Larval Cave Worm Brood (Grey)
Level 10Abilities
When a juvenile cave worm gains the Paralyzed, Slowed, or Stunned condition, reduce the duration by half, to a minimum of 1 round. It also recovers from penalties to its Speeds and the Immobilized condition at the end of its turn. Finally, it ignores non-magical difficult terrain and treats greater difficult terrain like difficult terrain.
Frequency once per day
Trigger The larval cave worm brood would be affected by a condition or adverse effect (such as Cursed Metamorphosis)
Effect The larval brood negates the triggering condition or effect. Effects from artifacts, deities, or a similarly powerful source can't be avoided in this way.
Each foe in the larval swarm's space takes (6d6)[piercing] damage (DC 29 reflex save).
Requirements The larval swarm's most recent action was Ferocious Gnaw
Effect The larval swarm frantically thrashes in an effort to consume its prey. The larval swarm attempts an athletics check and compares the result to the Reflex DC of each creature in its space.
Critical Success The creature falls Prone and take 4d6 bludgeoning damage.
Success The creature falls prone and takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
While gestating, cave worms adapt to their surrounding environments, becoming accustomed to extreme temperatures and hazards nearby. For example, cave worms hatched in volcanic environments mature into crimson worms, while those raised near water sources mature into azure worms. Regardless of their environment, larval cave worms all have translucent bodies and pallid carapaces that harden and change color as they mature. When a brood of cave worms hatches from their eggs, the foot-long worms mass together, forming a swarm of ravenous larval worms. This swarm travels ceaselessly, consuming anything in its path. The young are drawn to movement, as living, squirming prey tends to be the most nutritious. As they age, they incorporate more minerals into their diet to support carapace growth.
Cave worms are gigantic scavengers who shape their environment as they bore through rock, ice, or other substances on their search for food. These behemoths consume everything in their path. Though they usually prefer soil, minerals, and occasionally constructed buildings, they will also eat living creatures, plants, and other organic materials. There are numerous species of cave worms, each a different color and perfectly adapted to their surrounding environment. Cave worms rarely exceed a typical animal's intelligence. They're also poor parents that lay a clutch of eggs sealed in a protein shell before abandoning them. After a short incubation period, the young hatch, forming a swarming mass of ravenous larval cave worms. When nearing maturity or when starved of sufficiently rich soil, these larval worms turn on one another. They fight for dominance or flee until only a few remain. The survivors grow quickly, rapidly becoming juvenile cave worms.
Brood Variance
The cave worms presented here are typical of standard rock worms. For crimson worms, use the elite adjustment and add immunity to fire. For azure worms, increase their swim Speed to 40. Gray worms gain void healing and a weakness to vitality energy 5. Glacial worms gain immunity to cold.
Early Hatchling
A single cave worm egg can produce several thousand larval cave worms when it slowly matures over a millennia. However, if a cave worm egg is disturbed or damaged before its natural cycle completes, the egg enters a rapid stage of maturation. Only a few hundred worms survive this process, creating significantly fewer offspring than when allowed to mature slowly.