The Sand Snapper is a Reptile-like creature found in certain desert areas.
Description[]
They were large, with a head resembling that of a Lizard or Crocodile. Its body is covered in thick brown scales that are impossible to penetrate with a weapon such as a sword.
The tail was long and often coils Snake-like in the sand behind the Sand Snapper's body. It was not known how many or what kind of limbs the Sand Snapper has, but it did have two long tough tentacles that would shoot out of the main body (from the general vicinity of the forelimbs) by pushing apart the scales. The structure of these tentacles was unlike anything else on Titan. They were segmented and ended in weird-looking four-fingered "hands". Each "finger" had three or four sucker-like pads to better grip prey with.[1]
Origins and Distribution[]
The sand snapper is a bizarre predator found only in the wastes of the Desert of Skulls in western Allansia. One such attack occurred on a trek to the Lost City of Vatos.[2]
The Sand Snapper's origins were obscure, and although it shared its territory with the Caarth, there was very little to suggest that it was one of their experimental creations, especially since the only thing Snake-like about them were their tails.
Special Abilities[]
The Sand Snapper would lie waiting beneath the surface of a dune for potential prey. When a victim approached the Sand Snapper would bite it with its huge mouth, which immediately dealt a crippling amount of damage.[3] If this fails to subdue the prey, the two tentacles will erupt out of the Sand Snapper's body and attempt to grab the prey and pull it further into the Sand Snapper's mouth. The victim must fight both tentacles (each skill 7 stamina 7) at the same time.[1]
If the sand snapper was able to overpower its prey, then...
“ The struggle is over; both of your arms become entwined by the Sand Snapper's tentacles. Slowly you are dragged into the gaping mouth to be slowly digested. Your adventure comes to a horrific end ...[4] ”
If however, the victim manages to cut off both the tentacles they had severed the two main nerves of the Sand Snapper, which caused the hideous maw to fall open, releasing the victim, who could then escape.[3] The Sand Snapper had the ability to regenerate these tentacles and the nerves they contain, though it is unknown how long it took for the Sand Snapper to regenerate in this fashion.
Further Notes[]
- If we ignore Bill Houston's picture of the Sand Snapper, and just concentrate on the text description, it would seem that the Sand Snapper is actually influenced by the Sarlacc, from Return of the Jedi. This text description also makes it sound similar to the Chthonian Trapper from northern Allansia,[5] but the illustrations for both creatures clearly show that they are very different beasts.
- In fact, the Sand Snapper is not the only Sarlacc-influenced creature in Titan-based canon. Others include the Earth Demon of the Twin Sun Desert from The Dervish Stone, and the Sand Squid from The Dark Chronicles of Anakendis.
- The Sand Snapper is one of those very rare creatures that turns up in one of the early Allansia-based books, but fails to make it into Out of the Pit.
- The Sand Snapper likely exists in competition with other specialised carnivorous Reptilian monsters such as the Gretch and Rasaur.[6]
Further Information in Canon[]
More information can be found at:Source[7]
Temple of Terror
(para149, para266, para377#*)
Notes[]
# - denotes a reference with statistics
* - denotes a picture
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Adventures
Sourcebooks
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Temple of Terror - 377
- ↑ Temple of Terror - 149, 266, 377
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Temple of Terror - 266
- ↑ Temple of Terror - 149
- ↑ Siege of Sardath - 341
- ↑ Non-canon
- ↑ Complete list of references catalogued by FF Titan Bestiary