Sea Linnorm

Gargantuan monstrosity (serpentine), chaotic neutral
A storm coils in its wake; its roar splits the sea and terrifies sailors and adventurers alike.

Armor Class: 21 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 482 (29d20 + 174)
Speed: 60 ft., swim 120 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
28 (+9)	16 (+3)	24 (+7)	18 (+4)	16 (+3)	20 (+5)

Saving Throws: Str +16, Dex +10, Con +14, Wis +10, Cha +12
Skills: Perception +10, Stealth +10, Insight +10
Damage Resistances: Cold; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities: Lightning, Poison
Condition Immunities: Frightened, Charmed, Poisoned
Senses: Darkvision 120 ft., Tremorsense 60 ft., Passive Perception 20
Languages: Draconic, Aquan
Challenge: 22 (41,000 XP)

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Regional Effects

While in its home waters, the Sea Linnorm exerts magical influence over a 10-mile radius:

• Storms intensify, visibility is reduced, and currents shift unpredictably.
• Ships navigating the area have disadvantage on Navigation and Survival checks.
• The Sea Linnorm can sense surface vessels and large creatures automatically.

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Innate Spellcasting

The Sea Linnorm’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 20, +12 to hit with spell attacks). It can cast the following spells innately, requiring no material components:

• At will: Control Water, Gust of Wind (1 action, 60 ft. range)
• 3/day each: Call Lightning (5th-level, 1 action, 120 ft. range), Tsunami (8th-level, 1 minute, 300 ft. line)
• 1/day: Whirlwind (9th-level, 1 action, 300 ft. area)

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Actions

Multiattack. The Sea Linnorm makes three attacks: one Bite and two Tail attacks.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (4d12 + 9) piercing damage plus 13 (3d8) lightning damage.

Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (3d12 + 9) bludgeoning damage.

Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d10 + 9) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 18). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the Sea Linnorm cannot constrict another target.

Tidal Roar (Recharge 5–6). The Sea Linnorm exhales a deafening wave of water in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 22 Strength saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) bludgeoning damage and 22 (5d8) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. Creatures that fail are also knocked prone and pushed 30 feet away.

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Reactions

Reactive Coil. When a creature the Sea Linnorm can see attacks it with a melee attack, it may use its reaction to make a Tail attack against that creature.

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Legendary Actions

The Sea Linnorm can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn.

• Tail Sweep. The Sea Linnorm makes a tail attack.
• Surge. The Sea Linnorm moves up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
• Crashing Wave (Costs 2 Actions). The Sea Linnorm summons a wall of water in a 30-foot line that deals 27 (6d8) bludgeoning damage and knocks creatures prone (DC 22 Strength save for half).

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Tactics

• Ambush Predator: Strikes from submerged positions, using currents and cover to approach undetected.
• Area Control: Uses spells and Tidal Roar to disrupt formations, capsize ships, and separate enemies.
• Target Priority: Grapples spellcasters or ranged attackers to neutralize threats while focusing attacks with legendary actions.
• Environmental Advantage: Thrives in water; on land, slower and less maneuverable but still dangerous in flooded or coastal areas.

Sea Linnorm

This unfathomably large serpent sports a distinctly draconic face. Its body is deep, blackened gray with swatches of crimson. An entrancing set of lures dangles off its face, each glowing with a pulsating orange light accented by regular electrical discharges.

Sea Linnorm CR 22

XP 614,400
NE Colossal dragon (aquatic)
Init +13; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, true seeing; Perception +37

DEFENSE

AC 39, touch 11, flat-footed 30 (+9 Dex, +28 natural, –8 size)
hp 455 (26d12+286); regeneration 15 (cold iron)
Fort +26, Ref +24, Will +23 Defensive Abilities freedom of movement; DR 20/cold iron; Immune curse effects, electricity, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep; SR 33

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., fly 100 ft. (average), swim 100 ft.
Melee bite +35 (3d8+17/19–20 plus poison), 2 claws +35 (2d8+17), tail slap +30 (3d6+8 plus grab)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.

Special Attacks breath weapon (DC 34), constrict (tail, 3d6+24), Death Curse, lure

STATISTICS

Str 44, Dex 28, Con 32, Int 7, Wis 27, Cha 29
Base Atk +26; CMB +51; CMD 70 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Following Step, Great Cleave, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Snatch, Step Up, Step Up and Strike, Vital Strike
Skills Acrobatics +9 (+13 when jumping), Fly +30, Perception +37, Stealth +22, Swim +54
Languages Aklo, Draconic, Sylvan
SQ amphibious

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Breath Weapon (Su)

Once every 1d4 rounds as a standard action, a sea linnorm can expel a 120-foot line of intense stored bioelectricity, dealing 26d8 points of electricity damage to all creatures struck (Reflex DC 34 half). A secondary discharge arcs off each target that fails its save, striking the nearest creature within 30 feet as long as that creature has not already been targeted by the breath weapon or another discharge.

