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<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 9249563" data-attributes="member: 57383"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">Odonatid, Giant (Mammoth Helicopter Damselfly)</span></strong></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em>Huge beast, unaligned</em></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Armor Class</strong> 15 (natural armor)</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Hit Points</strong> 68 (8d12 + 16)</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Speed</strong> 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><table style='width: 100%'><tr><th><p style="text-align: center">STR</p> </th><th><p style="text-align: center">DEX</p> </th><th><p style="text-align: center">CON</p> </th><th><p style="text-align: center">INT</p> </th><th><p style="text-align: center">WIS</p> </th><th><p style="text-align: center">CHA</p> </th></tr><tr><td><span style="color: blue"><p style="text-align: center">20 (+5)</p> </span></td><td><span style="color: blue"><p style="text-align: center">17 (+3)</p> </span></td><td><span style="color: blue"><p style="text-align: center">14 (+2)</p> </span></td><td><span style="color: blue"><p style="text-align: center">1 (–5)</p> </span></td><td><span style="color: blue"><p style="text-align: center">12 (+1)</p> </span></td><td><span style="color: blue"><p style="text-align: center">5 (–2)</p> </span></td></tr></table><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Saving Throws</strong> DEX +6</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Skills</strong> Perception +4</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Senses</strong> blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 90 ft., passive Perception 14</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Languages</strong> —</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Challenge</strong> 5 (1,800 XP) <strong>Proficiency Bonus</strong> +3</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Evasive Flight.</strong></em> A giant odonatid gains advantage on Dexterity saving throws when flying and attackers have disadvantage on attack rolls against it.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> If the giant odonatid is mounted or grappling an opponent, it must make a DC 12 STR check to use <em>Evasive Flight</em> each time it is attacked.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Expert Aerialist.</strong></em> The giant odonatid has advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks when flying.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Flyby.</strong></em> The giant odonatid doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Keen Sight.</strong></em> The giant odonatid has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Motion Camouflage.</strong></em> If the giant odonatid moves at least 20 feet towards a creature and then hits it with an attack on the same turn, that target must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check by the odonatid. On a failure, the target cannot use <em>Dodging Flight</em>, <em>Evasive Flight</em>, or a similar defensive ability to avoid attacks by the giant odonatid until the start of its next turn.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px">Actions</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Multiattack.</strong></em> The giant odonatid makes two attacks against a Large or smaller creature. The first attack is a legs attack. If this succeeds in grappling the target, the odonatid makes a bite attack, otherwise it makes a second legs attack.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Bite.</strong> Melee Weapon Attack:</em> +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. <em>Hit:</em> 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Legs.</strong> Melee Weapon Attack:</em> +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one Huge or smaller creature. <em>Hit:</em> 8 (1d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage and the creature is grappled (escape DC 16). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the giant odonatid can't make legs attacks against another target.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px">Bonus Actions</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Dashing Flight.</strong></em> The giant odonatid flies up to 40 feet. It cannot use <em>Burst of Speed</em> if it used <em>Dodging Flight</em> after the start of its previous turn.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px">Reactions</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><em><strong>Dodging Flight.</strong></em> If a creature of at least Small size attempts a melee attack against a giant odonatid, or the odonatid is targeted by a ranged weapon of similar size such as a giant-hurled boulder, the insect can try to dodge out of the way as a reaction. The giant odonatid makes a Dexterity saving throw with advantage (it loses this advantage when mounted or grappling an opponent). If the saving throw beats the attack roll or DC of the attack the giant odonatid takes no damage and flies up to 40 feet.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> If a giant odonatid is carrying or grappling a creature that is too heavy for the odonatid to fly with, it must release the creature to use <em>Dodging Flight</em>. If the odonatid is grappling a creature light enough to carry through the air, the grappled creature can make an escape check as a free action. If it fails, the odonatid may fly away with its victim.