GearAscendancy.com

Chroma Carapace Star Lure 19

—

by

Dale
in

Original Life Forms

  • Class Cephalopoda: Cuttlefish (Sepiida)
  • Class Mammalia: Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata)
  • Class Reptilia: Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
  • Class Aves: Lammergeier / Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

Appearance: The Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure is an alien and unsettling sight, a creature that seems to defy all natural categorization. Its central body is a massive, tortoise-like form protected by a heavy, spiked carapace similar to that of an alligator snapping turtle, colored in dull, earthy browns and greens. Its four stout, powerful legs are positioned low to the ground, with the front pair ending in enormous, spade-like claws, like those of a mole, clearly designed for powerful digging. The skin on its legs and thick neck is soft and covered in chromatophores, allowing it to shift its color and texture with hypnotic speed to perfectly match its surroundings.

Instead of a head, a thick neck gives way to a grotesque, fleshy, pink star-shaped appendage with twenty-two constantly moving, sensitive tendrils that twitch and explore the air. From the very center of this fleshy star, a massive, powerful, and cruelly sharp beak protrudes, capable of snapping with incredible force. A ring of eight cuttlefish-like tentacles, each lined with suckers, surrounds this beak-and-star assembly, writhing and tasting the air. Sprouting from its back, just behind the heavy shell, is a pair of enormous, broad wings like those of a Lammergeier vulture, giving it a majestic, if terrifying, silhouette when in flight.

Size This is a large and extremely dense creature. The carapace alone typically measures five to six feet in diameter. It stands low to the ground, only about three feet high, but its wingspan can reach up to fifteen feet. Its weight is considerable, with adults averaging between 400 and 500 pounds due to the heavy shell and dense muscle.

Speed On land, the Star-Lure is ponderously slow, moving with a heavy, deliberate crawl. Its true speed is found elsewhere. It is an exceptionally fast and powerful burrower, able to vanish into sand, loose earth, or mud in minutes. In the air, it is a surprisingly graceful and powerful flier, using its large wings to soar on thermals for hours, though it requires a running start or a cliff-edge drop to get airborne. It only uses flight as a form of escape or searching for a new habitat. When searching for a new place to live it howls like a scalded dog. Most believe this is a form of echo location like ground penetrating radar.

Stat Modifiers

  • Strength: Very High
  • Constitution/Endurance: Very High
  • Dexterity/Agility: Very Low (on land), Average (in the air)
  • Wisdom/Perception: High (Its star-nose provides an unparalleled sense of touch and vibration detection)
  • Intelligence: Low (Possesses a patient, cunning instinct for ambush, but not true reason)
  • Charisma: Abysmal (Its appearance is profoundly alien and disturbing to most life forms)

Skills

  • Burrowing: A master of excavation, able to create pits and tunnels with astonishing speed.
  • Stealth: Despite its size, its ability to burrow and use its chromatophore skin for camouflage makes it exceptionally stealthy when preparing an ambush.
  • Perception (Vibration): Its primary method of sensing its surroundings is through its star-nose, which can detect the faintest footsteps or movements through the ground from a great distance.
  • Ambush: A patient and flawless ambush predator.

Behavior: The Star-Lure is the embodiment of patience. It is an ambush predator that will spend days, or even weeks, completely motionless, buried beneath the earth with only its star-shaped nose appendage exposed. It uses its chromatophores to disguise the nose as a strange desert flower or an unusual rock formation. When a curious or thirsty creature approaches to investigate, the Star-Lure erupts from the ground with explosive force. Its tentacles lash out to ensnare the prey while its powerful beak delivers a single, devastating bite. It can also lie motionless with its beak open, using a small, worm-like growth on its tongue as a lure to draw in smaller prey. Outside of hunting, it is not actively aggressive, relying on its formidable shell for defense. It spends much of its time soaring high above, searching for carrion.

Diet: Its primary diet consists of bone. Like the Lammergeier, it is an osteophage, a bone-eater. It seeks out the carcasses of large animals left by other predators and uses its immensely powerful beak to crack open the thickest bones to get at the nutritious marrow inside. It will often carry large bones high into the air and drop them onto rocks to shatter them. While it prefers this scavenger’s diet, it is an opportunistic predator and will ambush and consume any living creature that falls for its lure.

Emotions: The Star-Lure operates on a level of consciousness that is almost geological in its patience and lack of mammalian emotion. It does not feel anger, fear, or joy. Its primary states are a deep, patient stillness, a cold and focused predatory instinct when hunting, and a placid indifference when soaring or resting. It is a creature of pure, dispassionate survival instinct.

Environment Where Found: It is most commonly found in arid badlands, dry riverbeds (wadis), and rocky, barren foothills. It prefers environments with loose, sandy, or gravelly soil that allows for easy burrowing. It also requires high cliffs or mesas in its territory from which it can launch itself into flight and where it builds its crude nests from the bones of its meals.

Tags: Feral, Beast, Predator, Ambush, Burrower, Flyer, Armored, Badlands, Scavenger, Osteophage, Camouflage, Grappler, Patient Hunter, Vibration Sense, Tentacles, Carapace, Lure, Hybrid, Chromatic, Solitary

Age

The Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure possesses a remarkably long lifespan, a trait inherited from its reptilian ancestry, often living for 150 to 200 years. Their life is marked by slow, deliberate stages of growth.

