Building Better Swarms - murder of crows, swarm of bats, stampedes, pirahna!

[Daniel D. Fox]

Wildebeest Stampede Level 2 Soldier
Huge natural beast (swarm) XP 125
Initiative +7 Senses Perception +7
Fight or Flight aura 1; each enemy that begins its turn within the aura is marked
HP 38; Bloodied 19
AC 18; Fortitude 15, Refl ex 17, Will 14
Immune fear; Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks;
Vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks.
Speed 7
m Rush of Hooves (standard; at-will)
+8 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 damage, or 2d10 + 4 damage against a
prone target.
M Trample (minor; at-will)
+7 vs. Fortitude; the target is knocked prone.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Str 15 (+3) Dex 18 (+5) Wis12 (+2)
Con 14 (+3) Int 2 (–3) Cha 10 (+1)

School of Pirahna Level 4 Lurker
Large natural humanoid (swarm) XP 175
Initiative +9 Senses Perception +3; darkvision
Blood Frenzy aura 1; enemies that begin their turns adjacent to
the school of pirahna take 3 damage.
HP 42; Bloodied 21
AC 17 (see also camouflage); Fortitude 15, Reflex 15, Will 13
Immune fear; Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks;
Vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks.
Speed swim 8
mGnashing Teeth (standard; at-will)
Reach 2; +9 vs. AC; 1d8 + 3 damage, and the target is grabbed
(until escape). A target trying to escape the grab takes a –4
penalty to the check.
Bloodlust
The school of piranha does +1d6 additional damage to bloodied foes
Camouflage (minor; at-will)
The school of pirahna gains concealment until the start of its next turn.
It can’t use this power while grabbing a creature or while grabbed.
Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Skills Stealth +10
Str 17 (+5) Dex 17 (+5) Wis13 (+3)
Con 12 (+3) Int 6 (+0) Cha 6 (+0)

 

[ravenheart]

Wildebeest Stampede Level 2 Soldier
Huge natural beast (swarm) XP 125
Initiative +7 Senses Perception +7
Fight or Flight aura 1; each enemy that begins its turn within the aura is marked
HP 38; Bloodied 19
AC 18; Fortitude 15, Refl ex 17, Will 14
Immune fear; Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks;
Vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks.
Speed 7
m Rush of Hooves (standard; at-will)
+8 vs. AC; 1d10 + 4 damage, or 2d10 + 4 damage against a
prone target.
M Trample (minor; at-will)
+7 vs. Fortitude; the target is knocked prone.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Str 15 (+3) Dex 18 (+5) Wis12 (+2)
Con 14 (+3) Int 2 (–3) Cha 10 (+1)

This seems kind of lethal, especially to low level characters (Hello, Needlefang Drake Swarm!). How about you remove the extra damage vs. prone targets from the melee basic attack, make the trample attack vs. reflex instead and add a rechargeable power like this:

Stampede! (move; recharge 5,6)
The wildebeest stampede shifts it's speed. During the move it makes a melee basic attack against each creature whose space it enters. This attack deals an extra 1d10 damage to prone enemies.

This way it really preserves the flavor of a panicked herd of herbivores. The names of the powers could propably be altered to fit the concept better.

EDIT: And it seems strange that it would be immune to fear? Isn't the idea of a stampede very much dependant on fear?

 

[Aloïsius]

A stampede being huge ? What is that, 5 cows ? IMHO, a real stampede should be at least colossal.

Unless you emulate it by using a lot of smaller stampede, but that would be even more deadly IMHO.

 

[the Jester]

Pretty good stuff, but why do bats have a "venomous" bite?

 

[chronoplasm]

Why are the Wildebeasts soldiers? I typically think of creatures in the soldier role as protecting something, like a controller.
A swarm of bees would make a good soldier. For wildebeasts though, I think the brute role would be most appropriate. Also, I agree that it should be colossal.

 

[Rel]

For what it's worth, I reskinned the Needlefang Drake Swarm into pirhannas (dire pirhannas actually) and it looks pretty workable.