Scorpion

Giant scorpions are oversized cousins of the 4-inch desert scorpion. Their carapace is green, the legs and pincers yellowish green, and the segmented tail black, ending in a wicked stinger. A bitter odor, probably from the venom, hangs around them, and their claws make an unnerving scrabble on stone floors. They live almost anywhere, even cool dungeons, but prefer deserts and warm lands.

There is a 95% chance that a giant scorpion attacks anything that approaches. Its chitin gives it AC 3. It snaps with two great pincers for 1-10 damage each while stabbing with its tail, so it can fight three foes at once. A creature caught in a pincer takes 1-10 damage automatically every round until released. The victim gets one chance per combat to escape, a bend bars/lift gates roll that uses up the action for that round. The sting needs an attack roll against a free target but strikes a trapped one automatically.

The sting deals 1-4 damage, and the victim must save vs. poison (type F) or die the next round. Its own venom can kill it as well. Once it is down to its last 1 or 2 hit points, a giant scorpion goes into a frenzy, stinging at everything in reach twice per round with its tail alone.

They dwell in burrows or dungeons, where there is a 20% chance of 5d4 eggs. Anything that strays close is eaten, and kills are hauled home, so any treasure comes from human and demihuman victims. Armor rarely survives intact, since the pincers slice prey apart.

They hunt other giant vermin such as spiders and ants, and fall prey in turn to purple worms and other huge burrowers. Alchemists and assassins pay well for the potent venom.

These smaller kin of the giant scorpion haunt dungeons and wilderness alike, colored tan, brown or black, with whispers of rare white ones far underground. Both fight with pincers and stinger, and a sting forces a save vs. poison or death the next round. The large scorpion's weaker type A venom (15/0) grants +2 on the save. The huge scorpion carries deadly type F venom and can pin a victim much as the giant does, though its victim can still fight back. Scorpions of different sizes often battle one another.