BisectedBrioche
2008-09-09, 03:57 PM
This was my Monster competition entry, but I've decided to swap it out for a new one so here it is in a seperate topic;
Worm-like vermin are common in city sewers. Many hundreds of species of maggots, worms, leeches and other long wriggly creatures live in the slime, sludge and waste generated by both the inhabitants of the city above and each other. Despite the various niches these diverse (albeit disgusting) invertebrates have filled they all share a common (and much larger) ancestor; Tenuis Vomica or "Sewer Worms" as they are more often called. These creatures still live in a mostly unchanged form, deep within the sewers of larger cities. They are greatly feared, not because of their poisonous sting or insatiable appetite, but because of the consequences of being bitten. For the exposure the creatures have had to magic wastes can have unpleasant effects...-A Guide To Magical Urban Flora and Fauna, Author Unknown
Sewer Worm
Size/Type: Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 6d8+12 (39 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40ft. (8 squares); Swim 40ft.; Burrow 20ft.
Armor Class: 17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+1 size, +2 dex, +4 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/0
Attack: Bite 1d6+5, Sting 1d2 + poison
Full Attack: Bite 1d6+5, Sting 1d2 + poison
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Weakening Poison, Curse Of Lycanthropy
Special Qualities: Foul Environment, Tremorsense, Nauseating Appearance
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +2
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 5
Skills: Swim (9)
Feats: Alertness, Dodge and Improved Initiative
Environment: Urban
Organization: Lone, swarm (2-6), infestation (7-15)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always Neutral
A sewer worm resembles a much larger version of a leech. However its mouth resembles that of a more mammalian predator but with three jaws which close to meet in the middle, much more suited to eating meat than sucking blood. Rather than being smooth, its skin is covered with lumps and scars from fights with sewer rats and other worms. At the end of their body is a bone-like sting, pale compared to their body.
Weakening Poison Any creature hit by the worm's sting attack is injected with a poison; Initial damage is 1d2 dex and reduces base land speed by 5ft., secondary is 1d4 con and reduces base land speed by 10ft. The Fortitude save DC is 12. A character who has taken damage from the poison takes a -10 penalty to save against that particular worm's Curse of Lycanthropy.
Curse Of Lycanthropy Any tiny, small or medium creature who is hit by the worm's bite attack must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or contract lycanthropy. If the victim's size is not within one size category of the lycanthrope the victim cannot contract lycanthropy from that lycanthrope. Afflicted lycanthropes cannot pass on the curse of lycanthropy.
Foul Environment Because of the toxic environment they live in, sewer worms are immune to all diseases and gain a +4 to resistance poisons.
Tremorsense 50ft. in both water and on land.
Nauseating Appearance Anyone who looks at a Sewer Worm must make a DC 10 will save or be sickened for 1d2 rounds. After this they make another save. A character who successfully saves is immune to that particular worm's Nauseating Appearance from then on. Characters gain a +1 cumulative bonus to the save for every worm they are immune to.
Combat
Sewer worms will hide themselves in the muck and slime of a sewer, or failing that, some water. When they sense prey approaching (the aren't fussy about size) they will leap from their hiding place and sting it. They then proceed to attempt to bite chunks out of it until it has had its fill, the creature dies or the creature flees.
Lore
{TABLE]DC|Lore
15|Reveals that they are sewers worms, poisonous worms which are the progenitor of most smaller worms.
20|Detailed combat data
25|Reveals the effects of lycanthropy (the DC for this is reduced to 20 if wereworms are present)[/TABLE]
Plot Hooks
The PCs are hired by the mayor of a city, a local aristocrat or some other important figure to investigate the disappearance or several sewer workers, whose bodies were torn to shreds. Their best lead is to keep tabs on a survivor of the attack who has been disappearing, despite being confined to a cell in an asylum.
The party's rogue has been invited to a meeting of the local thieves guild, which is to take place in the sewers. Unbeknown st to the thieves, however, their preparations have disturbed a nest of Sewer Worms.
The party are hired by a wealthy local merchant to recover a valuable magical sword he uses to defend himself on dangerous journeys. Rumours have it that the thief has gone mad with guilt and taken to living in the sewers.
