No. Appearing: 1-4
Armor Class: -5
Movement: 6
Hit Dice: 6
THAC0: 14
No. of Attacks: 4
Damage/Attack: 1-6 / 1-6 / 1-6 / 1-6
Special Attacks: Gobble
Special Defenses: None
Magic Resistances: None
Size: M (4')
Morale: Unsteady (6)
XP Value: 850
Dugatta are jelly-fish like animals that live in aboreal environments, either in the sixty-foot trees of a mid-lattitude forest, or in the three-hundred twenty foot trees of tropical jungles. Their jelly-like bodies are extremely resilient, allowing them to make falls of hundreds of feet unscathed, and forcing most weapons to simply bounce off without damaging the creature. Their tentacles are close to forty feet long, and are strong enough to hoist a two-hundred pound man into the air. The tentacles also have the stinging power of their sea-borne cousins.
Combat: A dugatta will attempt to sting to death any creature of medium size, letting its eight tentacles harass and hary a victim. Only four tentacles at a time will try and attack a single target; the other four will remain in the tree to serve as an anchor against the weight of its prey, and the 200lb weight of the dugatta itself. The four tentacles that engage a target deal 1d6 points of damage, each, to flesh, worming their way into armor and under clothing. Any attempt to touch a tentacle with bare hands also inflicts 1d6 points of damage. If the creature rolls an unmodified 20, then it lifts a target up into its gullet, and immediately begins digesting it, dealing 1d12 points of damage (due to acids and enzymes) each round, including the first.
A bend/bars roll is usually sufficient to break free of a dugatta's tentacle. Also, the tentacles can be severed by any edged weapon that deals more than six points of damage on a single blow (while two subsequent blows of five points each will not sever a tentacle).
Habitat/Society: They are carnivores, feeding on fresh meat whenever they have the opportunity. Dugatta rely on primative vision and tactile sensation to detect prey. Though sometimes found in groups as large as four individuals, they rarely congregate, as they are fiercely territorial, and even cannibalistic. They lie in wait amongst trees, their tentacles dangling down, to surprise prey items. Their slow movement rate, and their slow metabolic rate keep their numbers from exploding. They mate once each year, usually during early spring, and produce large numbers of airborne dugattettes that disperse on the winds.
Ecology: Their young serve as food for much of the forest canopy, including birds and insects. While the young have stinging tentacles, the strength of the sting is proportionately small. The adult dugattas are also prone to attack by insects, especially ants, which are too light to set off the stinging abilities of the adult dugatta.
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