Secondary discharges do not cause tertiary discharges. The bioelectricity overwhelms the nervous systems of living creatures, causing any living creature that takes damage from the linnorm’s breath weapon to be stunned for 1d4 rounds. A successful DC 34 Fortitude saving throw negates the stunning effect. Creatures struck by a secondary discharge receive a +4 bonus on this saving throw. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Death Curse (Su)

When a creature slays a sea linnorm, the slayer is affected by the curse of crushing depths.

Curse of Crushing Depths: save Will DC 32; effect creature takes 3d6 points of damage every round while fully submerged in water, as though suffering water pressure damage, regardless of the creature’s actual depth and bypassing any magical protection against water pressure (such as freedom of movement or life bubble). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Lure (Su)

As a free action, a sea linnorm can light the dangling lures on its head; any other creature within a 120-foot radius that can see the lure must succeed at a DC 32 Will save or become fascinated for 1 round. In addition to the regular effects of being fascinated, a creature affected by this ability also takes a –4 penalty on saving throws against the sea linnorm’s breath weapon.

Regardless of the preceding interactions between the sea linnorm and its target, a creature affected by this ability does not view the sea linnorm who has fascinated it as a potential threat until that sea linnorm actually attacks—allowing it to approach without breaking the fascination effect. Once a creature succeeds at its saving throw against this effect, it is immune to the same sea linnorm’s lure ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Poison (Ex)

Bite—injury; save Fort DC 34; frequency 1/round for 10 rounds; effect 8d8 points of electricity damage, 1d6 Dex drain, and 1d6 Con drain; cure 3 consecutive saves.

ECOLOGY

Environment cold oceans
Organization solitary
Treasure triple

Few, if any, linnorm breeds are more reclusive than the sea linnorm. These immense specimens of primeval draconic lineage dwell in the deepest underwater trenches of the world, blending into their surroundings thanks to their darkened scales. A sea linnorm’s distinctive facial lures attract all manner of sea life, which the linnorm promptly feasts upon before returning to its lair. Luckily for all nonaquatic civilizations, sea linnorms rarely leave the ocean depths they call home.

A typical sea linnorm grows up to 55 feet long and weighs around 14,000 pounds. It is believed that sea linnorms are effectively immortal, with the oldest recorded sea linnorms surviving well over 5,000 years.

Electricity courses through a sea linnorm’s body. The linnorm uses this internally generated power to fuel both its facial lures and, when necessary, its devastating breath weapon. This natural attack manifests as a powerful line of orange bioelectricity that overwhelms the nervous system of any living creature in its path.

The innate bioelectrical energy of creatures struck by the breath weapon further empower the attack, creating additional discharges that arc off the breath weapon’s naturally straight trajectory toward the nearest living creature. When the linnorm uses this attack to hunt larger underwater creatures, the subsequent discharges quickly overwhelm entire schools of fish for the sea linnorm to devour.

Luckily for the surface world, sea linnorms rarely have any reason to depart their deep underwater homes.

Teeming schools of aquatic megafauna roam in the depths that sea linnorms inhabit. This primordial wildlife is of such size that a waking sea linnorm rarely concerns itself with having to roam far for a fulfilling meal. After eating, a sea linnorm hibernates for years, or even centuries, at a time. In some instances, entire aquatic settlements spring to life near the hidden lair of a sea linnorm, only to incur the beast’s excessive wrath when it awakens from its slumber. Some of these unfortunately placed settlements even adjust their entire societies to provide for “their” linnorms, shepherding schools of fish toward the beasts’ lairs and, in harder times, encouraging visitors to visit the linnorms’ dens.

Habitat and Society

Sea linnorms inhabit the deepest trenches of the world’s oceans. Only the abundance of large underwater life sustains the voracious appetites of the bioelectrically charged beasts. As a result, a sea linnorm’s perceived territory encompasses a space of several thousand square miles. Any sentient creature that the sea linnorm perceives as a threat is sought out and slain.

Those few settlements permitted to exist within a sea linnorm’s domain are used as early warning systems; each settlement is seeded with traditions of alerting the great linnorm to the presence of potentially threatening outsiders or of certain types of aquatic alpha-predator life-forms, such as krakens, luscas, or sea serpents. A sea linnorm immediately seeks out intruders, recognizing that it will either triumph or die—better to be slain fighting in the open water than cornered in its lair.

Few mortals know of the existence of sea linnorms, let alone hunt these ancient creatures.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Adventure Path #126: Beyond the Veiled Past © 2018, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Thurston Hillman, with Robert Brookes, Eleanor Ferron, Crystal Malarsky, and Scott Sharplin.