Saturday, February 28, 2015

Frightful Fridays! Giant Velvet Worm

Howdy and welcome to another Frightful Fridays! (or Frightful word-ending-in-'days', which doesn't have quite the same ring to it) This entry is courtesy of Jason who pointed to a Cracked article about "the 24 most bizarre creatures on Earth," and these worms appealed to me, especially since they spray mucus to to capture their prey and slowly devour the ensnared prey. What's not to love?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these giant velvet worms, and I hope to be back this Friday with a new monster. Thanks for reading!

They're so adorable

This massive worm bears dozens of crescent-shaped claws along its body, and a pair of similarly shaped mandibles jut from its mucus-dripping mouth.
Giant Velvet Worm CR 7
XP 3,200
N Large vermin
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +13

Defense
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, +8 natural, -1 size)
hp 85 (10d8+40)
Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +4

Offense
Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +12 (3d6+6 plus 1d6 acid, poison, and grab)
Ranged spit +9 touch (entangle)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks swallow whole, (4d6 acid damage, AC 14, 8 hp)

Statistics
Str 23, Dex 17, Con 18, Int —, Wis 12, Cha 5
Base Atk +7; CMB +14 (+18 grapple); CMD 27 (can't be tripped)
Skills Climb +14, Perception +13; Racial Modifiers +12 Perception

Ecology
Environment warm forests or swamps
Organization solitary, pair, or tangle (3–8)
Treasure incidental

Special Abilities
Giant Velvet Worm Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 19; frequency 1/round for 8 rounds; effect 2d4 Dex; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Spit (Ex) A giant velvet worm's spit acts as a tanglefoot bag, but the Reflex save DC to avoid being glued to the ground and the Strength check DC to break free increase by 4. Additionally, the spittle becomes fragile after 2d4 minutes. Finally, while a victim is glued to the ground, it takes 1d6 points of acid damage.

In primal jungles where every creature is writ large, giant versions of velvet worms keep up with their oversized prey. They possess the sticky mucus of normal velvet worms—which are more closely related to arachnids than worms—but can generate enough to ensnare humanoid creatures. The mucus also contains a bit of their digestive fluids, which softens up prey while the worms might be otherwise engaged. Finally, the worms deliver a virulent, paralytic poison with their bites. Giant velvet worms rarely attack anything larger than themselves, so clever adventurers rely on enlarge person and similar spells when venturing into known velvet worm territory.

With a successful DC 20 Survival or Heal check, a character can extract enough mucus from a giant velvet worm's body to create a tanglefoot bag. For every 5 points above the DC, the character can create an additional tanglefoot bag.