I also wrote a new race so I didn't have half my starting levels taken up by race, and while it was inspired by the Kreen, especially the review of Thri Kreen of Athas that Mechalich did, it raises questions of how different bug people should be. I worked in some stuff but too much and it would have ballooned the LA (under this GM).
Here's what I came up with-
Mantids (Anther Kreen)
- +4 Dex, -2 Int
- 30 ft land speed
- Medium Monstrous Humanoids
- Darkvision 60 ft
- Four Armed- may take the feat Multi-weapon Fighting
- Natural Attacks- Mantids have a somewhat weak bite attack (1d4) and their upper arms have three segments before the hand, the last two of which can close completely, like a pair of scissors, giving them two powerful claw attacks (1d6) evolved to catch and hold prey. If a mantid hits a medium or smaller creature with both claws in the same round (as part of a full attack) they may immediately initiate a grapple without provoking an attack of opportunity. Mantids may use their claw attacks while holding items in their upper limbs (because the "claws" aren't on their fingers)
- Chitin- Mantids have +1 NA
- Trapping Grip- Mantid forelimbs and hands are adapted to hold readily and let go reluctantly. They receive a +4 bonus on grapple and disarm checks and to resist being disarmed. If they are unable to use their upper arms, they do not receive the bonus to grapple checks.
- Weapon Familiarity- Mantids treat their cultural weapons, the Gythka and Chatkcha as martial weapons.
- Dasl- Mantids may combine their slightly-corrosive saliva with sand to create a crystaline substance known as Dasl. This substance may be molded and shaped as it is created, and is often used in the creation of bladed weapons. When made into a bladed weapon, it has the qualities of steel, but weighs half as much. Dasl cannot be used to create blades longer than 3' in length (ie, any two-handed, non-polearm is pretty much out).
- Leap- Mantids are wingless, but they have powerful legs, allowing them to leap great distances. Mantids have a racial bonus to jump equal to their HD.
- Insect Physiology- Mantids bear a lot of similarities to mundane insects.
- The primary advantage to this is that they do not sleep, and are immune to sleep effects. They may be forced into hibernation through the application of extreme cold, however, and react to cold quite differently from fleshy races.
- If environmental cold would force a mantid to save against damage, they must instead save against an equal amount of dexterity damage. Once the mantid reaches 0 dexterity, they are forced into a catatonic, coma-like state (as if they had reached 0 charisma). Once the ambient temperature rises above 40 degrees, they awaken and begin recovering 1d4 dexterity per round.
- Mantid antennae are sensitive, scent-based organs. They have a reduced miss chance whenever they would have difficulty locating something based on vision alone (-5% per point of wisdom bonus), so long as a physical barrier is not present between them and the object.
- While Mantids have lungs like other humanoids, they do not breath solely through their head as humanoids do. This makes it difficult to suffocate a mantid (short of gas-based suffocation), but also makes it difficult for a mantid to swim. Any attempt to suffocate a mantid requires all their breathing holes be covered (which is basically impossible if the mantid is not helpless), unless the suffocation is due to deprivation of environmental oxygen (ie, water or gas), in which case the mantid suffers a -4 penalty to fortitude checks to resist it. In order to swim, a mantid must either cover the majority of their breathing holes (usually they'll use dasl to do so), which takes 5 minutes of work, or attempt to hold their breath (which they can do unlike normal insects), which requires a concentration check at the same DC as their swimming checks.
- It is very difficult for a mantid to disguise themselves as another race without using magic. Any attempt to do so suffers a -10 penalty, unless the mantid has made use of Alter Self or similar (Disguise Self doesn't cut it alone). If a mantid can completely cover themselves without rousing suspicion, such as in an arctic environment where most people are more mountains of cloth with a voice emanating from the center, this penalty is reduced to the normal penalty for disguising oneself as a different race (because their body shape is still noticeably different).
- Insect Mentality- Mantid minds are significantly different from those of other humanoids. Because of this, mantids receive a +4 bonus against mind-affecting effects. However, the significant difference between mantid psychology and other humanoids makes socializing difficult, on top of just basic cultural differences. A mantid receives a -4 penalty to Diplomacy and Sense Motive attempts. The differences between mantid minds and other humanoids mean that they have difficulty knowing how to bluff other humanoids, but also that other humanoids have difficulty "reading" a mantid, so bluff receives neither penalty nor bonus. The alien physiology and psychology of a mantid is very unnerving to most, even absent entophobia, so mantids receive a +2 bonus to Intimidate. Some people are afraid of insects and will receive a penalty to their opposed check, at the DM's discretion.
- +2 racial bonus to Perception- Mantids have large eyes, and antennae that are sensitive to scent and vibration, allowing them to spot, hear and find things easily.
- Environment-adapted- Mantids are a race with many variations. While all mantids are broadly the same in capability, each variety is adapted to a certain environment. In the environment a mantid's variation is adapted to, they receive a +2 racial bonus to stealth and survival.
- Mantids speak their own language, Mant, which makes heavy use of clicks, rasps, and pheromones, making it difficult for non-insects to speak fluently, or even understand. They speak other languages with what amounts to a heavy accent due to their insectile facial structure, and inability to pronounce the sounds of the letters f, p, b, m, and v. Generally they can make themselves understood, however.
But thinking about it, and doing some more research on bugs, there's more that could go in. Bug people could easily have a resistance to crits, since many of the important organs of a bug are in their abdomen. They could have tremorsense, and so on.
So how different should bug people be from elves and orcs and shit?
