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Who doesn't enjoy the idea of a swarm...well, that depends on what end of one you are on, but we all can appreciate how significant they are from a real life perspective, and vermin certainly have a special place in the heart of anyone with a touch of the morbid, which is more than a few Pathfinder players I imagine. That being said, the current "build" of them is annoying at best and infuriating at the worst, prompting comments like "nothing gets the eyes rolling like a gm breaking out the swarms", cries of "unbalanced!" and so forth. Do you want to be known as that sort of player/gm? I didn't think so. Just want the breakdown and not the story? Skip the rest of this and jump to "Swarms revised part 2".
Otherwise before we dig into some of the build/mechanics changes I'm proposing, lets take a little journey to our favorite alternate reality of Pathfinder and see what brought this all about....
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Ghlaunder usually enjoyed watching his monstrous cockroaches trample a goblin village or two, but today that just wasn't doing it. The final proposal had just come, delivered by one of those annoying celestials no less, regarding how swarms were to change in the multiverse. "Sign it or be crushed!" is what Erastil had said. Pffft! Coughing out a few venomous spiders, it chuckled, "He never liked how my pets would ravage his worshiper's crops at just the right time to cause a famine, did he? Sore loser!"
Musing to..itself..Ghlaunder thought, "Well it is times like this that any self respecting deity needs to make a record of the injustices weathered in the name of its faith so that future generations of priests and followers can have a reason to scheme some semi-armageddon...or Ghlaunder forbid some reason to revive me if I am wiped out by all these out of control reformers!" It sadly pondered, "Lamashtu was saying..well, screaming..the other day that "journaling" was something it found helpful during times of stress...where did I put that Tome of Holy Vermin?" The unusually studious looking fiendish mantis that served as the Holy Secretary of the Magnificent Mosquito quietly presented the large buzzing book to the deity and deftly slipped back into its typically overlooked spot, which was anywhere you might expect a large statue of a mantis to be. "How does it do that?" the deity thought trying to hide its surprise. "It is almost uncanny! Maybe I will have it start wearing a bell or something. Paint those antennae bright orange, perhaps." As it opened the tome and flipped through to the next blank chapter thousands of centipedes, snakes, bats, and of course mosquitoes poured out before some settled back into the book ready to leave their mark at the mental command of Ghlaunder. Smashing their bodies onto the humanoid skin pages, corpses forming words at his thought, the story of the origin of the Great Injustice ("that's what I'll call it! Perfect for whipping the rabble into a vengeful frenzy"), began.
"While there are some members of the notorious ("hmm...make that infamous") Pathfinder Society realize who that the multiverse is there for the plunder of the strong, the weak only's purpose to obey till being eaten ("maybe I should add "or killed for sport"-there is that odd vegetarian Antipaladin sect my high priest in Urgir keeps going on about"), once again the blasphemous meddling of this organization has resulted in the weakening of your Omnipotent Ghlaunder!
Under the guise of an "information gathering open seminar"...a phrase that itself rings of unspeakable blasphemy!...various representatives from the inner and outer planes and habitats met to discuss problems they saw in the order of the Multiverse, the "mechanics" as they called it. Well at least that is what the cursed gnome, surely a spy from one of my powerful rivals, so great is my power that they are too many to name!, called it. She was a guest speaker from a "low magic zone" whatever that might be. Surely it is some sort of gnomish realm of horror relying on things burning and clanking and steaming to get what one first circle cleric can do with a word and a move of the hand. This blasphemous zone has spawned an appreciation of "proportion and balance" as well as insight into how to devastate my children with but a bit of smokey substance and a device they call a "fly swatter". There were also whispers regarding something she called a "bug zapper" but the thought of that device sends the great mind of your mighty deity into contortions of horror so great the Mighty Buzzing Wings of Ghlaunder shake and spasm like that frost giant I just had for lunch ("no, make that "like the wings of an Astral Deva as it twists on my spear").
