Giant Fish

Giant fish vary widely in how they attack and defend themselves. All live in water, though some can also survive out of it by breathing air.

A natural mutation of the common catfish, it has the same gray-brown skin and whiskery feelers at the corners of its mouth. It bites for 3d4 or, when it can, swallows prey whole. Swallowing capacity starts at objects 3 1/2 feet long for a 7 HD fish and grows a foot with each Hit Die beyond that. A swallowed creature takes the bite damage, then 1 point per round inside with a 5% chance each round of suffocating. A victim with a sharp-edged weapon can cut free by dealing internal damage of at least half the fish's starting hit points, while anyone stabbing it from outside risks a 20% chance of wounding the victim within.

By thrashing its head, it can also lash with its feelers, which ooze a mild toxin for 2d4 poison damage, or 1d4 on a save vs. poison; up to two extra foes in reach can be struck this way. As bottom-feeding scavengers, catfish need a lot of ground to find enough food, so they live alone.

Fiercer than its ordinary kin, the giant gar lurks in deep freshwater lakes and rivers. Its long, sleek body is armored in hard overlapping scales, and its jaws look like an alligator's, lined with needle teeth. A bite deals 5d4, and on a roll of 20 it swallows the target whole; it can usually manage anything up to five feet long. Each round inside carries a 5% chance of suffocation. To cut out, the victim must already have a sharp weapon in hand when swallowed and deal internal damage of at least 25% of the gar's original hit points. Outside attackers who pierce it have a 20% chance of also wounding anyone inside.

This greenish-yellow, long-bodied, flexible fish lives in deep freshwater lakes. It sometimes stalks prey, but more often it waits hidden among the weeds and darts out at anything promising, biting for 4d4. Its speed and natural camouflage give opponents a -2 penalty to surprise rolls.