This nasty-looking creature seems to be a cross between a bat and a giant mosquito. It has membranous bat wings, a short furry body, eight jointed legs that end in sharp pincers, and a needlelike proboscis.
Stirges are batlike creatures that feed on the blood of living beings. While just one poses little danger to most adventurers, multiple stirges can be a formidable threat.
After a stirge has gorged itself by draining blood, it sleeps for one day, plus one day for every point of blood it drank (the maximum sleep period is after drinking 6 points of blood—seven days). During this period of rest, silent attackers can attack by surprise, as the beasts wake slowly and remain drowsy for a few moments. They are most vulnerable at this time. While certain species of stirges prefer to dine on human blood, most are content with any large mammal, like cows, moose, and deer. Experienced druids and rangers usually recognize the traces of a stirge colony by the occurrences of mysteriously drained and dead animals in the vicinity.
A stirge colony’s territory extends for only a mile in diameter, so stirges move around a lot after they’ve drained a region of the available blood. Often, the presence of stirges is only discovered long after the colony has departed, making it very difficult to track them.
A stirge’s coloration ranges from rust-red to reddish-brown, with a dirty yellow underside. The proboscis is pink at the tip, fading to gray at its base.
A stirge’s body is about 1 foot long, with a wingspan of about 2 feet. It weighs about 1 pound.
Combat
A stirge attacks by landing on a victim, finding a vulnerable spot, and plunging its proboscis into the flesh. This attack can target only Small or larger creatures.
A stirge can be summoned with the summon nature’s ally I spell.
Stirge
Tiny magical beast
Init +4; Senses darkvision, low-light vision; Perception +1
Defense
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+2 size, +4 Dex)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +1
Offense
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (average)
Melee proboscis +11 (1 plus attach)
Space 21⁄2 ft.; Reach 21⁄2 ft.
Special Attacks blood drain, disease
Statistics
Str 3, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB −5 (+7 grapple when attached); CMD 9 (21 vs. grapple when attached; 17 vs. trip)
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +8, Perception +1, Stealth +16
Morale craven (−2)
Ecology
Environment warm marshes or oases
Organization solitary, colony (1d3+1), flock (1d4+4), storm (1d6+8), or swarm (3d10+10)
Special Abilities
Attach (Ex)
A stirge has a +4 racial bonus on attach rolls with its proboscis, as it has an instinctive ability to smell out the exposed flesh of its target, and to find gaps in armor or other protections.
When a stirge hits with its proboscis attack, its barbed legs latch onto the target, anchoring it in place. An attached stirge is effectively grappling its prey. The stirge loses its Dexterity bonus to AC and has an AC of 12, but holds on with great tenacity and inserts its proboscis into the grappled target’s flesh. A stirge has a +12 racial bonus to maintain its grapple on a foe once it is attached.
An attached stirge can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. Caution is advisable when attempting to remove an attached stirge. If an attack against an attached stirge misses, compare the attack roll to the victim’s Armor Class to see if the attack roll strikes the victim instead.
To remove an attached stirge through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the stirge.
Blood Drain (Ex)
If a stirge begins its turn attached to a foe, it deals 1d4 points of damage as it drains blood. For every 4 points of damage thus dealt, the victim also advances one step on the Constitution damage track. (This damage threshold is doubled for every size category that the victim is larger than Medium, or halved for every size category that the victim is smaller than Medium.)
Once a stirge has dealt 6 points of damage, it detaches and flies off to digest the meal. If its victim dies before the stirge’s appetite has been sated, the stirge detaches and seeks a new target.
Disease (Ex)
Due to the their contact with the blood of numerous creatures, stirges are harbingers of disease. Any creature subjected to a stirge’s blood drain attack has a 10% chance of being exposed to filth fever, blinding sickness, or a similar disease. Once this check is made, the victim can no longer be infected by this particular stirge, though attacks by different stirges are resolved normally and may result in multiple illnesses.