Tatzelwurm (4e Monster)

The unusual tatzelwurm looks mostly like a serpent, but its head resembles that of a lizard and it possesses a single pair of legs located near the front of its body. Most of its length is covered in brown or grey scales, except for its white underbelly, and some tatzelwurms have soft "spines" on their backs. A typical tatzelwurm is between four and six feet long, with its tail accounting for most of that length. Despite its ferocious appearance and its predatory nature, tatzelwurms are quite skittish and are not generally considered a threat to humanoids.

Tatzelwurm


An adult tatzelwurm can be a formidable opponent on the off chance it decides to attack. They prefer to hunt around dawn and dusk, when its ability to see in dim light gives it an advantage over both diurnal and nocturnal prey, neither of which are well-suited to the twilight.


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Tatzelwurm Tactics
A tatzelwurm uses the environment to its advantage, leaping over chasms and climbing sheer rock faces to stay one step ahead of its enemies. It uses darting jump at every opportunity to keep melee opponents on the move or to jump behind cover to protect it from ranged attacks. It saves its poisonous breath for when multiple opponents are clumped together, which is fairly often on the narrow mountain ledges where most fights with a tatzelwurm take place.

Tatzelwurm Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.


 * DC 15: Although best known for their poisonous breath, tatzelwurms rely primarily on their powerful jaws to take out their prey, utilizing their breath only when severely pressed or when faced with multiple opponents at once. They prefer to live and hunt in mountainous regions, where their exceptional speed and jumping abilities give them a distinct edge over slower creatures that must carefully navigate the treacherous terrain. Because it can easily escape any natural creature that might attempt to preemptively attack it, the tatzelwurm has no need for stealth: it makes its presence well-known to its intended prey with its loud and distinctive hiss, hoping to frighten its quarry into fleeing. It then follows its prey while the victim quickly tires itself out trying to escape the tatzelwurm, eventually striking when the target has no energy left to fight back. Despite their predatory nature, tatzelwurms prefer to prey on small, weak, or injured creatures and do not typically attack anything larger than a dog; they're actually quite skittish around humanoids and will usually flee long before they're spotted.


 * DC 20: Tatzelwurms are most likely to attack during the mating season, when they gather in large numbers to reproduce. Females are almost completely immobile during their three-month pregnancy but most consume large quantities of food in order to sustain their growing broods (which can contain as many as fifty eggs); thus the males must go out in large groups and hunt for food to bring back to the females, and they cannot afford to be overly picky about what kind of prey they hunt during this time. So voracious are the tatzelwurms during this time that they will even consume their own eggs: only about 1 in 10 will be left uneaten, and about half of those that survive their parents' hunger will die to other predators before they reach one year of age.


 * Rumors persist of singularly massive tatzelwurms that live in the most remote mountainous regions, preying on everything in sight — even lesser tatzelwurms. Although tatzelwurms have occasionally been known to grow beyond their normal size limits, sometimes reaching ten or more feet in length, no sightings of these so-called "dire tatzelwurms" have ever been conclusively documented. A creature as big as the dire tatzelwurm — which is alleged to exceed thirty feed — would not hunt using the same tactics as its lesser cousin, as its size would likely prevent it from climbing or navigating narrow ledges with any sort of speed. Instead they would probably use ambush tactics, lying in wait until prey wanders close and then overwhelming it with a swift and brutal attack.

Encounter Groups
Tatzelwurms are generally solitary hunters except during the mating season, when they gather in incredible numbers for about six months. They are rarely found in the presence of other creatures, but could theoretically be used as beasts of war if their timid nature could be overcome through training or selective breeding.

Level 4 Encounter (XP 875) — Dragonborn Hunters
 * 4 dragonborn sellswords (level 2 skirmisher, Draconomicon pg. 214)
 * 1 dragonborn soldier (level 5 soldier, Monster Manual pg. 86)
 * 1 tatzelwurm (level 4 skirmisher)