Smilglen Daet
Level 1Attacks
Abilities
Smilglen Daet gains 1 extra reaction at the start of each of her turns that she can use only to make an Attack of Opportunity with a tentacle. She can't use more than one Attack of Opportunity triggered by the same choice. Trigger A creature within the monster's reach uses a manipulate action or a move action, makes a ranged attack, or leaves a square during a move action it's using. Effect The monster attempts a melee Strike against the triggering creature. If the attack is a critical hit and the trigger was a manipulate action, the monster disrupts that action. This Strike doesn't count toward the monster's multiple attack penalty, and its multiple attack penalty doesn't apply to this Strike.
When Smilglen Daet Grabs a creature larger than herself, she attaches to that creature. The Grabbed creature is not Immobilized, but if it moves, Smilglen moves with it. If the creature is Medium or smaller, it takes a –5-foot status penalty to its Speeds while Smilglen is attached. Smilglen is Off-Guard while it is attached to a creature.
Smilglen moves up to 60 feet in a straight line through the water without triggering reactions.
Requirements The monster's last action was a successful Strike that lists Grab in its damage entry, or the monster has a creature Grabbed or Restrained Effect If used after a Strike, the monster attempts to Grapple the creature using the body part it attacked with. This attempt neither applies nor counts toward the creature's multiple attack penalty. The monster can instead use Grab and choose one creature it's grabbing or restraining with an appendage that has Grab to automatically extend that condition to the end of the monster's next turn.
Description
The top half of a grindylow looks vaguely like that of a goblin, but from the waist down, their bodies split into a tangle of suckered, wriggling tentacles. They dwell mostly in shallow waters both fresh and briny, including lakes, rivers, coastal regions, and near coral reefs. Grindylows generally organize into schools ranging from a few individuals to a few hundred. Smaller schools can sometimes be brought under the leadership of a powerful aquatic creature, though such alliances last only until the school faces a major setback, at which point the surviving grindylows scatter and form smaller schools of their own.
Grindylows aren't territorial, but they are pragmatic; while they rarely build permanent structures, they will adopt a good hunting ground for generations until driven away by predators. They often lair in mobile shelters, such as a sargasso of seaweed or the hull of an abandoned ship. They are skilled scavengers and hunters that eat anything they can sink their teeth into.
Grindylows respect the power of bigger sea predators but have a special hatred for squids (or anything they believe looks like a squid). Sailors plying grindylow-infested waters often paint the images of squids on the bottoms of their hulls in hopes of warding the little terrors off. While this can keep smaller schools at bay, it can also backfire, potentially inciting larger groups to gather for a coordinated attack; this becomes especially more likely if the ship's route becomes predictable. This hatred of squids does not extend to other tentacled creatures; grindylows consider octopuses to be the epitome of grace and power.