Astral Dreadnought

Nobody knows what the dreadnought is or where it comes from, only that fiends of terrible power go pale at its approach. It is as big as a storm giant, with a reddish armored shell, enormous pincer claws, gaping jaws and one black, hateful eye. Below the waist its body tapers like a worm or serpent. Some survivors say the tail never ends, but thins into a silver cord about as wide as a heavy barrel stretching away forever. If so, the thing may be a spirit projected into the Astral from some prime-material world. It seems to care only about eating astral travelers, and nobody who tried talking to it has survived.

Each claw is edged with saw teeth built for grabbing and crushing. A natural 18 or higher on a claw attack against a size L or smaller creature pins the target. A pinned victim takes normal claw damage automatically every round and has a 50% chance of 1d4 limbs being held as well, which may leave it helpless. To wriggle free, a victim needs a bend bars/lift gates roll, made 30% harder than normal. Rather than squeezing, the dreadnought may lift its catch to its mouth and bite at +4, or fling it 3d6x10 yards (30 to 180). In the Astral, a thrown victim keeps drifting until it regains its wits and halts itself by will.

Its bite shears through armor and shields. If it beats the needed roll by 4 or more, the target's armor must save vs. crushing blow or be wrecked; a target wearing none must save vs. death magic, and failure costs it a limb, chosen at random. Aimed at a silver cord, a bite that would hit AC 0 cuts it, destroying the astral form and killing the body left behind.

The dreadnought's gaze projects a cone of antimagic 100 yards long and 20 yards across at the end, in which no spell or magic item works. Anyone meeting its eye must save vs. spell or be struck by magical fear.

It has two weak points. The eye, shielded by bony ridges, is effectively AC -8 and is destroyed after 10 points of damage; blinded, the monster flees. Its own cord has AC -5; slashing (Type S) weapons must deal 60 points to it to cut it through, and that destroys the monster. Unsurprisingly, it guards that cord fiercely.

Dreadnoughts are extremely rare, and some sages argue only one exists at a time. It prowls the Astral endlessly, hunting. Its bond with the plane is deeper than anyone understands; scholars say it is of the Astral rather than merely in it, so ether storms, drifting conduits and other astral dangers simply do not affect it.

It eats astral bodies and nothing else. Visitors who are bodily in the silver void, whether by plane shift, probability travel or a magic device, do not interest it. Astral projectors are its food. It usually kills and consumes the astral form directly and cuts the cord only incidentally while feeding. It turns up only where some astral body is close by and ignores physical travelers unless they step between it and its meal.