Delver
- Armor Class
- -4 [23]
- Hit Dice
- 18
- Attacks
- Slam (1d6)
- Special
- paralysis, corrosive slime (2d6 touch; 1d6 residual; 2d8 metal/4d10 stone residual), darkvision
- Move
- 9 Burrow 3
- HDE/XP
- 20/4,400
Description
A Delver resembles a cross between an enormous centipede and a slug. A delver is roughly 15 feet long and 12 feet tall. It has a huge mouth and slits for eyes. A delver has spongy flipper-like arms, each of which ends in six black digging nails. A delver's ability to sense vibrations gives the equivalent of Darkvision with a 60- foot range.
A delver produces a mucus-like slime that is highly corrosive. Merely touching it causes 2d6 points of damage to organic creatures. To metallic creatures or objects the slime deals 4d8 points of damage, and rocks, and rock-like creatures (earth elementals for example) the slime causes 8d10 points of damage. A delver prefers to fight from its tunnel, lashing out with its two flippers, causing 1d6 points of damage each (plus the corrosive damage noted above) while the tunnel walls protect its body. On the round following a successful hit, the victim takes 1d6 points of damage from the slime unless is it washed off with at least a quart of fluid. For metal creatures this residual slime damage is 2d8 points; for stone creatures, it is 4d10 points. Anyone attacking a delver with natural weapons will take damage from the corrosive slime each time an attack succeeds unless they succeed on a saving throw.
Each time a delver strikes, the individual's shield, armor, and clothing (in that order) may be destroyed. The victim must make a saving throw for each item; any successful saving throw means subsequent items are unaffected. For example: a Fighter is struck by a delver; they fail their first saving throw, and their shield is destroyed. They succeed at their second save, so their armor and clothing are safe... for this round, at least. Magic shields or armor will lose one "plus" each time they are damaged, instead of being destroyed outright.
Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.