The race of intelligent
ant men, <dmg>
the formians, are sometimes
called centaur-ants. They dwell
in cities of above- and below-
ground construction. At first
glance, these odd habitations
appear to be normal walled
cities made by humans. However,
the structures inside the
smooth-walled enclosure are
truncated cones, cylinders, or hemispheres
and have entry
only at the topor along the upper portion.
The chambers in these structures have
sloping
ramps or
vertical shafts leading downward to a
complex of tunnels and chambers forming the underground portion of the
city--
always about 3 times larger than the upper
part. Ninety per cent of encounters will be
with formian workers, 10% with warriors.
In either case, check for the
probability of the encounter taking place
within 1 mile of the formians'
city ("in lair").
Workers (10-40) are only 10% likely to
be accompanied by warriors. If
warriors are indicated, then the group
is a raiding party, probably
involved in attacking another city or
a giant termite nest.
Myrmarches are formian nobles and are encountered
only in the cities
of the centaur-ants. Each myrmarch will
be served by 2 warrior guards
and 8 workers. These 10 formians are in
addition to those indicated
by dice rolls.
There will also be the following special
formians in a city. 2-5
gymarches (males) equal to mymarches,
but with 7+7 HD, and 1
queen (noncombatant). All of these special
formians will be found in a
special royal chamber complex on a level
near the bottom of the underground
city. There will be 1-4 mymarche, 11-20
warriors, and 31-40 workers
attending these special individuals. All
the attendees are in
addition to those normal individuals indicated
by dice rolls. With these
formians will be type A treasure.
In city complexes, there will be the following
extra formians. 10 warriors
per level below ground; 100 workers per
level below ground; 200 slave
workers per level below ground; 10 eggs
(near royal chamber complex);
10 larvae (near royal chamber complex);
10 pupae (near royal chamber
complex). Slaves are individuals of different
colors. They will not attack,
report, communicate with, support, or
aid intruders. They are merely
there. Formians whose nursery is threatened
will fight fanatically to
save it or bargain to prevent its destruction.
Attacks by mymarches are made with their
large mandibles and a
stinger located in the abdomen. The poison
causes 4-16 points of damage,
or 2-8 if a save is successful. Warriors
attack with mandibles,
2 pincer-like foreleg claws, and a small
sting causing poison
damage of 2-8 or 1-4 points. Workers use
only their small mandibles in
attack. Formians communicate silently
(telepathically) by touching the
other individual with 1 or both of their
antennae. Mymarches and
special formians are 75% likely to be
able to speak Common, although
with a limited vocabulary. All formians
are strong. Workers have the
equivalent of 22 strength points, warriors
have 23, and mymarches have
24.
The formian worker is about the size of
a large dog, the warrior is
pony-sized, and the mymarches are horse-sized.
Gymarches are as <Gymarch? Mymarch?>
large as draft horses and the queen half
again as large. All formians
are ant-like, but their waists are flexxible
and they often go about on 4 legs
with thorax and head raised. Thus, they
resemble centaur-ants. The
forelegs are jointed at the wrist and
have 3 opposing claws. In workers
these claws are clumsy and in warriors
enlarged, but in the others they
are nearly as useful as human hands. The
color of the formian indicates
its city of origin. Each city continually
wars with any other nearby. The
colors known are: solid dark brown, striped
brown and tan, tan, red,
striped red and tan, red head with black
body, black head with red body,
black, striped black and gray, and dark
gray.
FREQUENCY: Very rare
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Tropical Wilderness
Mountains], [Tropical Wilderness Plains], [Tropical Wilderness Desert])
FREQUENCY: Rare ([Dungeon Level II])
NO. APPEARING: 5-8
ARMOR CLASS: 1
MOVE: 1"
HIT DICE: 6+6
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-8/1-2
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Poison
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT: Lawful neutral
SIZE: L
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: V | 400 + 8
(right = formian worker)
FREQUENCY: Very rare
FREQUENCY: Very
rare ([Tropical Wilderness Mountains], [Tropical Wilderness Plains],
[Tropical Wilderness Desert])
FREQUENCY: Rare ([Dungeon Level II])
NO. APPEARING: 21-40
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 15"
HIT DICE: 3+3
% IN LAIR: 50%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 4
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6/1-4/1 <3rd attack?>
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Poison
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Lawful neutral
SIZE: M
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III | 150 + 4
<use the image from the Arcadia book
from Planes of Law for warrior formians>
(right = formian worker)
FREQUENCY: Rare
FREQUENCY: Rare ([Dungeon Level II])
FREQUENCY: Very
rare ([Tropical Wilderness Mountains], [Tropical Wilderness Plains],
[Tropical Wilderness Desert])
NO. APPEARING: 100-400
ARMOR CLASS: 3
MOVE: 18"
HIT DICE: 1+1
% IN LAIR: 20%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Lawful neutral
SIZE: S
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: II | 20 + 2