AC 17 (natural armor)
HP 9 (2d6 + 2; bloodied 4)
Speed 0 ft.
Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 10
Senses blindsight 30 ft. (blind beyond that radius), passive Perception 8
Languages —
False Appearance. While motionless, the piercer is indistinguishable from a normal stalactite.
ACTIONS
Pierce. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, one target directly underneath the piercer. Hit: 10 (3d6) piercing damage. This attack has disadvantage against a creature that is protecting its head with a shield or similar object. If the attack misses, the piercer dies.
Combat
The piercer drops on anything that moves directly under it. After falling, the only action it can perform is feeding on a creature that it killed.
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Some subterranean beasts disguise themselves as naturally occuring cave formations. Ropers are the largest—and most dangerous—of these predators.
DC 15 A roper is too slow to chase down prey, but its tentacles are extremely long.
DC 20 Ropers lay their eggs on the ceilings of caverns. Young ropers look like small stalactites and drop on prey that pass beneath them.
A roper squats in the middle of a large cavern. Its rocky, conical body gives it the appearance of an enormous stalagmite, but it’s alive, and hungry. Silent and motionless, it listens for tremors that indicate the approach of prey. When creatures approach, its single eye snaps open, its mouth slavers with acidic drool, and it lashes out with ropy tendrils dozens of feet long.
Immobile Hunters. A roper can move only slowly, using the suckers on the bottom of its body to drag itself inch by inch along floors or ceilings. It doesn’t need to chase prey: its long tendrils drag unfortunate creatures to its waiting mouth to be devoured whole. It can digest flesh, bone, wood, and ferrous metal. Often it is found surrounded by the excreted treasures of its previous victims: gemstones, precious metal, and magic items.
Piercers. As a roper crawls across a ceiling, it affixes its rock-like eggs to the stone. Eventually these eggs hatch piercers : roper larvae that look like small stalactites. A roper is often accompanied by a dozen of these piercers, few of which will ever reach adulthood.
In order to grow into a roper, a piercer must fall from the ceiling and land on a creature passing underneath, piercing and killing it. The piercer then consumes the body. A piercer may wait many years before it has such an opportunity, and if it misses, it smashes to pieces on the hard stone floor.
1–2 Immobile on the ceiling: any treasure is on the floor as bait
3–4 Immobile on the floor: possibly near a hazard such as a pit
5 Reeling in prey
6 Immobile on a wall
1 DC 15 Perception checks: grooves in the floor, as if something was dragged
2 A goblin or other humanoid with a smashed head
3 Dried blood on the ground
4 A distant clatter like a stone being thrown
Ropers cling to cavern ceilings and floors.
CR 0–2 1d4 piercers
Treasure 30 gp, 80 sp, bloodstained cavern map
CR 3–4 1d4 + 4 piercers ; 1d6 piercers and 1 or 2 swarms of bats
Treasure 60 gp, greatsword, half plate armor with no helm , oil of slipperiness
CR 5–10 1 or 2 ropers ; roper and 1d8 + 2 piercers ; roper and 1d4 darkmantles
Treasure 4 amethysts (100 gp each), wand of fear