  • Egg Stage: A single, large egg with a thick, calcified shell that mimics the texture and color of the surrounding rock is laid in a high-altitude nest. The incubation period can last for over a year.
  • Hatchling Stage (Years 0-3): The hatchling is flightless and has a soft, leathery carapace. It is completely dependent on its parents for food, which consists of pre-softened marrow and bone fragments. Its star-nose is fully developed and is its primary tool for exploring its immediate surroundings.
  • Fledgling Stage (Years 3-15): The carapace hardens, and the fledgling strengthens its wings through short, gliding descents from the nest. During this time, it accompanies its parents on hunts, learning to burrow, ambush, and select bones.
  • Sub-Adult Stage (Years 15-30): The Star-Lure leaves its parents’ territory to find its own. This is the most dangerous period of its life. It is not yet at its full size and strength and must compete with other predators while establishing its own hunting grounds.
  • Mature Adult (Years 30-120): Fully grown and powerful, the creature finds a mate and establishes a permanent territory, often spanning many square miles. This is its prime, where it reigns as the apex scavenger and a formidable ambush predator.
  • Ancient Stage (120+): An ancient Star-Lure is a sight to behold. Its carapace is often covered with lichens and mineral deposits, making it nearly indistinguishable from a large boulder when at rest. They become incredibly patient, willing to lie in ambush for months at a time, and their bone-nests become colossal structures visible from miles away.

Mating

Unlike many monstrous beasts, the Star-Lure forms lifelong, monogamous pair-bonds. Their courtship is a silent, majestic, and often bizarre affair.

  • Courtship: A prospective pair will engage in incredible aerial displays, soaring in perfect unison high above their territory for days on end. The male will demonstrate his provider skills by finding and presenting the female with a particularly large or exotic bone, such as the skull of a rare monster. Communication is done through intricate, hypnotic color and texture shifts on their exposed skin—a silent language of chromatophores that conveys intent, health, and willingness to pair.
  • Nesting: Once bonded, the pair builds a massive nest on the highest, most inaccessible cliff face or mesa they can find. The nest is not made of wood or foliage, but is instead a huge, macabre structure woven together from the bones of their countless meals. The largest bones form the foundation, while smaller ones are used to create a cup-like interior, which is then lined with their own molted feathers and dried leathery skin.
  • Parental Care: The female lays a single egg every five to ten years. Both parents share the long duty of incubation. After the chick hatches, they are devoted parents, protecting it fiercely and bringing it food. They will carry bones back to the nest, crack them open, and feed the marrow to their young. They continue to care for their offspring for nearly 15 years, until it is strong enough to fly and hunt on its own.

Tactics

The Star-Lure is a master of patience and sudden, explosive violence. Its tactics revolve around ambush, camouflage, and its unique biological tools.

  • The Buried Ambush: This is its most common hunting strategy. The creature will dig a pit in sand or loose earth and bury itself completely, leaving only its star-shaped nose exposed on the surface, which it disguises as a strange flower or fungus using its chromatophores. It can sense the faintest vibrations through the ground via its nose-tendrils, allowing it to detect approaching creatures long before they see it. When prey is within striking range, it erupts from the earth.
  • The Luring Maw: In rocky terrain where burrowing is difficult, it will find a shadowed alcove and lie motionless with its powerful beak wide open. It wiggles the small, worm-like appendage on its tongue to lure smaller, inquisitive creatures directly into its mouth.
  • Aerial Bombardment: A key tactic for both hunting and defense. It uses its powerful wings and legs to lift heavy objects—either armored prey or massive bones—high into the air. It will then drop them onto rocks below to shatter their defenses or access the marrow. This can also be used to deter or attack any creature pursuing it on the ground.
  • Chromatic Deception: Before an attack, it can flash a rapid series of hypnotic, swirling colors and patterns on its skin. This can mesmerize or confuse a target for the critical second it needs to strike.
  • Ink Defense: If surprised or overwhelmed, it can eject a thick, black, mucus-like ink from a gland near its tentacles. This cloud blinds and confuses attackers, allowing the creature to burrow and escape.

Actions

  • Bone-Crushing Bite (Melee Attack): A single, devastating bite from its powerful beak, capable of shearing through armor and bone.
  • Tentacle Lash (Melee Attack): A rapid strike with its tentacles to ensnare or bludgeon a target, pulling them closer to its beak.
  • Earthen Eruption (Area Action): When bursting from a burrowed position, it throws a shower of rock and soil in a wide area, potentially knocking foes prone.
  • Hypnotic Display (Deception Action): The creature flashes a mesmerizing series of colors on its skin. Creatures who see it must make a test of will or be dazed for a short period.
  • Ink Cloud (Defensive Reaction): Releases a cloud of thick, obscuring ink in its immediate vicinity, blocking line of sight.
  • Bone Drop (Ranged Attack): While flying, it can drop a heavy object on a target below.

