Editing Formian

[[File:Formian 1e.jpg|thumb]]
'''Formians''' are a species of ant-like insectoid beings from [[Dungeons & Dragons]], who failed here on Earth and got a better life in the hereafter. A formian has an ant-like head and hindquarters, including four legs, but has a humanoid torso and arms, not unlike an invertebrate centaur.

Formians first appeared in the first edition [[Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]]' [[Monster Manual]] II. This presented formians as an otherwise ordinary species of intelligent creature - rather less interesting than [[thri-kreen|those other bugmen]]. Full statistics for three main castes of formian were there provided; the workers (about the size of a large dog), the warriors (the size of a pony) and the myrmarches (the size of a horse). Special types mentioned as being found only inside Formian hive-cities were the male gymarches and the queen.

In 2e formians didn't even make the Monstrous Manual. They show up in ''[[Planescape]]'' - belatedly, in the ''Planes of Law'' box. Here (and in the ''very'' unofficial 3e/d20 spinoff ''[[Beyond Countless Doorways]]''), formians are [[Multiverse|multiversal]] - a [[retcon]], given their complete absence from the first Compendium Appendix and from all other 2e content.

By the [[Great Wheel]] the bugmen are mostly concentrated on [[Arcadia]], that boundary-plane between Lawful Good [[Celestia]] and Lawful Neutral [[Mechanus]]. ''Planes of Law'' and the second MC Appendix described formians as one of Arcadia's primary inhabitants.

In [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], they have begun taking over Mechanus. In that edition's Monster Manual, formians were adapted to the new edition's core rules, in which they are presented as the exemplar species of the Lawful Neutral alignment. The selfsame edition's Manual of the Planes implies them the primary inhabitants of both Arcadia and the Lawful Neutral Outer Plane of Mechanus, against the earlier editions' [[Modron]]s.

The Taskmaster caste of Formian is a man sized Formian that lacks the combat abilities of the Warrior but is able to use Dominate Creature as a spell-like ability. It is encountered with a slave creature.

Formians are absolutely bound by the law of their queen. Due to this, all but the highest ranking Taskmasters and Myrmarchs are merely slave-like pawns. For this reason, Formians are the only race of bug people in Third Edition that are explicitly unplayable; the [[Thri-kreen]] and [[Dromite]]s have proper PC stat blocks in the ''Expanded Psionics Handbook'' and elsewhere, and the [[Abeil]]s appear in the ''Monster Manual II'' with a note from WotC saying "[[you can certainly try]]".

Because formians didn't get the 2e love that thri-kreen got, formians passed into 3e without the condom of the OGL. Paizo pounced on that and put them into [[Pathfinder]] - here losing their planar status and instead being an alien race that travels through space, founding colonies on new worlds and slowly trying to infest the stars.  This would be picked up to make them a playable race in [[Starfinder]] where they have just ended a long war with the [[Lashunta]] on Castrovel. 

===Starfinder PC Stats===
Ability Modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Wis

Hit Points: 4

Size and Type: Medium monstrous humanoids.

Formian Senses: Formians have darkvision with a range of 60 feet, and they have blindsense (scent) with a range of 30 feet.

Limited Telepathy: Formians can communicate telepathically with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language.

Natural Weapons: Formians are always considered armed. They can deal 1d3 lethal piercing damage with unarmed strikes, and those attacks don’t count as archaic. Formians gain a unique weapon specialization with their natural weapons at 3rd level, allowing them to add 1 and 1/2 × their character level to their damage rolls for their natural weapons (instead of just adding their character level).

Sonic Resistance: Thanks to the chitinous plates that cover them, formians have sonic resistance 5.

==Gallery==
'''D&D'''
<gallery>
Formian PoL.jpg|2e
Formian PoL arcadia.jpg|at their (new) home in Arcadia
formian boat TftIS.jpg
formian bronze dragon TftIS.jpg|With a young bronze dragon slave
Formian 3e.jpg|3e
Formian BCD.jpg|''Beyond Countless Doorways''
</gallery>
'''PF'''
<gallery>
Formian worker B4 PF.png|Worker
Formian warrior B4 PF.png|Warrior
Formian myrmarch B4 PF.png|Taskmaster
Formian taskmaster B4 PF.png|Myrmarch
Formian queen B4 PF.png|Queen
</gallery>
'''SF'''
<gallery>
Formian warrior SF.png|Worker
Formian worker SF.png|Warrior
Formian taskmaster SF.png|Taskmaster
Formian myrmarch SF.png|Myrmarch
Formian queen SF.png|Queen
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
{{Pathfinder-Races}}
{{Starfinder-Races}}
[[Category:Pathfinder]]