“A is for aurumvorax and that’s good enough for me!” Aurumvorax (plural aurumvorai? aurumvoraxes? aurumvorae? aurumvorax?) are nasty critters that snack on metal like a junkie on smack. Isn’t that fun? Hell yes it is. Originally appearing in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and has since been reprinted any number of times. When I ran Dungeons and Dragons they were a bit of a staple in my games and I even had one player (C.) get one as a baby, train it as a animal companion, and feed it nothing but mithril for a nice shiny negative armor class hide. Described as…
“An aurumvorax resembles an eight-legged mustelid: ferocious and tenacious as a badger, slinky like a ferret, but about 3 feet long. It has slightly leonine features, and its golden-brown fur is as strong as field (or plate) armor. Despite the relatively small size, the aurumvorax is physically powerful. The aurumvorax is a solitary creature with similar habits to many real-life woodland animals. Aurumvoraxes are neutral in alignment and cannot speak.”
So it kind of looks like this:
So here its stats for GURPS…
For Any Game…
ST: 16 HP: 21 Speed: 7.00
DX: 14 Will: 14 Move: 7
IQ: 6 Per: 14 Weight: 200-300 lbs.
HT: 14 FP: 14 SM: -1
Dodge: 11 Parry: n/a DR: 12/6*
Bite (16): 1d+2 cutting. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
Claw (16): 1d+2 cutting. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
Rend (14): Two attacks against the same opponent. Use the same damage as the claw entry. If the target was worried last turn, instead roll 1d and roll that many attacks instead!
Torso Grapple (16): No damage, but on further turns can squeeze (Choke or Strangle, p. B370) as ST 16† or win a Quick Contest of ST 21† against the best of opponent’s ST, DX, Judo, or Wrestling to pull him to its mouth.
Rend (14): Two attacks against the same opponent. Use the same damage as the claw entry. If the target was worried last turn, instead roll 1d and roll that many attacks instead!
Torso Grapple (16): No damage, but on further turns can squeeze (Choke or Strangle, p. B370) as ST 16† or win a Quick Contest of ST 21† against the best of opponent’s ST, DX, Judo, or Wrestling to pull him to its mouth.
Worry (-): This can only be used after a target has been bitten. It does the same damage as the bite entry.
Traits: Acute Hearing 3; Acute Smell 2; Bad Temper (12); Berserk (12); Burrower; Cannot Float; Claws (Sharp); Combat Reflexes; Dark Vision; Discriminatory Smell; Flexibility; Fur; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Poison; Overconfidence (12); Peripheral Vision; Quadruped; Teeth (Sharp); Temperature Tolerance 6; Terrain Adaptation (Rocky); Tunneling (Move 4); Uncontrollable Appetite (12) (Metals); Unfazeable; Universal Digestion (Metals only).
Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-14; Survival (Mountains, Plains, or Woodlands)-14; Tracking-17; Wrestling-16.
Notes: Natural Biter 3. If the GM is using Intrinsic Fright Check from GURPS Horror (p. 139), aurumvorax have a modifier of -1,
* Use the lower value versus piercing, impaling, or fire-based attacks.
† Assumes two arms; +2 for each additional arm used. Count their bite as a separate arm for this purpose.
For Dungeon Fantasy
ST: 16 HP: 21 Speed: 7.00
DX: 14 Will: 14 Move: 7
IQ: 6 Per: 14 Weight: 200-300 lbs.
HT: 14 FP: 14 SM: -1
Dodge: 11 Parry: n/a DR: 8/4*
Bite (16): 1d+2 cutting. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
Claw (16): 1d+2 cutting. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
Rend (14): Two attacks against the same opponent. Use the same damage as the claw entry. If the target was worried last turn, instead roll 1d and roll that many attacks instead!
Torso Grapple (16): No damage, but on further turns can squeeze (Choke or Strangle, p. B370) as ST 16† or win a Quick Contest of ST 21† against the best of opponent’s ST, DX, Judo, or Wrestling to pull him to its mouth.
