Fish (Toril), Verme [1699]

Climat/Terrain	Any/Large rivers
Organisation	Solitary
Fréquence	Très rare
Diète	Carnivore
Cycle d'activité	Any
Intelligence	1 - Intelligence animale
Trésor	See below
Alignement	Neutre Absolu
Nombres	1
Classe d'armure	3 (head)/8 (body)
Mouvement	Au sol : 3'' Vol : - Classe de vol : Nage : 18'' Enfouissement : Web :
Dés de vie	18+18
Thac0	5
Nbre d'attaques	1
Dommage / attaques	7-28
Attaques spéciales	Swallow whole
Défenses spéciales	See below
Résistance à la magie	Nil
Taille	G - gargantuan ( 25+' ) (50-80’ long)
Morale	15-16 - Champion
Valeur en XP	14000 xp

Commentaires : The verme is the largest of fish, yet another wonder of the undersea world. It resembles a giant catfish, except that it has large, thick, slime-covered scales and hundreds of long, needle-like teeth. It is yellow along its belly, with its flanks dark brown shading to a mottled green-and-brown back. Although the verme is gigantically long, it is flattish along its belly, and wider than it is high. This enables it to lurk on the bottom and swim in reasonably shallow rivers. The verme is a voracious carnivore, eating two tons of meat each day to sustain itself. Should a character attempt speak with animals spell on a verme, the fish will express no surprise that it is being spoken to. Indeed, it will only grow irritated that someone is keeping it from eating its fill.

Combat : A verme’s head is covered with a thick bone plate, giving it an AC of 3. The body is AC 8. A verme swallows any opponent under 12 feet tall should it score a hit. It tries to swallow those characters who are attacking its head before maneuvering to reach those beating on its sides. The victim suffers 3d8+4 points of damage upon being swallowed, and an additional 2d8 points each round thereafter. No matter how many points of damage a creature inside a verme has suffered, it dies in six rounds and dissolve. On the bright side, a verme is AC 10 when attacked from the inside. The monster fish is able to upset almost any boat and ships of up to small galley size when hungry and seeking food. Its thick, slime-covered scales make edged weapons almost useless. Such attacks inflict only 1 point of damage each blow. Fire-based attacks inflict half damage to the verme, unless an attack strikes the inside of the mouth or somewhere internally. In the latter case, the damage is enhanced, gaining a +1 bonus per die of damage.

Habitat / Société : Verme usually inhabit great rivers, but sometimes venture into saltwater. Regardless of the locale, it prefers warm water with an abundance of food, such as fish, reptiles, cattle, humans, or virtually anything else. Because verme can swallow prey whole, even animals the size of water buffaloes, their stomachs can contain metallic or other indigestible material.

Ecologie : A verme spells ecological disaster for whatever area it settles in. It can scour rivers clean of fish, or rid swamps of all water-borne life. Verme have destroyed the economies of entire city-states, just by roaming the waters upriver. A verme appearing in a city‘s waterways is a frightening prospect. Adventuring parties occasionally hunt verme for their dorsal scales, which can be powdered and used as one ingredient in the ink for a shield spell. The scales from one verme can supply enough material for several dozen spells.