Ye Olde Shoppe of Magicks – Velvet Uch Ants

Velvet Uch Ants

Tiny Beast (Swarm), Unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (6d8+18)
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR 10 (+0) | DEX 14 (+2) |
CON 16 (+3) | INT 1 (−5) |
WIS 12 (+1) | CHA 3 (−4)

Saving Throws Dex +4
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Damage Vulnerabilities cold
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses blindsight 10 ft., tremorsense 30 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages –
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

TRAITS
Velvet Toxin Aura. Velvet Uch Ants secretes toxins through their velvety hairs. A creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of the swarm or touches the swarm in any way must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 5 (2d4) poison damage every turn the creature is in contact with the swarm and become Poisoned until the end of its next turn. Reroll the save every turn contact is maintained.

Swarm. The swarm occupies a 10-foot-radius area. Any creature that enters or starts its turn in this area is subject to the swarm’s attacks and traits. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and can move through openings at least 1 inch wide. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

Heightened Pheromone Agitation. If the swarm is reduced to half HP or less, it becomes frenzied. Until it dies, it gains advantage on attack rolls and its poison damage dice doubles.

ACTIONS
Swarm Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 0 ft., any and all creatures in the swarm’s space. Hit: 10 (4d4) piercing damage, or 5 (2d4) piercing damage if the swarm has half its HP or fewer, plus 7 (2d6) poison damage. The target(s) must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become Poisoned for 1 minute. The target(s) can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns.

REACTIONS
Agitated Surge. (1/round) When a creature leaves the swarm’s area without using Disengage, the swarm immediately shifts into that creature’s space up to 10 feet and makes a Swarm Bites attack.

OPTIONAL ENCOUNTER VARIANTS
Uch Ant Queen (CR 5)

• Hulk-sized version (dog-sized)
• Emits a 20-foot pheromone rage aura
• Commands 1d4 Velvet Uch Ant Swarms
• Has a potent venom stinger attack

Uch Ant Burrow Ambush
Creatures stepping onto an Uch mound trigger:

• Dex save or fall prone
• Swarm bursts out, immediately acting in the initiative count it just triggered

Toxic Velvet Harvesting (Crafting)
A DC 16 Nature check reduces poison damage from touching an ant corpse.
A skilled poisoner can harvest:

• Velvet Uch Contact Poison (1d10 vials / swarm)
• Uch Velvet Powder (used by assassins to irritate lungs) (1d10 vials / swarm)

Description: Velvet Uch Ants
Velvet Uch Ants are unnervingly large, each nearly the length of a thumb and swollen with a deep purplish carapace that seems to shimmer like crushed velvet. Their bodies are covered in fine, velvety hairs that feel cool and smooth to the touch—an inviting texture that belies their lethality. These hairs constantly seep a thin sheen of paralyzing toxins, enough to make the very air around a swarm faintly acrid.

Their movements are disturbingly coordinated, flowing across walls, ceilings, and floors like a single living spill of violet ink. Individually they chirr and click, but in a swarm they produce a soft, fabric-like whispering sound—like gloved fingers brushing across silk or distant cloth shifting in a wardrobe.

Velvet Uch Ants are not naturally aggressive, but they defend their territory with terrifying efficiency. When threatened, they surge in a dense burst, engulfing intruders in a 10-foot round carpet of churning bodies. Their mandibles latch on in rapid succession while their toxic hairs burn exposed skin through even light clothing.

Their nests are typically located in warm, low-light environments—rotting timber, dusty crawlspaces, abandoned basements, and the inner walls of ruined manors. Alchemists covet the ants’ velvety hairs for use in rare contact poisons, though harvesting them is notoriously dangerous. The ants themselves are highly sensitive to tremors and scent, and once roused, a swarm will pursue an intruder with grim coordination until the colony is safe once more.

Some scholars claim the Velvet Uch Ants’ unusual coloration and texture developed as a mimicry of regal fabrics, allowing them to thrive unnoticed in noble estates before anyone realized the “soft patch of velvet” on the wall was, in fact, alive.

A bit of backstory on this one, recently a new subscriber has been reading a lot of my old TTRPG posts. This one from March 23, 2009 caught his eye. That day the TTRPG blogging community monsterized themselves. Velvet Uch Ants is an anagram of Stev the Vulcan.

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