Giant Slug

Slug, Giant

This massive, gray-brown slug leaves a viscous trail of slime in its wake as a long rasping tongue tastes the air for prey.

XP 4,800

N Huge vermin

Init -4; Senses blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +0

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 4, flat-footed 20 (-4 Dex, +16 natural, -2 size)

hp 102 (12d8+48)

Fort +12, Ref +0, Will +4

DR 10/slashing or piercing; Immune acid, mind-affecting effects

Weaknesses susceptible to salt

OFFENSE

Spd 20 ft.

Melee tongue +15 (2d10+12 plus 2d8 acid)

Ranged spit acid +3 (10d6 acid)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.

STATISTICS

Str 27, Dex 2, Con 18, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1

Base Atk +9; CMB +19; CMD 25 (can't be tripped)

SQ malleable

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate and warm marshes and underground

Organization solitary

Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Spit Acid (Ex) A giant slug can spit acid at an opponent within 60 feet (no range increment). With a successful ranged touch attack, the target takes 10d6 points of acid damage (no save).

Malleable (Ex) A giant slug's body is very malleable, allowing it to fit into narrow areas with ease. A giant slug takes no penalty to its speed or checks when squeezing in an area that is one size category smaller than its actual size (10 feet wide for most giant slugs). A giant slug can squeeze normally through an area two size categories smaller than its actual size (5 feet wide for most giant slugs).

Susceptible to Salt (Ex) A handful of salt burns a giant slug as if it were a flask of acid, causing 1d6 points of damage per use.

No simple garden pests, giant slugs pose a serious threat to those caught in their path. Folk who dwell near swamps and other regions that support giant slugs risk losing livestock and even their homes to these enormous beasts. Giant slugs constantly wander in search of food, their preference being fleshy organic material, which they slice into smaller, easily gulped chunks with their rasp-like tongues.

What strange inf luence might have caused the first giant slugs to grow to such monstrous proportions is unknown, but today, giant slugs breed true and birth their oversized offspring after a fleshy, squirming courtship ritual. After mating, a female giant slug lays just over a hundred eggs, each approximately a foot in diameter. The mother slug guards this clutch fiercely and aggressively attacks any creatures that wander too close. Giant slugs inhabiting swamps aboveground mate once a year, and those who live in the area know better than to go into the swamps during this month.

Deep below ground, some subterranean races use giant slugs as mounts or guardians. Creatures like mites, who have a strange empathy with vermin, can be used to keep giant slugs docile, but in most cases, those who would use giant slugs must do so with great care, keeping them well fed until they are needed for battle. Frightened whispers report armies of troglodytes using giant slugs as siege mounts. One particularly disturbing tale mentions a vast underground cavern inhabited by scores of skum and aboleth-controlled aquatic giant slugs with strange, mind-numbing abilities infused into their acidic saliva.