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Description</span></strong></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue">Helicopter damselflies include the longest and widest of all Odonata, with even the mundane species growing up to 6 inches in length (The giant helicopter <em>Mecistogaster linearis</em>) or an 8 inch wingspan (The blue-winged helicopter <em>Megaloprepus caerulatus</em>). A mammoth helicopter damselfly is truly enormous, typically 30 feet long, with a 30 to 45 foot wingspan, and weighs about 4,000 pounds or 2 short tons. The mammoth helicopter presented above is more correctly a Mammoth Tenebrous Helicopter Damselfly (see Tenebrous Helicopter Damselflies below). They dwarf a regular giant dragonfly (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249220" target="_blank">Giant Dragonfly</a>), although some tropical giant dragonflies are heavier and even more powerful (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9257212" target="_blank">Titanic Tropical Dragonfly</a>).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> These tropical damselflies have extremely elongated and narrow abdomen, and equally slender wings that often have a spot or band of color at the end. A flying helicopter damselfly resembles a pinwheel fluttering and swirling in midair, or a hovering windmill for a mammoth giant helicopter. Their wings appear to spin around the thorax, as if the insect was corkscrewing itself through the air, an illusion that lead to the common name of helicopter damselfly.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> Helicopter damselflies live in rain forests and jungles. The normal version can be fairly common, but mammoth helicopter damselflies are extraordinarily rare due to the unusual habitats they need. This rarity has led to many legends, rumors and tall tales, a few of which might contain a few grains of truth. These stories include:</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mammoth helicopter damselflies were created by a forgotten insect-headed god to protect its temples and worshippers. The civilization is long dead, with its cities lost in the heart of a colossal jungle, but the mammoth damselflies still faithfully patrol its ruins.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">These great insects are solitary queens, each served by a hive of lesser giant damselflies (e.g. the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249257" target="_blank">Giant Damselfly</a> or <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249220" target="_blank">Giant Tropical Damselfly</a>), while larger ones (e.g. the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249560" target="_blank">Imperial Giant Damselfly</a>) guard the queen's boudoir and the hive's treasures.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A mammoth helicopter damselfly is an artificial species invented by a mighty wizard, solely to annoy drow elves by eating the giant spiders that drow love.</li> </ul><p><em><strong>Jungle Dwellers.</strong></em> A mammoth helicopter damselfly is an extremely precise and agile flier, but is so gigantic it still needs around 50 feet to fly through a gap. Therefore any rainforest it navigates must have the majority of its trunks spaced at least that far apart. Their preferred habitat are spectacular jungles of mysterious and possibly magical origin that have other giant arthropods as their primary fauna. While they could adapt to other hot and humid places with suitable prey and breeding pools, the only non-rainforest habitat they're known to favor are ruined or abandoned cities with buildings tall enough to fly between. Tropical gigantic damselflies will venture into the open on short hunting expeditions or seek a new territory after being driven away by rivals, but in an open environment they are out-competed by other flying predators, particularly gigantic tropical dragonflies and kaleidoscopes of imperial giant tropical dragonflies (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9257212" target="_blank">Titanic Tropical Dragonfly</a> and <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249560" target="_blank">Imperial Giant Dragonfly</a>, or the Mammoth Tropical Dragonfly below).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Wings in the Dark.</strong></em> Many tropical odonatids like to perch in the shade of vegetation, both to hide from predators and to avoid overheating from the warmth of the sun. Helicopter damselflies, living as they do beneath the forest canopy, spend most of their lives in the shadows. When they do go out of the cover of the trees, helicopter damselflies prefer gloomy overcast conditions over hot and sunny days. Normal-sized helicopter damselflies hunt and breed during the day then rest at night, as is usual for odonatids, but the mammoth helicopter is a tenebrous giant damselfly (a monster odonatid with both blindsight and darkvision) and hunts at night as easily as day. The standard mammoth helicopter damselfly can be nocturnal (active at night), crepuscular (most active at dusk or dawn), or hunt whenever it is hungry regardless of time, depending on when its usual prey is out and about, but avoids entering bright daylight when it doesn't have to.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Spider Hunters.</strong></em> Normal helicopter damselflies specialize in hunting spiders. They slowly fly up to webs and pluck off the spider or the spider's silk-wrapped prey, which are devoured in midair. A monstrous helicopter damselfly still likes to attack spider webs, but is also a generalist hunter who will snatch prey from the ground, air, and trees. Like a regular damselfly, it only catches prey it can carry through the air. That is no great restriction, as a mammoth helicopter damselfly can lift 1,200 pounds while flying, enough to carry creatures as heavy as giant spiders, average-sized brown bears and riding horses, or giant horseflies (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/8706324" target="_blank">Giant Tabanid</a>). Giant helicopter damselflies prefer non-flying prey and rarely engage in aerial pursuits like a giant dragonfly or giant tropical damselfly.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Waterpit Breeders.