Jellyfish should have tentacles, like kraken

[smock]

I think that Jellyfish should have tentacles, like kraken. Maybe just one square would be enough.

Also, type-A marine biologists will tell you that it's not a jelly fish. Sea jelly, jelly, medusozoa or medusa might be more appropriate (and more colorful!).

[szanth]

Mleh. It's already a stretch that jellyfish can even attack someone who isn't in water, while still in water. The game has to assume that it's not an actual jellyfish, but some monster variation thereof that can headbutt or smack gently with its muscle-less wigglethings. If you make it so jellyfish monsters actually have prehensile tentacles to beat you with about the head and face, then you're essentially describing a kraken. But we already have kraken.

[jackalKnight]

Jellyfish don't even move their "tentacles" to attack in real life, they just let them drift and hope prey collides with the stingers. A sentient jellyfish that can move in shallow water is enough of a stretch without somehow believing its as intelligent as an octopus...

although I think they should appear in pools in Slime, rather than Shoals, for flavor's sake.

[szanth]

I dunno. Shoals is essentially a beach. Jellyfish are all over the beach.

[jackalKnight]

I know, but jellyfish have a "protoplasmic" feel since they're such a simple life form. I can see keeping them on the beach, but they should be in Slime in some capacity too IMO.

[smock]

I'm not sure how to balance jellyfish realism with gameplay. Interesting questions. A "realist" approach would be to make jellyfish immobile, invisible and tentacles -- they don't attack, they just paralyze. I think this would be terrific and make them a bit like ballistomycetes Like paralysis traps that you can slay!

That said, I don't think it's a problem to have two monsters using tentacles. Tentacles are really fun and I wouldn't get bored with them if they saw them more than once a game.

Jellyfish tentacles could be distinguished from kraken tentacles. They could be shorter, or instead of doing damage, just poison, paralyse, or slow. Or jellyfish could have just one tentacle (I would suppose this!). Actually, paralysis is a much more more fitting/realistic jellyfish "attack."

In any case, there are only a few (IMHO) good aquatic creatures (kraken, alligators, swamp worms, probably forgetting some). I'm rooting for jellyfish, big fish, and goldfish to move to that list.