Swarm of Mooks is a template designed to quickly build a stage filler mob out of simple creatures. The goals of this template:
- simplify encounter design for GM
- simplify hitpoint and attack tracking during encounter
- provide fun for characters who want to show off against mass of opponents
- build a living wall between villains and heroes
- add cheap CR creature to encounter
- add a simple way to build a rabble of opponents to challenge your players
The template was built in fond recollection of Feng Shui Mook mechanic. Its previous versions were successfully deployed during my Scarred Lands campaign during battles against swarms of zombies and various humanoids.
While somewhat similar to Minion concept of 4E, the totalled hipoints do protect it somewhat from area of effect spells thus preventing loss of believability which occurs upon high level monsters being dropped on low damage attacks (you're free to say that wounded monsters run away instead of simply dying).
Warning: template was not test on basic creatures beyond CR4.
Without further ado:
TEMPLATE: Swarm of Mooks
Concept: Template for building crowd of simple monsters to fill the stage.
Summary: Swarm of Mooks is an acquired template which can be applied to any basic creature of Medium or smaller size capable of delivering opportunity attacks. Swarm of Mooks represents a crowd of ten.
All abilities are as per basic creature unless otherwise stated below.
Size and Type: 10 squares or 15' radius.
Hit Dice and Hit Points: As base creature times 10 (see below for special rules).
Speed: As base creature. Each use of Move action is considered to be a Charge action with all related consequences except one - Swarm of Mooks is not limited to moving in straight lines. Cannot use Run action.
Armor Class: As base creature -2 (permanent Charge armor class penalty).
Attack and Full Attack: As a standard action or part of Charge action Swarm of Mooks delivers one attack per opponent it is adjacent to at the end of its movement. Swarm of Mooks cannot use Full Attacks.
Permanent +2 attack bonus (if the Swarm of Mooks moved this turn, it is considered Charge attack bonus, if the Swarm of Mooks did not move this turn, it is considered to be Flanking attack bonus).
Damage: As per base creature standard attack action. May not use any actions related to precise attack types (i.e. no Sneak Attacks).
Special Attacks:
Advance (Ext): May move through threatened squares as Move action. Opponents are limited to one attack of opportunity.
Special Qualities:
Class feature limitation (Ext): Certain classes have use activated abilities (like Barbarian Rage). Ignore abilities which are not related to attack or damage bonuses or armor class or hitpoints. Ignore abilities granting additional attacks. Calculate attack, damage, armor class, hitpoint bonuses, halve them and apply them to Swarm of Mooks. Hitpoint bonus multiply by 5 and add to hitpoint total. If the ability is important part of CR calculation for Basic Creature and cannot be easily converted as suggested above, add 10% hitpoints to original total for each such ability.
Low morale (Ext): When Swarm of Mooks loses 50% of hitpoint total or more, it will move away from opponents using Withdraw action (Double Move). It will not attempt to engage opponents unless it is rallied (see below) or prevented from escaping.
Rallied (Ext): Any friendly creature of higher HD/Level total than Swarm of Mooks basic create HD/Level may attempt to Rally Swarm of Mooks by taking a Full Round action. Use Intimidation or Diplomacy vs DC20. Swarm of Mooks may be Rallied only once and it will retreat as soon as it is down to 25% of initial hitpoints.
Routed (Ext): Whenever below 25% of initial hitpoints, Swarm of Mooks is considered Routed: it will neither rally or attack, it will surrender if prevented from escaping, it will Withdraw from any engagement.
Vulnerable to area attacks (damage) (Ext): All area attacks inflict half a much damage as usual to Swarm of Mooks.
Vulnerable to area attacks (negative condition) (Ext): Swarm of Mooks automatically fails saving throws against such attacks.
Mook hitpoints (Ext): Any single target attack cannot take more than 10% of initial hitpoint total (ignore damage in excess of that value). Abilities which trigger on creature dropped (like Cleave) work normally provided that inflicted damage is equal or higher than 10% hitpoint damage.
Challenge Rating: +2 CR for creatures of base CR 1 or below (round up), +3 for creatures of base CR more than 1.
SAMPLE SWARMS OF MOOKS
Swarm of Mooks: Goblin Cannon Fodder
Basic Creature: Goblin
Hit Dice and Hit Points: 50 (withdraws: 25, routed: 12, mook hitpoints: 5)
Armor Class: 13
Attack: Morningstar +4 melee (1d6)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +1, Will -1
CR: 2
Swarm of Mooks: Orc Horde
Basic Creature: Orc
Hit Dice and Hit Points: 50 (withdraws: 25, routed: 12, mook hitpoints: 5)
Armor Class: 11
Attack: Falchion +6 melee (2d4+4/18-20)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +2
CR: 2
Swarm of Mooks: Raging Orc Horde
Basic Creature: Orc Barbarian 1
Hit Dice and Hit Points: 70 (withdraws: 35, routed: 17, mook hitpoints: 7)
Armor Class: 10
Attack: Falchion +7 melee (2d4+5/18-20)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will 0
CR: 4
Comments?
