Giant Tick

Ticks are blood -sucking creatures which may, or may not, be carrying disease. They prefer areas with dense brush where they can drop on passing animals or attach themselves when creatures come into contact with tick -infested foliage. They can sense creatures from some distance away, so where they are prevalent they may bite creatures resting even on well -manicured lawns. A Luck check is allowed to avoid being bitten by a tick where they are found, and a secondary Luck check is allowed to determine whether or not the tick was disease - bearing. Tick swarms are probably the result of dark magic, and always carry disease. Whereas normally tick bites are not even felt, a tick swarm can damage – or even kill – targets due to their sheer numbers. If normal ticks are bad enough, giant ticks growing up to 2 feet long are more horrid still. These creatures are skilled at hiding, and often attack prey by surprise. Because they are good climbers, giant ticks (as well as their normal -sized kin) may drop down on prey from above. If a giant tick succeeds with its bite attack, it attaches itself to its prey and drains 1d3 points of Stamina damage each round thereafter, until it is dislodged, it or its prey is slain, or it drains a total of 10 points of Stamina, in which case the engorged tick drops off of its own accord and attempts to make good its escape. A giant tick may be dislodged with a DC 12 Strength check or a successful Mighty Deed, but these methods increase the risk of transmitting disease, so that the initial Fort save to prevent this is made with a -2d penalty. Applying fire forces a giant tick to make a DC 16 Will save or dislodge itself, and this does not increase the risk of disease.