Coelenite

This bizarre lifeform can either be considered as hundreds of creatures or just one, depending on what one is looking at, for the coelenite is a colony creature. At its most basic form, a coelenite is a single-celled organism that lives in the ocean. Like its cousin, the coral, the coelenite gathers together with other single-celled coelenites and grows a hard calcite shell.

A single-celled creature hardly seems a fearsome opponent, but it is in part this property that makes it so feared. The coelenite earns the attention of adventurers because of its unique properties as a colony. When enough of the single-celled creatures band together, they achieve a rudimentary intelligence. Adding more, they become sentient.

In this form, the creature is referred to as a coelenite colony. The secreted calcite is modified and altered, grown with a purpose until a body is formed from the hard mineral, assuming a humanoid shape. (The most reliable reports describe the coelenite colony as a coral-encrusted man.) The approximation is only crude, however. There are no visible sensory organs and the coelenite colony's manual dexterity is quite poor.

Each coelenite colony is patterned and colored diversely. Some are covered with whorled, brain-like patterns. Others are frilled with fan-like plumage. Colors range from dull browns to brilliant yellows and reds.

Combat: Coelenite colonies are slow but dangerous foes. Most often they attack other creatures in the water, but they have been known to venture aboard ships for brief periods of time. Out of water they move slowly and suffer a +2 on their initiative rolls. Their attacks are slow and stiff (hence their poor THAC0). This is offset by their hard and rasping exoskeletons that can cause fearsome wounds. They swing their arms like clubs, each awkward limb causing 2-12 points of damage from the sharp coral edges.

Depending on the method used to fight them, coelenites are either nearly impossible or ridiculously simple to kill. Edged and missile weapons do 1 point of damage per hit (plus Strength and magic bonuses). Blunt weapons do 1-2 points of damage.

Magic has even more peculiar results. First, coelenites are never allowed a saving throw. Spells that affect a single individual or organism (a finger of death, for example) are completely useless against the coelenite. Magic which affects a small area of the colony (such as a magic missile) does only 1 point of damage. Damage spells that effect 50% but not all of a colony (shocking grasp, burning hands), cause half-normal damage. Area-effect spells that encompass the entire creature (a fireball, for example) instantly slay the colony. In addition, without a central, single mind, coelenites are immune to all enchantment/charm and illusion/phantasm spells. ESP only reveals the teeming presence of life, but no specific thoughts the colony may possess.

When a coelenite's hit points are reduced to 0 through melee, the creature does not actually die. Instead, it has suffered sufficient damage to destroy the colony's exoskeleton. Often the surviving single-cell creatures seep out of the coral to reunite and create a new body somewhere else.

Because they are essentially a walking coral, the coelenite colony can only remain out of the water for a short time. At the end of every five rounds, the creature suffers 1d6 points of damage. Thus, one of the most effective ways to destroy a coelenite colony is to trap it on shore.

Coelenite colonies slain by area-effect magic or just dried out in the sun leave behind an empty, rigid husk, locked into whatever its last pose was. These are extremely hard and resist destruction the same as the coelenite colony itself.

Habitat/Society: Although they possess a simple intelligence, coelenite colonies are solitary creatures. Each colony has a nest that it stuffs with food –mostly decomposing fish. There the colony rests, filtering the nutrient rich water throughout its cells. While most of its prey is small, colonies are attracted by noise and action. Swimmers in particular draw its attention. A coelenite colony has been known to seize a floundering sailor and drag him down to its nest.

Ecology: The abandoned husks of a coelenite colony are the source of many useful items to islanders. The sharp husk is used to stud clubs, is crushed as a grinding grit, sometimes even is used as a building material. Traders in exotics have sold dead coelenite husks as “foreign” statuary. A superb specimen may fetch 1,000 gp. There even have been unconfirmed reports that colonies have been enslaved by powerful wizards and marids.

Mass Colonies: On rare occasions, when the collection of coelenite colonies exceeds fifty, an even higher consciousness is achieved –a mass mind. When this happens, the coelenite colonies and the mass mind overall gain several additional powers.

Foremost of these is a noticeable increase in the intelligence of the mass colony mind. The activities of the separate colonies are directed by a single intelligence. The mass mind is Average Intelligence, able to conceive and use stratagems for battle. Unlike many creatures, this intelligence does not have a fixed “brain” but is the combination of the intelligences of all the colonies. Communication between the different colonies is telepathic, though it only seems a jumble of raw data to any person with the power to eavesdrop. If 50% of the colonies are destroyed, the mass mind will disintegrate and each colony will become independent once more.

One of the preferred tactics of the mass mind is to attack larger targets and build traps to catch more food. The mass mind considers its nest to be an entire lagoon. When large prey enters (such as a ship), coelenite colonies are ordered into position and then the shells are abandoned by their single-celled builders. The actual organism flows back into the sea to grow a new body. The shells left behind are used to form a wall to block the exit or even encase the prey.