I hope you enjoy the amber bear, and I'll see you next week with another monster. Thanks for reading!
This translucent orange
bear seems to have no organs within its mass, but it has several petrified
bones floating around.
Amber Bear CR 8
XP 4,800
N Large animal
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, scent;
Perception +14
DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 8,
flat-footed 20 (–1 Dex, +12 natural, –1 size)
hp 102 (12d8+48)
Fort +12, Ref +7, Will +9
Defensive Abilities
amorphous; DR 10/slashing; Resist acid 5, electricity 5, fire 10
Weaknesses
vulnerability to cold
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.,
climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +15
(2d6+6 plus grab), 2 claws +15 (2d4+6 plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks
swallow whole (2d6 bludgeoning damage plus amber petrification, AC 16, 10 hp),
trample (2d6+9, DC 22)
STATISTICS
Str 23, Dex 8, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 11
Base Atk +9; CMB +16 (+18 drag, +20 grapple); CMD 25 (27 vs. drag, 29 vs. trip)
Feats Improved
Drag[APG], Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite),
Weapon Focus (claw)
Skills Climb +20,
Perception +14, Stealth –1 (+7 in forests); Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in forests
SQ compression
ECOLOGY
Environment temperate
or warm forests
Organization
solitary, pair, or preserve (3–8)
Treasure
incidental
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Amber Petrification (Ex)
While an amber bear has a creature swallowed whole, the creature must attempt a
DC 20 Fortitude save. On the first failure, the victim becomes staggered for 1d4
minutes. On the second failure, the victim becomes immobilized for 1d4 hours.
On the third failure, the victim petrifies into a solid piece of amber (as if
affected by flesh to stone and
requiring similar means to reverse the effect). While an amber bear has a victim
swallowed whole, it loses the benefits of compression. The save DC is
Constitution-based.
Amorphous (Ex) Critical
threats against an amber bear still require a confirmation roll. On a confirmed
critical hit, or when applying precision damage, the creature encased within
the amber bear takes the extra damage. The bear still takes the base damage
from the successful hit.
Trample (Ex) An
amber bear can choose to grapple the first creature it successfully tramples.
If it begins its next turn with the creature grappled in this way, it can absorb
it into its body as if it used swallow whole. it deals no bite damage when it does
so.
Vulnerability to Cold
(Ex) If an amber bear takes cold damage, it loses the benefits of compression
and its amorphous ability (including additional damage dealt to a swallowed
creature), and its damage reduction becomes 5/slashing, until the end of its
next turn.
Amber bears are prehistoric animals that live in primordial
woods verging on the primal world of the fey. They share their homes with
evolutionary antecedents to many modern animals and throwbacks with no modern
equivalents. The bears hunt animals smaller than themselves, but they do not
eat them in a conventional manner. Instead, the bears encase their prey in the semisolid
amber composing their bodies. This amber eventually petrifies potential food, which
the bears regurgitate and feast on later. Amber bears require very little in the
way of nutrients and feed infrequently, so they often carry petrified victims
for weeks or months at a time.
Amber bears hate cold and migrate out of temperate forests prior
to the onset of wintry weather. If opponents target the bears with spells or
effects that deal cold damage, the bears focus their attention on such opponents.
Amber bears live up to 30 years, but they can go into extreme
forms of hibernation where they completely solidify (becoming statue-like),
which extends their lives indefinitely. Fully grown amber bears weigh between
600 and 700 pounds and are 8 feet in length.
