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Yet another Stars Without Number xenobeast:

Denebian Ripper
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 6
Attack Bonus: +6/+6/+6
Damage: 1d6/1d6/1d8 (claw/claw/bite)
No. Appearing: 1d3+1
Saving Throw: 12+
Movement: 40 ft.
Morale: 10

Denebian rippers roam Deneb’s ice fields and tundras, claiming huge tracks of wilderness as their hunting grounds. These man-sized predators possess exceptionally keen senses of sight and smell. A ripper’s vision extends into the infrared portion of the spectrum, and it can detect as little as a pint of blood up to a mile away if downwind of the source.

Despite their reptilian appearance, rippers are warm-blooded, being more closely related to a predatory flightless bird than a lizard. They have unusually high body temperatures (average 115 degrees Fahrenheit) and thick epidermal scales covering highly insulative fatty tissues. Consequently, rippers are comfortable in low temperatures that would rapidly kill an unprotected human.

Rippers are voracious, and they must consume large quantities of protein and fat to maintain their metabolisms. During Deneb’s brutal winters, when prey is even scarcer, rippers turn on each other. This seasonal cannibalism helps ensure only the most fit rippers survive to reproduce.

Tags: monsters, planetary tour, Stars Without Number

Another Stars Without Number xenobeast:

Castoran Salt Worm
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 2+2
Attack Bonus: +3
Damage: 2d4+2 bite
No. Appearing: 1
Saving Throw: 14+
Movement: 20 ft., burrow 10 ft.
Morale: 7

The Castoran salt worm is a solitary ambush predator that grows to lengths of 10 to 15 feet and weights of 75 to 125 pounds. It spends most of its time lurking in a vertical burrow just a foot or two beneath the surface. Its leathery, boneless body is covered with millions of sensory hairs that detect minute changes in pressure, such as those caused by a creature walking across the surface of the salt flats these worms prefer to lair in.

The Castoran salt worm’s lightning fast strike (+1 initiative rolls) as it erupts from its burrow has a 75% chance of gaining surprise. The worm attacks with its crushing bite.

Fortunately, Castoran salt worms are not especially aggressive or voracious. This xenobeast is likely to retreat if strongly opposed, and its slow metabolic rates require it to consume little more than half its body weight a month.

Tags: monsters, Stars Without Number