Tunnel Trouble CR 5

Farmer Maggot has been complaining about his livestock going missing and something tearing up his fields. If anyone can find the cause of the trouble and put an end to it, he has promised a modest reward. The trouble has been caused by two sandworms that recently moved into the local area. The sandworms primarily hunt at night, but any significant time spent examining the fields has a cumulative 5% per person chance of attracting their attention. While examining the fields a DC 12 Nature check will determine that the raised earth patterns are caused by a large burrowing creature. A DC 22 nature check will determine the exact cause of these attacks. If the PCs should think to look or ask around the area, there is a sizable boulder that two medium sized PCs could stand on about 100 feet northwest of the field.

Giant Sandworm CR 4
XP 1,200
N Large Vermin
Init +4; Senses tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +5

DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 9, flat-footed 16 (+8 natural, –1 size)
hp 47 (5d8+25)
Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +4

OFFENSE
Speed 10 ft., burrow 40 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d8+3 plus grab)
Space 5 ft wide, 20 ft long.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Furrow, swallow whole (2d8+4 bludgeoning, AC 14, 4 hp)

STATISTICS
Str 17, Dex 10, Con 20, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +3; CMB +7 (9 when grappling); CMD 17
Feats: Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills: Perception +5, Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Furrow (Ex)
Sandworms usually hunt in groups of two or more. A sandworm will burrow beneath as many targets as it can reach. The upheaved earth causes any character in the sandworms path to fall prone unless they succeed at a DC 15 Reflex save. A second sandworm will burrow beneath a prone character and attempt to swallow them whole before diving back into the ground. A character with a readied action may attempt to attack the sandworm as it burrows beneath them, although the earth provides cover giving +4 AC. The save DC is Strength-based.

Additional Notes/Alterations

Note that, despite the relatively low CR, this encounter has a fairly high opportunity to go poorly for the PCs if they lack a way to counter it; parties who take on encounters in a straightforward "hit with sword until defeated" manner might find it very difficult to recover a PC who has been swallowed whole and taken beneath the earth. That's not inherently good or bad, but it's definitely something to keep in mind when deciding what kind of encounter and game you're running, and what your players are expecting.

There are a few different ways to expand or alter this encounter. The number of sandworms can be easily adjusted to modify the difficulty (though removing one will make a greater effect than adding one, due to their tactics). The terrain can have a big effect as well; the more large rocks that the worms cannot burrow through, that the PCs can use as cover, the easier the fight will be. This could be expanded into a larger mystery, with signs of the sandworms appearing as the PCs approach a certain town or farmland area, or could be turned into a much bigger segment of a game if the PCs are tasked with clearing out a large nest of worms. The sandworms, instead of being a specific task, could instead be merely an obstacle blocking their way to a separate objective, if they are rampant in an area of wilderness that the PCs need to cross. With clever tactics, the sandworms could potentially be used offensively by the PCs, to raid a city they are attempting to siege or to provide a guard over a large swath of terrain surrounding their base of operations.




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