Chag Beetle

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 85 (10d10 + 30)
Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	11 (+0)	17 (+3)	3 (–4)	8 (–1)	15 (+2)

Skills Perception +5
Damage Resistances slashing, piercing
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages —
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Iridescent Carapace. When the chag beetle is in bright light, its carapace shines with blinding radiance. A creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of a chag beetle that’s in bright light must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the start of its next turn. Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can’t see the chag beetle until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the beetle in the meantime, it must immediately make the save. Trampling Charge. If the chag beetle moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the beetle can make one slam attack against it as a bonus action.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The chag beetle makes two attacks: one with its gore, and one with its slam.
• Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage, and the target begins to bleed. At the start of the creature’s turn, it loses 7 (2d6) hit points due to blood loss. A creature can take an action to make a DC 13 Wisdom (Medicine) check. On a success, or upon receiving magical healing, the bleeding stops.
• Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage.

ABOUT

A trio of exaggerated horns protrude from the crown of this massive beetle’s head and its six legs kick up a large amount of dust as it snorts aggressively. Chag beetles roam the grasslands in sizable herds, searching for carrion and plant matter. Juvenile chags are 3 feet long but weigh a very compact 150 pounds. The larger cows and bulls are 8 feet long, with cows weighing 500 pounds and bulls weighing nearly a ton. Viciously Territorial. When a mature herd finds a steady supply of food, the beetles revert to a territorial, hierarchical organization typical of many insectoid species. They aggressively protect this territory, as well as their eggs and hatchlings. Despite their appearance and insectoid behavior, chag possess an intelligence equivalent to any warm-blooded animal. Chags mate for life, and newly born beetles depart as they mature to start their own herds. During mating season, unmated chag cows attract several bulls which battle one another by charging and tangling horns to win mating rights. The victor is the bull with its horns still intact after such clashes, and this ritual proves dangerous to anyone stumbling upon them as the beetles stop their singular combat to drive off or kill intruders. Desert Staple. Various races on desert planets have domesticated these foul-tempered beetles and use them as a source of armor, tools, and food. Expert scavengers can strip the chitinous shells protecting chags and fashion them into suits of armor retaining the chitin’s resistance to blows. Very few armorsmiths can retain the shell’s reflective qualities, however, but many smiths purposely dull the armor to ensure the wearers don’t make easy targets on the desert plain. Smaller plates and bull horns are more often fashioned into hammering tools or serrated into saws and other cutting implements. Thanks to the shell’s natural hardness, objects crafted from them can withstand a lot of wear before breaking. Despite these benefits, chag meat remains the most popular product harvested from chags. For those unaccustomed to the simultaneously chewy and greasy substance, it demands an acquired taste. However, the beetles’ carrion diets surprisingly do not taint the meat, and it proves quite filling. A widespread technique on desert worlds transforms the chag meat into jerky which greatly reduces the greasy quality, making it more palatable to offworlders.