Salt Scorcher

Family: Salt

Medium monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 110 (13d8 + 52)
Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	15 (+2)	18 (+4)	5 (-3)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)

Damage Immunities fire
Senses passive Perception 12
Languages –
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +3

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Desiccation Venom. A creature subjected to desiccation venom takes 5 (2d4) poison damage and is poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned, the target is vulnerable to fire damage.
• Pack Tactics. The scorcher has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the scorcher’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.
• Water Vulnerability. If the scorcher is splashed with at least 1 gallon of water or starts its turn immersed in water, it can’t use Multiattack or attack with its spines until the end of its next turn.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The scorcher makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be subjected to desiccation venom.
• Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
• Spines. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 60/120 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be subjected to desiccation venom.
• Spew Fiery Grease (Recharge 5-6). The scorcher spews a 30-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line of smoldering, flammable grease. Each creature in that line must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be covered in grease. For 1 minute or until a creature spends an action scraping off the grease, the creature takes 3 (1d6) fire damage at the start of each of its turns. If the creature comes into contact with water while covered with grease, or if it is already wet when it fails its saving throw against the grease, the grease explodes. When the grease explodes, the creature and each creature within 15 feet of it must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Each creature caught in a grease explosion is no longer covered with grease.

ABOUT

Slightly shorter and much stockier than their kin, salt scorchers frequently lead salt stalker hunting parties, if only because, in addition to possessing fiery tempers, they are natural-born bullies. Salt scorchers rarely band together with other salt scorchers since they often let their pride get the better of them.

The viscous grease that salt scorchers spray from their mouths is no mere spittle; the caustic sputum eats through living and non-living matter much like acid, though it is plain to all who experience it that the potent goo courses with flame, pure and simple. Worse, this greasy mixture reacts violently with water, making a bad situation worse for anyone unfortunate enough to try and douse the grease with a canteen or, gods forbid, jumping into a pond.

Hunting packs led by salt scorchers toe a precarious line. All salt stalkers, scorchers included, are dramatically weakened by water, yet salt scorchers’ caustic grease often causes its prey to seek out exactly that. If a burning victim were to fling a wineskin full of water at the salt stalkers rather than attempt to douse its own grease fire, that creature would be much better off, and the salt stalkers weakened. Luckily for the salt stalkers, most prey don’t figure this out before succumbing to their wounds.

The salty bile that seeps from a nest of salt stalkers can quickly render nearby still or slow-flowing water sources undrinkable.

An adventurer’s first clue that something might not be right in this desert is an oasis full of saltwater.