Scoropendra (3.5e Monster)

Author: Sulacu (talk) Date Created: February 13, 2015 Status: Penguin Editing: Clarity edits only please

Rate this article Your rating for this article: Favor Like Neutral Dislike Oppose Submit | Cancel Discuss this article

	Scoropendra	Centipede Metastasis
Size/Type:	Medium Outsider (Augmented Aberration, Xenotheric)	Large Outsider (Augmented Aberration, Xenotheric)
Hit Dice:	14d8+112 (175 hp)	8d8+54 (90 hp)
Initiative:	+10	+12
Speed:	50 ft. (10 squares), climb 50 ft.	50 ft. (10 squares), climb 50 ft.
Armor Class:	27 (+10 Dex, +7 natural), touch 20, flat-footed 17	29 (-1 size, +6 Dex, +14 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple:	+14/+21	—/+25
Attack:	Unarmed strike +24 melee (2d6+7) or centipede metastasis +24 ranged (2d8+10 plus 2d8 acid) or tail stinger +19 melee (1d8+3 plus poison)	—
Full Attack:	Unarmed strike +24/+19/+14 melee (2d6+7) or 1 or more centipede metastases +24 ranged (2d8+10 plus 2d8 acid) and tail stinger +19 melee (1d8+3 plus poison)	—
Space/Reach:	5 ft./5 ft.	10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:	Metabolize, Metastases	Centipede guard, improved grab, constrict (2d8+10 plus 2d8 acid)
Special Qualities:	Aberration and Xenotheric traits, bio-energy, damage reduction 10/adamantine, darkvision 60 ft., immune to acid and fear effects, low-light vision, resistance to electricity 10, scent, telepathy 100 ft.	Damage reduction 10/adamantine, fast healing 10
Saves:	Fort +17, Ref +19, Will +15	Fort +17, Ref +21, Will +15
Abilities:	Str 24, Dex 31, Con 27, Int 16, Wis 22, Cha 25	Str 24, Dex 23, Con 25, Int —, Wis —, Cha —
Skills:	Climb +32, Hide +18, Jump +32, Move Silently +18, Listen +23, Spot +23	—
Feats:	Bio-Restoration, Healing Surge, Increased Biocapacity, Improved Bio-Regeneration, Metabolic Boost, Weapon FinesseB, RunB	Bioweapon (corrosive gas), Empower Bioweapon
Environment:	Jungle	Any
Organization:	Solitary	Solitary
Challenge Rating:	14	14
Treasure:	Standard	Standard
Alignment:	Usually neutral evil	Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement:	15-28 HD (Medium)	Equal to half the base creature's HD +1
Level Adjustment:	—	—

A scoropendra with both centipede metastases manifest.

Hailing from jungles in faraway realms, infested with dangerous parasytic lifeforms, scoropendra are the descendants of members of a race of humanoid planeswalkers that were corrupted by local fauna and left to perish for themselves. While the highly toxic environment and the quickly spreading poison proved fatal for most of these unfortunate victims, some survived and endured to become the creatures known and feared as Scoropendra.

Little of the scoropendra still looks like the original species they were created from, as the heavy mutation has corroded them inside and out, containing their living bodies within endoskeletons bred for high-speed battle. As the planet they originate from is a seeding world used by advanced alien species to create terrible bioweapons through guided evolution, the formation of something as lethal as the scoropendra is no surprise. While scoropendra maintain a sense of self and their mental faculties are generally heightened by the change, little of their human personalities remains, and the creature that results is overcome with an incredibly powerful instinct to slaughter those around him. As such, those that seek to use them as war asset tend to drop them pod and all into warzones from orbit to cut bloody swathes through any ground troops unfortunate enough to cross their path.

Physically, scoropendra are completely covered in hard, rough scales of a burnished bronze colour, their heads armored with a prolonged beak and a single, central black eye with two adjoining red irides and pupils, allowing them to attain a form of advanced depth perception by quickly vibrating their eye side to side. They maintain humanoid feet, though their mutation has rendered their legs partially digitigrade, and from their sacrum extends a tail roughly akin to a scorpion's ending in twin stingers. Scoropendra have the ability to form metastases; altering parts of their body in order to improve their battle prowess. Their most particular metastasis is to transform their arms into massive, centipedes whose jagged limbs and beaks are coated in highly corrosive enzymes.

A scolopendra stands roughly 7 and a half feet tall and weighs approximately 500 pounds.

