Bob Mackenzie
First Post
Ladies & Gents
The swarm was directly inspired by Randomling's Wasp Golem - what an awesome idea. However my campaign doesn't need constructs it requires undead. Hence the swarm was born.
Comments are welcome - I especially wonder if the core and the swarm should have separate stat blocks
Cheers
Bob
__________________________________
The Swarm
Huge Undead
Hit Dice – Core 4d12, Swarm 9d12
Initiative +7 (Dex)
Speed 30ft (fly – perfect manoeuvrability) – but see below
AC Swarm 17 (+7 dex), Core 10
Attacks – special
Damage 1d12 + Poison. Natural 20 blindness.
Face/Reach: 15’ x 15’ (but see below) / 0ft
Special Attacks – Engulf, Poison
Special Qualities – undead, +8 turn resistance (but see below), Immune to critical hits, deafening, core is incorporeal, core damage resistance 15/+1, never flat footed, swarm immune to most weapons, touch and point effect spells.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +11, Will +8
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 25, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Spot +20 (1000’s of multifaceted eyes!)
Feats: Alertness, Combat Reflexes (+7 AoO) , Dodge, Mobility
Climate/Terrain any warm or temperate, usually above ground.
Organisation: Solitary
CR ? (Help!)
Treasure – None
Alignment – Neutral Evil
Advancement - ? (Help)
The swarm is a very rare form of undead, created when a person with a paranoid fear and loathing of insects is stung by a swarm of bees or wasps and has a bad or allergic reaction to the poison and dies. The abject fear of the swarming insects prevents the soul leaving the body and it remains with the corpse, polluting it. Once the insects have departed many souls finally flee the material plain but a few are just too scared to move. Their fear permeates the cadaver and warps it. The maggots that infest the body are mutated, metamorphosing in to wasps and bees. The poor person’s soul is again surrounded by that which it fears and loathes.
The quailing soul within the swarm cries out for help and support, but the living can’t hear it. However the dead can. The swarm starts to slay others desperately seeking other souls to protect it from the swarming insects that surround it. Unfortunately the newly slain are rarely sympathetic, most hate the fact that they are tied up in the swarm unable to escape. They turn their hatred on the poor quailing soul within. The boiling resentment within again warps the creature making it an angry maelstrom of trapped souls surrounded by vicious stinging insects
The swarm appears as an amorphous flowing mass of insects surrounding a nebulous sullen red core.
The swarm has two distinct parts, the core and the swarm, each has its own hit points and can be attacked separately. Killing the swarm will not destroy the core, but destroying the core disperses the swarm. As the core has no effective attack on its own the stat block refers to the swarm, however the swarm is guided by the core so mental attacks are in effect attacks on the core.
The swarm fills 9 5’ x 5’ squares, one of which contains the core. The core can not move out of a swarm square. The core is limited to 30ft move in any direction (including vertical) but can not run. Swarm squares must be within 15ft of the core square but within that there is no limit to the movement of swarm. The swarm can squeeze through any opening that will admit a bee or wasp, though it will take about a minute for a swarm square to squeeze through a one insect wide opening. As the core is incorporeal it can pass most barriers with ease.
The swarm is affected by the wind and will gain or lose half the wind speed in move depending on direction.
As the swarm consists of millions of eyes it can never be flat footed. The swarm will dispatch single insects up to 1000ft away to act as spies and guards. This means that the swarm has almost perfect knowledge of what is going on within a 1000ft radius. The little spies are indistinguishable from ordinary insects.
The swarm attacks by moving in to the same square as its target. Once engulfed by insects there is almost nothing a target can do to prevent being bitten or stung. The insects crawl inside clothes and armour. They will crawl under a dragon’s scales. They crawl into mouths and nostrils and other more intimate orifices. They will not hesitate to sting eyeballs. This pretty much defeats all possible armour types, only barrier type spells will keep them away. The engulfed target automatically takes 1d12 damage.
The stings are venomous, individually they are fairly weak, but en mass can be very dangerous. The fort save is DC 8 plus one for every point of damage taken this turn so if a character takes 10 points of damage the DC is 18. Failure to save loses 1d4 constitution points for 24hrs. Anyone rolling a natural 1 on their save the first time they are attacked (only) suffers an allergic reaction. They instantly fall to the floor helpless and lose 1d4 constitution points per round until they die or have the correct herbal remedies applied (DC 23 heal check). Anyone slain by allergic reaction has a 10% chance of rising as a swarm in 1d4 weeks time.
