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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 2211233" data-attributes="member: 10201">I'm actually perfectly aware that there's at least as much variety in insects (never mind other arthropods) as in the whole vertebrate world put together. My intention is to put giant insects of some sort in the Genie's Anvil (in Al Qadim--particularly hot and dry desert, pretty much inhospitable to normal animals, or people without magic) as pseudo-plausible mundane inhabitants (and a good challenge ,of course). My first thought was ants, or maybe termites (in mounds that'd be, what, a couple thousand feet tall?). I want to use something that doesn't seem deadly at first, so i'm shying away from scorpions [yes, i know those aren't insects]. And, played at all reasonably, antlions and trapdoor spiders would be too deadly--the first time they'd find out about them would be when a PC or 2 were grabbed. But, if you have a better idea, shoot.Thanks for remembering the Dragon #--i couldn't remember which issue it was, and was meaning to dig it out. It's not so much their general capabilities, or how strong, that i'm having a problem with--i'm reasonably well-versed in those things--it's how to translate some of the key concepts into D20 System terms. Like their resilience--i like the idea of hevay fortification, or just crit immunity (given the distribution of neurological and sensory functions, the multitude of limbs, the simplicity of internal organs, and the exoskeleton, i don't think it'd be much of a stretch to say that insects just don't have the sorts of vital spots that crits represent). And maybe stack that with DR, but leave AC and hps more-or-less the same? It's not that there's "more life" to them, just that it's harder to do any telling damage? Or should they be relatively easy to hit (low AC), but hard to damage (DR)? Or easy to damage, but it just doesn't matter (tons of hp)?Also, the comment on senses is a good one--i'd planned on blindsense/tremorsense, especially if i use ants, but hadn't thought about boosting spot/listen. Particularly cool, sense i've got a couple masters of stealth in the group [evil grin]. What are mound-building termites' senses like? Also, i'm thinking more dog-sized, rather than pony-sized, ants/termites--i just like the feel better. Plus, they can pile on top of each other so that 3x as many can gang up on one human.</blockquote>

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