In a usual case of plotline being written without consulting the sourcebooks, I've hit a point in my next planned game where I need a nasty awakened insectoid paracritter that's likely to live underground, but don't know which to use, or even if there is one that fits the bill. I'm looking for something nasty enough to give hardened combat characters pause, but feeble enough that I can use a swarm of them without my players getting geeked before I'm done with them. Ideally some sort of large spider would fit the bill, but as one of the players is chronically arachnophobic, that's forbidden territory. Is there anything I can use for this situation (think Indiana Jones meets Resident Evil), or am I going to have to rewrite that bit and go with the old classic zombies?

-JH.

You could always make one up. New paracritters are discovered all the time.

there's the wyrd mantis. 2m long, 10kg, adaptive coloration. you could make them an offshoot that creates hives in caves.

or the spider-beast, half-meter spiders with hallucinogenic poison. the siberian bee is nasty, and comes in hives.

scorpyne might work; it's basically a big-ass scorpion--same with nova scorpion, though novas have a pretty badass poison that might kill the entire group on some bad rolls.

the jauchekafer is kinda cool--this is the first time i've actually looked at it; i think the entry has adaptive coloration, though the insect itself doesn't. it's basically an 80cm beetle.

i suppose the ghede fly for completeness, but it doesn't sound like what you're looking for.

a cave-dwelling variant of the abrams lobster might be cool--they're big and tough enough to give a group pause, but not bad enough individually to cause huge problems. a group of them, though, would be a knockdown, drag-out fight.

I would think that arachnaphobia would be a major plus in regards to your decision to use giant awakened spiders. Whats the point of the flaw if it never ends up being relevant?

Or...wait. Did you mean one of the players, or one of the characters?

The jauchekafer is an excellent choice, because I think the fluff mentions that they swarm and go berserk in the presence of toxins or insecticide.

Insect spirit Demon Rats. Brings to mind the quote from M:Reloaded -"More... more..."

Subetrranean nova scorpions? Under the guidance of a rare flesh-form scorpion spirit (so far only implied in SR art), probably with an animal host.

Sure. The animal host could even be another nova scorpion.