Castles In The Sky

Arcane Bee 

Size/Type: Fine Magical Beast
Hit Dice: Worker 1d10 (10), Drone 2d10(20), Princess 2d10 (20), Queen 3d10 (30)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 80 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+2
Attack: Sting +2 melee (1d4 plus poison)
Full Attack: Sting +2 melee (1d4 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 5 inches by 5 inches
Special Attacks: Poison, Spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft.
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 14-18, Wis 12-16, Cha 11-15
Skills: Spot +5, Survival +1*
Feats: Hover, Spell Mastery, Spell Knowledge, Diehard
Environment: Meadowlands, Forests, Civilized Areas
Organization: Solitary, buzz (2-20), or hive (2000-4000)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: No coins; ¼ goods (honey only); no items
Advancement: 4-6 HD (Medium); 7-9 HD (Large)

These appear at first glance to be normal honeybees. A closer glance will reveal two pairs of gossamer wings, eight legs and an unusual color of eyes (usually deep green or blue). They rarely act any differently from normal honeybees so are often over-looked.

Combat: Arcane Bees cast arcane spells without needing material or verbal components or gestures. They cast spells as a sorcerer and thus do not need to prepare their spells ahead of time. Arcane Bee workers are able to cast spells as if they were a sorcerer of 1d8 levels. Drones and Princess will be sorcerers of 2d10 levels while Queens will be between 14^th and 20^th level.

Arcane Bees do not gain their spells by studying or scribing them. They are born (hatched) attuned to a certain type of magic and can only cast spells from that type of magic. In compensation for their magical handicap, Arcane Bees are intelligent enough to ally themselves with other bees whose magical abilities complement their own. Even if encountered alone, an Arcane Bee is rarely more than a dozen feet from its buzz which consists of other Arcane Bees whose magical abilities enhance or work with its own.

Arcane Bees do not like casting spells that involve the elements or require touching the target. They focus on spells that disable, confuse, blind, hamper, or incapacitate the target as they prepare to flee back to their hive. Spells like glitterdust, color spray, daze and sleep are favorites. They will always have a protective spell such as shield or barkskin cast on them.

Hives will rally to the defense of their least member and fight to the death. If the battle is going badly, the Queen will leave with her drones and a small force of workers as the other workers fight to ensure her escape. Arcane Bees are utterly loyal to their Queen and will sacrifice themselves for the good of the hive. Retreat is only undertaken if there is no other option available.

Magical and mundane alarms will be scattered through the hive in hidden and visible locations. Intruders will be attacked on sight with the full strength of the attackers who will not hesitate to spend their lives or energy to repel an attack. Bees will either cast spells against the attackers, on the defenders, or to protect the hive. They are capable of coordinating complex attack and defense plans as a coherent unit, but are not bewildered or demoralized by defeat. Like normal bees, Arcane Bees will fight to their last breath and are not discourage by pain, injury or dying.

Like normal bees, Arcane Bees will lose their life if they sting (except for the Queen who is able to sting repeatedly). Their poison is virulent and unpredictable in its effect (treat as a random type of snake venom). It may incapacitate or kill a victim slowly or quickly. It may cause an allergic reaction. Queens will fight intruders of their own size, such as rival queens or wasps, hand-to-hand and attempt to use their sting to paralyze or kill. A sting is a last-ditch defense for any Arcane Bee.

Arcane Bee Queens can become Liches and turn their hives of undead bees. They can craft magical items and potions. They are even known to have constructed golems to protect their hives or built their hives inside of clockwork golems. Magical potions made by Queens will be stored like honey inside of the hive and may be visible as oddly-hued honey.

Arcane Bees are lawful, but it is only their own laws they follow. They may seem utterly immoral to other creatures, but they are in fact completely predictable inside of their own sphere of laws, rules and ethics. Queen’s Eyes are generally a fighter class such as swashbuckler or paladin, but may also be a cleric, druid or ranger. They can also be a thief class.

Society: It has been suggested that Arcane Bees, much like the Ink-Tainted, are the result of magical influence on a natural creature. Centuries and perhaps millennium of bees living in Elven Sorcerer’s homes warped them and gave them the ability to manipulate magic.

Arcane Bee Queens are hatched with an affinity for a particular type of magic. They can only cast spells from a particular school of magic (such as necromancy, illusions, enchantment/charm). A Queen’s children will be able to cast spells other than the same school of magic as their mother. Spells are not learned nor does the bee have to scribe them in a spellbook or study for them, however the bee is limited as a sorcerer to the number of spells she or he can cast per day. Casting a spell is an innate reflex for the bee, who knows instinctively what he or she wants to do and summons a spell to do it. Trial and error will teach the bee how effective the spell is or how long it lasts.

Intelligence did little to change Arcane Bee society or life. Queens, sexually mature females, rule the hive with an iron will. All the workers are the Queen’s physically immature daughters. Only those precious few who are exclusively fed royal jelly develop into Princesses who will one day fly off to form their own hive. 

A Queen produces only a few dozen sons, Drones, during her lifetime. She exudes pheromones that attract Drones from other hives and Queens are known to trade males at seasonal gatherings to ensure the vitality of their own hive.

