Grick

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

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.

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.

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.

Skills: A grick has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.

*Their coloration affords gricks a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks when in natural rocky areas.