Bonespear

Not every planar horror is a fiend; some are simply predators adapted to hostile realms. The bonespear, apparently a cousin of the cave fisher, is a big insect-like beast in a hard chitin shell. Its huge, lumpy round head bears two barbed bone horns jutting forward, with eyes and a mouth of ragged teeth below them. Six pairs of stout clawed legs never fight; instead they grip solid rock so firmly that only something with a fire giant's strength could shift it.

The horns are its signature weapon. Behind their sockets sits an air bladder wrapped in heavy muscle, and a sudden squeeze blasts the horns out at prey up to 40 feet away. Each stays tied to the skull by a braided sinew cord anchored in a winch-like muscle. A horn that hits deals its damage; if the attack roll beats the needed number by 4 or more, it also lodges like a harpoon. A miss or a non-sticking hit means a full round spent reeling the horn back.

The bonespear hauls with an effective Strength of 17. Each round after hooking prey, both it and the victim make Strength checks and the higher roll wins. A victorious victim holds his ground; otherwise he is pulled 10-40 feet closer, and once he reaches the head the jaws attack. Anyone succeeding at a Strength check can yank a barbed horn free, at a cost of 1d4+2 damage to the victim. The horns are as tough as iron spearheads, but a sinew cord can be cut with a slashing (Type S) weapon: it is AC 2 and parts after 12 points. Losing one horn does not hurt the creature, but losing both makes it retreat.

Slow and unwilling to hunt in the open, it chooses ambush spots such as a thicket near a water hole or a crack above a trail. It hides so well that victims suffer -1 to surprise checks.

Bonespears dwell on several lawful planes, from the prison plane to the upper planes, and in parts of the neutral planes too. They live alone and battle savagely with rivals over good hunting spots. Mating happens only every 3 years, and the female leaves her eggs as soon as they are laid, so few young survive. Locals treat them as dangerous vermin and seldom rest until one is chased off or dead. To keep its ambush site clean, a bonespear buries bones, armor scraps and other leftovers in shallow pits nearby. A severed horn serves as a short spear equal to a javelin, though too unbalanced to throw, and the sinew yields 40 feet of light, strong cord.

Young bonespears take birds, rabbits, squirrels and similar animals, moving on to bigger prey as they grow. Adults will harpoon anything and in some places threaten lesser fiends such as mindless devils and lemures, though greater fiends hunt them in turn. Rumor has it some are kept tame in corners of the prison plane or the hells.