New Monster: Bearon

“Have you ever seen a door like this?” Rathgar asked Nimble.

The irised door was made of a steel-like metal, about 10’ in diameter, and set into an otherwise unremarkable sections of dungeon wall. Next to the iris a smooth red gem glowed faintly.

“Never.” Nimble admitted, his eyes fixed on the gem.

Rathgar sighed. “Ok, everyone back up.”

Nimble started by checking the door before moving onto the gem. Not finding anything he reached out and touched it. The gem flashed from red to a bright green, and the iris snapped open, roiling cloud of cold fog billowed into the corridor. Through the circular doorway the companions could just make out their lights reflecting off of hundreds, maybe thousands of ice crystals in what appeared to be a large cavern. Almost immediately, the crystals around the doorway began to crack as the air warmed.

“Wow” Feris said, his breath forming a puff of fog.

From deeper into cave, a pile of crystals cracked, popped, and shattered as a turquoise beast stretched. Its small beady eyes were almost completely lost amidst the scales and pink spines covering its head. It blinked before fixating on the open door. With startling speed, it charged toward the door.

“Close it now!” Rathgar ordered.



Bearon

Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6* (L)
Move: 150'(50')
Attacks: claw/claw/bite or roar
Damage: 1d6+1/1d6+1/2d4+4 or Special
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: F6
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: none
Intelligence: 6
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 500

Slightly larger than a black bear, these ursine abominations are covered in turquoise fur that melds into scales toward the front half of the beast. Protruding from between the scales are sharp pink spines.

The bearon is a fantastically aggressive predator, immune to all cold, and able to see in complete darkness. The bearon’s roar can cause the ambient temperature to drop to fantastical lows. Anyone within 50’ of the bearon when it roars will take 1d6 cold damage from the sudden frost, and must make a save vs paralysis or be slowed (as per the spell). A second roar within the next turn will cause 2d6 points of damage, slow all creatures (no save), and anyone failing a save vs spells to fall asleep (per the sleep spell, no HD limit). A third roar will cause the bearon to fall asleep, but inflict 3d6 damage, slow and sleep effects as above, and cause 4 points of Constitution damage (may be healed 1 point per week of rest or cure serious wounds spell).

Image Source: Monsters By E-mail