"The lab was eerily quiet - merely the lub-lub-lub sounds of the pumps on the far wall. We followed the coils of tubing, filled with orangish goo, bubbling into the armorplast tanks, towering above us. Under the tanks, we found the controls that would open the valves - we also found the explosives and the countdown timer with four second left! BOOSH! It wasn't a big explosion, but it was enough to crack open the seal on a 100 kiloliter tank! Orange goo and writhing blobs gushed forth. The blobs had eyes - and claws!!"
Take the DNA of a roach, and the DNA of a lobster, splice in a little canine for size and strength and what do you have? You have a Lobster-Roach - a Loach*.
Loaches vary wildly in appearance. The Common Loach, if there is such a thing, is about 24 inches (60 cm), color varies from ruddy brown to light orange. Its main distinguishing feature are its claws, it has two in front, as would be typical of a lobster, but in place of a tail it has a third, sometimes larger, claw. The head of the creature has both eye stalks and compound eyes, from its mixed DNA heritage. The eyes grant limited range infrared vision, but vision is poor overall.
Loaches are amphibious and found in nearly any environment, except, perhaps, the most extreme. They are found in oceans, on land, in swamps, brackish lakes and in jungles and forests, above and below ground. They do prefer wetter environments. There have been encounters with loaches in cold water and high volcanic plains.
Loaches are predatory, feeding on smaller animals and insects and they are carrion feeders. Loaches are voracious eaters, feeding in environments until there is nothing left but bare plant life. In extremis, loaches will feed on other loaches. Loaches are quite aggressive, attacking anything they feel might be a threat or food. They are less aggressive in brighter light and more aggressive in total darkness.
Loaches can be found in many sizes and colors on a great many planets. They also seem to easily mutate and evolve. No one is sure where they originated or if they were even a natural mutation. (A recently rediscovered, 3rd party expansion kit for the child's toy, My First CRSPR, listed a project to spice together what was called a "Roach-Shrimp" - but these were only a few millimeters long, best viewed under heavy magnification. The magnifying scope was sold separately and was a costly additional expansion to the toy.)
On some planets, loaches are harvested, even cultured, for agricultural and other products. The claw meat is quite pleasant, especially when poached with butter and citrus peel. Certain loaches have one of their claws removed and are returned to their environment, where they are harvested from again and again for decades. Loach roe, or eggs, are collected and used in recipes or eaten raw. Entire boutiques are filled with fancy jars of loach roe and pickled meats. The center dorsal shell is often quite thick, hard and frequently iridescent, it has been fashioned into tools and jewelry for hundreds of years. Larger loach claws may have pseudo-teeth, these are used by the animal for attack or for ripping flesh before it's consumed, but the teeth can also be harvested and used as dental implants for many species.
Common Loach: Appearing d6; Init -1; Atk claw +2 melee (1d6); AC 12; HD 2d4; MV 30’; Act 2d20, 1d16; SP infravision 30’; SV Fort -1, Ref +0, Will -1; AL C.
The Common Loach will be found, with minor variations in size and color, in most environments and on most planets. However, below is a table of suggested variants to the loach. These may be found by themselves or among other loaches. (You should feel free to further vary, mutate and utterly mess with the template to fit your next adventure.)
To randomly determine if any of the following variants are found in an encounter with Loach, roll a d3, on a result of 1, roll d24 and consult the list below...
