The other day, I wrote about the aatxe, the first creature in Kobold Press’ Creature Codex. Today we’re taking a look at acid ants, large ants the size of housecats that spits deadly acid. With art by Will O’Brien, it’s a fun creature with some features to create tricky encounters.
Acid Ants in the Creature Codex
Here’s what we’re working with:
Small monstrosity, unaligned
Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 13 (3d6 + 3)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 8 (-1) 13 (+1) 12 (+1) 1 (-5) 7 (-2) 3 (-4) Damage Immunities acid
Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages —
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)Explosive Death. When the ant is reduced to 0 hp, it explodes in a burst of acid. Each creature within 5 feet of the ant must succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or take 5 (2d4) acid damage.
Keen Smell. The ant has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Actions
Acid Spit. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (2d4) acid damage and the target takes 1 acid damage at the start of its next turn unless the target immediately uses its reaction to wipe off the spit.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage plus 2 (1d4) acid damage.
At CR 1/4, acid ants are considerably weaker than giant ants (CR 2) and giant ant queens (CR 5) from Kobold Press’ Tome of Beasts 1, but with a ranged acid spit and an area-of-effect explosive death ability, they provide a more interesting tactical challenge than their larger melee-only cousins.
Like other giant ants, their blindsight and keen smell abilities make it very difficult to catch them unawares, while their small size allows them to fit through smaller passageways.
The acid spit is particularly interesting, because it has a secondary damage effect — if the target doesn’t use their reaction to wipe the acid off, they take an additional point of damage on their next turn.
What happens with multiple acid spits?
It’s not immediately clear what happens if a creature is struck by multiple acid spits in the same round, but KP’s lore for the creature implies that acid ants are almost never found alone (more on this in a bit). It seems like something we need to address, since it’s very plausible that a party member might find themselves subjected to several acid spits at once.
After talking with Drew Makes, Bjarke the Bard, and Anthony Anderson, there seem to be two main interpretations.
Acid Spit As Written
If we’re following a strict rules-as-written viewpoint, the creature would need to use a separate reaction for each instance of acid spit, with each spit counting as its own separate instance of the secondary acid damage.
Since a creature can normally only make one reaction before their next turn, this means that they can only ever reduce the damage by 1, no matter how many instances of acid spit they’re targeted by.
Example:
Fred the Barbarian is facing off against six acid ants.
Four of the ants go before Fred in initiative order.
The first one hits, so Fred uses his reaction to remove the acid.
The second hits, but Fred has already used his reaction, so he will take 1 acid damage on his next turn.
The third hits, but Fred has already used his reaction, so he will take another separate instance of 1 acid damage on his next turn.
The fourth hits, but Fred has already used his reaction, so he will take ANOTHER separate instance of 1 acid damage on his next turn.
On Fred’s turn, he takes 1 acid damage from the second acid ant and 1 acid damage from the third acid ant and 1 acid damage from the fourth ant (this is an important distinction).
The separate instances distinction is important here, because it has a profound effect on acid resistance.
Acid resistance is helpful against the attack’s primary acid damage of course, but if a creature has resistance to acid, the 1 damage from each secondary damage instance is reduced to 1/2, which is rounded down to 0 by rules-as-written. Acid resistance completely negates the secondary damage from the acid ant’s spit attack, no matter how many ants target the creature.
This method is pretty simple to resolve, with some pros and cons:
First, the good. Acid resistance feels very powerful under this interpretation. If the party knows they’re going up against many acid ants, seeking out some form of acid resistance may become part of the adventure itself.
Now, the bad. Since the player can only reduce the damage by 1, using their reaction to wipe away the acid is arguably a design trap — they are better off saving that reaction for an attack-of-opportunity or some sort of spell ability, unless they simply don’t have any better options.
It also feels a little unfair that the player can remove the effect once, even though in most situations they are likely to be struck by several acid ants. At that point, why even have the ability to remove the secondary damage at all? Just leave out the bit about removing it entirely and solve the issue.
Acid Spit As a Psuedo-Condition
From another point of view, the acid spits work as a sort of pseudo-condition.
Under this interpretation, “acided” is a pseudo-condition that deals 1 acid damage at the beginning of the creature’s next turn, but can be removed by using an immediate reaction to remove the condition when it is applied.
Here, the damage isn’t so much the point as consuming the target’s reaction, preventing them from making attacks of opportunity or using reaction abilities.
Since conditions can only be applied once, a creature will only ever take 1 secondary acid damage, no matter how many ants target them.
This method produces an interesting gamble. If you remove the “acided” condition immediately, you run the risk of being struck by another ant and gaining the “acided” condition again, which means you’ve wasted your reaction for nothing.
On the other hand, if you wait, you could protect yourself from that scenario — but what happens if you aren’t struck again?
