The grell is a fearsome carnivore that looks like a giant brain with a vicious beak and 10 dangling tentacles, each 6 feet long. Some grell are rogues, while others live in family units. The "civilized" grell is a hive or colony creature, much like an ant or a bee, but far more intelligent, arrogant, and dangerous.
Grell have a weird language composed of bird-like squawks and chirps, combined with tentacular motion and a limited telepathy with other grell. Other creatures cannot learn the grell language, and they would not deign to learn the language of "lesser beings" (a synonym for "food" in their language).
Combat: The grell's most common strategy is to use its natural levitation ability to hide in the upper reaches of large chambers. It can then drop silently on a victim.
A worker grell attacks with all 10 tentacles; each one that hits grips the opponent. With two tentacles gripping the prey, the grell can lift it up toward the ceiling and devour the prey when desired. A grell's hit automatically paralyzes prey.
Soldier grell often use weapons, including the tip-spear and the lightning lance. The tip-spear is an edged metal head which fits on the tip of a tentacle and is held there by suction; the weapon is used to slash or to impale. The lightning lance delivers a painful electrical jolt to those hit with it. A lightning lance starts with 36 charges; it can use one per 20 seconds.
Any hit against a tentacle renders it unusable, but subtracts no hit points from the grell's total. Grell regenerate lost or damaged tentacles in 1-2 days, and are immune to electrical attacks.
Grell use strategy and tactics in their battles and can attack more than one foe at a time. They are intelligent enough to allocate their tentacle attacks in an advantageous way. They use their beaks only against paralyzed prey.
Habitat/Society: Grell have a distinct hierarchy. Each hive is led by a patriarch, who gives orders to the philosophers, who direct the soldiers and workers in their every day tasks. A hive occupies an underground complex, or travels by ship.
Supposedly, all grell answer to a mysterious Imperator, a grell of great power who can unite all the grell for a common cause; to conquer a realm, or a territory.
A grell mates but once in its 30-40 year life span. The female later lays a clutch of 8 eggs. Young are born active and self-sufficient.
Ecology: Arrogant and vicious, grell hunt their territories to exhaustion, then move on to more fertile places.
A grell's paralytic poison cannot be extracted from the creature's body, but parts of the monster's body can be used for spells or items relating to levitation or electricity.
Soldier/Worker: These are the common grell that form the bulk of a hive or a raiding party. Occasionally, a grell will become separated from its fellows; these become rogues. Rogues carry no weapons, collect no treasure, and avoid sunlight.
Philosopher: These grell serve as intermediaries between patriarchs and workers/soldiers. Some lead lesser grell in combat, and there is one philosopher for every 10 lesser grell encountered. Some philosophers (20%) wear powerful rings of protection. About 10% of philosophers can cast spells as 2nd-level wizards.
Patriarch: Each hive has a patriarch, a huge, sedentary mass of flesh that directs the lesser grell. If the patriarch is taken to a ship, it can dig its many tentacles into the ship and animate it, even make it fly to other realms.