</strong></em> Natural helicopter damselflies breed in phytotelmata—the pockets of water that collect in vegetation (e.g. holes in trees, hollow tree stumps, broken bamboo, cup-shaped plants like bromeliads, fallen leaves and rinds). Males compete for the best breeding spots and guard the phytotelmata, mating with females before they lay their eggs. While normal helicopter damsels might have difficulty finding a phytotelma, it is almost impossible for mammoth helicopters, since only implausibly colossal plants could hold enough water. Giant helicopter damselflies only breed in still water, so rivers and streams are not an option. Instead, the giant helicopter damselflies usually breed in water-filled pits, such as sinkholes and caves, including artificial ones like cisterns and water tanks. On average, these sites produce one adult for every 13,500 cubic feet of water they contain, and pits as small as 6,000 cubic feet can be enough for a single naiad to reach adulthood. An Olympic-sized swimming pool (~88,000 cubic feet), for example, could produce six or seven adults from its resident naiads (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249565" target="_blank">Mammoth Damselfly Naiad</a> for statistics).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> The tremendous rarity of suitable breeding sites is the primary restriction on mammoth helicopter damselfly numbers in the jungle. Some mammoth odonatids have nymphs and naiads with adaptations to reduce the limitations of breeding in water (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249256" target="_blank">Giant Dragonfly Nymph</a> for details).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">V</span>ARIANT<span style="font-size: 18px">: M</span>AMMOTH<span style="font-size: 18px"> T</span>ROPICAL<span style="font-size: 18px"> D</span>AMSELFLY<span style="font-size: 18px"> (D</span>IURNAL<span style="font-size: 18px">)</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: blue">A mammoth tropical damselfly have the same statistics as the mammoth tenebrous helicopter damselfly described above, except it does not have blindsight or darkvision. Diurnal mammoth tropical damselflies hunt in daylight like their smaller brethren and either have similar proportions to a mammoth helicopter damselfly, or are somewhat shorter: 24 to 30 feet long, 30 to 36 foot wingspan. Many are simply mammoth helicopter damselflies that lack the darkness adaptations of the standard variety.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">V</span>ARIANT<span style="font-size: 18px">: M</span>AMMOTH<span style="font-size: 18px"> T</span>ROPICAL<span style="font-size: 18px"> D</span>RAGONFLY</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: blue">Some varieties of giant dragonfly exceed even the imperial giant dragonfly in stature. A mammoth giant dragonfly is approximately 18 to 20 feet long, with a wingspan of 30 to 33 feet. It uses a mammoth tropical damselfly's statistics except for being faster (fly 80 ft., <em>Dashing Flight</em> 80 ft., <em>Dodging Flight</em> 40 ft.) and having no blindsight or darkvision. A mammoth tropical dragonfly nymph grows into as huge and deadly a predator as a mammoth damselfly naiad.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">V</span>ARIANT<span style="font-size: 18px">: M</span>AMMOTH<span style="font-size: 18px"> U</span>NDERDARK<span style="font-size: 18px"> D</span>AMSELFLY</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: blue">This is a Huge underdark helicopter damselfly, called a <em>death phantom</em> in Common and a word meaning <em>web killer</em> in Undercommon. It is one of the rare few who was so successful as a naiad it matured into a full sized adult (see the Underdark Helicopter Damselflies below). Smaller underdark helicopter damselflies, commonly called <em>ghostwings</em> and <em>wraithwings</em>, are little different from the tenebrous giant helicopter damselflies of the surface, but mammoth specimens possess two abilities their lesser kin never develop—they become resistant to magic and their wings can mesmerize opponents. A mammoth underdark damselfly, dubbed a <em>death phantom</em>, has a challenge rating of 6 (2,300 XP) and uses a mammoth helicopter damselfly statistics, except it has blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., and the following additional trait and action option.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Magic Resistance.</strong></em> The death phantom damselfly has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Hypnotic Wings.</strong></em> The death phantom damselfly swirls its wings in a hypnotic pattern. Every creature within 300 feet of the damselfly that can see the wings and is not another underdark damselfly must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the wings' motion ends. If a creature has <em>Fey Ancestry</em> and sees the <em>Hypnotic Wings</em> with darkvision, the trait does not give the creature advantage on saving throws against being charmed by the wings.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> The death phantom damselfly must take a bonus action on its subsequent turns to continue the hypnotic motion. It can stop its hypnotism at any time. The hypnotism ends if the death phantom is incapacitated or flies more than 60 feet on its turn (including any distance it moves with <em>Dashing Flight</em> or <em>Dodging Flight</em>). While charmed by the death phantom damselfly, a creature is incapacitated and does nothing but stare mesmerized at the insect. The hypnosis effect ends if the target takes any damage from the death phantom damselfly. If a charmed creature takes damage from a source other than the death phantom or is about to face another obvious danger, such as an approaching fire, it can repeat the saving throw. A charmed creature can also repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If the saving throw is successful, the effect ends on it. A creature that successfully saves is able to resist the hypnotism for the next 24 hours. If the creature fails a saving throw during their period of resistance against the death phantom damselfly's <em>Hypnotic Wings</em>, it is only <em>partially</em> charmed and may target the death phantom with harmful abilities or magical effects. Instead of being incapacitated, a <em>partially charmed</em> creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and skill checks, and the death phantom damselfly has advantage on attack rolls against the <em>partially charmed</em> creature.