A wizard who specialises in the study of vermin wishes to investigate the rumours of a species of worms that seems to have evolved into a humanoid form. To this end he hires the PCs to protect him while he carries out his research in the sewers.
Wereworms
Those who succumb to the Sewer Worm's bite are warped into a foul creature. They retain their former intelligence, however the transformation renders them insane, causing them to instinctively live the remainder of their lives in the foul conditions of the sewers and hunt along side Sewer Worms and other Wereworms.
Wereworm Template
Wereworm is an acquired template applied to those who fail their save against the bite of a sewer worm (hereafter referred to as "the worm") known as the base creature. It applies the following changes to the base creature;
Size and Type The base creature gains the Shapechanger subtype. The creatures subtype does not change even when they are in hybrid or worm form. The hybrid form's size is the same as the base creature's or the worm's, whichever is larger.
Hit Dice: The creature's hitdice remain the same, however HP must be recalculated when the base creature changes form to account for any changed in their con bonus.
Speed: In Worm form the wereworm gains a land speed of 40ft., Swim speed of 40ft. and Burrow 20ft. In hybrid form they retain any existing speeds and gain Burrow 20ft. If they already have a burrow speed then it increases by 10ft.
Armor Class: Increase the base creature's natural armour bonus by +2 in all forms. In hybrid form, the lycanthrope's natural armor bonus is equal to the natural armor bonus of the sewer worm or the base creature, whichever is better.
Base Attack/Grapple: Add the base attack bonus for the base animal to the base attack bonus for the base creature. The wereworm's grapple bonus uses its attack bonus and modifiers for Strength and size depending on the wereworm's form.
Attacks In hybrid form the wereworm gains a bite attack and claw attack equivalente their size;
{TABLE=head]Size|Claw Attack|Bite Attack
Tiny|1|1d2
Small|1d3|1d4
Medium|1d4|1d6[/TABLE]
Their claw attacks deliver the same poison as their sting would in worm form.
Special Attacks: A wereworm retains the special attacks of the base creature or worm, depending on which form it is using, excluding the Curse of Lycanthropy, which can only be inflicted by a Sewer Worm, wereworms will however breed true with the appropriate humanoid type and the subsequent generations are considered natural lycanthropes. A wereworm's hybrid form does not gain any special attacks of the base animal. A wereworm spellcaster cannot cast spells with verbal, somatic, or material components while in worm form, or spells with verbal components while in hybrid form.
Special Qualities: A lycanthrope retains all the special qualities of the base creature and the base animal, and also gains those described below.
Foul Environment: Because of the toxic environment they live in, wereworms are immune to all diseases and gain a +4 to resistance poisons. This applies to all forms.
Alternate Form (Su): A lycanthrope can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph spell on itself, though its gear is not affected, it does not regain hit points for changing form, and only the specific animal form indicated for the lycanthrope can be assumed. It does not assume the ability scores of the animal, but instead adds the animal's physical ability score modifiers to its own ability scores. A lycanthrope also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features.
Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action.
A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. Separated body parts retain their animal form, however. Although a wereworm is an afflicted lycanthrope it may control its transformation as if it had inherited the condition.
Damage Reduction (Ex): An afflicted lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 5/silver. A natural lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 10/silver.
Lycanthropic Empathy (Ex): In any form, lycanthropes can communicate and empathize with normal or dire animals of their animal form. This gives them a +4 racial bonus on checks when influencing the animal's attitude and allows the communication of simple concepts and (if the animal is friendly) commands, such as "friend," "foe," "flee," and "attack."
Low-Light Vision (Ex): A lycanthrope has low-light vision in any form.
Scent (Ex): A lycanthrope has the scent ability in any form.
Base Save Bonuses: Add the base save bonuses of the worm to the base save bonuses of the base creature.
Abilities: All lycanthropes gain +2 to Wisdom. In addition, when in animal form, a wereworm's physical ability scores improve as follows; Str +1, Dex +5, Con +5. A lycanthrope in hybrid form modifies its physical ability scores by the same amount.
