Bore Worm, Bore Worm SwarmBright green and coated in an opaque yellow slime, this squirming mass of segmented worms leaves a trail of hissing melted stone slag in its wake.Bore Worm Swarm CR 5Source Pathfinder #117: Assault on Longshadow pg. 82
XP 1,600
N Fine vermin (swarm)
Init +2; Senses tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +0DefenseAC 20, touch 20, flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex, +8 size)
hp 45 (7d8+14)
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +3
Defensive Abilities swarm traits; Immune acid, mind-affecting effects, weapon damage
Weaknesses vulnerable to waterOffenseSpeed 5 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Melee swarm (2d6 plus 1d6 acid and distraction and painful bite)
Space 1/2 ft., Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks distraction (DC 15), painful bite (DC 15)StatisticsStr 2, Dex 15, Con 14, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +5; CMB —; CMD —
SQ compressionEcologyEnvironment any underground
Organization solitary, pair, or tremor (1d6 plus 1 bore worm monarch)
Treasure noneSpecial AbilitiesPainful Bite (Ex) Living creatures damaged by a bore worm are racked with panic-inducing pain, gaining the frightened condition (Fortitude DC 15 negates) for 1d6 rounds. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Vulnerable to Water (Ex) Water is lethal to bore worms, which shrivel when exposed to either fresh or salt water. Bore worms take half again as much damage (+50%) from spells and abilities with the water descriptor, and take a –2 penalty on saving throws against spells and abilities with the water descriptor that do not deal hit point damage.
A single, finger-length bore worm has never been much of a threat to any one creature, but isolated bore worms are found only in laboratories. Bore worm swarms, as they are more commonly encountered, consume organic material with a voracious appetite, tunneling through the earth like water as they reach progressively larger sizes.EcologyBore worms, like many other vermin, provide a necessary function of the natural ecosystem, breaking down rotting plants and animals to form rich loam for farmlands. Their fear-inducing bite can cause the stouthearted to lose faith, with the mere threat of them sometimes enough to coerce information out of a torturer’s victim. Bore worms are edible and easily killed with water, though the taste varies from “chicken” to “sweaty feet.”
In their juvenile stage, bore worms congregate in an undulating morass of sticky slime. At this stage, they can be prevented from growing into their next stage simply by providing them with a steady food supply. Lack of a food supply triggers their next stage of growth, and the bore worm swarm cannibalizes itself, with one bore worm emerging victorious as a bore worm monarch.
At this point in their lives, bore worm monarchs have a driving need to consume as much as they possibly can, and are able to consume gemstones and metals, building up fat reserves for breeding. Bore worm monarchs excrete a pheromone-heavy acid slime that repels other bore worms, giving the creatures the appearance of being territorial. In truth, bore worms lack the intelligence to truly recognize one location from another, though two bore worm monarchs that get too close to one another risk making a meal of each other as they voraciously feed. Eventually, bore worm monarchs turn on the swarms, eating them until they reach the next and final stage of their lives.
Empress bore worms, the largest and eldest members of the species, live short lives in their final stage of development. Eating their own kind acts to perpetuate their species, and after a week-long torpor, empress bore worms hungrily devour everything in their path to find a suitable spot to nest—and die. They are then eaten from within by the live bore worm swarms they birth, and the fat reserves they built up during their monarch stage serve as fuel at the end of their lives.Creatures in "Bore Worm" CategorySource Pathfinder #117: Assault on Longshadow pg. 82
Bore worms are a vile breed of subterranean burrowing worm, attacking prey both in their Darklands home and, more rarely, on the planet’s surface. Three major variants of the worms exist, each representing a different stage in the creature’s long life cycle—the swarm, monarch, and empress stages.
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