5E: Monstrous Arthropods for Fifth Edition
- Thread starter Cleon
- Start date
Cleon
Legend
How's this
Description
Dire mosquitoes are monstrous insects that can be as big as a horse, although their slender bodies and limbs make them far lighter. A female dire mosquito looks just like an ordinary blood-sucking mosquito apart from the size, with a body length from 9 to 12 feet. A male dire mosquito is about two-thirds that size, averaging a little over 7 feet, and unlike natural mosquitoes are active predators armed with slicing claws on their front legs. A dire mosquito larva is an aquatic insect roughly the size of a human called a wriggler by common folk. Wrigglers are quite different from normal mosquito larvae. They resemble hairy caterpillars with broad heads and gills at the tip of their tails and, like the males, are flesh-eaters who actively hunt for food. A wriggler has long mandibles for biting prey and can swallow tiny opponents whole.
Deadly Swarms. Dire mosquitoes congregate in swarms that can number from as little as four up to a couple of score. Both males and females flock together. The males fearlessly defend the females, and fight to the death whenever anything threatens them. The females seek out warm-blooded creatures to feed off, using their lancet-like mouthparts to drain their victims blood. Once a female has drank her full they fly off and rest while their eggs develop and are ready to lay.
Aquatic Breeders. Dire mosquitoes are commonest in hot, humid areas with abundant still water such as jungle pools or tropical swamps. These insects need water for their eggs and young to develop so are never encountered in arid areas such as deserts. A single wriggler can grow in as little as a hogshead of water. The water doesn't have to be fresh or clean as long as it isn't salty. Once a female dire mosquito has gorged herself on blood she produces 10 to 30 eggs. Unlike normal mosquitoes, female dire mosquitoes have can live for years and produce multiple clutches, laying up to 300 eggs in their lifetime.
A dire mosquito egg ranges from the size of a baseball and a grapefruit. New hatched wrigglers are only 8 to 12 inches long but grow rapidly if well fed in warm water. A hungry wriggler will attack anything up to its own size that isn't another wriggler that matches it in size (they have no compunction against cannibalizing wrigglers smaller then they are). They instinctively flee from any creature larger than themselves, so adult humans are not at risk of attack unless the wriggler is almost fully grown at roughly 5 feet long.
Description
Dire mosquitoes are monstrous insects that can be as big as a horse, although their slender bodies and limbs make them far lighter. A female dire mosquito looks just like an ordinary blood-sucking mosquito apart from the size, with a body length from 9 to 12 feet. A male dire mosquito is about two-thirds that size, averaging a little over 7 feet, and unlike natural mosquitoes are active predators armed with slicing claws on their front legs. A dire mosquito larva is an aquatic insect roughly the size of a human called a wriggler by common folk. Wrigglers are quite different from normal mosquito larvae. They resemble hairy caterpillars with broad heads and gills at the tip of their tails and, like the males, are flesh-eaters who actively hunt for food. A wriggler has long mandibles for biting prey and can swallow tiny opponents whole.
Deadly Swarms. Dire mosquitoes congregate in swarms that can number from as little as four up to a couple of score. Both males and females flock together. The males fearlessly defend the females, and fight to the death whenever anything threatens them. The females seek out warm-blooded creatures to feed off, using their lancet-like mouthparts to drain their victims blood. Once a female has drank her full they fly off and rest while their eggs develop and are ready to lay.
Aquatic Breeders. Dire mosquitoes are commonest in hot, humid areas with abundant still water such as jungle pools or tropical swamps. These insects need water for their eggs and young to develop so are never encountered in arid areas such as deserts. A single wriggler can grow in as little as a hogshead of water. The water doesn't have to be fresh or clean as long as it isn't salty. Once a female dire mosquito has gorged herself on blood she produces 10 to 30 eggs. Unlike normal mosquitoes, female dire mosquitoes have can live for years and produce multiple clutches, laying up to 300 eggs in their lifetime.
A dire mosquito egg ranges from the size of a baseball and a grapefruit. New hatched wrigglers are only 8 to 12 inches long but grow rapidly if well fed in warm water. A hungry wriggler will attack anything up to its own size that isn't another wriggler that matches it in size (they have no compunction against cannibalizing wrigglers smaller then they are). They instinctively flee from any creature larger than themselves, so adult humans are not at risk of attack unless the wriggler is almost fully grown at roughly 5 feet long.
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Casimir Liber
Adventurer
Yep, looks good.
Also, I had
Breath Detector. The giant culicid is exquisitely sensitive to the chemical composition of the air, and can detect and locate creatures that breathe within a range of 300 feet.
from somewhere - given how good mosquitos are at detecting breath, would be good to have something like this I think.
Also, I had
Breath Detector. The giant culicid is exquisitely sensitive to the chemical composition of the air, and can detect and locate creatures that breathe within a range of 300 feet.
from somewhere - given how good mosquitos are at detecting breath, would be good to have something like this I think.
Cleon
Legend
Updating the Female Dire Mosquito Working Draft.
I toyed with the idea of adding an ability like that but decided against it. Fifth edition seems to avoid minor "flavour" traits like that, at least in the Monster Manual.
That said, we could tweak the Description to mention that habit, like so:
Deadly Swarms. Dire mosquitoes congregate in swarms that can number from as little as four up to a couple of score. Both males and females flock together. The males fearlessly defend the females, and fight to the death whenever anything threatens them. Female dire mosquitoes use lancet-like mouthparts to drain the blood of warm-blooded creatures, homing in on the scent of their victims' breath or body. Once a female has drank her full she flies off to rests until her eggs are ready to lay.
Casimir Liber
Adventurer
yeah
Cleon
Legend
Cleon
Legend
Hold on, I just realized something.
Shouldn't the Female Mosquito have (hover) on her fly speed?
For that matter, shouldn't our Giant Horsefly have (hover) as well?
Shouldn't the Female Mosquito have (hover) on her fly speed?
For that matter, shouldn't our Giant Horsefly have (hover) as well?
Casimir Liber
Adventurer
Question is, though, what does it mean in game terms in 5e.
Also, given how quiet mosquitoes are, should it have some stealth?
Also, given how quiet mosquitoes are, should it have some stealth?
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Cleon
Legend
In Fifth Edition a creature with hovering flight is more resistant to falling:
FLYING MOVEMENT
Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.
From the Player's Handbook
All of the Monster Manual creatures with hover either fly through magic (e.g. air elementals, ghosts, beholders, grell etc) or are light as air (e.g. Gas Spore).
I've done a rough draft for the Male Dire Mosquito.
It basically only needs a damage for its claws and having its CR calculated.
