In the old days, giant killer scorpions didn’t throw lightning bolts and fireballs. They had to rely merely on bone-snapping pincers and flesh-melting venom. Pine for those simpler days of bloodshed no more!
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Nature DC 15—Giant scorpions hunt at night, using their large claws to hold prey while injecting paralytic poison. They typically eat prey live, secreting digestive acid to liquefy flesh and ripping off large portions of the twitching victim with their large fangs.
Nature DC 20—Giant scorpions have been known to snatch weapons with their claws. They avoid lighted areas. In addition to eyes, giant scorpions have feelers which allow them to sense vibrations in the ground and air.
Giant Scorpion Tactics
A giant scorpion stays hidden to surprise foes. It attacks using double attack. It devours grabbed enemies. It tail lashes ungrabbed enemies to knock them away. It uses an action point to sting those in range.
Generally, it tries to grab and immobilize as many foes as possible, and it uses its tail lash to push enemies back and subject them to its sting when they move into its threatening reach again. If it can immobilize all of its enemies, it will grab one and carry it away from the others to try and finish it off and devour it. It uses its snatch and devour powers whenever they recharge. When it falls to 35 hp, it retreats to find a place to hide.
Giant Scorpion (Level 2 Solo Soldier)
Large natural beast XP 625
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +8; tremorsense
HP 140; Bloodied 70
AC 20, Fortitutde 17, Reflex 16, Will 14
Vulnerable 5 radiant
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6
Action Points 2
[m] Sting (standard; at-will) • Poison
Reach 2; +9 vs. AC; 1d6+3, and the target takes ongoing 5 poison damage and is immobilized (save ends both)
[M] Claw (standard; at-will)
+9 vs. AC; 1d10+3, and the target is grabbed; as long as a target is grabbed, the scorpion cannot use double attack; as long as two targets are grabbed, the scorpion cannot use claw or snatch
[M] Devour (minor; recharge on 5, 6)
Requires grabbed or immobilized target; +9 vs. AC; 2d10+3, and the target takes ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends)
[M] Double Attack (standard; at-will)
The scorpion makes two claw attacks
[M] Tail Lash (minor; at-will)
Reach 2; +7 vs. Fortitude; the target is pushed 1 square and knocked prone
[M] Snatch (immediate interrupt, when scorpion is target by melee attack; recharge on 6)
+7 vs. Reflex; the attack is lost, and the scorpion snatches the enemy’s melee weapon with a claw, dropping it in any square adjacent to the giant scorpion
Threatening reach
The scorpion make opportunity attacks against all enemies within its reach (2 squares)
Alignment unaligned Languages —
Skills Stealth+8
Str 17 (+4) Dex 14 (+3) Wis 14 (+3)
Con 11 (+1) Int 8 (+0) Cha 8 (+0)
More stuff like this would be cool :)
Bit without random strange powers, how will fighting it be awesome and all up-to-eleveney? This is totally not what 4E is about, man.
-The Gneech
Very cool! This is perfect for an adventure I’m about to run, plus, it’s nice to have some more low-level solos.
I would have liked to see it using the update monster statblock template, but those are minor details. :)
Any chance of seeing this statted up for PF.
So much 4e here lately…almost ALL 4e…
The editions just cluster some times, and there seems more than there actually is lately because several posts a week have been edition neutral, such as with the MFGC entries. Besides, the announcement of The Lost City project for 4E with Logan Bonner and his own MFGC on Tuesday demanded a 4E critter this Monday. :)
Our goal is to keep a good mix, and I think we do. But not to worry Pathfinder fans: more Pathfinder is on its way. Wednesday even! ;)
Ha! The ad at the top is for Terminix. ;)
Nice article. I will use it in my Eberron game, thank you.
I like. Thanks for sharing. Now to design some “worldbreaker” terrain powers for it. With an Intelligence of 8, this thing can be pretty clever…for a scorpion. >:-)
Some authors, notably Necromancers of the North, are listing both PFR [3.75?] and 4.0 versions of monsters when they release them.
I’m sure that you’ve had this discussion before, so I’m curious as to why you decided not to list monsters with both rule sets.
It is extra work, but then we’d all get double the monsters wouldn’t we? :)
::running away quick before a giant scorpion chases me::
We’ve done that once or twice, Gericko. If an author sends both stats, we’re perfectly happy to post both, but that rarely happens. Let me encourage you to break that trend! :)
Looking forward to someone posting a 3.5/Pathfinder version. I just don’t have enough free time to stat up one myself. (As it is, I only get to run my game about once every three weeks these days…)