Module H2 (1E):
Stone-Eater
(also called horgar by the dwarves and storgin by the gnomes)
Frequency: Very rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: - 10 (head is AC 0)
Move: 3"
Hit Dice: 30-100
% in Lair: 10%
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 20d4
Special Attacks: Squirt acid up to 20', radiate intense heat
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Low
Alignment: Neutral
Size: L (30' to 100' long)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Level/XP Value: X/ 13,200 + 35/hp
The mysterious stone-eater is worshipped as a god by some of the lesser underground races, and it is easy to understand why.
This immense and powerful creature eats its way through the solid rock, creating tunnels and passages in its wake. It does this by a combination of acid excretion and intense body heat (400 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit) that eats away and fuses the rock into a tunnel. When the creature is moving through granite, the tunnels become permanent; when it tunnels through sandstone, the passages collapse behind it. Perhaps thus do the great cavern networks of the Underdark come into being.
The natural armor class of the stone-eater is due to its skin, which is solid rock up to five feet thick. This chitinous exterior is lined with fissures through which the natural acid and heat generated by the creature escape to the surface. Only the head (about 2' in diameter) is exposed. The stone-eater can squirt its acid up to 20' as a weapon, but its other defenses are more formidable. If touched by bare flesh, the skin of the stone-eater causes 10d4 points of heat damage plus 20d4 points of acid damage automatically.
Any edged weapon strikes the stone-eater for half-normal damage and must roll on the Saving Throw Matrix for Magical and Nonmagical items (DMG, pg. 80) against crushing blow and then against acid. Non-edged weapons must roll on the matrix against acid.
The creature is immune to acid-, fire-, and electrical-based magical attacks.
It is easy to detect a fresh stone-eater tunnel, because it radiates heat for up to 24 hours after the creature's passage. For up to three hours, the walls are dangerously hot, causing 1d20 points of damage if touched by bare flesh. Pools of liquid form at the bottom of the tunnel; those are pure acid. If stepped in, they cause 10d4 points of damage to bare flesh and cause any other items to roll on the matrix, as above.
Some of the more powerful evil races of the Underdark have managed to domesticate the stone-eaters. The creatures are imprisoned in glass-lined pits. To move the creatures in the proper direction , either to carve a new tunnel or attack an enemy formation, the keepers use long, thin spears to slip through the narrow cracks in the stone skin and prod the sensitive flesh below. This is not a recommended technique for amateurs; even skilled horgarin (as the keepers are called) sometimes fall victim to their captives.
A stone-eater lays eggs once each 500 years. The eggs are kept in a small cavern deep beneath the earth, normally with only one passage leading to them. The eggs look like small boulders, but radiate heat and ooze acid. They are worth 10,000 gp to alchemists and magical researchers in major centers of learning.
A young stone-eater is of the smallest size and grows approximately 1 HD per year until it reaches full-size. The size of a stone-eater is approximately one foot for every HD. There are rumors of ancient stone-eaters that are much larger than those described here, but no one has seen them and lived. But there are immense corridors through the rock in certain areas of Deepearth that look suspiciously familiar....
Description: The stone-eater looks like a giant rock slug. When not moving, it resembles a cooled-down lava formation.
MC5 (2E):
Horgar
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any/Subterranean
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Rocks or earth
INTELLIGENCE: Semi (5-7)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: - 10 (head is AC 0)
MOVEMENT: 3
HIT DICE: 30 to 100
THAC0: 5
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 20-80
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Squirt acid
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Intense heat
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: G (30'-100' long)
MORALE: Fearless (19-20)
XP VALUE: 30 HD: 26,000
(add 1,000/HD above 30)
This immense and powerful creature eats its way through solid rock, creating tunnels, passageways, and caverns in its wake. When not in motion, a horgar resembles a lava formation. In motion it looks like a giant, black rock slug. It is an oblong lump with a thick skin of true stone (five feet thick in an adult). Great cracks in the skin divide it into large plates that shift and slide when the horgar is moving, The only, exposed part is the head, located at one end of the oblong, which is just a lump of softer-looking stone.
The horgar smells like the super-heated acid that it secretes from between its rock plates, somewhat like ammonia. The gases make other creatures' eyes water and irritate their mouths and nasal passages. The only sounds it makes are the grinding of its skin against the tunnel walls and the hiss of acid and heat melting rock.
