5E: Monstrous Arthropods for Fifth Edition

[Cleon]

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.

According to the 2014 CR Calculator, if we give the Male a DPR of 15–32 he'll be Challenge 2, with DPR 6–14 he'll be Challenge 1 and with DPR 4–5 he'll be Challenge 1/2.

The AD&D Male Giant Mosquito was worth 420 XP compared to 975 or 1,400 for the Females, so I think CR 1 is most appropriate.

So that matches either 1d4 + 3 or 1d6 + 3 for the claw damage, for a DPR with Multiattack of 11 or 13.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yes I was thinking CR 1 - let's go 1d6+3. Or could even drop its STR by 1 and make it 1d6+2 (should it be weaker if 2/3rds the size?)

 

[Cleon]

Oh damn it, the Male Giant Mosquitoes were size Medium not Large.

Changed the Male Dire Mosquito Working Draft from.

Large beast, unaligned
Hit Points 52 (7d10 + 14)
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To:

Medium beast, unaligned
Hit Points 52 (8d8 + 16)
​

That doesn't change anything else.

 

[Cleon]

Also, given how quiet mosquitoes are, should it have some stealth?

Quiet?

I find their whining drone so annoying that if there's one in my bedroom I had to get up and dispose of the dang thing before I can get to sleep.

 

[Cleon]

Yes I was thinking CR 1 - let's go 1d6+3. Or could even drop its STR by 1 and make it 1d6+2 (should it be weaker if 2/3rds the size?)

Works for me, although I'd lean towards going even lower to a Giant Wasp's STR 10, a Giant Wolf Spider's STR 12 or a Giant Crab's STR 13.

I've updated the Male Dire Mosquito Working Draft with CR 1 (200 XP), STR 12, +4 to hit, 1d6 + 2 damage.

 

[Casimir Liber]

all sounds good to me. except their droning, which I agree is annoying

 

[Casimir Liber]

male is

here

 

[Cleon]

Dang it, I just noticed that the Female Dire Mosquito Working Draft was erroneously indented just after the Variant: Diseased Female Dire Mosquitoes title.

Just removed the indentation from the Working Draft.

Will leave it to you whether to do the same on D&D Beyond.

 

[Cleon]

all sounds good to me. except their droning, which I agree is annoying

And that's with the normal sized once that only measure a few millimeters.

Imagine how much worse a sound one twelve feet long makes when flying around!

 

[Cleon]

Just remembered another thing I was going to check.

Real world mosquito larva breathe air through siphons on their tail tip, but those aren't mentioned in the Polyhedron version which compares them to "aquatic caterpillars" but doesn't say whether they actually are aquatic.

If they have gills as per the current description we'll want to add the Water Breathing trait:

Water Breathing. The wriggler can breathe only underwater.
​

But I'm thinking we should keep the air breathing of the real life insect, which'd imply:

Hold Breath. The wriggler can hold its breath for 15 minutes.
​

Plus we'll want to tweak the Description of all three entries.

From:

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.

To:

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, long hairy mandibles for biting prey, and a snorkel-like tube at the tip of their tails for breathing air. Wrigglers are flesh-eaters who actively hunts for food and can swallow tiny opponents whole.
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