Family Crunch: Beetles

[Alpharius]

Alright, what is the basic beetle statline, and what species should be a part of the initial release? Suggestions so far include:

- Stag Beetle
- Tiger Beetle
- Bombardier Beetle
- Firefly
- Weevil
- Dung Beetle

[Bogleech]

Rove beetles are pretty special, with their earwig-like bodies able to worm into places other beetles can't, and vicious mouthparts which, in some species, include Alien style pop-out jaws:


Ladybirds seem like a given for their popularity, and have distinct abilities as well: defensive regurgitation and a tough-to-grip carapace that can seal against surfaces. Tortoise beetles are even better at the latter trick, but in some species can also change color.

I'm personally really fond of blister/oil beetles with their often weird appearance, and the toxic secretions are another cool ability. Vertebrates don't dare mess with them.

Weevils DO exhibit a cool trick seen in virtually no other insect; a handful of tropical species grow entire communities of lichen and fungi on their backs for camouflage, which are in turn colonized by mites, springtails, protozoa, rotifers, you name it. An entire little ecosystem on a weevil's carapace. It's not just incidental, but a specific adaptation - the exoskeleton in pitted in a particular way to catch spores out of the air and encourage them to take hold. Some such species potentially live for decades, as evidenced by the size of very slow-growing lichens on some specimens. In the game I could see this not only serving as camouflage, but as a portable food source, and surely some of those fungi and microbes might have medicinal qualities to other insects. These particular weevils could have established themselves throughout the world as healers.

[Quest Lord]

Beetles have a lot of variety, but we're going to have to narrow it down to half a dozen species at absolute most to concentrate on to start with. We can add more later, but the focus should be on these first 5-6 for now.

I suggest:
- Stag Beetle
- Tiger Beetle
- Bombardier Beetle
- Lady Beetle
- Weevil
- Dung Beetle

[Sasha]

Beetles have a lot of variety, but we're going to have to narrow it down to half a dozen species at absolute most to concentrate on to start with. We can add more later, but the focus should be on these first 5-6 for now.

I suggest:
- Stag Beetle
- Tiger Beetle
- Bombardier Beetle
- Lady Beetle
- Weevil
- Dung Beetle

Bombardier beetles obviously should have some kind of stinging spray ability - maybe limited to a few times per day, upgradeable.

I need to read up more on the different beetle types, but a hard carapace seems a good choice for a common trait...as well as some pretty potent muscle, especially for stag/dung beetles. Maybe biting jaws as well, given how many beetles are predatory.

[Naryzhud]

Stag Beetle (Male)

Size: Huge

Stat	Mod	Max	Upgrade Cost
Fex	-20	40	High
Str	+20	80	Low
Vit	+10	70	Low
Arm	+30	90	Low
Ag	-20	40	High
Soc	-20	40	High
Int	0	60	Standard

Abilities:
Fly (poor) - can fly at base movement speed
Grapple (mandibles) (1)
Bite (1)

Traits:
Contact Pheromones (1)

Upgrades:

Upgrade	Cost	Requirement
Grapple Mandibles (2)	30 xp
Grapple Mandibles (3)	40 xp	Grapple Mandibles (2)
Grapple Mandibles (4)	50 xp	Grapple Mandibles (3)
Ram (1)	40 xp
Ram (2)	50xp	Ram (1)
Crush Mandibles (1)	20 xp
Crush Mandibles (2)	30 xp	Crush Mandibles (1)
Crush Mandibles (3)	40 xp	Crush Mandibles (2)

[Naryzhud]

Bombardier Beetle

Size: Small

Stat	Mod	Max	Upgrade Cost
Fex	0	60	Standard
Str	0	60	Standard
Vit	+10	70	Low
Arm	+20	80	Low
Ag	0	60	Standard
Soc	-20	40	High
Int	0	60	Standard

Abilities:
Bite (1)
Bombard (1) - (x) times per day can fire an AOE shot that does (xd10+5) damage to anything hit by it. Ag save for half damage.

Traits:
Contact Pheromones (1)

Upgrades:

Upgrade	Cost	Requirement
Bite (2)	30 xp
Bite (3)	40 xp	Bite (2)
Bombard (2)	40 xp
Bombard (3)	50 xp	Bombard (2)
Bombard (4)	60xp	Bombard (3)
Bombard (5)	70 xp	Bombard (4)

[Sasha]

Those stats look good!

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