Grick: Dune Joke

First the grell, now this. These last two entries have been some weird looking dudes. And I kinda love it!

Lore: Lurker in the Rocks

Gricks lay waiting within rocks for their prey. Rather than hunting, they’ll drag their rubbery bodies to where other creatures might pass to lurk until they can ambush their next meal. They’ll consume anything aside from another grick. Only once their prey is extinguished do they move on. The only sign of their presence is the accumulated items discarded from the corpses of its victims.

And… that’s it. It hides in the rocks and ambushes people. That’s all there is to it.

Well, that’s a shame.

Design: Worm-Tentacle-Octopus… Wortenpus?

Why does the word ‘wordentpus’ make me feel so uncomfortable?

This is another A+ design. Whoever made the grell must have been responsible for this dude, because they have a lot of the same energy. Three simple aspects, worm, beak, and tentacles, all stuck together. And it works!

Like, imagine walking across some rocks and then this motherfucker pops out at you! That is a legitimately frightening image!

If there were more to its lore, I’m sure I’d have more to say here. But there’s not, so I’ll wrap it up quick. This is a creative and fun design and I like it a lot. Definitely a solid one.

Not that the bar is all that high these days.

Stats: Now There Are Two of Them!

We’ve got two flavors of grick to work with here! And both are just as boring as each other! Yay!

The regular grick is hardly durable. Its AC is hardly the worst thing ever, but it’s also hardly the best. However, its HP is just pitiful. Luckily, it has resistance to all non-magical melee, so an early party of adventurers might have a slightly harder time killing it.

And the alpha is the exact same but with less pitiful numbers.

Action wise, the grick is pretty basic. It can attack you with its tentacles, then with its beak if that hits. Combined, that comes to a total of 3d6+4 damage. Not bad for an early game monster, but hardly the most threatening.

And the alpha is the exact same thing but the tentacles do more damage and it can attack with its tail.

Why are there two varieties when they’re both basically the same thing?

Both varieties have the Stone Camouflage ability. This gives them advantage on stealth checks made in rocky terrain. Which can make for a terrifying start to the battle; ambush the weakest member of the party, have them roll for initiative, and watch the players panic.

Placement

This is yet another mixed bag monster. Its lore basically doesn’t exist and its stats are lame. But god dammit, I love that design! Definitely one destined for the mid-low tier of the list.

With all that in mind, let’s put the Grick on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Dragon Turtle
4. Green Dragons
5. Red Dragons
6. Blue Dragons
7. Black Dragons
8. White Dragons
9. Silver Dragons
10. Couatl
11. Behir
12. Aboleth
13. Bronze Dragons
14. Brass Dragons
15. Copper Dragons
16. Gold Dragons
17. Chuul
18. Gibbering Mouther
19. Chimera
20. Death Knight
21. Fomorian
22. Bone Devil
23. Dracolich
24. Faerie Dragon
25. Ankheg
26. Storm Giant
27. Hill Giant
28. Empyrean
29. Efreeti
30. Dao
31. Cloud Giant
32. Drow (all four of ’em)
33. Shadow Demon
34. Marilith
35. Drider
36. Aarackockra
37. Azer
38. Demilich
39. Spectator
40. Marid
41. Cambion
42. Fire Giant
43. Animated Armor
44. Banshee
45. Basilisk
46. Yochlol
47. Bulette
48. Cloaker
49. Darkmantle
50. Doppelganger
51. Ghoul and Ghast
52. Ettin
53. Pit Fiend
54. Erinyes
55. Chain Devil
56. Bearded Devil
57. Barbed Devil
58. Spined Devil
59. Ice Devil
60. Djinni
61. Nalfeshnee
62. Glabrezu
63. Chasme
64. Grell
65. Barlgura
66. Horned Devil
67. Balor
68. Shadow Dragon
69. Vrock
70. Dretch
71. Gnolls (all three)
72. Goristro
73. Hezrou
74. Manes
75. Frost Giant
76. Duergar
77. Quasit
78. Dryad
79. Flumph
80. Goblin
81. Githyanki
82. Planetar
83. Imp
84. Clay Golem
85. Flameskull
86. Displacer Beast
87. Carrion Crawler
88. Githzerai
89. Grick <——————–
90. Rug of Smothering
91. Bugbear Chief
92. Bugbear
93. Flesh Golem
94. Vine Blight
95. Twig Blight
96. Needle Blight
97. Bullywug
98. Ettercap
99. Gas Spore
100. Cockatrice
101. Lemure
102. Solar
103. Deva
104. Gorgon
105. Cyclops
106. Centaur
107. Ghost
108. Fire Elemental
109. Water Elemental
110. Air Elemental
111. Stone Giant
112. Deep Gnome
113. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
114. Iron Golem
115. Stone Golem
116. Earth Elemental
117. Galeb Duhr
118. Flying Sword
119. Crawling Claw
120. Violet Fungus
121. Shrieker
122. Gargoyle