Starlight filtered through the leaves of the forest, dappling the grass in its silvery light. In the gentle darkness of the night, a group of strange creatures gathered – a gang of large ladybug creatures that frolicked among the light and alongside each other. As they flittered and danced about each other, golden powder drifted from their wings, settling upon the ground where it slowly lost its luster. Unseen by the oversized beetles, a small band of humanoids advanced on the gathering of creatures. The ranger led the way quietly through the glade, glancing over her shoulder to press a finger to her lips. It did little to stifle her companions but the barbarian kept his grumbling internal and tried to clatter the vials less. Turning back around, she peered through the bush only to find the clearing suddenly abandoned. A buzzing overhead pulled her gaze upwards to find the quartet of large insects hovering there, a gleam of anger in their eyes.
This little guy actually came up somewhat randomly – I needed a monster to make and asked for a random number that just happened to match ledian’s number. Going by how I usually design monsters from this series and with the ledian evolving at level 18, I was initially looking to build it at level 5. However, the folks over on the Monster Monday Discord disagreed with this vehemently, positive that the ledian shouldn’t be more than level 2 or 3. I compromised slightly by making them into a level 4 creature. I made them as fey and beasts as I feel many of the animalistic Pokémon demonstrate enough intelligence and sapience that they would qualify as beasts not animals. Additionally, their design seems to be vaguely based on the classic alien greys and ‘fey’ fits in with that visitor from another world idea.
The ledian doesn’t use any specific roadmap and its design actually focused a bit more on the defensive side of things as its primary stat is special defense. However, even its defensive stats aren’t that spectacular. Its Armor Class is moderate as is its health despite it having three weaknesses to common elements. Much of its defensive power budget goes into its saves, which features two high saves, a moderate save, and a bonus on all saves against spells – based both on its special defense and abilities such as Light Screen. Its attack and damage is also only moderate as the ledian is remarked about using a quantity of punches rather than making quality strikes. This is most obviously expressed in its Rapidfire Rumble, which borrows heavily from the hydra’s Focused Assault. On a hit, the damage gets around extreme, but this is a three action activity to pull off and therefore not something the ledian can be throwing out every turn. If it instead needs to contend with a group of enemies surrounding it, it can rely upon Struggle Bug to make a Strike against all enemies within its reach. This is named after one of the moves it can learn largely because that move is an AoE effect – just like this is.
Those cover its more offensive capabilities but like I said, I built the ledian with a more defensive design in mind. This is somewhat explored in the parry trait on the ledian’s fist Strike, but that can be enhanced, along with its bonus against magic, through Starlight Shield. This ties into a bit of their lore with the relation to starlight and also just enhances their defensive capabilities while serving to represent the abilities such as Safeguard, Reflect, and Light Screen that they can learn. The ledian also comes with the Disquieting Buzz aura, which is a short-ranged aura with only a moderate DC – that’s standard for the ledian as well as auras in general. The specific effects of this, the creation of the stupefied condition, makes them even more anti-magic to further reference their special defiance. However, it is also representative of one of the other aspects of Struggle Bug that I didn’t include in the action. The attack also lowers the special attacks of enemies, which stupefied does, lowering the spell attacks rolls and DCs of wizards. It has a short duration on this debilitating effect but keeps refreshing it, so casters will want to keep on the move to avoid it.
Pathfinder 2e:
I went with fey as the ledian's main creature type for its first edition version, which led to the inclusion of some classic DR as well as some spell resistance based on its bonus to saves against spells in 2e. There isn't a close equivalent to stupefied in PF1e, which meant that I had to modify its Disquieting Buzz into distracting drone, making this a slightly more powerful effect given its staggered infliction. This is based on the distraction ability of swarms and uses a longer range given the higher base speeds of PF1e. It does unfortunately step on the toes of discombobulate a little bit, an ability that I originally designed for the tetranadon, but it was difficult to figure out what else to equip it with. Rounding out its abilities is starlight shield, which gained a significant power increase based on PF1e's action economy. I played around with this a bit by having it be a standard action that it can use normally but becomes a move action under starlight. I think maybe I should have gone a step further and had it become a swift action in such conditions as a single punch from a ledian isn't going to do much. Fortunately, it does have Combat Reflexes to capitalize on the sloppy footwork of its foes and Hover so that it can maintain its flight pattern even when unleashing a flurry of blows.
Pathfinder 1e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home: The heroes have been commissioned to collect the lucky powder that ledians are said to leave behind when they fly around at night. This requires them to track down a swarm and then approach without drawing attention - if they do, the ledians immediately make a run for it, which might lead to a chase. If the ledians are unable to escape, they fight to the end though the heroes may be able to communicate their peaceful intentions.
Buzz Off: While traveling, the party is beset by an insect-obsessed druid who wants to use their corpses as nests for wasps he's collected. Among his minions is a ledian or possibly a swarm of ledians that he may specifically bring to bear against a party that is heavier on the casting side of things.
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