Although the swarm does not need to roll to attack, make a roll anyway. On a natural 20 the victim has been stung on the eyes. Make a DC20 fort save or become blind for 2d20 hours.
Anyone killed by the swarm must make a DC25 will save or have his/her soul trapped in the swarm (unless slain by allergic reaction). Good aligned creatures have a +5 save bonus. If a good creature’s soul is drawn in to the swarm it’s possible that they may find the soul that started the swarm and comfort and console it. If they succeed the swarm falls apart and dissipates. This is a DC25 diplomacy check (no take 10 or 20) and requires 1d4 days to achieve. Paladins and Clerics of good deities get +5 on their checks. You may only check once. Even if successful the character is still dead.
Characters’ souls within the swarm’s core are trapped and can not be raised or resurrected until the swarm is slain.
As the swarm usually consists of hundreds of souls it is difficult to turn getting a +8 bonus. Immature or newly formed swarms may have fewer souls within and will be easier to turn. For every 10 souls within get a +1 bonus (to a max of +8) so a swarm containing 61 souls gets +6 turn resistance.
As the swarm is a mass of insects it is immune to critical hits. Very few weapons will harm the swarm (but they will harm the core). It is immune to piercing and slashing weapons. Bludgeoning weapons do but a single hit point of damage. The swarm is immune to spells that target individuals. However it is vulnerable to area of effect spells and can not pass barrier spells.
The swarm is very noisy; it constantly makes a loud whirring buzzing sound. It can be heard from at least a half mile away on a still day. Within 30ft of any part of the swarm any sort of verbal communication is impossible, the DM should stop the players talking to each other. What’s more the mental turmoil from the core blots out telepathic communications 30ft from the core. The noise also blots out tremor sense with 30ft of the swarm and blind sight that relies on echo location.
Up to 100ft away all listen checks are at -10, 200ft away at -5 and 300ft away -2. Blind sensing creatures that rely on echo location get similar penalties to spot rolls. Note these distances will be reduced if solid barriers intervene.
The buzzing noise is particularly irritating to spell casters as they can not hear the verbal spell components they’re speaking making it tricky to form the sounds precisely enough. Within 30ft casting a spell requires a DC 20 concentration check. Within 60ft it requires a DC 10 concentration check. There is no penalty to spells without a verbal component.
The swarm was directly inspired by Randomling's Wasp Golem - what an awesome idea. However my campaign doesn't need constructs it requires undead. Hence the swarm was born.
Comments are welcome - I especially wonder if the core and the swarm should have separate stat blocks
Cheers
Bob
__________________________________
The Swarm
Huge Undead
Hit Dice – Core 4d12, Swarm 9d12
Initiative +7 (Dex)
Speed 30ft (fly – perfect manoeuvrability) – but see below
AC Swarm 17 (+7 dex), Core 10
Attacks – special
Damage 1d12 + Poison. Natural 20 blindness.
Face/Reach: 15’ x 15’ (but see below) / 0ft
Special Attacks – Engulf, Poison
Special Qualities – undead, +8 turn resistance (but see below), Immune to critical hits, deafening, core is incorporeal, core damage resistance 15/+1, never flat footed, swarm immune to most weapons, touch and point effect spells.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +11, Will +8
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 25, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Spot +20 (1000’s of multifaceted eyes!)
Feats: Alertness, Combat Reflexes (+7 AoO) , Dodge, Mobility
Climate/Terrain any warm or temperate, usually above ground.
Organisation: Solitary
CR ? (Help!)
Treasure – None
Alignment – Neutral Evil
Advancement - ? (Help)
The swarm is a very rare form of undead, created when a person with a paranoid fear and loathing of insects is stung by a swarm of bees or wasps and has a bad or allergic reaction to the poison and dies. The abject fear of the swarming insects prevents the soul leaving the body and it remains with the corpse, polluting it. Once the insects have departed many souls finally flee the material plain but a few are just too scared to move. Their fear permeates the cadaver and warps it. The maggots that infest the body are mutated, metamorphosing in to wasps and bees. The poor person’s soul is again surrounded by that which it fears and loathes.
The quailing soul within the swarm cries out for help and support, but the living can’t hear it. However the dead can. The swarm starts to slay others desperately seeking other souls to protect it from the swarming insects that surround it. Unfortunately the newly slain are rarely sympathetic, most hate the fact that they are tied up in the swarm unable to escape. They turn their hatred on the poor quailing soul within. The boiling resentment within again warps the creature making it an angry maelstrom of trapped souls surrounded by vicious stinging insects
The swarm appears as an amorphous flowing mass of insects surrounding a nebulous sullen red core.
