Inspired by Metroid and Metroid 2, I bring you Ridley, the "boss" of Norfair, the lava zone. I have come to find that it fits in well in warmer areas down within the earth.... It's rather tall, slightly reptilian, yet it has an exoskeleton. It is dark purple, with a long snout, and big, black, round eyes. It has short arms/hands, and small but powerful wings on it's back. It's medium-length legs remind you of a dog's hind legs, yet it uses it's tail as support, as a rat would.
© 1999, C. Simons
| Terrain: Frequency: Orginization: Activity Cycle: |
Subterranean Very Rare Solitary Any |
Diet: Intelligence: Treasure: Alignment: |
Carnivore 14-15 E, A NE |
| No.Appearing: Armor Class: Movement: Hit Dice: Thac0: # of Attacks: Dmg/Attack: |
1 -3 (natural) 9, 18 fly:B 16 5 3 or special 2d4/2d4/2d4 |
Special Attacks: Special Defenses: Magic Resist: Size: Morale: Experience: |
Breath Weapon, Grab None None L, 13' 17-18 10,000 XP |
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It is formiddable in combat, but can easily be thwarted if it's attacking styles are understood.
- Can either use 2 claw attacks and a tail whip in one round, or it's breath weapon and tail whip. Breath weapon can be aimed at a particular character, or sprayed at a group of them.
- Small, 9 inch spheres of fire are spit from the end of it's "trunk" which flare up and disipate upon contact with a solid object. It spits 3d3 of these each time, each one that hits (roll against THAC0, +2 to hit) does 2d3 damage. Characters can save vs. BW to take 1/2 damage. A successful dex check in conjuction with a save will negate all damage due to the size of the spheres.
- Must roll a Dex check to avoid being knocked down by tail whip.
- Enjoys picking up victims in it's talons and dropping them, swatting them with it's tail as they fall.
They are solitary creatures that are not terribly territorial, and prefer to eat things such as carrion crawlers and umber hulks and their ilk. Nobody is too sure where they came from, but some mages that have researched them for a number of years now speculate that it was a gate from another dimension. They live alone and meet only to breed. They lay an egg about once every 3 to 6 years, the "newborn" leaves as soon as it hatches, being a very formidable enemy even at birth.
Ridley hatchlings coming soon!