Tick, Giant

Description

A Giant Tick is a blood-sucking insect about a foot long and is a more active hunter than its smaller kin. It typically first attacks by dropping out of a tree or other height when prey walks by, usually with complete surprise. It weighs little when not engorged, so usually the victim does not notice when a tick drops upon them. Adding to this, the tick's bite has an anesthetic quality, so the victim must make a saving throw to notice the bite, which still causes 1d3 points of damage regardless. The Referee should roll these saving throws secretly. Whether or not it is noticed, the tick drains blood for 1d4 points of damage every subsequent turn until either the victim dies or 20 such points of damage are drained. The hit points drained are not immediately noticed until the attached tick is realized. Each turn the victim may save again to notice the attached tick. After draining the mentioned 20 hit points from a target (or the target dies), the tick will drop off to finish its breeding cycle. An attached tick does not need to roll morale.

The tick is very durable and difficult to remove. Using brute force requires a successful saving throw, with a +2 bonus if the victim has Strength 15 or higher; success tears the tick free, but causes an additional 1d4 points of damage to the attached victim. Even killing the tick will not cause its head to be removed, so even with extreme care and taking over ten minutes will still cause the victim 1 additional point of damage during the process. Applying fire to a still-live tick may cause it to release the character (the tick may make a saving throw with failure causing the tick to drop off) but will often cause the afflicted character 1d3 points of damage in the process.

Making matters worse, giant ticks carry disease. Anyone bitten must make another saving throw or be afflicted with a wasting illness. The disease prevents natural healing and drains 1 hit point per day until a Cure (Cause) Disease spell is applied; if no cure is received within one week, the victim dies.

Giant ticks are fairly rare in most areas, as they decimate the fauna in a small region and subsequently starve themselves out, but may be more common in regions that have larger prey such as regions of prehistoric giant beasts.

Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.

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