FREQUENCY: Uncommon ([Cold Civilized Forest], [Cold Wilderness Forest])
FREQUENCY: Uncommon ([Temperate Civilized Forest])
FREQUENCY: Uncommon ([Temperate Wilderness Forest])
FREQUENCY: Uncommon ([Tropical Civilized Forest])
FREQUENCY: Uncommon ([Tropical Wilderness Forest])

FREQUENCY: Common ([Dungeon Level II])

NO. APPEARING: 3-30
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 3"/18" <(MC: A, according to Dragon 83)>
HIT DICE: 1-1
% IN LAIR: 60%
TREASURE TYPE: [D]
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 ~ 15
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-3 (snakey probiscis) + Drain blood (1-4)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
INTELLIGENCE: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: S
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: II | 36+ 2

Stirges are found only in very dark, tangled forests or in subterranean lairs.
They lay in wait for warm-blooded creatures, swoop down,
and when their long, sharp proboscis is attached,
the blood of the victim is drawn through to be eaten.

Stirges attack as if they were creatures with 4 hit dice rather than 1 + 1. <edit>

The snakey proboscis of a stirge inflicts 1-3 HP of damage when it hits. <edit?>

Drain Blood: Each melee round after striking, until it has drained 12 HP value in blood, the stirge drains blood equal to 1-4 HP.
Bloated with blood, a stirge draining 12 HP worth will flap off to digest its repast.

The only method to detach a stirge from its prey is to kill it.

Description: The feathers of a stirge are rusty red to red brown.
Its eyes && feet are yellowish.
The dangling proboscis of a stirge is pink at the tip, fading to gray at the base.

<moved probiscis>

Sorry Llaurenela,

The question was indeed missed in the flurry of off-topic posts regarding weapons 

The stirgie was inspired from the mythological Strygia et al. as was noted.
for game purposes a more conventional vampiric creature was desirable, as there were plenty of more potent sorts of monsters such as the vampire to fulfill the larger roles of party antagonists.

Cheers,
Gary
 
 

ScottyG wrote:
Gary, when characters are dealing with stirges, would you allow a hit from a PC to kill an attached stirge, assuming the PC just pulls the critter out and squishes it, or twists its head around, etc. All of the groups I've DMed for assume they need to hack away at the attached monsters with swords, etc. inflicting normal damage.

Scott

Attempting to kill stirgies by hand is possible, but I'd give the attacker a penalty of about half normal chance to hit to manage such a feat.

In short I like hacking away, with misses having the chance to strike the character to which the strige is attached 

Cheers,
Gary
 

Dammadon wrote:
The warhammer rules in this case. Makes short work of them filthy buggers, especially when they're attached to yer mates.... 'cause then they ain't going anywhere for a bit.
 

And so often the second roll check after a miss is a solid hit...on the PC 

Cheers,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tav_Behemoth
2) Was your invention of the stirge inspired by the striges of Roman folklore, and if so do you remember if you encountered them in Thomas Burnett Swann's fantasy novel Day of the Minotaur or novella "Where is the Bird of Fire" or from another source (such as Ovid)?

The stirge I made up frm whole cloth, vaguely inspired by the myth of Strygea.
I haven't read any of Swann's yarns.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by mythusmage
The Col. statted the stirge as he did originally, because he knew nobody would believe the stats for the Wisconsin mosquito.

In case you didn't know, California mosquitos are proof positive tofu and yogurt are inadequate to sustain life. Fleas bully California mosquitos.

Excellent Alan!

I suspect it also has to do with the alfalfa sprouts consumed out there <mad>

Cheers,
Gary