Workers take up tasks in their hives depending on their size and inclination. They may choose to tend to the Queen or their helpless siblings secured in the honeycomb. They can guard the hive or the outskirts of the hive’s territory. They may help the Queen in her magical pursuits or gather nectar and food for the hive. Only the cleverest and bravest venture from the hive to gather food and supplies, they are the hive’s adventurers and generally range 1d100 miles from the hive.

Only the most trusted, strongest and most intelligent workers are fed royal jelly after maturation to become larger and stronger than their sisters. They are trained to be the Queen’s messengers and spies, her diplomats to other hives and her liaisons with other creatures. The Queen’s Eye will have a piece of jewelry that allows them to communicate with their Queen and may have some kind of armor or weapon. Like all Arcane Bees a Queen’s Eye does not travel alone and will always have 2d4 companions of the same class/level near by.

Arcane Bee Queens are exceptionally intelligent and devious. Those who cannot manipulate and scheme are quickly eliminated by their smarter or stronger siblings. When a Princess is fully mature, she may challenge her mother for control of a hive or leave to form her own. A Princess will exude pheromones that attract males and may use charm spells to persuade workers to follow her as she flies off to find her own hive.

Once a hive location is selected, the Princess directs her workers to begin the building of a new hive formed from wax secreted from their bodies. She will then mate with her drones and begin laying eggs. Eggs are placed in the honeycomb chambers. Pupae are fed royal jelly , honey and pollen as they grow in the honeycomb.

After several moltings, a pupae spins a cocoon and emerges as an adult bee. The young adult worker produces royal jelly for a few years before her glands atrophy and she begins training in another task.

Princesses are fed exclusively on royal jelly before they emerge as immature Queens. It takes years, often decades, for a Princess to learn her mother’s skills and magic. They can challenge their Queen for leadership, but risk death or banishment for their audacity. When a Queen senses her daughter is a challenge she will drive her rival off in a modified battle while trying to seriously injure or kill her daughter. Some Princesses will wisely leave before being forced to and keep in contact with their home hive.

Departing Princesses will usually take several hundred of their sisters (but no brothers) with them. Strong pheromones attract unrelated males as they fly through other territories on their quest to establish their own hive.

Queens will generally only tolerate their own daughters in their hives.  Queen’s Eyes from other hives are grudgingly allowed. Males from other hives are sought after, but treated with suspicion and distrust. Rival Queens are rarely received inside a hive. Only Queens fight Queens. A rival Queen will be treated with deference inside a hive by workers and drones, but may be attacked by the resident Queen. If an alien Queen kills the resident Queen she will gain control of the hive and its residents automatically.

A Queen may decide to change her territory if food is scarce, weather is bad, conditions are poor or other conditions are unfavorable for their hive. A swarm moves in a dense cloud of workers arranged around their Queen and her drones. The calming pheromones of the Queen make her workers more placid during the swarm. The swarm may travel for days or weeks before selecting a new hive location and building new honeycombs. Some hives may travel yearly or seasonally.

Queens are ruthless in defense of their hives and their own long-term plans. Fortunately, they care little about the world around them or desire more than the consolidation of their own power base. They can be persuaded to work with other species, such as guarding a wizard’s garden, or perform certain tasks for pay. Arcane Bee Queens may be summoned as familiars by those wizards or sorcerers using a summon insect familiar spell.

Arcane Bee Queens live over a century, Drones live 15-20 years, and workers generally 50-60 years. Their longevity is thought to be an indication of their connection to the Elven homes they once occupied.

Arcane Bees are valuable as spell components. Their bodies can be ground and used to make powders that contain the vital essence of their magic such as powders of sneezing and itching, glitterdust, sleep dust and others. Arcane Bee honey is often laced with vital magical essence as well and can function as a random magical potion or poison.

Arcane Bees are renown for their tiny, intricate magical and non-magical devices. They excel at making jewelry and clockwork mechanisms. They are valuable partners and allies for any spell-user or artificer.

Their hives will contain tiny tools as well as some loose gems and metal pieces (up to 25,000 gp worth) as well as bee-sized alchemy labs. There may be a text for construction golems as well as diminutive magical items. Arcane Bees do not value or covet wealth in any form and have only a basic understanding of other species’ obsession with money. They do understand power though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arcane Bee, Fleshcarver
Some Arcane Bee Queens have an affinity for necromantic or transmutative magic. They can choose to create living hives from other beings, either dead or alive for their mobility.

A Necromantic Queen may choose a dead body or direct her workers to attack a living being until it is a dead body. The hive will then begin to carve out the flesh while the Queen prepares the body for its new role as a mobile home by applying salves and potions to desiccate it, strengthen it and provide an internal structure for the hive to build on.

Alternatively, a Queen may paralyze a creature with potions or spells before working on transforming its body to accommodate a hive either inside or outside. The Queen may choose to modify the creature’s behavior, intelligence and habits as well. A modified creature may be equipped with an external or internal structure like a mobile hive to accommodate the Queen and her children.