Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm

Family: Demons

Gargantuan fiend (demon), chaotic evil

Armor Class 21 (natural armor)
Hit Points 370 (20d20 + 160)
Speed 50 ft., burrow 50 ft., climb 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
29 (+9) 6 (-2) 26 (+8) 9 (-1) 19 (+4) 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +5, Con +15, Wis +11, Cha +11
Skills Perception +11
Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning
Damage Immunities poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned
Senses blindsight 120 ft., tremorsense 120 ft., passive Perception 21
Languages all, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 23 (50,000 XP)

Special Traits

  • Innate Spellcasting. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 19). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material or somatic components.
  • Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
  • Tunneler. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm can burrow through solid stone at its full speed. It leaves a 15-foot-diameter tunnel in its wake.
  • Magic Resistance. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
  • Magic Weapons. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm’s weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm makes one bite attack, two crush attacks, and one stinger attack.
  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (2d12 + 9) piercing damage. A target creature of Large size or smaller must succeed on a DC 24 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, and takes 16 (3d10) necrotic damage at the start of each of The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm’s turns. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm can have any number of creatures swallowed at one time. If the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm takes 50 damage or more in a single turn from a creature it has swallowed, it must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, who land prone within 10 feet of the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm. If the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained, and can escape the corpse by spending 30 feet of movement, exiting prone.
  • Crush. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (2d10 + 9) bludgeoning damage. A target creature is also grappled and restrained (escape DC 19) until The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm moves. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm can grapple up to two creatures at once; at least one of the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm’s crush attacks must be directed against each creature it has grappled.
  • Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +16 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (4d6 + 9) piercing damage, and the target takes 33 (6d10) poison damage and is poisoned for 1 hour; a successful DC 23 Constitution saving throw reduces poison damage by half and negates the poisoned condition. A creature that fails the save by 10 or more is also paralyzed for as long as the poisoned condition lasts.

Legendary Actions

The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

  • Shriek. All creatures within a 60-foot cone that can hear the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm must succeed on a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. A frightened creature repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
  • Death Roll (2 actions). The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm moves half its speed and makes one Crush attack. Any structures or objects in spaces the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm moves through take double Crush damage automatically.
  • Devour (3 actions). The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm makes one bite attack.

Lair

The Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm’s lair is a tangled labyrinth of tunnels in the heart of its dark realm. The tunnels seem to twist and burrow through space itself rather than just the rock and soil surrounding them.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

  • Until initiative count 20 on the following round, the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm twists space through the tunnels of its lair. Any creature other than a demon that tries to move must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or move half its speed in a random direction before getting its bearings; it can then finish moving as it wants.
  • A section of ceiling in the lair collapses, raining debris onto a 20-foot-radius area. Each creature in the area must make a successful DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 18 (4d8) bludgeoning damage and be restrained until the end of its next turn.
  • Thick tangles of demonic worms erupt in the space of up to three creatures the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm can see within 60 feet. Each targeted creature is attacked once by the worms (Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target; Hit: 14 (4d6) piercing).

Regional Effects

The region containing the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm’s lair is warped by the demon lord’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

  • Tunnels within 5 miles of the lair attract all manner of worms and vermin, including purple worms. These creatures are ravenous and violent.
  • Within 1 mile of the lair, food rots and spontaneously erupts with maggots.
  • One day worth of food carried by creatures spoils every 24 hours it remains in the area. It is impossible to forage for food in this area.
  • Dead bodies within 1 mile of the lair decay quickly. Any corpse is reduced to bones in 24 hours. Magic that prevents decay staves off this decomposition normally. Anointing the body with holy water prevents decomposition for one day but no longer.

If the Demon Lord of the Devouring Worm dies, conditions in the area surrounding the lair return to normal over the course of 1d10 days.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts. Copyright 2016, Open Design; Authors Chris Harris, Dan Dillon, Rodrigo Garcia Carmona, and Wolfgang Baur.

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