Fire Silk Worm______________________________ Gargantuan Aberration (Fire) Hit Dice: 12d8+120 (198 hp) Initiative: +4 Speed: 20 ft. Swim [Fire Only] 40 ft. AC: 22 (+0 Dex, -4 Size, +10 natural, +6 armor), touch 6, flat-footed 22 Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+30 Attack: Bite +14 melee (2d8+10) Full Attack: Bite +14 and 2 slams +9 Damage: Bite 2d8+10, slam 2d6+5 Face/Reach: 20 ft./15 ft. Special Attacks: Fire Silk Web Special Qualities: Darkvision 120 ft, Expendable Stalk, Vault Cap, Jet, Tremor Sense 60 ft., Fire Silk Dissolution, Fire Immunity, Cold Vulnerability Saves: Fort +14, Ref +4, Will +11 Abilities: Str 29 (+9), Dex 11, Con 30 (+10), Int 2, Wis 16, Cha 5 Skills: Spot +7, Swim +17, Listen +3, Hide +10, Move Silently +13 Feats: Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (Fire Silk Spray), Power Attack, Improved Overrun, Improved Bull Rush Climate/Terrain: Plane of Fire, Paraplane of Magma, Active Volcanoes Organization: Solitary Challenge Rating: ??? (A little help here?) Treasure: 50% (nonflammables only) Alignment: Always Neutral Advancement: 13-18 HD (Gargantuan); 19-24 HD (Colossal) A strange creature native to the border region between fire and magma known as the Searing Mists, the fire silk worm is a strange, and extremely valuable creature. The worm’s body is composed of hard, rubbery segments with jagged, flame-like edges, extending away from the head, and of fiery hues. Two knobby-tipped tentacles extend from its sides, about one third of the body’s length away from the head. The tail of the creature ends in a flower-like cluster of tentacles used solely for reproduction. The head of the fire silk worm bears 1d4+4 black oval eyes, and an equal number of long, slender, sword-like jaws extending from silk glands, themselves covered in tiny tentacles used to manipulate the flow of fire silk. A ten foot long stalk extends from the fire silk worm’s gullet at most times, and bears a second head more or less identical to the true head. Half way along this stalk is a rubbery, fleshy structure known as the ‘vault cap’. Using their webs and small bits of debris (mostly chunks of pumice from Magma), fire silk worms coat their bodies for protection, and create lairs from themselves of a complexity varying on the amount of available material. Similar structures are used to house their eggs, which they abandon. Fire silk worms are named after the material they produce, fire silk, which can be processed (after removing the adhesive film via application of cold water) in to fine silk garments that have a fiery sheen, are immune to flame, and can be repaired by joining torn sides within an a hot flame for a moment. Fire silk whips and other items are also made. Both the garments and the other items are highly sought by wealthy fire-dwellers, adventurers, and aristocrats seeking to make a strong fashion statement. These items are often enchanted further. Fire silk worm flesh, while not especially flavorful, is very nourishing, and is often harvested without killing the worm by extracting its stalk. The body of a fire silk worm, including its armored coating, is about five feet in diameter, 80 feet long (90 with its stalk extended), and about 40,000 pounds. While the creature has no value for treasure, it often gets items lodged in its gut, and will add almost anything to the structure of lair. Combat A fire silk worm uses fairly simple tactics. It prefers to create large webs near its lair to catch wandering creatures, then kills and devours them by extending their stalk out from their lair’s entrance, keeping its body protected within. If it’s stalk is destroyed, it tries to cover the entrance with its vault cap, and tries to escape its lair before its attackers can get through cap, using its Jet ability to get as far as it can as quickly as it can. If forced to fight, the fire silk worm tries to web down its attackers so it can more easily attack them or flee from them. Fire Silk Web (Ex): Fire silk worms can throw a fire silk web nine times per day in place of a bite attack. This is similar to an attack with a net but has a maximum range of 50 feet, with a range increment of 10 feet, and is effective against targets up to one size category larger than the fire silk worm. An entangled creature can escape with a successful Escape Artist check or burst it with a Strength check. Both are standard actions of DC 26 and DC 30 respectively. The check DCs are Constitution-based, and the Strength check DC includes a +4 racial bonus. Fire silk worms often create sheets of sticky fire silk webbing up to 60 feet square. They usually position these sheets to ensnare creatures intruding upon their lair. Approaching creatures must succeed on a DC 20 Spot check to notice a fire silk web; otherwise