Because you asked so nicely ...
As a special preview, here's the Dracotick entry ... note its paralytic/anesthetic bite, and its "camoflauge" when on a dragon, in particular. Hope you like it!
-Michelle Nephew
Atlas Games
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dracotick
Even the mightiest of creatures have their unwanted hangers-on. Dragons are no exception, playing host to the most monstrous of parasites: the dracotick. Suffused with dragon blood and camouflaged to look like a dragon’s scale, the dracotick is an odd yet powerful vermin. Normally, dracoticks are content to nestle amongst the scales of their draconic hosts, feeding off their magically potent blood. When the dracotick’s body is full of the rich humor, it drops from the host’s body and scuttles off to lurk amongst the dragon’s hoard. Sometimes dracoticks will climb a wall near the lair and drop down upon unsuspecting passersby, perhaps confusing them for their drake host.
In appearance, dracoticks are scale-shaped, and match the color of their host perfectly. Were they not single-minded parasites, they might almost be considered beautiful. Dracoticks do not rely on their sight, which is often useless if the dracotick is feeding beneath the scales of its host; instead they use vibrations to locate moving things. Their eight small legs are feeble and inoffensive, but their mandibles possess a nasty bite that can inject a numbing toxin into the blood of a victim. Such weakened victims often succumb to the onslaught of a swarm of dracoticks. Dracoticks are physically formidable, as they can breathe a weaker version of their host’s mighty breath weapon, and are somewhat resistant to spells. Many a party of adventurers, bloody and without magic following an epic battle with a dragon, have been slain or driven away from the site of their victory by dracoticks vacating the corpse of their dragon host.
Some sorcerers have discovered by arcane experimentation a means to take dracoticks as familiars, claiming their ties to the magic of dragon blood make the sorcerer’s spells more effective. Most think such sorcerers to be insane or perverse.
Adventure Seeds
o The PCs hear rumor of a black dragon’s lair in the bottom of a small marshy lake near a sleepy village. Legends tell of the beast’s vast treasure, but no one has heard of the dragon in decades. While traveling through the swamp to get to their final destination, the PCs come across the dead body of the dragon. With the general location of the lair known, this seems like a golden opportunity to plunder the dragon’s hoard. After navigating the traps and inhospitable terrain of the dragon-less lair, the treasure hunt turns deadly as the PCs discover the hungry dracoticks within.
o A sorceress with an interest in dragons and their ecology becomes interested in dracoticks. Curious as to whether there are many species of dracotick, or one species that adapts to the host it feeds from, the sorceress hires the PCs to perform a small experiment for her. They must travel to the lair of a chromatic dragon, capture as many dracoticks as they can, and transport them into the lair of a metallic dragon to be released. The PCs may attempt to do this by stealth or by diplomacy, though how a dragon might react to being gifted with parasites is uncertain. Periodic examination of tagged dracoticks to observe their transformation or lack thereof will earn further reward from the sorceress.
o A near-blind but still terrifyingly powerful golden dragon comes to a band of mid-level PCs with a problem: it will soon go to meet with others of its kind, and wishes to be presentable to its fellows. It wants the PCs to assist in the cleaning and polishing of its scales, the whitening of its teeth, and other matters of draconic vanity. Their draconic employer also wishes the PCs to deal with any dracotick infestations they might come across, though it does not explain the exact nature of these "ticks." In return, the dragon promises a great reward for the PCs’ assistance.
While cleaning the run-down drake, the PCs discover a sizeable infestation of hidden blue dracoticks, and the vile parasites spit sheets of lightning at them, betraying the truth about this dragon. He is actually a terribly lazy yet undeniably vain blue dragon under a magical illusion. Can the PCs discover a way to escape their predicament and escape not only the now agitated dracoticks, but also the blind dragon’s lethal vanity?
Small Vermin (Host’s Subtype)
Hit Dice: 1d8+2+3 (9 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
AC: 18 (+1 size, +7 natural)
Attacks: Bite +2 melee, or touch +2 melee
Damage: Bite 1d6+1 plus Poison, touch 1d2+1 subdual plus Attach/Blood Drain
Face/Reach: 5 ft. x 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Attach, Blood Drain, Breath Weapon, Poison
Special Qualities: Host Subtype, Immunities, Spell Resistance 10, Tremorsense 30 ft.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: Climb +7, Hide +5 (+10 when attached to a dragon), Jump +6, Move Silently +7
Feats: Toughness
Climate/Terrain: Any underground, any dragon
Organization: Solitary, case (5–10), or infestation (10–40)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None, though dracoticks are often found in dragon lairs
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: 2–3 HD (Medium, common on adult dragons), 4–5 HD (Large, common on dragons larger than adult)
Attach (Ex): If a dracotick hits with its touch attack, it uses its eight legs to latch onto the opponent’s body. While Attached, the dracotick’s AC is still 18. A character can pull a dracotick off of his body, or the body of another, with a Strength check (DC 11). Dracoticks weigh approximately 20 lbs. Their weight, if Attached, should be figured into a character’s carrying capacity and movement rate. Enough attached dracoticks can slow even the mightiest fighter down. A Medium-size creature can have up to 12 dracoticks Attached to his body (2 on each limb, and 4 on the torso), and a Small creature can have up to 6 (1 on each limb, 2 on the torso). A dracotick cannot Attach onto a creature of less than Small size.
