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A Gammaroid is an enormous spacefaring creature from the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1]

Overview[]

A gammaroid resembles a gargantuan spacefaring snapping turtle, and like its terrestrial cousin, it has a voracious appetite and absolutely dominates any territory it occupies. A gammaroid's unique breeding habits have made it the source of monster legends and religious rites on many worlds.[1]

Combat[]

On a planet's surface or in space, a gammaroid is a fearsome opponent. In wildspace, the gammaroid prefers to ambush its prey, masquerading as an asteroid by allowing smaller rocks to adhere to its body through gravitic attraction. When prey happens by, its enormous head shoots forth, smashing its victim to pulp with the power of its enormous jaws. A gammaroid's jaws are so large that they can swallow entire vessels whole. The bony ridges of a gammarold's beak are sharp enough to rip through a ship's hull, and its claws can rend through any material, especially a victims flesh.

A gammaroid can pursue fleeing prey by retracting its legs and head within its shell, and then, rotating rapidly about its central axis, fly through space at spelljamming speeds, achieving a SR of 9 at a MC of F. When this deadly missile hits a ship, the whirling serrated edge of the gammaroid's shell may cut the vessel in half or utterly destroy it. When entering a planetary atmosphere, the friction created by its rapid rotation causes the gammaroid to be enveloped in a massive ball of fire. The gammaroid tends to use this whirling attack primarily against its favorite prey, the gossamer noble.[1]

Habitat[]

Gammaroids spawn on planetary bodies larger than size A. They land near geologically unstable regions, homing in on areas where the heat is near the surface (up to ten miles deep). A female gammaroid digs into the planet's crust until she reaches magma, then lays 2 to 8 eggs in the lava pit. When she has finished laying her eggs, she crawls from the hole, allowing it to collapse behind her. Within 50 years, the young gammaroids hatch and tunnel upward, usually surfacing far away from their hatchery. This spawning causes great destruction to surface dwellings, and even the largest underground monsters are easy prey to the hungry hatchlings.

The lifespan of a gammaroid is extraordinarily long. Specimens with shell growth patterns indicating millennia of molts have been recorded.

Ecology[]

A gammaroid is the undisputed apex predator of any ecosystem it inhabits. Its only natural enemy is the gossamer noble, which it disables by cutting off its tentacles, then attacking with its claws and enormous shear-like jaws. Though the gammaroid prefers to prey on gossamer nobles, it may attack spelljamming ships during times of great hunger to get at the soft, tiny mortals inside. However, the metal-and-wood canisters that hold the small feasts do not appeal with the gammaroid's palate.[1]

Gamaro Base created from the corpse of a gammaroid

Notable Gammaroids[]

Signature Spelljammers[]

The shells of dead gammaroids have proven quite useful as spelljammer hulls, as the lightness and toughness of the shell combine to make a highly maneuverable armored vessel. They can fetch a king's ransom.[1]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Newton Ewell, MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Gammaroid entry
  2. Bruce Nesmith, SJS1 Goblins' Return, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Moragspace section, chapter 2: Events on Gamaro Base, page 10
  3. Rick Swan, SJQ1 Heart of the Enemy, 1992, (TSR Inc.), About the Gamaro Base section, chapter 5: Morkitar and the Marauder, page 81
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