AC 20 (natural armor)
HP 93 (11d10 + 33; bloodied 46)
Speed 10 ft., climb 10 ft.
Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages —
False Appearance. While motionless, the roper is indistinguishable from a normal stalactite or stalagmite.
Spider Climb. The roper can climb even on difficult surfaces and upside down on ceilings.
Tendrils. The roper has eight tendrils. Each tendril has AC 20, 15 hit points, vulnerability to slashing damage, and immunity to psychic damage. A creature can also break a tendril by taking an action to make a DC 15 Strength check. A tendril takes no damage from sources other than attacks. The roper grows back any destroyed tendrils after a long rest .
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The roper makes up to four tendril attacks, then uses Reel, then attacks with its bite.
Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 50 ft., one target. Hit: The target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and the roper can’t use this tendril on another target.
Reel. The roper pulls each creature it is grappling up to 25 feet straight towards it.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) acid damage.
Combat
The roper keeps its eye closed, remaining immobile and nearly undetectable, until a creature approaches within 30 feet (the range of its blindsight). It then opens its eyes and attacks as many creatures as possible within range of its tendrils. It fights to the death.
Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, characters can learn the following:
DC 10 Some subterranean beasts disguise themselves as naturally occuring cave formations. Ropers are the largest—and most dangerous—of these predators.
DC 15 A roper is too slow to chase down prey, but its tentacles are extremely long.
DC 20 Ropers lay their eggs on the ceilings of caverns. Young ropers look like small stalactites and drop on prey that pass beneath them.
A roper squats in the middle of a large cavern. Its rocky, conical body gives it the appearance of an enormous stalagmite, but it’s alive, and hungry. Silent and motionless, it listens for tremors that indicate the approach of prey. When creatures approach, its single eye snaps open, its mouth slavers with acidic drool, and it lashes out with ropy tendrils dozens of feet long.
Immobile Hunters. A roper can move only slowly, using the suckers on the bottom of its body to drag itself inch by inch along floors or ceilings. It doesn’t need to chase prey: its long tendrils drag unfortunate creatures to its waiting mouth to be devoured whole. It can digest flesh, bone, wood, and ferrous metal. Often it is found surrounded by the excreted treasures of its previous victims: gemstones, precious metal, and magic items.
Piercers. As a roper crawls across a ceiling, it affixes its rock-like eggs to the stone. Eventually these eggs hatch piercers : roper larvae that look like small stalactites. A roper is often accompanied by a dozen of these piercers, few of which will ever reach adulthood.
In order to grow into a roper, a piercer must fall from the ceiling and land on a creature passing underneath, piercing and killing it. The piercer then consumes the body. A piercer may wait many years before it has such an opportunity, and if it misses, it smashes to pieces on the hard stone floor.
1–2 Immobile on the ceiling: any treasure is on the floor as bait
3–4 Immobile on the floor: possibly near a hazard such as a pit
5 Reeling in prey
6 Immobile on a wall
1 DC 15 Perception checks: grooves in the floor, as if something was dragged
2 A goblin or other humanoid with a smashed head
3 Dried blood on the ground
4 A distant clatter like a stone being thrown
Ropers cling to cavern ceilings and floors.
CR 0–2 1d4 piercers
Treasure 30 gp, 80 sp, bloodstained cavern map
CR 3–4 1d4 + 4 piercers ; 1d6 piercers and 1 or 2 swarms of bats
Treasure 60 gp, greatsword, half plate armor with no helm, oil of slipperiness
CR 5–10 1 or 2 ropers ; roper and 1d8 + 2 piercers ; roper and 1d4 darkmantles
Treasure 4 amethysts (100 gp each), wand of fear