In the end after much discussion regarding "swarms"..such a simple sounding word for something so magnificent..and how in this "high magic zone" they continually frustrated sorcerers that have forgone certain spells, fighters that could stop a hail of arrows but somehow were being damaged by "a few little bugs" ("they will pay for that one!"), and rogues that could dance on the head of a pin while plucking the jeweled cap off of an orc's tusk but were being eaten alive ("YES!") by "ratty and a few of his friends" ("GRRR!"). On and on they complained till the gnome spoke up again and suggested that a unified petition be sent to the gods asking that various rules be changed in "swarm activity and behavior" and a few of the "practical" ways she and her kind deal with them be used as common defenses. One loudmouthed priestess of Pharasma railed "I'll lead the cause, because if I get one more witch hitting me with a vomit swarm I'll, well, vomit!"...the cheers were loud, the cause was launched and the beginning of the end had begun.
Because you see my supplicants, an overlooked painting quietly hanging on the wall of that seminar room depicting one of Lord Jowan's prized elephants was functioning as a spy portal for none other than Pharasma that day, notorious as she is for keeping tabs on anything and everything. Looking out of the creature's woefully unfaceted eyes and listening in through its hideously huge ears, she picked up on the idea and had rallied enough support among the gods for a change even before the blood sacks could leave to go about their wicked business of destroying the natural order. Your god suspects that she had been waiting for this chance to usurp my reign and secretly longs to be the Queen of Vermin, but that is not to be because in the infinite wisdom Ghlaunder is known for through out the realms, I agreed to all their eventual demands and retained the place of power coveted by so many..and it shall be their undoing one day when my Unholy Proboscis drains them all bone dry!
Do not let this slight to my power diminish your faith! Soon I and my vermin will regain our power and once again seep through the strongest armor like incorporeal pools of deadly acid, confound and nauseate the most stalwart wizard with but a few buzzing clouds, poison and eat the flesh of the most untouchable rogue, and bring those that do not bear the horrid torches and oil lanterns of death, LOW! Now go forth and in the name of Ghlaunder, CONSUME!"
"Well that should set the record aright and lay the ground work for some hardcore cult activity in the future", pondered Ghlaunder. "Now where is that secretary when you...AK!...it did it again. Definitely a bell".
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In part 2, confusion inducing smokesticks, shields as flyswatters, dexing your way through the rats, and vomit swarm=vomit stinking cloud.
Ghlaunder picked its lower set of mandibles in irritation as it recalled the proposal that Gorum had made during the debate on the Deity Channel for imposing restrictions and guides for swarm activity,
"I'm tired of my barbarians being run off by a few clouds of bugs!", he had railed. "Where is the cosmic balance we are always hearing so much about in that?!".
There had been more than a few murmurs of agreement and at least one shout of "make new spells available to counteract them-and low level!" and some obscure gnome deity wanting to make smallish flame throwers available at low cost or some nonsense. Nethys spoke up at this point in that weird sing song he uses, "Something anyone can use, from villager to muse, not arcane or divine-simple, yet refined. Swat, stomp, roll, burn, smoke..this is how it could be".
Ghaunder's shadowy secretary took down the mechanics of the proposal to aid the clerics of the insect god, eager to inform its clerics and followers in how to compensate for these (blasphemous!) alterations.
"I've only just started hatching out my revenge, literally!", fumed Ghaunder", "when my infernal intestinal worms take root in Cheliax they will bow low...in agony!". Its wings buzzed with glee.....
Swat-any swarm is subject to shield bash damage as an attack against flat footed to determine AC.
Stomp-any swarm is subject to two (or as many feet as you have) stomps as unarmed strikes with no strength bonuses added in for damage. Size modifiers apply so the final damage rolls would look like-(Tiny=0, small=d2, medium=d3, large=d4).
Roll-anyone having been attacked ie. with a swarm in their square the previous round can roll similar to putting out a fire on themselves to inflict similar damage equal to a single stomp attack but no attack (to hit) roll is required.
Burn-torches do 2 pts of damage to airborn and 1pt of damage (fire) to ground (running the torch on the ground around you) similar to rolling on the ground (ie. no attack roll necessary if you are sharing a space)-attack roll applies as flat footed otherwise. While we are not bringing back the burning lantern, the splash damage from alchemist fire and acid are double with no save.
The nauseate component is changed to sickened with the distraction remaining the same.