they stumble into it and become trapped as though by a successful web attack. Attempts to escape or burst the webbing gain a +5 bonus if the trapped creature has something to walk on or grab while pulling free. Each 5-foot section has 16 hit points and sheet webs have damage reduction 5/—. In addition, so long as it is exposed to great heat (1d6 damage or more), fire silk webs have regeneration 3 for each section. Fire silk is immune to fire damage. Any section of webbing exposed to 5 or more points of cold damage, or splashed with a gallon or more of water, loses the regenerative effect. Fire silk worms can freely attack creatures caught in their webbing without damaging it, and can move across their own webs at their normal movement rate or climb rate, as applicable. Fire silk webs can hold up to twice the fire silk worm’s weight (80,000 pounds). Fire silk worms also utilize their webbing to glue debris together to form their lairs and nests. Expendable Stalk: Extending from its true maw, a fire silk worm has a secondary head on a long stalk, also bearing a round fleshy collar resembling a mushroom cap. To sever the stalk head, an opponent must make a successful sunder attempt with a slashing weapon. (The player should declare where the attack is aimed before making the attack roll.) Making a sunder attempt provokes an attack of opportunity unless the foe has the Improved Sunder feat. The stalk has hit points equal to 50hp (1/4 the worm’s normal maximum). While intact, the stalk can use the worm’s bite attack (and associated web attacks), replacing it, and has +10 ft reach. Once the stalk is severed, the worm releases the stalk root, without ill effect. Stalks regenerate in 1d4+1 weeks. A fire silk worm can withdraw a stalk in to its body. Vault Cap: When an Expendable Stalk is destroyed it can cause the fleshy collar to break down in to an sticky morass. The vault cap acts as an extremely strong fire silk web sheet (+4 DC, 32 hit points, 5 ft. radius). The fire silk worm uses this to slow down those creatures that manage to cause it enough harm to destroy its stalk, so that it can make its escape. Fire Silk Dissolution (Ex): A fire silk worm can dissolve a five foot section of fire silk webbing on contact, as a move action, by exuding a chemical from its mouth on to it. Jet (Ex): A fire silk worm can jet backward once per round as a full-round action within fire, at a speed of 280 feet. It must move in a straight line, but does not provoke attacks of opportunity while jetting. Tremorsense (Ex): A fire silk worm can detect and pin-point any creature or object within 60 ft in contact with the same surface, or within any range in contact with the fire silk worm’s webs. Skills: Fire silk worms have a +4 racial bonus to Hide and Spot checks, and a +8 circumstance bonus to Hide and Move Silently within their lairs. Armor: Fire silk worms cover themselves in bits of debris they have collected with their webbing, giving them an armor bonus of +6 to AC.
Any and all feedback, whatever its nature, is welcome. Suggestions for the harvesting of the silk, the GP worth of the creatures and their eggs, etc etc etc, are especially so, as is a suggestion for the CR, or modifications to its stats as well.
It's also fairly easy to figure out how one could make other elemental versions of the creature, with the proper silk applied, so I won't bother wasting space on it (Electrosilk insulation. Whee.)
Well, it seems to hold together fairly well, that's pretty messed up biology, but's it the elemental planes, so that's a good thing. There is one thing, the elemental plane of fire (and magma) has gravity, this creature seems more designed to exist in the absence of such.
My question is along the lines of what the heck do these things eat? Can they process mineral matter directly, or metals? cause if not there's not a lot of large food sources on the elemental plane of fire (mephits and salamanders mostly).
I expect eggs/young would be worth a fair bit, to the right buyer (efreet/salamanders/azer seem likely) maybe 5-10 thousand for an egg, and 10-20 thousand for young, depending on how hard it is to keep one of these things.
The silk strands have got to be awfully thick to support something this big, I expect they'd have to be chopped into managable sizes with blades, and a very strong processing method (one that requires no heat and only manual labor) would be needed. The silk is obviously worth very little to a native of fire, but the Azer are probably the race most likely to have the facilities to process it. I figure the going price to sell to them would be about the same as standard silk, and sold by the bolt. The Azer probably sell it back for five to ten times the standard cost of silk, but outside of the elemental plane of fire.