V&V A to Z: Grendel

Character Name: Grendel    Real Name: n/a     Side: Neutral

Gender: ???     Height: 42'    Weight: 218,633 lbs     Age: ???

        

Physical Description: A gigantic reptilian-looking creature in a vaguely humanoid shape, covered in pale-green scales. It's head has something of a toad-like appearance.  The claws on its hands are relatively small – they're only somewhat larger than short swords.  

STR: 30     END: 26     INT: 0     AGL: 9     CHA: 15

Level: 4th     XP: 9,000     Basic Hits: 4,374     Hit Points: 31,493     
Healing Rate: 3,062/day     Movement: 455"      Power: 65     
Carrying Capacity: 3,236,212 lbs     HTH Damage: 10d10

Damage Modifier: -     Accuracy: -     Detect Hidden: 0%     Detect Danger: 30%  

Inventing Points: 0     Inventing: 0%     
Reaction Modifier: -2 from all (and that's being generous!)     Training: n/a  

Powers

Armor: 125 (x3.75 weight)

Heightened Agility B: +18

Heightened Endurance A: +15

Heightened Strength A: +19

Natural Weaponry: +3 to hit, +6 damage (claws)

Size Change – larger, permanent (x7 height, x343 weight, -20 AGL)

Water Breathing A: PR 1 per hour to breath air

Drawbacks

Lowered Intelligence: -11 (animal intelligence)

Physical Handicap – Hibernation (goes 1d100 months between attacks on the surface, spends    the rest of the time in a hibernative state at its lair on the ocean floor – if attacked during this    time, it is sluggish, attacking at -4 , and only doing half damage on successful attacks)

Character Notes/Origin: No one knows what the creature is, or where it came from.

It first showed a couple of decades ago, attacking a major city on the seaboard. It has since attacked different cities along the seaboard several times; occasionally there are only a few months between attacks, more often it's a a few years. A reporter (who apparently had managed to stay awake in Mythology 101 class during their freshman year in college) dubbed the creature Grendel, and that's how most people still refer to it.

Even superheroes have had little effect in deterring the creature; most simply aren't powerful enough to seriously hurt the creature. The best that can usually be accomplished is to distract the creature and keep it busy while the civilian populace get out of the way. The creature will continue to fight until either its Power score or Hit Points are reduced by half (remember, it's spending 1 point of Power per hour while out of the ocean; also, it won't bother 'rolling with the punch', as its Power score would otherwise be depleted early, and it has more than enough hit points to burn), at which point it will retreat into the oceans, not to be seen again until it comes out of its hibernative state.

(note – despite its somewhat reptilian appearance, most scientists speculate that the creature is more amphibian than reptilian)

Campaign Use: Sometimes, you just want a big, ugly monster to show up and wreak all sorts of havoc, and that's exactly what Grendel does. Unless they are exceptionally powerful, or have a specialized attack that can somehow affect it, the best that most superhero groups can hope for is to keep it busy until it tires out, rescuing people in danger and trying to keep property damage to a minimum.

Especially powerful and/or ambitious superhumans may wish, if they have the right powers or access to the proper technology, to track Grendel down to its lair and confront it there. If they do so, they just might find some clues to how the creature came to be.

A supervillain with the right set of powers (such as Animal Control: Aquatic Life) might be able to control the creature and make it do his or her bidding; needless to say, this would be a bad, bad thing...