Other Interesting Information

  • The Star-Nose Organ: This fleshy appendage is one of the most sensitive organs in the natural world. It is not a nose for smelling, but an organ of extreme tactile sense. Its 22 tendrils, moving independently, create a perfect 3D “image” of its surroundings through touch and vibration, allowing it to “see” perfectly even when completely buried underground.
  • Ecological Role: Star-Lures are vital “cleaners” of their arid environments. By consuming entire carcasses, bones and all, they prevent the spread of disease. Their habit of dropping bones from great heights also creates a secondary food source for smaller scavengers who cannot break the bones themselves.
  • Bone Nests and Divination: The massive, eerie bone-nests of a mated pair can persist for centuries. Some desert mystics and “bone-seers” believe that the arrangement of the bones is not random, but a form of unconscious divination. They will risk their lives to climb to these nests, believing they can read the future of the region in the patterns of the skeletons.
  • Harvestable Ink: The defensive ink of the Star-Lure is highly prized by alchemists and scribes. When dried and processed, it creates a pigment of unparalleled blackness that is completely waterproof and permanent. It is the base for many magical inks used in writing scrolls and contracts.

An encounter with a Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure is a fundamentally different experience from facing most other monsters on Saṃsāra. It is not a creature of active aggression or overt territoriality; it is a patient, alien intelligence operating on a geological timescale. Adventurers cross paths with one not because they have enraged it, but usually because they have stumbled, unaware, into a perfectly set trap that has been waiting for days, weeks, or even months.

Incidental Encounters: The Patient Trapper

A party is far more likely to be hunted by a Star-Lure without ever knowing it than to simply stumble upon one in the open. These encounters are sudden, shocking, and test a party’s ability to react to a catastrophic surprise.

  • The Living Landmark: While navigating arid badlands or deserts, a party might be using a map that indicates a “unique flowering stone” or “odd fungal growth” as a key landmark. As the adventurers gather around the strange “flower” to get their bearings, they may notice its tendrils twitching. The ground would then erupt around them as the Star-Lure, whose disguised star-nose they were admiring, bursts from its burrow, its tentacles lashing out to grab the nearest, most convenient meal.
  • A False Refuge: Caught in a blinding desert sandstorm or seeking shade from the brutal sun, a party might spot what appears to be a cave entrance or a large, stable rock overhang offering shelter. They huddle beneath it, waiting for the storm or the heat to pass. The “rock,” however, is the carapace of a dormant Star-Lure. The party’s noise, warmth, or the simple cessation of the storm might rouse the creature, which would “awaken” with the party already on top of it or trapped within its “cave.”
  • The Ossuary Ambush: The adventurers discover a vast and eerie boneyard in the middle of nowhere—a field littered with the massive, shattered skeletons of powerful beasts. Believing they’ve found the lair of a more conventional predator like a manticore, or perhaps just an ancient graveyard, they begin to explore, looking for treasure or clues. In reality, they are walking through the Star-Lure’s larder. The creature itself is buried nearby, patiently watching and waiting for the scavengers to become distracted before it strikes.
  • Death from Above: While flying over the badlands on an airship or large mounts, the party might suddenly be forced to take evasive action as a massive object—the leg bone of a behemoth—plummets from the sky, dropped by a soaring Star-Lure aiming for a rock formation below. A direct hit could cripple their transport, forcing an emergency landing directly within the patient creature’s territory, where it will surely come to investigate the crash.

Deliberate Quests: Hunting the Unseen

Actively seeking a creature that spends most of its time invisibly buried beneath the earth is a challenge for only the most skilled and well-equipped adventurers. The quests that target a Star-Lure are often those of great reward, requiring immense patience and specialized knowledge.

  • The Ink of Permanence: A master scribe for a royal court or a powerful mage’s guild requires the ink sac of a Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure. This “Star-Lure Ink,” when processed, is said to be the only medium that can create truly permanent magical wards or contracts that can never be altered or erased. The party is hired not just to hunt the beast, but to perform the delicate task of extracting the fragile ink sac without it rupturing and contaminating the valuable, mucus-like contents.
  • The Bone-Seer’s Pilgrimage: A desert mystic, one who practices the rare art of osteomancy (bone divination), has had a vision that the location of a hidden oasis or a lost ruin can only be found by “reading” the arrangement of skeletons in an ancient Star-Lure’s nest. The party is hired as guides and protectors for the mystic’s dangerous pilgrimage high into the mesas where the creatures nest. The goal is not to kill the beasts, but to survive in their territory long enough for the seer to perform their ritual, defending them from a creature that does not appreciate visitors to its home.
  • The Scholar’s Alien Obsession: A xenobiologist from one of Saṃsāra’s great universities is obsessed with the Star-Lure’s unique physiology. They believe the star-nosed appendage holds the key to non-visual sensory perception, and its chromatophore skin could revolutionize camouflage technology. They hire the party for an incredibly dangerous mission: get close enough to a living Star-Lure to use a specialized scanner on its star-nose, and to acquire a small, living tissue sample of its skin. This quest requires stealth, patience, and nerves of steel, as the goal is to study the live specimen, not just slay a monster.
  • The Unbreakable Shield: A client of immense wealth and influence desires a shield that can turn aside any blow. A legendary armorer has posted a commission, stating that the only material that can form the basis of such a shield is the spiked, layered carapace of a mature Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure. The party is hired for the difficult hunt, with the added logistical challenge of having to harvest and transport the massive, incredibly heavy shell back from the remote badlands.

