Stench Beetle

This beetle is about the size of a small dog and has a mottled green carapace with darker legs fading to black near the ends. Its mandibles are dull brown.

Stench Beetle (CR 1/2)

Small Vermin
Alignment: Neutral
Initiative: +0
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet; Perception +0
Aura: stench (DC 11, 10 rounds)

Speed: 30 feet, Fly 30 feet (poor)
Space: 5 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 14, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+3 natural, +1 size)
Hit Points: 9 (2d8)
Saving Throws: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0
Immunity: mind-affecting effects

Offense

Melee: bite +2 (1d4)
Reach: 5 feet

Special Attacks: death throes

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
10 (+0)	11 (+0)	11 (+0)	-	10 (+0)	6 (-2)

Base Attack Bonus: +1
CMB +0
CMD 10 (18 vs. Trip)

Feats:

Skills: Fly -2

Languages:

Special Abilities

Death Throes (Ex)

When a stench beetle dies violently, its body splits open and releases a deluge of nauseating fluids and gasses. Creatures within 10 feet must make DC 13 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds and sickened for 1d6+2 minutes thereafter. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Ecology

Environment: Temperate Forests or Plains
Organization: cluster (3-6) or colony (7-16)
Treasure: none


Stench beetles are small, nocturnal hunters that sustain themselves on a diet of grains, fruits, vegetables, and leaves. In civilized lands they are considered a nuisance for the damage they cause, especially in larger groups, to crops and farmlands. If faced with extreme hunger, stench beetles eat cattle, small game animals, and the occasional child that wanders too far into the forests.

Stench beetles make their lairs in large hollow logs and fallen trees. A typical lair can contain almost twenty of these creatures with half that number in noncombatant young. Females lay up to a dozen eggs at a given time, usually once per year. Eggs are laid on leaves, and the female chews the ends of the leaves so it curls and folds around the eggs, concealing them from predators and protecting the eggs from the elements. Young go from larvae to adulthood in the span of a year. When they reach adulthood most stench beetles leave the lair.

Stench beetles attack with their bite, seeking retreat if combat goes against them.