Ankheg
Ankheg (CR 6)
The Ankheg is a massive insectoid beast whose depredations are cause for concern wherever they appear. Ankhegs are powerful diggers and burrowers who pop up when they are least expected to grab prey and vanish with them.
Ankheg incursions prompt full-scale responses from local authorities and are cause for extensive bughunts wherever they are found.
Ankhegs are brown and black beetle-like monsters ten to fifteen feet long, well equipped with biting mandibles, gripping legs, and acidic sprays of clinging glue. Even for their size, Ankhegs are enormously strong.
General
CR 6 Hit Dice 9
XP 2,400
N Large Magical Beast
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light 120 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., Perception +9
Defense
AC 24, touch 15, flat-footed 19 (+5 dex, +9 armor)
hp 66
Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +5
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: -
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
Offense
Speed 30 ft., burrow 20ft.
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Bite +10 (1d8+3/x2) Acid
Full Melee Bite +10 (1d8+3/x2), 2x Claws +10 (1d8+3/x2) + Grab
Ranged - but see Vomit Acid
Special Attacks Grab, Eat and Run, Vomit Acid
Action Points 0
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 6
Base Atk +6; CMB +12; CMD 24
Feats -
Skills Stealth +9
Languages None
Special Abilities
- Grab
- When making a full attack, the Ankheg may use Grab to initiate a free Grapple attack with up to one size medium or smaller creature. The Ankheg may roll to sustain this grapple as a free action, but as long as it has a creature grabbed, it cannot make further Claw attacks.
- Eat and Run
- When the Ankheg has a creature grabbed, it may, as a full attack, make a bite attack on that creature and move up to half it's full movement rate, either overland or by burrowing. Most Ankhegs will use Eat and Run to retreat back down the tunnel they bored to make their surprise attack.
- Vomit Acid
- Once per encounter the Ankheg may, as a standard action, vomit acid over a large area. Vomit Acid is a 30 foot cone that does 3d6 damage and inflicts the Slowed condition. Affected creatures are allowed to make a Reflex saving throw against a DC of 16 to avoid the Slowed condition, but the damage occurs regardless.
Treasure
sell value of approximately 1,875 gp
Combat Tactics
Ankhegs are great burrowers, able to create ten foot diameter tunnels when burrowing at half speed. They can only burrow through soft soil, which is why they are usually encountered in forests, grasslands, farmland, and the like. Ankhegs will use their tremorsense, laying up to twenty feet deep below the surface, and when they feel prey walking above will burrow after them stealthily until they stop.
Ankhegs will then burrow slowly upward, making a tunnel, and attack with surprise if they are able to. They will typically do a full attack if they can, grab prey, and use their Eat and Run power to retreat back down their tunnel. if pursued, they will vomit acid down the tunnel and burrow away while their pursuers are slowed. if they have to drop prey to flee at full speed, they will do so.
Nests of ankhegs may have large networks of tunnels, interconnected seemingly at random. Cleaning out such a nest of ankheg tunnels is a nightmare-inducing experience, to say the least, with the monstrous bugs attacking straight out of the walls.
Those who survive can usually sell the Ankheg's chitin for 1600 to 2000 gp per ankheg slain.