The corpse of a Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure is a bizarre and valuable prize. Its alien physiology, a fusion of four distinct life forms, means that almost every part of the creature can be harvested by a skilled individual for use in a variety of crafts, from alchemy and armor-smithing to the creation of esoteric magical devices. The challenge is not in finding a use for the parts, but in surviving the hunt and having the skill to properly harvest them.

Here are the primary items and ingredients that can be harvested from a Star-Lure’s corpse:

The Spiked Carapace

  • Description: The massive, heavy shell of the creature, composed of interlocking, bony plates covered in thick, sharp spikes. The carapace is incredibly dense and resistant to physical trauma. Harvesting requires heavy-duty saws and chisels.
  • Use: A master armorer can fettle a large section of the shell into a nearly unbreakable tower shield or the breastplate for a suit of custom heavy armor. Due to its weight, it is not used for full plate, but as a central, defensive component. Individual spikes can be fashioned into armor-piercing arrowheads or the tips of spears and caltrops.

The Star-Nose Sensory Organ

  • Description: The fleshy, 22-tendriled star-shaped appendage that serves as the creature’s face. It is a complex network of hyper-sensitive nerve endings that must be carefully preserved in an alchemical solution to prevent immediate decay.
  • Use: This is a rare and esoteric component. An artificer can integrate the preserved organ into a device known as a “Seismic Sensor.” When placed on the ground, this device can detect the faint vibrations of footsteps or movement through solid earth from a great distance, making it an unparalleled tool for sentries and for detecting hidden tunnels or ambushes.

Chromatophore-Rich Hide

  • Description: The soft, leathery skin from the creature’s neck and limbs. It is saturated with chromatophores, the pigment cells that allow for its rapid camouflage. Even after death, these cells retain their ability to shift in color and texture when stimulated with a mild magical current.
  • Use: A highly prized material for master leatherworkers and enchanters. It can be crafted into a “Chameleon Cloak” or sections of light armor that provide a significant bonus to stealth by subtly blending into the wearer’s surroundings. It is also a fashionable luxury item among the elite, used to create “mood garments” that shimmer and change color based on the wearer’s emotions.

Star-Lure Ink Sac

  • Description: A gland located near the creature’s tentacle cluster that produces a thick, viscous, and exceptionally light-fast black mucus used for defense. The ink is difficult to handle and will permanently stain almost anything it touches.
  • Use: When properly harvested and processed, the ink is known among scribes as “True Black” or “Unerasable Ink.” It is used for the creation of powerful magical scrolls, permanent wards, and unbreakable contracts, as the ink cannot be removed by any mundane or common magical means. Alchemists also use it as a base for smoke bombs that create a cloud of absolute, sight-defeating darkness.

The Tongue-Lure

  • Description: The small, pink, worm-like appendage attached to the creature’s tongue. The muscle fibers within it retain an eerie, lifelike ability to twitch and wiggle for days after the creature’s death if kept moist.
  • Use: This is a legendary component for any angler or trapper. When affixed to a fishing line or the trigger mechanism of a trap, the “Wriggling Lure” is almost irresistible to fish, small animals, and even some less intelligent monsters, making it a peerless form of bait.

Lammergeier Wing Bones

  • Description: The bones from the Star-Lure’s massive wings are, like a bird’s, hollow yet incredibly strong and lightweight. The largest of these bones can be several feet long.
  • Use: After being hollowed out and carved, these bones make exceptional musical instruments. A “Star-Lure Flute” or horn produces a sound that is deep, vast, and haunting, said to carry for miles across the badlands. Mystics claim that playing such an instrument can soothe desert creatures or call down favorable winds.

Marrow-Infused Heart

  • Description: The creature’s large, slow-beating heart. Because of its bone-eating diet, the organ is saturated with powerful digestive enzymes and nutrients related to the absorption of bone marrow.
  • Use: A key ingredient for potent alchemical draughts. A “Marrow-Strength Elixir” made from the heart can greatly accelerate the mending of broken bones and fortify the imbiber’s constitution. It is a primary component in many powerful regenerative and endurance-boosting potions.

The Manipulator Tentacles

  • Description: The eight sucker-lined tentacles that surround the creature’s beak. The muscle tissue is a unique bundle of fibers that can contract with great speed and strength, and the suckers, even after death, can create a powerful seal if properly treated.
  • Use: Artificers can use the preserved tentacles to create articulated “retrieval tools” for handling dangerous objects at a distance. The suckers themselves are often ground down and used in the alchemical formula for “Gloves of Unfailing Grip,” enchanted gloves that allow the wearer to adhere to surfaces and climb with ease.

Parable of the Four Treasures

(This story is chipped into the bone-walls of a desert cave, and the pictures that go with the words are faded. The man who first wrote them down in a human tongue did not know the old language well, so the meaning is a little bent, like a tree in a strong wind.)

In the time before time, there was a Great Shaper who was not satisfied. It had made the swift runner, and the strong biter, and the high flyer. But each thing had only one greatness. The Shaper dreamed a dream of a perfect creature, a creature that would hold the four greatest treasures of the living world all in one body. The treasures were four: Patience, Perception, Adaptation, and Aspiration.

And so the Shaper went on a journey to gather the treasures.

