I'm new to GMing and the people I'm playing with are new to playing. So I'm hesitant to make changes to the rules since I don't feel comfortable with my ability to see the repercussions. With that said one of my players would like to do something that does not seem unreasonable to me, but I thought I would put it up here and see what you folks think. Our witch is planning on getting improved familiar and would like to take a swarm of roaches. That's about the same CR as other improved familiars, and in some ways would be a much weaker choice. What do you guys think?
that seems unwise, weapon immunity is huge for a familiar (doubly so for a witches) as is the immunity to any spell that targets a single creature. There have been numerous threads that talk about how the CR for swarm is usually nonsense. that being said it, flavor wise, is awesome.
It's a cool choice (in a creepy way). Go for it.
Swarms have, as the nigh-epic Toaster said, some immunities that make them pretty powerful. But they're not invulnerable - as any Witch that puts their Familiar in harm's way will soon find out.
In my opinion, double damage from area effects kinda balances the immunities.
Of course, to me, a swarm of intelligent roaches is still creepy.
Taking a feat for it seems reasonable.
How are the roaches communicating to the witch, though?
In my opinion, double damage from area effects kinda balances the immunities.
Of course, to me, a swarm of intelligent roaches is still creepy.
I was thinking that would balance it, but with improved evasion that wouldn't really be a weakness. I decided against it. It is really cool, but I thought it would unbalance touch spells too much. The roaches couldn't be hurt by weapons, couldn't be grabbed, automatically succeed on attacks in their square, etc. Nine out of ten enemies would be completely defenseless against touch attack spells and that would be a huge buff to the witch.
Thanks for the input.
I don't mean to sound like I'm against fun or anything. It is a really cool idea. It's just that the witch is already more powerful than any of the other characters and I'm already having trouble trying to make fights that challenge everyone.
Not as a familiar but as an improved familiar. Probably available at 5th or 7th level.
the witch is already more powerful than any of the other characters and I'm already having trouble trying to make fights that challenge everyone.
That could be "solved" by giving some enemies a handful of Hex Nails from the Reign of Winter Player's Guide, for a +2 to their saves against Witches.