Stirge Swarm: Feasible or Way Too Much?

[Presto2112]

Anyone here ever try to give stirges the swarm treatment? I was thinking about it, until I looked at the entry for swarm:

A swarm of Tiny creatures consists of 300 nonflying creatures or 1,000 flying creatures.

This leads to a number of questions:

Could ANYONE survive a swarm of 1000 stirges?

How many HD would a stirge swarm have?

Would it do hp damage or just automatic Con damage?

Gawd, I'm just shivering thinking about it...

 

[lukelightning]

The one saving grace is that with average maneuverability you might be able to out-maneuver the swarm.

 

[the Jester]

I think stirges demand a swarm.

Make it epic.

 

[EricNoah]

I think automatic CON damage is the way to go. But maybe it only happens every other round or something -- a round of dozens of stirges "attaching" themselves, then a round of CON dmg, then a round of those stirges flying off while others attach themselves, then another round of CON dmg, etc.

The trick will be assigning the right CR.

 

[Presto2112]

Here's what I've come up with:

STIRGE SWARM
Tiny Magical Beast (Swarm)
Hit Dice: 16d10 (88 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 10 ft. (2 squares), fly 40 ft. (average)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 size, +4 Dex), touch 16, flat-footed 12
Base Attack / Grapple: +16/ -
Attack: Swarm (blood drain)
Space / Reach: 10 ft. / 0 ft.
Special Attacks: Blood drain, distraction
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., half damage from slashing and piercing, low-light vision, swarm traits
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +16, Will +8
Abilities: Str 5, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +12, Spot + 13
Feats: Alertness, Weapon FinesseB, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will, Ability Focus (distraction), Improved Initiative
Environment: Warm marshes
Organization: Solitary, flight (2-4 swarms), or colony (7-12 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 13
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -

Nothing makes marsh dwellers tremble more that the loud hum of an approaching stirge swarm. Once content to stay in family groups of a dozen or so, these parasites have recently taken to assembling into enormous swarms hundreds, bringing quick, blood-drinking, frenzied death to whatever unfortunate soul it encounters.

COMBAT

The insatiable stirge swarm seeks to surround and attach to any prey it encounters.

Blood Drain (Ex): Like any swarm, it is simply impossible to fight off all of the creatures surrounding you. The stirge swarm inevitably find vulnerable spots, begins feeding, and deals 2d6 points of Constitution damage per round. Because of the sheer number of stirges, this Constitution damge continues until the opponent reaches 0 or can make its way out of the swarm.

Distraction: Any living creature that begins its turn with a stirge swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 22 Fortitude Save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

How I came up with the CR is as follows, using the "Improving Monsters" page on the SRD:

Original CR for Stirge: 1/8 (I rounded it up to 1 for this purpose)
Added 15 HD: +5
Sizee effectively increased to Large: +1
Distraction ability: +2
Swarm Special attack: +2
Automatic Blood Drain: +2

CR of 13 for this things seems way too low.

 

[EricNoah]

Nah, could be about right. A party that can cast a couple of area-effect spells, and with a cleric that can cast lesser restoration or restoration, should be able to survive and take this thing out fairly quickly.

 

[Presto2112]

Nah, could be about right. A party that can cast a couple of area-effect spells, and with a cleric that can cast lesser restoration or restoration, should be able to survive and take this thing out fairly quickly.

I've shown it to a couple of people now, and one guy thinks that 2d6 Con damage automatically is too much. While it would be difficult to deal with, I think that given the fact that 1 stirge deals 1d4 Con dmg on a successful hit, I think that 1000 stirges automatically dealing 2d6 is actually a little generous.

I may change it so that it only starts dealing Con damage after a full round has passed (they need a round to attach). That might make it a little bit more reasonable. After all, a regular stirge needs to attach first, then does the blood drain.

 

[EricNoah]

Well it's not really 1000 stirges automatically draining blood. Some members of the swarm won't be on the victim at all; some won't be able to penetrate the victim's defenses; some might scratch the victim a smidge, and then some will be only able to get a tiny sip. It's more of a law of averages thing.

 

[Pyrex]

Keep in mind that not all Stirges are doing damage each round, only a small percent of them are. Not only can not all of them attack the same target, but many of them will miss.

I'd probably either a) lower the damage to 2d4 or b) increase it to 3d6 but subtract (target's Touch AC -10) from each attack.

 

[Presto2112]

Keep in mind that not all Stirges are doing damage each round, only a small percent of them are. Not only can not all of them attack the same target, but many of them will miss.

I'd probably either a) lower the damage to 2d4 or b) increase it to 3d6 but subtract (target's Touch AC -10) from each attack.

Of course not all of the stirges are doing damage each round, but 2d6 would indicate that perhaps 3 out of the thousand are. I think that's a fair number.