Rend (14): Two attacks against the same opponent. Use the same damage as the claw entry. If the target was worried last turn, instead roll 1d and roll that many attacks instead!
Torso Grapple (16): No damage, but on further turns can squeeze (Choke or Strangle, p. B370) as ST 16† or win a Quick Contest of ST 21† against the best of opponent’s ST, DX, Judo, or Wrestling to pull him to its mouth.
Worry (-): This can only be used after a target has been bitten. It does the same damage as the bite entry.
Traits: Acute Hearing 3; Acute Smell 2; Bad Temper (12); Berserk (12); Burrower; Cannot Float; Claws (Sharp); Combat Reflexes; Dark Vision; Discriminatory Smell; Flexibility; Fur; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Poison; Overconfidence (12); Peripheral Vision; Quadruped; Teeth (Sharp); Temperature Tolerance 6; Terrain Adaptation (Rocky); Tunneling (Move 4); Uncontrollable Appetite (12) (Metals); Unfazeable; Universal Digestion (Metals only).
Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-14; Survival (Mountains, Plains, or Woodlands)-14; Tracking-17; Wrestling-16.
Class: Dire Animal.
Class: Dire Animal.
Notes: Natural Biter 3.
* Use the lower value versus piercing, impaling, or fire-based attacks.
† Assumes two arms; +2 for each additional arm used. Count their bite as a separate arm for this purpose.
For Monster Hunters
ST: 21 HP: 26 Speed: 8.00
DX: 16 Will: 14 Move: 8
IQ: 6 Per: 14 Weight: 200-300 lbs.
HT: 16 FP: 16 SM: -1
Dodge: 12 Parry: n/a DR: 12/6*
Fright Check: -2
Bite (16): 2d+4 cutting. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
Claw (16): 2d+4 cutting. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
Rend (14): Two attacks against the same opponent. Use the same damage as the claw entry. If the target was worried last turn, instead roll 1d and roll that many attacks instead!
Torso Grapple (16): No damage, but on further turns can squeeze (Choke or Strangle, p. B370) as ST 21† or win a Quick Contest of ST 26† against the best of opponent’s ST, DX, Judo, or Wrestling to pull him to its mouth.
Rend (14): Two attacks against the same opponent. Use the same damage as the claw entry. If the target was worried last turn, instead roll 1d and roll that many attacks instead!
Torso Grapple (16): No damage, but on further turns can squeeze (Choke or Strangle, p. B370) as ST 21† or win a Quick Contest of ST 26† against the best of opponent’s ST, DX, Judo, or Wrestling to pull him to its mouth.
Worry (-): This can only be used after a target has been bitten. It does the same damage as the bite entry.
Traits: Acute Hearing 3; Acute Smell 2; Bad Temper (12); Berserk (12); Burrower; Cannot Float; Claws (Sharp); Combat Reflexes; Dark Vision; Discriminatory Smell; Flexibility; Fur; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Poison; Overconfidence (12); Peripheral Vision; Quadruped; Teeth (Sharp); Temperature Tolerance 6; Terrain Adaptation (Rocky); Tunneling (Move 5); Uncontrollable Appetite (12) (Metals); Unfazeable; Universal Digestion (Metals only).
Skills: Brawling-18; Stealth-14; Survival (Mountains, Plains, or Woodlands)-14; Tracking-17; Wrestling-18.
Notes: Natural Biter 3. Use the skills listed under Crytpids in the Know Thy Enemy box in Monster Hunters 1 (p. 16). Two aurumvoraxes are a fair fight for one champion.
* Use the lower value versus impaling or fire-based attacks.
† Assumes two arms; +2 for each additional arm used. Count their bite as a separate arm for this purpose.
† Assumes two arms; +2 for each additional arm used. Count their bite as a separate arm for this purpose.
Plural is "aurumvoraces."
The Monster Hunter version should have a dodge of 12.