Ankhegs are cool, but the monster-as-written lacked a bit of depth and needed some tweaking so it would make sense in my game. Below is my new (and I think improved) version of the classic monster.
Ankheg
They are giant, highly aggressive
insects that burrow underground and can tunnel through rock. They live in colonies with a single brood
queen at the center. There are three varieties
of ankheg, and each is quite distinct from the other.
Workers:
Workers do the digging, tending of
eggs and preparation of food. They also
double as soldiers and so these ankhegs are big, many reaching 20’ long. They have short antennae, huge mandibles, a
multitude of hook-tipped legs and a thick chitinous armor of rusty reddish
brown.
Habitat: Underground/Mountainous
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Brood
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Non
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1-8
Armor Class: 2
Hit Dice: 7-8
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: *3-18
Special Attacks: None
Special Defenses: None
Size: H 20’ long
Morale: 9 (12 if protecting Queen)
*Note that the creature must make
a successful to-hit each round of combat; there is no automatic damage/grapple.
Hunters:
These ankhegs are smaller than the
warriors, measuring 10-12 feet long.
Their only job is to hunt food for the rest colony. Hunters burrow under the ground and lay in
ambush. They are yellow in colour for
one, and their antennae are extremely long.
They have smaller mandibles than the workers, but compensate for this by
having a stinger that can paralyze their prey the way carrion crawlers can
do. If the saving throw is failed, the
paralysis will last 2-8 turns but can be cured by a Cure Light Wounds spell if
one is available. Hunters prefer not to kill their prey, instead
paralyzing it and bringing it back to the rest of the colony still alive. This way the kill will not go to rot. Also, if it is large enough, the Queen might select
it as a candidate for egg insertion.
Habitat: Underground/Mountainous
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Brood
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Non
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1-2
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: *2-12
Special Attacks: Paralyzing sting
Special Defenses: None
Size: L 10-12’ long
Morale: 9
The Queen:
The queen is the center of the
colony. She regulates population and can
sense when the numbers of her colony have dropped and she needs to lay new
eggs. Most hives will have 1 queen, 2
hunters and 12 workers at full strength.
The queen is huge, fully forty
feet long and twenty in diameter. She is
bulbous and pale white in colour. She resembles an enormous grub and does not
have natural armor. Although she is extremely
large, she does not fight. She does have a special defense however, and
will use it if cornered. She can spray
acid in a cone 30’ long and 15’ wide at the end. This attack causes 2d10 points of acid damage
to any creature caught in the spray (save vs breath weapon for half) and can
destroy armor, weapons and other materials it touches at the DM’s
discretion. The queen’s acid breath may
only be used once per day.
Habitat: Underground/Mountainous
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Brood
Diet: Omnivore
Intelligence: Non
Alignment: Neutral
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 4
No. of Attacks: 0
Damage/Attack: N/A
Special Attacks: Acid Spray
Special Defenses: None
Size: H 30’ long
Morale: 6
You clearly popped in your Aliens: Special Edition laser disc recently.
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