Brainstorming Octopus Elements

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by Terquem

In the original, fantastic, artwork, the octopus-folk have upright heads

Anyone have any ideas about this? I mean there are obvious ones, like those mentioned, magical air bladders, cartilage, any others?

They must be denser and stronger than purely aquatic octopi, if they can hold themselves erect and move with confidence on land. So I would say stronger musculature backed up by thicker tegument and connective tissues, and possibly a homeostatic internal pressure system that allows them to make their flesh more rigid on demand. No need for the semi-magic air bladder, I added those to my Ammonite Priests because they can fully levitate and don't need to walk on land. Land Octopi abilities seem to be fully natural.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

Creator's intent - they are most comfortable in water, and in dry terrain would take a lot of water to keep hydrated. But they are dangerously graceful on land. They could, for instance, hang from a rocky ceiling and drop on you like a Slime. Then you would be in hand to hand to hand to hand to hand combat.

I wonder how they get along with the Sea Elves.

The very limited evidence on both in Old ITL doesn't give enough to say...

nor even enough to know if they are group-oriented...

Looking at the very limited cutural sketch for octopuses...

Originally Posted by ITL

Octopi are greedy, dishonest and cowardly. They like treasure and human flesh, and will attack to get either. They do NOT enjoy danger, and will retreat when the going gets tough. They prefer ambushes and sneak attacks. They are not common; rarely will you find more than one or two in any place near human habitations.

So it falls to "What the GM needs in the local area" unless the designer gives us better clues.

(Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge.)

Like whether Deep Elves and Humans taste similar.
Like whether Octopuses form bands, tribes, villages, cities?

We do know that deep elves (the name used in ITL 1) live in glowing castles, so they, at least, are a civilization building species...

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

I wonder how they get along with the Sea Elves.

Badly, I imagine. ITL implies they get long badly with pretty much everyone, doesn't it?

The other interesting characteristics of octopuses are their ability to pass through amazingly small holes, and to change colour with chromatophores.

[zot]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

They must be denser and stronger than purely aquatic octopi, if they can hold themselves erect and move with confidence on land. So I would say stronger musculature backed up by thicker tegument and connective tissues, and possibly a homeostatic internal pressure system that allows them to make their flesh more rigid on demand. No need for the semi-magic air bladder, I added those to my Ammonite Priests because they can fully levitate and don't need to walk on land. Land Octopi abilities seem to be fully natural.

Could be a blend of natural and magical properties, like gargoyles. They're silicon-based lifeforms but also have magical flight capability. So it's great if it's fully plausible but it wouldn't HAVE to actually work in real life...

[zot]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

Badly, I imagine. ITL implies they get long badly with pretty much everyone, doesn't it?

The other interesting characteristics of octopuses are their ability to pass through amazingly small holes, and to change colour with chromatophores.

Yes, their video-screen-like camouflage is just amazing. Imagine if you could control that -- it's like a natural Glamor spell...

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by zot

Could be a blend of natural and magical properties, like gargoyles. They're silicon-based lifeforms but also have magical flight capability. So it's great if it's fully plausible but it wouldn't HAVE to actually work in real life...

Of course. I'm a biologist by education so I just like to try to devise as many natural explanations as I can before I resort to magic. ^_^

Incidentally, how about giving Land Octopi a terrestrial equivalent of the squid's "ink cloud" defense? Perhaps they can aerosolise the ink and create an obscuring black cloud of vapour around themselves, either to aid escape or to allow them to strike more stealthily.

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

Incidentally, how about giving Land Octopi a terrestrial equivalent of the squid's "ink cloud" defense? Perhaps they can aerosolise the ink and create an obscuring black cloud of vapour around themselves, either to aid escape or to allow them to strike more stealthily.

That would be a cool defense mechanism. This creature in the New Monsters thread has something similar. http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...7&postcount=55

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by Shostak

That would be a cool defense mechanism. This creature in the New Monsters thread has something similar. http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...7&postcount=55

Thanks, and I think I'll give the airborne ink cloud to one of my custom octopi speciations as well. I could see both Blueband assassins and Ammonite mages as having a use for it. I think Colossus Squid would be more likely to retain the inky ability in water, as squids are natural ink producers, and it would really help in their battles against Chthonic Kraken.