The Voor Larva

[BOZ]

Voor Larva

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Truespace nebulae
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Hive
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Any
INTELLIGENCE: Low (3-7)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: NE
NO, APPEARING: 1d10
ARMOR C LASS: -4
MOVEMENT: 16
HIT DICE: 12
THAC0: 9
NO, OF ATTACKS: 5
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6 x4/2d6 + special
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Poison, trill
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to psionic influence, regeneration
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
SIZE: S (4' long)
MORALE: Fearless (20)
XP VALUE: 8,000

Voor larvae are. 8-foot long skeletal insectoids whose "wings" are bare of my membrane, but instead serve as forward-swept, razor-tipped claws. Their bodies are composed of organic elements, often mixed with metallic, crystal, glass, stone, or other unlikely substances. More than any other creature, voor hate illithids, and break off any other activity in order to destroy any illithids sensed.

Combat: In combat, voor larvae use their naked, forward-swept "wings." Each is tipped with a terrible claw, which inflicts 1d6 hit points of damage with a successful attack. Voor larvae are also able to deliver a bite attack it in the same round. In addition to the 2d6 hit points a successful bite attack delivers, voors also inject a poison that inflicts an additional 10 hp of damage to those that fail their saves.

Voor of all varieties are immune to direct mental attack by mind-affecting spells, items, or psionic abilities. This attribute makes them a particularly lethal foe against illithids. Unfortunately, voor larvae are too "programmed" to distinguish humanoid foes from illithids; in the absence of mind flayers, voor larvae attack anything else that lives.

Once per turn voor larvae call rub their "wings" together so quickly as to produce an unnerving trill. When making a trill, the voor larvae can take no other actions. The trill is a grating, piercing buzz, and all that hear it must make a Con check at a -5 penalty or act with a -2 penalty to all actions while the trill continues. Usually, one voor larva produces a trill, while other larvae in a group press the attack. Note that voor larvae are immune to this affect.

Because of their strange metabolism (see Ecology), voor larvae regenerate 1 hp per round, even if brought below 0 hp, A voor larva that is brought to 0 hp or below drops, but continues to regenerate, only to spring back into action after regenerating at least 20 hp. If a voor larva is brought below -20 hp, it is permanently destroyed.

Habitat/Society: Voor larvae represent only one form of the creatures that were once collectively known as, the voor by ancient illithids. In the present, that entire race is long annihilated, and only small voor larvae eggs float in lonely solitude between the stars, the last remnant of a murderous race.

Ecology. Great nebulas float in Truespace. Some of them are lightly seeded with the dust of the murdered voor race. If any object, living or inert, passes through these nebulas, there is a 10% chance that 1d10 specks of voor dust adheres. The dust are like spores, or seeds, and once contact is made with any medium, a particular speck sprouts tiny tendrils. These tendrils bore microscopic channels into the object to which it has adhered. Thus rooted, it begins to "grow," utilizing the material of the object itself as building blocks towards development. In only 1d4 hours, a chrysalis forms (if the object possess interior spaces, like a ship, the chrysalis forms in one of these hollows).

Chrysalises discovered before hatching are easy enough to destroy with physical weapons: a strong blow empties the chrysalis chamber of a sizeable quantity of disgusting smelling liquid and a half-formed worm thing that dies the instant the chrysalis bursts. Chrysalises that remain unmolested eventually hatch in 1d6 hours after full chrysalis formation. That which emerges is a voor larva.



some preliminary stats for the voor larva:

Voor Larva
Large Aberration
Hit Dice: 12d8+X (X hp)
Initiative: +X
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 24 (-1 size, +X Dex, +X natural), touch X, flat-footed X
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+X
Attack:
Full Attack: 4 claws +X melee (1d6+X) and bite +X melee (2d6+X plus poison)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: poison, trill
Special Qualities: darkvision 60 ft., fast healing (special), immunity to mind-affecting effects, spell resistance X
Saves: Fort +X, Ref +X, Will +X
Abilities: Str X, Dex X, Con X, Int 6, Wis X, Cha X
Skills: 15 Jump +4
Feats: 5

Environment: Underground ??
Organization: Hive (1-10)
Challenge Rating: X
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 13-24 HD (Large); 25-36 (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

A voor larva is 8 feet long, and weighs X pounds.

COMBAT

Dawn of the Overmind (1998, Bruce R. Cordell)

 

[Shade]

Borrowing from the frost worm....

Trill (Su): A voor larva can rub its "wings" together so quickly as to produce an unnerving trill. This sonic mind-affecting compulsion affects all creatures other than voor larva within a 100-foot radius. Creatures must succeed on a DC X Will save or be sickened for as long as the voor larva trills and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. Once a creature has resisted or broken the effect, it cannot be affected again by that same voor larva's trill for 24 hours. The effect’s caster level is Xth. The save DC is Charisma(?)-based.

I chose sickened because its penalties matched the original penalties closely.

 

[Knight Otu]

Fast healing is a good call. I'm unsure about the -20 hp bit. Maybe we should give it a flat Fast Healing, and a high Con score?

 

[Shade]

We could somewhat mimic the greater "death's door" range by giving it the Diehard feat as a bonus feat, or we could extend its "death's door" to -20 as an ability. Or we could just ditch it.

 

[BOZ]

Borrowing from the frost worm....

Trill (Su): A voor larva can rub its "wings" together so quickly as to produce an unnerving trill. This sonic mind-affecting compulsion affects all creatures other than voor larva within a 100-foot radius. Creatures must succeed on a DC X Will save or be sickened for as long as the voor larva trills and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. Once a creature has resisted or broken the effect, it cannot be affected again by that same voor larva's trill for 24 hours. The effect’s caster level is Xth. The save DC is Charisma(?)-based.

I chose sickened because its penalties matched the original penalties closely.

good deal.

Fast healing is a good call. I'm unsure about the -20 hp bit. Maybe we should give it a flat Fast Healing, and a high Con score?

I could have sworn I’ve seen a creature or ability that allows a character to fight all the way down to –20. maybe we can just give it that feat?

 

[Shade]

The only place I've found it is as a variant rule in the Epic Level Handbook.

 

[Knight Otu]

Boars and the like can fight up to -10. I don't think there's a D&D creature capable of surviving any further (Arcana Unearthed creatures might...).

 

[Shade]

There's at least one prestige class, the frenzied berserker, that can keep fighting past -10. But his ability doesn't really translate well to a monster (he dies when his frenzy ends).

 

[BOZ]

OK then, let’s just keep it simple and give him Diehard. and a high Con score would help too.

 

[Shade]

Sounds good.

I find it odd that the 2E stat block listed 'em as S (4' long), and then the text goes on to say they are 8-feet long. I agree with your decision to make 'em Large.

Poison: 1d4 Con/1d4 Con?

For ability scores, here are some comparable bug-like creatures:

Greater kruthik (MH) Str 25, Dex 20, Con 19, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 10
Ankheg: Str 21, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 6
Chilblain (FB): Str 28, Dex 17, Con 24, Int 5, Wis 14, Cha 19
Knell Beetle (MM3): Str 26, Dex 10, Con 23, Int --, Wis 11, Cha 11
Giant Ant Queen: Str 16, Dex 9, Con 13, Int —, Wis 13, Cha 11
Giant Stag Beetle: Str 23, Dex 10, Con 17, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 9
Giant Praying Mantis: Str 19, Dex 8, Con 15, Int —, Wis 14, Cha 11

Based on that, I'd recommend the following ranges:
Str 23-26, Dex 10-17, Con 17-21, Int 6, Wis 13-14, Cha 10-11