FREQUENCY: Common
NO. APPEARING: 1-20
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 0?//18? to 0?//24?
HIT DICE: ½ to 10
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 (bite)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4 to 5-20
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
SIZE: S to L (3' to 30' long)
Ichthyosaurs are seagoing
reptiles found in all Mesozoic settings.
An ichthyosaur might be mistaken for a
shark, though it breathes
air, or it might be mistaken for a dolphin,
although its tail moves
from side to side rather than up and down.
Triassic ichthyosaurs
are more obviously reptilian than their
descendants. Ichthyosaurs
do not lay eggs but bear their young live.
The larger and more
predatory ichthyosaurs won't hesitate
to attack humans or man-like
creatures they find in the water. Ichthyosaurs
vary with size
as follows:
| MOVE: | 18" | 18" | 21" | 21" | 24" | 24" |
| HIT DICE: | 1/2 | 1-2 | 3-4 | 5-6 | 7-8 | 9-10 |
| DAMAGE: | 1-4 | 2-5 | 2-8 | 3-12 | 4-16 | 5-20 |
| SIZE: | S(3-4) | M(5-7) | L(8-10) | L(11-15) | L(16-20) | L(25-30) |
In any period of the Mesozoic, there are
some ichthyosaurs
adapted to eating small mollusks and fish
or to eating shellfish.
These inflict damage as if they were one
size class smaller, the
smallest of them inflicting 1-3 points
of damage. A few Jurassic
and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs are toothless
and 3? faster than
normal, resembling swordfish. These do
not exceed 8 HD in size.
Unlike whales, ichthyosaurs cannot strike
at creatures that are on
the surface with their tails, since the
tail does not move up and
down.