Monster Encyclopaedia I: Ravagers of the Realms
| Author | August Hahn, Gareth Hanrahan, Lizard |
| Publisher | Mongoose Publishing |
| Publish date | 2004 |
| OGL Section 15 | me1 |
The material below is designated as Open Game Content
Worm of the Hills
Large Dragon (Earth)
Hit Dice: 6d12+6 (45 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares); fly 40 ft. (8 squares) (poor); burrow 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armour Class: 19 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +8 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+15
Attack: Bite +10 melee (2d6+5)
Full Attack: Bite +10 melee (2d6+5) and two claws +5 melee (1d8+3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Stony breath
Special Qualities: Armoured wings, improved squeeze
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 13
Skills: Climb +14, Listen +10, Spot +10, Survival +10
Feats: Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack
Environment: Any mountainous
Organisation: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement: 7–12 HD (Large); 13–16 HD (Huge)
This looks like some relative of the dragon family; it is a spindly winged worm covered with black scales like polished stone. Loam drips from its blackened stone teeth.
Worms of the hills are kin to wyverns and other lesser dragons. They have an almost pathetic reverence for their true dragon cousins, crowding around the lairs of black or red dragons and willingly serving as guards or lackeys. They also copy the behaviour of true dragons; if a red descends on some human town to raid its treasury and set all its towers afl ame, a fl ock of worms of the hills will often follow it down to steal coppers and set fi re to chicken coops.
Worms of the hills will make their lairs in caves or overhangs but they prefer mines above all other homes. They are a constant problem for dwarven miners and the creatures can be quite diffi cult foes in narrow passages where they can block attacks with their armoured wings. The dwarves favour long-handled pikes or cunning traps to deal with the monsters.
The worms lay their eggs in rifts or chasms in the cave fl oor, which they then pack with the carcasses of deer and cattle. This grisly larder is fi nally covered with a layer of dirt and stone using the dragon’s breath. When the eggs hatch, the newborn worms chew their way out through the meat, then learn to burrow or else perish. Many a traveller has been maimed by a young Worm crawling out of the earth and savaging his leg in desperate hunger.
Combat
Worms of the hills fight using their stony claws and teeth. They are relatively clumsy flyers compared to true dragons, so they usually only make a single overhead pass with their stony breath ability before landing to claw and bite enemies. When a worm resorts to using its wings defensively, it means that it is scared and worried.
Armoured Wings (Ex): A worm may fold its wings around its body, protecting it from attack. Folding the wings down is a free action. While the wings are wound around the worm’s body, it gains damage reduction 5/piercing but cannot fly, burrow, move faster than 15 feet per round or make claw attacks. Improved Squeeze (Ex): A Worm may squeeze through five foot wide spaces at its full movement.
Stony Breath (Ex): A worm can scoop up a huge mouthful of dirt and stones and store it in a special gizzard. The contents of the gizzard can then be spat out at high velocity. This breath weapon is a cone 30 feet long that deals 4d6 points of damage requiring a Reflex save (DC 14) for half damage. The worm may use this breath weapon any number of times per day, but must scoop up a chunk of earth using a bite attack to refill the gizzard.