First, to find Patience, the Shaper went to the bottom of the oldest lake. There slept the Great Turtle who had not moved for a thousand years. The Shaper asked, “Great Turtle, your shell is the house of Patience itself. I ask you for this treasure, for my perfect creature.” The Turtle, in its slow thoughts, agreed. For its true patience was in its spirit, not its shell. And it gave the Shaper its great, spiked house.

Second, to find Perception, the Shaper went deep into the earth, where there is no light. There lived the Mole Who Sees With Its Skin. Its face was a star of living flesh, and with it, it could feel the heartbeat of a worm on the other side of a mountain. The Shaper asked, “Wise Mole, your nose is the flower of Perception. I ask you for this treasure, for my perfect creature.” The Mole, who saw not with eyes but with the world’s own vibration, agreed. For its true perception was in its connection to the earth, not just the star on its face. And it gave the Shaper its fleshy flower.

Third, to find Adaptation, the Shaper went into the sun-dappled sea. There danced the Cuttlefish, the Weaver of Light. It could wear the pattern of the sand, or the stone, or the shadow, all in a single blink. The Shaper asked, “Clever Weaver, your skin is the cloak of Adaptation. I ask you for this treasure, for my perfect creature.” The Cuttlefish, whose true form was change itself, agreed. For its ability was in its spirit, not only its skin. And it gave the Shaper its shifting, painted cloak.

Fourth, to find Aspiration, the Shaper went to the highest mountain peak that scraped the belly of the sky. There lived the Lammergeier, the Bone-Eater who desires to fly to the sun. Its wings were the sails of Aspiration. The Shaper asked, “Great Flyer, I ask for your wings, so my perfect creature may also yearn for the heavens.” The Lammergeier, whose true flight was in the fire of its heart, agreed. For its aspiration was a feeling, not a feather. And it gave the Shaper its mighty wings.

The Great Shaper returned to its workshop in the barren lands. It had the four treasures: the shell of Patience, the star of Perception, the cloak of Adaptation, and the wings of Aspiration. The Shaper took the clay of the badlands and molded a new form. It placed the shell upon its back for Patience. It put the star upon its face for Perception. It wrapped the new limbs in the cloak for Adaptation. It fixed the wings to its shoulders for Aspiration.

Then the Shaper breathed life into the clay. The creature stirred. It was mighty. But the Shaper had made a great error. It had gathered all the virtues, but had forgotten to give the creature the most important treasure of all: a Heart.

And without a heart to guide them, the treasures became curses. Patience without a heart became cold, endless waiting for a chance to kill. Perception without a heart became the cunning of a trapper lying in wait. Adaptation without a heart became the soulless trick of a hunter’s camouflage. Aspiration without a heart became only a way to climb higher to drop bones upon the rocks.

The form that stood up was not a perfect being. It was a monster. The skin of the sea-weaver grew tentacles of grasping. The desire of the bone-eater grew a beak for crushing. It was a perfect thing of ambush and hunger. It was a Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure.

The Great Shaper looked upon its work, and it was saddened. It could not unmake what it had made. It left the creature in the badlands, a place as empty as the hole in its chest where a heart should have been. And there it waits, and watches, and soars, and hunts, a perfect creature with no goodness inside it.

Moral of the story: A being may have all the greatest virtues, but without a heart to guide them, they are only weapons.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition

The Star-Faced Watcher

This creature is a biological impossibility, a thing that should not exist. It is not necessarily a creature of the Mythos, but its profoundly alien anatomy and predatory patience are enough to shatter the sanity of any investigator who encounters it. Its existence is a chilling reminder that the laws of nature are not as inviolable as humanity believes.

STR 120 CON 150 SIZ 140 DEX 35 INT 30 POW 80 HP: 29 Damage Bonus (DB): +2d6 Build: 3 Move: 4 / 8 flying / 4 burrowing Sanity Loss: 1/1d8 Sanity points to see the Star-Faced Watcher erupt from ambush.

ATTACKS Fighting (Brawl) 70%, damage 1d3+DB Attacks per round: 2 (Beak and Tentacles)

  • Crushing Beak: A successful Fighting attack with its beak deals 2d8+DB damage and ignores 4 points of armor.
  • Ensnaring Tentacles: A successful Fighting attack with its tentacles deals 1d4+DB damage. The target is also grappled. An investigator must win an opposed STR roll against the creature’s STR of 120 to escape. The creature can attack a grappled target with its beak automatically on its next turn.

Special Abilities:

  • Armor: 10 points of thick, spiked carapace. The creature’s head and limbs are less protected (Armor 3).
  • Burrowing Ambush: The Star-Faced Watcher spends most of its time completely buried. It cannot be targeted while burrowed. It detects prey via vibrations in the ground. When it attacks from its burrow, it automatically gains a bonus die on its first round of attacks.
  • Ink Cloud: If reduced to half its Hit Points, the creature can, as an action, release a 20-yard radius cloud of thick, black ink. This blocks all sight, and anyone breathing the aerosolized fluid must succeed on a CON x 5 roll or suffer from violent, choking fits for 1d4 rounds, unable to take any action. The creature will use this cover to escape by burrowing.

Blades in the Dark

The Shatter-Shell Oracle

A legendary horror of the Deathlands, this creature is less a beast and more a living siege engine. It is a patient, ancient thing that waits for weeks for a single, perfect opportunity to strike. A crew with a score that involves crossing its territory or stealing from its bone-nest is undertaking a job of extreme, likely fatal, difficulty. It is a Master-level Threat.

