AC 16 (natural armor)
HP 93 (11d10 + 33; bloodied 46)
Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.
Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities frightened, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages understands Deep Speech but can’t speak
Amphibious. The chuul can breathe air and water.
Detect Magic. The chuul senses a magical aura around any visible creature or object within 120 feet that bears magic.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. If the chuul is grappling a creature, it uses its tentacle on that creature. It then makes two pincer attacks.
Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one Large or smaller target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15). When carrying a grappled creature, the chuul can move at full speed. A pincer that is being used to grapple a creature can be used only to attack that creature.
Tentacle. A grappled creature makes a DC 14 Constitution saving throw . On a failure, it is paralyzed for 1 minute. The creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the paralysis on a success.
Combat
The chuul seeks out magical treasure. It uses its Detect Magic ability to choose the target with the most visible magic items. The chuul tries to grapple that creature and then paralyze it on the next turn. Once the chuul has at least one creature seized, it retreats, trying to carry its victim to its master.
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or History check, characters can learn the following:
DC 15 Aboleths created chuuls as servants. Chuuls are more intelligent than they appear and can detect magic but have no desires of their own.
DC 20 A chuul’s tentacles drip a powerful paralytic toxin.
Though they bear many of the physical characteristics of crustaceans, chuuls are not natural creatures. Eons ago, the aboleth created chuuls to serve as custodians for their humanoid thralls. With the decline of the aboleth empire, most chuuls now exist in solitude, patiently awaiting the return of their aquatic masters.
Deep Conditioning. Chuuls are intelligent enough to understand language—or, as is more often the case, the telepathic dictates of their aboleth overlords. Few chuuls, however, exhibit any sort of free will. A chuul without its master will follow the last orders it received, mindlessly patrolling a certain area or attacking any humanoid it encounters. Chuuls reproduce by laying eggs, but they do not age, meaning the oldest chuuls have spent countless centuries carrying out the mandates of long-departed masters.
Warped by Magic. Chuuls can sense magic and often hoard magic items they find on the bodies of their victims. Some even decorate their exoskeletons with these enchanted treasures, drawing on their power in a rudimentary way. Still others are warped by the proximity of magic, growing to incredible size or twisted into aberrations so horrific that normal chuuls look ordinary by comparison.
1 Lured by the presence of magic, now waiting to ambush the party
2 Guarding the gates of an abandoned underwater city
3 Admiring the magic ring it wears on its tentacle
4 Leading a group of shackled humanoid captives
5 Locked in mortal combat with a giant shark
6 Oblivious to its surroundings as it receives a psychic message from its master
1 An armor-clad skeleton, its breastplate crushed by some incredible force
2 A brief distortion in the weave of magic that spellcasters in the area automatically detect
3 A shipwreck, its hull torn open like paper
4 A clutch of slimy, yellow-green egg sacs
Chuuls stalk underwater caverns or keep watch over sunken ruins.
CR 5–10 1 or 2 chuuls ; spell-warped chuul
Treasure 3 spheres enchanted with different colors of continual flame (25 gp each), spell scrolls of magic missile and sleep inscribed on bronze tablets, spellguard shield
CR 11–16 3 chuuls ; spell-warped chuul with 1d4 aboleth thralls (see aboleth )
Treasure magic chess board that plays black at novice skill level (25 gp), pearl of power , 1 trident
Aberrations are unnatural beings that don’t belong to this plane of existence. Many aberrations are telepathic and use a mental power known as psionic power instead of magic. An aboleth is an aberration.