Roper: The Reverse Piercer

We had the stalactite monster. Now it’s time for the stalagmite monster!

Lore: A Living Trap

Dwelling within the caves of the Underdark, ropers conceal themselves within the stone and prey on unsuspecting passers by. It shares its territory with piercers, from whom they evolved.

And… that’s about it. The rest is just detailing how they hunt and what kinda loot they might carry. Which is fine; you gotta know that stuff so you can reward the players. But it doesn’t have all that much depth.

There’s not much you can do with this lore beyond an encounter in the Underdark. If you want to write a cool side quest or you need a monster for your next big bad, this is not the creature for you.

But hey! At least it looks cool.

Design: Stone with Tentacles

I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going…

This is essentially a slightly cooler version of the piercer’s design. Which makes sense, given the lore. And honestly, that’s fine. It’s actually kinda cool to see monsters evolve into one another; it adds a cool sort of sense of progression.

Also, the tentacles make me really uncomfortable. I’ll count that as a good thing in this case.

This is a pretty good design. Yes, it’s basically a slightly different version of one we’ve already seen. But it’s still uniquely creepy and gross and interesting. So we’ll count this one as a positive.

Stats: A Carnivorous Lasso

I don’t know why I was expecting this monster to be so weak. I guess that just makes me its ideal prey; my dumbass would definitely underestimate it.

As you might expect from a monster disguising itself as a rock, the roper is pretty durable. Its AC sits at an even 20 and its HP is just shy of triple digits. Killing this guy might take some time.

It’s also got plenty of options for attacking. Its Bite attack does pretty much what you expect. Its Tendril doesn’t do damage, but it forces anyone hit by it to make a save; fail that and they’ll be grappled. While grappled, the roper can use its Reel action to pull them in, thus making them vulnerable to, you guessed it, the Bite attack.

That’s… actually a really cool and frightening combo. Why don’t more enemies do that?

Speaking of tendrils: those have their own HP. On top of that, they’re immune to poison and psychic damage, and destroying them does no damage to the roper itself. It does, however, reduce the number of tendrils it can attack with, making it easier to fight.

All of this can make for a pretty cool encounter! Throw a few of these, along with some piercers, at the players and suddenly you have a really hectic battle. How do they deal with being dragged around by the tendrils? Do they attack them or go straight for the main body? If done with care and precision, you can basically make it into a fight in a living mine field! That’s a rad idea!

Is it an epic boss fight? No. But it’s a pretty damn good normal fight.

Placement

This was a surprisingly strong entry. It’s lore is definitely one of the weakest that we’ve ever seen. But it’s design is fairly good and its stats are excellent! It may not be exceptional, but it’s pretty good!

With all that in mind, the Roper is going to #81 on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Mind Flayer
4. Dragon Turtle
5. Mummy/Mummy Lord
6. Nagas (all three of ’em)
7. Green Dragons
8. Red Dragons
9. Blue Dragons
10. Black Dragons
11. White Dragons
12. Silver Dragons
13. Couatl
14. Behir
15. Aboleth
16. Sea Hag
17. Lamia
18. Bronze Dragons
19. Brass Dragons
20. Copper Dragons
21. Gold Dragons
22. Chuul
23. Kuo-Toa
24. Gibbering Mouther
25. Kraken
26. Intellect Devourer
27. Chimera
28. Death Knight
29. Fomorian
30. Bone Devil
31. Dracolich
32. Faerie Dragon
33. Gelatinous Cube
34. Lich
35. Peryton
36. Remorhaz
37. Orcs (all four of ’em)
38. Magmin
39. Kobold
40. Kenku
41. Hobgoblins
42. Night Hag
43. Green Hag
44. Black Pudding
45. Ankheg
46. Hook Horror
47. Oni
48. Purple Worm
49. Storm Giant
50. Hill Giant
51. Empyrean
52. Efreeti
53. Grimlock
54. Minotaur
55. Dao
56. Cloud Giant
57. Manticore
58. Drow (all four of ’em)
59. Shadow Demon
60. Modrons (all five of ’em)
61. Marilith
62. Drider
63. Aarackockra
64. Azer
65. Demilich
66. Spectator
67. Gray Ooze
68. Ochre Jelly
69. Hydra
70. Rakshasa
71. Marid
72. Harpy
73. Werejackal
74. Otyugh
75. Half-Dragon
76. Cambion
77. Fire Giant
78. Nothic
79. Pixie
80. Animated Armor
81. Roper <—————–
82. Banshee
83. Basilisk
84. Yochlol
85. Bulette
86. Cloaker
87. Darkmantle
88. Doppelganger
89. Revenant
90. Ghoul and Ghast
91. Ettin
92. Medusa
93. Pit Fiend
94. Erinyes
95. Chain Devil
96. Bearded Devil
97. Barbed Devil
98. Spined Devil
99. Ice Devil
100. Mimic
101. Djinni
102. Merrow
103. Nalfeshnee
104. Glabrezu
105. Chasme
106. Grell
107. Barlgura
108. Horned Devil
109. Balor
110. Shadow Dragon
111. Myconids (all four of ’em)
112. Piercer
113. Werebear
114. Lizardfolk
115. Vrock
116. Dretch
117. Pseudodragon
118. Gnolls (all three)
119. Goristro
120. Hezrou
121. Manes
122. Quaggoth
123. Frost Giant
124. Weretiger
125. Werewolf
126. Duergar
127. Quasit
128. Dryad
129. Flumph
130. Goblin
131. Nightmare
132. Wereboar
133. Wererat
134. Githyanki
135. Owlbear
136. Planetar
137. Imp
138. Ogres/Half-ogres
139. Roc
140. Clay Golem
141. Flameskull
142. Displacer Beast
143. Carrion Crawler
144. Githzerai
145. Grick
146. Invisible Stalker
147. Rug of Smothering
148. Bugbear Chief
149. Bugbear
150. Flesh Golem
151. Vine Blight
152. Twig Blight
153. Needle Blight
154. Mephits (all six of ’em)
155. Bullywug
156. Hellhound
157. Ettercap
158. Gas Spore
159. Cockatrice
160. Lemure
161. Homonculus
162. Merfolk
163. Solar
164. Deva
165. Gorgon
166. Hippogriff
167. Griffon
168. Cyclops
169. Centaur
170. Ghost
171. Pegasus
172. Fire Elemental
173. Water Elemental
174. Air Elemental
175. Stone Giant
176. Deep Gnome
177. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
178. Iron Golem
179. Stone Golem
180. Earth Elemental
181. Galeb Duhr
182. Helmed Horror
183. Flying Sword
184. Crawling Claw
185. Violet Fungus
186. Shrieker
187. Gargoyle