Subterranean Lizard [Forgotten Realms]

Usually called pack lizards, these resemble huge dull olive-gray iguanas, but are remarkably wide: about 10 feet across for a length of 22-24 feet. Intelligent travelers of rocky lands and the deep underworld rely on them as beasts of burden. Their splayed toes end in sticky pads protected by horny, clawlike sheaths, though they have no true claws and cannot rake.

Slow and calm, a pack lizard rarely fights unless attacked. It probes with a long sticky tongue and bites with enormously strong jaws whose blunt teeth limit the damage. A hungry one given time to work at it can chew through armor or a wooden door. When a bite catches a protruding wooden or metal object, such as an edge or corner, the item saves vs. crushing blow, at -2 if the lizard targets it on purpose, say to snap off a jabbing spear or break into a cell for food.

If it knocks down a man-sized or smaller foe and plants a foot on them, its bites hit automatically. The next round it crushes instead of biting, for 4d4, and keeps crushing for 6-8 rounds or until it passes an Intelligence check, then pauses to bite what is left. The pinned victim attacks at -3 and may try a Strength check at the normal -4 penalty each round; success halves that round's damage and frees them.

Most poisons do not affect it, it regenerates 1 hit point every 3 turns, and heat and fire deal only half damage, but cold adds 1 point per die. Its feet let it walk walls and ceilings as easily as floors, even fully loaded.

Left alone they would laze in meadows, den up in winter and descend only when the breeze carries the stench of a great underground battle. Hunted and enslaved by quicker, smarter beings, few remain on the surface except in remote deserts. Most now live in caves near volcanic heat, eating violet fungi, gelatinous cubes and other things most creatures find toxic or caustic. Mating pairs stay together for years, producing litters of 2d4 from rubbery eggs two or three times a year.

They can carry immense loads through cold, damp places as long as they periodically bask in full sun or near flowing lava. They will eat anything, but especially love snake meat and yellow meadow flowers such as dandelions, buttercups and sunflowers. Their dense white meat, like the finest pork, is eaten by drow and humans and adored by orcs. Their ichor goes into potions of vitality, and boiled-foot extract is used to make sovereign glue.