Sea Wyrm

These long sea dragons lack legs and wings and likely inspired many sea serpent tales. Calm and stately, they come near shore when left alone, and deep-water crews sometimes see families swimming together.

Age makes a sea wyrm longer but not stronger, so a hatchling's bite (2d6) and crushing coils (3d8) hurt as much as an elder's. Peaceful by nature, it fights only intruders on its territory. Against ships, each 10 points of constriction counts as 1 hull point, and a vessel shorter than the wyrm can be fully encircled, capsized and pulled beneath the waves, which makes them a terror to small fishing boats.

Adult and ancient wyrms have more. A bite that hits by 5 or more over the needed roll swallows the target whole; the victim takes the normal 2d6 and then 2d6 per round from stomach acid until it escapes by the usual means. Once per day, in place of other attacks, such a wyrm can exhale a cone of sleeping gas 30 feet long, 5 feet wide at the mouth and 30 feet wide at the end. Those in it sleep for 3d8 rounds unless they save vs. breath weapon.

Native to tropical and subtropical seas, sea wyrms den in underwater caves or isolated island caverns. They breathe air and water equally well and slither across land like snakes. Mates pair for life, so two wyrms together are always a couple, and three are a couple with their single offspring. The female lays one egg at a time and both parents guard it fiercely. Families stay together until the young can forage alone.

Raised from hatchlings, sea wyrms become devoted, affectionate companions to merfolk, tritons and nereids, and will die defending them.

A wyrm defends about two miles around its cave and hunts up to thirty miles away. It eats nearly anything, with a weakness for fish and fruit, and has been seen wrapping a fruit tree and squeezing it to reach the high branches. Traders increasingly buy eggs to rear as escorts for their ships, and skins fetch between 1,000 and 3,000 gp; nothing else from the creature is useful.