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">T</span>ENEBROUS<span style="font-size: 26px"> H</span>ELICOPTER<span style="font-size: 26px"> D</span>AMSELFLIES</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="color: blue">While the mammoth helicopter damselfly is the best known of the darkvision-equipped giant damselflies, it does have smaller relatives. The majority are nocturnal, hiding in caves or the densest vegetation during the day and being active from dusk to dawn. They rarely bother humanoids, which no doubt contributes to their obscurity.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> Tenebrous helicopter damselflies tend to be relatively petite odonates no larger than small size that eat night-flying animals such as bats and stirges with the occasional unlucky lemur or rat. Medium or Large tenebrous damselflies are even rarer than the mammoth tenebrous helicopters, and most of the Large ones are actually undersized mammoth helicopter damselflies whose nymphs were unable to grow to their proper Huge size. Some tenebrous damselflies hunt in the uppermost areas of the Underdark inhabited by creatures that regularly visit the surface. These often breed in water-filled caverns and might spend most of their lives underground, but can survive outside their subterranean home, unlike the true underdark damselflies (see below). Many of these have young that can survive for long periods away from water (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249256" target="_blank">Giant Dragonfly Nymph</a> for details, under Terrestrial Giant Odonatid Larvae).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">U</span>NDERDARK<span style="font-size: 26px"> H</span>ELICOPTER<span style="font-size: 26px"> D</span>AMSELFLIES</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="color: blue">Deep beneath the earth is the Underdark, a mysterious maze of tunnels, crevices and caves. The greatest of its caverns are unbelievably vast and teem with life in forests of weird fungi and strange subterranean seas. In this sunless realm, the ecosystem is powered by dissolved chemicals, geothermal warmth, and the Underdark's own eldritch radiations.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> Some of these sunless seas and mushroom jungles swarm with shimmers of giant damselflies who explorers from the surface have dubbed <em>Ghostwings</em> from their eerie appearance. A ghostwing is two or three yards long, with body and legs that look so thin they're almost translucent, and to normal eyes it is colored pallid white with spots of deathly grey. However, it is actually strikingly patterned in garish hues that are only visible to darkvision—many of these darkvision colors don't even have <em>names</em> in Common. Despite their spooky appearance, ghostwings are relatively harmless, and mostly only attack normal bats and spiders, Tiny giant flies, and creatures of similar size. A ghostwing damselfly is a Small or Medium underdark helicopter damselfly (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249257" target="_blank">Giant Damselfly</a> or <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249220" target="_blank">Giant Dragonfly</a> for statistics).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> That is far from the case for the mammoth underdark damselfly, a rare monster that can reach lengths of 50 feet or more. They have many names, such as <em>Death Phantom</em> or <em>Web Killer</em> and are hated and feared by the Underdark's inhabitants, especially the drow,. Mammoth underdark helicopters show a great fondness for eating subterranean giant spiders and the drow themselves, so the dark elves go to great lengths in attempts to eradicate them, with little success. A death phantom damselfly is a Huge underdark helicopter damselfly (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9257212" target="_blank">Titanic Tropical Dragonfly</a> or the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249563" target="_blank">Mammoth Underdark Damselfly</a> above for statistics).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Ghost and Phantom Larvae.</strong></em> The main reason the drow have failed to exterminate the mammoth underdark damselfly is ghostwings and death phantoms are actually the same species. The larvae of underdark helicopter damselflies larvae can metamorphose into adulthood from a range of instars (larval growth stages) far wider than any natural odonatid, with adult sizes ranging from a Small ghostwing to a Huge death phantom. To eradicate the mammoth underdark damselflies would thus require slaying every ghostwing in the Underdark and destroying all their eggs and naiads. The drow are unaware of this, and the task is nearly impossible even if they knew.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> After mating, female underdark helicopter damselflies lay their eggs in water to hatch into the next generation of naiads, which become adults when environmental cues trigger their transformation. In general, naiads who live alongside larger predators transform into adulthood as early as possible, becoming ghostwings and flying to somewhere safer, explains why the underdark giant damsels' commonest adult size is the ghostwing. However, the most successful naiads will grow into one of these "larger predators" themselves before becoming old enough to metamorphose into adults, in which case they attempt to reach Huge size and become death phantoms.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> Underdark helicopter damselfly naiads can become intermediary adults between a ghostwing and death phantom in size, but this is unusual. This typically only happens when their water pool is just big enough for a single naiad to develop into a Large underdark helicopter damselfly, a creature dubbed a <em>Wraithwing</em> by the surface dweller who discovered it (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249560" target="_blank">Imperial Giant Dragonfly</a> for statistics).