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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 9255977" data-attributes="member: 57383">This is what I've got so far: Description 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 Mecistogaster linearis) or an 8 inch wingspan (The blue-winged helicopter Megaloprepus caerulatus). 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. They dwarf a regular giant dragonfly (see Giant Dragonfly), although some tropical giant dragonflies are heavier and even more powerful (see Titanic Dragonfly). 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: <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 Giant Damselfly or Giant Tropical Damselfly), while larger ones (e.g. the Imperial Giant Damselfly) 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> Jungle Dwellers. 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 Titanic Tropical Dragonfly and Imperial Giant Dragonfly, or the Mammoth Tropical Dragonfly below). Wings in the Dark. 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 venture 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 monster variety has gained both blindsight and darkvision, allowing giant helicopter damsels to hunt at night as easily as day. A giant helicopter damselfly may be nocturnal (active at night) and/or crepuscular (most active at dusk or dawn), or hunts whenever it is hungry regardless of the time, but avoids going out in bright daylight when it doesn't have to. Spider Hunters. 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 Giant Tabanid). Giant helicopter damselflies prefer non-flying prey and rarely engage in aerial pursuits like a giant dragonfly or giant tropical damselfly. Water Pit Breeders. 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. A mammoth helicopter damselfly breeding site will, on average, produce a single adult for every 27,000 cubic feet of water. An Olympic-sized swimming pool (~88,000 cubic feet), for example, would produce around three adults, although as little as 12,000 cubic feet might be enough for a single naiad to reach full size (see Mammoth Damselfly Naiad 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 Giant Dragonfly Nymph for details). VARIANT: MAMMOTH TROPICAL DAMSELFLY (DIURNAL) Mammoth tropical damselflies have the same statistics as mammoth helicopter damselflies, except they do not have blindsight or darkvision. They 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. Some are technically enormous tropical helicopter damselflies that lack the nocturnal adaptations of the standard "Mammoth Helicopter" described above. VARIANT: MAMMOTH TROPICAL DRAGONFLY Some varieties of giant dragonfly exceed even the imperial giant dragonfly in stature. A Huge 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., Dashing Flight 80 ft., Dodging Flight 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. Haven't finished yet.Keep on coming up with ideas for cool varieties.** Naturally, by "cool varieties" I'm using the DM definition of "kills PCs in interesting ways!"</blockquote>

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