BX Monsters A to Z: Crocodile

 I'll spare you the cheesy Steve Irwin references and just get right to the point, shall I? In case you hadn't already guessed, today's monster is the crocodile, from the Expert Rules. 

Crocodiles are an interesting entry in the D&D bestiary, being denizens of tropical and sub-tropical climates, and so yet another departure from the default Northern/Western European-esque setting. They're almost always found in aquatic environments, and hunt by lurking just beneath the surface and lunging at prey, either in the water or on land adjacent to it. Real world crocs are fairly diverse, with many different extant species, with the American crocodile, Nile crocodile, and saltwater crocodile being among the largest and most well-known. 

"Normal" crocodiles are fairly ho-hum in D&D terms. Their AC of 5 is decent; with only 2 Hit Dice, they're much less tough than one might expect. They're relatively slow, at 90'(30') both in the water and out. Damage is decent, at 1-8 points per attack. 

"Large" crocodiles are described as being at least 20 feet in length, with a stout AC of 3 and a robust 6 Hit Dice. They can bite for 2-16 points, twice the damage of a normal croc. Both normal and large crocodiles have Morale of 7, suggested an opportunistic attacker that isn't likely to stick around if they don't take their prey quickly.

"Giant" crocodiles are truly monstrous, measuring 50 feet in length. With a very stiff Armor Class of 1 and 15 Hit Dice (more than the largest dragons described in the rules!) these guys are meant to represent some of the gargantuan crocodiles of the distant past (but see below). Their bites inflict 3-24 points of damage, and their Morale scores of 9 indicate a creature willing to fight for its dinner.

Unfortunately, the D&D versions of crocodiles don't seem to match their real world counterparts very well. To start, mature adults of the most well-known real world crocs weigh in at several hundred pounds at least, sometimes exceeding 2,000 pounds, and seem to merit more than a paltry 2 HD. Even male saltwater crocodiles, the largest living reptiles in the world, average between 11 and 20 feet long, thus not qualifying as "large" size, but weigh 440 to almost 2,500 pounds. An ordinary wolf has 2+2 HD, for comparison, but then again, a riding horse only has a flat 2 HD, so either I'm crazy, or the authors of B/X D&D lacked perspective and consistency from one monster stat block to the next. 

No known crocodile, living or extinct, qualifies for the "giant" category, with the largest specimens of Deinosuchus, possibly the largest crocodiles ever to exist, estimated to reach a bit shy of 40 feet in length. There's nothing to say a fantasy world can't contain creatures more epic in scale than their analogs in our world, but it's a curious dichotomy that the authors should shortchange "ordinary" crocodiles while exaggerating the big ones. 

The other issue I have with D&D crocs is that making an attack roll every round, 1d8 damage on a "hit" kind of implies a chomp-release-chomp routine. Crocodile teeth are not meant for shearing flesh, but for gripping and holding. Crocs have some of the highest bite-force strengths in all of the animal kingdom; they're built for clamping down hard and not letting go, either to crush prey to death or to drag it under the water to drown it. That could easily be modeled by allowing the croc to do automatic damage each round after the first successful attack, which would make them dangerous indeed, as they should be. They also ought to have an enhanced chance of surprising prey, since that's their whole hunting strategy, perhaps 3 in 6 instead of the usual 2 in 6. If they don't gain surprise, there's a good chance it's because they're basking on the shore in plain sight, and are much less likely to initiate an attack from that position. 

Crocodiles of all sorts are fascinating creatures, as well as potentially deadly, and D&D really ought to give them their due.