Dragon Whale

“Dive into the abyssal terror! Unveiling the colossal chaos of the Dragon Whale – a scaly leviathan with a breath of boiling steam and an appetite for swallowing ships whole!”

The creature coming out of the water appears as if borne out of sailors’ tales or nightmares. It has a scaly, vaguely fish-like body, with two enormous claws where its frontal flippers should be. This nightmarish form ends in a massive horn-filled head, halfway between a dragon’s and a pigs’. Its huge, nearly human eyes only add to the creature’s monstrosity. It breathes a geyser of boiling vapour and charges into combat, making the waters simmer with hellish foam and causing the waves to agitate as if there was a seaquake.

Monster Encyclopaedia II: The Dark Bestiary
Author J. C. Alvarez
Series Monster Encyclopaedia
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

Dragon whales are among the most fearsome creatures in existence. Endless sea monster tales have been told of these creatures, whose depictions adorn the mysterious limits of nearly every medieval naval map. A dragon whale appears as a Colossal scaly fish, with two gigantic claws it uses to rend and tear ships apart. The creature’s head is pig-like but scaly, with draconic fangs and horns, fin-like ears and a gigantic set of humanoid eyes that make the creature seem more evil and grotesque.

They speak Draconic and their own language.

Dragon Whale
Colossal Dragon (Aquatic)
Hit Dice	42d12+462 (735 hp)
Initiative	+5
Speed	20 ft. (4 squares), Swim 80 ft.
AC	33 (-8 size, +1 Dexterity, +30 natural), touch 3, flat-footed 32
Base Attack/Grapple	+42/+75
Attack	Bite +52 melee (4d6+17) or claw +51 melee (3d6+17) or tail slap +52 melee (2d6+17)
Full Attack	Bite +52 melee (4d6+17) and 2 claws +46 melee (3d6+8) and tail slap +47 melee (2d6+8)
Space/Reach	30 ft. /20 ft.
Special Attacks	Breath weapon, capsize, frightful presence, swallow whole
Special Qualities	Damage reduction 15/adamantine, Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to magical sleep and Paralysis, Low-Light Vision, resistance to acid 20, cold 20 and fire 20
Saves	Fort +36, Ref +24, Will +26
Abilities	Strength 45, Dexterity 12, Constitution 32, Intelligence 5, Wisdom 17, Charisma 17
Skills	Hide +14, Listen +23, Move Silently +30, Spot +23, Swim +70
Feats	Ability Focus (frightful presence), Alertness, Cleave, Diehard, Endurance, Great Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Improved Overrun, Multiattack, Power Attack, Snatch, Stealthy, Weapon Focus (bite), Weapon Focus (tail slap)
Environment	Any sea
Organisation	Solitary
Challenge Rating	25
Treasure	Triple standard
Alignment	Usually chaotic evil
Advancement	43+ (Colossal)
Level Adjustment	–

Combat

Dragon whales aggressively charge any foreign thing coming inside their territory, including ships, animals or even others of their kind.

Breath Weapon (Su): As a standard action, a dragon whale may breathe a cone of boiling steam 60 feet long by 60 feet wide at the base; any creature caught inside this cone suffers 12d10 points of fire damage, with a Reflex save (DC 42, Constitution based) allowed for half damage. A dragon whale’s breath weapon can be used underwater as well as above the surface.

Capsize (Ex): A submerged dragon whale that surfaces suddenly within 30 feet of a ship has a 40% chance of capsizing the ship. If the dragon whale surfaces directly below the ship, the capsize chance is doubled (80%). Add 20% to the capsize chance if the ship is less than 50 feet long.

Frightful Presence (Ex): Whenever a dragon whale attacks, creatures within 300 feet must succeed at a Will save (DC 34, Charisma based). A creature that succeeds on this save cannot be affected by the same dragon whale’s frightful presence for the next 24 hours. On a failed save, a creature with 4 or less HD becomes panicked for 4d6 rounds and one with 5 or more HD becomes shaken for 4d6 rounds.

Swallow Whole (Ex): If a dragon whale wins a grapple against a Gargantuan or smaller creature or ship, it immediately swallows the creature or ship whole. All creatures and objects swallowed by a dragon whale suffer 4d6+17 points of crushing damage, 10 points of acid damage and 2d8 points of fire damage every round they remain inside the dragon whale. A swallowed victim may attempt to get free by cutting its way out of the dragon whale’s stomach; this requires dealing 25 points of slashing or piercing damage to the dragon whale’s interior (AC 25).

A dragon whale’s stomach can hold two Gargantuan, four Huge, 16 Large, 64 Medium or 256 smaller creatures or objects at the same time. Once a creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed creature must make another exit.

A dragon whale’s Cleave and Great Cleave feats actually allow it to swallow more than one creature or object each round, to the limit of its gizzard’s capacity, as long as all the creatures or objects swallowed on a given round were dropped to less than 0 hit points by the dragon whale’s bite attack.

Skills: A dragon whale gains a +8 racial bonus on all Swim checks. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims on a straight line. A dragon whale can always take 10 on Swim checks, even if rushed or threatened.