Difference between revisions of "Stirge"

Latest revision as of 15:29, 8 July 2026

Stirges are bird-like creatures that drink the blood of their victims for sustenance. They have four small, pincer-like legs that they use to clamp onto the necks of their victims. They are rusty-red to reddish brown in color, and their eyes and feet are yellowish. The dangling proboscises of stirges are pink at the tip, fading to gray at the base (near their heads).

Stirges form nest-like colonies in attics, dungeons, and copses of trees. Huge nests of stirges live symbiotically with some evil dragons. Although they resemble birds, they hang upside down when sleeping, indicating that stirges may be closely related to vampire bats.

Stirges can breed in captivity, but a constant supply of blood is needed. Stirges mostly kill weak Humans, animals and children, so the arrival of these predators in any civilized territory is always a cause for alarm.

Stirges have an acute sense of smell, can see in the dark, and can sense heat sources within 200 feet. These senses keep stirges informed when living creatures enter their habitat. Stirges must be killed to be removed, due to their strong grip. After a stirge has gorged itself by draining blood, it sleeps for up to a week. 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.

Note: Stirges originally appeared in this form in the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual for the AD&D game from TSR. Their use here is for the purposes of providing context for the campaign only.