Perception +21; darkvision
Languages Aklo, Undercommon
Skills Athletics +22, Nature +17 (+21 about caves), Religion +19, Stealth +17 (+25 in stony or icy areas)
Str +6, Dex +1, Con +6, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +1
AC 29; Fort +20, Ref +15, Will +21; +2 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 215; Weaknesses fire 10; Resistances electricity 10
Reactive Lash Trigger A creature within reach of the roper’s strand leaves a square during a move action it’s using. Effect The roper makes a strand Strike against the triggering creature.
Speed 10 feet, climb 10 feet
Melee jaws +21, Damage 2d12+12 piercing
Melee strand +23 (reach 50 feet), Effect sticky strand
Extend Strands The roper extends or retracts six thin, sticky tendrils from its body. While the strands are extended, the roper takes a –4 circumstance penalty to Stealth checks, and while they’re retracted, it can’t use its strand Strikes.
Flurry of Strands The roper makes a strand Strike with each of its strands (except those that are immobilizing creatures). Each attack must be against a different target. These attacks count toward the roper’s multiple attack penalty, but its multiple attack penalty doesn’t increase until after all the attacks.
Pull the Strands The roper pulls every creature grabbed by its strands toward itself. The roper rolls a single Athletics check and compares the result to each immobilized creature’s Fortitude DC. The roper pulls each creature it succeeds against up to 25 feet closer and each creature it critically succeeds against up to 50 feet closer.
Sticky Strand Any creature hit by a roper’s strand is enfeebled 1 and grabbed. Each additional hit from a strand increases the enfeebled condition value by 1 (to a maximum of enfeebled 4). This enfeebled value decreases by 1 every 8 hours. The roper can move while it has a creature grabbed with a strand, but it automatically releases the creature if it moves beyond the strand’s reach. The roper can release an grabbed creature as a free action. A creature can sever a strand with a target attack that hits AC 27 and deals at least 18 slashing damage. This doesn’t deal any damage to the roper itself, though it can no longer attack with a severed strand.
Roper
To all but the most sharp-eyed underground explorers, a roper appears to be nothing more than a large stalactite, stalagmite, or pillar of ice. Cunning and patient ambush predators, ropers use this to their advantage.
Ropers do not form large societies (although they can often be found living alongside other deep-dwelling denizens), but they often congregate in small clusters and sometimes hunt in groups. Particularly interested in the philosophy of life and death and the finer points of the more cruel and sinister religions of the world, a roper can talk or argue for hours with those it initially sought merely to eat. Quick-thinking spelunkers can sometimes stave off a roper’s appetite by entertaining it with stories or discussions of philosophy, but ropers do not willingly allow such intriguing prey to escape alive. Stories speak of particularly skilled debaters and philosophers who have been kept for days or even years as pets or conversational companions by roper clusters, but in the end, if such pets don’t eventually escape, the ropers’ appetites win out over their intellectual curiosity—especially in cases where the pets constantly outmaneuver their keepers’ wits and patience. A roper is 9 feet tall and weighs 2,200 pounds.
Roper Treasure
A roper keeps treasure from its past victims, often enjoying the items as mementos of prior conversations or delicious flavors. In addition, roper gizzards often collect small trinkets and gems from those who have been gobbled whole. Experienced Darklands adventurers have all sorts of tall tales of the strange and unexpected findings discovered in a roper gizzard.