Landshark

Landshark

% In Lair : nil  

Dungeon Enc: 1-2 (10% Chance mated pair)

Wilderness Enc: 1-2 (10% Chance mated pair)

Alignment: Neutral

Movement: 150’ (50’) Burrow 30’

Armor Class:  11/9/7

Hit Dice:  9***

Attacks:  3 (bite/claw/claw)

Damage:  4-48/3-18/3-18

Save:  F5

Morale: +4

Treasure Type: nil  

XP:  2500

The Landshark is a magical crossbreed, combining a snapping turtle with an

armadillo, with the temper of a grizzly with a sore tooth.  Fearless and always

ravenous, they will attack large parties just to eat a mount or draft animal. At

an average of 9 ½ feet tall and 12 feet long; these consume massive amounts

of food every day.

When fighting they use their front claws and gaping maw to kill, then will stop

and eat the pieces if not currently being attacked.  It takes a landshark one

round to eat a small creature, two for a medium and four for a large creature.

Surviving combatants wisely use this time to run away.  When surrounded,

the landshark can jump up to eight feet in the air, allowing them to make two

additional claw attacks with their rear feet.

The landshark is covered with massive armored scales; a prized component

in making magical shields.  It has two vulnerable spots, a small area behind

the crest (AC 7) and the small eyes from the front and sides (AC9).  There is

no penalty for calling a shot against these smaller targets, of the character is

in the right location.

The landshark is known for its ability to burrow underground, often with the

crest breaking through the surface.

Adapted from Advanced Dungeon and Dragon’s (1e) Monster Manual: Bulette

Conversion Notes:  One of the iconic monsters and copyrighted; this
conversion is for personal use only.   By straight conversion factor
the AD&D AC values of -2/4/6 convert to 11/3/5. (I convert based
off armor types, using a calculation only when the armor class is off
the charts like the AC-2.  In this instance the Monster Manual describes
the vulnerable spots as being small; so rather than giving characters a
-4 to hit them with a called shot, I increased the AC for the vulnerable
spots by 4.

Special Abilities: High Armor Class, Gaping Maw inflicts massive damage; Jump