Combat

Scoropendra fight by fearlessly throwing themselves at their foes. Due to their extremely hard exoskeleton, their unarmed strikes and natural weapons are treated as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Bio-Energy (Ex): A scoropendra, as a xenotheric creature, can use its own biological energy to alter its body and perform special abilities and attacks. A scoropendra's bio-energy pool can hold a maximum of 15 charges.

Centipede Guard (Ex): A scoropendra can put one or both of its centipede metastases on 'guard' mode, making it wrap around its body defensively to ward off strikes. When a centipede metastasis is in guard mode, the scoropendra cannot use it to make attacks, but the centipede metastasis takes any attack meant for the scoropendra's real body. A centipede metastasis in 'guard' mode functions as a shield; any attack that would score a hit on the scoropendra deals its damage to the metastasis instead.

The scoropendra can switch its centipede metastases to 'attack' or 'guard' mode at will, but only at the very start of its turn. A centipede metastasis that starts its turn grappling a creature cannot be made to guard.

Constrict: On a successful grapple check, a scolopendra's centipede metastasis automatically deals 2d8+10 points of damage plus plus 2d8 additional acid damage.

Improved Grab: To use this ability, a scolopendra must hit with a centipede metastasis attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Metabolize (Ex): When its bio-energy is low, a scoropendra can force its own metabolism into overdrive to regain bio-energy charges in the heat of battle. By expending a standard action, it immediately regains 1d4+1 charges, but incurs 2 points of bio-energy drain from the strain of doing so.

Metastases (Ex): An expression of their highly versatile genetic makeup, scoropendra can alter parts of their bodies at will, creating limbs, channeling their power, and empowering them in ways necessary to survive danger.

Centipede Metastasis: The scoropendra may mutate one or both of its arms into vicious centipede-type appendages festooned with sharply barbed limbs and pincers. These metastases replace the arms and take the shape of Large size centipedes that take up a 10-foot square adjacent to the scoropendra when made manifest. They are treated as separate creatures for the purpose of targeting. When the scoropendra makes melee attacks with his centipede metastases (see statistics block) he can target any creature within the metastasis' space or reach. A scoropendra can use its centipede metastasis to grab and grapple separately. For each centipede metastasis that is manifested, the scoropendra's main body gains a cumulative +2 armor bonus to its AC. Each of the metastases have a corrosive bioweapon that the scoropendra can use independently as a free action, but only during its turn and observing the bioweapon's cooldown time.

A centipede metastasis has fast healing 10, that continues even if the metastasis' hit points are reduced to 0. When this happens, it is effectively 'killed' and disappears, but the scoropendra can manifest it again once its fast healing has restored its hit points back to full. Manifesting a centipede metastasis expends 3 bio-energy charges, but sustaining it is free of cost.

Exoskeletal Metastasis: By exciting its exoskeletal plates, the scoropendra can cover itself in dangerous spines that will wound any creature touching it in combat. A scoropendra's manifested exoskeletal spines are incredibly jagged and sharp, creating nasty lacerations. All unarmed and natural weapon damage becomes both piercing and slashing. Furthermore, creatures hit by the scoropendra's melee attack, objects touched, as well as creatures or objects that hit or touch the scoropendra in battle take an additional +2d6 points of damage and 1 point of bleedout. Usage of exoskeletal metastasis costs 1 bio-energy charge per round as long as it is sustained. Activating the exoskeletal metastasis requires a swift action, but maintaining it does not require any actions.

Muscular Metastasis: The scoropendra is capable of altering and condensing its muscle structure in various ways to suit its current situation. All usages of muscular metastasis expend 1 bio-energy charge per round as long as it is sustained. Activating a muscular metastasis requires a swift action, but maintaining it does not require any actions. Only one of these following two types of muscular metastasis can be used at any one time.

• By mutating and increasing the musculature within its legs as a standard action, the scoropendra is capable of jumping at speeds normally impossible, but loses overall striking power. All of its speeds increase by 20 feet, and it gains a jump speed equal to its land speed. Performing a charge in this mode deals double damage. The scolopendra takes a -8 penalty to its Strength score while in this mode.

• By increasing the musculature throughout its limbs and torso uniformly, the scoropendra can gain tremendous strength and striking power, but at great cost of its dexterity and speed. In this mode, it gains a +12 bonus to its Strength score and it counts as one size category larger when it is beneficial to it, but it takes a -8 penalty to its SRD:Dexterity bonus and all its speeds drop by 20 feet.

Poison (Ex): Injury from stinger, Fortitude DC 24, initial effect causes the target to immediately become numbed, and the secondary effect is death. The save DC is Constitution based.

---

Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Monsters