Centipede

Almost every thinking creature, monsters included, finds the giant centipede revolting. Part of it is the wormlike shape: a long, segmented, armored body that ripples slightly as countless tiny legs carry it along, which is where the name 'hundred-footed' comes from. A giant centipede is any longer than a foot. Its color matches its home: gray in rocky country, black underground, and red or brown in forests. They are found almost everywhere.

Centipedes hide using their coloring until they can drop onto prey from overhead or scuttle out after it. The bite injects a paralyzing venom lasting 2d6 hours, but it is weak, so victims save with a +4 bonus. Being small, the giant centipede itself saves at -1.

One alone seldom endangers a man, but they often travel in groups. When several attack, each fights for itself, and they will even squabble with each other over a fallen victim.

Like most crawling vermin it has no home or territory, wandering wherever hunger takes it. It is an aggressive meat-eater that must eat at least daily, and starving centipedes often eat each other.

Venom and camouflage let giant centipedes compete with other small hunters. They prefer small mammals that their weak poison easily subdues, but a hungry one will attack anything that moves, humans included. Their poison keeps most predators away, though in hard times coyotes and big birds of prey hunt them skillfully.

Despite the name, these are smaller, only 6 inches long, and otherwise the same as giant centipedes. Their venom is weaker, paralyzing for only 1d6 hours on a failed save, and they save at -2. They hunt mice and big insects and are hunted in turn by giant centipedes.

Big enough to be a genuine menace to people and animals, the megalo-centipede has a potent acidic venom. Victims get no bonus to save, and failure means death; those who resist still suffer 2d4 damage from acid burns. It is smarter and craftier than its smaller kin, though still a loner, and it saves without penalty. Above ground it hunts game as big as deer; underground it goes after man-sized or smaller prey such as goblins, orcs, and humans.

This relative of the giant centipede eats carrion and lays its eggs in it. It lunges from a hidden burrow, attacking at +2, and on a hit clamps prey in its mandibles. It deals no harm until it has chewed through the victim's armor: one round for leather or lighter, two rounds for anything heavier up through chain mail, and three for armor heavier than chain. After that it automatically inflicts 2d8 each round. Losing 60% of its hit points, or suffering 15 or more points of fire damage, makes it release its grip and retreats into its burrow, where treasure from past victims is often found.