Thalassic Behemoth

It’s easy to get distracted by a picture.  The thalassic behemoth looks like a sperm whale, so the temptation to treat it like Moby Dick or Jonah’s whale is pretty understandable.  But there’s nothing saying your behemoth has to look like a whale at all—especially with its claws, water jet, and tsunami powers, a behemoth could easily resemble any one of the bizarre creatures you find in the corner of old nautical maps.  (Google “sea monster map images” if you don’t know what I’m taking about.)

Actually, come to think of it, go back to making your behemoths look like whales.  If my GM told me a whale hated me so much it was willing to crawl on shore to kill me, I’d be terrified.

The leviathan Cadfaelyr was meant to be the savior of the elven race, guarding the ships of the Mournful Fleet from pursuers when the Fair Folk forsook Orcans.  But now that daemons have conquered the mythic elven isles, the leviathan blocks the elves’ only escape route back to the mortal nations.

A pair of thalassic behemoths has only been witnessed once: at the destruction of the Bridge of Force at the strait separating Nortgard from Tylesia.  A new bridge has been constructed over the strait, and a certain scylla-slaying party of adventurers is expected to be at the ribbon-cutting…just in case.

The Unlooked-For is that rarest of things: a thalassic behemoth that did not come from the ocean.  This terrifying creature arose from the Great Inland Sea at Cainus, destroying cities up and down the coast for their promotion of the demonic Jackal Mother to the level of goddess.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 3 38

P.S. Something I didn’t mention when we covered the tempest behemoth: Flip to the back of the book and check out the full behemoth subtype to really get a grasp on their abilities and defenses, especially their tarrasque-like regeneration and Ruinous (Su) and Unstoppable (Ex) natures.

P.P.S.  Did someone mention crawling whales?  “Blowhole, if you were a tree, what sort of tree would you be?”

P.P.P.S. Did I not post Saturday’s show yet?  The bad news is that my swipe access to the station was accidentally shut off, so I got into my show late—you’re going to have to fast-forward through 10 minutes of dead air.  The good news is we looked at the 20th anniversary of the No Alternative compilation, plus there’s some TEEN, R. L. Burnside, and other fun stuff.  Download it here.

(Link good till Friday, 11/8, at midnight.)