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Breadcrumb

Grick

Challenge
str
14
dex
14
con
14
int
2
wis
14
cha
5

AC 14 (natural armor)

HP 33 (6d8 + 12; bloodied 16)

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.


Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 12

Skills Stealth +4

Damage Resistances damage from nonmagical weapons

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12

Languages


Camouflage. The grick has advantage on Stealth checks made to hide in rocky terrain.

Spider Climb. The grick can use its climb speed even on difficult surfaces and upside down on ceilings. 


ACTIONS

Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 12). Until this grapple ends, the grick can’t attack a different target with its tentacles.


BONUS ACTIONS

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature grappled by the grick. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) piercing damage.

Combat

The grick tries to attack with surprise, seizing its prey with its tentacles and attacking with its beak. It climbs to safety if it’s bloodied and not grappling a creature.


Legends and Lore

With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:

DC 10: Gricks are dangerous, subterranean ambush predators. Travelers in remote caverns must watch the walls and ceilings.

DC 15: Gricks are an invasive species from another plane, but with their natural camouflage and ability to see in the dark, they are perfectly adapted to life underground.

DC 20: There is a strange plant variant of the grick that looks like a giant flower.

Description

An invasive species from a nightmarish plane, the grick is a nasty ambush predator that lurks in lightless environments near watering holes or clusters of edible fungi. It resembles a huge, glistening worm until it attacks. As it lunges forward, its front portion splits into four flailing tentacles surrounding a hissing beak.

Ravenous Eaters. Gricks breed quickly where food is plentiful, often overwhelming deep dwarf or shadow elf settlements. Some cavern systems are devoid of all animal life except gricks, which will hibernate as they wait for new inhabitants to move in.

Grimlock Guardians. In some areas, gricks are kept in check by grimlocks who use them as guard beasts. A grick can’t be trained, but it generally stays where it is put and attacks intruders who pass near. Occasionally, a grick grows so large and hungry that it threatens the grimlock settlement it once protected.

Behavior

Behavior

1–3 Clinging motionless to a wall, ledge, or ceiling

4 Hiding behind debris, rubble, or furniture

5 Devouring its last victim

6 Guarding the entrance to a grimlock cave

Signs

1 Scattered bones

2 DC 12 Perception check: sucker marks on stone

3 DC 12 Perception or Investigation check: signs of a body being dragged 

4 A gossamer-thin shed skin

Encounters

Gricks hunt in caverns and other rocky areas.

CR 0–2 grick

CR 3–4 2 gricks ; grick and gibbering mouther or mimic ; grick and 1d4 grimlocks

Treasure 150 gp, 250 sp, writing supplies, incomplete bestiary (75 gp)

CR 5–10 giant grick ; giant grick and 2 gricks

Treasure scattered supplies (100 gp), saddle bags containing 200 gp and 30 pp

Monster Type Description

Monstrosities are magical beings usually native to the Material Plane. Some monstrosities combine the features of beasts and humanoids, like centaurs . Others have bizarre or unnatural appearances, like many-tentacled ropers . Monstrosities could only arise in a world suffused with magic.