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Dust Digger (3pp)

This creature looks like a man-sized sandy brown starfish with five long tentacles ringing a central maw lined with sharpened teeth and fangs.

Dust Digger CR 4

XP 1,200
N Large aberration
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +8

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 9, flat-footed 16 (+7 natural, –1 size)
hp 27 (5d8+5)
Fort +2; Ref +1; Will +4

OFFENSE

Speed 10 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Melee 5 tentacles +8 (1d6+3 plus grab) and bite +8 (2d6+3)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (5 ft. with bite)
Special Attacks sinkhole, swallow whole (1d6+3 plus 1d8 acid damage, AC 13, 10 hp)

STATISTICS

Str 16, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 10
Base Atk +3; CMB +7 (+11 grapple); CMD 17 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Improved Natural Attack (bite), Skill Focus (Perception), Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills Perception +8, Stealth +5 (+17 sandy terrain); Racial Modifiers +12 Stealth in sandy terrain
SQ earth glide

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Earth Glide (Ex)

A dust digger can glide through sand, loose soil, or other loosely packed earth as easily as a fish swims through water. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or signs of its presence. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a burrowing dust digger flings the creature back 30 feet, stunning it for 1 round unless it succeeds on a Fortitude save.

Sinkhole (Ex)

A buried dust digger can deflate its body as a free action, causing the sand above it to slide toward its maw. A creature standing on a space occupied by a buried dust digger when it deflates is immediately subjected to the dust digger’s tentacle attacks.

ECOLOGY

Environment warm desert
Organization solitary, gang (4–8), or colony (9–20)
Treasure none

Dust diggers are nocturnal desert carnivores about 10 feet in diameter. The creature spends most of its life buried under sand and dirt, waiting for potential prey to wander too close or actually wander over the area where a dust digger is buried.

A dust digger inflates its body with air, buries itself under a thin lair of sand or dirt, and waits for its prey to pass nearby. When a living creature walks over a dust digger, the creature deflates its body and folds its arms around the victim, attempting to shove the prey into its mouth.

Section 15: Copyright Notice - Tome of Horrors Complete
Dust Digger from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Scott Greene, based on original material by Tracy and Laura Hickman.