Dec 23

Dec 23 Deep Dive - The Chuul

While you may just see the Chuul as the footsoldiers for an inevitable Kaiju invasion, these lobster-insect-lizards are more than just monsters to be slaughtered. They are a horrifying testament to what happens when mad wizards and creatures from outside our realms of understanding get ahold of a lowly crustacean. From genetic experiments gone wrong to purposeful transformations, we recommend you stay far away from swamps, rivers, oceans, and anywhere else that has a bit of water where these creatures can hide.

3e/3.5e - Chuul

Large Aberration (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: 11d8+44 (93 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 20 ft.
Armor Class: 22 (–1 size, +3 Dex, +10 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+17
Attack: Claw +12 melee (2d6+5)
Full Attack: 2 claws +12 melee (2d6+5)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Constrict 3d6+5, improved grab, paralytic tentacles
Special Qualities: Amphibious, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to poison
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +11, Will +9
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 5
Skills: Hide +13, Listen +11, Spot +11, Swim +13
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative
Environment: Temperate marshes
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (3-5)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: 1/10th coins; 50% goods; standard items
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 12–16 HD (Large); 17–33 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: -

Found in the Monster Manual (2000/2003), the Chuul is a creature dealing with an identity crises. Is it a crustacean, an insect, or perhaps a serpent? The text claims the Chuul is a combination of all three, which is as disturbing as it sounds. Trying to describe the Chuul is difficult, to say the least, but here goes.

The Chuul has an outer shell and massive claws that make one think it's a crustacean, while its mottled yellow-green legs and exoskeleton resemble that of a giant insect. If you look closely at the artwork, you can kind of see that the top section of the Chuul resembles a serpent. The Chuul is covered in a mottled, armored carapace. They are big, reaching over 8 feet long and weighing up to 650 pounds. It has beady little black eyes that stare into your soul, but those probably won’t be the first thing you notice.

The first thing you are going to look at it are its massive claws. These claws are probably what happens if lobster claws somehow mated with a venus fly trap and then took some steroids to get massive in size. The Chuul's claws are used to first grab at creatures, pinching them quite tightly. Once it pinches you, it can attempt to grapple you with the claws, on a success it has you grappled and you get to find out what it feels like to be a fly stuck in a plant trap. Every turn that it continues to grapple you, it continues to crush you with its powerful claws, and it doesn’t even take it an action to do so. It’s just free pain that it shares with you, it’s soon-to-be-meal. Of course, it can always get worse.

It can transfer any creature from its claws to its face-tentacles. This face is only one that Cthulu could love as it has a mass of writhing tentacles grasping for you. If you are successfully transferred from claw to tentacles, you can rejoice as you are no longer being crushed to death. You can weep as you feel something oozing from the tentacles, and the DM tells you to make a Fortitude save. We can only hope that you roll well, because if you don’t then everything just got that much worse for you as you are paralyzed for 6 rounds. You also continue to take damage from the Chuul’s mandibles as it holds you in place, so that is just salt on the wound.

A Chuul may look like a lobster, but it mostly wanders in warm marshlands and swamps instead of oceans. Do you know who else lives in warm bogs? Lizardfolk, who the Chuul find pretty tasty. Given a choice between slurping the marrow out of your bones or a lizardfolk, the Chuul will choose a lizardfolk every time. Some Chuul prefer to live underground, and they prefer the meat of troglodytes and the occasional drow. If none are around, they are more than willing to make do with you. Once you and your party are dealt with, and by that we mean devoured and eaten, than the Chuul begins gathering up all your belongings as trophies. If you don’t happen to have any belongings, maybe because you’d rather not enrich the creature that kills you, the Chuul is nothing if not creative. It will then rip your head off, clean off all the gross bits, and claim your skull as its prize. We have no idea why it wants a trophy so badly, but it’s probably so it can build a skull throne to rule with an iron pincer. We would be remiss if we didn’t also let you know, a Chuul speaks common, so it completely understands your screams and may even talk to you as it kills you, letting you know how you taste as it devours you.

