Stirges have cemented themselves as my favorite D&D monsters at this point...

[CleverNickName]

The "Paladin"* in my group is wearing armor made from the hide and scales of an adult sea dragon and has a rust proof mithril Morningstar, so would probably end up Hoovering up most or all of the XP from an encounter with rust monsters, no tears involved.

Indeed you would! That's the perfect build for defeating rust monsters (and probably heat metal spells, if you switch to a wooden baseball bat.)

*(Actually Champion of Aravar, God of the Dead, with the Guardian and Travel portfolios, but that is so much incomprehensible gibberish, so settle for "Paladin" because functionally that's what he is.)

Yeah, my "paladin" isn't a Paladin either. They're a dragonborn Cleric of Bahamut, Thunder Domain, Soldier background, and a figurine of wondrous power (obsidian steed) for their mount.

 

[LordEntrails]

Don't forget some bookworms. Throw in a nice old library that just happens to be infested. If they don't notice, your wizard will be begging to return to the surface so he can buy a new spell book!

 

[VelvetViolet]

Did you know? The name stirge derives from the Greco-Latin strix, meaning “screech owl.” It further gained connotations as “witch”, which remained when it was loaned into other languages.

Curiously, a similar phenomenon was observed with the words for “screech owl” in Hebrew and Proto-Algonquin. Both came to refer to various demons.

Furthermore: An older English compound for screech owl was lich-owl (“death/corpse owl”), as they were seen as omens of death.

In other words, screech owls are creepy. This is acknowledged by cultures vastly separated in space and time.

 

[Celebrim]

Did you know? The name stirge derives from the Greco-Latin strix, meaning “screech owl.” It further gained connotations as “witch”, which remained when it was loaned into other languages.

Curiously, a similar phenomenon was observed with the words for “screech owl” in Hebrew and Proto-Algonquin. Both came to refer to various demons.

Furthermore: An older English compound for screech owl was lich-owl (“death/corpse owl”), as they were seen as omens of death.

In other words, screech owls are creepy. This is acknowledged by cultures vastly separated in space and time.

I like this guy.

 

[Eltab]

The stirges in LMnOP got my character. I blew my Perception roll, and they won initiative. A dozen stirges dropped on me and got two free shots before I could react; almost all of them were attached when the rest of the group caught up (because I Message constantly when I am the scout and my chatter was "Eeeewww! They're all over me! There's bugs all over me! Get them off! -silence-"). Revivify is my best friend. For the rest of the dungeon I described myself as looking quite thin and pale.