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Large beast, unaligned
Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 42 (5d10 + 15)
Speed 30 ft., climb 15 ft.
Skills Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Bear Hug. The sloth has advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks made to initiate a grapple.
Fossorial. The sloth has advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks made to dig.
Keen Smell. The sloth has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the sloth takes 15 damage or less that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead.
Thick Skin. If a melee attack deals 10 or less damage to the sloth, the damage is reduced to 2
Ultraviolet Dampened. Creatures with Keen Sight roll Wisdom (Perception) checks made to see a bear sloth with disadvantage and the bear sloth has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide from them.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The sloth makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
BONUS ACTIONS
Aggressive. The sloth moves up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.
Rampage. When the sloth reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on its turn, the sloth moves up to half its speed and makes a Bite attack.
REACTIONS
Unbridled Fury. In response to being hit by a melee attack, the sloth can make one melee weapon attack with advantage against the attacker.
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By far the most widespread and readily encountered sloth over 100 pounds in the Known World is the bear sloth of the genus Vulgarocnus ("common sloth"). Found on all three of the major landmasses, there are at least 4-5 recognized species: red, or Wojun, sloths; Houze lion sloths; Arvelith and Pakardiant black sloths; and depending on which naturalist you ask, the Ni'Khari mountain sloth.
Expunger of Ursines. The various anatomical, physiological and behavioral traits of bear sloths clearly place Vulgarocnus as mylodonts.[1] Although they appear to have evolved during the Anchored Period around 6 million years ago, it appears their ancestors arrived in Kaimere around 8 million years ago during a harvest from North America. This makes the ancestor of Vulgarocnus a sloth that was at the very least similar and/or closely related to Thinobadistes,[2] one of the first sloths to spread from South America into North America doing so 6 million years before the two continents would meet. Though Vulgarocnus evolved in Arvel, they rapidly spread thorughout the Known World during the devastation that concluded the Anchored Period, allowing them to become the most widespread of the large sloths of Kaimere.
Bear sloths are the most predatory of sloths, with the lion sloths of the Houze Prairie turning almost exclusively to carnivory during the dry season and only consuming grass and ginkgo bark to supplement. Normally however it is the other way around, with bear sloths generally being primarily herbivores and only supplementing with meat. Despite that, their slow yet powerful muscles easily power their sharp claws to tear apart whatever they catch just as much as the dirt they excavate for their rudimentary burrows. This is complimented by the fact Vulgarocnus has the fastest metabolism of any sloth and is able to attain speeds of up to 25 mph, which while being about 10 mph slower than a bear of similar size is much faster than the sloth looks like it should be able to move and, unfortunately for Kaimerans, plenty fast enough to catch up to a person. Most acts of active predation are done by boars, perhaps due to nutritional demands, greater size, or tusks better suited for the tasks.
Bear sloth sows often spend their time in trees and are proficient climbers, though at half a ton they usually don't climb especially high and some prefer to dig burrows to leave their cubs in while they forage. Sows often live in loose troops of related animals, while boars are almost always solitary. With wider claws to aid in digging and reach weights of two tons in some species, boars are generally poor climbers and dig burrows to spend their time in. Like most mylodonts, bear sloths have a pair of tusks that grow throughout the animal's life and, like a hippopotamus's tusks, sharpen each time the animal closes its mouth. These tusks are much larger in boars, as a key component in fighting for territory and mating rights. Combine these impressive armaments with their bony armor and ultraviolet dampening secretions and it's not hard to see why Vulgarocnus has completely excluded bears from Kaimere since the Miocene: large bears are generally unable to defend themselves from large theropods, having not evolved alongside them, and the sloth's armor gives them a substantial advantage in combat. The only bears in the Known World to have found ways to survive are the uku bear[3] which has survived by being a smaller, more generalist omnivore, and the Kaimeran cave bear, which lived in the Arvelith highlands absent of sloth competition. Recently however, the evolution of the temperate adapted black sloth has seen them migrate into the southern highlands and put significant pressure on the cave bear, and as per the trend, the uku bear following the sloths is excluding them from adapting into smaller niches to avoid competition. While big cats, cockatrices, Thylacoleo, and megaraptorans all prey on bear sloths from time to time, but their most prolific predator is one that followed their relatives from South America 6 million years ago: terror birds. Firebacks, the most prolific species of phorusrhachid in the mainland forests, are well known to hunt bear sloths and hukolgur sows, which they do by latching onto soft parts with their beak and disembowling. The process is far too gruesome for this format to elaborate on, but terror bird is a deserved name. Even so, bear sloths are incedibly successful and are not going anywhere any time soon.
Variant: Sows and different species
As stated above, sows are better climbers than boars, so give them a climbing speed of 35 ft. The above statblock is for a red bear sloth, or Wojun. For a lion sloth, add the Grassland Camouflage trait, and for black sloths, add the Forest Camouflage trait. Otherwise, all these species, as well as boars and sows, have the same statblock.
As stated previously, the Ni'Khari mountain sloths (Vulgarocnus troglodytes "cave dwelling common sloth) is sometimes found outside the genus (in which case they are assigned to their own:Orocnus "mountain sloth") due to how anatomically distinct they are from other bear sloths. They seem to have come to Ni'Khar early in the Anchored Period and predate the spread of other bear sloths on the continent. They also have distinct behaviors with sows generally being more solitary and the species as a whole being strictly nocturnal, which allows them to stay out of the way of cockatrices and megaraptorans though rohakundi terror birds and Thylacoleo see them as a favored game. A mountain sloth has a 30 ft climbing speed, with sows having a 45 ft climbing speed. They also have the following modifications:
- Alpine Specialist. The sloth is acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet.
- Thick Skin. If a melee attack deals 15 or less damage to the sloth, the damage is reduced to 1.
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