Threat: The Shatter-Shell Oracle, a patient and alien predator. Drive: To wait, to ambush, to consume, to add to its bone-collection. Game Mechanics: The Oracle is a force of nature. Its actions are devastating consequences.

  • Eruption from Below: This is how it announces its presence. Without warning, the ground explodes upwards. Consequence: The entire crew is thrown about. Each character suffers Level 2 Harm (“Bruised and Battered”) and you must resist with Prowess to keep your footing. The crew’s position is now Desperate.
  • The Crushing Maw: Its primary attack. This is not a simple bite. Consequence: Suffer Level 4 Harm (“Shattered Limb”). Alternatively, the GM can rule that a piece of your armor or a treasured item you are holding is instantly destroyed.
  • Ink Cloud Defense: When it feels threatened, it releases a cloud of blinding ink. Consequence: The area is now a zone of pure blackness. You are helpless and disoriented. The GM starts a 6-segment clock, “Escape Before It Strikes Again.”
  • Chromatic Mesmerism: Before it strikes, it can flash a hypnotic pattern on its skin. Consequence: You are mesmerized by the shifting colors. You hesitate for a crucial moment, allowing the Oracle to act with increased effect, or creating an opportunity for another threat to emerge.

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

Osteovore Ambusher Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 18 (natural armor) Hit Points 136 (13d10 + 65) Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 50 ft.

STR 20 (+5) DEX 8 (-1) CON 20 (+5) INT 3 (-4) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 5 (-3)

Saving Throws Con +9, Wis +7 Skills Perception +7, Stealth +7 Senses tremorsense 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 17 Languages — Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Siege Monster. The osteovore deals double damage to objects and structures with its Beak attack.

Tunneler. The osteovore can burrow through solid rock at half its burrowing speed and leaves a 5-foot-diameter tunnel in its wake.

ACTIONS Multiattack. The osteovore makes two attacks: one with its Beak and one with its Tentacles.

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d10 + 5) piercing damage.

Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the osteovore can’t use its tentacles on another target.

Earthen Ambush (Recharge 5–6). The osteovore burrows underground. It is considered invisible and has total cover. On its next turn, it can use its bonus action to erupt from the ground in a space within its burrowing speed. Each creature within 10 feet of the osteovore when it erupts must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.

Ink Cloud (1/Day). A 20-foot-radius cloud of magical darkness extends out from the osteovore. The cloud spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. It lasts for 1 minute or until a strong wind disperses it.

Knave, 2nd Edition

Star-Nosed Carapace A massive, flying, tortoise-like creature with a terrifying, fleshy star for a face. It is a patient ambush predator of the badlands.

HD 9 Armor As Plate + Shield (17) Morale 9 Beak d12 damage, ignores half of armor value Tentacles d6 damage, entangles target on a successful hit

  • Vibration Sense: The creature cannot be surprised by anything moving on the ground within a 60ft radius.
  • Earthen Ambush: If the creature attacks from a burrowed position, it automatically wins initiative for the first round of combat. All creatures within 10ft must succeed on a Dexterity save or be knocked prone.
  • Impenetrable Shell: Non-magical attacks that do not target the creature’s head or limbs can only inflict a maximum of 1 point of damage per hit. Attacking its head or limbs is a called shot made with Disadvantage.
  • Ink Cloud: Once per day, it can release a 30ft radius cloud of thick, black ink. All within are blinded.
  • Flight: It can fly, but is clumsy and cannot make melee attacks while airborne, though it can drop objects.
  • Bone-Eater: If it kills a creature, it will often ignore other threats to fly off with the corpse, intending to drop it on rocks from a great height.

Fate Core System

The Star-Maw Terror

This creature is a significant adversary, a force of nature best represented as a Main NPC. Its danger lies not in malice, but in its perfect function as a patient, alien predator.

Aspects:

  • High Concept: Patient Ambush Predator from the Arid Wastes
  • Trouble: Ponderous and Unthinking on Open Ground
  • Other Aspects: Impenetrable Spiked Carapace, Maw of Crushing Force, Vibration-Sensing Star-Nose

Skills:

  • Great (+4): Fight, Physique
  • Good (+3): Stealth, Notice
  • Fair (+2): Athletics

Stunts:

  • Earthen Eruption: When the Star-Maw Terror emerges from being burrowed, it can spend a Fate Point to attack everyone in its zone simultaneously with a Fight roll. Any character who fails to defend is knocked prone and has the situation aspect Dazed and Disoriented placed upon them with one free invocation.
  • Bone-Crushing Beak: The Star-Maw Terror gets +2 to Fight rolls made to inflict physical harm on a grappled or restrained target.
  • Ink Cloud: Once per conflict, the Star-Maw Terror can release a cloud of ink. This creates the situation aspect Blinding Ink Cloud with two free invocations on it, affecting the entire zone.
  • Armored Shell: The creature has Armor: 2 against physical attacks.

Stress & Consequences:

  • Physical Stress: [1][2][3][4][5][6]
  • Consequences: One Mild, one Moderate, one Severe

Numenera & Cypher System

The Lithovore Ambusher

This creature is a heavily bio-engineered organism, possibly a living terraforming machine or war-beast from a prior world, now gone feral. It is a patient and extremely dangerous specimen.

