Xorn

Family: Xorn

Medium elemental (earth), neutral

Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 73 (7d8 + 42); Wound Threshold 19
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	10 (+0)	22 (+6)	11 (+0)	10 (+0)	11 (+0)

Skills Perception +6, Stealth +3
Damage Resistances piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t adamantine
Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages Primordial
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Earth Glide. The xorn can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, the xorn doesn’t disturb the material it moves through.
• Stone Camouflage. The xorn has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain.
• Treasure Sense. The xorn can pinpoint, by scent, the location of precious metals and stones, such as coins and gems, within 60 feet of it.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The xorn makes three claw attacks and one bite attack.
• Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (3d6 + 3) piercing damage.

ABOUT

The xorn is a strange creature of elemental origin whose unlikely body can bring to mind a plant: six root-legs and a central trunk with three eyes, topped by a mighty maw. It famously feeds off gems, crystals, and precious stones, and can move through earth almost as smoothly as a fish through water.

Using its extraordinary sense of smell, the xorn can spot the crystals and gemstones it has a big appetite for. Even if the stones have been extracted or set in items, it can still sniff them out. A xorn who has not eaten in a long time can behave aggressively, bringing its many limbs to bear against anything wanting to deprive it of its meal.

Though a xorn digests crystallized mineral matter, its waste can be of great value to miners, as this elemental excretes chemically pure lumps: gold, silver, copper, mithral, sulfur, arsenic…

All the components mixed in minerals are sorted and compacted during their transit through the xorn’s digestive tract. A true living ingot-casting machine! Such an anatomical peculiarity is a boon for miners, since it requires no fuel or chemicals. Provided one is willing to give up gemstones of any kind, one can get a lot out of a xorn. Thus, certain communities enslave xorns to exploit them. One must be careful, however, as the elemental can react violently when it panics or feels in danger.