#formians

Things you’ll encounter in games I run…

Communist arcologies..

Friendly transforming monsters..

Steam mechs..

Ants.

Armadon Large monstrosity, lawful neutral Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64) Speed 40 ft. Str 22, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 11 Damage Immunities cold, poison, acid Damage Resistances fire, lightning, thunder Condition Immunities charmed, petrified, poisoned Senses passive Perception 11 Languages - Challenge 8 (3900 XP) Hive Mind. Any formian within 50 miles of its queen is in constant communication with her, and all other formians within 50 miles of the queen. If one formian is aware of a threat, all of them are. Magic Resistance. The armadon has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Actions Multiattack. The armadon makes four attacks: one with its bite, two with its claws, and one with its sting. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6+6) piercing damage. Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8+6) slashing damage. Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 11 (2d4+6) piercing damage and 10 (3d6) poison damage. Acid Spray (Recharge 5-6). The armadon spews acid in a 20-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 42 (12d6) acid damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Shock troops of a formian hive, armadons are sent in by the queen when a threat proves to be too much for a group of warriors to handle. Bulky and hunched, the armadons are less ant-like than their kin, but their huge claws and heavy carapaces make them too effective of a combatant to pass up as an ally. An armadon will usually open combat with a spray of acid from the glands in its tail, before rushing in to tear apart as many foes as it can with its claws.

Below are some additional formorians to supplement those I posted previously. 

Formian Observer Medium monstrosity, lawful neutral Armor Class 14 (natural armor) Hit Points 117 (18d8 + 36) Speed 40 ft. Str 12, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 19, Cha 17 Damage Immunities cold, poison Damage Resistances fire, lightning, thunder Condition Immunities charmed, petrified, poisoned Senses truesight 120 ft. passive Perception 14 Languages understands Formian and Common Challenge 5 (1800 XP) Hive Mind. Any formian within 50 miles of its queen is in constant communication with her, and all other formians within 50 miles of the queen. If one formian is aware of a threat, all of them are. Magic Resistance. The formian observer has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Telepathy. An observer can communicate telepathically with any creature within 250 feet of it that has a language. Evaluation. Formian observers constantly watch their enemies, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. Any creature with the Hive Mind ability that attacks a creature the formian observer can see, gains advantage on its attack roll. Innate Spellcasting. The formian observer's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14). The formian observer can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: clairvoyance, detect magic, detect thoughts 3/day each: dominate monster Actions Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (2d4+2) piercing damage and 10 (3d6) psychic damage.

Observers serve as tacticians and commanders in formian hives. They tend to stay out of melee combat, keeping to the back ranks where they can watch and learn the enemy’s habits and idiosyncrasies, passing what it learns through the hivemind to aid the warriors in the fight. An observer confronted in melee will usually try to magically dominate one or two opponents to cover its retreat. Observers try to plan ahead so as not to be trapped. 

Winged Warrior Medium monstrosity, lawful neutral Armor Class 14 (natural armor) Hit Points 78 (12d8 + 24) Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover) Str 15, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 11 Damage Immunities cold, poison Damage Resistances fire, lightning, thunder Condition Immunities charmed, petrified, poisoned Senses passive Perception 11 Languages - Challenge 6 (2300 XP) Hive Mind. Any formian within 50 miles of its queen is in constant communication with her, and all other formians within 50 miles of the queen. If one formian is aware of a threat, all of them are. Magic Resistance. The winged warrior has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Tail Spikes. The winged warrior has eight tail spikes. Used spikes regrow when the winged warrior finishes a long rest. Actions Multiattack. The winged warrior makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws, or three with its tail spikes. Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) piercing damage. Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) slashing damage. Tail Spike. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 20/80 ft., one creature. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) piercing damage and the target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 13) or take an additional 36 (8d8) poison damage.

Serving as scouts, and cavalry of a sort, winged warriors are specialized soldiers a bit smaller than the average formian warrior. In place of its stinger are rows of spines which it can fire from its tail at opponents. Agile and steadfast fliers, they can remain in the air for hours at a time without needing to rest. As such, they are often sent to patrol above-ground, keeping an eye on formian territory, and making sure no one gets too close to the hive.