In addition, a wereworm may also gain an additional ability score increase by virtue of its extra Hit Dice.
Skills: A wereworm gains skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die of its animal form, as if it had multiclassed into the animal type. (Animal is never its first Hit Die, though, and it does not gain quadruple skill points for any animal Hit Die.) Any skill given in the animal's description is a class skill for the wereworm's animal levels. In any form, a wereworm also has any racial skill bonuses of the base creature and of the worm (i.e. +4 to swim), although conditional skill bonuses only apply in the associated form.
Feats: Add the worm's feats to the base creature's. If this results in a wereworm having the same feat twice, the wereworm gains no additional benefit unless the feat normally can be taken more once, in which case the duplicated feat works as noted in the feat description. This process may give the wereworm more feats than a character of its total Hit Dice would normally be entitled to; if this occurs, any "extra" feats are denoted as bonus feats.
It's possible that a wereworm cannot meet the prerequisites for all its feats when in humanoid form. If this occurs, the wereworm still has the feats, but cannot use them when in humanoid form. As with all lycanthropes, the wereworm receives Iron Will as a bonus feat.
Environment: Always Urban, wereworms are drawn to live in the sewers where they were afflicted.
Organization: Lone, Group (3-4), Nest (4-6 plus up to 10 Sewer Worms)
Challenge Rating: By class level or base creature, modified according to the HD of the worm: 1 HD or 2 HD, +2; 3 HD to 5 HD, +3; 6 HD to 10 HD, +4; 11 HD to 20 HD, +5; 21 or more HD, +6.
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2
A wereworm in humanoid form looks as it did prior to infection. However it is usually scarred by both the bites from the sewer worms which infected them and the rats. Their clothes don't typically last very long, however they are often too caked in the filth and slime of the sewer to notice. Over time their mouths start to appear rounded and their lower jaw stretch, so it resembles the mouth of a sewer worm.
In hybrid form a wereworm has the same jaws and disgusting skin as a sewer worm, and its hands grow claws resembling the sting they have in their worm form.
Worm-like vermin are common in city sewers. Many hundreds of species of maggots, worms, leeches and other long wriggly creatures live in the slime, sludge and waste generated by both the inhabitants of the city above and each other. Despite the various niches these diverse (albeit disgusting) invertebrates have filled they all share a common (and much larger) ancestor; Tenuis Vomica or "Sewer Worms" as they are more often called. These creatures still live in a mostly unchanged form, deep within the sewers of larger cities. They are greatly feared, not because of their poisonous sting or insatiable appetite, but because of the consequences of being bitten. For the exposure the creatures have had to magic wastes can have unpleasant effects...-A Guide To Magical Urban Flora and Fauna, Author Unknown
Sewer Worm
Size/Type: Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 6d8+12 (39 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40ft. (8 squares); Swim 40ft.; Burrow 20ft.
Armor Class: 17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+1 size, +2 dex, +4 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/0
Attack: Bite 1d6+5, Sting 1d2 + poison
Full Attack: Bite 1d6+5, Sting 1d2 + poison
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Weakening Poison, Curse Of Lycanthropy
Special Qualities: Foul Environment, Tremorsense, Nauseating Appearance
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +2
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 5
Skills: Swim (9)
Feats: Alertness, Dodge and Improved Initiative
Environment: Urban
Organization: Lone, swarm (2-6), infestation (7-15)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always Neutral
A sewer worm resembles a much larger version of a leech. However its mouth resembles that of a more mammalian predator but with three jaws which close to meet in the middle, much more suited to eating meat than sucking blood. Rather than being smooth, its skin is covered with lumps and scars from fights with sewer rats and other worms. At the end of their body is a bone-like sting, pale compared to their body.
Weakening Poison Any creature hit by the worm's sting attack is injected with a poison; Initial damage is 1d2 dex and reduces base land speed by 5ft., secondary is 1d4 con and reduces base land speed by 10ft. The Fortitude save DC is 12. A character who has taken damage from the poison takes a -10 penalty to save against that particular worm's Curse of Lycanthropy.
