Knaerk, Elder

Family: Knaerk

Medium elemental, neutral evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 105 (10d8 + 60)
Speed 30 ft., burrow 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+0) 14 (+2) 22 (+6) 9 (-1) 16 (+3) 6 (-2)

Damage Vulnerabilities thunder
Damage Resistances piercing and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities bludgeoning from nonmagical weapons, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious
Senses darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Terran
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

Special Traits

  • Earth Glide. The knaerk can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, the elder knaerk doesn’t disturb the material it moves through.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The elder knaerk makes two slam attacks.
  • Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft.; one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
  • Cave In. As long as the elder knaerk is underground, it can pull the ground above it down upon itself and all nearby creatures. All creatures within a 30 foot radius of the knaerk that fail a DC 14 Constitutionsave suffer 8d8 points of bludgeoning damage and are stunned until the end of the elder granite knaerk’s next turn as well as restrained; a move action is required to lose the restrained condition. A successful save means the creature suffers half the damage and is neither restrained nor stunned.
  • Rocks Fall. The knaerk can disrupt an area of nearby stone, causing rocks to fall down in an area. As long as the targeted area is underground, a knaerk can cause rocks to fall down onto all targets in a 10-foot area within 60 feet. A failed Dexterity save (DC 14) by any targets in that area suffers 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage and is restrained; a move action is required to lose the restrained condition. A successful save means the target suffers half the damage and is not restrained.

About

Every dwarf, young and old, fears a knaerk attack. Their fear of these tunnel-wreckers is enough to induce gibbering madness.

Even though this horror might look like the love child of a chunk of granite, a spider and a hairless goblin, this creature from another plane can scare any tunnel-dwelling creature.

It is known for collapsing tunnels, killing everyone inside and then gliding through the earth without taking a scratch.

Because of this, they are incredibly difficult to kill and are known for destroying whole dwarf clans single-handedly.

For whatever reason, knaerks hate dwarves far more than any other creature that lives underground. Sure, they don’t like duergar, drow, kobolds, orcs and all the rest, but dwarves “break their rubble,” as they say. The feeling among dwarves is considered mutual.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Book of Beasts: Monsters of the Forgotten Woods (5e).. © 2016, Jon Brazer Enterprises.

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