Giant Sea Anemone

Two kinds of giant anemone haunt the seabed. The lance variety has a squat trunk about 8 feet tall and 10 across, with suckers underneath and a toothless mouth on top ringed by ten clear tentacles of 10-15 feet. Most are vivid purple, some blue, red, pink or mixed.

The dragon variety is the true giant: an 8-foot body crowned by a 6-foot maw and about 100 stinging tentacles reaching 30 feet, in blazing reds, greens, pinks and blues. With tentacles withdrawn it looks like a big boulder.

Lance variety: each round brings 1d3 attacks, each a flurry of 1d10 lashes. A lash deals 1d4 and forces a save vs. paralyzation; success makes the victim immune to that anemone's venom, while failure adds 1d6 poison and leaves the victim helpless for 3d6 rounds. Anyone who recovers is simply attacked again, with a fresh save.

Two tentacles haul a paralyzed body to the mouth in one round while the rest keep fighting. The mouth seals, valves pump the trunk dry over eight rounds, and glands refill it with acid at one foot per turn; from the first round of secretion the victim takes 1d4 per round, no save. At -12 hit points digestion is complete and resurrection impossible.

A prisoner can only hack with short blades, for at most 1 point per round plus Strength and magical bonuses. Rescue usually comes from outside: dealing 50% of the anemone's hit points to its trunk frees the victim, but any stab or thrust has a 20% chance to strike the prisoner. When the trunk bursts, each character within 10 feet has a 5% chance per foot of acid inside of taking a 1d4 splash (four feet means 20%).

Five points aimed at one tentacle severs it. The anemone regenerates 1 point per turn, tentacles first. Taking 30 or more damage in a round makes it pull in every tentacle for 1d10 rounds while spraying acid in a 10-foot radius, a 90% chance per round of 1d4 to anyone in range.

Dragon variety: its lazily drifting tentacles strike fast, up to three attacks per round, each hit driving barbed needles in for 1d3 on that first strike only. Venom follows a round later; a save vs. poison wards it off for a round and repeats each round until the victim escapes or fails. A poisoned victim loses 1 point each of movement, Dexterity and Strength per round, and when any hits 0 is paralyzed for 2d4 turns (creatures without those scores track movement only). More tentacles do not speed it, but one is enough to keep it working. Neutralize poison clears the system but not the next dose.

Each round a captive may save vs. petrification once per tentacle to pull free, though venom already inside keeps working. Six points of slashing damage severs a tentacle without touching the anemone's hit points. With three tentacles attached, it makes an attack roll to swallow; its gut grinds for the victim's base physical armor class in damage each round, so plate armor +3 means none. Inedible prey, or anything wider than the 6-foot maw, is held until paralyzed and then dropped for scavengers, and if the maw is already full, new catches wait their turn. It dies when its central body reaches 0 hit points; tentacles regrow a foot per day.

Lance anemones keep together in groups of three or more, creeping laboriously and preferring to cling to rocks for long stretches. The dragon variety lives at many depths but is met alone below 50 feet, and it too can inch toward better feeding. Both are animals, not plants, and reproduce by budding: a youngster swells from the parent's base, breaks off and finds its own spot. Indigestible treasure sometimes lies under a lance anemone's trunk.

Underwater races sometimes keep giant anemones as guards, feeding them just enough to stay put while leaving them hungry for intruders.

Lance anemones eat any sea life and relish humanoids, elves and small humans above all; only manta rays and little sucker fish swim among them unharmed. The dragon variety hosts two kinds of immune fish: bright 1- to 2-foot fish that shelter in the tentacles and eat leftovers, and predators like barracuda that, immune or thick-skinned, dart in to bite off tentacles.