Thresh (3.5e Monster)

''There was a time when the chitter of the dreaded Thresh could be heard from every corner of the continent of Arda, until a massive coalition of men, elves, dwarves and gnomes scoured them from the surface in a decade-long struggle. Adventurers of today that venture too deep underground may yet come to wish that they had finished the job.''

Nearly hunted to extinction in a past age, the Thresh are huge insectoid creatures with thick, chitinous scales hued a dark orange and red, depending on age and form. Thresh are colony-bound, existing in large underground hives consisting of a network of countless tunnels connecting hundreds underground chambers, and eking out a silent existence within the deepest reaches of habitable subterranean biomes. Not unlike ants and bees, the Thresh are divided into workers, soldiers and a matriarch. A Thresh hive spreads its young in many clusters throughout the borders of its territory, both to ensure survival and to function as a defense against interlopers, as their grubs become highly volatile when sufficiently matured. Thresh grubs are often called bomblets by modern dungeoneers and ecologists, for their propensity to detonate in vibrant displays of volatility when disturbed. All thresh have 6 legs and 2 forelimbs, a segmented body not unlike that of an arthropod, with jagged scales for protection

Combat
When the hive is in danger, Thresh move to defend the compromised locations with strategic cunning, owing to the hivemind ability of its matriarch. If a worker or a cluster of grubs sights an intruder or comes under attack, one or more soldiers are immediately dispatched to defend the hive. Many clusters of thresh grubs are situated in chambers near the edges of the hive's territory, in order to spread them out and ensure sufficient survivability, as well as provide a first line of defense against interlopers. In cases of severe danger to the hive, a worker or soldier may be tasked to attack and forcibly detonate a cluster of grubs in order to close off a tunnel compromised by enermy forces.

 : The blood of a thresh is incredibly acidic. If a thresh is dealt piercing or slashing damage sufficient to break its damage reduction, every creature within a 10-foot cone in the direction of the attacker (possibly including the attacker himself) takes 1d6 plus an additional 1d6 per 5 HD points of acid damage. A successful Reflex save negates the damage dealt.

 : A thresh's acid is incredibly painful. Any living creature that has taken acid damage from a thresh's attacks or abilities is immediately sickened and must make a Fortitude save at the start of every turn or become nauseated from the pain for 1 round. The sickened effect lasts for 1 minute. Creatures with ranks in Concentration may make a Concentration check to ignore the pain instead. The save (and Concentration) DC is Constitution-based.

Thresh
Workers are the backbone of a thresh hive. They are roughly 7 and a half feet long from head to tail, with an engorged back segment and small forearms, and weigh around 300 pounds. * While workers can use their forearms to attack in a pinch, they are not meant for combat and are treated as improvised weapons (-4 to attack, subsumed within the worker's statistics block).

Thresh workers have the most reactive acid, and use it in order to build upon the hive's infrastructure. With the help of its acid lathering its pincers and its limbs and softening the bedrock, it is capable of digging out a 5-foot-cube of regular stone per minute.

The jobs of a worker are expanding and maintaining the hive infrastructure, tending to the grub clusters and the matriarch, and distributing living amenities such as food.

A thresh worker has access to the following abilities.

 : Once every 1d4 rounds a thresh worker can excite its innards to release a 20-foot line of acidic bile as a standard action, dealing 4d6 points of acid damage. Those caught within the line may make a DC 18 Reflex save to halve the damage dealt.

Thresh
Soldiers are over 12 feet long, weigh around 1,000 pounds, and have a sleeker, more warrior-like build than workers. They are capable of sudden bursts of speed that they use to close in with their target right away, and their mantis-like forearms are fitted with huge, jagged blade-like appendages that easily cut and lacerate flesh and carapace alike.

The jobs of a soldier are defense of the hive's key areas, as well as patrolling beyond the hive's borders, fouraging and hunting down creatures for food.

They are natural weapons with a base damage of 2d8, 20/×3 crit and the wounding quality, and count as adamantine for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction.

