Starting off week 2 of Frightful Fridays! A-Z! is the giant chalcid wasp, a find I owe to Flash. Flying, stinging insects rank third after clowns and spiders in my least-favorite-things list, so a giant-sized, evil version of this parasitic wasp seems like a great monster. In addition, this re-envisioned wasp has multiple stingers that it can shoot at characters or leave embedded in a victim, depending on how cranky the wasp feels. The stingers can bypass 10 points of hardness, so no hiding behind doors from this thing either.
I hope you'll be back for tomorrow's "H" monster. Thanks for reading!
A loud droning sound precedes the appearance of this improbably large wasp with an enormous stinger that drips with venom.
Giant Chalcid Wasp CR 7
XP 3,200
CE Medium vermin
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18
Defense
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 natural)
hp 82 (11d8+33)
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +5
Defensive Abilities evasion; Immune mind-affecting effects
Offense
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)
Melee sting +15 (2d4+6/19–20 plus disease or poison), bite +14 (1d6+6)
Ranged sting +14 (2d4/19–20 plus poison)
Special Attacks array of stingers, disease, paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 18), poison, stonebreaker
Statistics
Str 22, Dex 21, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 11
Base Atk +8; CMB +14; CMD 30 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Critical (sting), Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (sting)
Skills Fly +21, Perception +18; Racial Modifiers +8 Fly
Ecology
Environment temperate or warm forests, jungles and plains
Organization solitary, pair, or colony (3–8)
Treasure none
Special Abilities
Array of Stingers (Ex) A giant chalcid wasp starts combat with a total of 6 stingers. It can fire a stinger as a ranged attack, or it can dislodge a stinger in a foe (which deals 1d4 points of damage per round until the opponent removes it with a DC 10 Strength check), but it reserves at least one for melee combat.
Disease (Ex) Chalcid wasp larvae: Sting; save Fort DC 18; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1 day; effect 1de Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Paralysis (Ex) The first creature stung by a giant chalcid wasp must succeed at a DC 18 Fortitude save to avoid becoming paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds.
Poison (Ex) Sting; save Fort DC 18; frequency 1/round for 8 rounds; effect 1d6 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Stonebreaker (Ex) A giant chalcid wasp’s stinger is extremely powerful and can bypass 10 points of an object’s hardness when the wasp stings an object.
Typical of vermin grown to massive, unimaginable size, a giant chalcid wasp becomes a much creepier, deadlier and malevolent creature than its natural counterpart. While a normal-sized chalcid wasp is a parasitical foe of spiders that become unwilling hosts for its larvae, the giant version is a terror to any creature that could potentially serve as food for its young. A giant chalcid wasp measures 7 feet in length and weighs roughly 150 pounds.
Beyond the unusual anatomy that allows a giant chalcid wasp to hold a number of destructive stingers, the wasp can employ its stingers to inject poison or to act as ovipositors. When the creature hunts for food, it only uses its poison to incapacitate its prey, either directly through paralysis or as the eventual result of its poison, allowing it to bite and sting them to death. During its annual reproductive cycle, the creature’s primary goal is to immobilize its victim and inject its eggs into the helpless, but still living, host.
Strangely, in keeping with its smaller cousin’s preferences, a giant chalcid wasp attacks gigantic spiders in preference to any other prey.
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Giant Chalcid Wasp Weapons
A skilled weaponsmith can preserve an unused giant chalcid wasp stinger for use as a dagger or 10 crossbow bolts. Chalcid wasp weapons deal damage as Medium weapons and ignore 10 points of an object’s hardness. Additionally, a chalcid wasp bolt has a 20% chance of remaining intact when it hits a target, and a 70% chance of being found and remaining intact on a miss. A giant chalcid wasp dagger has a 12 gp price, and a giant chalcid wasp bolt has a price of 3 gp.
If a character succeeds at a DC 18 Craft (alchemy) or Heal check, he can extract one dose of chalcid wasp poison (injury; save Fort DC 18; frequency 1/round for 8 rounds; effect 1d6 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves) from a stinger. Each dose has a price of 1,500 gp.
