Gricks are stealthy underground predators that infest dungeons, caves, and other shadowed places under the earth, waiting patiently for prey to come within reach.

Gricks lair in any sheltered space that can accommodate their bodies, including holes, burrows, ledges, and crevices. They do not collect treasure, but their lairs are likely to contain the uneaten possessions of their victims. When prey is scarce, gricks venture aboveground and hunt in the wilderness, using tactics similar to those they employ underground. These creatures are not comfortable under the open sky, however, and return to the subterranean world as quickly as possible.

Grick

This wormlike monster has a body as long as a man is tall, with four tentacles a little longer than human forearms. The tentacles, located on its head along either side of its jaws, are segmented, as is the body itself.

An adult grick is about 8 feet long from the tips of its tentacles to the end of its body and weighs some 200 pounds. Its body coloration is uniformly dark, with a pale underbelly.

Combat

Gricks attack when hungry or threatened. They hunt by holing up near high-traffic areas, using their natural coloration to blend into convenient shadows. When prey (virtually anything that moves) ventures near, they lash out with their tentacles. A grick’s rubbery body seems to shed blows of any kind. Its jaws are relatively small and weak compared to its body mass, so rather than consume its kill immediately, a grick normally drags its victim back to its lair to be eaten at its leisure.

A grick’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Multiple gricks do not fight in concert. Each attacks the prey closest to it, and breaks off the fight as soon as it can drag dead or unconscious prey away.

Grick

Medium aberration

Init +2; Senses darkvision, scent; Perception +9

Defense

AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 natural)

hp 9 (2d8)

DR 10/magic

Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +5

Offense

Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.

Melee 4 tentacles +3 (1d4+2), bite −2 (1d3+1)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Statistics

Str 14, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 5

Base Atk +1; CMB +3; CMD 15 (can’t be tripped)

Feats Skill Focus (Perception)

Skills Climb +10, Perception +9, Stealth +6 (+14 in rocky terrain)

Morale craven (−2)

Ecology

Environment underground

Organization solitary or cluster (1d3+1)

Special Abilities

Skills

A grick’s coloration affords it a +8 racial bonus on Stealth checks when in natural rocky areas.

Grick alpha

This wormlike monster has a body twice as long as a man is tall, with four tentacles as long as a human’s arm. The tentacles, located on its head along either side of its jaws, are segmented, as is the body itself.

Gricks that survive for a long time sometimes grow to exceptional size. These monsters hunt constantly (whenever they are not digesting a meal), as they need more food than common gricks.

A grick alpha is about 15 feet long from the tips of its tentacles to the end of its body and weighs as much as 1,200 pounds. They otherwise resemble common gricks.

Combat

Grick alphas fight much like common gricks do. They also use their tentacles to lash out at creatures that try to escape their clutches, preventing their victims from running away.