Huge Aberration

Hit Dice: 10d8+40 (85 hp)

Initiative: +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)

Speed: 10 ft, fly 40 ft (average)

AC: 14 (-2 size, +2 Dex, +4 natural)

Attacks: Buffet +15 melee

Damage: Buffet 2d4+15

Face/Reach: 15 ft by 15 ft/10 ft

Special Attacks: Smother

Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft

Saves: Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +7

Abilities: Str 30, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 10

Skills: Hide +0*, Listen +6, Spot +6

Climate/Terrain: Any underground

Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 7

Treasure: Standard

Alignment: Always neutral

Advancement: 11-20 HD (Huge); 21-30 HD (Gargantuan)

A carnivorous creature found only in dark, underground places, the lurker above (also called lurkers) resembles an enormous manta ray. Its grayish belly is about 20 feet in diameter and appears as textured stone.

   The lurker above usually attaches itself to a ceiling where it is nearly invisible.

COMBAT

Lurkers attack by dropping on an unsuspecting victim and suffocating it by wrapping it in its body.

   Smother (Ex): A successful attack indicates the lurker deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity (Grapple, page 137 in the Player’s Handbook). If the lurker succeeds at the grapple, it has wrapped itself around its prey. The following round, the victim must either hold her breath or begin taking suffocation damage. (A creature can hold its breath for 2 rounds per point of Constitution. After this time, the creature must succeed at a Constitution check (DC 10) in order to continue holding its breath. The check must be repeated each round, and the DC increases by +1 for each previous success.) If the victim runs out of breath, it falls unconscious (0 hp). In the following round, it drops to –1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, the creature suffocates.

   A victim can escape the lurker’s hold by making an opposed grapple roll or an Escape Artist roll against the lurker’s grapple roll. While engulfed, a creature can only use a Tiny weapon, and then only if it was in hand when the creature was first enveloped.

   Damage inflicted on a lurker while it encompasses a victim causes an equal amount of damage to the victim. Blunt weapons inflict full damage upon the victim but do not harm the lurker above.

   Skills: *Lurkers receive a +8 racial bonus to Hide checks when next to a stone surface.

The Lurker Above first appeared in the 1e MM(Gary Gygax, 1977).