Regards,
Ruemere
It's not quite clear... are individuals killed individually or only when the entire swarm is killed? Can the whole swarm be killed by a fighter doing 45 HP damage to 2-3 adjacent mob units?
It's one attack for the entire mob?
What's it's grapple check? Is it always best for swarm of mooks to throw away its weapons and grapple?
Dennis da Ogre wrote: It's not quite clear... are individuals killed individually or only when the entire swarm is killed? Can the whole swarm be killed by a fighter doing 45 HP damage to 2-3 adjacent mob units?
It's one attack for the entire mob?
Basically, Swarm of Mooks represents ten instances of basic creature. All instances' resources are pooled together to form one creature.
So, individuals are killed individually, but you're tracking the group as if they were a single creature. Please note, that once the number of individuals within the swarm falls below certain number (i.e. Swarm of Mooks' hitpoint total falls below 50%) it will attempt to Withdraw.
Q: "Can the whole swarm be killed by a fighter doing 45 HP damage to 2-3 adjacent mob units?"
No, it cannot. Please refer to Mook hitpoints (Ext) SQ description: whenever damage from a single attack exceeds 10% of original hitpoint total, damage in excess of 10% is ignored.
So the fighter in your example can only inflict 20% - 30% of Swarm of Mooks initial hitpoints.
In case of Whirlwind attack, I would use Vulnerable to area attacks (damage) (Ext) rule, i.e. roll damage as per single target, multiply by 1.5 and substract from Swarms of Mooks hitpoint total.
Q: "It's one attack for the entire mob?"
The Swarm of Mooks inflicts one attack per adjacent opponent but not more than 10 attacks overall. So, the number of attacks varies.
roguerouge wrote: What's it's grapple check? Is it always best for swarm of mooks to throw away its weapons and grapple? Use basic creature Grapple check values with +2 modifier. Remember, that the Swarm of Mooks attacks only once each opponent thus making Pinning and other advanced Grappled options difficult to execute.
You may however, as an evil GM, add one additional creature within Swarm Area, which could use act independently of the Swarm and help the Swarm get additional attacks.
Thank you for your questions. I will attempt to clarify template description :)
regards,
Ruemere
Corrected version of the template follows. Thank you for your questions - my notes are not always legible to third parties :)
TEMPLATE: Swarm of Mooks v.1.01
CHANGES:
- clarified descriptions in accordance with questions
- corrected hitpoint calculation and speed for Swarm of Mooks: Raging Orc Horde
Concept: Template for building crowd of simple monsters to fill the stage.
Summary: Swarm of Mooks is an acquired template which can be applied to any basic creature of Medium or smaller size capable of delivering opportunity attacks.
Swarm of Mooks represents ten creatures using average abilities and pool hitpoints total.
All abilities are as per basic creature unless otherwise stated below.
Size and Type: 10 squares or 15' radius.
Hit Dice and Hit Points: As base creature times 10. Add hitpoints from special abilities (see Class feature limitation below).
Withdraws: 50% of hitpoints total (see Low Morale below).
Routed: 25% of hitpoints total (see Routed below).
Mook hitpoints: 10% of hitpoints total (see Mook hitpoints below).
Speed: As base creature.
Each use of Move action is considered to be a Charge action with all related consequences except one - Swarm of Mooks is not limited to moving in straight lines.
Cannot use Run action.
Armor Class: As base creature -2 (permanent Charge armor class penalty).
Attack and Full Attack: As a standard action or part of Move action Swarm of Mooks delivers one attack per opponent it is adjacent to at the end of its turn.
Swarm of Mooks cannot use Full Attacks.
Permanent +2 attack bonus (if the Swarm of Mooks moved this turn, it is considered Charge attack bonus, if the Swarm of Mooks did not move this turn, it is considered to be Aid Another attack bonus).
Damage: As per base creature standard attack action.
Special Attacks:
Advance (Ext): May move through threatened squares as Move action - opponents are limited to one attack of opportunity.
Special Qualities:
Class feature limitation (Ext): May not use any actions related to precise attack types (i.e. no Sneak Attacks).