Curse Of Lycanthropy Any tiny, small or medium creature who is hit by the worm's bite attack must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or contract lycanthropy. If the victim's size is not within one size category of the lycanthrope the victim cannot contract lycanthropy from that lycanthrope. Afflicted lycanthropes cannot pass on the curse of lycanthropy.
Foul Environment Because of the toxic environment they live in, sewer worms are immune to all diseases and gain a +4 to resistance poisons.
Tremorsense 50ft. in both water and on land.
Nauseating Appearance Anyone who looks at a Sewer Worm must make a DC 10 will save or be sickened for 1d2 rounds. After this they make another save. A character who successfully saves is immune to that particular worm's Nauseating Appearance from then on. Characters gain a +1 cumulative bonus to the save for every worm they are immune to.
Combat
Sewer worms will hide themselves in the muck and slime of a sewer, or failing that, some water. When they sense prey approaching (the aren't fussy about size) they will leap from their hiding place and sting it. They then proceed to attempt to bite chunks out of it until it has had its fill, the creature dies or the creature flees.
Lore
{TABLE]DC|Lore
15|Reveals that they are sewers worms, poisonous worms which are the progenitor of most smaller worms.
20|Detailed combat data
25|Reveals the effects of lycanthropy (the DC for this is reduced to 20 if wereworms are present)[/TABLE]
Plot Hooks
The PCs are hired by the mayor of a city, a local aristocrat or some other important figure to investigate the disappearance or several sewer workers, whose bodies were torn to shreds. Their best lead is to keep tabs on a survivor of the attack who has been disappearing, despite being confined to a cell in an asylum.
The party's rogue has been invited to a meeting of the local thieves guild, which is to take place in the sewers. Unbeknown st to the thieves, however, their preparations have disturbed a nest of Sewer Worms.
The party are hired by a wealthy local merchant to recover a valuable magical sword he uses to defend himself on dangerous journeys. Rumours have it that the thief has gone mad with guilt and taken to living in the sewers.
A wizard who specialises in the study of vermin wishes to investigate the rumours of a species of worms that seems to have evolved into a humanoid form. To this end he hires the PCs to protect him while he carries out his research in the sewers.
Wereworms
Those who succumb to the Sewer Worm's bite are warped into a foul creature. They retain their former intelligence, however the transformation renders them insane, causing them to instinctively live the remainder of their lives in the foul conditions of the sewers and hunt along side Sewer Worms and other Wereworms.
Wereworm Template
Wereworm is an acquired template applied to those who fail their save against the bite of a sewer worm (hereafter referred to as "the worm") known as the base creature. It applies the following changes to the base creature;
Size and Type The base creature gains the Shapechanger subtype. The creatures subtype does not change even when they are in hybrid or worm form. The hybrid form's size is the same as the base creature's or the worm's, whichever is larger.
Hit Dice: The creature's hitdice remain the same, however HP must be recalculated when the base creature changes form to account for any changed in their con bonus.
Speed: In Worm form the wereworm gains a land speed of 40ft., Swim speed of 40ft. and Burrow 20ft. In hybrid form they retain any existing speeds and gain Burrow 20ft. If they already have a burrow speed then it increases by 10ft.
Armor Class: Increase the base creature's natural armour bonus by +2 in all forms. In hybrid form, the lycanthrope's natural armor bonus is equal to the natural armor bonus of the sewer worm or the base creature, whichever is better.
Base Attack/Grapple: Add the base attack bonus for the base animal to the base attack bonus for the base creature. The wereworm's grapple bonus uses its attack bonus and modifiers for Strength and size depending on the wereworm's form.
Attacks In hybrid form the wereworm gains a bite attack and claw attack equivalente their size;
{TABLE=head]Size|Claw Attack|Bite Attack
Tiny|1|1d2
Small|1d3|1d4
Medium|1d4|1d6[/TABLE]
Their claw attacks deliver the same poison as their sting would in worm form.