The swarm has two distinct parts, the core and the swarm, each has its own hit points and can be attacked separately. Killing the swarm will not destroy the core, but destroying the core disperses the swarm. As the core has no effective attack on its own the stat block refers to the swarm, however the swarm is guided by the core so mental attacks are in effect attacks on the core.
The swarm fills 9 5’ x 5’ squares, one of which contains the core. The core can not move out of a swarm square. The core is limited to 30ft move in any direction (including vertical) but can not run. Swarm squares must be within 15ft of the core square but within that there is no limit to the movement of swarm. The swarm can squeeze through any opening that will admit a bee or wasp, though it will take about a minute for a swarm square to squeeze through a one insect wide opening. As the core is incorporeal it can pass most barriers with ease.
The swarm is affected by the wind and will gain or lose half the wind speed in move depending on direction.
As the swarm consists of millions of eyes it can never be flat footed. The swarm will dispatch single insects up to 1000ft away to act as spies and guards. This means that the swarm has almost perfect knowledge of what is going on within a 1000ft radius. The little spies are indistinguishable from ordinary insects.
The swarm attacks by moving in to the same square as its target. Once engulfed by insects there is almost nothing a target can do to prevent being bitten or stung. The insects crawl inside clothes and armour. They will crawl under a dragon’s scales. They crawl into mouths and nostrils and other more intimate orifices. They will not hesitate to sting eyeballs. This pretty much defeats all possible armour types, only barrier type spells will keep them away. The engulfed target automatically takes 1d12 damage.
The stings are venomous, individually they are fairly weak, but en mass can be very dangerous. The fort save is DC 8 plus one for every point of damage taken this turn so if a character takes 10 points of damage the DC is 18. Failure to save loses 1d4 constitution points for 24hrs. Anyone rolling a natural 1 on their save the first time they are attacked (only) suffers an allergic reaction. They instantly fall to the floor helpless and lose 1d4 constitution points per round until they die or have the correct herbal remedies applied (DC 23 heal check). Anyone slain by allergic reaction has a 10% chance of rising as a swarm in 1d4 weeks time.
Although the swarm does not need to roll to attack, make a roll anyway. On a natural 20 the victim has been stung on the eyes. Make a DC20 fort save or become blind for 2d20 hours.
Anyone killed by the swarm must make a DC25 will save or have his/her soul trapped in the swarm (unless slain by allergic reaction). Good aligned creatures have a +5 save bonus. If a good creature’s soul is drawn in to the swarm it’s possible that they may find the soul that started the swarm and comfort and console it. If they succeed the swarm falls apart and dissipates. This is a DC25 diplomacy check (no take 10 or 20) and requires 1d4 days to achieve. Paladins and Clerics of good deities get +5 on their checks. You may only check once. Even if successful the character is still dead.
Characters’ souls within the swarm’s core are trapped and can not be raised or resurrected until the swarm is slain.
As the swarm usually consists of hundreds of souls it is difficult to turn getting a +8 bonus. Immature or newly formed swarms may have fewer souls within and will be easier to turn. For every 10 souls within get a +1 bonus (to a max of +8) so a swarm containing 61 souls gets +6 turn resistance.
As the swarm is a mass of insects it is immune to critical hits. Very few weapons will harm the swarm (but they will harm the core). It is immune to piercing and slashing weapons. Bludgeoning weapons do but a single hit point of damage. The swarm is immune to spells that target individuals. However it is vulnerable to area of effect spells and can not pass barrier spells.
The swarm is very noisy; it constantly makes a loud whirring buzzing sound. It can be heard from at least a half mile away on a still day. Within 30ft of any part of the swarm any sort of verbal communication is impossible, the DM should stop the players talking to each other. What’s more the mental turmoil from the core blots out telepathic communications 30ft from the core. The noise also blots out tremor sense with 30ft of the swarm and blind sight that relies on echo location.
Up to 100ft away all listen checks are at -10, 200ft away at -5 and 300ft away -2. Blind sensing creatures that rely on echo location get similar penalties to spot rolls. Note these distances will be reduced if solid barriers intervene.
The buzzing noise is particularly irritating to spell casters as they can not hear the verbal spell components they’re speaking making it tricky to form the sounds precisely enough. Within 30ft casting a spell requires a DC 20 concentration check. Within 60ft it requires a DC 10 concentration check. There is no penalty to spells without a verbal component.