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> An underdark damselfly's eggs can survive out of water for an impressive length of time, lying dry and dormant until conditions are better. In addition, underdark damselfly naiads are incredibly adaptable, able to live in an extremely wide range of water temperature and chemistry, from near-boiling brine to crystal-clear icewater, and are also amphibious, able to breathe air as well as water. While they prefer to live in water, an underdark damselfly naiad only has to be submerged when it hatches from its egg, or when a naiad of Large size or bigger needs to molt its exoskeleton and grow into its next instar (see <a href="https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249565" target="_blank">Mammoth Damselfly Naiad</a> for details).</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"> <em><strong>Tied to Eldritch Depths.</strong></em> Underdark helicopter damselflies have become dependent on the Underdark's mystic radiations. Without regular exposure to its eldritch glow they wither and perish in weeks, which becomes days if they contact the light of the surface world. Daylight or moonlight will cause the corpse to rapidly decompose into useless waste, much like how some drow equipment cannot abide the touch of the sun.</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"></span></p><p>(Monster designed by Casimir Liber and Cleon on Enworld.org's <em>General Monster Talk</em> Creature Catalog Forum; inspired by the tropical giant dragonfly that debuted in <em>EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror</em> (1983) by Gary Gygax.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 9249563, member: 57383"] [B][SIZE=7]Odonatid, Giant (Mammoth Helicopter Damselfly)[/SIZE][/B] [COLOR=blue][I]Huge beast, unaligned[/I] [B]Armor Class[/B] 15 (natural armor) [B]Hit Points[/B] 68 (8d12 + 16) [B]Speed[/B] 10 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover) [/COLOR] [TABLE] [TR] [TH][CENTER]STR[/CENTER][/TH] [TH][CENTER]DEX[/CENTER][/TH] [TH][CENTER]CON[/CENTER][/TH] [TH][CENTER]INT[/CENTER][/TH] [TH][CENTER]WIS[/CENTER][/TH] [TH][CENTER]CHA[/CENTER][/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD][COLOR=blue][CENTER]20 (+5)[/CENTER][/COLOR][/TD] [TD][COLOR=blue][CENTER]17 (+3)[/CENTER][/COLOR][/TD] [TD][COLOR=blue][CENTER]14 (+2)[/CENTER][/COLOR][/TD] [TD][COLOR=blue][CENTER]1 (–5)[/CENTER][/COLOR][/TD] [TD][COLOR=blue][CENTER]12 (+1)[/CENTER][/COLOR][/TD] [TD][COLOR=blue][CENTER]5 (–2)[/CENTER][/COLOR][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [COLOR=blue] [B]Saving Throws[/B] DEX +6 [B]Skills[/B] Perception +4 [B]Senses[/B] blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 90 ft., passive Perception 14 [B]Languages[/B] — [B]Challenge[/B] 5 (1,800 XP) [B]Proficiency Bonus[/B] +3 [I][B]Evasive Flight.[/B][/I] A giant odonatid gains advantage on Dexterity saving throws when flying and attackers have disadvantage on attack rolls against it. If the giant odonatid is mounted or grappling an opponent, it must make a DC 12 STR check to use [I]Evasive Flight[/I] each time it is attacked. [I][B]Expert Aerialist.[/B][/I] The giant odonatid has advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks when flying. [I][B]Flyby.[/B][/I] The giant odonatid doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach. [I][B]Keen Sight.[/B][/I] The giant odonatid has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. [I][B]Motion Camouflage.[/B][/I] If the giant odonatid moves at least 20 feet towards a creature and then hits it with an attack on the same turn, that target must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check by the odonatid. On a failure, the target cannot use [I]Dodging Flight[/I], [I]Evasive Flight[/I], or a similar defensive ability to avoid attacks by the giant odonatid until the start of its next turn. [/COLOR] [SIZE=6]Actions[/SIZE] [COLOR=blue] [I][B]Multiattack.[/B][/I] The giant odonatid makes two attacks against a Large or smaller creature. The first attack is a legs attack. If this succeeds in grappling the target, the odonatid makes a bite attack, otherwise it makes a second legs attack. [I][B]Bite.[/B] Melee Weapon Attack:[/I] +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. [I]Hit:[/I] 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage. [I][B]Legs.[/B] Melee Weapon Attack:[/I] +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one Huge or smaller creature. [I]Hit:[/I] 8 (1d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage and the creature is grappled (escape DC 16). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the giant odonatid can't make legs attacks against another target. [/COLOR] [SIZE=6]Bonus Actions[/SIZE] [COLOR=blue] [I][B]Dashing Flight.[/B][/I] The giant odonatid flies up to 40 feet. It cannot use [I]Burst of Speed[/I] if it used [I]Dodging Flight[/I] after the start of its previous turn. [/COLOR] [SIZE=6]Reactions[/SIZE] [COLOR=blue] [I][B]Dodging Flight.[/B][/I] If a creature of at least Small size attempts a melee attack against a giant odonatid, or the odonatid is targeted by a ranged weapon of similar size such as a giant-hurled boulder, the insect can try to dodge out of the way as a reaction. The giant odonatid makes a Dexterity saving throw with advantage (it loses this advantage when mounted or grappling an opponent). If the saving throw beats the attack roll or DC of the attack the giant odonatid takes no damage and flies up to 40 feet. If a giant odonatid is carrying or grappling a creature that is too heavy for the odonatid to fly with, it must release the creature to use [I]Dodging Flight[/I]. If the odonatid is grappling a creature light enough to carry through the air, the grappled creature can make an escape check as a free action. If it fails, the odonatid may fly away with its victim. [/COLOR] [B][SIZE=6]Description[/SIZE][/B] [COLOR=blue] Helicopter