Dust Grazer

Large aberration, unaligned

Armor Class 12 (natural armor)
Hit Points 105 (10d10 + 50)
Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+4) 7 (–2) 20 (+5) 2 (–4) 7 (–2) 2 (–4)

Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses blindsight 120 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 8
Languages
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Death Spores. When the dust grazer dies, it explodes, releasing a cloud of spores. Each creature within 20 feet of the dust grazer when it dies must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) poison damage and become infected with the grazer spores disease. Creatures immune to the poisoned condition are immune to this disease. Until the disease is cured, the creature is poisoned and can’t regain hp except by magical means. Every 24 hours that elapse, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage, and its hp maximum is reduced by that amount. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest after the disease is cured. The target dies if this effect reduces its hp maximum to 0. Two days after the creature dies, it rises as a dust grazer of its size, growing to Large over the course of a week.

ACTIONS

  • Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) acid damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 14) if the grazer isn’t already grappling a creature.
  • Absorb. The dust grazer makes one Tendril attack against a Medium or smaller creature it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target is also absorbed into the dust grazer’s body, and the grapple ends. While absorbed, a creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the dust grazer, and it takes 7 (2d6) acid damage at the start of each of the dust grazer’s turns. A dust grazer can have only one creature absorbed at a time. If the dust grazer takes 10 damage or more on a single turn from the absorbed creature, the grazer must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or expel the creature, which falls prone in a space within 5 feet of the grazer. If the grazer is flying, the expelled creature takes falling damage, as normal. If the grazer dies, an absorbed creature is no longer restrained, but it has disadvantage on the saving throw against the grazer’s Death Spores.

ABOUT

This creature is a massive, inchoate riot of flesh infested with slimy, fungal growths. It floats slowly through the air, trailing a mass of writhing tendrils that drip a foul liquid.

Dust grazers are abominations spawned in the blasted wastelands created by magical fallout. Once some natural creature of the wastelands, the first dust grazer was exposed to a magic-blasted fungus that altered the creature. A dust grazer does two things: eat everything in its reach and infect living creatures with fungal spores when it dies. The spores cause a painful transformation and eventually turn the creature into another dust grazer.

Danger to All. Dust grazers scour each area they visit until every last bit of once-living material has been devoured. The presence of a dust grazer is one of the few crises that can unite the residents of wastelands. Even bitter enemies temporarily set aside their differences to eliminate the danger.

Gorge and Grow. A dust grazer trails its tendrils over the land below it as it drifts, pulling up and devouring any organic material it finds, even sown seeds and insects buried in the topsoil. Dust grazers never stop growing, and some travelers have reported sightings of truly immense grazers in the deepest reaches of the wastes. Rumors often attribute sudden disappearances of entire settlements to such grazers.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts 3 © 2022 Open Design LLC; Authors: Eytan Bernstein, Celeste Conowitch, Benjamin L. Eastman, Robert Fairbanks, Scott Gable, Basheer Ghouse, Richard Green, Jeremy Hochhalter, Jeff Lee, Christopher Lockey, Sarah Madsen, Ben Mcfarland, Jonathan Miley, Kelly Pawlik, Sebastian Rombach, Chelsea Steverson, Brian Suskind, Mike Welham

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