Library / Bestiary

Dust Digger

CR 4.00 Aberration N Large HD 5

A tremendous starfish-like creature emerges from the sand, its five long arms surrounding a circular toothy maw.

Description

Dust diggers most resemble mammoth starfish, with thick sandy-colored exoskeletons covered with rough, burr-like spines. Its five arms are long and thin, and covered with hundreds of barbed, tubular cilia that the creature uses to move as well at grab and grapple prey. At the fleshy center of the creature's body gapes a circular maw lined with large sharp teeth.

As ambush predators, dust diggers spend the majority of their lives buried beneath the sand, waiting patiently for prey to stumble over their ambush site.

Dust diggers are asexual. They reproduce by budding, splitting off young three to four times over the course of their 10-year lives—smaller versions of themselves that must immediately move away from the parent to avoid being snatched up and eaten. Dust digger young are just over 4 feet across, and can move relatively quickly through sand (their burrow speed is 40 feet). Usually, a young dust digger travels at least a mile from its parent before it settles down to create its first ambush—the amount of life in the region it has chosen as its new lair often determines whether the new dust digger thrives or starves to death, for once it digs its first ambush, it rarely moves more than a few hundred feet away over the course of its life.

Combat Stats

42 (5d8+20)

16, touch 9, flat-footed 16 (+7 natural, -1 size)

Init

Speed

10 ft., burrow 20 ft.

Fort

Ref

Will

BAB

CMB

CMD

Melee: bite +5 (1d8+3 plus grab), 5 tentacles +3 (1d4+1 plus grab)
Space: 10 ft.
Reach: 10 ft.
Racial Modifiers: +8 Stealth in ambush

Ability Scores

str

dex

con

int

-4

wis

cha

Special Attacks

Sinkhole — A dust digger can burrow into sand, loose soil, or dirt to lie in ambush just under the surface. When it feels (via tremorsense) prey walk into a square it threatens, it can deflate its body as an immediate action, causing the sand and other loose soil above to shift and slide. All creatures who were standing in the dust digger's reach must make a DC 15 Reflex save or become entangled as long as they remain in the dust digger's reach. All creatures who were standing at least partially in the dust digger's actual space must make a DC 15 Reflex save or become entangled and fall prone—if such a creature makes this save, it immediately moves to the closest adjacent unoccupied square. If this results in more than a 5-foot move, the creature moves that distance and then falls prone. The save DC is Strength-based.

swallow whole (2d8+4 bludgeoning, AC 13, 4 hp)

Feats

Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Skill Focus (Stealth)

Special Abilities

Universal Monster Rules

Grab

Grab (bite, tentacles) Ex from Universal Monster Rule

If a creature with this special attack hits with the indicated attack (usually a claw or bite attack), it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. The creature has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply to use the part of its body it used in the grab to hold the opponent. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a –20 penalty on its combat maneuver check to make and maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition itself. A successful hold does not deal any extra damage unless the creature also has the constrict special attack. If the creature does not constrict, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold. Otherwise, it deals constriction damage as well (the amount is given in the creature's descriptive text). Creatures with grab receive a +4 bonus on combat maneuver checks made to start and maintain a grapple. Unless otherwise noted, grab works only against opponents no larger than the same size category as the creature. If the creature can use grab on sizes other than the default, this is noted in the creature's Special Attacks line.

Swallow Whole (2d8+4 bludgeoning, AC 13, 4 hp) Ex from Universal Monster Rule

If a creature with this special attack begins its turn with an opponent grappled in its mouth (see Grab), it can attempt a new combat maneuver check (as though attempting to pin the opponent). If it succeeds, it swallows its prey, and the opponent takes bite damage. Unless otherwise noted, the opponent can be up to one size category smaller than the swallowing creature. Being swallowed causes the target to take damage each round. The amount and type of damage varies and is given in the swallowing creature's statistics. A swallowed creature keeps the grappled condition, while the creature that did the swallowing does not. A swallowed creature can try to cut its way free with any light slashing or piercing weapon (the amount of cutting damage required to get free is equal to 1/10 the creature's total hit points), or it can just try to escape the grapple. The Armor Class of the interior of a creature that swallows whole is normally 10 + 1/2 its natural armor bonus, with no modifiers for size or Dexterity. If a swallowed creature cuts its way out, the swallowing creature cannot use swallow whole again until the damage is healed. If the swallowed creature escapes the grapple, success puts it back in the attacker's mouth, where it may be bitten or swallowed again.

Special Abilities

Sinkhole from text

A dust digger can burrow into sand, loose soil, or dirt to lie in ambush just under the surface. When it feels (via tremorsense) prey walk into a square it threatens, it can deflate its body as an immediate action, causing the sand and other loose soil above to shift and slide. All creatures who were standing in the dust digger's reach must make a DC 15 Reflex save or become entangled as long as they remain in the dust digger's reach. All creatures who were standing at least partially in the dust digger's actual space must make a DC 15 Reflex save or become entangled and fall prone—if such a creature makes this save, it immediately moves to the closest adjacent unoccupied square. If this results in more than a 5-foot move, the creature moves that distance and then falls prone. The save DC is Strength-based.

Feats, Traits & Items

Improved Initiative from Feat

You get a +4 bonus on initiative checks.

Calculated: +4 Initiative

Multiattack from Feat

The creature's secondary attacks with natural weapons take only a –2 penalty.

Skill Focus (Stealth) from Feat

You get a +3 bonus on all checks involving the chosen skill. If you have 10 or more ranks in that skill, this bonus increases to +6.

Calculated: +3 Skill Bonus

Skills

Perception +5, Stealth +5 (+13 in ambush)

Details

Type: Aberration
Alignment: N
Size: Large
Environment: warm deserts
Organization: solitary, pair, or colony (3-10)
Treasure: none
Senses: darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +5
Source: Bestiary 2

Rules