[quote=@Zeroth]
[@Knox]
I had considered insectoid monsters during my original design phase, and like you suggested thought about making them some kind of "trap master" type of character. But the most common abilities for most insects involving paralyzing or poisonous stings, fangs, etc. which the Fanged Lizard already does. Building traps out of webbing, or digging out pitfalls in the ground, could be an interesting form of combat but it seemed like it would force the players to be too passive--they build the trap, then sit and wait for something to fall into it, and I didn't think players would enjoy waiting around like that. Being speedster types, using guerrilla tactics, could work but then they would be another form of DPS like the Dire Rat, and I tried to avoid having the starter monster roles overlap as much as possible. 

Not to mention most "mook level" insects would be things like giant ants, or *Projared voice* BEES, and these creatures are hive-minds controlled by a Queen. Players already have to stand out among their monstrous peers to survive, but when doing so goes against the nature of the monster itself it just seemed like it wouldn't work out.

By all means though let's hear some more thoughts on the subject, maybe someone can help fix the issues I've pointed out.

[/quote]

Two ideas I had were that they could act as pseudo tanks by using their speed, reflexes, and range of movement to avoid attacks and attract the attention of the enemy. When they deal damage they don't take as much HP as Dire Rats, given that they're smaller and don't have their strong jaws, instead, they would have to rely on a death of a thousand cuts strategy if they wanted to kill a monster by themselves. The problem with this idea is that it kinda overlaps with slimes. 

The other idea was to have them specialize in giving debuffs and buffs to their allies, making them akin to a support version of the fanged lizard, but I’m not sure if insects would be the right monster for that, maybe that would be more fitting for an Awakened Shrub monster or something like that.