  • Level: 7 (Acts at level 7 for all tasks, including attacks and defense.)
  • Health: 40
  • Damage: Inflicts 8 points of damage with its beak; 4 points with its tentacles.
  • Armor: 4
  • Movement: Slow; immediate distance when burrowing; long distance when flying.
  • Modifications: Perception tasks based on vibration are eased by two steps. Stealth tasks while burrowed are eased by three steps.
  • Combat:
    • The Lithovore Ambusher erupts from the ground to attack. This initial attack hinders the target’s defense roll by one step due to surprise.
    • Its beak is powerful enough to ignore 2 points of Armor.
    • Its tentacles can be used to make a grapple attack. An entangled target’s actions are hindered by one step until they succeed on a Might-based task to escape.
    • Ink Cloud: Once every 28 hours, it can spray a cloud of thick, black ink, filling an area up to a short distance in diameter. All tasks requiring vision within the cloud are hindered by two steps.
    • Drop from Above: While flying, it can drop a heavy object (like a boulder or carcass) on a target. This is a level 5 attack inflicting 8 points of damage.
  • Interaction: The creature is a patient predator. It does not communicate and will ignore creatures it does not perceive as prey, relying on its shell for defense. If its food source or nest is threatened, it will attack relentlessly.

Pathfinder, 2nd Edition

Chroma-Carapace Star-Lure – Creature 8 Rare, N, Huge, Beast Perception +18; darkvision, tremorsense (precise) 60 feet Skills Athletics +20, Stealth +15 Str +8, Dex +0, Con +6, Int -4, Wis +4, Cha -3

AC 26; Fort +20, Ref +14, Will +18 HP 155 Shell [reaction] Trigger The star-lure is targeted with a Strike. Effect The star-lure retreats into its shell, gaining a +2 circumstance bonus to AC against the triggering Strike. It can stay in its shell, gaining the same bonus to AC but it is slowed 10 and cannot make Strikes. It can emerge from its shell as a free action at the start of its turn.

Speed 20 feet, burrow 20 feet, fly 50 feet Melee [one-action] Beak +20 (fatal d12, reach 10 feet), Damage 2d12+14 piercing Melee [one-action] Tentacle +20 (agile, reach 15 feet), Damage 2d8+12 bludgeoning plus Improved Grab

  • Burrowing Ambush [one-action] The star-lure burrows, gaining cover and becoming hidden. It can use Erupting Strike from this position.
  • Erupting Strike [two-actions] Requirements The star-lure is burrowed. Effect The star-lure moves up to its burrow Speed to a space on the surface and makes a Beak Strike. Each creature on the ground within 10 feet of its new position must attempt a DC 26 Reflex save.
    • Success The creature is unaffected.
    • Failure The creature is knocked prone.
    • Critical Failure The creature is knocked prone and takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
  • Ink Cloud [two-actions] (Conjuration, Water) The star-lure releases a 20-foot burst of thick, magical ink centered on itself. All creatures within the area are concealed, and all creatures outside the cloud are concealed from creatures within it. The cloud lasts for 1 minute or until dispersed by a strong wind. The star-lure cannot use Ink Cloud again for 1d4 rounds.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE)

Badlands Star-Maw This is a massive and terrifying creature, a legendary beast of the arid wastes and a true “boss” monster.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d8, Strength d12+3, Vigor d12 Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d10, Notice d12, Stealth d10 Pace: 4; Parry: 7; Toughness: 16 (4) Edges: — Special Abilities:

  • Armor +4: Heavy, spiked carapace.
  • Bite: Str+d10, AP 4.
  • Burrow (10″): Can move underground and cannot be targeted.
  • Fly (Pace 12″): Can fly, but cannot attack with its Bite while flying.
  • Hardy: A second Shaken result does not cause a Wound.
  • Ink Cloud: As an action, can create a cloud covering the Large Blast Template. It heavily obscures vision, imposing a -4 penalty on all actions requiring sight within it.
  • Size +6: A huge and heavy creature.
  • Tentacles: Str+d6, Reach 2″. On a raise on its Fighting roll, the target is Entangled.
  • Tremor Sense: The creature notices any creature moving on the ground within 24″ (48 yards) automatically.
  • Earthen Eruption: When the Star-Maw emerges from being burrowed, all creatures within a Large Blast Template centered on it must make an Agility roll at -2 or become Prone. It can then make a normal Bite attack in the same action.

Shadowrun, 6th World

Evo Star-Nosed Lithovore A terrifying paracritter rumored to be an early-stage Evo Corporation experiment in creating a bio-sentinel for arid environments, now feral and breeding in the wild. It combines traits of multiple creatures into a highly effective and patient predator.