 : Every 1d4 rounds, a thresh soldier can launch a glob of thick, viscous acid that deals 6d6 points of acid damage in a 10-foot-radius burst. The affected area becomes greased, as per the spell. Creatures whose bodies are directly in contact with the greased surface at the start of their turn, such as due to bare feet or having fallen over, take 1d6 points of acid damage.

Thresh
The matriarch appears as a gigantic version of a worker, with an even more engorged rear body segment that bubbles with volatile acid. The matriarch's hard, chitinous back is interspersed with many holes from which bomblets can be unleashed. A thresh matriarch is intelligent, capable of understanding the speech patterns of sentients, flexible thinking, and formulating strategic plans.

A thresh matriarch is 40 feet long from head to tail and carried by six thick, heavily reinforced legs. It weighs roughly 15 tons.

The matriarch's job is to constantly birth new young, and to coordinate the movements of the hive.

 : The matriarch is capable of maintaining a telepathic network with the rest of the hive from within its chamber. The range of this network is 1 mile, and while in contact with the matriarch it is capable of perceiving through the senses of any of its underlings, using its own Listen and Spot checks. The matriarch is aware of any of its underlings within the range of its hivemind, as per the status spell.

While within the range of the matriarch's hivemind, any thresh worker or warrior is capable of receiving thought and input, allowing for strategic movement and organization. While thresh warriors and workers can perform their outside duties without an active hivemind, the matriarch cannot monitor the location of, perceive through the senses of, or give specific orders to any individual thresh out of its hivemind range. Thresh within the matriarch's hivemind are still effectively mindless.

 : The atmosphere within the matriarch's chamber is subtly laced with acidic compounds that slowly burn away at a creature's lungs. This miasma is nigh invisible, and requires a DC 30 Spot check to detect. Every creature entering within 200 feet of the matriarch is automatically sickened, but doesn't automatically know the reason. Creatures exposed to the miasma must make a DC 20 Fortitude save at the start of each turn or become nauseated for 1 round and take 1d6 points of lethal damage. Every subsequent round of exposure raises the save DC by 1.

A creature with resistance to acid gets half of that resistance as a bonus to his Fortitude save against the matriarch's miasma ability, rounded down.

A creature with immunity to acid or a creature wearing an airtight mask or some other kind of breathing or filtering apparatus cannot be affected by the miasma. A creature that obtained such protection after being exposed does not worsen its condition, but retains its sickened condition until all damage caused by the miasma is healed.

 : The matriarch of a Thresh hive is constantly producing young. While most of these are generally stored in one of the hive's many grub clusters before hatching, the matriarch keeps a large amount of hatched grubs inside of its body to deploy in case of combat. The matriarch's body chemistry serves to settle the grubs's volatile acids, though when released they become immediately prone to explosion. The matriarch may activate or deactivate this ability as a free action.

While this ability is active, the matriarch spawns 1d4+1 bomblets, each advanced to 3 HD at the start of every turn. The bomblets start their turns within the matriarch's reach and take their turns along with the matriarch.

 : The matriarch may launch up to three of the bomblets spawned in the same turn towards any targets within 60 feet as a full-round action. Bomblets launched in this fashion are ranged attacks that explode on contact (Reflex DC 25 half). A creature hit directly by one of these attacks is not allowed a saving throw against the explode effect.

For Player Characters
Threshes provide natural resources that can be useful to adventurers, such as the following.

Thresh Acid Flask
A thresh worker's acid effectively lowers the hardness of any rock and stone object, as well as the damage reduction of any monsters of the Earth subtype or otherwise fashioned of stone by 5 points for up to 1 hour. If immediately bottled and sealed airtight in a container of specially treated glass (like a magical potion bottle), a thresh worker's acid retains this effect, and can be used as a thrown object that softens the stone of any creature or object in a 10-foot-radius spread.

A thresh acid flask acts as a regular acid flask, with the addition of the effects above, and is worth 150 gp.

Thresh Carapace
The dorsal carapace of a fully matured thresh soldier is exceedingly hard and durable, and easily wards off even the most potent of acids. Armor fashioned from this carapace bestows similar protection to its wearer. For the full article, see Thresh Carapace.