Tickler

A tickler is a scrap of gray flesh less than 2 inches long, carried on a pair of feathery white wings, and it flies very fast. It lives almost anywhere, above or below ground, except in extreme heat or cold.

Rather than biting, it wriggles under clothes and armor and tickles without mercy. Against it, the victim counts as AC 10 adjusted only for Dexterity and magical bonuses such as a ring of protection; armor of any kind, magical or not, gives no protection.

A victim helpless with laughter can do nothing else, and the racket can double the chance of wandering monster encounters. If the laughing goes on past six rounds, each further round brings a Constitution check (rolled on 1d20), and a failure costs 1 hit point. Ticklers seem to feed on the laughter itself, and they abandon a victim who dies, falls unconscious or is otherwise silenced, for example by silence 15' radius.

While airborne they are hard to spot or strike. Victims suffer -6 on surprise until the ticklers get inside their clothing, and an unnoticed tickler gains +2 to hit. Once inside, it can only be slapped at, with just a 10% chance to hit and kill it no matter who does the slapping or how skilled he is, and slapping does nothing through plate armor of any type.

Stripping the victim simply sends the tickler to someone new. Fire kills it at once but also burns the victim for the usual damage. Water works best, which soaks the tickler so it cannot move or act for 2-5 rounds so it can be killed at leisure.