The release of The Ghosts of Saltmarsh brought to the forefront many of the aquatic creatures that are not used in today’s D&D. We were disappointed when we found out the Tarrasque of the ocean, the Kraken, was not in The Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Sure, there is a juvenile kraken, but that doesn’t come anywhere close to the destructive power of the mighty CR 23 monster.

Where did this mighty creature come from? Well, it has its roots in Scandinavian folklore, as it was a mighty sea creature that attacked ships off the shores of Norway. As far back as the 13th century, references to a giant sea creature lurking in the depths of the ocean that could drag down the largest ship in the ocean have been found in Norwegian literature. While there is no such thing as an actual kraken, we hope, many think the idea behind the lore came from sailor sightings of giant squids, which can grow up to 50 feet in length! Descriptions of the Kraken have evolved throughout history with original descriptions having the creature be more crab-like in nature to squid-shaped to an intelligent octopus-like creature. No matter what one thinks about the Kraken’s shape, its massive size and destructive power were and still are, enough to strike fear into even the most hearty of seafarers.

So let’s take the plunge into the Kraken’s hungry maw and see how the creature has changed through the many editions of D&D.

OD&D - The Kraken

Armor Class: 2

Magic Ability: (See Below)

Move: 18"

Fighter Ability: 15th Level

Hit Points: 100 The Kraken comes to us fully described in A. Meritt's Dwellers in the Mirage. It is a giant octopus which is able to live on the land. This creature must be called from another dimension where it is imprisoned, and is constantly trying to leave. It feeds on human souls/energy levels and if the victim doesn't make his or her magic saving throw all his levels are drained. He can be called on by any evil priest knowing the spell.

The first mention of the Kraken comes from Supplement IV: Gods, Demigods, Heroes (1976). A couple of interesting things to note here: In the world of OD&D, this is a massively powerful creature. I’m a little disappointed in the AC, since I picture the Kraken with a hard outer shell, like the crab in the older Norwegian mythos. Beyond this, it is not something you’d want to fight. A level 15 fighter hits hard and there are very few creatures, except for the gods themselves, with this many hit points.

In keeping with the tradition of D&D being a dungeon dive, this kraken can live on land. I’m not sure I get the concept of the mighty sea creature of legend being reduced to a giant octopus that can crawl on land. I wonder if its primary home in in the sea and it travels to land to feed or if it lives in a cave, alone and plotting his escape back to the plane of water. Either way, it’s an odd thing to do to our buddy the awesome and fearsome Kraken.

OD&D puts the Kraken under Robert E. Howard's Hyborea, which is the famed world of Conan the Barbarian. In Hyborea, Howard went to great lengths to limit his magic and sorcery to firm up the believability of his stories. There are many gods in this world, some of which prefer to watch and not interfere in the life of humanity, and others that have direct influence and interaction with them. The supplement features an entire section of Norse gods & Finnish gods and we aren’t quite sure as to why the Kraken isn’t mentioned there. With only seeing the movies of Conan, he never fights a Kraken, though he does fight a Kraken in one of the books, but we still say the Norse gods should get first dibs.

Finally, the Kraken of OD&D is from a different dimension. This is a rare thing for OD&D since, while many creatures are from the material plane and the depths of hell, there are few if any creatures trapped here from another dimension. Maybe our poor misunderstood sea monster isn’t a monster at all, but just a giant land dwelling octopus who wants to go home.

1e - The Kraken