Is it possible to make giant ants scary to a 15th level party?
Nyeshet
First Post
There are so many options I don't know where to begin . . .
Farming ants work with fungus. Perhaps the fungus releases toxic fumes or happens to be slime like . . . Violet Fungus is normally found with Shrieker fungus, but perhaps a strange variant - non-poisonous to ants (or perhaps the source of their poison, if you make their bite poisonous) is being farmed. What about a Gelatenous Cube in their refuse pit? Transparency, a paralytic poison, acid damage - it could add up.
Some ants herd aphids. Granted, these are herbivores, but then so too are cows - and look at the minotaur . . . Or perhaps a few swarms of Stirges hang about, hoping to scavange from the ants. Add on half-dragon templates (to the stirges - or the ants) and things get more interesting . . .
What about the spiders and other creatures that hunt ants by looking like them? Could be some of those "ants" are not what they seem . . . Monstrous Spiders of Large size could be . . . interesting. Or perhaps some of the "ants" are a variant of Taskmaster Formians (poison sting, domination, etc).
Some ants are poisonous &/or acidic. Perhaps if you gave them a bit of both - a poisonous (paralytic - Dex or maybe Str damage) sting and acidic saliva . . .
What about mandibles of sharpness - severing off a limb (or head) upon a successful critical? Of course, ants - like many insects - can survive for quite some time without their own heads, so returning the favor would only remove the bite attack. Or just expand the crit range of the bite attack to 18-20. That by itself could increase the damage a little.
Some ant species have symbiotic mites attached to them. Some of these are almost graft-like - at least in appearance. In a fantasy setting, this may have more interesting effects . . .
Several species of ants are slave raiders. As such, some of the ants could be of different types - captured and raised since infancy and so loyal to the hive - but with different and perhaps dangerous / useful abilities . . .
A Hive Mind in and of itself could be useful - preventing any ant from being flanked or otherwise susceptable to precision based damage. It would also allow the ants to coordinate their attacks. Perhaps a few of the ants have the Improved Trip or Improved Disarm feat as racial bonuses (as they lack the Int for such normally).
An earth or fire template could work wonders - as could an axiomatic, fiendish , or half-fiendish one. Or perhaps just the queen and the more recent pupae and a few ants have the template - due to the queen herself only recently gaining it. Suddenly those pupae are not quite as safe to be around as priorly thought. What about a Half-Troll template (from the pdf list another suggested)? Fast Healing 5, increased physical stats, claw attacks, rend (should both hit), Scent, and a couple other things for CR +2, Int -2, Cha -2. Perhaps only the queen, the more recent pupae, and a few of the soldier and worker ants have the template, but it would certainly bother your players . . .
As already stated, sheer numbers could be a major issue. Sure the party may only lose a few hp with each encounter, but after 20+ encounters, well, it adds up . . .
If the ants exist in a hive mind with the queen as the central mind, perhaps she has enough power to use psionic or magical effects - such as illusory walls at an intersection after the party passes. If the party loses it way or is not paying attention, they could quickly become lost without realising it.
Eg: The party retreats, intending to take a left at the next fork, but they unknowingly pass the next fork as one passage is hidden in such a way that it seems that the tunnel has continued as normal. The second fork is shortly thereafter, but as they didn't emerge from that passage they were not aware of this - and so they take the left at that fork - and unintentionally move further into the hive instead of out of it.
All this - just from a single illusory wall. They will catch on if it is done too often, but if the tunnels are arranged right, just a single instance may be enough, leaving them to wonder if they had made a wrong turn, unknowingly passed through a suddenly active portal, had a prior passage at an intersection collapse before they reached it, or something else entirely. Being lost in such a dangerous location can be the worst danger yet.
Farming ants work with fungus. Perhaps the fungus releases toxic fumes or happens to be slime like . . . Violet Fungus is normally found with Shrieker fungus, but perhaps a strange variant - non-poisonous to ants (or perhaps the source of their poison, if you make their bite poisonous) is being farmed. What about a Gelatenous Cube in their refuse pit? Transparency, a paralytic poison, acid damage - it could add up.
Some ants herd aphids. Granted, these are herbivores, but then so too are cows - and look at the minotaur . . . Or perhaps a few swarms of Stirges hang about, hoping to scavange from the ants. Add on half-dragon templates (to the stirges - or the ants) and things get more interesting . . .
What about the spiders and other creatures that hunt ants by looking like them? Could be some of those "ants" are not what they seem . . . Monstrous Spiders of Large size could be . . . interesting. Or perhaps some of the "ants" are a variant of Taskmaster Formians (poison sting, domination, etc).
Some ants are poisonous &/or acidic. Perhaps if you gave them a bit of both - a poisonous (paralytic - Dex or maybe Str damage) sting and acidic saliva . . .
What about mandibles of sharpness - severing off a limb (or head) upon a successful critical? Of course, ants - like many insects - can survive for quite some time without their own heads, so returning the favor would only remove the bite attack. Or just expand the crit range of the bite attack to 18-20. That by itself could increase the damage a little.
Some ant species have symbiotic mites attached to them. Some of these are almost graft-like - at least in appearance. In a fantasy setting, this may have more interesting effects . . .
