Swarms and Tiny Creatures

[Camelot]

The rules considering swarms and tiny creatures leave me, for lack of a better word, bamboozled. As a result, I have a few questions about them.

1. The rules say that swarms can enter or move through an enemy's space without provoking an opportunity attack. Does this mean they provoke oas as normal except when entering or leaving an enemy's space? Do they still provoke oas from leaving an adjacent space? Do Tiny creatures follow this rule as well?

2. Tiny creatures can only attack enemies if they share their space. Do swarms of Tiny creatures have to be in their enemy's space as well? Or, since they have the swarm attack aura usually, do they behave (in this regard) like other medium creatures, able to attack adjacent enemies?

Thank you to all who answer my questions!

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Your first question doesn't seem to have a clear answer. In order to make things consistent with the rest of the rules I would say that swarms would provoke when they exit a space adjacent to an enemy just like other creatures. This means moving into the space of an enemy would provoke an OA, but moving OUT of such a space would not, nor would moving from square to square within an enemy's space (large enemy). However RAW is unclear and you can judge it any way you think is best.

On the second question, the specific rules for swarms overrule the general rules. Swarms can do whatever the rules say they can. A swarm is a medium sized creature (usually), so it has by default a melee reach of 1 and can attack adjacent squares. The aura is an independent function rules-wise and works however it is described in the monster entry.