Formian Scout

In skirmish war situations, the Formians find need of capable scouts. To this end, arbalestiers that survive long stretches of duty are further trained as scouts. By this point they have grown a little bit larger, but also significantly nimbler and more alert.

Small Monstrosity, Lawful Neutral

Armor Class: 16 (natural armor) Hit Points: 13 (3d6+3) Speed: 45′

STR: 13 (+1), DEX: 16 (+3), CON: 13 (+1), INT 8 (-1), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 9 (-1)

Damage Resistances: Poison, Cold Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +5, Investigation +1 Senses: Darkvision 60′, passive perception 13 Languages: Communicates telepathically with hivemates only Challenge: 1

Actions Light Crossbow Ranged weapon attack +5 to hit, range 80/320, one target, 7 (1d8+3) damage + Poison (DC 12 CON save; 7 (2d6) poison damage & poisoned for one hour on a failed save, half damage and not poisoned on a success) Bite Melee weapon attack: +3 to hit, 5′ reach, one target, 3 (1d4+1) damage Alchemist’s Fire Ranged improvised weapon attack +3 to hit, range 20′, one target, see PHB pg 148&151 for effect. Caltrops See PHB pg 151 Sending Instead of the usual spell-like abilities of its caste, a Formian Scout can cast sending 1/day. It may only send to another member of its hive of at least Myrmarch caste, or a full Taskmaster. Provided it is within 50 miles of the recipient, the recipient knows where it is when it casts the sending by direction and distance, and, if the area it is in is familiar to the recipient, the recipient knows the scout’s exact location. If the intended recipient is deceased, the use of this ability is wasted.

A typical scout carries 1 bag of caltrops, one flask of alchemist’s fire, 2d10 poisoned bolts, and roll 1d10: 1-2: an additional bag of caltrops 3-4: an additional flask of alchemist’s fire 5: an additional 1d6 bolts 6: 1d3-1 healing potions, minimum 1 7: 1d4-1 hunting traps, minimum 1 8: a flask of acid 9: nothing 10: roll again twice

Scouts on long expeditions may be even better outfitted. They also often carry simple tools of a combat engineer’s trade (shovels and the like)

The monster manual doesn’t have formians in it. Here’s a stopgap correction of that omission, based on the 3e version

Formian Worker Small Monstrosity, Lawful Neutral

Armor Class: 14 (natural armor) Hit Points: 9 (2d6+2) Speed: 35′

STR: 13 (+1), DEX: 12 (+1), CON: 13 (+1), INT 6 (-2), WIS 10 (0), CHA 9 (-1)

Damage Resistances: Poison, Cold Senses: Darkvision 60′ Languages: Communicates telepathically with hivemates only Challenge: 1/8

Actions Bite Melee weapon attack +3 to hit, 3 (1d4+1) damage Cure Wounds; Eight workers together can all spend their action to cast Cure Wounds as a 3rd-level spell. Wisdom is their casting attribute and it functions as if any one of them is the caster. Mending: Formian workers know the cantrip Mending.

Variant: Formian Arbalestier

Formians typically disdain ranged combat, relying instead on magic and charmed minions and resorting to it only when forced to. However, when pressed to, some hives outfit workers with light crossbows and send them into battle alongside their warriors.

Such workers add the following to their actions: Light Crossbow: Ranged weapon attack +3 to hit, 5 (1d8+1) damage

and have a CR of 1/4. Some workers even go as far as to use poisoned bolts, typically with a poison derived from (and mechanically identical to) that of their warrior sisters.

Some hives select which workers to train for this duty for dexterity. In this case, increase their Dexterity to 14 (+2) and reduce one other attribute by 1 and another by 2 (typically CON and STR). This changes their actions as follows: Bite: Melee weapon attack +2 to hit, 2 (1d4) damage Light Crossbow: Ranged weapon attack +4 to hit, 6 (1d8+2) damage.