Several species of ants are slave raiders. As such, some of the ants could be of different types - captured and raised since infancy and so loyal to the hive - but with different and perhaps dangerous / useful abilities . . .
A Hive Mind in and of itself could be useful - preventing any ant from being flanked or otherwise susceptable to precision based damage. It would also allow the ants to coordinate their attacks. Perhaps a few of the ants have the Improved Trip or Improved Disarm feat as racial bonuses (as they lack the Int for such normally).
An earth or fire template could work wonders - as could an axiomatic, fiendish , or half-fiendish one. Or perhaps just the queen and the more recent pupae and a few ants have the template - due to the queen herself only recently gaining it. Suddenly those pupae are not quite as safe to be around as priorly thought. What about a Half-Troll template (from the pdf list another suggested)? Fast Healing 5, increased physical stats, claw attacks, rend (should both hit), Scent, and a couple other things for CR +2, Int -2, Cha -2. Perhaps only the queen, the more recent pupae, and a few of the soldier and worker ants have the template, but it would certainly bother your players . . .
As already stated, sheer numbers could be a major issue. Sure the party may only lose a few hp with each encounter, but after 20+ encounters, well, it adds up . . .
If the ants exist in a hive mind with the queen as the central mind, perhaps she has enough power to use psionic or magical effects - such as illusory walls at an intersection after the party passes. If the party loses it way or is not paying attention, they could quickly become lost without realising it.
Eg: The party retreats, intending to take a left at the next fork, but they unknowingly pass the next fork as one passage is hidden in such a way that it seems that the tunnel has continued as normal. The second fork is shortly thereafter, but as they didn't emerge from that passage they were not aware of this - and so they take the left at that fork - and unintentionally move further into the hive instead of out of it.
All this - just from a single illusory wall. They will catch on if it is done too often, but if the tunnels are arranged right, just a single instance may be enough, leaving them to wonder if they had made a wrong turn, unknowingly passed through a suddenly active portal, had a prior passage at an intersection collapse before they reached it, or something else entirely. Being lost in such a dangerous location can be the worst danger yet.
kjenks
First Post
Those aren't really ants at all, actually. They just look kinda like regular old carpenter ants to the untrained eye.
They're actually demons that have been magically reduced and imprisoned in this area because of the effects of a long-forgotten artifact buried deep beneath the place. Sure, this size reduction impairs the demons' physical stats quite a bit, but their spell-like abilities remain intact and their small size makes them much harder to hit.
Picture a swarm of 10,000 flying vrocks.
As the party spends time in this area, they, too, must make Fort saves or be reduced in size. It's an easy save to make -- DC 15 -- but they're gonna miss it eventually. And each such saving throw they miss reduces the PC's size category by one, until they're Fine.
Oh, the PCs will eventually regain their original size, but it might take a month or two.
They're actually demons that have been magically reduced and imprisoned in this area because of the effects of a long-forgotten artifact buried deep beneath the place. Sure, this size reduction impairs the demons' physical stats quite a bit, but their spell-like abilities remain intact and their small size makes them much harder to hit.
Picture a swarm of 10,000 flying vrocks.
As the party spends time in this area, they, too, must make Fort saves or be reduced in size. It's an easy save to make -- DC 15 -- but they're gonna miss it eventually. And each such saving throw they miss reduces the PC's size category by one, until they're Fine.
Oh, the PCs will eventually regain their original size, but it might take a month or two.
lukelightning
First Post
What? They are some sort of baatezu devil?ceratitis said:
I say just mob 'em with 4hd advanced soldier ants; keep 'em medium so this way more ant can reach their target. If they are in tunnels, remember ants can climb as well so there would be ones attacking from the walls and ceiling as well. Instead of improved grab I'd give them an attach ability, similar to a dire weasel or stirge; they hit you and try to establish a grapple and if they do, they go into your square and keep holding and stinging...and more join in the pile.
The fungus idea mentioned above is good too; perhaps there is a cast of fungus ants that carry spoors of yellow mold or violet fungus chunks (of course, this hive of ant is immune...).
Last edited:
helium3
First Post
I advanced the giant soldier ants in MM1 beyond the printed limits and came up with a nice CR 10 (according to the normal rules of advancement) creature. It's attached to this post in as a word document. Because of the advancement beyond the normal limits you'll want to only throw one or two of them at the party in the first encounter, just to make sure that they aren't overly powerful for the calculated CR.
lukelightning said:What? They are some sort of baatezu devil?
i assume you're joking but just in case... it simply means the go through a full metamorphosis life cycle like say butterflies, you get catapillers and the a pupa and then an adult butterfly and neither stage looks anything like the other. in termites or praying mantis (and many others of course) each stage ,called instar btw, looks very similar to the next one and to the adult. there are several differenses like size,wings and sexual maturity. so if you see two beetles which look exactly the same only one is much smaller then the other but they both have wings they are different species and the smaller one will not grow until it gets as big as the other one, in fact it wont grow at all 'cos adult insects dont molt anymore.
Z
lukelightning
First Post
ceratitis said:
Yep, I was joking, I just thought it looked like the word "hamatula" (barbed devil, I think).
Similar Threads
