The Gozar
Welcome back to Exotic Encounters. This week’s article brings you yet another monster for use in your game. This particular creature is something of a cross between a jellyfish and a scorpion, two dangerous and poisonous predators.
Gozar
This massive creature resembles a giant jellyfish, which hangs unnaturally in the air, bobbing and weaving as its body pulses and undulates. Unlike a true jellyfish, however, its long tendrils end in wicked, barbed hooks which gleam with venom. A handful of shorter tendrils, located just around the creature’s downward-facing mouth, all end with small pincers which snap eagerly.
GOZAR CR 12
XP 19,200
N Huge vermin
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 9, touch 9, flat-footed 8 (+1 Dex, -2 size)
hp 225 (18d8+144)
Fort +19, Ref +7, Will +6
Defensive Abilities amorphous, death throes; DR 15/piercing or slashing; SR 23; Immune mind-affecting effects
OFFENSE
Speed fly 60 ft. (perfect), swim 40 ft.
Melee 4 stings +17 (2d6+6 plus poison), 4 claws +15 (1d8+6 plus grab)
Space 15 ft., Reach 20 ft. (10 ft. with claws)
STATISTICS
Str 22, Dex 13, Con 26, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +13; CMB +21; CMD 32 (can’t be tripped)
Skills Fly +5, Swim +14
SQ compression, rubbery hide
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pack (2-5), or swarm (6-24)
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Amorphous (Ex): The gozar’s body is malleable and shapeless. It is immune to precision damage (like sneak attacks) and critical hits.
Compression (Ex): The gozar can move through an area as small as one-quarter its space without squeezing, or one-eighth its space when squeezing.
Death Throes (Ex): When a gozar dies, its body begins to pulse and undulate for 1d4 rounds, after which it explodes in a shower of gel. Each creature within 100 feet must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 27), or be exposed to the gozar’s poison.
Poison (Ex): Death throes or stings—contact or injury; save Fort DC 27; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Strength and Constitution damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Rubbery Hide (Ex): A gozar’s body is naturally rubbery, and it reflects the power of melee attacks made against it, knocking back unprepared attackers. Whenever a creature hits a gozar with a melee attack, the gozar may immediately make a combat maneuver check. If the result is greater than the attacker’s CMD, then the attacker is pushed back 5 feet.
Ecology
Unusual creatures that are believed to be the distant relatives of jellyfish, these beautiful and majestic—albeit somewhat alien— creatures can often be found floating in packs or swarms which drift along the horizon, bobbing and weaving through the air as they are blown on various crosswinds. Gozars are prized and admired by many for their beauty, as their skin constantly shifts colors and reflects light in unusual and breathtaking ways, but these creatures are best admired from afar, for though they appear to be gentle giants wafting serenely on the breeze, they are, in fact, dangerous predators.
A gozar’s numerous tentacles end in sharp, barbed, hook-shaped stingers, except for four much shorter tentacles that end in pincer-shaped claws. These are the only hard parts of the creature’s body, and have a hard carapace, whereas the rest of its body is a soft, pliable, rubbery structure. They hunt silently, floating through the air, and descend rapidly on their victims from above, catching them unaware, and attempting to disable them with their very potent and debilitating poison. They prey primarily on cattle and other livestock, but when the wind takes them to places where such prey is not available, they have been known to prey on other creatures, including humanoids.