The horrid drone of wings filled the air as a band of emerald-shelled bugs erratically buzzed through the air, each carrying livestock in their mantid-like claws. The array of sheep, calves, and other unfortunate victims were dead or weakly struggling, bearing vicious slashes or punctures from the bugs’ horn. Drawing near a hollow indentation in the earth, each dropped their cargo into the pit from which the sounds of tearing flesh and crunching bone soon emerged. However, when a particularly frail, diminutive lamb was dropped into the pit, there was a sudden cessation in the grotesque sounds. A tinge of worry seemed to enter the whirr of the seltas’s wings but before it could vacate the premises, a powerful tail ending in a pincer erupted from the pit. It seized the underperforming seltas and the ground trembled as the looming seltas queen pulled herself from the earth. Her smaller subject trembled in her grasp, his wings beating uselessly as she regarded him – before snapping her mandibles upon him and tearing the seltas in half, making up for the meal that she had been deprived.
I'm a fan of bugs and insects in real life and always love seeing fantasy bugs. With their unique gimmick, the seltas and seltas queen seemed like a blast to work on. To me, they felt much closer to classical vermin than the previous nerscylla and rakna-kadaki that I worked on. In designing these creatures, the first thing I wanted to do was make sure that they could be used in the same encounter without one feeling too weak. The seltas is relatively simple, especially compared to its queen, and most of its abilities are upgrades of its regular attacks, such as powerful charge and rend. However, it does have the blobs that it launches with corrosive bile though I couldn't figure out a good way to incorporate the defense down it inflicts without it being too much.
Obviously, the seltas queen had to be large enough for the seltas to sit atop her. Interestingly, it seemed that she didn't have any real resistances for me to include but did have a weakness to fire. Most of her special abilities involve her summoning or interacting with a seltas, but she does at least have her breath weapon and can attempt to crush and constrict the creatures she has grabbed in her tail pincer. I tried to balance her pheromone cloud with a long cooldown and the fact that it doesn't immediately summon a seltas, but I didn't want her turn to be completely wasted and gave it the ability to inflict sickened, in place of the soiled condition that it inflicts in-game. This helps protect her somewhat while she awaits the arrival of her seltas, as it reduces the to-hit and damage of enemies affected by it. Once she has a seltas nearby, she can use her symbiosis to force the seltas to sit atop her. This was the hardest ability to balance, trying to figure out how both creatures interact while they were linked together. I liked having the seltas be mounted with this ability, but the main beneficiary of the ability is still the seltas queen, granting her new attacks as well as bug splat. I based this ability off the crush ability that true dragons possess. Finally, the seltas queen has her dearly devoured to make a meal out of her mate to restore hit points, as she does in-game.
Pathfinder 1e:
These creatures had a few alterations to them in 2e, starting with Buzzing Charge replacing powerful charge while also making it similar to Flyby Attack from 1e. I did also give it a reaction with Darting Buzz, allowing it to try to evade attacks. For the seltas queen, I had to figure out her Symbiotic Merge for this version and settled on the seltas and seltas queen essentially trading actions with the seltas becoming slowed and the queen becoming quickened. I also included a new way for them to be separated by a critical hit, mimicking the way they can be knocked off in-game. I did want to include an ability for the seltas queen where she could do a fun thing even without her seltas slave, so I added the Pulverizing Slam to allow her to smash grabbed foes into the ground.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOK
Home is Where the Hive Is: Local farms have been experiencing missing livestock over the past several days and the heroes have been hired to figure out what's happening. By staking out the farms at night, they discover that seltas have been stealing away animals in the night and carrying them away. Unable to fly, the heroes must chase after the fleeing seltas on foot, overcoming obstacles until they find the destination of the thieving beasts - a pit inhabited by their seltas queen that they are plying with food. If the seltas discover the heroes, they descend on the heroes, planning to turn them into prey.
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Have a monstrous Monday!
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