Beetle

This jet-black beetle bears one white blotch on its back shaped like a human skull, and it is the most dreaded of giant beetles. Before hunting, it cements dirt, twigs and debris to its shell with saliva and soil, then waits for hours. Victims take -2 on surprise.

Its real weapon is the death rattle. It vibrates its shell into a gong-like clicking that listeners can trace to it only 10% of the time. One round after it starts, everyone within 30 feet must save vs. death magic or die instantly; survivors take 5d4 damage and ache and tingle for hours. The beetle then needs 1d4+1 hours of rest before rattling again.

A solitary nomad of temperate woods, it sometimes enters wetlands but dislikes them, and abandons any hunting ground that yields no prey within 4d4 hours. Few creatures can beat it. An expert armorer given both wings can craft the equal of a body shield +1, though it carries no real enchantment.

This wingless cousin of the death watch looks like a six-legged centipede in a tough black or charcoal shell, and otherwise resembles a stag beetle. Poor eyes and ears do not stop it attacking anything it takes for prey or anything that attacks it.

Its keen, powerful mandibles sever a limb on a natural 19 or 20. When losing, it grabs any limbs it has cut off and flees.

Its bone-strewn lair holds 1-6 kinds of ordinary weapons, a 25% chance of magical weapons and a 1% chance of magical boots, plus gauntlets, rings and similar loot. Paired items are complete sets only 5% of the time; odd pairs test normally but misbehave at awkward moments, such as a gauntlet of dexterity trying to pick a pocket at 50% or a boot of elvenkind rising onto its toes. It raids farmland, but for livestock and peasants rather than grain.

Identical to the slicer in looks and habits, this beetle has a softer shell and no deadly attack. When killed, it sprays a foul fluid that soaks everything up to 10 feet in front of it. The stink is harmless but doubles the chance of drawing predators for about 8 hours; hard scrubbing or cleansing magic of 3rd level or lower cuts that to as little as an hour. An hour of cantrip, for example, fully cleans a companion.