Ore Eater


Climate/Terrain: Mountainous, rocky
Frequency: Common
Organization: Family
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Metal ore
Intelligence: Low to average (7-10)
Treasure: R (x2)
Alignment: Neutral

No. Appearing: 1-10
Armor Class: 0
Movement: 9
Hit Dice: 8
Thac0: 9
# of Attacks: 2
Damage/Attack: 2d4+8 (1d4+8 vs heavy armor)
Special Attacks: Crushing blow, blind
Special Defenses: +1 weapon to hit, immunities
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: L (10')
Morale: Average (10)
XP Value: 4,000
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Appearance: Ore-eaters have bodies that stand about 10' tall, and appear as lumps of metallic ore in humanoid shape. Their feet appear as blocks of metal, and their hands as hammer-like clubs. They have one solid black stone-like eye and a large mouth with solid ridges of metal for teeth.

Combat: In combat, ore-eaters are savage and powerful. Their primary weapon is their club-like hands which inflict terrible crushing damage on opponents. An opponent wearing anything less than field plate armor takes 2d4+8 damage per blow. Armored opponents wearing field plate or better take just 1d4+8 damage per strike, but each strike takes off 1 level of armor. For example, field plate has an AC of 2. If someone wearing field plate took two blows from an ore-eater, that field plate would only be AC 4, due to extensive crushing damage and cracks in the armor. Such damage to armor is very hard to repair.

Every blow against a character results in an item save vs. crushing blow if the hit occurs on armor. If failed, the armor is rendered useless. At the DM's discretion, other items may need to make saves vs. crushing blows. They are as powerful as stone giants, having a STR of 20.

The only other attack ore-eaters make in combat is their blinding flash. They can do this once every other round in place of one of their normal attacks. They strike their hands together, creating a bright spark of light along with a spray of ore dust which together serves to blind the opponent for 1d4 rounds unless a save vs. rod, staff, wand is made.

Edged weapons do half damage to ore-eaters, and the weapon must make a save vs. crushing blow each time to avoid breaking against the ore-eater's body. Piercing weapons do no damage. Bludgeoning weapons do normal damage if metal, otherwise no damage (ie wooden clubs do no damage). A +1 weapon is needed to hit them. Acid and lightning do double damage to ore-eaters due to their metallic nature. Heat and fire do half damage, cold does no damage.

Habitat/Society: Usually found in mountainous areas which contain great amounts of metal, ore-eaters consume metal ore exclusively. They tend to live in small communities of several families, with each family consisting of about 6-10 members. They often compete with xorn when those creatures come to the Prime Material Plane. Dwarves hate them as they tend to deplete areas of ore that is needed to create armor and weapons. Ore-eaters tend to be shy and peaceful, unless attacked or their environment invaded, in which case they fight with savage vigor. Ore-eaters tend to weigh about 3,500 lbs and stand 10' tall.

Ecology: Ore-eaters have little impact on the ecology as they eat only metallic ore and not plants or animals.

Variants: None known.



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