BX Monsters A to Z: Caecilia

 Now, at last, on to the C section of the monster list! Yeah, I know that pun is totally disassociated from anything remotely relevant. Anyway, the Caecilia, from the Expert Rules...

C is for Caecilia. That's good enough for me!


This is yet another monster that I cannot recall ever having used in actual play. In our real world, caecilians are a group of legless burrowing amphibians, less well-known relatives of frogs, toads, and salamanders. The D&D caecilia appears to be essentially a ravenous, giant-sized version, though it is described as a giant gray wormlike creature, and not acknowledged as an amphibian. They are around 30 feet long, with "cavernous mouths and sharp teeth." 

Though superficially they seem like a junior version of the purple worm, if we assume similarity to their real world analog, they're actually vertebrates, and perhaps slightly more intelligent than a true worm. Their AC of 6 suggests a fairly tough, probably rubbery hide, and their 6 Hit Dice indicate a tough opponent, but not overwhelmingly so. With a single attack per round for 1d8 damage, they're probably not going to be a significant threat to a low-Expert level party. They do, however, have the capability of swallowing a target whole on an attack roll of 19 or 20, causing 1d8 damage per round thereafter until the victim is rescued, cuts his way out, or dies. Only a dagger may be used when attacking the creature from within. Its movement rate is a sluggish 60'(20') so all but the most heavily encumbered of adventurers should be able to keep ahead of it, if not quickly outdistance it, should they prefer to flee rather than fight.

Looking at this monster again, I can really see why I never used it before, as it's big and strange enough not to work as a common mook-level monster, but lackluster enough in its abilities that it doesn't really fit as a spotlight sort of encounter either. Perhaps its most viable role is as an encounter to test the judgment or cleverness of Basic-level characters, something they probably can't beat in a straight-up fight, but without being so deadly that they couldn't fight it for a few rounds before deciding discretion is the better part of valor. To higher-level characters, it's just a really big nuisance for the most part. 

It does have Treasure Type B, though it's unclear whether that would be found in some sort of lair or carried around in the monster's stomach. Either way, the loot is probably ingested incidentally with prey rather than purposely gathered, and thus either possibility could be true in any given case.

It is noteworthy that it seems to be the first appearance of a critical hit-like mechanic in B/X, as well as the first (albeit rather oblique) mention of the dagger as being well-suited to close-quarters combat. Other than that, it's a pretty forgettable creature. If I were going to try to make it more interesting, I might make it an ambush-type predator that erupts out of the ground to attack, with an enhanced chance to surprise; maybe 3-in-6.

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