Balhannoth (CR 10)

Large Aberration
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Initiative: 7(+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Senses: blind, dweomersight 120 ft., and Listen +6
Languages: -

AC: 21 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +9 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Hit Dice: 14d8+84 (147 hp); DR: 15/magic
Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +12
Speed: 50 ft. and Climb 50 ft.
Space: 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tentacles)
Base Attack +10; Grapple +23
Attack: Melee: 2 slams +18 each (2d6+9/19-20) and bite +13 (1d8+4)
Damage:
Special Attacks: antimagic grapple
Attack Options: Power Attack, constrict +1d8, improved grab, magic strike
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 17, Con 23, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 8
Special Abilities: Aura: dimensional lock; Immune: gaze attacks, illusions, visual effects; SR 18
Special Qualities: Camouflage
Feats: Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack,
Skills: Climb +17, Hide +16, Jump +17, Listen +6, and Move Silently +13
Advancement: 15-20 HD (Large); 21-30 HD (Huge)
Climate/Terrain: Any underground
Organization: None
Treasure/Possessions: Standard (1/2 standard amt of coin, double items)

Source: Monster Manual IV

A hulking creature with an ovoid body drops from the ceiling. It moves on six long tentacles instead of legs, and from between its shoulders protrudes a slavering mouth full of jagged, ripping teeth.

Horrid aberrations of the subterranean realm, balhannoths hunt by tracking magical energy. They can "see" magic but are otherwise blind. Nothing magical functions in their powerful grips, making these predators especially deadly to those who rely on spells or magic items.

Combat

Dweomersight (Su) A balhannoth can sense the presence and position of magic auras within 120 feet of itself, and knows the strength and school of each one. It can pinpoint the location of any creature with ongoing spells cast on it, carrying magic items, or otherwise using magic, and it can notice anything within the area of a magic effect (including its own dimensional lock aura). This otherwise functions like blindsense.

Dimensional Lock (Su): As the Dimensional Lock spell, 20-foot radius centered on the balhannoth, CL 10th. This effect moves with the creature.

Constrict (Ex): A balhannoth deals 1d8 points of damage with a successful grapple check, in addition to damage from its slam attack.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a balhannoth must hit an opponent of up to Large size with a slam attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict.

Antimagic Grapple (Su): When a balhannoth grapples an opponent, all the magical properties of that opponent's magic items are suppressed. In addition, a creature grappled by a balhannoth cannot cast spells or use spell-like or supernatural abilities. A balhannoth automatically suppresses magic items by holding or wearing them.

Camouflage (Ex): A balhannoth's skin changes color to match its surroundings. As a result, a balhannoth can use the Hide skill in any sort of natural terrain.

Skills: A balhannoth has a +15 racial bonus on Hide checks due to its camouflage ability. It has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

Strategies and Tactics

Balhannoths hunt by ambush, not stalking. While swift in short sprints, a balhannoth is too bulky to pursue quarry through the narrow, twisting passages of the underground. The most common balhannoth tactic is to wait motionless in a large cavern, blending in with a natural rock wall or clinging to the ceiling with its powerful, prehensile limbs. When it detects potential quarry using its dweomersight, the balhannoth charges in to attack the creature with the most or the strongest magical effects. It readily uses Power Attack to smash down its most threatening opponents.

Ecology

Balhannoths evolved to fill an unusual niche in the magic-permeated underground realms. They are attuned to magic and use its presence to detect their prey.

Balhannoths feed on both flesh and magical auras. A magic item with a faint aura sustains a balhannoth for a day, one with a moderate aura gives food for a week, and one with a strong aura is sufficient for a month. How long a balhannoth might survive on an overwhelming magical aura is unknown, but some scholars believe an item of such power might sustain it for life. A balhannoth enjoys the taste of magic but does no permanent harm to an item. Eventually it tires of the magic's flavor and must seek out a new source of nourishment.

The strange feeding needs of balhannoths drive them to attack and kill magic-bearing individuals. The creatures can't tell the difference between a magic item and an ongoing spell effect, so they attack anything they can detect with their dweomersight. A creature without magic is in no danger unless it enters the area of a balhannoth's dimensional lock aura, rendering it "visible" to the predator.

Once a balhannoth has killed its prey and dealt with any other threats, it takes the corpse back to its lair. There it devours the flesh and separates out any magic items the creature possessed. It chooses one item to carry and feed on, placing the others in a hidden or hard-to-reach place. Common hiding places for such food stores include cavities beneath large boulders or cracks in cavern ceilings.

Balhannoths have no gender - any one can impregnate any other. They do not mark mating with ritual but simply touch tentacles in greeting, which impregnates each of them. One year later, each balhannoth lays a single egg about the size of an ale keg. The egg must remain in contact with a magic item or within the area of a magic effect until it hatches. Most balhannoths keep their eggs with their food stores, but some establish separate caches. A balhannoth that can't find suitable food near its lair carries the egg to a better location. While so engaged, a balhannoth can use only one slam attack; it usually flees combat rather than risk breaking the egg. Balhannoth eggs hatch after a month, and the young reach maturity in three years.

Although intelligent enough to learn the rudiments of a language, few balhannoths can speak. Only those kept in captivity and trained as guardians gain some understanding of their masters' tongue, speaking in deep, growling voices. They possess small vocabularies and have little grasp of syntax.

Environment: Balhannoths can be found in any underground terrain.

Typical Physical Characteristics: A typical balhannoth stands approximately 9 feet tall at the shoulder and weighs about 4,000 pounds.

Alignment: Balhannoths are ravenous predators, unpredictable in their behavior but not inherently evil. They are usually chaotic neutral.

Typical Treasure: Because of the way they feed, balhannoths are more likely than other creatures to have magical treasure. Most of this is kept in the creature's lair and has a value appropriate to a CR 10 creature, about 5,800 gp. Balhannoths have one-half the normal amount in coins but have double items.

BALHANNOTH LORE

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering) can learn more about balhannoths. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

Balhannoths in Faerûn

Balhannoths are mostly found scattered through the Northdark, with particular concentrations along the borders of Anauroch. This unusual distribution has led sages to hypothesize that the creatures were created by Netherese wizards to assassinate their rivals.