Gargantuan monstrosity, unaligned
Armor Class: 18 (natural armour)
Hit Points: 247 15d20+90
Speed:
50 ft
, burrow: 30 ft
Saving Throws: Con +11, Wis +4
Senses: Blindsight 30 ft, Tremorsense 60 ft, passive Perception 9
Challenge Rating: 15
Tunneler. The worm can tunnel through solid rock at half it's burrow speed and leave a 10 foot diameter tunnel in it's wake.
Actions
Multiattack. The worm makes two attacks; one with it's bite and one with it's stinger.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack +14 to hit, reach 10 ft, one target. Hit 22 3d8+9 piercing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the worm. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against and other effects outside of the worm and it takes 21 6d6 acid damage at the start of each of the worm's turns.
If the worm takes 30 damage or more from a creature inside it, the worm must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which falls prone within 10 feet of the worm. If the worm dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 20 feet of movement, exiting prone.
Tail Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack +14 to hit, reach 10 ft, one creature. Hut 19 3d6+9 piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw, taking 42 12d6 poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Purple Worms are horrendous animals that burrow deep in the Underdark, and can appear anywhere on or near the surface in rock or mountainous regions. They are large enough to swallow a horse whole, and besides the gaping maw, have a purplish tough skin with sines appearing on each segment. Ravenously hungry, they pick up on tremors, and are notorious for burrowing up into the middle of battles and underground mines & settlements. Most Underdark civilisations living in settlements have learned to place magic runes carved about their settlements to prevent the worms coming near. Each purple worm will have undigested rock & earth in their digestive tracts, and these are likely to contain metal ores & rough gemstones. The odd treasure seeker insane or foolish enough to look for these creatures can find this treasure easy enough if the purple worm can be killed. Eventually this would be excreted, though for some this would take too long. This is no easy feat, though it is sometimes worth examining their tunnels, as these can turn up deposits & veins that have not been mined yet. The tunnels themselves are massive and stretches for miles.
The first purple worms to appear happened in an earlier epoch, one so far back in time no-one knows when. Some think that the worm is indigenous, and the product of millions of years of evolution. Others think that they are from another world or dimension, brought to Earth either by migration, hitching a ride on another creature, or by being deliberately introduced. Nobody can be sure exactly, but they seem here to stay. Just by the size of them, and the scars on some of the largest, they seem to live quite a long length of time if undisturbed. Also, they don't seem to breed too much due to the surface world not caving in any time soon.
Suggested Environments
The Underdark, rocky & mountainous terrain.
Comments