You know in that scene in The Lion King when Mufasa takes Simba out and casually breaks down what the "circle of life" really means? How the lions eat the animals and then the lions die, and their bodies fertilize the grass that the herbivores eat, and so on, and so on, and then we all understand what Elton John was singing about? Imagine, if you will, a similar conversation happening on the other side of that circle.

Imagine a lord of worms looking out upon its kingdom of decay and decomposition, laying claim to everything that lives, everything that once lived, and everything that will live. This is the demon lord Qorgeth in Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts 1.

• Qorgeth, the Demon Lord of Worms and Decay
• What We Love to Fear About Qorgeth
• How to Use Qorgeth in Your Games

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Qorgeth, the Demon Lord of Worms and Decay

Tome of Beasts 1 plays host to an assortment of new demons, but none perhaps as terrifying, nor as viscerally described, as Qorgeth, the Writhing Prince.

This Gargantuan CR 23 Fiend is already terrifying simply by being a worm big enough to crush trees and houses. But Tome of Beasts 1 ups the ante by also including a massive mouth full of other worms, and many of those worms have little wailing humanoid heads on the end of them, too. Do those heads have yet another layer of worms inside their mouths? The book doesn’t say either way, but let’s not get close enough to find out.

What We Love to Fear About Qorgeth

Artist: Bryan Syme

Make no mistake, Qorgeth is a formidable foe, and not a challenge to be taken on lightly by any adventuring party. It has a lot of powerful abilities at its disposal, but here are a few we particularly think make it a force to be reckoned with.

As Above, So Below

Qorgeth is the lord of worms, so fittingly something that it can do is tunnel. Qorgeth can burrow through solid rock at a speed of 50 feet, leaving a 15-foot-diameter tunnel as it does. This can make for a unique battleground for a major combat scene, by having action happening above and below the ground.

Players facing off against Qorgeth will have to think on their toes or strategize to mitigate the challenge of finding themselves potentially separated by layers of earth. As a worm, Qorgoth has both blindsight and tremorsense up to 120 feet, and as a demon lord, Qorgeth has telepathy, also at 120 feet. In other words, Qorgoth knows where you are. Yes, even if you walk without rhythm.

Bite Seems Like an Understatement

Qorgeth can use Bite as part of its Multiattack action and potentially again as a legendary action. As I mentioned above, Qorgeth’s mouth is so big that it has a lot of other worms inside of it—worms big enough to have humanoid heads at the end of them—so it can be safely assumed that this isn’t a playful nip.

First off, each Bite has a +16 on the roll to hit, giving it high odds to beat the characters’ AC. Beyond that, if the target doesn’t succeed on a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw, it will be swallowed by the Fiend. The swallowed creature is restrained, blinded, and takes 3d10 necrotic damage at the start of Qorgeth’s turns. Creatures inside of it can still attack the demon lord, and if it takes 50 damage or more in a single turn from inside it, Qorgeth must make a DC 25 Constitution saving throw to see if it regurgitates its prey.

Beware the Lair

As a literal lord of worms, Qorgeth’s lair actions primarily revolve around the tunnels it has created in its home. Qorgeth can collapse those tunnels, burying its enemies in debris. Each creature within 20 feet of the collapse must succeed on a DC 21 Dexterity saving throw or take 4d8 bludgeoning damage and be restrained until they can free themselves or be freed by another creature using an action to make a DC 21 Strength check.

Similarly, Qorgeth can also twist space itself within the tunnels of its lair, disorienting and slowing down creatures caught within the moving tunnels.

How to Use Qorgeth in Your Games

We’ve only broken through the surface of what can be done with Qorgeth, but here are some ways we think you could work it into your games.

Nemesis for a Subclass

Several D&D subclasses, most notably the Circle of Spores Druid or the Grave Domain Cleric, have a vested interest in the cycle of life and death. Similarly, Qorgeth declares this its domain, which puts it perfectly at odds with deities or primordial forces that have already staked a claim on such things.

If you have a player in your game whose character has such a flavor to their subclass, the appearance of Qorgeth could represent a corruption of the things they most hold dear, and a showdown with it could be a very epic conclusion to a personal arc at the tail end of a high-level campaign.

The Faminebringer

In addition to the lair actions it brings to combat, there are some devastating regional effects to Qorgeth’s lair as it warps the world around it. Most notably, food rots, spoils, and "spontaneously erupts with maggots" within a mile of the lair. Within 5 miles of the lair, tunnels emerge attracting all sorts of worms, including purple worms, and other vermin.

Sure, these types of things would be rough on your party as you travel through this region, but imagine how much worse it would be for nearby settlements. The beginning of an adventure could take place during the early days of Qorgeth’s arrival, and the effects of its lair could be subtle at first, such as some crops failing, or an upswing in minor pests. Eventually, the purple worms could put up more of a challenge. By the time your party is preparing to fight the creature, it could be an existential threat to entire communities.

Dig Your Tunnels

What makes Qorgeth such a compelling monster is that at a base level, it’s pulling from an actual aspect of the natural world. The cycle of death and decay leading to new life is an important element of any real ecosystem. And then Qorgeth comes along and hijacks that with chaotic malevolence.

Tome of Beasts 1’s taking this marriage of real biology and unholy demonic chaos and wrapping it into a disgusting creature that makes heavy use of terms like "undulating" and "writhing" creates an enemy that will bring a truly visceral and memorable encounter to any D&D table. How would you bring the demon lord Qorgeth to your table?

Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-set Dice Ex Machina for the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsored The Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of the Rat Queens comic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcast The Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.