Souterraine Severer

Souterraine Severer (CR 15)

Pure Evil - Large - Magical Beast

Lore:	Know (Arcana)
32		48
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

25

Perception:
35	+25
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Tremorsense 120 ft.

Movement Types:

• Earth Glide 30 ft.
• NOTE: Souterrain have no normal Walk speed

Defense

AC

37

Man Def

37

Monster Health
429	214	29
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+17
Refl:	+12
Will:	+12

Strong Against:

• DR 10/Bludgeoning (physical, common)

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Large
10 ft.		20 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+22

Man Off

+25

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Tentacle Slash +22 (4d8+17/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  plus: Reposition (1d20 + 25 vs. target's Maneuver Defense)

Full Attack (Melee):

• 1x Slashing Swarm (15-foot cone -- auto-hit) (3d8+16/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  (Reflex Save, DC 26, for half)

Standard Attack (Ranged):

• 1x Sneaky Tentacle +22 (3d8+16/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  (Increment: 60 ft.; Max Range: 60 ft.)
  plus: Reposition (1d20 + 25 vs. target's Maneuver Defense). Originates from a square on a surface within 60 feet of the soutteraine, can reach 20 feet from that surface square.

Full Attack (Ranged):

• 3x Sneaky Tentacle +22 (3d8+16/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  (Increment: 60 ft.; Max Range: 60 ft.)
  plus: Reposition (1d20 + 25 vs. target's Maneuver Defense). Originates from a square on a surface within 60 feet of the soutteraine, can reach 20 feet from that surface square.

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

26

STR

16

DEX

18

CON

14

INT

18

WIS

14

CHA

Skills:

• Perception: 25
• Stealth: 33
• Survival: 25
• All other skills: 20 (no ranks)

Languages: Aklo, Undercommon

Feats:

Special Abilities

Tickling Tentacles (Ex) Swift Action

A souterraine can extend a tentacle underground, undetectably, and use it to shove unexpectedly against the soles of the feet of any creature walking or standing on any surface it can reach. As a swift action the Souterraine chooses one foe within 60 feet of its space. That foe must make a Reflex saving throw, DC 26, or be knocked Prone.

Earth Slam (Ex) Move Action

A souterraine may extend several tentacles underground, undetectably, and use them to unexpectedly dash a foe to the ground with killing force. As a move action, the souterraine chooses one foe in its reach. That foe must make a Reflex save, DC 26, or take 3d8+16 points of bludgeoning (physical, common) damage and be knocked Prone. If the save is made they take no damage, but are still knocked Prone.

Souterraine Severer

Souterraines are weird creatures that can be found deep underground in both natural caves and created passages. They can also be found getting close to the surface and infesting ruins, surface caves, and sometimes even sewers, dungeons, keeps, and the like. They are earth-natured creatures, their flesh resembling dirt and stone. When they are killed, there is no definite "end" to them below the surface: they instead seem to be intimately commingled with whatever the base stone and soil is. They are strongly suspected of being intrusions into the prime material plane from some plane of Earth, or a demi-plane close to it.

In appearance, they look like low mounds of earth and rock about eight to ten feet across. They are very difficult to spot in natural and rough terrain, and even in finished stone structures are easily mistaken for mounds of debris, trash, and rubble. Until they go active, that is.

When they are active and attacking, the wide, low mound of rubble splits to reveal a gigantic maw that is seemingly inset into the surface they are inhabiting. They always seem to be 'inside' an earth or stone surface, most commonly the floor, frequently a wall, and sometimes even a ceiling, buttress, pier, or other structure.

When they open their maws, they extrude from six to a dozen long, strong, rope-like prehensile tentacles from around the maw that are incredibly long and strong. They typically lash these tentacles around their victims and drag them to their maws to be swallowed. The tentacles are frequently equipped with suckers, razor-sharp claws, scutes, acid-emitting glands, glue-glands, poison glands, and numerous other effects, each more terrible than the last.

Perhaps worst of all is their ability to pull in their tentacles, close their maws, and 'sink into' the surface they inhabit, merely to appear moments later, having used earth glide to move to a new location., seeming to 'surface' in their new location like a massive turtle rising to the surface of a pond.

A souterraine severer is typical of the breed, lurking in dark, stony places and ready to ambush and eat the unwary. Their tentacles are very strong for a souterraine, and are equipped with razor-sharp blades of bone along their entire lengths. Severer's have weak maws compared to most souterraines and cannot swallow whole: They make up for this with much stronger tentacle attacks, the ability to grapple, and the ability to shove their victims around the battlefield.

Combat Tactics

Souterraine Severers are excellent ambush predators, and their tactics will reflect this. They will either use their excellent Stealth to disguise themselves as mere patches of dirt and wait, or they will sense foes with their amazing tremor sense and emerge from the walls and floor and ceiling all around their victims. Against grouped enemies, they will try to fire their Slashing Swarm attack on as many foes as they can hit. Slashing swarm is a fairly weak "knock down a tough foe" attack but a good "attack lots of people if they're clumped up" power.

Typically they will go with single attack actions, and use their tickling tentacles to try and knock down ranged attackers, or, their Earth Slam to harm and prone closer in attackers. Fights against Souterraine often end up with EVERYBODY prone, and the monsters swarming to the attack.

If they are taking heavy damage, souterraines will use their Earth Glide to run away promptly and quickly. They are not vicious, they just want to eat people in peace and quiet. Note: Transmute Rock to Mud and Pillar of Stone can be used to disable their Earth Glide for the duration of an encounter, although forcing a souterraine to fight to the death is a risky proposition.

Out of Combat

Souterraine's are highly intelligent for an alien monster with no hands and the ability to treat the world as a shadow, through which they glide in search of places to ambush prey. For sheer 'alien-ness' souterraine's are right up there with gargoyles, xorns, and the myriads of aberrations.

That said, they are not so weird that they do not form alliances with other monsters! Many lairs, dungeons, and keeps have a population of soutteraines who live within, serving as living traps and alarm systems all in one. In such cases, if a soutteraine flees an encounter, you can expect that they will be hurrying to warn their landlords of the intruders in their domain. It is also not unusual to see a combat begin with one sort of wretched fiend, and a pack of soutteraines attacks in the middle of the battle by surprise. Given their Earth Glide and incredible Stealth, this is a very effective tactic indeed!

Rewards

XP: 51,200

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 32,125 gp.

Weight: 150 lbs.     Volume: 6 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)