Formians are a race of ant-like outsiders in the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. These extraplanar insects are lawful-neutral by nature with rigid social conduct, operating on a hierarchical mentality.
Formian types[]
- Worker - Formian workers are about 3 feet long and 2.5 feet tall and weigh around 60 pounds. They do not speak.
- Taskmaster - Formian taskmasters are about 5 feet long and 4.5 feet tall and weigh about 150 pounds. They have neither mandible nor mouth, instead relying on the energy of controlled creatures to sustain them. They are unable to speak.
- Warrior - Like taskmasters, formian warriors are 5 feet long and 4.5 feet tall and weigh about 150 pounds. They have sharp mandibles and poison stingers.
- Myrmarch - Formian myrmarchs are 7 feet long and 5.5 feet tall and weigh about 1,500 pounds. They have hands rather than claws. They can speak Formian and Common.
- Queen - A formian queen is about 10 feet long and 4 feet tall. She weighs about 3,500 pounds and is unable to move, relying on control of her hive mind to guard her.
Society[]
Formians are dedicated to spreading their colonies wherever they can. Colonies, also called "hive-cities," consisted of a ruling queen and different hierarchies of workers, from worker (lowest) to taskmaskers, from warriors to myrmarchs (highest below the queen). Formians have a hive mind based on the queen; any formian within 50 miles of a queen could communicate telepathically with any other formian within that range. The most prestigious of myrmarchs was responsible for guarding the queen.
Combat[]
Colonies relied on their warriors' fighting abilities to defend the hive. Myrmarchs and taskmasters were also proficient fighters and had limited spell-like abilities, such as dominate monster or charm monster.
The queen had no ability to move, but she could cast spells in defense of her hive and had a number of spell-like abilities, such as charm monster, hold monster, shield of law, and true seeing.