SYSTEM REFERENCE DOCUMENT 3.5

This is an Armagada enhancement

A sand worn cannot burrow through stone, but can manage sand and loose earth. When moving through such soft materials it leaves behind no usable tunnel. The material colapses behind it, leaving a visible trail when close to the surface.

A male sand worm is about 15 - 20 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. A female is usually 40 feet long, 5 feet in diameter, and weighs about 8,000 pounds.

Male Sandworms live in small, batchelor gangs of 4 to 6. Females live a solitary existance, seeking males only when they are old enough to breed. They do this only once in their lives, and when not old enough to breed they consider males to be prey. Males will desert their own territory if a female enters it unless she is in heat. Females are formidable advasories. Only the urge to mate allows the two genders to exist in the same location, and even then the female has no use for the male after mating. If the male does not flee for his life after mating he will be the next meal.

COMBAT - Males

Male Sandworms will fight each other for the right to mate with a female, but when no females are in the vicinity they will often co-operate when attacking multiple prey. A male sandworm that senses multiple prey will often not attack immediately, but will use a special form of its trill to summon neighbouring sandworms this is a much lower tome than its attacking trill and amounts to a low rumbling noise. Once its neighbours respond to its call they will surround their prey and attack.

They often begin an attack with a charge, moving under the sand at great speed, breaking free of the sand in the last 20 feet and attacking their prey with a pouncing bite.

Solitary Male Sand Worms who detect multiple prey, but get no response to their call from neighbouring Sand Worms will never attack multiple prey.

COMBAT - Female

Female Sand Worms lurk under the sand, waiting for prey to come near. They use their tremor sense to can detect movement.

They usually begin an attack by burrowing deep, moving under the sand at great speed, and attacking their prey from below with a bite.

If their prey stands still, they often attack with a trill and then chase down fleeing prey.

If a single prey proves problematic, the sand worm may burrow at speed in a circular manner around the prey, forming a deep depression in the sand into which the prey falls and may become unable to extract itself. The worm will then attack the prey from below.

Trill (Su): A sand worm can emit a noise that forces its prey to flee in fear. This sonic mind-affecting compulsion affects all creatures other than other sand worms within a 100-foot radius. Creatures must succeed on a DC 17 Will save or be compelled to run away for as long as the worm trills and for 1d4 rounds thereafter, even if they are attacked. However, if attacked or violently shaken (a full-round action), a victim is allowed another saving throw. Once a creature has resisted or broken the effect, it cannot be affected again by that same sand worm’s trill for 24 hours. The effect’s caster level is 14th. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Breath Weapon (Su): As the spell Stinking Cloud except 30-foot cone, once per hour, The fortitude save is DC17.

Death Throes (Ex): When killed, a female sand worm turns solid and shatters in an explosion that deals 12d6 points of damage to everything within 100 feet (Reflex half DC 22). The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills: *A sand worm, due to its coloration and its affinity for burying itself in the sand, has a +10 racial bonus on Hide checks in its native environment.

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