Death scarab swarms are created to guard some of the most cursed places in the desert. No good or noble tomb houses death scarabs, only places of evil. The scarabs sit in a sort of stasis, sometimes burying themselves under a few inches of sand in tomb entrances, other times in false gemstones studding walls or statues. When a living creature appears, the scarabs wake up and begin trying to feast, swarming over the victim and burrowing into their skin to rip them apart from the inside. The individual scarabs in the swarm are around 1.5 inches long, and have dull carapaces stuffed full of rotting meat devoured from their last meal. Hundreds will strip the flesh from a creature’s bones at nearly impossible speed, the excess meat overflowing the scarab’s bodies to leave a rancid, blood mess.
Originally from Sandstorm. Almost every desert story will have its scarab inspired features, and this one in particular steals elements from the scarabs in The Mummy. Placing them guarding the eternal resting place of a cursed person seems entirely reasonable. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as a spot on the Paper and Dice Discord server, consider backing me there!
5th Edition
Death Scarab Swarm
Medium swarm of tiny undead, unaligned
Armor Class 14
Hit Points 65 (10d8 + 20)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Str 3 (-4) Dex18 (+4) Con 14 (+2) Int 6 (-2) Wis 13 (+1) Cha 15 (+2)
Skills Stealth +6
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft. passive Perception 11
Languages –
Challenge 6 (2300 XP)
Distraction. Each creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of the death scarab swarm must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the start of its next turn. While poisoned in this way, the creature can’t use actions, bonus actions, or reactions. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the swarm’s Distraction for 24 hours.
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny insect. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
Actions
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 0 ft., each creature in the swarm’s space. Hit: 20 (8d4) piercing damage plus 10 (4d4) necrotic damage, or 10 (4d4) piercing damage plus 5 (2d4) necrotic damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.
Consume. The death scarab swarm targets a creature that’s been poisoned by its Distraction trait. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or the swarm burrows into the creature’s body. The has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the target, and the target takes 21 (6d6) slashing damage plus 21 (6d6) necrotic damage at the start of each of the swarm’s turns. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hp or fewer, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or instantly die, and its body is destroyed. The swarm can’t take any action except to exit the target’s body as an action.
If the target receives any magical healing, the swarm must succeed on a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 13 or the caster’s spell save DC, whichever is higher, or be expelled from the target’s body. Lesser restoration, remove curse, and similar magic force the swarm to exit the target as well. When the swarm exits the target, it appears in the target’s space.
13th Age
Death Scarab Swarm
4th level wrecker [undead]
Initiative: +9
Vulnerability: Holy
Burrowing Bites +10 vs. PD – 12 damage
Natural 14+: The target also takes 5 ongoing negative energy damage.
Natural 18+: The swarm burrows into the target’s body (hard save ends, 16+). Until the target saves, the swarm can’t be targeted by any attacks and any ongoing negative damage the target is taking increases by 5 each time it fails a save against this effect at the end of its turns. Whenever the target heals at least 5 hp, it can make a free saving throw with a +5 bonus (ongoing damage doesn’t increase if this save fails).
Resist Weapon Damage 14+.
AC 18 PD 17 MD 15 HP 56
Writing and Rolling 