Saw Beetle

Saw Beetle (CR 3)

Neutral - Medium - Vermin

Lore:	Know (Nature)
6		21
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

5

Perception:
15	+5
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Scent 30 ft.

Movement Types:

• Walk 30 ft.
• Lesser Flight 20 ft.

Defense

AC

18

Man Def

19

Monster Health
51	25	4
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+6
Refl:	+1
Will:	+1

Strong Against:

• (Mindless) Immune (no effect): all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, fear, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms)

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Medium
5 ft.		5 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+6

Man Off

+3

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Sawing Mandibles +6 (1d8+1/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Full Attack (Melee):

• 3x Sawing Mandibles +6 (1d8+1/19-20 x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

16

STR

10

DEX

14

CON

—

INT

8

WIS

14

CHA

Skills:

• Movement: 5
• Perception: 5
• All other skills: 0 (no ranks)

Languages:

Feats:

Special Abilities

Blundering Flight (Ex) Move Action 1/Enc

Saw beetles may, once per encounter as a move action, fly at their enemies and batter and carom their way across the battlefield. Their blurring wings, armored carapace, and erratic motion render this movement so hard to predict that they do not provoke opportunity attacks. The saw beetle can move up to its Fly speed (20 feet). Any enemy they move adjacent to they may attack with a Batter attack. Batter +6 (1d8+1/x2) as bludgeoning (physical, common) damage

Saw Beetle

Saw Beetles are a type of giant insect that are often harmless...and often not harmless. Saw Beetles usually feed on vegetation, brush, and wood, but they are opportunistic omnivores. They like eating carrion and are more than capable of killing quite large game. Sadly, they are abysmally stupid and will consider humans perfectly acceptable foodstuffs. Saw beetles live in forests, swamps, plains, deserts, and often infest ruins. They are remarkably hardy, and given their size and the strength of their jaws, their limited ability to fly is a potent advantage against many other predators.

Combat Tactics

Saw beetles may be vermin, but they like the taste of fresh meat. As a result, they will usually close the range on the ground and then rise up on buzzing wings and plunge into the midst of a group of enemies using Blundering Flight. They will then land again as close as possible to multiple foes and perform savage full-action bite attacks. They will never try to flee, being too dumb to recognize peril. Despite their size, saw beetles are good flyers, although slow. They can hover, fly backwards, and swoop through the air with perfect grace, even though their Bumbling Flight power looks clumsy.

Out of Combat

Saw Beetles are big. Really, really big, easily five feet long. The sight of an insect that large is starling indeed to most people. Unlike other vermin species, Saw Beetles are so stupd that very few clans of smarter monsters will attempt to use them as living obstacles, but that doesn't mean you won't find them infesting midden heaps and charnel pits anyway. Saw beetles are incredibly fertile, and their eggs are tiny, laid in copious amounts, and can take several years to finally hatch. As a result, saw beetles seem to 'spring up from nothing' almost anywhere, and are usually ruthlessly hunted as soon as they are found by almost everybody. Despite this nigh-universal predation, saw beetles are disturbingly common, as a single beetle can lay literally millions of eggs so tiny they will spread by wind and water for miles and miles.

Rewards

XP: 800

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 813 gp.

Weight: 30 lbs.     Volume: 1.2 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)