General Rules: Monsters - Visceratha

Visceratha (modified for rules compliance from Mercenaries)
Large Aberration

Hit Dice: 12d8+48 (96 hit points)
Initiative: +1 (Dexterity)
Speed: 30 feet
Armor Class: 16 (-1 size, +1 Dexterity, +6 natural); touch 10, flat-footed 15
BAB/Grapple: +9/+18

Attack: Tentacle +14 melee (paralysis) or claw +14 melee (3d8+5, piercing and slashing, 20 x2)

Full Attack: 6 tentacles +14 melee (paralysis) and 2 claws +12 melee (3d8+5, piercing and slashing, 20 x2) and bite +12 melee (3d10+2, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing, 20 x2)

Space/Reach: 10 feet by 10 feet/10 feet
Special Attacks: Chewing, paralysis
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, scent
Saves: Fortitude +8, Reflex +5, Will +9
Abilities: Str 21, Int 12, Wis 12, Dex 12, Con 18, Cha 11

Skills: Hide +4, Intimidate +4, Listen +7, Search +4, Sense Motive +5, Spot +6, Survival +4

Feats: Cleave, Great Cleave, Multiattack, Power Attack, Skill Augmentation (Listen and Spot)
Environment: Any land and underground

Organization: Solitary

Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 13 - 14 Hit Dice (Large)

Possessed by a truly extraordinary appetite, visceratha must eat flesh almost constantly to survive. They therefore gravitate toward the fringes of settled communities, where they can find prey in quantity and concentration. When they are hungry, they raid for food, bursting upon farms or villages, scooping up as many victims as they can catch and hold in their tentacles, and disappearing as suddenly as they come.

All who witness a visceratha rampage are, to varying degrees, fortunate to have survived it. None who witnesses one can ever forget it. When they are hungry, visceratha typically find a hiding place near an area where they expect prey to pass by. - perhaps a party of travelers or a small merchant caravan, or farm workers harvesting at the edge of a field. When it judges that the time is right, a visceratha springs from cover, propelling itself forward with its thick, powerful legs and its long, dangling arms, with which it pushes off from the ground. The eyes set into its head scan its field of view for prey while its third eye, set in a stalk that emerges fron its forehead, cranes about, looking for more. Six paralyzing tentacles lash out from its body, capturing as many victims as they can reach. Some visceratha will eat on the spot; the rest it will save for later. When it has as much prey as it can handle, it returns to its lair to continue its feast.

As they are always hungry, they are almost always on the hunt, and this makes visceratha a terrible menace to any settled community whom they victimize. They may well pay any price rather than uproot themselves or face extermination by this relentless predator. The best way to get rid of a visceratha is to track it to its lair and surprise it while it is eating or digesting.

Combat
Visceratha can bite and claw, but they prefer to let their tentacles do the work. They use their tentacles to grasp their prey and deliver a paralyzing nerve toxin that can immobilize victims for long periods of time, so that they can be stored if not eaten right away. When a visceratha attacks, it will take the first victim it captures and fork it into its maw and start chewing. All the while, it will lash out with its tentacles and grab at any other living creature in range. When it finishes chewing, there is a 50% chance that it will toss another captive into its mouth and eat it as well. Otherwise, it will simply capture as many victims as its tentacles can hold, and then lope off to its lair to continue eating.

Paralysis (Ex): Whenever a visceratha scores a hit with one of its tentacles, the victim must make a successful DC 15 Fortitude save, or else it is paralyzed for at least one hour. If the victim is still alive one hour after becoming paralyzed, it makes another Fortitude save at the same DC to shake off the effect, and every hour thereafter if necessary, until the paralysis disappears.

Chewing (Ex): When a visceratha pops a victim into its mouth (which requires a standard action), it immediately begins chewing. Chewing takes the form of a melee attack against the victim. Assuming that the victim is paralyzed, the attack is resolved as if the defender is flat-footed. Once the visceratha reduces its victim to less than 0 hit points by chewing, it swallows it, armor, possessions, and all. If, for some reason, the visceratha attempts to eat a victim that is not paralyzed, the victim may attempt to free itself by making an opposed grapple check.

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