Monstrosities and Oddities, painted for this archiveHippocampus
Creature, Monstrosities and Oddities
A gilled sea creature of warm oceans with a horse's forebody on finned forelegs and a scaled fish tail. Very fast in water, it is hard to catch but becomes a loyal mount or pack animal once trained.
Also called Seahorse, Hippocampi
From the book
The hippocampus, or seahorse, lives in various warm seas and oceans. From the front it looks like a horse, but its body tapers into a fish's tail. Instead of hooves its two strong forelegs end in fins that drive it through the water, while the lashing tail adds power and steers.
Despite its horse-like looks it is a true creature of the sea, breathing through gills. Fine scales cover its forequarters and larger plates armor its tail. It is extremely fast in the water, which makes catching one difficult, but a captured hippocampus can be trained to carry a rider or bear loads and becomes a devoted, faithful animal. It breathes only water and dies if kept out of the sea for more than ten minutes. Trained hippocampi are highly prized as mounts, and in some regions one fetches 2,000 gold pieces or more.
At a glance
- Habitat
- Warm seas and oceans
- Form
- Horse-like upper body; fish-like tail; two forelegs with fins instead of hooves
- Breathing
- Gills
- Scales
- Fine on the foreparts, larger plates on the tail
- Speed
- Very fast in water
- Uses
- Riding and pack animal; devoted and loyal once trained; domesticated by Tritons (per Triton entry)
- Height/Length
- 8 ft.
- Weight
- 1,600-2,000 lbs.
- STR
- 18
- SPD
- 20
- DEX
- 16
- CON
- 16
- INT
- 8
- WILL
- 15
- CHA
- 15
- PER
- 19
- Level
- 3-5
- Alignment
- Neutral
- Damage
- Tail: 2-12 (battering)
- Special Attributes
- Breathes water; dies after more than 10 minutes out of water
- Armor
- As chain mail
- Hit Points
- 20-30
- Comments
- Highly valued as steeds; in some regions one fetches 2,000 gold pieces or more