Digester (Dungeons & Dragons)
| Digester | |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Type | Magical beast |
| Image | Wizards.com image |
| Stats | Open Game License stats |
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the digester is a velociraptor-like magical beast (though it only has two limbs), with a bony head sporting short tendrils.[1]
Publication history
The digester first appeared in the third edition Monster Manual (2000),[1] and in the 3.5 revised Monster Manual (2003).
Description
The digester has a serated spine, and its lower legs are skinny. As can be guessed from its name, the digester is an eating-machine that attacks with acid. When it is hungry (which is pretty much always), it looks for a likely target in its forest or scrubland home, and then rushes forward, squirting a gout of acid from a tube in the top of its skull. The prey is effectively reduced to soup, and the Digester drinks. If the victim is not dead but the digester has used all its acid, it attacks with its legs until it can squirt acid again. When it does not wish to eat, which as said before is rarely, it lays down in the grass and avoids other creatures. Though sometimes solitary, they also sometimes group in packs of 3 to 6 individuals.
Reception
Tyler Linn of Cracked.com identified the digester as one of "15 Idiotic Dungeons and Dragons Monsters" in 2009, stating: "We admit, spitting acid into someone's face is pretty brutal. However, the Digester seems to be in desperate need of a head, and one or two arms. So if that initial blast of bulimic rage goes wide it's probably screwed.
Those talons look nasty but, once more, with nothing but two hind legs to support it, the thing is going to go toppling over with the first kick, hilariously sending gastric acid raining down its own torso."[2]