Swarms

Wolf Pack

Beast  
Count 3-5
Motivation Food
Statistics hp:1, ac:10, damage:4
Modifiers STR/DEX/CON: +0, WIS/INT/CHA: +0
Special Abilities None

A Swarm is a collection of enemies who make up for their weakness with numbers. Examples might include a group of goblins or a pack of wolves.

General Usage Information

Swarms are designed for ease of use. By default, they have no modifiers to remember, deal a flat amount of damage, and are taken out in one hit. They are also surprisingly lethal when targeting a single player character.

From the player perspective, swarms are indistinguishable from a large group of weak enemies. They are especially vulnerable to spells like Burning Hands and Sleep. This is intentional, and encourages parties to burn valuable spell slots.

Running Swarms

  • Shared Initiative: Do not roll initiative for the group. Give them a flat value, such as 15, 10, or 5.

  • Health: Do not track hit points. When the group takes damage, kill one of its members. If a player scores a critical hit, kill two.

  • Dogpile: When the group attacks, have them target the same character. Roll a number of times equal to the number of creatures in the group.

  • Morale: If they appear to be losing, most swarms will retreat.

Enhancing Swarms

To make a swarm stronger, consider adding one of the following:

Defense

  • Sleepproof: Immunity to the Sleep spell.
  • Fireproof: Immunity to fire damage, such as from the Burning Hands spell.
  • Ethereal: Immunity to non-magical weapons.
  • Tough: Set the HP of individual creatures to 8 (~2 hits).

Offense

  • Superb Physicality: Increase physical modifiers and damage by +2, +4, or +6.
  • Rider: Add a DC 15 save vs. condition on successful attacks (poison, knockdown, frightened).
  • Ranged Option: Gain a ranged attack, such as Fire bolt or a bow.
  • Armor Piercing: Gain a special attack that damages player characters when they fail a saving throw (WIS, DEX, etc.)