IamTheTest
First Post
Im looking into getting an animal companion in the form of a swarm of butterflies. Id like to know how many I can get if Im level 4.
Stats for a Butterfly?
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Furtive Noise
First Post
Heh, I don't post much but for some reason I find this one of the more interesting questions I've seen on the boards, maybe its the image of a spell slinging adventurer surrounded by a swirling cloud of butterflies.. neat.
Anyway.. I'm pretty sure the current 3.5 rules don't support having a lots of little creatures as animal companions, they seem to focus on having one animal that gets better as you gain levels. Its kind of a shame since lots of people want to have a bunch of rats or birds or what-have-you following them around. I don't know of any book w/ moths or butterflies in them either.. however for a swarm you could try and use the swarm rules.. someone who knows them better might come up w/ something, until I get my books w/ me at home. Anyway, if you want to be technical an insect 'butterfly' is a vermin and can't be an animal companion so this being the rules forum someone might say you can't do it. But its a cool image and there might be a way for a rule savvy person to make something up for it.
Anyway.. I'm pretty sure the current 3.5 rules don't support having a lots of little creatures as animal companions, they seem to focus on having one animal that gets better as you gain levels. Its kind of a shame since lots of people want to have a bunch of rats or birds or what-have-you following them around. I don't know of any book w/ moths or butterflies in them either.. however for a swarm you could try and use the swarm rules.. someone who knows them better might come up w/ something, until I get my books w/ me at home. Anyway, if you want to be technical an insect 'butterfly' is a vermin and can't be an animal companion so this being the rules forum someone might say you can't do it. But its a cool image and there might be a way for a rule savvy person to make something up for it.
IamTheTest
First Post
Thanks for the input. As far as rules go, Im sure that my DM would be cool with the 3.0 version. Hes pretty chill about interchanging 3.0 and 3.5 as long as it is for role playing purposes and not power gaming. Ill look into the swarm rules as they seem to be the best fit thus far. I really like the idea of a colorful burst of life used for cover and distraction instead of something more camofaugey. Hopefully itll work out.
Furtive Noise
First Post
Yeah, the swarm rules do seem like they'd be best. Instead of doing damage to those the swarm envelops it could have them make saves or be hampered in some way like making spot checks or spells harder to use. As you gain levels the DC's could go higher and the swarm could gain hitpoints, though one or two area attacks could still probably wipe them out.
http://systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/monsterTypes.html has info on swarms.
You can't have butterfiles, they'd be vermin typed, not animal 
That aside, I'd just extrapolate it from locust swarm, making it weaker :
BUTTERFLY SWARM
Diminutive Vermin (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 2d8–2 (7 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares), fly 30 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 size, +4 Dex), touch 18, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/—
Attack: -
Full Attack: -
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Distraction, Harmless
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immune to weapon damage, swarm traits, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +0
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 19, Con 8, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +2, Spot +3
Feats: —
Combat
A butterfly swarm surrounds and distracts any living prey it encounters.
Harmless (Ex): A butterfly swarm is physically unable to attack, making it harmless.
Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a butterfly swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 10 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Skills: A butterfly swarm has a +4 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks.
PS. I made up the Harmless property, it doesn't seem right being attacked by butterflies... what are they going to do, kamikaze you ?! Anyway the above would be fine (and quite possibly underpowered) for a first level druid to take, DM allowing.
PPS. Oh , the distraction ability is DC 10 + 1/2 racial HD + con mod (so 10 + 1 - 1 in this case). So as it gains HD, remember to increase the DC by 1 for every 2 HD it gains. Likewise if you somehow justified a killer butterfly swarm and got rid of the harmless quality I gave it, it'd be doing Swarm Damage (1d6) as it is, then 2d6 at 6HD, 3d6 at 11HD, etc
That aside, I'd just extrapolate it from locust swarm, making it weaker :
BUTTERFLY SWARM
Diminutive Vermin (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 2d8–2 (7 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares), fly 30 ft. (poor)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 size, +4 Dex), touch 18, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/—
Attack: -
Full Attack: -
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Distraction, Harmless
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immune to weapon damage, swarm traits, vermin traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +0
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 19, Con 8, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +2, Spot +3
Feats: —
Combat
A butterfly swarm surrounds and distracts any living prey it encounters.
Harmless (Ex): A butterfly swarm is physically unable to attack, making it harmless.
Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a butterfly swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 10 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Skills: A butterfly swarm has a +4 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks.
PS. I made up the Harmless property, it doesn't seem right being attacked by butterflies... what are they going to do, kamikaze you ?! Anyway the above would be fine (and quite possibly underpowered) for a first level druid to take, DM allowing.
PPS. Oh , the distraction ability is DC 10 + 1/2 racial HD + con mod (so 10 + 1 - 1 in this case). So as it gains HD, remember to increase the DC by 1 for every 2 HD it gains. Likewise if you somehow justified a killer butterfly swarm and got rid of the harmless quality I gave it, it'd be doing Swarm Damage (1d6) as it is, then 2d6 at 6HD, 3d6 at 11HD, etc
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Primitive Screwhead
First Post
Swarm as Familiar...
There are some rules, I forget where, that allow Vermin familiars. It would not be much of an extension to allow a Swarm Familiar.
Interesting use of them would be as a carrier of a touch attack spell...auto hit!
Diirk's swarm of butterfly's looks pretty good to me.
There are some rules, I forget where, that allow Vermin familiars. It would not be much of an extension to allow a Swarm Familiar.
Interesting use of them would be as a carrier of a touch attack spell...auto hit!
Diirk's swarm of butterfly's looks pretty good to me.
IamTheTest
First Post
I really like the idea of a harmless swarm that is distracting. I do think that it is a bit underpowered especially in a lvl4 campaign. How unbalancing would it be to have the attack of the butterflies be the equivelant of color spray? I cant imagine that being overpowered. Or perhaps the swarm grants some cover (3.0 style)? Im not looking for overpowered, in all honesty I wouldnt mind a little underpowered, but just a little.
The equivalent of color spray would be overpowered at lower levels and completely useless at higher levels. As a 4th level druid the swam posted above would be up to 4 HD, with corresponding better ac/stats etc.
You could maybe give it a racial bonus on its distraction ability (between +2 and +4 might be appropriate) to compensate for the fact it does no damage.. or you could made it do 1d6 subdual damage possibly, altho even that is hard to believe.
You could maybe give it a racial bonus on its distraction ability (between +2 and +4 might be appropriate) to compensate for the fact it does no damage.. or you could made it do 1d6 subdual damage possibly, altho even that is hard to believe.
IamTheTest
First Post
I think Im going to present the idea with my DM and see if maybe we can work something out were the swarm is cool and slightly useful. Maybe a color spray that increases effectiveness as I and the swarm level up.
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