Bookworm
Large monstrosity, unalignedArmor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 136 (13d10 + 65)
Speed 40 ft, climb 20 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 (+4) | 17 (+3) | 20 (+5) | 5 (−3) | 12 (+1) | 8 (−1) |
Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +5
Skills Perception +5, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities poison
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages understands all languages but can’t speak
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Greater Cognivore. A bookworm can sense the presence of any book within 60 feet of itself and is especially drawn to magical books and scrolls. A creature carrying a spellbook, scroll, or other magical writing in a nonmagical container (such as a backpack), and who begins their turn grappled by the bookworm, must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or lose one spell of the highest-level present. The bookworm regains 2d6 hit points per level of the spell consumed. A spellbook page or scroll devoured in this way becomes a non-magical blank page of parchment.
Tome Transposition. If the bookworm is within 5 feet of a book, it can use an action to enter the book and move to another book within 100 feet. It must use 5 feet of movement to enter a book, and it instantly knows the location of all other books within 100 feet. The bookworm appears in a spot of its choice within 5 feet of the destination book. It must end its turn outside of a book. Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 24 (7d6) poison damage.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 31 (6d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained if it is a Large or smaller creature and takes 10 (3d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns, and the bookworm can’t constrict another target.
Parchment Breath (Recharge 5–6). The bookworm exhales a flurry of razor-sharp paper shards in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 40 (9d8) slashing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Additionally, the paper shards coalesce into a paper golem swarm. The paper golem swarm appears in an unoccupied space within the area of the effect. It acts as an ally of its summoner and remains until the end of the bookworm’s next turn or until it dies.