I really like the direction that Paizo took with goblins -- turning them into murderous little doll-like butchers with a gleam of arson in their eyes.
One thought that really has intrigued me over the past couple of days is the possibility of statting up a swarm of goblins as a single monster. Just imagine -- goblins piled so deep that they're literally crawling over each other to get a chance to stab you and light your clothes on fire. This means that mechanically, the swarm overall might be a a Large creature and would be quite potent up until all the bloody little hoodlums meet their maker. This especially meshes nicely with the idea of a goblin horde -- they wouldn't be nice a lined up like an army, they'd descend like locusts and devour everything in their wake!
Thoughts? Specifically, would a goblin swarm be an interesting enemy?
I really like the direction that Paizo took with goblins -- turning them into murderous little doll-like butchers with a gleam of arson in their eyes.
One thought that really has intrigued me over the past couple of days is the possibility of statting up a swarm of goblins as a single monster. Just imagine -- goblins piled so deep that they're literally crawling over each other to get a chance to stab you and light your clothes on fire. This means that mechanically, the swarm overall might be a a Large creature and would be quite potent up until all the bloody little hoodlums meet their maker. This especially meshes nicely with the idea of a goblin horde -- they wouldn't be nice a lined up like an army, they'd descend like locusts and devour everything in their wake!
Thoughts? Specifically, would a goblin swarm be an interesting enemy?
Yeah it could work but it would have to be alot bigger than large, im thinking huge at least. But if one follows the techinacly defintion of swarm in pathfinder then it would have to be way larger cause it would have to be at least a few hundred gobbos.
Sadly, at the moment, I don't think the rules support Swarms for anything other than Fine, Diminutive and Tiny creatures.
The sheer number is 300 for ground and 1000 for flying creatures.
So...not too sure how that would work...or if it could.
It certainly is an interesting idea though.
Looks like I would have to cobble together a new monster subtype, maybe "large swarm" or something to that effect. Some of the swarm attributes wouldn't apply, like having halving piercing and slashing damage, or being immune to flanking. I can totally see a swarm of goblins getting torn up by being flanked by a fighter and rogue, the rogue making sneak attacks against the ones distracted by the fighter and what not.
The amount of creatures in the swarm seems to differ depending on what size they are -- 300 for Tiny, 1,500 for Diminuitive, and 10,000 for Fine. All of these swarms are for a 10x10 square ground creatures. Now, how many goblins could reasonably fit into a 10x10 square, especially considering that they're crawling over each other?
Well, assuming that goblins can be packed nice and neat four per 5-ft square (which is a very conservative estimate), then we get 16 neatly packed in. We could double that for about 30 for crawling over each other; 60 in that space would probably be an immobile mound of the little biters. So, let's say that a goblin swarm has 30 goblins in it for a 10-ft square. That's thirty goblins, ready to lunge out at a PC, grab him all over, shank 'im good with a few dozen cleavers, and lighting fire to him. I imagine that a high grapple modifier would make it rather... irresistable, and quite the challenge. Some rules would probably apply -- the goblin swarm has to enter the PC's square to effectively attack, and can only attack after successfully grappling. And, as entering into an occupied square opens it up for an attack of opportunity, it has a "suicide lunge" effect to it, which is quite consistent with established goblin tactics.
Now I'm twirling my beard and imagining how one might stat out a ZOMBIE swarm! Hrm! *twirls beard indeed!*
pg124-125 of the cityscape book . done
... and its gargantuan for med or huge for small humaniods
I vaguely remember the rules from the Cityscape book, Sgm Kobold, thanks for the reminder :D
*goes off to hurriedly stat out a goblin swarm*
I vaguely remember the rules from the Cityscape book, Sgm Kobold, thanks for the reminder :D
*goes off to hurriedly stat out a goblin swarm*
pls share those stats here!
pls share those stats here!I vaguely remember the rules from the Cityscape book, Sgm Kobold, thanks for the reminder :D
*goes off to hurriedly stat out a goblin swarm*
Dear me! I got distracted and ended up not statting them up XD
Stats to be posted tonight! I think I'll throw in a zombie swarm, too... mmm.... I mean, braaaaaains...