Purple Worm

Gargantuan Monstrosity, Unaligned

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• Armor Class: 18 (Natural Armor)
• Hit Points: 370 (20d20 + 160)
• Speed: 50 ft., burrow 30 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
30 (+10)	8 (-1)	28 (+9)	2 (-4)	10 (+0)	5 (-3)

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• Saving Throws: Str +17, Con +16, Wis +7
• Damage Resistances: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
• Damage Immunities: Acid, Poison
• Condition Immunities: Blinded, Deafened, Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned
• Senses: Tremorsense 120 ft., Passive Perception 10
• Languages: —
• Challenge Rating: 16 (15,000 XP)

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Lore

The Purple Worm is a legendary predator of the Underdark—a massive, serpentine creature that has long terrorized adventurers and underground dwellers. With its colossal size and insatiable hunger, it burrows through solid rock and creates vast tunnels in its wake, often leaving entire civilizations in ruin. Despite its overwhelming size, the Purple Worm is an ambush predator, using its burrowing and tremorsense to hunt from below. While mindless and driven purely by hunger, it is a force of nature, shifting the very landscape it inhabits.

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Traits

Siege Monster. The Purple Worm deals double damage to objects and structures.

Earth Shaker. When the Purple Worm moves at least 20 feet in a straight line, it creates tremors in a 30-foot radius around it. Creatures in this area must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone. Structures within the area take 3d10 bludgeoning damage.

Voracious Appetite. The Purple Worm can swallow creatures and objects up to its size category. Its gullet is an acidic pit where swallowed creatures take damage every round.

Burrowing Titan. The Purple Worm can burrow through solid rock, leaving behind a tunnel large enough for a Huge or smaller creature. Creatures standing on unstable ground where the worm passes must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.

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Actions

Multiattack. The Purple Worm makes two attacks: one with its Bite and one with its Stinger.

• Bite.Melee Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target.
  • Hit: 30 (5d8 + 10) piercing damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed.
  • A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained and takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the worm’s turns. If the worm takes 30 or more damage in a single turn from a creature inside it, it must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or regurgitate the swallowed creature, which falls prone in a space within 10 feet of the worm.
• Stinger.Melee Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target.
  • Hit: 22 (4d6 + 10) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 19 Constitution saving throw or take 42 (12d6) poison damage. On a successful save, the target takes half damage.

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Legendary Actions

The Purple Worm can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature’s turn.

• Tremor (Costs 1 Action). The Purple Worm causes the ground in a 30-foot radius to quake. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
• Devour (Costs 2 Actions). The Purple Worm makes a Bite attack against a creature within reach. If the attack hits and the creature is Medium or smaller, it is swallowed immediately.
• Burrow Surge (Costs 3 Actions). The Purple Worm burrows up to its speed and erupts from the ground at a point it can see within 30 feet, creating a tremor. Each creature within 10 feet of the eruption must make a DC 18 Strength saving throw or take 20 (3d10) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone.

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Regional Effects

The presence of a Purple Worm creates subtle disturbances in the environment, reflecting its dominance over the region:

• Tremors. Constant, faint tremors can be felt up to 1 mile away from a Purple Worm’s lair. These intensify when the worm is active.
• Subterranean Collapse. Caverns and tunnels within 500 feet of the Purple Worm’s lair become unstable, with a 20% chance per day of cave-ins occurring in active areas.
• Burrowing Resonance. Other burrowing creatures instinctively avoid the area, leading to a noticeable absence of typical underground fauna.

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Magic Item: Wormfang Spear

A spear crafted from the stinger of a Purple Worm.

• Weapon (Spear), Very Rare (Requires Attunement)
• Damage: 1d8 piercing (1d10 when used with two hands), plus 3d6 poison damage on a hit. Creatures struck must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned this way, the creature’s speed is halved.

Purple Worm 

This enormous worm is covered with dark purple plates of chitinous armor. Its giant, tooth-filled mouth is the size of an ox.

The Terichik (Purple Worm) is a giant worm that hides in the earth, periodically surfacing to devour villages. It was rescued and nursed by a witch who it subsequently devoured. No known weapons, poison, or spells have ever been successfully used against the Terichik. The best way to survive encountering it is to flee before it arrives (which is usually known well in advance due to tremors).

Source: Pathfinder d20pfsrd.com

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Purple Worm CR 12

XP 19,200   N Gargantuan magical beast Init -2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +18

DEFENSE

AC 26, touch 4, flat-footed 26 (-2 Dexterity, +22 natural, -4 size) hp 200 (16d10+112)   Fort +17, Ref +8, Will +4

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., swim 10 ft.Melee bite +25 (4d8+12/19-20 plus grab), sting +25 (2d8+12 plus poison)   Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks swallow whole (4d8+12 bludgeoning damage, AC 21, 20 hp)

STATISTICS

Strength 35, Dexterity 6, Constitution 25, Intelligence 1, Wisdom 8, Charisma 8 Base Atk +16; CMB +32 (+36 grapple); CMD 40 (can’t be tripped) Feats Awesome Blow, Critical Focus, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Power Attack, Staggering Critical, Weapon Focus (bite, sting) Skills Perception +18, Swim +20

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Poison (Ex) Sting – injury; save Fortitude DC 25; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Strength damage; cure 3 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any underground   Organization solitary Treasure incidental

Purple worms are giant scavengers that inhabit the deepest regions of the world, consuming any organic material that they encounter. They are notorious for swallowing their prey whole. It is not uncommon to hear of a group of adventurers vanishing down the ravenous maw of a purple worm, screaming as they disappear one by one.

