Formian
Formians are a species of ant-like insectoid beings from Dungeons & Dragons. 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 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.
From 2e Planescape (and its 3e/d20 spinoff Beyond Countless Doorways), formians are multiversal, associated with the Lawful planes. By the 2e Great Wheel they are mostly concentrated on Arcadia, that boundary-plane between Lawful Good Celestia and Lawful Neutral Mechanus - so 2e. The Planescape campaign setting expansion Planes of Law described formians as one of the primary inhabitants of the plane of Arcadia.
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' Modrons.
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 Dromites have proper PC stat blocks in the Expanded Psionics Handbook and elsewhere, and the Abeils appear in the Monster Manual II with a note from WotC saying "you can certainly try".
Amazingly, and unlike thri-kreen, formians are not OGL-protected. 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.
Gallery
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1e -
3e
| The inhabitants of the Planes of Planescape | |
|---|---|
| Upper Planes | Aasimon • Angel • Animal Lord • Archon • Asura • Eladrin • Guardinals • Lillend |
| Middle Planes | Formians • Githzerai • Inevitable • Marut • Modron • Rilmani • Slaadi • Kamerel |
| Lower Planes | Alu-Fiend • Baatezu • Bladeling • Cambion • Demodand • Erinyes • Hag • Hordling • Imp • Kyton • Loumara • Marilith • Obyrith • Succubus • Tanar'ri • Yugoloth |
| Transitive Planes | Astral Dreadnought • Githyanki |
| Inner Planes | Azer • Elemental • Genie • Grue • Mephit • Salamander • Sylph |
| Sigil | Dabus • Cranium Rat |
| High-ups | Archangel • Archdevil • Archfey • Archomental • Demon Prince |
| The Races of Pathfinder | |
|---|---|
| Player's Handbook: | Dwarf - Elf - Gnome - Half-Elf - Half-Orc - Halfling - Human |
| Advanced Race Guide: |
Aasimar - Catfolk - Changeling - Dhampir - Duergar Drow - Fetchling - Gillman - Goblin - Grippli - Hobgoblin Ifrit - Kitsune - Kobold - Merfolk - Nagaji - Orc - Oread Ratfolk - Samsaran - Strix - Suli - Svirfneblin - Sylph Tengu - Tiefling - Undine - Vanara - Vishkanya - Wayang |
| Bestiaries: | Android - Astomoi - Caligni - Deep One Hybrid - Gathlain Gnoll - Kasatha - Munavri - Naiad - Orang-Pendak Reptoid - Rougarou - Shabti - Trox - Yaddithian |
| Adventure Paths: | Being of Ib - Kuru |
| Inner Sea Races: | Ghoran - Monkey Goblin - Lashunta - Skinwalker Syrinx - Triaxian - Wyrwood - Wyvaran |
| Ultimate Wilderness: | Vine Leshy |
| Blood of the Sea: | Adaro - Cecaelia - Grindylow - Locathah - Sahuagin - Triton |
| Planar Adventures: | Aphorite - Duskwalker - Ganzi |