Beetle, Ravager

Family: Beetles

Medium beast, unaligned

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 26 (4d8 + 8)
Speed 30 ft., fly 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	11 (+0)	14 (+2)	1 (-5)	10 (+0)	6 (-2)

Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages –
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Actions

• Gnaw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 13) and restrained. Until this grapple ends, the beetle cannot bite another target. A grappled target takes 7 (2d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns.

About

This creature is covered in a jet-black carapace with whitish markings crisscrossing its back and gold-tinted wing casings.

Ravager beetles are omnivorous beetles found in temperate or warm forests, hills, and swamps. While generally sustaining themselves on a diet of foliage and grasses, they sometimes scavenge the remains of creatures killed by other predators.

Like most beetles, a ravager has a thick-plated carapace and two large mandibles used for crushing and chewing its food. Its carapace is black in color with several white streaks crisscrossing it. Its mandibles are dark bluish-black. Its wing casings are black with hints of gold. A typical ravager beetle is about 4 feet long.

Ravagers have a single life cycle that spans an entire year. Females generally lay 4-8 eggs in soft earth or soil, and within two weeks, the larvae emerge. Young are almost always born in the warmer spring and early summer months. Young are noncombatants and rely solely on their mother for protection and food, feeding generally for 10 days before entering the pupa stage. After about 20 days, the pupae become adults.

Ravager beetles are generally scavengers by nature, and rarely attack, except in times when food is scarce. Even then, they usually limit their attacks to weakened, sleeping, wounded, or otherwise incapacitated prey. When attacking, ravager beetles lock onto an opponent with their mandibles and continue biting and crushing the target until it is dead.