Like the rules-as-written interpretation, acid resistance is valuable here (it still negates the next-turn damage), but since you’ll only ever take 1 secondary damage, it doesn’t matter as much.
This changes the ants’ tactics somewhat: it’s better for them to spread their attacks around, trying to cause as many party members as possible to become “acided.”
Overall, I’m not a huge fan of this interpretation. It’s clunky and presents timing issues with the “when can you remove the acid?” question.
Optional Rule: Stacking Acid Spit & Ally Assistance
Here’s my totally untested idea on how I’d run acid ants at my own table:
Acid Spit. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (2d4) acid damage and the target takes 1 acid damage at the end of its next turn. If a creature has already been struck by Acid Spit, each subsequent acid spit before the creature’s next turn simply increases the secondary damage by 1.
When a creature is struck by acid spit, an adjacent ally may use their reaction to remove the acid.
On the creature’s turn, they may use an action to remove the acid.
This setup creates a really dynamic encounter. Party members are encouraged to bunch up so they’re close enough to protect each other from the acid. There’s a natural incentive for party members to do this: the team can afford to give up reactions, but maybe can’t afford to give up actions.
But this also makes them susceptible to the explosive deaths of the ants, which is more likely to hit multiple party members. The party is forced to make an important tactical choice about which ability they believe is the larger threat.
Because the acid damage builds the more you get hit, acid resistance is still valuable, but doesn’t totally negate the secondary damage. I didn’t like that the above scenarios made you immune to the secondary damage, even if you get globbed by 20 acid ants at once.
Finally, if you do get globbed by a bunch and your allies aren’t nearby, you still have an out: you just end up giving up your own action to do so, which might be necessary if you’re low on HP, but is a steep cost to pay.
Why can’t you use your own reaction to immediately remove the acid? Because you’re distracted by searing burning acid splattered all over you. Go watch Hicks in the elevator in Aliens.
Magical Origins, Voracious Appetites, and Fungal Infections
The Creature Codex gives us some extra info about acid ants, which I won’t quote in full here. In summary, we learn that they’re potentially the result of some sort of magical elemental mutation, possibly from wizards or planar meddling; this mutation causes a heightened appetite, and they can subsist on pretty much anything they can melt with their acid.
As such, when left on their own, they migrate through areas in large numbers (the book uses the term “hordes”), destroying pretty much everything in their wake. Sometimes, though, they belong to colonies with other giant ants and giant ant queens, where they obey the queen’s will, serving as specialized soldiers.
Some intelligent militaries have tried to capture and weaponize acid ants, with varying results.
We also have a variant acid ant:
Finding a Home For Acid Ants for Nimrus
I really didn’t feel the need to reimagine these creatures like I did with the aatxe. They fit nicely into the Warpwalkers Campaign Setting as is. Perhaps their origin is a result of the corruptive, chaotic influence of the Warp itself. Or maybe they’re some sort of planar offshoot from the Elemental Plane of Earth that got trapped on Nimrus and began breeding with the local giant ants.
Like their smaller counterparts, acid ants are found all over the world, particularly through the upper and middle layers of the Underdark.
In the Sarnoss Grasslands, they live among giant ants in towering colonies that rise above the grass. Many suspect the acid ants in this region are the result of experiments conducted by the lich who rules Khar Darsaan, an ominous column of unnatural stone that juts up over the plains.
In the dense stone beneath the Steelpeak Mountains to the west, the queens use acid ants as workers, melting nests and tunnels through material too dense for giant ants to penetrate on their own.
Fungal ants are found most often in the humid reaches of the Huatli Jungle in central Nahatal, across the Rylian Sea.
They are least common in the cold reaches of northern Skaldelag or in the most arid parts of the Sabar Desert.
Nasharaqi Ant Tamers
The dragons of the Nasharaq Sultanate have traditionally relied on their aerial prowess, but as the war with The Holy Sandalfan Empire rages on, the Nasharaqi have felt the need to get creative. As the Sandalfans have increased their anti-air defenses, the Nasharaqi have begun looking into options subterranean warfare.
A dragonborn commander named Tariq Al-Basri, a servant of the senile black dragon Nessrakot, has convinced his master to let him harvest the ancient dragon’s blood. Through transfusions of the dragon’s blood, Al-Basri has been building up an immunity to acid in himself and his kobold subordinates to facilitate taming the local acid ants.
He’s actually had some success at it, and a specially trained unit of kobold ant tamers have captured 20 acid ants, which they plan to use to melt the foundations of the Tower of Smoke, a Sandalfan stronghold and skyship port that has prevented the Nasharaqi advance.
Up Next: Agnibarras
In a future article, we’ll take a look at the agnibarra, small humanoid monstrosities with flaming skin.
