Activity Cycle: Night
Diet: Carnivore
Frequency: Unique
Movement: 18, 6Fl (B)
Str: 18/80
Dex: 18
Con: 20
Int: 14
Wis: 6
Cha: 3
AL: CE
HP: 72
Saves as: Fighter 9 and Thief 12
Thac0: 12 (10 with str bonus)
AC: 5 (1 with dex bonus)
No. attacks: 3 or special
Damage: 1d8+5/1d8+5/1d4+5 (the +5 is from str bonus)
SA: Paralytic darts, acid spray, maiming, thief abilities
SD: Thief abilities, blood abilities, swarm summoning
Blood: Azrai 52 (major)
Blood abilities: Bloodform (great), Regeneration- Standard and Major
(great).
Thief Abilities: CW 95% RL 50% MS 95% DN 75% (A lack of hands prevents the other abilities)
Description/History: Mantis is exactly what his name indicates, a 6' tall, 7' long, praying mantis. He can vary his color to blend with homogenous surroundings (black at night, white in snow, etc.) but is usually a sandy yellow in color. If not trying to be silent, Mantis emits an audible clicking from his mandibles. Contrary to popular thought, Mantis did not begin life as an insect mutation that got the blood of Azrai through a freak accident, but as a half-elf named Dhaebhril Malenes. Born of a rape from a human logger (who allegedly possessed the blood of Azrai) and elven maiden, Dhaebhril was subject to much prejudice from the elves of Sielwode. Bored and lonely, he spent much of his time in strange scholarly pursuits, entomology being his favorite. Eventually, he left the care of the elves and the forest and fell in with a band of raiders in the Harrowmarsh. The strange species of the Harrowmarsh offered him a great oppurtunity to expand his bug collections. During much of this time, his blood abilities remained dormant. One day, while returning from an unsuccesful raid of nearby provinces, the raiders ran amok of the Hydrakin. Running through an odd insectoid hydrakin from behind, the release of energy awakened the dark heritage within him- he started to develop a horizontal jawbone, the precursor to mandibles. As raiding and pillaging got boring, the emerging awnshegh left and began going on a murder spree through the southern realms of Anuire. Quite a few blooded heroes went out to try to stop him, but he would always elude, hide, and finally ambush his pursuers when the opportunity presented itself. In such a way, Dhaebhril gradually increased his blood power. It is said that, hating the human half of himself, he made his way to Roubhe Manslayer and serves him to this day- the truth of this is unconfirmed.
Combat: The Mantis is a formidable enemy. His natural AC is augmented by incredible insectoid speed. A pair of wings are folded under a covering on his back (much like a real mantis) and he can use them to fly slowly. Often, this may be used for an initial airborne attack. He walks on four legs, the front two being mantis claws that swipe with deadly strength. The claws have many small serrations, like tiny blades, along the edges. The mantis can launch up to three of these blades at a time per arm at enemies. An arm can target only one creature (thus only two enemies can be attacked in this fashion). The blades strike like darts, doing 1d2 damage each, but they are coated in a paralytic poison. An opponent hit by a blade must save vs poison, once for each dart hitting, or be paralyzed for 2 turns. Each claw can fire up to 12 blades per day (the mantis regenerates them quickly). Of course, melee attacks with the claw can paralyze victims too. The mantis can also spit acid from its mandibles once per day, doing 6d8 damage (save for half). Attacks with claws can maim opponents on a roll of 20 (DM should roll randomly for useless limb-limb is useless unless magically healed). Futhermore, Mantis can backstab with a claw (x4 damage) or launch an air assault with paralytic blades. Furthermore, he regenerates 1hp per round due to major regenration, and can even recover lost limbs and organs. As a final power due to his affinity with insects, Mantis can summon swarm at will.
Ecology: Mantis is carnivore who loves the taste of human flesh. The more his victims scream, the better they taste (little children are exquisite delicacies). Of course, eating his enemies does prevent them from being raised. His hobbies haven't changed much- except now he has added humanoids to the collections he likes to pin on the wall of his lair.
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