Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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Giant bugs and bug-like things have been a staple of D&D since the beginning, and those have always included some kind of scorpion. Here, they’re only on the Monster Manual.

The Lore

These aren’t your tiny mundane scorpions, but monstrous human-sized or horse-sized varieties that have dangerous magic running through their claws in addition to murderously venomous stingers.

They don’t have any elaborate origin, and are just another example of the patently unfair fantasy wildlife you find in the 4e implied setting.

Like their real-world counterparts, these beasts are predators, and they go for any appropriately-sized prey that wanders into their hunting grounds. Some sapients try to use them as guard or attack animals, a process which likely involves less training and more keeping these things chained and pointing them in the intended target’s general direction.

The Numbers

Stormclaw Scorpion

A man-sized scorpion with taser claws! It hunts by night and likes to nest in dark places, which usually means desert tombs and ruins.

This is a Medium Natural Beast, and a Level 1 Soldier with 32 HP. It’s the Minimum Viable Giant Arthropod, in the same class as a fire beetle. It has Resist 10 lightning and tremorsense, and moves at speed 6.

Its Claws do physical damage and grab on a hit (escape DC 14 or 12), and a grabbed target takes 5 lightning damage at the start of their turn. The sting targets Fortitude, does physical damage plus ongoing poison damage and immobilization (save ends both). It can target the grabbed victim but can also be used against anyone else.

When an enemy grabbed by the scorpion escapes, it can use its sting against them as a reaction.

Hellstinger Scorpion

A horse-sized scorpion from Hell! It’s native to the third and fourth Hells, and also found in certain humid and hot regions of the world. Its claws are red-hot.

This is a Large Immortal Beast and a Level 13 Soldier with 130 HP. It has Resist Fire 20 and speed 8, as well as tremorsense.

Aside from the bigger numbers and the different element, the hellstinger scorpion fights exactly like its electrical counterpart. Targets grabbed by the claws take 10 fire damage at the start of their turns and the ongoing damage from the stinger is “poison and fire”.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

There are two encounters here: 1 stormclaw scorpion and a bunch of kobolds, and 1 hellstinger scorpion and a bunch of devils. That tells you all about who uses them as weapons.

Scorpions are okay, I guess. Their fighting style is distinctively scorpion-like, but once you fought one type of monstrous scorpion you know what to expect from the others.