Although they seek to consume living creatures, purple worms also consume vast amounts of dirt and minerals as they burrow underground. The insides of a purple worm may contain a considerable number of gemstones and other items able to withstand the corrosive acid inside its gullet. In areas filled with valuable minerals, such as those near dwarven mines, the natural tunnels created by burrowing purple worms are often filled with vast amounts of unrefined ores.

A purple worm usually claims a large underground cavern as its den, and while it returns here to rest and digest food, it spends the majority of its time on the prowl, burrowing through the endless dark or slithering along established tunnels in the constant drive to feed its immense hunger. Although not completely mindless, purple worms are rather stupid. They make popular guardians for those who have the magic to control them or a chamber in their lair large enough to hold one captive.

Variants

The standard purple worm encountered by cave-delving adventurers is not the only such species in the larger family of gigantic burrowing worms.

Mottled Worm

Similar in many respects to the purple worm save for its brown and gray coloration, the mottled worm is an aquatic relative of the purple worm that dwells in salt or fresh water. Rather than conserve oxygen within their coelums as their violet cousins do, mottled worms are actually able to draw water into their coelums, where oxygen diffuses into their surrounding bloodstream via specialized gill-like organs. As a result, like fish, mottled worms can stay submerged indefinitely if the surrounding water is properly oxygenated. Since their coelums have enough stored fluid to allow their internal gills to function, mottled worms are also able to survive out of water for several hours, though the uncomfortable drying process makes them inclined to return to the water after about an hour on land.

Mottled worms cannot burrow through stone like their cousins, but are adept at moving through the muck and sand found on the seafloor and on tidal shelves (burrow speed 20 feet in mud, sand, or silt). Varieties exist that lurk both in shallow waters, preying on aquatic species, birds, and land animals, and in the deepest reaches of the sea where they build gigantic upright tubular formations created from their bodily waste. Such deep sea specimens are highly resistant to extremes in both temperature and pressure and, as a result, are often found near volcanic vents.

Unlike purple worms, which are solitary, mottled worms of this deep-dwelling variety typically live in colonies of three to 12 individuals, and even the mighty krakens think twice before invading their hunting grounds.

Mottled worms have a poisonous bite rather than a poisonous sting.

Great Worm

Less common than purple worms or even their mottled worm cousins, these are found only in the most desolate regions. Thought by many to be mere legend, the great worms have been exposed to great magic, such by slowly digesting artifacts embedded in their gullets, consuming the foci of ley lines, interacting with magical portals, swallowing mighty demons, and so on. The worms gain powers appropriate to this magic and sometimes grow to unusual sizes, or gain near-human intelligence or stranger abilities; most also have extended lifespans, with some speculated to be over 1,500 years old. Those that grow in size have even greater appetites than their fellows, and their territory quickly becomes depleted of resources, turning into a wasteland as the creatures spiral outward in search of more to consume. Others hibernate for long periods before rising, famished and hunting anything they can find. These long periods of inactivity—sometimes spanning decades at a time or longer – have contributed to the near-legendary status of these worms.

A great worm has one or more of the following abilities, usually related to the source of its mutation. For every three of these abilities it has, increase its CR by +1.

Energy Attack

A great worm naturally exudes energy (usually the same type as its immunity or resistance, if any). Every 1d4 rounds, this energy builds up enough to deal 4d6 hit points damage to the first creature it hits that round with one of its natural attacks. Creatures it swallows take 1d6 energy damage per round in addition to other damage from the gullet. If the great worm burrows, the walls of the burrow-tunnel are charged with this energy, dealing 1d6 hit points of damage per round of contact for 4 rounds after the great worm passes. Alternatively, instead of a touch attack, the great worm may gain a breath weapon usable every 1d4 rounds (30-ft. cone, 8d6 damage, Reflex half DC 25); the save DC is Constitution-based.

Energy Healing

A great worm heals when exposed to energy to which it has immunity. Any energy attack of this type used against the worm heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage it would otherwise deal. It cannot heal above its normal hit points in this way. The worm gets no saving throw against magical attacks that deal this kind of damage.

Energy Resistance

A great worm has energy resistance 20 to two kinds of energy or immunity to one kind of energy. Sometimes it may gain a weakness appropriate to the source of its power or the opposite of its element; a cold-resistant great worm might become vulnerable to fire, a fire worm might take damage from cold or exposure to water, and so on.

Fast healing

A great worm has fast healing 10. This ability cannot repair acid or fire damage. If the great worm is immune to fire or acid, it cannot repair damage from an energy source to which it is not immune.

Improved Tremorsense

A great worm’s tremorsense expands to 120 feet or even 360 feet.

Quasi-Arcane

A great worm gains a lesser displacement effect (20% concealment) and SR 23.

Quasi-Elemental or Quasi-Undead

Suffused with the power of an elemental plane, an undead force, or some connection to the Negative Energy Plane, a great worm has a 25% chance to ignore extra damage from a critical hit, sneak attack, poison, paralysis, or stunning.

Variant Attack

A great worm’s bite attack might inject poison equivalent to that in its stinger, or inflict its targets with a disease (typically mummy rot).

Variants

Although the deep-dwelling purple worm is the most common of its ilk, variant immense worms of differing colors dwell in other remote wildernesses.

Aquatic Worm: A sleek, mottled blue-and-green variant of the giant worm dwells in deep underground lakes or tropical seas (this variant loses its burrow speed but increases its swim speed to 40 feet).

Crimson Worm: A deep crimson variant of even greater size dwells in remote badlands and rocky deserts (this variant is never less than Colossal in size). Other species doubtless remain to be discovered in the far corners of the world.

Pathfinder Chronicles: Dungeon Denizens Revisited. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Clinton Boomer, Jason Bulmahn, Joshua J. Frost, Nicolas Logue, Robert McCreary, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Sean K Reynolds, James L. Sutter, and Greg A. Vaughan.