Giant Insect

Insects are the most numerous, hardiest creatures anywhere, and the giant kinds add muscle and size. Brief notes on each follow.

Giant ant: workers and warriors both fight; a warrior that lands a bite follows with a 3d4 sting (1d4 if the target saves). The 10 HD queen neither moves nor fights.

Worker bee: a sting means 1d4 extra unless the target saves vs. poison; the bee then loses its stinger and dies within an hour. Hives hold twenty times the usual number. Soldier bee: as a worker, but its sting is worse and saves are at -1.

Bumblebee: its venom adds 1d6 unless a save vs. poison at -1 succeeds, and it keeps its stinger. Nests hold 1d6+6 and a combative 8d4 HD queen whose 1d8 sting adds 2-8 on a failed save at -2.

Giant hornet: a loner that dives on prey, grips it and stings repeatedly; failing a save vs. poison costs 5d6 more and 2d6 hours of paralysis. Giant wasp: wasps work together, biting and stinging with the same venom. Neither loses its stinger.

Giant ant lion: it waits at the bottom of a funnel dug in sand, and after its first hit every later attack lands automatically. Aratha: its 8-foot clawed tentacles lash 20 feet to grab prey, and it chews what they rip away instead of biting; it has psionic crush, mind thrust, attraction, empower, body equilibrium, suspend animation and molecular agitation.

Giant dragonfly: -3 on initiative and +4 AC versus missiles. Tiny or small prey is scooped into its leg basket and eaten aloft, hit automatically; larger foes it strikes and retreats from, never turning its back. Its larvae hide their mandibles under a rubbery sheath, looking toothless, and surprise prey half the time.

Horax: packs get -1 on initiative, and a horax that hits holds on for damage every round. Gargantuan praying mantis: spiny forelegs seize anyone who wanders close, two claws rake, and unerring mandibles tear and chew flesh.

Pernicon: swarms worm under armor and clothing to shred exposed skin. A swarm hit costs 1d10 hit points and 1 Constitution; under 3 means unconsciousness, under 1 death, and only 1 point returns daily regardless of healing.

Giant tick: it drops from a tree, rock or stalactite and then sucks 1d6 blood per round until it has taken as much as its own hit points. Half of its victims catch a disease fatal in 2d4 days without cure disease.

Cows ooze a corrosive that coats their bodies and chamber walls and floors, hurting foes each round they stay. Drones do most fighting, standing on their hind legs with two shields and two weapons in the other four limbs for AC 2. Larvae bite with insatiable jaws. Every aspis ignores cold and electricity and takes half damage from fire.

Assassin bug: the male attacks while the female waits close by. A bitten body part is paralyzed for an hour on a failed save vs. poison, and next round the female strikes the same spot to lay 1d6+6 eggs, which hatch in 1d12+12 hours. Each larva deals 1 point an hour and emerges adult in two weeks; only wish or limited wish clears them.

Ear seeker: it lays 8+1d8 eggs somewhere warm, typically an ear. They hatch in 4d6 hours and the larvae eat inward, deafening and usually killing the host (90%) within 1d4 days before emerging as adults. Cure disease stops them but deafness remains.

Cave cricket: within 20 feet its chirp drowns speech and verbal spells and hides approaching dangers. Giant bluebottle: it seeks carrion and offal but also sweet smells, blood and wounds. Giant horsefly: the biggest fly lands on a creature, bites with its tube mouth and drains the same damage again next round unless chased off.

Firefriend (giant firefly): it bites and, once a turn, flashes a green abdominal beam for 5d4 (save vs. wands for half). Fyrefly: anything flammable it touches saves vs. normal fire or burns, burning clothes deal 1d6, and other hits deal 1 point.

Giant harvester termite: soldiers accompany 30 or more workers and spit flammable, kerosene-like fluid 10 feet once per turn, blinding for 5d4 rounds unless the target saves vs. poison, or dealing 4d4 if lit. The king spits double range every other round; the queen cannot. Royals and eggs are guarded by twice the usual numbers, attacking at +1 with +5 morale.