Special Attacks: A wereworm retains the special attacks of the base creature or worm, depending on which form it is using, excluding the Curse of Lycanthropy, which can only be inflicted by a Sewer Worm, wereworms will however breed true with the appropriate humanoid type and the subsequent generations are considered natural lycanthropes. A wereworm's hybrid form does not gain any special attacks of the base animal. A wereworm spellcaster cannot cast spells with verbal, somatic, or material components while in worm form, or spells with verbal components while in hybrid form.
Special Qualities: A lycanthrope retains all the special qualities of the base creature and the base animal, and also gains those described below.
Foul Environment: Because of the toxic environment they live in, wereworms are immune to all diseases and gain a +4 to resistance poisons. This applies to all forms.
Alternate Form (Su): A lycanthrope can shift into animal form as though using the polymorph spell on itself, though its gear is not affected, it does not regain hit points for changing form, and only the specific animal form indicated for the lycanthrope can be assumed. It does not assume the ability scores of the animal, but instead adds the animal's physical ability score modifiers to its own ability scores. A lycanthrope also can assume a bipedal hybrid form with prehensile hands and animalistic features.
Changing to or from animal or hybrid form is a standard action.
A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. Separated body parts retain their animal form, however. Although a wereworm is an afflicted lycanthrope it may control its transformation as if it had inherited the condition.
Damage Reduction (Ex): An afflicted lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 5/silver. A natural lycanthrope in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 10/silver.
Lycanthropic Empathy (Ex): In any form, lycanthropes can communicate and empathize with normal or dire animals of their animal form. This gives them a +4 racial bonus on checks when influencing the animal's attitude and allows the communication of simple concepts and (if the animal is friendly) commands, such as "friend," "foe," "flee," and "attack."
Low-Light Vision (Ex): A lycanthrope has low-light vision in any form.
Scent (Ex): A lycanthrope has the scent ability in any form.
Base Save Bonuses: Add the base save bonuses of the worm to the base save bonuses of the base creature.
Abilities: All lycanthropes gain +2 to Wisdom. In addition, when in animal form, a wereworm's physical ability scores improve as follows; Str +1, Dex +5, Con +5. A lycanthrope in hybrid form modifies its physical ability scores by the same amount.
In addition, a wereworm may also gain an additional ability score increase by virtue of its extra Hit Dice.
Skills: A wereworm gains skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die of its animal form, as if it had multiclassed into the animal type. (Animal is never its first Hit Die, though, and it does not gain quadruple skill points for any animal Hit Die.) Any skill given in the animal's description is a class skill for the wereworm's animal levels. In any form, a wereworm also has any racial skill bonuses of the base creature and of the worm (i.e. +4 to swim), although conditional skill bonuses only apply in the associated form.
Feats: Add the worm's feats to the base creature's. If this results in a wereworm having the same feat twice, the wereworm gains no additional benefit unless the feat normally can be taken more once, in which case the duplicated feat works as noted in the feat description. This process may give the wereworm more feats than a character of its total Hit Dice would normally be entitled to; if this occurs, any "extra" feats are denoted as bonus feats.
It's possible that a wereworm cannot meet the prerequisites for all its feats when in humanoid form. If this occurs, the wereworm still has the feats, but cannot use them when in humanoid form. As with all lycanthropes, the wereworm receives Iron Will as a bonus feat.
Environment: Always Urban, wereworms are drawn to live in the sewers where they were afflicted.
Organization: Lone, Group (3-4), Nest (4-6 plus up to 10 Sewer Worms)
Challenge Rating: By class level or base creature, modified according to the HD of the worm: 1 HD or 2 HD, +2; 3 HD to 5 HD, +3; 6 HD to 10 HD, +4; 11 HD to 20 HD, +5; 21 or more HD, +6.
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2
A wereworm in humanoid form looks as it did prior to infection. However it is usually scarred by both the bites from the sewer worms which infected them and the rats. Their clothes don't typically last very long, however they are often too caked in the filth and slime of the sewer to notice. Over time their mouths start to appear rounded and their lower jaw stretch, so it resembles the mouth of a sewer worm.
In hybrid form a wereworm has the same jaws and disgusting skin as a sewer worm, and its hands grow claws resembling the sting they have in their worm form.