Swarm Stat Block - Military Patrol

[S'mon]

My draft of a military platoon of spearmen as an heroic tier Solo swarm:

Military Platoon Level 7 Solo Soldier
Gargantuan natural humanoid XP 1,500
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +3
Swarm Attack aura 2; the platoon makes a melee basic attack as a free action against any enemy that starts or ends its turn within the aura.
HP 300; Bloodied 150
AC 23; Fortitude 20; Reflex 19; Will 18
Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks; Vulnerable 10 damage from close and area attacks
Saving Throws +5
Speed 4
Action Points 2
m Swarm of Spears (standard; at-will)
+12 vs AC; (edit) 1d8+7 damage
M Riposte of Spears immediate reaction; when the platoon is attacked, they attack the attacker with a melee basic attack
Hard to Move
The Platoon cannot be Pushed/Pulled/Slid or knocked Prone by Melee or Ranged attacks, and can Save to avoid being Pushed/Pulled/Slid or knocked Prone by Blast & Burst attacks that do not cover the entire 4x4 area of the Platoon.
Last Survivors (immediate reaction; encounter)
When the Platoon is reduced to 0 hp, 2d4 level 5 soldier Minions armed with sword & shield appear within the 4x4 space formerly occupied by the platoon, and act immediately.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Skills Endurance +8, Intimidate +7
Str 17 (+6) Dex 12 (+4) Wis 10 (+3)
Con 11 (+3) Int 12 (+4) Cha 9 (+2)
Equipment Spear, Heavy Shield, Dagger, Scale Armor
This stat block represents a platoon of around 32 trained soldiers armed with spears and shields.

Do you think the damage output looks about right? Any ideas for a rechargeable special attack that inflicts appropriate & interesting status effects?

 

[Ferghis]

I like this concept a lot. I can't speak to the damage or HP, though, because I feel it depends too much on how well trained the troop is. It's certainly too much for some peasant levies or green troops. It may be on target for a well-trained group (like hobgoblins might be).

My only real suggestion is to make it vulnerable to intimidate when at a quarter HP. Maybe -5 to will?

Another idea is to decrease its size when it's bloodied (and the wording on Hard to Move so that forced movement works fine if it captures the whole troop).

 

[ceiling90]

I know it says "makes a melee basic" against anyone in the aura as a free action. How many times can it do that? Do monsters follow the same rules as a single free action attack like pc's do? If it's more.... that's frightening. If it's only once... then it's not that great...

Couldn't you just as effectively either make the aura an auto-damage aura or maybe just give the swarm threatening reach?

 

[Ferghis]

I know it says "makes a melee basic" against anyone in the aura as a free action. How many times can it do that?

In addition to all its other attacks, the aura attacks seem to occur twice every PC turn (if they begin and end their turn in the aura). I take this from the end of the aura effect: "...that starts or ends its turn within the aura"

Personally, I'm okay with that. As with my other suggestion, I'd decrease the aura's range to 1 and to only occur at the end of every turn when it's bloodied.

Oooh, if you're looking for some kind of disadvantage, an idea would be something like "cannot be healed" to implement the fact that regular healing won't resuscitate dead troops.

 

[S'mon]

I know it says "makes a melee basic" against anyone in the aura as a free action. How many times can it do that? Do monsters follow the same rules as a single free action attack like pc's do? If it's more.... that's frightening. If it's only once... then it's not that great...

Couldn't you just as effectively either make the aura an auto-damage aura or maybe just give the swarm threatening reach?

This stat block is intended to represent a platoon of experienced soldiery armed with spears. My design model was a Greek Hoplite phalanx.

It's intended to be an unlimited number of attacks to nearby foes - there are over 30 soldiers in the platoon. Being adjacent to the spear wall should be very uncomfortable! I guess in an extreme case I'd limit the swarm to 30 attacks total in 1 round, but that's unlikely ever to come up.

Note that this is a Solo monster, and its total likely damage output should be comparable to 5 regular monsters. It should be averaging around 5 attacks per round; eg if 2 PCs are in melee with it, it will get 2 vs each of them on their turns, another on its turn, and a riposte, for 6 attacks. PCs can reduce its effective damage output by having only 1 PC hold it off Horatio style, while the rest use ranged attacks, giving it 4 attacks (3 vs melee PC on his turn, 1 on its turn). On consideration I think the damage output may need reducing a bit though.

You could make the aura auto-damage for simplicity; free attacks 'feel' better to me though.

 

[S'mon]

Damage output - I think against a single melee PC it should be equivalent to around 3 standard monster attacks, more against multiple melee PCs.

Standard damage output for level 7 monster is 15/attack. 15x3 = 45. Against a lone PC it will get 4 attacks/turn. So instead of 3d6+5 (avg 15) per attack, maybe it should average around 45/4 = 11 per attack - 1d8+7?

Edit: Against 1 PC it will output 44 damage. Against 2 melee PCs it will get 6 attacks per round for an average 11x6= 66 or so damage, and against 3 11x8 = 88 damage.

Target total multi-PC damage output for a Solo is 5xstandard or 15x5 = 75, midway between the 2 PC and 3 PC figures, so that looks about right to me?

 

[S'mon]

I like this concept a lot. I can't speak to the damage or HP, though, because I feel it depends too much on how well trained the troop is. It's certainly too much for some peasant levies or green troops. It may be on target for a well-trained group (like hobgoblins might be).

Personally, for my own campaign I halve all hit point totals, and I'd think of this Swarm as made up of experienced minions, eg the 8th level hobgoblin warrior in the original MM, or possibly 1st-3rd level Soldier non-minions like the Human Town Guard.

 

[S'mon]

I'm adding a Last Survivors power:

Last Survivors (immediate reaction; encounter)
When the Platoon is reduced to 0 hp, 2d4 level 5 soldier Minions armed with sword & shield appear within the 4x4 space formerly occupied by the platoon, and act immediately.

 

[Kerranin]

I like the concept, there are a couple of suggestions I'd make:
- it is a sizable group of troops so can't be flanked by a couple of PCs
- it is very melee based and doesn't really threaten ranged characters. How about it incorporating slingers? (Immediate Reaction; When struck by a ranged or area attack, Slinger Volley)
- With a speed of only 4, there is a danger of just being kited about.
- When charging, struck targets are pushed 1 and knocked prone.

 

[S'mon]

I like the concept, there are a couple of suggestions I'd make:
- it is a sizable group of troops so can't be flanked by a couple of PCs
- it is very melee based and doesn't really threaten ranged characters. How about it incorporating slingers? (Immediate Reaction; When struck by a ranged or area attack, Slinger Volley)
- With a speed of only 4, there is a danger of just being kited about.
- When charging, struck targets are pushed 1 and knocked prone.

Thanks Steve.
It should be flankable as the long spears are hard to reorient vs attacks from different sides, flank CA works well enough.
Lack of ranged attacks & slow movement is part of the concept, making it fightable with good tactics; in practice I might back it up with minion artillery etc.
I like the idea of a charge attack that pushes & knocks prone, cheers.