Armor Class: |
13 |
Hit Dice: |
6** |
No. of Attacks: |
2 claws or weapon |
Damage: |
1d6 claw or weapon |
Movement: |
40' Fly 20' |
No. Appearing: |
1, Wild 1d3, Lair 1d3 |
Save As: |
Magic-User: 6 |
Morale: |
9 |
Treasure Type: |
F |
XP: |
610 |
A Vermin Queen is a swarm of horrid, intelligent black beetles with the ability to assume the guise of a beautiful human or demihuman. It uses this disguise to waylay travelers in order to devour his or her flesh and steal their skin. When a vermin queen eats a living human, demihuman, or humanoid creature, another beetle is born to the swarm. When the swarm gets too big to comfortably fit into a human skin, half of it splits off and becomes a new vermin queen. The mother swarm typically deposits the daughter swarm in the body of its next victim.
A vermin queen can freely change between humanoid and swarm forms once per round. The touch of a vermin queen in either form paralyzes (much like a ghoul) and it never takes more than 1d4 points of damage from weapon attacks. While in swarm form, a vermin queen fights just like an insect swarm.