Ant

Giant ants are black, brown or red, sealed in a thick shell that both protects them and keeps them from drying out. Their heads carry two slender antennae for touch and scent and scissoring mandibles that cut, haul and dig. Six long, bristly legs grow from the thorax, and most of the vital organs sit in the abdomen.

Army ants are much smaller cousins, three-quarters of an inch long, red or gold with strong jaws. Their queen looks like any other worker apart from her sex and a pair of tiny useless wings.

Giant ants: Workers and warriors both fight. A warrior that lands a bite also tries to sting, dealing 3d4, or only 1d4 if the victim saves vs. poison. The 10 Hit Die queen never moves or attacks, but if she dies the rest of the colony is confused, as by the spell, for six rounds and then flees the nest.

Army ant swarm: The swarm advances straight ahead in a packed block of roughly 150 ants per square foot, eating every bit of organic matter in its way, including creatures too slow to move. Faced with a river or other barrier, it turns 90 degrees and keeps going. It never detours to attack, so it is easy to avoid. Each round a creature touches the swarm it has a 90% chance of taking 1d6 from bites, and if bitten must save vs. poison or take 1d2 more from the mild venom. Every point of damage dealt to the swarm kills 1d20 ants. Smoke and similar measures scatter them, and dunking in water rinses them off. Killing the queen breaks up the swarm. When half the ants are dead, the rest scatter evenly in all directions to hide, which actually raises the odds of nearby creatures being bitten. Wiping out a swarm earns 975 XP per 1,500 ants.

Giant ants live in warm climates in colonies that are usually peaceful but fight ferociously to defend the nest. A nest is a maze of underground rooms and tunnels up to 16 feet deep, sometimes sprawling over several thousand square yards, with heaps of soil and twigs at each entrance. Outside the nest, 90% of the ants met are workers. Inside, warriors number about one per five workers; a typical colony numbers one queen, 20-40 warriors and 100-200 workers.

Warriors guard the queen and the nest. Workers do everything else: foraging, cleaning, tending larvae, and sipping nectar to make honey. Special storage workers gorge on honey until they are too swollen to move, then regurgitate it to feed the colony when food is short. The queen does nothing but lay thousands of eggs each week; her chamber also holds the colony's treasure, usually glittering gems the workers bring home. In the nursery, nurse ants raise larvae to adulthood in a few weeks, guarded by 5-50 workers and 5 warriors.

An army ant swarm is a roving colony of 1d10 x 1,500 workers with the queen marching at its heart, tearing through tropical forest in one of the most frightening sights in nature.

Giant ants prefer seeds and grass but eat meat when they get the chance. Neither the ants nor their eggs are worth money, though a few gourmets prize their honey, and in a pinch the ants themselves are good protein.