CAVERN LEACH

Size/Type Hit Dice: Initiative: Speed: Armor Class: Base Attack/Grapple: Attack: Full Attack: Space/Reach: Special Attacks: Special Qualities: Saves: Abilities: Tiny Aberration 2d8+2 (11 hp.) +4 (dex) 40', climb 40' 16 (+4 dexterity, +2 size): Touch 16, Flat-footed 12 +1/-3

Bite +7 (1d3-2/x2) Bite +7 (1d3-2/x2) 2.5'x2.5'/0' Attach, Blood drain Blindsight 30', Scent, Anticoagulant, Overfeeding Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +5 Str 6, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 4, Wis 14, Cha 2 climb +13, jump +8, hide +13 (or +17 see text), move silently +13, listen +9, Skills: Survival +5 (+11 to track) Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bite)b, Alertness Environment: Underground Organization: Solitary, Pair, Nest (3-7), or Swarm (8-15) Challenge Rating: 1 Treasure: None Alignment: Neutral Advancement: 3-4hd (tiny), 5-7hd (small) Level Adjustment: The party awakens feeling weak, finding shallow fist sized bloody wounds on their bodies. Thael, the rogue, did not get off so easily. He must have drifted off during his watch. He sports several wounds on his chest and back, and his body is as cold as the cavern floor. Most encounters with cavern leaches occur in such a manner, though more often than not, no casualties result. Cavern leaches avoid attacking while their potential victims are awake, unless they are desperate for a meal, combat is an undesirable last resort. Their preferred method of combat is ambush, focussing on stragglers or weaker looking creatures. A cavern leach is a fleshy, flat bodied 'tick' the size of a small cat, with ten long articulated legs. It's eyeless head is dominated by a flexible circular maw filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. Cavern leaches track potential prey by scent until they are close enough to detect their prey with their blindsight ability. Blindsight(Ex): A Cavern leach can 'see' everything within 30' using echo-location. Its heightened sense of hearing grants it a +4 to listen checks. A cavern leach inside of a silence spell is essentially blinded, see 'scent' below. Scent(Ex): The cavern leach can ascertain the presence of foes within 60'. It may take a move action to discern direction and approximate distance, though opponents still retain complete

concealment. This ability also grants a +6 to survival when tracking by scent. Attach(Ex): If a cavern leach hits with a bite attack, it uses its powerful jaws to latch onto the opponents body and may begin draining blood on the next round. An attached cavern leach loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class and has an AC of 12. It can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. To remove an attached cavern leach through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the creature. Removing an attached cavern leach deals regular bite damage. Note: unless the cavern leaches opponent is flat-footed, it provokes an attack of opportunity when moving into its opponents space to attack. Blood Drain(Ex): A cavern leach drains blood, dealing 1d3 points of Constitution damage in any round when it begins its turn attached to a victim. In the case of a critical hit, the cavern leach drains blood at 1d6 points per round. Once it has dealt 3 points of Constitution damage plus one additional point per two HD, it detaches and scurries off to digest the meal. If its victim dies before the cavern leachs appetite has been sated, the cavern leach detaches and seeks a new target. Anticoagulant(Ex): The cavern leaches bite is is nearly painless. Its saliva contains a potent painkiller that keeps the blood from clotting in the wound while the cavern leach is feeding. Because of its nearly painless bite, it has a chance of attaching itself and feeding from a sleeping victim without waking them. If the victim makes a DC 19 wisdom check on the initial round or a wisdom check on the round the cavern leach detaches (DC 19 + constitution damage), they are awakened. The initial save DC is dexterity based (DC = 10+Dexterity modifier + 1/2 cavern leaches HD + 4 racial bonus). If the initial bite is a critical hit, its victim gains a +5 bonus on both of these checks. If the cavern leach rolls a 1 on its attack roll, it fails to attach and grants its intended target a +10 bonus to its wisdom check to awake (same DC) Overfeeding: Occasionally a cavern leach will drink more than their bodies can hold. A cavern leach driven into a frenzy by hunger has a 5% chance of overfeeding. The leach's abdomen ruptures and they continue to feed for 1d2 additional rounds in the throws of death. Cavern leaches forced into a feeding frenzy by magical means have a 20% chance of overfeeding. Frenzy: Cavern leaches suffering from non-lethal damage due to starvation (and as such are fatigued: -2 strength and dexterity, cannot run or charge) will go into a feeding frenzy when they come upon a meal. This frenzy lasts for a number of rounds equal to their constitution score, or until their appetite is sated. While frenzying, the cavern leach temporarily looses the fatigued condition and their base speed increases to 60', but they gain a -4 skill check penalty. If at the end of their frenzy they have nor sated their hunger, they immediately gain the exhausted condition (half speed, -6 strength and dexterity), and will die within an hour unless they receive sustenance. This frenzied state can also be brought about magically, such as with the rage spell. When a magically induced frenzy ends, the cavern leach suffers no ill effects whether or not it successfully fed (unless of course it fell victim to overfeeding: see above). Skills: Cavern leaches have a +8 racial bonus on move silently and climb checks, a +8 size bonus to hide checks, and an additional +4 to hide checks in subterranean or dimly lit areas. They use their dexterity modifier instead of strength for jump and climb checks. A cavern leach can always choose to take 10 on a climb check, even if rushed or threatened. A cavern leach has a +4 bonus to jump checks due to its speed.