damselflies include the longest and widest of all Odonata, with even the mundane species growing up to 6 inches in length (The giant helicopter [I]Mecistogaster linearis[/I]) or an 8 inch wingspan (The blue-winged helicopter [I]Megaloprepus caerulatus[/I]). A mammoth helicopter damselfly is truly enormous, typically 30 feet long, with a 30 to 45 foot wingspan, and weighs about 4,000 pounds or 2 short tons. The mammoth helicopter presented above is more correctly a Mammoth Tenebrous Helicopter Damselfly (see Tenebrous Helicopter Damselflies below). They dwarf a regular giant dragonfly (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249220']Giant Dragonfly[/URL]), although some tropical giant dragonflies are heavier and even more powerful (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9257212']Titanic Tropical Dragonfly[/URL]). These tropical damselflies have extremely elongated and narrow abdomen, and equally slender wings that often have a spot or band of color at the end. A flying helicopter damselfly resembles a pinwheel fluttering and swirling in midair, or a hovering windmill for a mammoth giant helicopter. Their wings appear to spin around the thorax, as if the insect was corkscrewing itself through the air, an illusion that lead to the common name of helicopter damselfly. Helicopter damselflies live in rain forests and jungles. The normal version can be fairly common, but mammoth helicopter damselflies are extraordinarily rare due to the unusual habitats they need. This rarity has led to many legends, rumors and tall tales, a few of which might contain a few grains of truth. These stories include: [LIST][*]Mammoth helicopter damselflies were created by a forgotten insect-headed god to protect its temples and worshippers. The civilization is long dead, with its cities lost in the heart of a colossal jungle, but the mammoth damselflies still faithfully patrol its ruins. [*]These great insects are solitary queens, each served by a hive of lesser giant damselflies (e.g. the [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249257']Giant Damselfly[/URL] or [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249220']Giant Tropical Damselfly[/URL]), while larger ones (e.g. the [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249560']Imperial Giant Damselfly[/URL]) guard the queen's boudoir and the hive's treasures. [*]A mammoth helicopter damselfly is an artificial species invented by a mighty wizard, solely to annoy drow elves by eating the giant spiders that drow love.[/LIST] [I][B]Jungle Dwellers.[/B][/I] A mammoth helicopter damselfly is an extremely precise and agile flier, but is so gigantic it still needs around 50 feet to fly through a gap. Therefore any rainforest it navigates must have the majority of its trunks spaced at least that far apart. Their preferred habitat are spectacular jungles of mysterious and possibly magical origin that have other giant arthropods as their primary fauna. While they could adapt to other hot and humid places with suitable prey and breeding pools, the only non-rainforest habitat they're known to favor are ruined or abandoned cities with buildings tall enough to fly between. Tropical gigantic damselflies will venture into the open on short hunting expeditions or seek a new territory after being driven away by rivals, but in an open environment they are out-competed by other flying predators, particularly gigantic tropical dragonflies and kaleidoscopes of imperial giant tropical dragonflies (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9257212']Titanic Tropical Dragonfly[/URL] and [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249560']Imperial Giant Dragonfly[/URL], or the Mammoth Tropical Dragonfly below). [I][B]Wings in the Dark.[/B][/I] Many tropical odonatids like to perch in the shade of vegetation, both to hide from predators and to avoid overheating from the warmth of the sun. Helicopter damselflies, living as they do beneath the forest canopy, spend most of their lives in the shadows. When they do go out of the cover of the trees, helicopter damselflies prefer gloomy overcast conditions over hot and sunny days. Normal-sized helicopter damselflies hunt and breed during the day then rest at night, as is usual for odonatids, but the mammoth helicopter is a tenebrous giant damselfly (a monster odonatid with both blindsight and darkvision) and hunts at night as easily as day. The standard mammoth helicopter damselfly can be nocturnal (active at night), crepuscular (most active at dusk or dawn), or hunt whenever it is hungry regardless of time, depending on when its usual prey is out and about, but avoids entering bright daylight when it doesn't have to. [I][B]Spider Hunters.[/B][/I] Normal helicopter damselflies specialize in hunting spiders. They slowly fly up to webs and pluck off the spider or the spider's silk-wrapped prey, which are devoured in midair. A monstrous helicopter damselfly still likes to attack spider webs, but is also a generalist hunter who will snatch prey from the ground, air, and trees. Like a regular damselfly, it only catches prey it can carry through the air. That is no great restriction, as a mammoth helicopter damselfly can lift 1,200 pounds while flying, enough to carry creatures as heavy as giant spiders, average-sized brown bears and riding horses, or giant horseflies (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/8706324']Giant Tabanid[/URL]). Giant helicopter damselflies prefer non-flying prey and rarely engage in aerial pursuits like a giant dragonfly or giant tropical damselfly. [I][B]Waterpit Breeders.