Grick — The Silent Terror of the Deep
A stone-coloured subterranean ambusher whose tentacles hide a hooked beak and whose hide shrugs off ordinary weapons.
The grick is a low, rubbery cave predator built for one thing: waiting where prey already intends to pass. Its long body resembles a pale worm or serpent, but the head opens into four fleshy tentacles surrounding a hard hooked beak. Against stone, the creature can become almost invisible until it lunges.
At a Glance
Run It Tonight
Do not announce a grick with noise. Put it against rough stone above or beside the route the party must use. The first sign should be movement where there was supposed to be rock. A grick attacks the nearest isolated creature, tests whether the prey can hurt it, then retreats into cracks or vertical terrain if resistance becomes serious.
Rules by Edition
Grick
Medium Monstrosity, Unaligned
AC 14; Initiative +2 (12)
HP 36 (8d8)
Speed 30 ft., Climb 30 ft.
14 (+2)
14 (+2)
11 (+0)
3 (−4)
14 (+2)
5 (−3)
Skills Stealth +4 (+8 in rocky terrain)
Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing from nonmagical attacks
Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 12
Languages —
CR 2 (450 XP); PB +2
Traits
Stone Camouflage. The grick has Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain.
Actions
Multiattack. The grick makes one Tentacles attack. If that attack hits, it makes one Beak attack against the same target.
Tentacles. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) Slashing damage.
Beak. Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) Piercing damage.
Grick
Medium monstrosity, neutral
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 27 (6d8)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
14 (+2)
14 (+2)
11 (+0)
3 (−4)
14 (+2)
5 (−3)
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages —
Challenge 2 (450 XP)
Traits
Stone Camouflage. The grick has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain.
Actions
Multiattack. The grick attacks with its tentacles. If that attack hits, it can make one beak attack against the same target.
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) slashing damage.
Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Grick CR 3
XP 800
N Medium aberration
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +12
Defense
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 27 (5d8+5)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +6
DR 10/magic
Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d4+1), 4 tentacles −1 (1d4)
Statistics
Str 12, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 5
Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 16 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception), Stand Still
Skills Climb +9, Perception +12, Stealth +6 (+14 in rocky terrain); Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in rocky terrain
Languages Aklo (cannot speak)
Ecology
Environment any underground
Organization solitary or cluster (2–5)
Treasure incidental
Grick
Medium Aberration
Hit Dice 2d8 (9 hp)
Initiative +2
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 20 ft.
Armor Class 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple +1/+3
Attack tentacle +3 melee (1d4+2)
Full Attack 4 tentacles +3 melee (1d4+2) and bite −2 melee (1d3+1)
Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60 ft., scent
Saves Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +5
Abilities Str 14, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 5
Skills Climb +10, Hide +3, Listen +6, Spot +6
Feats Alertness, TrackB
Environment underground
Organization solitary or cluster (2–4)
Challenge Rating 3
Treasure none
Alignment usually neutral
Skills. A grick gains a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. In rocky terrain, its natural coloration gives it a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks.
Behaviour
Gricks are patient but not sophisticated. They settle near routes used by smaller creatures and remain motionless until prey enters reach. When a strike succeeds, a grick often drags the carcass back to a narrow burrow or ledge rather than feeding in the open.
Clusters do not behave like coordinated packs. Several gricks may occupy the same feeding ground, but each attacks for itself and retreats with its own prize.
Signs Before Initiative
- A patch of cavern wall seems slightly too soft or regular until it moves.
- Half-eaten corpses have been dragged upward to ledges or into cracks.
- Tracks vanish where a creature climbed directly onto a wall.
- Stone-coloured scraps of rubbery shed tissue cling to sharp rock.
- Small underground animals avoid one otherwise useful passage.
If Violence Starts
The grick attacks from concealment, commits to one nearby target and keeps striking that creature rather than changing targets constantly. If its prey fights back effectively—especially with magic—it withdraws into terrain where pursuit is difficult.
Its resistance to ordinary weapons is part of the encounter. A low-level party may need magic, environmental damage or a tactical retreat rather than simply swinging harder.
Counterplay
Search the stone, not just the corridor. Bright light does not automatically disable a grick, but it makes careful inspection easier. Magical weapons and spells bypass the defensive advantage that makes older-edition gricks so punishing.
Once discovered, a grick has little ranged pressure. Open ground, readied attacks and refusing to follow it into tight cracks all work in the party’s favour.
Grick Alpha
The Grick Alpha is a much larger specimen used in fifth-edition play as an elite version of the same predator. Keep it as a variant, not as a separate edition tab. A typical Alpha is Large, around CR 7, with higher Armor Class and Hit Points, stronger tentacle and beak attacks, and the same stone-camouflage hunting style.
Do not give an Alpha elaborate telepathy, legendary actions or impossible stone-burrowing unless the campaign deliberately wants a unique boss monster. The creature works best as a bigger, tougher grick rather than a different species.
Using a Grick in an Encounter
The empty tunnel. A heavily travelled mining route becomes strangely free of rats and cave lizards before workers begin disappearing.
The high larder. Missing bodies are found on a ledge no humanoid could reach without climbing gear.
The false wall. A grick has settled beside a secret door, making explorers assume the moving shape is part of the mechanism.
The cluster. Several gricks share one cavern, but the party can exploit their lack of cooperation by splitting their attention.
Related Creatures
Compare the grick with other subterranean ambushers such as the Roper, Cloaker and Otyugh. Return to the Aberration Bestiary for the full cluster.
Rules Sources and Licensing
The 5e/2014 Grick is available in the fifth-edition SRD. The Pathfinder 1e statistics derive from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 2, © 2010 Paizo Publishing, LLC. The D&D 3.5e statistics are Open Game Content from the d20 System Reference Document.
The 5.5e/2024 block is a compatibility adaptation using the current fifth-edition rules language. The Grick Alpha is retained as a fifth-edition variant rather than mixed into the edition tabs.
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