Smoke (heavy, similar to a smoke stick)causes confusion (as the spell)with a will save of dc 15 (unless there is a hive mind; these are immune to the smoke effect) with "babble" being replaced with "random movement". Just pick a direction and then complete the move in this direction once the smoke effect has taken place. Effect is only for the round actually in contact with the smoke (roll similar to missed grenade if appropriate).
Possible future spell variation would be swarms functioning as stinking clouds instead of damage dealers.
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Ghlaunder picked its lower set of mandibles in irritation as it recalled the proposal that Gorum had made during the debate on the Deity Channel for imposing restrictions and guides for swarm activity,
"I'm tired of my barbarians being run off by a few clouds of bugs!", he had railed. "Where is the cosmic balance we are always hearing so much about in that?!".
There had been more than a few murmurs of agreement and at least one shout of "make new spells available to counteract them-and low level!" and some obscure gnome deity wanting to make smallish flame throwers available at low cost or some nonsense. Nethys spoke up at this point in that weird sing song he uses, "Something anyone can use, from villager to muse, not arcane or divine-simple, yet refined. Swat, stomp, roll, burn, smoke..this is how it could be".
Ghaunder's shadowy secretary took down the mechanics of the proposal to aid the clerics of the insect god, eager to inform its clerics and followers in how to compensate for these (blasphemous!) alterations."I've only just started hatching out my revenge, literally!", fumed Ghaunder", "when my infernal intestinal worms take root in Cheliax they will bow low...in agony!". Its wings buzzed with glee.....
Swat-any swarm is subject to shield bash damage as an attack against flat footed to determine AC.
I approve; recently had fellow players trying to do that because they thought it made sense that it would work. GM didn't agree (PFS being what it is; RAW and such), but I do think this ought to work.
Stomp-any swarm is subject to two (or as many feet as you have) stomps as unarmed strikes with no strength bonuses added in for damage. Size modifiers apply so the final damage rolls would look like-(Tiny=0, small=d2, medium=d3, large=d4).
Probably shouldn't work against flying swarms, but makes sense against rats and such. Probably also not effective while swimming.
Roll-anyone having been attacked ie. with a swarm in their square the previous round can roll similar to putting out a fire on themselves to inflict similar damage equal to a single stomp attack but no attack (to hit) roll is required.
Again, probably only against non-flying swarms. Not gonna happen while swimming either.
Burn-torches do 2 pts of damage to airborn and 1pt of damage (fire) to ground (running the torch on the ground around you) similar to rolling on the ground (ie. no attack roll necessary if you are sharing a space)-attack roll applies as flat footed otherwise. While we are not bringing back the burning lantern, the splash damage from alchemist fire and acid are double with no save.
Agreed.
The nauseate component is changed to sickened with the distraction remaining the same.
I dunno about this. Usually the save isn't too hard, and we don't want to make swarms entirely un-scary. I suppose there's room for some swarms that just sicken and others that actually nauseate. I might go for auto-sicken or save vs. nausea.
Smoke (heavy, similar to a smoke stick)causes confusion (as the spell)with a will save of dc 15 (unless there is a hive mind; these are immune to the smoke effect) with "babble" being replaced with "random movement". Just pick a direction and then complete the move in this direction once the smoke effect has taken place. Effect is only for the round actually in contact with the smoke (roll similar to missed grenade if appropriate).
Seems fair. It seems PF lacks standard mechanics for anyone having difficulty breathing in smoke, otherwise I'd also advocate it doing some damage or making the swarm Sickened. Smoke is pretty effective in the real world against insect swarms.
Possible future spell variation would be swarms functioning as stinking clouds instead of damage dealers.
Not sure if that's the way to go; Stinking Cloud is also an absolutely brutal spell. Also, given that this is fantasy, I want there to exist swarms that can actually strip the flesh from your bones.
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As a whole I really like what you're writing here. The thing that I dislike about RAW swarms is that they're so absolute.
Your solutions make sense to me; they're the kind of thing that someone with no prior knowledge of PF rules might suggest, because they work in the real world. So they should also work in PF.
What's nice is that while they work, they don't work super-well; there's still a place for people with actual anti-swarm powers, like alchemists firebombing them to kingdom come. But someone who didn't buy alchemist's fire isn't entirely helpless either.