Beetle, Bellyborer

Slightly larger than a human’s fist, this beetle possesses a collection of tentacles that writhes just behind its over-sized mandibles. Its wings flutter as it hisses at you.

Bellyborer Beetle CR 1

XP 400
N Tiny vermin
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0

DEFENSE

AC 17, flat-footed 14, touch 15 (+3 Dex; +2 natural, +2 size)
hp 5 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0; Immune vermin traits

OFFENSE

Speed 10; fly 30 ft. (poor)
Melee bite +5 (1d3-5 plus paralysis)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks bore; disease; paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 11)

STATISTICS

Str 1, Dex 16, Con 12, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 6
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +7, Stealth +11

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bore (Ex)

As a full-round action, a bellyborer beetle can bore into the abdomen of a helpless creature and attach itself to the creature’s spine, where it begins laying eggs and transmits a telepathic suggestion (DC 10 Will negates) to retreat to a more private place to incubate the beetle’s young. If the target succeeds in its save to resist this compulsion, the bellyborer beetle’s neurotoxin becomes muddled and diffused, forcing the host creature to make an additional DC 10 Will save each round at the beginning of its turn. With each failed save, the host becomes confused, as the condition, until the beginning of its next turn. A target that fails any Will save contracts the beetle’s disease.

A bellyborer beetle infestation can be removed with remove disease (requiring a DC 15 caster level check) or a successful DC 20 Heal check. Failing this Heal check by 5 or more deals 1d6 hp damage to the host.

Disease (Ex)

Bellyborer Infestation: Bore—injury; save Fort DC 11; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Con and 1d3 Wis damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Every five days until the infestation is cured or the host dies, 1d6 mature beetles emerge from the victim, dealing 1 additional point of Con damage for each new beetle.

ECOLOGY

Environment urban
Organization solitary, pair, or pride (3-10)
Treasure standard

Bellyborer beetles are dangerous parasites that seek warm flesh to inhabit, preferably with ready access to a creature’s nervous and digestive system. Their toxic saliva helps dissolve the neural tissue of the host and convert it into vital enzymes for the production of its eggs, which it implants in the lining of the host’s digestion tract, where they incubate and then burrow forth after hatching. New bellyborers always seek a new host and do not re-infest the host in which they were birthed.

Bellyborer beetles are often found in large number within the wounded flesh of large mammals, but they also congregate in open wounds of smaller mammals, too.

Some scholars believe that they actually prefer humanoid hosts, since humanoids tend to frequently move into different biomes with an abundance of potential new hosts for bellyborers’ offspring. Bellyborers do not need to be engorged in a host to reproduce, as they can lay their eggs in any warm, wet environment. Bellyborer egg clutches usually consist of 100-500 eggs.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Southlands Bestiary for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. © 2015 Open Design. Authors: Kristian Ahonen, Eric Anderson, Anonymous, Joshua Banks, Wolfgang Baur, dpb, Clinton Boomer, Marina de Santiago Buey, Angelica Burns, Jarrod Camiré, Aaron Cheung, Jim Davis, Lee DeBoer, Dan Dillon, John Doh, Chris Doyle, Harold Farmer, John Foster, Erik Freund, Leonard Grand, Amanda Hamon Kunz, Andrew Harshman, Jacob Haywood, Steven T. Helt, Jeffrey Hersh, Andrew Hind, Richard Iversen, Alex Kanous, Henry S. Kurtz, Richard Lawson, Jeff Lee, Chris Lockey, Ari Marmell, Ben McFarland, Jesse McGatha, Brett A. McLean, Brian Wiborg Mønster, Matt Morrissette, Robert H. Nichols, Stacy Nichols, Kalervo Oikarinen, Gunnar Ólafsson, Richard Rossi, Stephen Rowe, Adam Roy, Wendall Roy, Matt Rupprecht, Allen F. Schell, Brian Suskind, Troy Taylor, James Thomas, John Tolios, James Whittaker, Clarence Wisdom, and Henry Wong.

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