[/B][/I] Natural helicopter damselflies breed in phytotelmata—the pockets of water that collect in vegetation (e.g. holes in trees, hollow tree stumps, broken bamboo, cup-shaped plants like bromeliads, fallen leaves and rinds). Males compete for the best breeding spots and guard the phytotelmata, mating with females before they lay their eggs. While normal helicopter damsels might have difficulty finding a phytotelma, it is almost impossible for mammoth helicopters, since only implausibly colossal plants could hold enough water. Giant helicopter damselflies only breed in still water, so rivers and streams are not an option. Instead, the giant helicopter damselflies usually breed in water-filled pits, such as sinkholes and caves, including artificial ones like cisterns and water tanks. On average, these sites produce one adult for every 13,500 cubic feet of water they contain, and pits as small as 6,000 cubic feet can be enough for a single naiad to reach adulthood. An Olympic-sized swimming pool (~88,000 cubic feet), for example, could produce six or seven adults from its resident naiads (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249565']Mammoth Damselfly Naiad[/URL] for statistics). The tremendous rarity of suitable breeding sites is the primary restriction on mammoth helicopter damselfly numbers in the jungle. Some mammoth odonatids have nymphs and naiads with adaptations to reduce the limitations of breeding in water (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249256']Giant Dragonfly Nymph[/URL] for details). [B][SIZE=5]V[/SIZE]ARIANT[SIZE=5]: M[/SIZE]AMMOTH[SIZE=5] T[/SIZE]ROPICAL[SIZE=5] D[/SIZE]AMSELFLY[SIZE=5] (D[/SIZE]IURNAL[SIZE=5])[/SIZE][/B] A mammoth tropical damselfly have the same statistics as the mammoth tenebrous helicopter damselfly described above, except it does not have blindsight or darkvision. Diurnal mammoth tropical damselflies hunt in daylight like their smaller brethren and either have similar proportions to a mammoth helicopter damselfly, or are somewhat shorter: 24 to 30 feet long, 30 to 36 foot wingspan. Many are simply mammoth helicopter damselflies that lack the darkness adaptations of the standard variety. [B][SIZE=5]V[/SIZE]ARIANT[SIZE=5]: M[/SIZE]AMMOTH[SIZE=5] T[/SIZE]ROPICAL[SIZE=5] D[/SIZE]RAGONFLY[/B] Some varieties of giant dragonfly exceed even the imperial giant dragonfly in stature. A mammoth giant dragonfly is approximately 18 to 20 feet long, with a wingspan of 30 to 33 feet. It uses a mammoth tropical damselfly's statistics except for being faster (fly 80 ft., [I]Dashing Flight[/I] 80 ft., [I]Dodging Flight[/I] 40 ft.) and having no blindsight or darkvision. A mammoth tropical dragonfly nymph grows into as huge and deadly a predator as a mammoth damselfly naiad. [B][SIZE=5]V[/SIZE]ARIANT[SIZE=5]: M[/SIZE]AMMOTH[SIZE=5] U[/SIZE]NDERDARK[SIZE=5] D[/SIZE]AMSELFLY[/B] This is a Huge underdark helicopter damselfly, called a [I]death phantom[/I] in Common and a word meaning [I]web killer[/I] in Undercommon. It is one of the rare few who was so successful as a naiad it matured into a full sized adult (see the Underdark Helicopter Damselflies below). Smaller underdark helicopter damselflies, commonly called [I]ghostwings[/I] and [I]wraithwings[/I], are little different from the tenebrous giant helicopter damselflies of the surface, but mammoth specimens possess two abilities their lesser kin never develop—they become resistant to magic and their wings can mesmerize opponents. A mammoth underdark damselfly, dubbed a [I]death phantom[/I], has a challenge rating of 6 (2,300 XP) and uses a mammoth helicopter damselfly statistics, except it has blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., and the following additional trait and action option. [I][B]Magic Resistance.[/B][/I] The death phantom damselfly has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. [I][B]Hypnotic Wings.[/B][/I] The death phantom damselfly swirls its wings in a hypnotic pattern. Every creature within 300 feet of the damselfly that can see the wings and is not another underdark damselfly must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the wings' motion ends. If a creature has [I]Fey Ancestry[/I] and sees the [I]Hypnotic Wings[/I] with darkvision, the trait does not give the creature advantage on saving throws against being charmed by the wings. The death phantom damselfly must take a bonus action on its subsequent turns to continue the hypnotic motion. It can stop its hypnotism at any time. The hypnotism ends if the death phantom is incapacitated or flies more than 60 feet on its turn (including any distance it moves with [I]Dashing Flight[/I] or [I]Dodging Flight[/I]). While charmed by the death phantom damselfly, a creature is incapacitated and does nothing but stare mesmerized at the insect. The hypnosis effect ends if the target takes any damage from the death phantom damselfly. If a charmed creature takes damage from a source other than the death phantom or is about to face another obvious danger, such as an approaching fire, it can repeat the saving throw. A charmed creature can also repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. If the saving throw is successful, the effect ends on it. A creature that successfully saves is able to resist the hypnotism for the next 24 hours. If the creature fails a saving throw during their period of resistance against the death phantom damselfly's [I]Hypnotic Wings[/I], it is only [I]partially[/I] charmed and may target the death phantom with harmful abilities or magical effects. Instead of being incapacitated, a [I]partially charmed[/I] creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and skill checks, and the death phantom damselfly has advantage on attack rolls against the [I]partially charmed[/I] creature. [SIZE=5][B][SIZE=7]T[/SIZE]ENEBROUS[SIZE=7] H[/SIZE]ELICOPTER[SIZE=7] D[/SIZE]AMSELFLIES[/B][/SIZE] While the mammoth helicopter damselfly is the best known of the darkvision-equipped giant damselflies, it does have smaller relatives. The majority are nocturnal, hiding in caves or the densest vegetation during the day and being active from dusk to dawn. They rarely bother humanoids, which no doubt contributes to their obscurity. Tenebrous helicopter damselflies tend to be relatively petite odonates no larger than small size that eat night-flying animals such as bats and stirges with the occasional unlucky lemur or rat. Medium or Large tenebrous damselflies are even rarer than the mammoth tenebrous helicopters, and most of