| Rhinoceros Beetle (Giant) | ||||||||||||||||
| Statistics: | ||||||||||||||||
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| CLIMATE/TERRAIN:
Any Jungle FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Solitary ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any DIET: Organic matter INTELLIGENCE: Non- (0) TREASURE: Nil ALIGNMENT: Neutral NO. APPEARING: 1 (1-6) ARMOR CLASS: 2 MOVEMENT: 6 HIT DICE: 12 THAC0: 9 NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-18/2-16 SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil SPECIAL DEFENSES:Nil MAGIC RESISTANCE:Nil SIZE: L (12' long) MORALE: Elite (14) XP VALUE: 4,000 |
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| Giant beetles are similar to their more ordinary
counterparts, but thousands of times larger -- with chewing mandibles and
hard wings that provide substantial armor protection. Beetles have
two pairs of wings and three pairs of legs. Fortunately, the wings of a
giant beetle cannot be used to fly, and in most cases, its six bristly
legs do not enable it to move as fast as a fleeing man. The hard, chitinous
shell of several varieties of these beetles are brightly colored, and sometimes
have value to art collectors. While their shells protect beetles as well
as plate mail armor, it is difficult to craft armor from them, and a skilled
alchemist would need to be brought in on the job.
All beetles are basically unintelligent and always hungry. They will feed on virtually any form of organic material, including other sorts of beetles. They taste matter with their antennae, or feelers; if a substance tasted is organic, the beetle grasps it with its mandibles, crushes it, and eats it. Because of the thorough grinding of the mandibles, nothing eaten by giant beetles can be revived by anything short of a wish. Beetles do not hear or see well, and rely primarily on taste and feel. Except as noted below, giant beetles are not really social animals; those that are found near each other are competitors for the same biological niche, not part of any family unit. Rhinoceros Beetle
Combat: The mandibles of this giant beetle inflict 3d6 points of damage on anyone unfortunate enough to be caught by them; the tremendous horn is capable of causing 2d8 points of damage by itself. Ecology: The shell of this jungle dweller is often brightly colored or iridescent. If retrieved in one piece, these shells are valuable to clerics of the Egyptian pantheon, who use them as giant scarabs to decorate temples and other areas of worship. It is a representation of this, the largest of all beetles, that serves as the holy symbol for clerics of Apshai, the Egyptian god whose sphere of influence is said to include all insects. |
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