The Chuul gets some love in Dragon #330 (April 2005) with the Ecology of the Chuul. Now let's all pretend to be shocked when we find out that the Chuul lived on an island filled with creatures resulting from a mad wizard's experiments. Don't wizards have anything better to do than create abominations that they then let loose to kill everything in sight? There's a long story about a wizard named Tarthalas who found an abandoned archmage tower of Kleptis, who isn’t the one who created the Chuul. Instead, this Kleptis journeyed to another island of an unnamed archmage who was responsible for the Chuul… it’s all very odd and Kleptis never returned. But we do get some research notes that he did. This unnamed wizard that Kleptis was investigating once lived on this island before the wizard decided it would be fun to try and take over the surrounding regions of the world. The kingdoms that were currently there didn’t take too kindly to those specific plans, and fought off the unnamed wizard and the army of horrible, mutated monsters. The unnamed wizard died as well as the entire army, leaving behind an island filled with strange monsters that now had no ‘god’ to control them. Kleptis then decided to try and claim the island, but now Kleptis is dead, so we guess that didn’t really work out well for him. The original character of this story, Tarthalas, then decides to go to the island and lay claim to it, and that works about as well as one would expect. The Chuul were once the unnamed wizard’s main monsters and were seen as the divine guardians by all of the other monsters on the island, which includes lizardfolk, monstrous plants, primitive mind flayers, three-armed giants, and lots more. With the fall of their ‘god’ wizard, so did the Chuul fall from their top billing on the island, and now they must also fight to survive.

The Chuul are not stupid creatures, using their surprising intellect to wage war on all humanoids, as they view humanoids as their mortal enemies. They use their smarts to expose their enemy's weaknesses and, once discovered, exploit them without remorse. While they may prefer to work with only their kind, the Chuul will occasionally work with mind flayers, beholders, and smaller humanoids that they deem as less intelligent who they force to work as their servants. The Chuul may be mighty, but having powerful friends comes in handy when battling overwhelming odds.

A couple of things of note are found in the article. We may not have mentioned it above, but the Chuul will hide just under the surface of pools of water, striking at unsuspecting passersby. Chuul are unaffected by most poisons and toxins due to their bizarre body types, probably because of all the experiments done on them. If you keep moving, you may have a chance against a Chuul, as they are slow eaters. Finally, the Chuul may be a large-sized creature, but they don't have reach. If you remember to bring your spear, then you can keep them at arm's length until you figure out a strategy that doesn't involve you dying. Of course, if you happen to sacrifice the druid, then you’ll have more than enough time to escape.

**Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations**, 2005 WotC

If that story was a little confusing, luckily, Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations (2005) was released in the same month as that article and comes with a bit more information on the Chuul. First, the unnamed wizard who created the Chuul is named, and his name is Ashranezr, so now we know who we should curse when we fight the Cthulhu-faced monsters. The Chuul were the first true success of the mad wizard Ashranezr as he had learned how to stop aging in his creations, making the Chuul immortal unless they were brutally killed and then cooked with lots of butter. Ashranezr was so convinced of his god-like status that he sent 600 of his hand-created Chuul into the world to begin his take-over, though that then turned the world against him. Ashranezr was left unguarded and was quickly killed; his remaining living Chuul continues to follow his instructions to this day, which is to kill all humanoids. Those Chuul that learned of his passing still continue his plans, though a few have formulated their own plots and agendas. See, those original 600 Chuul were special. Only they had immortality given to them by Ashranezr, and with his demise, they could not give their spawnlings the special items that bestowed immortality.

Of the first 600, only 200 of them remain since they had been sent across the world to enact Ashranezr’s plots; they had escaped complete destruction when Ashrenazr was destroyed. They reproduced and created the standard Chuul we all know and fear. These new Chuul only live about 100 years before they die, a blessing if ever we saw one. The original Chuul, though, have continued to grow and mature, and are huge creatures with additional powers and abilities that the common Chuul will never possess. They often act as the rulers of their Chuul tribes, and certainly have all manner of devious plots they hope to enact.

4e - Chuul

Level 10 Soldier
Large aberrant magical beast (aquatic) / XP 500
Initiative +10 / Senses Perception +9; darkvision
HP 109; Bloodied 54
AC 27; Fortitude 26, Reflex 20, Will 21
Speed 6, swim 6
Claw (standard; at-will) Reach 2; +17 vs. AC; 1d6 + 6 damage, or 3d6 + 6 damage against an immobilized creature.
Double Attack (standard; at-will) ✦ Poison The chuul makes two claw attacks. If both claw attacks hit a single target, the chuul makes a secondary attack against the same target with its tentacles. Secondary Attack: +14 vs Fortitude; the target is immobilized (save ends).
Tentacle Net ✦ Poison A creature hit by a chuul’s opportunity attack is immobilized until the end of the chuul’s next turn.
Alignment Unaligned / Languages Deep Speech
Str 22 (+11) Dex 16 (+8) Wis 18 (+9) Con 21 (+10) Int 4 (+2) Cha 14 (+7)

Found in Monster Manual (2008), they lose a bit of their shine in this edition. There’s nothing in the way of a description beyond telling us that a Chuul will emerge from various gross water, clamp onto you with its claws, and drag you into its poisonous mouth tentacles. The moral of the story is to avoid murky pools of water, push the warlock into swamps ahead of you, or give them a wide berth.