the Large ones are actually undersized mammoth helicopter damselflies whose nymphs were unable to grow to their proper Huge size. Some tenebrous damselflies hunt in the uppermost areas of the Underdark inhabited by creatures that regularly visit the surface. These often breed in water-filled caverns and might spend most of their lives underground, but can survive outside their subterranean home, unlike the true underdark damselflies (see below). Many of these have young that can survive for long periods away from water (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249256']Giant Dragonfly Nymph[/URL] for details, under Terrestrial Giant Odonatid Larvae). [SIZE=5][B][SIZE=7]U[/SIZE]NDERDARK[SIZE=7] H[/SIZE]ELICOPTER[SIZE=7] D[/SIZE]AMSELFLIES[/B][/SIZE] Deep beneath the earth is the Underdark, a mysterious maze of tunnels, crevices and caves. The greatest of its caverns are unbelievably vast and teem with life in forests of weird fungi and strange subterranean seas. In this sunless realm, the ecosystem is powered by dissolved chemicals, geothermal warmth, and the Underdark's own eldritch radiations. Some of these sunless seas and mushroom jungles swarm with shimmers of giant damselflies who explorers from the surface have dubbed [I]Ghostwings[/I] from their eerie appearance. A ghostwing is two or three yards long, with body and legs that look so thin they're almost translucent, and to normal eyes it is colored pallid white with spots of deathly grey. However, it is actually strikingly patterned in garish hues that are only visible to darkvision—many of these darkvision colors don't even have [I]names[/I] in Common. Despite their spooky appearance, ghostwings are relatively harmless, and mostly only attack normal bats and spiders, Tiny giant flies, and creatures of similar size. A ghostwing damselfly is a Small or Medium underdark helicopter damselfly (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249257']Giant Damselfly[/URL] or [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249220']Giant Dragonfly[/URL] for statistics). That is far from the case for the mammoth underdark damselfly, a rare monster that can reach lengths of 50 feet or more. They have many names, such as [I]Death Phantom[/I] or [i]Web Killer[/I] and are hated and feared by the Underdark's inhabitants, especially the drow,. Mammoth underdark helicopters show a great fondness for eating subterranean giant spiders and the drow themselves, so the dark elves go to great lengths in attempts to eradicate them, with little success. A death phantom damselfly is a Huge underdark helicopter damselfly (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9257212']Titanic Tropical Dragonfly[/URL] or the [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249563']Mammoth Underdark Damselfly[/URL] above for statistics). [I][B]Ghost and Phantom Larvae.[/B][/I] The main reason the drow have failed to exterminate the mammoth underdark damselfly is ghostwings and death phantoms are actually the same species. The larvae of underdark helicopter damselflies larvae can metamorphose into adulthood from a range of instars (larval growth stages) far wider than any natural odonatid, with adult sizes ranging from a Small ghostwing to a Huge death phantom. To eradicate the mammoth underdark damselflies would thus require slaying every ghostwing in the Underdark and destroying all their eggs and naiads. The drow are unaware of this, and the task is nearly impossible even if they knew. After mating, female underdark helicopter damselflies lay their eggs in water to hatch into the next generation of naiads, which become adults when environmental cues trigger their transformation. In general, naiads who live alongside larger predators transform into adulthood as early as possible, becoming ghostwings and flying to somewhere safer, explains why the underdark giant damsels' commonest adult size is the ghostwing. However, the most successful naiads will grow into one of these "larger predators" themselves before becoming old enough to metamorphose into adults, in which case they attempt to reach Huge size and become death phantoms. Underdark helicopter damselfly naiads can become intermediary adults between a ghostwing and death phantom in size, but this is unusual. This typically only happens when their water pool is just big enough for a single naiad to develop into a Large underdark helicopter damselfly, a creature dubbed a [I]Wraithwing[/I] by the surface dweller who discovered it (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249560']Imperial Giant Dragonfly[/URL] for statistics). An underdark damselfly's eggs can survive out of water for an impressive length of time, lying dry and dormant until conditions are better. In addition, underdark damselfly naiads are incredibly adaptable, able to live in an extremely wide range of water temperature and chemistry, from near-boiling brine to crystal-clear icewater, and are also amphibious, able to breathe air as well as water. While they prefer to live in water, an underdark damselfly naiad only has to be submerged when it hatches from its egg, or when a naiad of Large size or bigger needs to molt its exoskeleton and grow into its next instar (see [URL='https://www.enworld.org/posts/9249565']Mammoth Damselfly Naiad[/URL] for details). [I][B]Tied to Eldritch Depths.[/B][/I] Underdark helicopter damselflies have become dependent on the Underdark's mystic radiations. Without regular exposure to its eldritch glow they wither and perish in weeks, which becomes days if they contact the light of the surface world. Daylight or moonlight will cause the corpse to rapidly decompose into useless waste, much like how some drow equipment cannot abide the touch of the sun. [/COLOR] (Monster designed by Casimir Liber and Cleon on Enworld.org's [I]General Monster Talk[/I] Creature Catalog Forum; inspired by the tropical giant dragonfly that debuted in [I]EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror[/I] (1983) by Gary Gygax.) [/QUOTE]
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