Gretch | |
---|---|
![]() | |
skill | 10 |
stamina | 13 |
Habitat | Desert |
Number Encountered | 1-3 |
Type | Monster |
Reaction | Hostile |
Intelligence | Low |
A Gretch was a reptilian-like predator that dwelt in deserts.[1]
Description[]
Gretch were thin, sandy-coloured reptilian monsters, which usually walked on their hind legs, standing as tall as a man. They had large heads like that of a snake or a lizard, with forked tongues and wide fang-filled mouths. Each scaly hand ended in one long claw, like a cruel curved dagger, honed and sharpened until it could slice through skin and bone alike.[1] This made them especially deadly to nomads or traders, since in the searing heat of the desert even leather armour could become a furnace, and so travellers often had little protection against them.
Because of their constant need for food, a gretch would lurk near water-holes and trade routes, and would always fight to death, since it could not burrow beneath the sands if it was injured, and would starve slowly and painfully, tormented by vultures and the noon sun alike.
The Gretch likely existed in competition with other specialised carnivorous reptilian monsters such as the rasaur and sand snapper.[2]
Origins and Distribution[]
Hiding beneath the desert sands with nothing but a pair of tiny holes to see and breathe through, gretch were highly skilled ambush predators, preying on whatever crossed their path. They were cold-blooded creatures, and could survive well in the baking heat of the desert, though even they had to shelter from its might as midday approached, under the cooling sands. They were carnivorous, and would bury themselves in the sand and wait. When a suitable meal approaches they would burst out of the sand and pounced on their surprised prey.[1]
The distribution of the gretch was believed to be restricted to the Desert of Skulls in Allansia, though they had also been encountered in the Southern Plain.[3] Because of this, and their snake-like humanoid appearance, it was possible that they were originally created by the caarth as one of their many experiments in creating hybrid combinations of serpents and people.[4] Whether any gretch still dwelt within the citadels of the vaarth, such as the justrali did, or whether they had been completely abandoned, was unknown.
Special Abilities[]

A gretch erupting from the ground of the Southern Plain.
The claws of the gretch were so sharp that they will do large amounts of damage in a successful hit.[1][5][6]
Further Notes[]
- Gretch is both the singular and plural form of name for this creature.[1]
- They are one of those rare creatures that occur in Out of the Pit but almost nowhere else in official Titan canon. There is a brief mention of the Gretch in the Deserts Encounter Table in Allansia.[7] The Gretch is also mentioned on the "Monsters and Enemies" list in the Arion Games Advanced Fighting Fantasy – The Roleplaying Game rulebook.[8]. They were eventually added in Secrets of Salamonis.
Further Information in Canon[]
More information can be found at:Source[9]
Out of the Pit
(Large) (pg28, pg63#*, pg127)
Allansia
(pg166)
Notes[]
# - denotes a reference with statistics
* - denotes a picture
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Adventures
Sourcebooks
- Advanced Fighting Fantasy – The Roleplaying Game (mentioned)
- Encyclopedia Arcana Vol I - Treasures (mentioned)
- Out of the Pit
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Out of the Pit - 63/??
- ↑ Non-canon
- ↑ Non-canon
- ↑ Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World - ???/200-201
- ↑ Dungeoneer - 156
- ↑ Dungeoneer -163
- ↑ Allansia - 166
- ↑ Advanced Fighting Fantasy – The Roleplaying Game , (p.125)
- ↑ Complete list of references catalogued by FF Titan Bestiary