Combat: The horgar is not an aggressive creature. The main problem is that it does not recognize most living creatures, at all. If unprovoked, it goes its own way, whether or not somebody is in the way. If attacked, it tries to leave. The tunnels it leaves behind are dangerously hot for the first three hours, causing 2d10 points of damage if touched by bare flesh. Wood or paper that come in contact with a hot wall ignite instantly; metal that is in contact with the wall for one turn can cause 2d10 points of burn damage. The walls are still hot, but not dangerous, for a full 24 hours after the horgar passes. The tunnel is also littered with pools of acid, which cause 1d4x10 points of damage to bare flesh. Other objects must roll successful saving throws vs. acid or be destroyed.
This creature is immune to acid, fire, and electrical attacks. Striking it with physical weapons is like hitting a granite boulder. Edged weapons cause only half damage and must roll saving throws vs. crushing blow. All weapons must roll saving throws vs. acid, which means edged weapons must roll two saving throws for each hit. Failure of either saving throw means the weapon is destroyed, either shattered or dissolved.
If the horgar can’t run away from attackers, it turns and fights. Its only weapon is to squirt acid from its head up to 20 feet away. At the first opportunity, it again tries to flee, Horgar are so hard to hurt, and so dangerous, that most creature just leave them alone.
Habitat/Society: Horgar live in the deep, hard-rock regions of the earth. On rare occasions they can be found closer to the surface or in softer rock. They do not have any society of their own, but they have affected many other societies. The name horgar is dwarvish, while the gnomes call them storgin: both names translate loosely to stone-eater.
For all the ages that the horgar have been tunneling in the Underdark, thousands of miles of tunnels and caverns are left behind. Other natural conditions, such as running water, have eroded most of them, giving them a natural look. These caverns have become homes to many races.
Some of the more primitive races of the Underdark worship the horgar as gods. Others, such as the dwarves, duergar, drow, gnomes, and the deep gnomes use them as work beasts. The horgar are kept in reinforced, glass-lined pits. They can be driven by slipping thin, glass-sheathed spears between the plates of their skin. This causes no damage, but irritates them sufficiently to make them move away from that side. The handler, called horgarin in dwarvish, must be skilled and quick to avoid having his spear snapped by the sliding plates of the skin. The dwarves have a saying, "as unlucky as a horgarin without a spear:"
Every 500 years, a horgar splits off 2d10 small parts of itself in a deep, hidden cave with only a single entrance. Each egg that is laid subtracts 1 Hit Die from the horgar. They radiate heat and slowly ooze acid. In the next two years the eggs mature into 30-Hit Die infants and become active, hungry, and mobile. After that they grow 1 Hit Die per year until they reach adulthood at 100 Hit Dice. Horgar are roughly one foot long for each Hit Die.
Ecology: The horgar are vital to the ecology of the Underdark. The byproducts of the stone-eaters are breathable gases, acids and other fluids, and various mineral deposits, Without the tunneling horgar, life would not be possible in the Underdark. The
bodies of the horgar provides nothing, of value, except to wizards - some parts of it are used for spells involving earth, stone, digging, and molten heat.
some preliminary stats for a horgar:
Horgar (Stone-Eater)
Gargantuan (Aberration? Magical Beast?)
Hit Dice: 30dX+X (X hp)
Initiative: +X
Speed: 10 ft (2 squares)
Armor Class: 30 (-4 size, +X Dex, +X natural), touch 16, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +X/+X
Attack:
Full Attack: Acid squirt +X ranged touch (20d4 acid)
Space/Reach: X ft/X ft
Special Attacks: intense heat, squirt acid
Special Qualities: blindsight/blindsense, immunity to acid, electricity, and fire, damage reduction X/bludgeoning, digest earth
Saves: Fort +X Ref +X Will +X
Abilities: Str X, Dex X, Con X, Int 7, Wis X, Cha X
Skills: X
Feats: 11
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: X
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 31-60 HD (Gargantuan); 61-90 HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: +X
A horgar is at least 30 feet long and can grow up to 100 feet in length, and weighs X tons.
COMBAT
Originally found in module H2 – The Mines of Bloodstone (1986, Michael Dobson and Douglas Niles), and Monstrous Compendium MC5 - Greyhawk Appendix (1990).
and in fact, diaglo mentioned quite a few that i had never even thought/heard of yet, and those needed to be added to our "to do" list...
remind me if I forget.
