Wednesday 30 March 2011

Monster Book: Ant Lion

Here's the next A monster in the book: 

Ant Lion

NO. ENC.:  1 (1)
ALIGNMENT:  Neutral
MOVEMENT:  90’ (30’)
ARMOUR CLASS:  2
HIT DICE:  8
ATTACKS:  1
DAMAGE:  5d4
SAVE:  F4
MORALE:  9
HOARD CLASS:  VII
XP:  1,560
AVG. HP:  36

 
Ant lions are insect-like creatures that resemble giant grey or brown ants with leathery skin covered in coarse, black bristles.  They have deeply inset, black eyes, and a mouth filled with rows of jagged teeth.  Two large, silver mandibles protrude just above the mouth.  Each mandible has a barb on its inside edge, midway between the creature’s mouth and the end-point of the mandible.  An ant lion is about 9 feet long and weighs nearly 700 pounds.

Ant lions dig deep, funnel-shaped pits in which to trap their prey.  They can sense tiny tremors (e.g. those caused by footsteps) up to 60 feet away from the source.  An ant lion pit is about 60 feet across and about 20 feet deep.  A creature that walks on the slope of the pit must make a dexterity check (roll under dexterity on a d20) or slip and fall down into the centre of the funnel.  It is there the ant lion waits, buried just under the surface of the ground.  When prey falls to the centre of the funnel, the ant lion surfaces and attacks, using its mandibles to grab and tear its prey.  An ant lion that gets a hold does not release its prey until either it or the prey is dead.  This means that on making a successful to hit roll, the ant lion does not need to make to hit rolls against that opponent in subsequent rounds.

Ant lions do not collect treasure, but remnants of the possessions of previous victims may sometimes be found buried in their pits.

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