Buy me a coffeeAnkheg
“Unearth the Terrifying Secrets of the Ankheg: Deadly Burrowers Lurking Beneath Your Feet!”
The Ankheg is a monstrous insectoid creature, with a sleek, segmented exoskeleton ranging in color from earthy browns to mottled greens. Its elongated body, roughly resembling a cross between an ant and a centipede, is adorned with sharp, serrated mandibles and multiple pairs of legs. Its large, multifaceted eyes glint with predatory intelligence.
Behavior: Ankhegs are solitary hunters, preferring to roam the depths of subterranean tunnels in search of prey. Despite their fearsome appearance, they are surprisingly stealthy, often lying in wait beneath the earth for unsuspecting victims to pass overhead. They are territorial creatures, fiercely defending their hunting grounds from intruders.
Habitat: Ankhegs make their homes in underground burrows, typically located in areas with loose, sandy soil or rocky terrain. These tunnels can stretch for miles beneath the surface, providing ample space for the Ankheg to hunt and hide.
Modus Operandi: When hunting, Ankhegs use their powerful mandibles to seize their prey, dragging them into their underground lairs to be devoured at leisure. They are ambush predators, using their burrowing ability to surprise their victims from below. Once their prey is subdued, they inject them with digestive enzymes, reducing them to a liquefied meal.
Motivation: The primary motivation of the Ankheg is survival and sustenance. They are driven by instinctual urges to hunt and feed, relentlessly pursuing any creature that crosses their path. Additionally, Ankhegs fiercely defend their territory, driving off rival predators and scavengers that encroach upon their domain.
Ankheg
This burrowing, bug-like monster scuttles about on six legs, drooling noxious green ichor from its clacking mandibles.
Large monstrosity, unaligned
Armor Class 14 (natural armor), 11 while prone
Hit Points 39 (6d10 + 6)
Speed 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 (+3) | 11 (+0) | 13 (+1) | 1 (-5) | 13 (+1) | 6 (-2) |
Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages –
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
- Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the ankheg can bite only the grappled creature and has advantage on attack rolls to do so.
- Acid Spray (Recharge 6): The ankheg spits acid in a line that is 30 feet long and 5 feet wide, provided that it has no creature grappled. Each creature in that line must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) acid damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Section 15: Copyright Notice
System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
This burrowing, bug-like monster scuttles about on six legs, drooling noxious green ichor from its clacking mandibles.
Ankhegs are an all-too-common plague upon the rural areas of the world. These horse-sized burrowing monsters generally avoid heavily settled areas like cities, but their predilection for livestock and humanoid flesh ensures that they do not keep to the deep wilderness either. Their preferred habitat is rural farmlands, as the loose soil of such regions makes it easy for the creatures to burrow. Tales speak of larger ankhegs that dwell in remote deserts—such creatures likely feed primarily on giant scorpions and camels, and rarely come in contact with civilization due to their remote locations. (A desert ankheg is a Huge advanced ankheg.)
Ankheg CR 3
XP 800
N Large magical beast
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 9, flat-footed 16 (+7 natural, –1 size)
hp 28 (3d10+12)
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +2
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Melee bite +5 (2d6+4 plus 1d4 acid and grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks spit acid
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 6
Base Atk +3; CMB +7 (+11 grapple); CMD 17 (25 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness
Skills Climb +8, Perception +8
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Spit Acid (Ex)
Once every 6 hours, an ankheg can spit a 30-foot line of acid. Creatures struck by this acid take 4d4 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 14 halves). Once an ankheg uses this attack, it must wait 6 hours before using it again. Additionally, during this time period, its bite attack does not inflict any additional acid damage. As a result, an ankheg does not use this ability unless it is desperate or frustrated, most often spitting acid when reduced to fewer than half its full normal hit points or when it cannot not successfully grab an opponent. The save DC is Constitution-based.
ECOLOGY
Environment temperate or warm plains
Organization solitary, pair, or nest (3–6)
Treasure incidental
Combat, an ankheg prefers to attack with its bite. Against multiple foes, an ankheg often grabs one of the available targets and then attempts to retreat to safety, burrowing into the ground. A creature carried underground can still breathe with difficulty (the ankheg needs to breathe as well, so its tunnels are relatively porous), but is often eaten alive before its allies can rescue it.
Ankhegs burrow with their legs and mandibles, moving with unsettling speed through loose soil, sand, gravel, and the like-they cannot burrow through solid stone. Burrowing ankhegs can construct tunnels by pausing frequently to shore up the walls with a thicker, less caustic secretion from their mouths. If an ankheg chooses to make a permanent tunnel when burrowing, it moves at half speed. A typical ankheg tunnel is 10 feet tall and wide, roughly circular in cross-section, and from 60 to 150 feet long ([1d10 + 5] × 10). Clusters of ankhegs often share the same territory and create intricate winding networks of tunnels under farmlands, sometimes resulting in sinkholes where too many burrow at once.
Although ankhegs resemble immense vermin, they are in fact much more intelligent than the typical arachnid and, given time and a talented trainer, can even be trained to serve as mounts or beasts of burden. The fact that even “domesticated” ankhegs are prone to squirting acid when frightened or startled makes them unsafe at best in most heavily populated regions, but for more savage races like hobgoblins, troglodytes, and particularly orcs, ankhegs make popular guardians or even pets.