Okay, how to handle...


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It is not useless, since according to the rules I quoted earlier as a mind affecting spell ray of stupidity does affect it
SRD said:
A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind.
Same quote, new emphasis mine. The broodkeeper swarm, while it has an intelligence score, does not have a hive mind; therefore the exception that allows mind-affecting effects to work does not apply.

Not that you haven't raised an interesting issue (it's news to me that a ray could ever affect a swarm-I thought it was just targeted spells but the text seems to suggest otherwise), but in this particular case the spell does not work.
 


While I still like the Insect Plague for pure poetry, what about EBT? It does do bludgeoning damage, after all.
Swarm Subtype said:
Also, they cannot be tripped, grappled, or bull rushed, and they cannot grapple an opponent.
EBT said:
Once the tentacles grapple an opponent, they may make a grapple check each round on your turn to deal 1d6+4 points of bludgeoning damage.
So no, that spell won't touch the buggers.
 

Same quote, new emphasis mine. The broodkeeper swarm, while it has an intelligence score, does not have a hive mind; therefore the exception that allows mind-affecting effects to work does not apply.

Not that you haven't raised an interesting issue (it's news to me that a ray could ever affect a swarm-I thought it was just targeted spells but the text seems to suggest otherwise), but in this particular case the spell does not work.

I thought having an intelligence score implied having a hive mind, but looking at the wasp swarm I see I was wrong. So no mind affecting magic against this one.
 


Well, you don't need to be offensive - I wasn't speaking about touch of idiocy, but rather, ray of stupidity, which subsequent research has indicated can drop things below 1, effectively one-shotting them.

Touch of Idiocy :: d20srd.org

Note the line where it says "This penalty can’t reduce any of these scores below 1." The DM's you've mentioned are either referring to a different spell, or are complete morons for not reading the actual description in full.
 

I'd recommend Necrotic Skull Bomb. That's an AoE version of Enervation, with a Fort save attached unfortunately. Should make for a METRIC :):):):)TON of wights to run from a few rounds later, though... :p
 

Well, you don't need to be offensive - I wasn't speaking about touch of idiocy, but rather, ray of stupidity, which subsequent research has indicated can drop things below 1, effectively one-shotting them.
After rereading the post I guess I was a bit offensive, and I apologize.

However, DMs should know the big hitters in the sources they allow, and plan for it accordingly.

If a caster regularly uses Ray of Stupidity, then CRs for most everything with an int of 3 or less should probably drop to reflect the lowered experience from trivializing the encounter. Entirely getting rid of things your party will 1-shot can lessen the game.
 

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