Roper
Living in caves and caverns throughout the Underdark, voracious ropers feast on whatever they can catch and seize. A roper eats any creature, from Underdark beasts to adventurers and their gear.
A roper has the appearance of a stalagmite or stalactite, which often allows it to attack with surprise. The creature can move slowly using thousands of sticky cilia beneath its base. It creeps up cave walls and along stone ceilings, finding the best position from which to attack.
Underdark Hunters. The roper is an evolved, mature form of piercer, with which it shares its rock-like appearance and hunting tactics. A roper can hold still for long hours, shutting its single eye to look like nothing more than a mundane formation of rock. Creatures that come too close are surprised when that eye snaps open and sticky tendrils shoot out to seize them. The roper then makes horrible guttural sounds as it reels in its struggling victims, drawing them close for the fatal bite of its stony teeth.
A roper can digest anything it eats with the exception of platinum, gemstones, and magic items, which can sometimes be retrieved from the creature’s gizzard after death. A roper’s digestive juices are also valuable, fetching a high price from alchemists who use them as a solvent.
Weakening Tendrils. A roper has six nubs set along its body, through which it extrudes sticky tendrils that bond to whatever they touch. Each tendril sends out hair-like growths that penetrate a creature’s flesh and sap its strength, so the victim can struggle only weakly as the roper reels it in. If a tendril is cut through or broken, the roper produces a new one to replace it.
