This swollen cephalopod has ten writhing tentacles and a hideously monstrous face with pale, milky eyes on its bulbous body.
Named for its resemblance to a 10-armed octopus, the strange decapus is one of many bizarre creatures that hail from the deepest caverns of the world. When they are encountered aboveground, their affinity for forests (they particularly enjoy clambering around in tangled canopies) suggests that their original source might be some strange, deep underground cavern wherein magical jungles grow.
The decapus is a fairly intelligent creature—an ambush predator that makes excellent use of its ability to weave magical visual illusions and to imitate the voices of other creatures it has heard speaking. Typical decapuses speak only their own alien language, but when they use their sound mimicry ability to imitate creatures speaking in other languages, they can typically form short (up to three words long) sentences even when imitating a language they don’t actually know.
The decapus’s physical structure most resembles that of a bloated octopus with 10 tentacles. It lacks bones and takes its shape from its rubbery, muscular flesh. Most have sickly, olive skin patched with scraggly tangles of hair, with darker blue or purple coloration around their faces and crimson or orange tips to their tentacles. These tentacles are covered with tiny suction cups and hooks, affording them great skill at climbing or clutching prey. On the ground, though, they are slow, plodding creatures that flop and wriggle relatively inefficiently. As a result, they prefer regions like forest canopies, narrow fissures, stalactite forests, or other regions where they can use their climb speed.
The decapus favors humanoid flesh over all other food. This creature has an enormous appetite that often drives it to consume whatever food is available—the decapus is not above cannibalism when other food sources are scarce. For this reason, these monsters are largely solitary creatures, except when the urge to mate overwhelms their urge to feed. Females give birth to small litters of 2–4 live offspring. The females often need to defend them from the males, which, if left unsupervised, typically eat the newborn decapuses. The young mature rapidly, growing to full size after a mere 7 to 11 months, after which they depart to claim their own territories. Once a decapus reaches maturity, it can live to 100 years old—although their violent natures usually result in much shorter lifespans.
A typical decapus has a legspan of 8 feet and weighs 200 pounds.
Combat
The decapus attacks with its tentacles, grabbing an opponent to squeeze and bite it. If it has the chance to prepare an ambush, it will use its minor image ability to create a distracting or shocking scene, and then attack out of hiding, striking from above while it uses some of its tentacles to hang from a branch or other overhead hold.
Decapus
Medium aberration
Init +1; Senses darkvision; Perception +9
Defense
AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 42 (5d8+10)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +5
Offense
Speed 10 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d6+3), tentacles +6 (2d4+3 plus grab)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks constrict 2d4+4
Spell-like Abilities
- At will—minor image (DC 12)
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 12
Base Atk +3; CMB +6 (+10 grapple); CMD 16 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Blind-Fight, Skill Focus (Bluff), Stealthy
Skills Acrobatics +6 (−2 to jump), Bluff +9, Climb +16, Escape Artist +8, Intimidate +6, Perception +9, Spellcraft +5, Stealth +8
Languages speaks own language
Morale intrepid (+2)
Special Qualities sound mimicry
Ecology
Environment underground
Organization solitary or mated pair
Special Abilities
Constrict (Ex)
A decapus can crush an opponent, dealing bludgeoning damage, when it makes a successful grapple check against a grabbed opponent (in addition to any other effects caused by a successful check, including additional damage).
Grab (Ex)
If a decapus hits with a claw attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. The decapus can only grab targets of a size equal to or smaller than itself.
A decapus receives a +4 bonus on combat maneuver checks made to start and maintain a grapple.
Sound Mimicry (Ex)
The decapus perfectly imitates certain sounds or even specific voices. The decapus makes a Bluff check opposed by the listener’s Sense Motive check to recognize the mimicry, although if the listener isn’t familiar with the person or type of creatures mimicked, it takes a −8 penalty on its Sense Motive check. The decapus has a +8 racial bonus on its Bluff check to mimic sounds (including accents and speech patterns) it has listened to for at least 10 minutes. The decapus cannot duplicate the effects of magical abilities (such as bardic performance or a harpy’s captivating song), though it may be able to mimic the sound of those abilities. This ability does not allow the decapus to speak or understand languages it doesn’t know.
Skills
A decapus gets a +4 racial bonus to Perception checks.