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| Climate/Terrain: | Any temperate |
|---|---|
| Frequency: | Common (rare) |
| Organization: | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle: | Night |
| Diet: | Herbivore |
| Intelligence: | High (13-14) |
| Treasure: | Nil |
| Alignment: | Chaotic neutral |
| No. Appearing: | 1 (2-4) |
| Armor Class: | 7 |
| Movement: | 6 |
| Hit Dice: | � (3 hp) |
| THAC0: | 20 |
| No. of Attacks: | 2 |
| Damage/Attack: | Special |
| Special Attacks: | Nil |
| Special Defenses: | See below |
| Magic Resistance: | Nil |
| Size: | T (1�-2’ tall) |
| Morale: | Steady (11-12) |
| XP Value: | 15 |
Stwingers are tiny humanoid creatures with verstigial wings. They are out to have fun. Stwingers are nauseatingly cute.
Combat: Stwingers are non-combatant creatures. Their sole aim in life is to have fun. The most fun a stwinger can have is swinging from a long beard, and thus they favor dwarves and other bearded races as targets. Creatures with long hair are of secondary preference.
In “combat”, the stwinger will exude a pheromone that charms all in a 40’ radius, requiring a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon to negate. Once it has charmed one or more bearded or long-haired creatures, the stwinger will start its game, swinging from one to the other, and causing 1 point of damage per 2 melee rounds from pulling the hair too hard.
If at any time the “playmate’s” hit points fall below 50% of hit points at the time of the encounter, he/she is allowed another save, still at -4, to break the charm. Failure means the creature will allow the stwinger to continue its game until its playmate falls unconscious. Stwingers don’t like to play with prone creatures, so it is not possible for a stwinger to take any creature below zero hit points. A creature reduced to zero hit points by the stwinger is not dead, merely unconscious, as the damage is really the equivalent of subdual damage.
Even creatures that make their saving throws have difficulty in attacking the stwinger, due to its incredible cuteness. Before attacking a stwinger, any adventurer must roll under their Charisma on a d20, and then under their Constitution. If both of these rolls are successful, the adventurer may attack. Attacks which are meant to do no harm to the stwinger, such as pulling the stringer away from its playmate, are not hampered by the stwinger’s charm.
If its playmate’s companion(s) try to attack, the stwinger will cast mirror image, which it can do up to three times per day, and then try to escape. If a stwinger can be convinced that it is causing harm to its playmate(s), it may agree to leave them alone.
Habitat/Society: Stwingers prefer to live in warm, comfortable dwellings, with soft furnishings and lots of luxuries. Most stwinger dwellings have ropes, made from hair, dangling from the ceiling, which the stwingers prize both for decoration and to play on. They do not form communities, except once every three years. On these occasions, all stwingers come together in a “Great Meet”, when they trade ropes and choose mates. The Great Meet lasts for ten days, after which each stwinger returns to its solitary home.
On rare occasions a female stwinger will give birth to multiple babies, rather than the more usual one. These babies have a telepathic link to each other and when they are old enough to leave home, at one year, they will build a communal dwelling. These stwingers will stay together for their entire lives, and will always be found close to a large dwarves community. They will visit the dwarves at least every second day, normally in the evening.
Stwingers are herbivorous, and prefer tubers and legumes over other forms of vegetation. They do not grow any food, preferring to gather it up from the wild or surrounding farms or markets. They can survive on grasses during the winter months if need be.
Stwingers can fly for very short distances, but they generally do so only to leap from one playmate to the next. Having multiple playmates is the most enjoyable form of their favorite game.
When seeking out playmates to swing on, stwingers will range up to 3 miles from their home. This often means they build two dwellings, one they call home, and the other for extended trips to wherever there are playmates.
Any hirsute creature which enters a stwinger’s territory is considered a playmate. After all, why else would such a lovely swing be near the stwinger’s home? Stwingers can speak Pixie, Brownie, and Elvish. They have a rudimentary knowledge of Dwarvish and Gnome.
Ecology: Stwingers have no need of treasure, except for their ropes, which are not strong enough for humanoids to use. If a stwinger’s charm glands can be milked either while it is alive, or within one hour of its death, the fluid can be used in the creation of a philter of love.
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