Pathfinder 2e and 13th Age both have stat blocks for giant ants, but no stat blocks for the queen of the hive. That’s such a shameful absence. Dealing with a hive of giant ants and taking out the queen feels like it should be a fantasy standard (I remember it from the game Champions of Norrath way back in the day), and it’s not available at base in either system. Thankfully, the Tome of Beasts is what brought giant ants into 5e, and they were aware enough to ensure the queen appeared as is appropriate. So here she is for the other systems as well.
I don’t think I need to introduce giant ant queens in character for a fantasy setting, it’s a big ant.
Anubians on the other hand, I will introduce in setting. They are a special form of earth elemental created long ago, with a large number of them bound into tomb defenders by a band of wizards. They didn’t share the specific ritual for creating this sandy guardian, and with the collapse of their group and the loss of their knowledge, no one’s summoned a permanent anubian in centuries. While a few might use more standard summoning spells to get one temporarily, the remaining originals still sit within the ruins they were summoned to guard, seething with rage against the wizards that bound them and venting their frustrations on the rare tomb robber that stumbles across their hidden prisons.
Anubians are made of sand, and generally take the form of a jackel headed humanoid, patterned after the god Anubus. They can summon sandstorms around themselves for defense and to hamper and restrain invaders, but doing so heavily reduces their mobility, so they will usually only do it while surrounded and within a small area where foes can’t easily avoid it. Their bodies are much less compact and bound together than other earth elementals, so water will quickly break it down, but this looseness allows them to collapse into loose sand and quickly reform at another location, allowing them to bypass many barriers and position themselves in the best spot to unleash their haboob.
Originally from the Tome of Beasts 1.
Pathfinder 2e
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