The drone of swarming stirges may be the last thing you hear

I like the idea of those nasty blood sucking creatures called stirges, but always felt there should have been a different implementation of them.  Cristian over at Destination Unknown posted his Gurps take on stirges, which triggered sharing one of my takes on the beasts.

Green Winged Swamp Stirge

Green Winged Swamp Stirges are smaller than their larger cousins, being only 8” long on average and weighing approximately ¼ of a pound.. These stirge’s coloration is grey green wings and back with a dirty yellow underside. The proboscis is pink at the tip, fading to gray at its base.


Hit Dice: 9d8
Initiative: +8
Speed: 10ft crawling/30ft flying
AC: 22 (+8 size, +4 dex), touch 22, flat footed 18
Attack: Swarm 2d6
Space/Reach: 10'/0'
Special Attacks: Distraction DC 13
Special Qualities: Low light vision, immune to weapon damage, swarm traits
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +4
Abilities: Str 1; Dex 18, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +20, Spot +4, Listen +4
Feats: Improved initiative
CR: 5



One individual of these creatures poses little danger, however they are rarely found alone. These creatures travel in large swarms which are quite deadly to living creatures. Like their larger cousins, these diminutive stirges feed on blood.

Each swarm of the Green Winged Swamp Stirges numbers approximately 5000 of these creatures. During most of the day, the attach themselves to the underside of leaves, branches, grasses and the like waiting to surprise passing creatures. Shortly after sunset they go out in search of prey for an hour or two. When in flight, they make a low pitched droning noise, created by the beating of thousands of wings. This is a terrifying sound to those who know what is to shortly follow. It is not unusual for there to be more than a single swarm seeking prey together or hiding side by side in the swamp. A swarm of these creatures will happily feed on a creature until it is completely drained of blood.

Each swarm fills a 10' cube. Diminutive swarms are immune to weapon damage. Swarms take +50% damage from area attacks & spells. A swarm does automatic damage to any creature whose space they occupy at the end of their move.

A lit torch swung as an improvised weapon deals 1d3 points of fire damage per hit. A weapon with a special ability such as flaming or frost deals its full energy damage with each hit, even if the weapon’s normal damage can’t affect the swarm. A lit lantern can be used as a thrown weapon, dealing 1d4 points of fire damage to all creatures in squares adjacent to where it breaks.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a stirge swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 13 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round.