Giant Clam [Variant]

This deep-sea clam stands about 6 feet tall and over 3 feet wide, with chalk-white valves several inches thick and a fringe of fine, touch-sensitive hairs along the gap. Its cousin the giant oyster is gray, longer, and lumpier but otherwise identical.

The clam never hunts; it simply snaps shut when the hair-fringe is touched. Treat this as a normal attack roll that crushes for 2-12 hp. Anyone hit must pass a Dexterity check or have a limb pinned, taking 2 hp each round until freed.

Straining free takes a bend bars/lift gates roll and the victim's whole round. Up to four helpers may add their own bend bars/lift gates chances to the victim's, and prying with a spear, sword, or similar lever doubles the odds.

Killing the clam also works, but its shell is AC 0: piercing weapons deal just 1 hp plus Strength and magic bonuses, slashing ones half, and blunt ones full damage. The soft AC 7 interior can be hit only with missiles or weapons over 4 feet long while the shell is partly open, which it is while gripping a limb. Under called-shot or alternative critical-hit rules, a fighter may cut the closing muscle and leave the clam alive.

These clams cluster near hydrothermal vents and rarely appear elsewhere. Treasure dropped by careless victims sometimes lies on or beside a shell.

Females release hundreds of thousands of eggs for males to fertilize in open water; the fry hatch in 3-4 weeks and creep about (MV 1) on rippling cilia.

Giant clams filter their food. Vent beds host symbiotic bacteria that turn minerals into nourishment, while others strain drifting organic matter. Many sea predators eat both fry and adults, and deep octopi lair in empty shells.

Each giant oyster has a 5% chance of holding a giant pearl. A typical pearl fetches around 1,000 gp, and a huge, flawless one can be worth over 10,000 gp.