Silt-Skimmer Queen

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Huge Monstrosity, Lawful Evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 95 (10d12+30)

Speed 20 ft. swim 30 ft.

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 10 (+0)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 6 (-2)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 12 (+1)

Saving Throws Con +6, Wis +5

Skills Perception +5

Damage Resistances acid

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities poisoned

Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Undercommon

Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3

Amphibious Brood-Mother. The queen can breathe air and water. Difficult terrain caused by silt, mud, or shallow water doesn't cost her extra movement.

Royal Chitin. The queen has advantage on saving throws against being knocked prone or moved against her will while she is touching the ground or submerged.

Brood-Scented Dominion. Allied ants and other insect creatures within 60 feet of the queen have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

Actions

Multiattack. The queen makes two Crushing Mandible attacks and one Acid Stinger attack.

Crushing Mandibles. Melee weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10+5) slashing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be grappled. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the queen can't use these mandibles against another target.

Acid Stinger. Melee weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) piercing damage, plus 7 (2d6) acid damage. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.

Pheromone Surge (Recharge 5-6). The queen releases a cloud of violet pheromones in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on herself. Each enemy in the area must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of the queen until the end of the queen's next turn. Each allied insect in the area can immediately use its reaction to move up to half its speed and make one weapon attack.

Bonus Actions

Egg-Cluster Command (3/Day). The queen causes one visible egg clutch within 60 feet to rupture. 1d4 Silt Ants emerge in unoccupied spaces within 5 feet of the clutch and act immediately after the queen in the initiative order. These ants vanish if the queen dies.

Reactions

Silt-Slip. When a creature the queen can see misses her with a melee attack, the queen moves up to 10 feet through mud or water without provoking opportunity attacks.

Environment Coastal, Swamp, Underdark, Underwater

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"The lights beneath the tide are not stars. They are eggs, and something is waiting inside them." — Mara Vell, drowned cartographer

Lore & Description

Appearance

The Silt-Skimmer Queen is an elephant-sized ant with glossy black chitin banded in dark royal purple. Her immense abdomen hangs swollen with developing eggs, its translucent plates revealing slow pulses of violet bioluminescence. Four hooked legs brace her in flooded silt, while a crownlike pair of antennae constantly tastes the water. Egg clutches glow around her cavernous nursery like submerged lanterns, illuminating curtains of algae, shell fragments, and drifting black sediment.

Behavior & Origins

The queen rules a drowned colony beneath the Shatterreef, where her workers harvest shipwrecks and drag living captives into the nursery. She is not intelligent enough for diplomacy, but she recognizes names carried by pheromones and has learned to associate the title 'Captain Veyra' with the scent of enemies who once burned her outer tunnels. The queen wants only to expand her brood chambers into the nearby harbor, flooding its foundations and replacing its inhabitants with obedient silt ants.

Running Silt-Skimmer Queen

Tactics

The queen opens with Pheromone Surge if surrounded, driving intruders into reach of her workers before using Multiattack on the most dangerous target. She pins a heavily armored foe with her Crushing Mandibles while using her stinger against spellcasters or anyone attempting to reach the egg clutches. When bloodied, she retreats through flooded tunnels and ruptures egg clusters to create a living screen; she fights to the death if her brood chamber is threatened.

DM Tips

Telegraph the encounter with violet glows beneath the water, clicking echoes, half-dissolved bones, and egg cases trembling when the party speaks.
Play the queen as an alien monarch: she pauses to groom her antennae, reacts violently to fire near the brood, and communicates through waves of clicking and pheromonal commands.
For a weaker party, remove the Acid Stinger's poison rider and allow only one Egg-Cluster Command use; for a stronger party, add two Silt Ants at the start of combat and increase Pheromone Surge's radius to 30 feet.

Loot

Royal Purple Chitin Plate — A curved plate from the queen's thorax that can be fashioned into a shield or armor accent. It remains faintly warm and glows near living insects.
Bioluminescent Egg — A sealed egg that pulses with violet light. Alchemists will pay well for it, but it hatches into a ravenous silt ant if kept warm for three days.
Captain Veyra's Salt-Rotted Signet — A tarnished signet ring found among the nursery's trophies, bearing the crest of the missing harbor captain and providing a clue to the colony's next target.

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Generation Info

Original prompt:
"An epic D&D 5e monster reference card printed on antique parchment paper featuring a Huge sea-cave Queen Ant. The artwork shows a massive, elephant-sized queen ant with a giant swollen abdomen surrounded by bioluminescent egg clutches in a flooded cavern, featuring dark royal purple and black chitin. Beside the art is a formatted D&D 5e stat block titled 'Silt-Skimmer Queen', listing Challenge Rating 5, AC 16, HP 95, Multiattack, Crushing Mandibles, Acid Stinger, and Pheromone Surge. Official fa"

Created: Sep 4, 2026
Modified: Sep 10, 2026

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