GRELL, PHILOSOPHER

Medium-Sized Aberration

Hit Dice: 7d8 (32 hp)

Initiative: +2

Speed: 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (perfect)

AC: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural)

Attacks: 10 tentacles +4 melee, bite -1 melee

Damage: Tentacles 1d4+1 and paralysation, Bite 2d4

Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./10 ft.

Special Attacks: Improved grab, paralysation

Special Qualities: Blindsight, electricity immunity, paralysis immunity, tentacle regeneration, fly

Saves: Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +4

Abilities: Str 12, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8

Skills: Hide +12, Listen +4, Move Silently +12, Spot +8

Climate/Terrain: Any land or underground

Organization: Leaders of hive (1-2)
Challenge Rating: 5

Treasure: W(+U, workers; +H, patriarch)

Alignment: Usually neutral evil

Advancement: 7-9 HD (Large)

Grell are as a rule naturally disposed to neither order nor chaos. Most grell which humans encounter are of the worker type, roaming in hunting-bands along the myriad tunnels of the Underdark. These "rogue" grell, like human hunters, trade the protections of their society for freedom and hardiness (in game terms, high constitution).

But other workers still live in hives, taking a cut in Constitution (and therefore hitpoints and fortitude). Highly intelligent grell dominate the hives in a 1:10 ratio. These grell are known in their tchirp-twitch-and-telepathy tongue as "philosophers". In that language, the best translation into English of anything less powerful than a grell is "free-range livestock", so it is understandably difficult to ascertain what a grell philosophy might be.

The hive hunts out an area until it is barren, and then moves to another. Grell are not popular creatures even by Underdark standards; the only creatures interested in their preservation are mind flayers, for obvious reasons.

Grell mate once in a 30-40 year lifespan. The female later lays a clutch of 2d4 eggs. Young are born active and self-sufficient, but with only 1 HD. They gain 1 HD/month until adulthood. 10% of philosophers cast spells: they start as 2nd level sorcerors, and can rise up to the 6th level with time and experience.

Each hive has a "patriarch", or maybe "queen", who has risen from the ranks of the philosophers. The patriarch is a 30 ft diameter mass of flesh that does not move, and uses its many tentacles only to manipulate objects. In this manner it can even animate a ship. It has 19+ Int, 9 HD, and 10 AC. Its hive will try to find a cave with a magical nexus so it can install the patriarch upon it; on such a nexus it casts spells as a 7th level sorceror and acquires magic resistance (15% on a Night Below flux point). Some say even above the patriarchs rules an Imperator, which directs all hives in a programme of conquest.

A grell's paralytic poison cannot be extracted from the creature's body (using known techniques) but parts can be used for spells or items relating to levitation or electricity.

COMBAT

In addition to the attacks listed in RttToEE, hive-grell "soldiers" (workers and philosophers) can and do use weapons. The tip-spear is an edged metal head that fits on the tip of a tentacle and is held there by suction or barb; the weapon causes 1d6 damage if used to slash, and 2d6 if to impale. Victims hit by a tip-spear make a Reflex save (DC 14) or else are caught as if by tentacle. The lightning lance delivers 3d6 points of electrical damage, though a successful Reflex save halves the damage. This weapon starts with 36 charges and can be used once per round.

Although Monte Cook only implied this: any hit against a tentacle (grell's AC +1) renders it unusable, but subtracts no hp from the grell's total. Grell cannot bite and use tentacles at the same time.

20% of philosophers wear powerful rings of protection that confer an additional 5 points of AC.

The GRELL Philosopher and Patriarch first appeared in the second edition Monstrous Manual (1993). The above takes the template for the [worker] Grell, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil pp. 158-9, and attaches anything from 2e which Monte missed - including grell depictions from such third-party sources as Night Below. The rule about not biting and using tentacles at the same time is my own, to explain why they only bite as a "last resort".