General Rules: Monsters - Magma Creature (Template)

Magma Creature (from Dragon Magazine #347)

Magma element creatures live near volcanoes on the Elemental Planes of Earth and Fire. They have the same general form as beings from the Three Worlds but are composed entirely of lava, hardened into rock in some places while still fiery and molten at joints and other spots. Burning coals sit where eyes should be and the mouth is a furnace of flame.

"Magma" is a template that can be added to any corporeal aberration, animal, dragon, fæy, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, plant, or vermin. The creature's type changes to "elemental (earth, fire)". Magma creatures encountered in the Three Worlds have the "extraplanar" subtype. It uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Hit Dice: Change to d8.

Speed: Same as the base creature.

Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +3.

Attacks: Same as the base creature.

Damage: Same as the base creature.

Special Attacks: A magma creature retains all the special abilities of the base creature and also gains the following ones:

• Heat (Ex): In addition to the damage from their attacks, magma creatures deal additional fire damage with their natural weapons (including claw, bite, slam, or tail attacks). The amount of damage depends on the Hit Die total of the creature (see the table below).

Hit Dice	Damage Reduction	Fire Damage
1 - 3	-	-
4 - 7	-	1d4
8 - 11	5/+1	1d6
12+	10/+1	2d6

Special Qualities: A magma creature retains all the special qualities of the base creature, and also gains the following ones:

• Elemental: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, and stunning, Not subject to critical hits.


• Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.


• Damage reduction (see the table to the right). If the base creature already has damage reduction, use the better value. If a magma element creature gains damage reduction, its natural weapons are treated as magic equivalent weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.


• Fire Subtype (Ex): Fire immunity, double damage from cold except on successful save.

If the base creature already has one or more of these special qualities, use the better value.

Saves: Same as the base creature.

Abilities: Modify the base creature's ability scores as follows: Strength +2, Dexterity -2.

Skills: Same as the base creature. If the magma creature has an Intelligence of 4 or greater, it speaks Ignan or Terran.

Feats: Same as the base creature.

Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground.

Organization: Same as the base creature.

Challenge Rating: Variable (see below):

Hit Dice	CR
Up to 4	Same as base creature
4 to 7	Base creature +1
8+	Base creature +2

Treasure: Same as the base creature.

Alignment: Usually neutral.

Advancement: Same as the base creature.

Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +5.

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