Barnacles?

[Warchon]

My wife's druid just hit level 5 and she is excited to play with Wild Shape. Since we just boarded a ship at the end of our last session, we are hoping to have her select a flying animal and at least two sea animals as a go-to for now. (Her favored land form is locked in already for RP reasons).
As an offhand comment, she joked that she wants to be a barnacle. Now I want to surprise her with it.
Is there a barnacle anywhere in the 3.x books that would be druid legal, or maybe something from another system that could be readily converted?

[Fizban]

Not that I'm aware of, but the bigger problem is that you first need to find evidence of an individual barnacle that is big enough to meet the minimum size for Wild Shape. Then you also need to decide if barnacles (which are arhtropods) count as vermin (as giant bugs), which require a separate modifier to Wild shape.

In dnd terms, barnacles are just window dressing. Hazardous patches would be given a CR and stats the same way hazardous molds or fungi would be.

[Warchon]

Mm. That sounds a little bit like a death knell for the idea, but are there any other mollusks that count as an animal? Perhaps we could work up stats from there. It doesn't need to be a combat threat; this is more for comedic effect than anything else. It would obviously have to be a Monstrous barnacle to reach Small size, which would be just as much of a strike against it as Vermin, I suppose.
Does anybody know of anything that would be at least vaguely equivalent? I don't know, like a giant snail or something?

[Thurbane]

Barnacles are a crustacean, so in D&D 3.5 terms, would likely be a Vermin (I only found out they were a crustacean recently, I'd always assumed they were a mollusc, like a clam).

Maybe use a leech (giant or swarm) (Stormwrack) as a basis for a barnacle (aquatic vermin), or maybe a monstrous crab of some kind.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Maybe homebrew? Use the shrieker (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/fungus.htm) as the base, change it to animal or vermin, make it aquatic, and up its natural AC, while retaining its immobility.

[Fizban]

Not that I can find quickly anyway. The joke here is that the druid wants to turn into something quicky/non-vertibrate, but creature types are all about squickiness/vertebrate-ness, and squicky things that aren't vermin are either aberrations, or at best magical beasts, monstrous humanoids if they're anthropomorphized. The Seryulin is an intelligent giant slug thing, and is an aberration, leeches and maggots are vermin, crabs are vermin, Stormwrack has a giant lobster with water shooting that's a magical beast and a freaky intelligent giant lamprey that's an aberration, etc. Pretty sure giant snails and mollusks would go under vermin as well, though I can't recall any statted since they have no combat ability.

You could invent+homebrew a new animal that's like a turtle or fish and can move independently but just happens to spend most of it's life locked onto something else under a heavy shell. Starfish are invertebrates but are colorful and non-chitinous so you might convince someone they're not vermin (but they really should be).

How about a remora?

[Telonius]

Maybe treat it something like an aquatic caltrop? They make ships go slower when a whole bunch of them all latch on.

[Bronk]

I'm not sure how committed you guys are to the barnacle form, but you could take the Vermin Keeper prestige class, then take the form of a swarm of barnacles at tenth level. The swarm would be an odd one that wouldn't be able to move on its own, but it would take care of any size restrictions.

[Palanan]

Pathfinder has the giant clam (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/vermin/clam-giant/), which is the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

It's not a precise match for a barnacle, but it's large and sessile with a hard shell that opens, which is reasonably close.

[Nifft]

Some kinds of octopus could disguise themselves as giant barnacles, and cling to a ship's hull somewhat convincingly.

[ezekielraiden]

Pathfinder has the giant clam, which is the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

It's not a precise match for a barnacle, but it's large and sessile with a hard shell that opens, which is reasonably close.

Yeah, I'd probably tweak the giant clam rather than invent something in whole cloth. Perhaps look around for a proper crustacean to steal something from--the clam association with acid is already pretty good, since barnacles are linked to the erosion of wood, stone, and metal in frequent/constant contact with water.


Some kinds of octopus could disguise themselves as giant barnacles, and cling to a ship's hull somewhat convincingly.

This isn't a bad idea either.

[Warchon]

So far the Giant Clam is winning. Bringing it in will require liberal use of Rule 0, but considering the necessary size reduction I don't think it constitutes a power overreach. I'm willing to bet our DM will go for it, after the appropriate tweaks of course. :3

[DrMotives]

Tome of Horrors (3rd party but good, by Sword & Sorcery) has a giant clam & giant jellyfish stats. But, if you could find / homebrew them, I think a starfish would be better. Much like a barnacle, but not cemented to one spot. Can still move, just slow. And it's a big brainless stomach, more or less.

[skunk3]

Why not be a dolphin?

[Braininthejar2]

How about a hagfish? It's a really weird creature to turn into.
Also, it's spineless, but does have a skull, just enough to count as an animal.
Defends itself by secreting slime which rapidly jellifies surrounding water. (sucks if you have gills, and can't hold your breath).

I remember someone at minmax forums homebrewing it in 'dire'.

[Thurbane]

The largest known barnacle is the giant acorn barnacle, with a diameter of up to almost 6 inches, and a height of up to 12 inches. This would make it Tiny in 3.5 terms, unless I'm mistaken.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

And barnacles are hermaphrodites.

The more you know!

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