Aurumvorax

Also called the golden gorger, an aurumvorax is no bigger than a large badger, yet it weighs more than 500 pounds. Coarse gold fur covers its body, and its small silver eyes have golden pupils. It runs on eight strong legs tipped with copper claws 3 inches long, and its heavily muscled shoulders support a thick jaw lined with copper-colored teeth. That enormous density is a big part of its defense, and with its speed, strength and pure ferocity it ranks among the deadliest animals known.

Anything that strays into its range gets charged. Bursting from its den, it imposes a -3 penalty on opponents' surprise rolls. A mother defending kits attacks at +2.

It keeps biting until it connects, dealing 2-8 damage, and then its jaws lock. From then on it automatically deals 8 more damage every round, and only death, its own or its victim's, makes it let go. While clamped on it also rakes with 2-8 of its legs, each hit dealing 2-8 damage. Anyone held loses their Dexterity adjustment to Armor Class.

Blunt weapons do only half damage against its dense hide and bones. Small ordinary fires do not hurt it and magical fire deals half damage. Poison and gases have no effect.

Golden gorgers live alone in light woods, hills and mountain slopes near the tree line, digging burrows with their mighty claws, sometimes straight into solid rock. Because of their peculiar diet, a den is always on top of rich gold veins or very close to an easy supply of gold.

An aurumvorax defends its territory fiercely, even against its own kind. Adults seek each other out only to mate, about once every eight years. The pair stays together for a week or two, then the male goes home and the female gets ready. Four months after mating she gives birth to 1d6+2 kits, blind and hairless for their first two weeks, which need both meat and precious ore, gold included, to live. Usually just 1-2 of the strongest survive. A kit found and raised before its eyes open can be tamed and trained.

Dwarves generally dislike the creatures, though a few dwarven communities keep one or more to sniff out ore.

Besides meat, an aurumvorax must eat gold. Digesting it and other ores is what gives the beast its incredibly tough fur, skin and skeleton.

Killed with as little slashing of the hide as possible, it yields a pelt that can become a beautiful, very strong garment worth 15,000-20,000 gold pieces. It also serves as armor, the Armor Class depending on the animal's size: AC 2 at 50 pounds, AC 3 at 40 pounds, or AC 4 at 30 pounds. The wearer saves at +4 vs. normal fires and +2 vs. magical fire.

Burning a carcass in a forge takes one to two weeks of hard work and leaves roughly 150-200 pounds of gold. The hide can be removed first; burned along with the body it adds 1d20+20 (21-40) pounds more. Teeth and claws are prized ornaments, fetching up to 1 gp apiece.