Certain classes have use activated abilities (like Barbarian Rage):
- Ignore abilities which are not related to attack or damage bonuses or armor class or hitpoints.
- Ignore abilities granting additional attacks. If additional attacks occur at attack bonus equal to or close to Standard attack bonus, increase Swarm of Mooks attack bonus +1 per additional attack.
- Calculate attack, damage, armor class, then halve them and apply them to Swarm of Mooks' hitpoints total.
- Hitpoint bonus multiply by 5 and add to hitpoint total.
- If the ability is important part of CR calculation for Base Creature and cannot be easily converted as suggested above, add 10% hitpoints to original total for each such ability.
Low morale (Ext): When Swarm of Mooks loses 50% of hitpoint total or more, it will move away from opponents using Withdraw action (Double Move).
It will not attempt to engage opponents unless it is rallied (see below) or prevented from escaping.
Rallied (Ext): Any friendly creature of higher HD/Level total than Swarm of Mooks basic creature HD/Level total may attempt to Rally Swarm of Mooks by taking a Full Round action and succeeding in Intimidation or Diplomacy check versus DC20.
Rallied Swarm of Mooks will act normally until it is Routed (see below).
Routed (Ext): Whenever below 25% of initial hitpoints, Swarm of Mooks is considered Routed.
Routed Swarm of Mooks will neither rally or attack, it will surrender if prevented from escaping, it will Withdraw from any engagement.
Vulnerable to area attacks (damage) (Ext): All area attacks inflict half a much damage as usual to Swarm of Mooks.
Use of Whirldwind Attack is considered area attack (roll damage as per single attack, then multiply by 1.5 and apply result).
Vulnerable to area attacks (negative condition) (Ext): Swarm of Mooks automatically fails saving throws against such attacks.
Mook hitpoints (Ext): Equal to 10% of initial hitpoints total.
Any single target attack cannot take more than Mook hitpoints value (ignore damage in excess of that value).
Abilities which trigger on creature dropped (like Cleave) work normally provided that inflicted damage is equal or higher than Mook hitpoints value.
Abilities which inflict negative conditions on single targets either (GM discretion):
- remove target from combat (reduce Swarm of Mooks hitpoint total by Mook hitpoints value),
- are ignored.
Challenge Rating: +2 CR for creatures of base CR 1 or below (round up), +3 for creatures of base CR more than 1.
SAMPLE SWARMS OF MOOKS
Swarm of Mooks: Goblin Cannon Fodder
Basic Creature: Goblin
Hit Dice and Hit Points: 50 (withdraws: 25, routed: 12, mook hitpoints: 5)
Armor Class: 13
Attack: Morningstar +4 melee (1d6)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +1, Will -1
CR: 2
Swarm of Mooks: Orc Horde
Basic Creature: Orc
Hit Dice and Hit Points: 50 (withdraws: 25, routed: 12, mook hitpoints: 5)
Armor Class: 11
Attack: Falchion +6 melee (2d4+4/18-20)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +2
CR: 2
Swarm of Mooks: Raging Orc Horde
Basic Creature: Orc Barbarian 1
Hit Dice and Hit Points: 80 (withdraws: 40, routed: 20, mook hitpoints: 8)
Speed: 40 feet or 8 squares.
Armor Class: 10
Attack: Falchion +7 melee (2d4+5/18-20)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will 0
CR: 4
Not bad, but forme it still didn't solve the problem that orcs fail to be a threat without class levels (which is not necessarily a design fault, as this doesn't list increased threat to high level heroes as part of it's goals)
Zmar wrote: Not bad, but forme it still didn't solve the problem that orcs fail to be a threat without class levels (which is not necessarily a design fault, as this doesn't list increased threat to high level heroes as part of it's goals) Actually, the goal was to produce stage filler type of creature. Something, which is safe to use (meaning - no sudden TPKs) in addition to special enemies.
Let me give you some examples from my campaign:
1. Heroes are charged with retaking lost strategic defense point. The complication is that strategic defense point is located on Shadow plane, in a dark reflection of actual city.
The strategic defense point is surrounded by an army of Shadowspawn Zombies led by select elite of officers (think adventurers charged with defending strategic point).
Shadowspawn Zombies are a custom monster designed for the campaing - they are living beings with minds and bodies dulled by thorough infusion of Shadow stuff and negative energies. They are a little more intelligent than regular zombies (able to take orders), and they have a nasty ability to temporarily power up if anything dies in their vicinity.
As such, I had like 100 monsters to keep track of. By employing a template, I was able to decrease paperwork 10 times and concentrate on actions of officers in charge of the army, including two spellcasters.
