Monster: Crawling Snarl

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Crawling Snarl

Thousands of strings, pieces of yarn, threads, and other tailoring leftovers crawl around as a big swarming pile.

CR 6; XP 2,400
N Diminutive Construct (swarm)
Init +5; Senses tremorsense 60-ft.; Perception +0

Defense
AC 19, touch 19, flat-footed 14 (+5 Dex, +4 size)
hp 66 (12d10)
Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +4
Defensive Abilities swarm; Immune blugeoning and piercing damage, construct traits
Weakness vulnerable to fire, vulnerable to slashing

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee swarm (3d6 plus distraction and entangle)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks choking strands, distraction (DC 16), entangling threads, traitorous yarn

Statistics
Str 1, Dex 12, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +12; CMB —; CMD —

Ecology
Environment urban
Organization single, pair, carpet (3–10), or tapestry (11–20)
Treasure standard (magical components suitable for creation of items such as magic clothes, robes, ropes, and carpets)

Special Abilities

Choking Strands (Ex) Creatures that fail their saving throw against a crawling snarl's distraction ability can't breathe, they have to hold their breath and can't speak.

Entangling Threads (Ex) All Medium or smaller corporeal creatures within a crawling snarl's space are entangled (though not anchored to anything).

Traitorous Yarn (Su) A crawling snarl is particularly dangerous to people wearing magical cloaks and robes, dealing 1d6 points of bonus damage for each one of magic cloak, and magic robe.

Vulnerable To Slashing (Ex) A crawling snarl suffers full damage from slashing weapons but is immune to bludgeoning and piercing weapons.


Crawling snarl form spontaneously from remnants of magical tailor's work. Those are swarms of leftover fiber cuttings unused in weaving of items such as flying carpets, animated ropes, wizardly robes, and other pieces of magical clothing.

While they show no signs of intelligence, they have innate and very primal sense of preservation, striking back against attempts to sweep them, destroy, or sift through. A few magician-tailors kept crawling snarls around, merely using magical wind to blow them away into basements of their workshops, to attack potential trespassers and thieves. A few supposedly mastered the technique of creating these constructs deliberately.