Lizard, Gnasher

Large monstrosity, neutral

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
22 (+6) 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 2 (-4) 12 (+1) 10 (+0)

Skills Perception +4, Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Special Traits

  • Surprise Attack. If the cavern lizard surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 14 (4d6) damage from the attack.

Actions

  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (3d10 + 6) piercing damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 16), and the gnasher lizard can only grapple one creature at a time.
  • Thrash. The gnasher lizard rapidly shakes its head, and any grappled target takes 39 (6d10 + 6) slashing damage. If this damage is enough to drop the target to 0 hit points, the target is dismembered and portions of it are swallowed. A creature who suffers this cannot be brought back to life with anything less than true resurrection.

About

This 10-foot-long stone-colored lizard has a large, wide gaping maw filled with double rows of dagger-like teeth. Its head is large and flat and sports a ridge of hardened bone that runs the length of its head before tapering off near the middle of its back. Its four legs end in large, flat clawed feet.

The gnasher is a deadly predator that often roams up to 3 miles from its lair in search of prey. Though its appearance lends to the façade of being a slow-moving lizard, it is in fact, rather graceful and quick. Those that make the mistake of assuming the gnasher is slow-moving rarely live to tell others of their mistake.

Gnasher lizards make their lairs in stony areas, typically forest clearings or mountain terrain, usually near (within several hundred feet if possible) a water source. They are carnivorous creatures and highly territorial, even attacking their own kind if one gnasher lizard intrudes upon the territory of another. Gnashers are solitary creatures and only come together to mate (during the spring or early summer months). Mating season is the only time more than one of these creatures is encountered together, and once the mating ritual is ended, each goes its own way. The female lays a clutch of 1d4+2 eggs which hatch within 3 months. Young reach maturity within 8 months and are left to their own devices.

A gnasher lizard is typically 10 feet long but can grow to a length of 20 feet or more. A typical gnasher weighs about 1,000 pounds. Though most are stone gray, some variants encountered have been colored greenishbrown or black. Its long fang-like teeth are razor-sharp and it uses these to tear its prey into pieces.

Gnasher lizards typically attack from ambush, using their surroundings to conceal themselves and springing out at the last second to catch their opponents by surprise. Gnashers attack any creature that wanders into their territory, including those larger than themselves, relying on their vorpal bite to quickly dispatch such creatures.

When it swallows a foe, a gnasher lizard typically holds it in its stomach for several rounds before regurgitating it into its mouth, snapping down on it with its razor-sharp teeth and then swallowing it again.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Horrors © 2018, Frog God Games, LLC; Authors: Kevin Baase, Erica Balsley, John “Pexx” Barnhouse, Christopher Bishop, Casey Christofferson, Jim Collura, Andrea Costantini, Jayson ‘Rocky' Gardner, Zach Glazar, Meghan Greene, Scott Greene, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Ian S. Johnston, Bill Kenower, Patrick Lawinger, Rhiannon Louve, Ian McGarty, Edwin Nagy, James Patterson, Nathan Paul, Patrick N. Pilgrim, Clark Peterson, Anthony Pryor, Greg Ragland, Robert Schwalb, G. Scott Swift, Greg A. Vaughan, and Bill Webb

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