Hieroglyph Scorpion

Small construct, unaligned

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 115 (21d6 + 42)
Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
7 (-2)	20 (+5)	15 (+2)	1 (-5)	14 (+2)	18 (+4)

Saving Throws Int-1, Wis +6
Skills Perception +6, Stealth +9
Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 120 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages –
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +4

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Constructed Nature. The hieroglyph scorpion doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
• Limited Incorporeality. The scorpion can pass through creatures, but not objects, as if they were difficult terrain.
• Reanimation. If destroyed, the hieroglyph scorpion re-forms fully healed in its mural after 5 (2d4) days. The hieroglyph scorpion can be permanently destroyed only by destroying the mural it was created to protect.
• Spider Climb. The scorpion can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The scorpion makes three attacks: two with its pincers and one with its stinger.
• Pincers. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) slashing damage.
• Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 18 (2d12 + 5) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw against being magically petrified. On a failed save, the target begins to turn to stone and is restrained. It must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn. On a success, the effect ends. On a failure, the target is permanently petrified, and its physical body (including all its possessions) are magically inscribed onto the nearest flat surface, such as a wall or floor tile. No physical trace of the target remains except its inscription. An inscribed creature can be recovered from the mural by targeting its inscription with greater restoration or a similar spell or by destroying the mural on which it is inscribed. If the mural is destroyed, all inscribed creatures on the destroyed portion of the mural are freed and restored to flesh.
• Flatten. The scorpion flattens itself against a wall, blending in seamlessly with the wall’s paintings or inscriptions. While flattened, the scorpion is indistinguishable from a wall painting or carving. If the scorpion does anything other than remain stationary or move along the wall’s surface, it becomes unflattened and this effect ends.

ABOUT

Hieroglyph scorpions are magical vermin originally constructed to guard pharaonic mausoleums, temples, and pyramids. Their unique ability to blend in with painted murals, chiseled inscriptions, and ornate sarcophagi allow them to tail tomb-robbers unseen, then leap out, attack, and disable would-be thieves.

These incorporeal scorpions boast mighty defenses as their incomplete materialization allows them to flatten out and patrol two-dimensional surfaces.

With long stingers and pincers, hieroglyph scorpions tend to keep their opponents at a distance, and are not above retreating from a lost fight.

Though it lacks a physical body and has the incorporeal trait, a hieroglyph scorpion is not undead. Instead, it is a constructed being made from inanimate ethereal quintessence.

Nevertheless, the powerful magic that creates a hieroglyph scorpion also binds it to the walls of the tomb it is ordered with protecting, enabling it to rejuvenate similarly to the way a ghost does.

The hieroglyph scorpion’s most fearsome weapon is its inscription venom, which gradually turns its victims to stone and adds them to the scorpion’s ever-denser mural.

But there is opportunity in danger. The halls protected by ancient hieroglyph scorpions are inscribed with countless unlucky treasure hunters. Destroying the mural could free them-and their loot.