I hope you enjoy the golden scale worm, and I'll see you next week with another monster!
So pretty!
Gold spines protrude
from the edge of this pale flatworm. Roughly one quarter of its size is taken
up by its head, featuring massive, bone-crushing mandibles.
Golden Scale
Worm CR 3
XP 800
N Small vermin (aquatic)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense
60 ft.; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 13,
flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 30 (4d8+12)
Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.,
climb 10 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee bite +6
(2d6+4/19–20
plus blood drain and grab)
Special Attacks
blood drain (1d3 Constitution), powerful bite, spines (+6, 1d4+2 plus poison)
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 14, Con 17, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 5
Base Atk +3; CMB +4 (+8 grapple); CMD 16 (can't be tripped)
Skills Climb +10,
Perception +8, Swim +10; Racial Modifiers
+8 Perception
SQ amphibious, camouflage,
gold eater
ECOLOGY
Environment cold
oceans and coastlines
Organization
solitary or cache (2–12)
Treasure standard
(golden spines)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blood Drain (Ex)
Enzymes in a golden scale worm’s bite induce continuous blood drain. If a target
escapes the worm’s grapple, it takes 1 point of Constitution bleed.
Camouflage (Ex) A
golden scale worm looks like golden spindles when at rest and a DC 20
Perception check is required to notice it before it attacks for the first time.
Anyone with ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature) can use those skills
instead of Perception to notice the worm.
Gold Eater (Ex) A
golden scale worm can spend a full-round action to consume the equivalent of 10
gold coins. It heals 1d10 hit points after doing so.
Poison (Ex) Spines—Injury;
save Fort DC 15; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect
1d6 Str; cure 1 save.
Powerful Bite (Ex)
A golden scale worm's bite attack always applies 2 times its Strength modifier
on damage rolls and threatens a critical hit on a roll of 19–20.
Spines (Ex) When
a creature attacks a golden scale worm with an unarmed strike or natural attack,
or with a manufactured melee weapon while adjacent to the worm, the worm
automatically gains a free attack with its spines. Likewise, if the worm
maintains a grapple, it gains a free attack with its spines.
Golden scale worms primarily inhabit polar oceans, where
they feed on fish and mammals that share the waters with them. When food runs
scarce, they make landfall and attack humanoids living in coastal villages. While
they are primarily carnivorous, their strange body chemistry allows them to
synthesize gold, which nourishes them and adds to the protective, poison-tipped
spines ringing their bodies. Thus, they are often encountered in shipwreck
locations where they scrounge for sunken treasure and feed on scavengers
picking at the remains of dead sailors.
Outside their natural habitats, they wind up in the lairs of
intelligent creatures, especially undead and others that can withstand the worms’
blood drain and poison. Golden scale worms are placed among treasure to add to
their deceptive appearance.
Even though they are unintelligent, they are instinctively
aware of the interest their golden spines draw and curl up into a tight ball when
at rest, revealing only the golden spines. Creatures that reach for the “treasure”
are exposed to the worms’ poison, which debilitates them, so the worms can more
effectively latch onto them and drain their blood. Worms do not stop to feed on
gold belonging to their victims, unless they are heavily injured and have no
means to escape.
A golden scale worm’s poison remains fresh for 1 hour after
it dies, so canny adventurers can use its spines as impromptu weapons, with the
usual risks of handling poisonous objects.
A typical golden scale worm specimen measures 5 feet in
length (over 1 foot of which is its head) and is 1 foot wide. It weighs 60
pounds, mostly in the gold composing its spines.