2. Heroes are ambushed by a nasty teenage gang in labyrinth of cellars of Port Quarter. The nasty thing is that all kids were brainwashed into becoming cannon fodder (evil cannon fodder at that). As a combat threat, teenagers are neglible, however, they still attempt to attack and slow down heroes, while the real villains are attacking from distance, not caring about th lives of their cannon fodder.
Again, we have two-three scores of underage criminals to track. And again, use of template reduces the paperwork by a factor of 10.
3. Pirate garrison and a slave trading point. Dirty dozen-style, characters are rising unholy hell while attempting to take down pirate leaders, stop the trade taking place and, possibly, liberate prisoners/slaves from burning barracks.
Meanwhile, pirate crews mill around in confusion, looking for their captains and ready to charge anyone who seems not to belong here.
70 regular pirates (level 2 Warriors), around 40 veteran pirates (level 3 Fighters), 10 elite pirates (level 5 fighters). Also, officers, some militia, some prisoners, some soldiers under command of our heroes and, of course, Pirate commanders.
Lots of paperwork, yes, but for non-unique protagonists, cut down again by a factor of 10.
Regards,
Ruemere
Sure, I saw that use. It's roughly what the mob rules from DMG 2 do, isn't it?
Zmar wrote: Sure, I saw that use. It's roughly what the mob rules from DMG 2 do, isn't it? Never bought anything beyond core rulebooks, d20 STL and OGL products :). Can you summarize them for me?
Regards,
Ruemere
ruemere wrote: Zmar wrote: Sure, I saw that use. It's roughly what the mob rules from DMG 2 do, isn't it? Never bought anything beyond core rulebooks, d20 STL and OGL products :). Can you summarize them for me?
Regards,
Ruemere Someone else may be needed to do this... I must find my books first :D
Zmar wrote: Sure, I saw that use. It's roughly what the mob rules from DMG 2 do, isn't it? Green Ronin had a set of mob or horde rules that they used in one of the Freeport rules, and reprinted in the Advanced Player's Guide, IIRC.
I like the idea, but I wonder how it interacts with spellcasting.
Technically, a fireball (or even a burning hands) would obliterate an entire 'mob' of goblins if it did a mere 8 hit points of damage, but using these rules, the fireball would only destroy a certain percentage of the pack. And single-target spells, like charm person or hold person or flesh to stone would be almost worthless.
What I wouldn't mind seeing, as odd as it sounds, is some form of 'mob' rules that treat the mob as one entity for the purposes of spells as well, to create those situations where an angry sorceress turns an entire crowd of upstart peasants into pigs. "You're all pigs!" Bav-Morda screams. Or a crowd of slaves revolting against the Red Wizard who has been oppressing them are all struck down by his flesh to stone spell, becoming a rock garden of statuary, frozen in mid-rebellion. Since this would only apply to groups of 1 HD people, generally NPC classes at best, who have assembled into 'mobs,' it wouldn't be some horrible abuse for the 9th level wizard (who could have killed them all with a fireball, had they not assembled into a mob) to be able to target 'the mob' as a single creature for purposes of a single-target spell.
Set wrote:
What I wouldn't mind seeing, as odd as it sounds, is some form of 'mob' rules that treat the mob as one entity for the purposes of spells as well, to create those situations where an angry sorceress turns an entire crowd of upstart peasants into pigs. "You're all pigs!" Bav-Morda screams.
Hey ! I like this as well !
Set wrote: [...]
I like the idea, but I wonder how it interacts with spellcasting.[...]
Guidelines look like this:
ruemere wrote:
Vulnerable to area attacks (damage) (Ext): All area attacks inflict half a much damage as usual to Swarm of Mooks.
Use of Whirldwind Attack is considered area attack (roll damage as per single attack, then multiply by 1.5 and apply result).
Vulnerable to area attacks (negative condition) (Ext): Swarm of Mooks automatically fails saving throws against such attacks.
So, a 35 points of damage Fireball would do (35 + 17) = 52 damage.
Looking at sample swarms,
Swarm of Mooks: Goblin Cannon Fodder
Failed save - wiped out.
Successful save - 24 hitpoints left, withdraws due to low morale.
Swarm of Mooks: Orc Horde
See above.
Swarm of Mooks: Raging Orc Horde
Failed save - 28 hitpoints left, withdraws due to low morale.
Successful save - 54 hitpoints left, continues to fight.
Pretty accurate. One could argue, that for such fireball all monsters should be killed within area of effect, however, Swarm of Mooks actual spread may allow some monsters to be actually outside of the spell area thus allowing them to escape.
Regards,
Ruemere
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