The only exciting tidbits involve what happens when it kills you, and we don’t think adventurers are too interested in that part. Once you are murdered by your friendly neighborhood Chuul, it eats every inch of your corpse except for your brain, as it is quite poisonous to them. This comes in handy when they are working for mind flayers, as the mind flayers only want brains and so the Chuul will be there eagerly awaiting to eat any brainless corpses, and we mean a corpse with no brain, not the barbarian.

This edition does provide us with an additional Chuul to be frightened of, known as the Chuul Juggernaut. There is no hiding in muddy water for these creatures as they’ll chase you down if you aren’t willing to just go without a fight. These powerful creatures are more than just oversized lobsters as they come bearing down on you with psychic abilities. It can use its mind to hit you with a Psychic Lure that strikes into your mind and then pulls you up to 25 feet closer to its beautiful tentacles. It then proceeds to chow down, ensuring to eat every part of you except your brain; it’s a shame that no one has ever told the Chuul that the mind is a terrible thing to waste.

The Chuul were also part of a series called Monster Manual Updates by Logan Bonner in Dungeon #192 (July 2011). While they retain their hideous looks, they now have a detailed description, so they have that going for them. They also have a great first opening line in the article:

A Chuuls wants only two things: to be left alone and to eat people.

Short, simple, and to the point. We also find out all sorts of new things about our favorite wannabe Cthulus. They live in pods, hanging out with the other Chuul in their stagnant pools of murky water. Some pods will go through the hassle of building lairs, digging out circular rooms in the muck that hold trophies from all the creatures they have killed and eaten. If you were disappointed that you had no clue how they reproduce, fear not, for we now know they lay eggs.

It’s not all rainbows and corpses for the Chuul as they do have a weakness. Aberrant spellcasters love to experiment on these noble creatures as they are quite susceptible to mutations and even mutate when no one is experimenting on them. This is probably why they have such a burning hatred for humanoids as they all have a racial memory, allowing them to recall events that past generations of Chuul suffered through. This racial memory provides all Chuul with a single, unifying message: kill all humans. While no one is quite sure why that is, it must be because at the start of the race’s history, some humans must’ve been up to no good.

5e - Chuul

Large Aberration, lawful evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 93 (11d10+33)
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
STR 19 (+4) DEX 10 (+0) CON 16 (+3) INT 5 (-3) WIS 11 (+0) CHA 5 (-3)
Skills Perception +4
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages understands Deep Speech but can't speak
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Amphibious. The chuul can breathe air and water.
Sense Magic. The chuul senses magic within 120 feet of it at will. This trait otherwise works like the detect magic spell but isn't itself magical.
Multiattack. The chuul makes two pincer attacks. If the chuul is grappling a creature, the chuul can also use its tentacles once.
Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 14) if it is a Large or smaller creature and the chuul doesn't have two other creatures grappled.
Tentacles. One creature grappled by the chuul must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. Until this poison ends, the target is paralyzed. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

The Monster Manual (2014) brings us a new batch of lore for the Chuul, rising them out of the mad experimentations of the wizards. Instead, these simple crustaceans were mutated and created by the aboleths. When the ancient aboleths ruled the known world, they created the Chuul to impose their will on land since the aboleths were stuck under the sea. Come to think of it, aboleths creating the Chuul makes complete sense, since only an aboleth could come up with such a hideous creation. Even when the aboleth empire fell, the Chuul continued serving them and guarding the ancient aboleth ruins maybe because they had nothing better to do or because they get a ready supply of adventurers who want to unlock ancient aboleth magic. Even today, the Chuul cannot break free from the mental chains their aboleth masters imposed upon them. Should a Chuul run into an aboleth, the pull of its ancient control will take hold, and the Chuul will do their master’s evil bidding without even trying to eat the aboleth first.

Little changes for how the Chuul operates when it tries to eat you. It attacks with both pincers at once, and if you are unfortunate enough to be grappled, it gets to use its tentacles in the same turn. The Chuul still loves to gather up all your treasure once it kills you, and now it’s easier to find you and all your precious magic items as it can sense magic from over a hundred feet away constantly. Since adventurers just love to collect magic items, we can’t imagine it’ll be too difficult for the Chuul to track down its supper.

From hideous creatures of unknown origin, to mad wizards and servants of the aboleth, the Chuul has undergone a series of dramatic changes in their lore. One thing hasn’t changed. The Chuul is a tentacle mouth abomination that is as scary as it is disgusting to gaze upon. With it’s massive claws and paralyzing tentacles, the Chuul is a creature to be feared. We’re not sure about you, but fighting an armor-plated insect-lizard-lobster with claws big enough to cut you in half and paralyzing chin whiskers is not our idea of fun.

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