Blood Drain (Ex): After Attaching to a creature, a dracotick drains blood, dealing 1d3 points of temporary Constitution damage each full round it remains Attached. This damage returns at the rate of one point per day. Once it has drained 6 points of Constitution, it drops off and scurries into hiding to digest its sanguine repast.
Breath Weapon (Su): Dracoticks can breathe forth a smaller version of their host’s breath weapon. This attack is similar in area to the attack of a Tiny dragon of the host’s type; it is either 30-foot line or a 15-foot cone. If the breath weapon inflicts damage, a Reflex save (DC 12) can be made to take half damage. Damage from the attack, if it is a damaging effect such as fire from a red dracotick, is 2d8. Non-damaging effects, such as the sleep gas of a brass dracotick, require saves of the appropriate type against a DC 12; thus the sleep gas would require a Will save. A dracotick can produce its breath weapon 3 times per day, every 1d4 rounds. If the dracotick’s host has two breath weapons, as do the metallic dragons, the dracotick can choose to use whichever one it deems most appropriate as long as it does not use the combined breath weapons more than its daily allotment of 3 uses. Note, however, that dracoticks are not very intelligent; though they have an instinctive understanding of their breath weapon and its uses, they may not realize the best strategic use of it. They are, after all, just terribly nasty but quite dumb bugs.
Host Subtype (Ex): The dracotick has the same subtype as the dragon that was its most recent host, and all its attendant benefits. Thus, a red dracotick is immune to fire, but takes double damage from cold attacks unless it makes its saving throw, since it has the Fire subtype.
Poison (Ex): The mouthparts of a dracotick can exude a numbing toxin. The initial and secondary damage of the poison are paralysis for creatures of Medium size or smaller, while a Fortitude save (DC 12) can avoid these effects. Against creatures of Large size or greater, the dracotick’s poison acts as a mild anesthetic and causes only localized numbness. This allows the dracotick to go unnoticed by its draconic host. The dracotick usually follows up its Poison attack by attempting to Attach and use its Blood Drain ability.
Skills: Dracoticks receive a +3 racial bonus to Climb, Hide, Jump, and Move Silently checks. These bonuses are figured into the dracotick’s skill totals. In addition, they also receive a +5 racial bonus to Hide checks if they are hiding on the body of a dragon-host.
Spell Resistance (Ex): To determine if a spell or spell-like ability works against the creature, the spellcaster makes a level check (1d20 + caster level). If the result equals or exceeds 10, the spell works normally, though the creature still gets a saving throw if the spell allows such.
Vermin: Vermin have no Intelligence scores and are immune to all mind-influencing effects. Dracoticks have Tremorsense with a range of 30 feet instead of Darkvision. Note that this ability also allows the dracotick to sense the location of movement on the body of the dragon upon which it feeds, whether the dragon is living or dead.
Dracotick Familiars
A magic user of 5th level or higher can attempt to bond a dracotick as a familiar. This is a tedious process, as the dracotick is normally unintelligent, but determined spellcasters can accomplish it. As long as the spellcaster has no current familiar, he may make one Handle Animal check per month (DC 22) that he spends in the constant company of the dracotick. Should the magic user survive the experience and this check succeeds, the dracotick forms a primitive bond with him. While the dracotick and the spellcaster are linked, the magic user can have no other familiar and must feed the dracotick his blood daily; for the duration of the familiar-master relationship the spellcaster suffers 1 temporary point of Constitution damage. This can be temporarily restored through the use of endurance and similar spells.
The benefits of the bond are potent. The dracotick gains rudimentary awareness, and its Intelligence score raises to 1 rather than using the boosted Intelligence scores standard to familiars. Spells cast by the spellcaster that share the dracotick’s subtype gain +1 to their save DC to be resisted. The magic user likewise gains +2 to his saves when resisting spells that share the dracotick’s subtype. When dealing with dragons, the spellcaster gains a +2 circumstance bonus to skill checks with Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive. The dracotick is never a very bright familiar, though, and communication with it is difficult even for the sorcerer who owns such a familiar. It receives all other familiar benefits, but it cannot make use of the speak with vermin ability, as other vermin are generally unintelligent, or the speak with master ability. The familiar dracotick’s CR is 3 + half magic user’s level.
A dracotick sold for use as a familiar can fetch in excess of 500 gp, depending on the rarity of the dracotick’s last host.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The name, stats, and special abilities of the dracotick, as well as the dracotick familiars section, are open game content released under the open game license. See
www.opengamingfoundation.org/ogl.html for the full text of the license. The Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary is copyright 2002 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games; author Darren Miguez.
