Splitting Up Monsters

Cleon · Sep 24, 2012

Swarm, Mosquito
Fine Vermin (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 3d8-3 (10 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square), fly 40 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 22 (+8 size, +4 Dex), touch 22, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/—
Attack: Swarm (1d6)
Full Attack: Swarm (1d6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Blood drain, distraction
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immune to weapon damage, scent, swarm traits, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 19, Con 8, Int –, Wis 10, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +4
Feats: —
Environment: Warm or temperate swamps
Organization: Solitary, mygg (2–4 swarms), or scourge (5–20 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 2
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —

A gray cloud floats through the air, emitting an unpleasant whining hum. The cloud is made up of mosquitoes or bloodsucking flies of some kind, flying together in untold thousands.

A mosquito swarm sometimes forms in an area with an abnormally large number of mosquitoes which also has few creatures for them to drain blood from. Normally, female mosquitoes spread out randomly and sip tiny amounts of blood from every living creatures in an area, but if there's only one source of blood (such as a party of adventurers), all the females may cluster together to feed on it, forming a swarm.

Mosquito swarms can also be gathered together by unnatural phenomena, such as a windigo's summon mosquito swarm power.

COMBAT
A mosquito swarm attacks any living creature it encounters and uses its Blood Drain until it has drunk its full, then flies away.

Blood Drain (Ex): A mosquito swarm deals 1 points of Con damage to any creature whose space it occupies at the end of its move. Once a swarm has dealt 4 points of Constitution damage, it is sated and flies off to digest the meal. If its victim dies before the mosquito swarm's has been sated, the swarm seeks a new target.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 11 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills: A mosquito swarm has a +4 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks.

Note: Originally appeared as a summon swarm spell ability of the "Windigo" from the adventure Wind Chill by Kevin Carter in Dungeon #77 (November/December 199).

Originally appeared in Dungeon #77 (1999)

Cleon · Sep 24, 2012

Crab, Lesser Monstrous Crab
Tiny Vermin (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: ½d8 (2 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 size, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-6
Attack: Claw +2 melee (1d3-2)
Full Attack: 2 claws +2 melee (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Constrict 2d3-2, improved grab
Special Qualities: Amphibious, low-light vision, scent, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 11, Con 10, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 2
Skills: Hide +12, Spot +4
Feats: Weapon Finesse (B)
Environment: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Colony (8–16)
Challenge Rating: 1/4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Lesser Monstrous Crab, Diminutive
Diminutive Vermin (Aquatic)
Hit Dice: ¼d8 (1 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+4 size, +2 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-11
Attack: Claw +4 melee (1d2-3)
Full Attack: 2 claws +4 melee (1d2-3)
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Constrict 2d2-3, improved grab
Special Qualities: Amphibious, low-light vision, scent, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 4, Dex 11, Con 10, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 2
Skills: Hide +16, Spot +4
Feats: Weapon Finesse (B)
Environment: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Colony (8–16)
Challenge Rating: 1/6
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

A crab as wide as a small plate, with powerful pincers.

These crustaceans are simply smaller versions of the common monstrous crab. Some are fully grown, but many are juveniles of larger species. These voracious scavengers will eat anything, living or dead, that they come across. An individual crab of this size poses a negligible threat to a healthy humanoid but will feed off the dying or helpless. A large number of crabs sometimes gather into swarms (see the Crab Swarm entry) which are far more dangerous.

COMBAT
A lesser monstrous crab moves towards anything that smells like food and tries to feed off it. It scurries away if it is threatened by a creature larger than itself, but if it is cornered or starving it will fight viciously and tenaciously with its sharp claws.

Constrict (Ex): A monstrous crab deals damage equal to twice its normal claw damage plus its Strength bonus on a successful grapple check.

Improved Grab (Ex): If a monstrous crab hits with a claw attack it can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict.

Monstrous crabs have a +4 racial bonus on grapple checks.

Skills: A monstrous crab has a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Spot checks.

Note: Originally appeared as 'Crab Swarm' as offspring of a giant crab. The 'Giant Crab' first appeared in D&D Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975).

Originally found in Return to White Plume Mountain (1999).

Cleon · Sep 24, 2012

Swarm, Crab
Tiny Vermin (Aquatic, Swarm)
Hit Dice: 4d8 (18 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 size, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/—
Attack: Swarm (2d6)
Full Attack: Swarm (2d6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Clinging swarm, distraction
Special Qualities: Amphibious, half damage from slashing and piercing, low-light vision, scent, swarm traits, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 11, Con 10, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 2
Skills: Hide +12, Spot +4
Feats: Weapon Finesse (B)
Environment: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Solitary, scrabble (2-4 swarms), or horde (5-8 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Crab Swarm, Diminutive
Diminutive Vermin (Aquatic, Swarm)
Hit Dice: 7d8 (31 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+4 size, +2 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/—
Attack: Swarm (2d6)
Full Attack: Swarm (2d6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Clinging swarm, distraction
Special Qualities: Amphibious, immune to weapon damage, low-light vision, scent, swarm traits, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 11, Con 10, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 2
Skills: Hide +12, Spot +4
Feats: Weapon Finesse (B)
Environment: Temperate aquatic
Organization: Solitary, scrabble (2-4 swarms), or horde (5-8 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

A scuttling mass of saucer-sized crabs that clamber over each other in their eagerness to feed.

The hundreds of crabs that make up a crab swarm are usually the young of larger monstrous crabs which have congregated into swarms after spawning, but they may be full grown animals (see the lesser monstrous crab entry). They are voracious scavengers that will eat anything, living or dead, they come across.

COMBAT
A giant crab swarm moves over anything that smells like food, then attacks until either the swarm is dispersed or there's nothing left of its opponents besides inedible scraps.

Clinging Swarm (Ex): Any living creature that takes damage from a crab swarm's swarm attack must succeed at a Reflex save (DC 13 for Diminutive crab swarms, DC 12 for Tiny) or 1d4 crabs from the swarm automatically grapple the creature, dealing damage as usual. Treat these as individual monstrous crabs, which must be killed or grappled separately. The Reflex save DC is Constitution-based.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a crab swarm in its space must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 13 for Diminutive crab swarms, DC 12 for Tiny) or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Skills: A monstrous crab has a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Spot checks.

Originally found in Return to White Plume Mountain (1999).

freyar · Sep 25, 2012

These look pretty good, except I think it should be "Swarm, Mosquito."

Cleon · Sep 25, 2012

freyar said:
These look pretty good, except I think it should be "Swarm, Mosquito."

It was "Mosquito Swarm" in the Windigo and I just copied it over.

The first draft only changed the things that had to be changed for them to make sense as a stand alone monster.

So, I was excepting it to become a "Swarm, Mosquito" before release.

The other thing I fancied doing was adding the scent SQ to it. Real world mosquitoes find their victims by smell, after all.

freyar · Sep 25, 2012

I wouldn't be opposed to Scent for the mosquitos.

Cleon · Sep 26, 2012

freyar said:
I wouldn't be opposed to Scent for the mosquitos.

I'll add it then.

While I'm at it, I'll fix the "Windogo" in the summon mosquito swarm description.

Cleon · Sep 26, 2012

While updating the Mosquito Swarm I realized the original didn't have the "habitat & society" stat lines, since it was originally not a standalone monster. I've added:

Environment: Warm or temperate swamps
Organization: Solitary, mygg (2–4 swarms), or scourge (5–20 swarms)
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —