d6+4 plus 2d6 electricity plus grab and pull)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (20 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks constrict (2d6+9 plus 2d6 electricity), electric embrace, electric whip, pull (10 ft.)
Statistics
Str 29, Dex 8, Con 23, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 11
Base Atk +14; CMB +25 (+29 grapple); CMD 40
Feats Blind-fight, Endurance, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Lunge, Multiattack
Skills Perception +14, Swim +24
SQ hold breath
Ecology
Environment any aquatic and coastal
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Crackling Shield (Su) An electric penguin gains a deflection bonus to armor class equal to its Constitution modifier, and a 20% miss chance against ranged attacks. Any creature striking an electric penguin with a natural weapon, unarmed strike, touch attack or melee weapon takes 1d8+14 points of electricity damage. Weapons with reach do not endanger their wielders in this way.
Electric Embrace (Su) A creature grappled by an electric penguin and adjacent to the creature takes 1d8+14 electricity damage every round. This damage stacks with any electricity damage dealt by the electric penguin’s natural attacks that round for the purposes of overcoming energy resistance.
Electric Whip (Su) As a standard action, an electric penguin can send two lines of electricity, each 100 feet long, at its enemies. A creature in the line takes 14d6 points of electricity damage (Reflex DC 23 half). A creature struck by both lines does not take extra damage, but suffers a -2 penalty to its save. An electric penguin can use this ability three times a day, and must wait 1d4 rounds between uses. This ability functions both on land and in water. The save DC is Constitution based.
