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| Brood Keeper ⬇️ Huge Magical Beast |
Brood Keeper Larva Swarm⬇️ Tiny Magical Beast (Swarm) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Hit Dice: | 22d10+154 (275 hp) | 22d10+50 (171 hp) | |
| Initiative: | +3 | +7 | |
| Speed: | 60 ft. (12 squares) | 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 30 ft. (good) | |
| Armor Class: | 25 (−2 size, +3 Dex, +14 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 22 | 21 (+2 size, +7 Dex, +2 natural), touch 19, flat-footed 14 | |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +22/+37 | +22/— | |
| Attack: | Claw +27 melee (1d8+7) | Swarm (5d6) | |
| Full Attack: | 2 claws +27 melee (1d8+7) and bite +25 melee (2d6+3) | Swarm (5d6) | |
| Space/Reach: | 15 ft./10 ft. | 10 ft./0 ft. | |
| Special Attacks: | Fear, improved grab, larva swarm, pounce, rake, rend 2d8+10 | Distraction | |
| Special Qualities: | Damage reduction 5/–, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, fast healing 5, low-light vision, spell resistance 26 | Damage reduction 1/–, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, fast healing 1, half damage from slashing and piercing, low-light vision, spell resistance 22, swarm traits | |
| Saves: | Fort +22, Ref +18, Will +12 | Fort +17, Ref +22, Will +12 | |
| Abilities: | Str 25, Dex 17, Con 25, Int 6, Wis 16, Cha 8 | Str 1, Dex 25, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 16, Cha 8 | |
| Skills: | Jump +26 (+30 running jump), Listen +14, Spot +14 | Jump −4 (+0 running jump), Listen +15, Spot +15 | |
| Feats: | Alertness, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Multiattack, Run | Alertness, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Run, Toughness (2) | |
| Environment: | Warm plains | Warm plains | |
| Organization: | Solitary | Solitary | |
| Challenge Rating: | 16 | 12 | |
| Treasure: | None | None | |
| Alignment: | Usually neutral | Usually neutral | |
| Advancement: | 23–31 HD (Huge); 32–44 HD (Gargantuan) ♊ | — ♊ | |
| Level Adjustment: | — |
This creature looks like an enormous beetle with a carapace made of hundreds of leaf-shaped, chitinous plates. The creature’s black body gleams with iridescence like the shells of some insects, but it has eyes like a cat’s. It is armed with long claws on each of its legs, and large mandibles extend from its mouth.
Brood keepers are terrifying insectlike creatures with the glimmer of intelligence in their eyes. Like spider eaters, they are solitary hunters and reproduce in a grisly manner.
Brood keepers are so named because they keep their young in their backs, releasing them to feed or in times of stress. Brood keeper larvae look very different from their parent, but grow to resemble it over the course of many months.
Brood keepers are asexual and releasing their larva swarms into danger is a part of their reproductive cycle. Brood keeper larvae do not grow while they live with their parent, and the adult is willing to but its offspring at risk. A larva swarm taking damage and potentially dispersing is the brood keeper’s means of ensuring that the next generation is strong.
Brood keepers are carnivores, viewing all other living creatures as food. Hardy and powerful creatures, they fearlessly assault prey of any size, including dragons and giants.
Few find peaceable relations with a brood keeper worthwhile due to their aggressive and foul-tempered nature, but some have found them useful as potent guardians for small items by placing the objects inside the brood keeper’s carapace pockets. A brood keeper averages 30 feet in length and weighs some 12 tons.
Although intelligent enough to know a language, brood keepers do not speak and do not understand a language unless one is taught to them.
A brood keeper charges and pounces on one foe, then claws at another. It attacks each enemy it can reach with a charge in turn and releases its larva swarm to attack prey that is farther away.
Fear (Su): A creature that witnesses a brood keeper rend a foe or release its larva swarm must make a DC 20 Will save or be frightened for 1d10 rounds and shaken for 1 hour. Creatures that succeed on the save are shaken for 1d4 rounds and immune to that brood keeper’s fear effect for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a brood keeper must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold.
Larva Swarm (Ex): As a full-round action, a brood keeper can lift the plates of chitin on its back, releasing a brood keeper larva swarm. The brood keeper larva swarm can act immediately. Until its next action, the brood keeper takes a −5 penalty to Armor Class. Brood keepers are immune to a brood keeper larva swarm’s distraction and swarm attacks. A brood keeper can call its larva swarm back as a free action, but it is a full-round action to accept them back into its carapace, during which time the brood keeper takes a −5 penalty to Armor Class. Releasing or accepting its larva swarm provokes attacks of opportunity.
A brood keeper can keep only one brood of larvae in its back. Should the larva swarm be damaged so much that it disperses, a brood keeper gives birth to another batch of larvae in 1 month. If the brood keeper has not done so already, it automatically releases its brood of larvae when it dies.
Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +25 melee, damage 1d8+3. A brood keeper rakes with all four back legs, granting it four extra claw attacks when it begins a round in a grapple or when it pounces.
Rend (Ex): If a brood keeper hits with at a bite or claw attack and at least one rake attack, it rips its foe apart. This attack automatically deals 2d8+10 points of damage.
As you watch, the plates of chitin on the creature’s back slowly open, revealing mucus-filled cavities and the writhing forms of giant maggots with wasp wings. Suddenly, dozens of the footand-a-half-long winged larvae wriggle out of their pockets on the beetle-creature’s back and take to the air. Once they are freed from the confines of the shell, you see that their pulpy white bodies are ringed in brown chitin.
Brood keeper larvae do not grow while they live with their brood keeper parent but they enjoy the protection the swarm and their parent offer.
When a brood keeper larva swarm is dispersed, the remaining larvae flee in every direction. An individual larva poses little threat, and only one or two survive the dangers of the wild to become full-grown brood keepers. Each winged maggot is about 1½ feet long and weighs about 2 pounds.
Brood keeper larva swarms do not use language.
A brood keeper larva swarm seeks to please its parent when released so that the brood keeper will allow it to return to the chitin pockets in its shell. The swarm often focuses on attacking flying foes its parent cannot reach and other creatures attacking from a distance.
Distraction (Ex): Any living creature vulnerable to a brood keeper larva swarm’s damage that begins its turn with a swarm in its square is nauseated for 1 round; a DC 23 Fortitude save negates the effect. Even after a successful save, spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a Concentration check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills requiring patience and concentration requires a DC 20 Concentration check. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Source: Monster Manual III, page 20. The brood keeper’s bite attack supposedly did poison damage, but this poison was not listed under Special Attacks nor was it defined in the creature’s descriptive text. It has been removed.