ATTRIBUTES

  • Body: 8
  • Agility: 4
  • Reaction: 5
  • Strength: 8
  • Willpower: 5
  • Logic: 2 (Animal)
  • Intuition: 4
  • Charisma: 1
  • Edge: 3
  • Magic: 6
  • Initiative: 9 + 1d6
  • Matrix Initiative: N/A
  • Astral Initiative: 8 + 2d6

SKILLS

  • Athletics: 4
  • Close Combat: 5
  • Exotic Weapons (Ink Jet): 4
  • Perception: 5
  • Stealth: 5

POWERS

  • Armor: Rating 10
  • Concealment (Self): The lithovore can burrow into sand or loose earth, making it nearly impossible to detect. It gains a +6 dice pool bonus to its Stealth tests when hiding in this manner.
  • Enhanced Senses: Tremor Sense.
  • Natural Weapon (Beak): Damage Value 6P, AP -3.
  • Natural Weapon (Tentacles): Damage Value 3S, AP +0. On a successful attack, the lithovore can use the Grab Major Action as a Free Action.
  • Ink Jet: The lithovore can use its Exotic Weapons skill to fire a jet of thick, blinding ink. This has the effect of a Flash-Bang Grenade, but instead of light and sound, it is a cloud of sticky ink that affects vision and sensors.

Starfinder Roleplaying Game

Geode Scuttler CR 8 XP 4,800 N Huge aberration Init +0; Senses blindsense (vibration) 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16

DEFENSE HP 130 EAC 20; KAC 22 Fort +12; Ref +12; Will +7 Defensive Abilities shell defense; Immunities critical hits

OFFENSE Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) Melee beak +20 (2d8+14 P) Melee tentacle +20 (1d8+14 B plus grab) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tentacles) Offensive Abilities earthen ambush

STATISTICS STR +6; DEX +0; CON +4; INT -4; WIS +2; CHA -2 Skills Athletics +16, Stealth +21

SPECIAL ABILITIES

  • Shell Defense (Ex): As a move action, the geode scuttler can retract its limbs and head into its shell, increasing its KAC to 24. While retracted, it cannot take any action except to emerge from its shell as a move action.
  • Earthen Ambush (Ex): When the geode scuttler emerges from being burrowed, it can make a single beak or tentacle attack as part of the same move action used to emerge.
  • Ink Cloud (Ex): Once per day as a standard action, the geode scuttler can emit a 20-foot-radius cloud of thick, black ink centered on itself. This functions as a fog cloud spell but dissipates after 1 minute.
  • Bone Drop (Ex): While flying, the geode scuttler can drop a heavy object it is carrying as a standard action. This is a ranged attack against a grid intersection, dealing 6d6 bludgeoning damage to any creature in that square (Reflex DC 15 half).

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Burrowing Lithophage (Scavenger/Ambusher) This creature is a Class A ecological threat, a piece of megafauna from a high-danger world. It is a patient, heavily armored predator that relies on ambush tactics to hunt. Its alien physiology makes it resilient to most conventional weapons.

Characteristics: STR 15, END 14, DEX 6, INS 4 (Animal) Skills: Melee (natural) 3, Survival (badlands) 4, Stealth 3, Recon 2 Pace: 8m (4m when burrowing, 12m when flying) Attacks:

  • Crushing Beak (Melee): 3d6+6 damage, AP 6.
  • Constricting Tentacles (Melee): 1d6+6 damage. On an Effect of 6 or more, the target is grappled. Behavior: Ambush Predator, Scavenger.
  • Reaction: Ambush (-6) Armor: Natural Armor 8 (Massive Carapace) Special Abilities:
  • Vibration Sense: The creature cannot be surprised by anything moving on the ground. It ignores all visibility penalties when targeting creatures on the ground within 20m.
  • Burrowing Ambush: The creature can spend a significant action to burrow completely. While burrowed, it cannot be targeted. It may erupt from the ground as a single action, which includes moving up to its burrowing speed and making one Melee attack.
  • Ink Cloud: If reduced to half its Endurance or less, the creature may use its reaction to release a 20m radius cloud of thick ink. This blocks line of sight completely and any character within must make an Average (8+) Endurance check or spend their next turn choking and coughing.
  • Flight: It is a clumsy flier and cannot make melee attacks while airborne.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 4th Edition

Badlands Bone-Vulture A true monster of the southern Badlands, the Bone-Vulture is a terrifying creature spoken of only in whispers. Scholars who have studied the fragmented accounts believe it to be a bizarre, ancient cousin of the Jabberslythe, a creature so warped by the Winds of Magic that it has become a patient, armored nightmare.

M 3 WS 50 BS – S 65 T 60 I 35 Agi 25 Dex 15 Int 10 WP 50 Fel 5

Skills: Athletics 75, Cool 60, Endurance 75, Intimidate 75, Perception 45, Stealth (Rocky, Sandy) 55, Survival 55 Talents: Armour-Piercing (Beak), Dirty Fighting 3, Fearless, Iron Jaw 2, Menacing, Sturdy 2 Traits:

  • Armour (Head/Limbs): 2
  • Armour (Body/Shell): 5
  • Fear: 3
  • Flyer (Pace 30)
  • Size: Large
  • Stupid: This creature is subject to the rules for Stupidity.
  • Tunnelling
  • Weapon (Beak): +12 (Includes Size) with Damaging and Pummel Qualities.
  • Weapon (Tentacles): +10 (Includes Size) with Entangle and Wrap Qualities.
  • Vibration Sense: The creature cannot be Surprised by anything moving on the ground within 16 yards.
  • Ink Cloud: Once per combat, as an action, the creature can fill a Large area template centered on itself with a cloud of black ink. The area is subject to the Pitch Black condition, and any character within the cloud must succeed on a Challenging (+0) Endurance Test or gain one Stunned Condition.