DelverThis fleshy, slug-like creature has two long pseudopods that end in lumps of hard, callused flesh, and its whole body sizzles with acidic slime as it slides forward through melting stone.Delver CR 9Source Misfit Monsters Redeemed pg. 15
XP 6,400
N Huge aberration (earth)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +21DefenseAC 23, touch 12, flat-footed 19 (+4 Dex, +11 natural, -2 size)
hp 138 (12d8+84)
Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +10
DR 5/piercing or slashing; Immune acidOffenseSpeed 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Melee 2 slams +16 (2d6+9 plus corrosive slime)
Space 15 ft., Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks corrosive slimeStatisticsStr 28, Dex 19, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 10
Base Atk +9; CMB +20; CMD 34 (can't be tripped)
Feats Alertness, Blind-Fight, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +10, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +17, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Perception +21, Sense Motive +16, Stealth –8 (+0 in rocky areas), Survival +17; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth in rocky areas
Languages Aklo, Terran, Undercommon
SQ compression, sculpt stoneEcologyEnvironment any underground
Organization solitary
Treasure none or incidentalSpecial AbilitiesCompression (Ex) A delver’s boneless body can squeeze through spaces that would normally exclude anything larger than a Medium creature; it does not need to make Escape Artist checks to pass through such spaces. When it squeezes through a 5-foot opening, its speed is reduced to 5 feet until it passes completely through.
Corrosive Slime (Ex) The delver’s skin is covered in an acidic slime that it uses to dissolve stone and defend against enemies. The slime deals 2d6 acid damage to flesh, 4d8 damage to metal, or 8d10 to stone or crystal. If the delver hits with a natural attack or grapple, it automatically adds its slime damage, and the slime continues to deal 2d6 damage per round for the next 2 rounds. Armor or clothing worn by a creature grappled by a delver takes the same amount of acid damage unless the wearer succeeds on a DC 22 Reflex saving throw. A quart or more of water can wash away the slime. Any weapon that strikes the delver takes slime damage, as does a creature grappling or attacking the delver with natural weapons (both Reflex half DC 22). The saves are Constitution-based.
Sculpt Stone (Ex) A delver can secrete a weaker form of its slime from its tentacles that momentarily softens stone rather than destroying it, allowing the creature to reshape up to 25 cubic feet of stone as if using stone shape as a 15th-level caster. This ability has no effect on stone that is protected against acid. It can use this ability at will.DescriptionDelvers are enormous gastropods covered with corrosive slime and designed for burrowing through stone. Fifteen feet long and weighing several tons, they are most commonly encountered deep below ground, particularly near underground water sources. Surprisingly intelligent, these juggernauts exist to tunnel, surviving off metals— which they find intoxicating, and sometimes maddening— and leaving behind smooth, 10-foot-diameter passages.VariantsAs a created race, delvers have remained remarkably static in their evolution, save for a steady increase in their collective intelligence. It may be that the lack of speciation (or even cultural differences) over the millennia of their existence is the result of guidelines hard-coded into them by their former masters, or it may simply be that the delvers are correct in their assumption that theirs is the perfect form for a burrowing creature.
Whatever the truth, any two delvers are remarkably similar, with only slight differences in coloration and size to tell them apart. The only exceptions to this rule are those delvers pushed to madness by their metallic intoxication. These berserk delvers gain either the ability to rage as a 1st-level barbarian once per day or the continual effects of a confusion spell, and sometimes both. The duration of this madness depends upon the delver’s level of intoxication, as adjudicated by the GM.
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