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Just after my last session running a (non-playtest) Pathfinder game for some new players, I was looking over a random encounter (Leech Swarm, CR 4, vs a 2nd level party) and realized how badly it would slaughter them if I used it. It's not just the challenge rating (a level 2 party is capable of taking a CR4), but their composition, and I recalled previous times when swarms have made life miserable for low-level parties (the classic spider swarm being a good example).
Due to the way that Pathfinder treats diminuitive and smaller swarms, it is possible for even a CR1 swarm to end up largely invulnerable to the attacks of a CR1 party, as weapon attacks do nothing, single target spells cannot be used, and such swarms are often mindless, and thus immune to spells like sleep or hypnosis. Unless the party has a Wizard/Sorcerer who chose Burning Hands (a spell that many guides recommend skipping in favor of Magic Missile, or control spells like Grease), or an Alchemist with bombs remaining, or someone spent 10-20gp (a big investment at 1st level!) on splash weapons like acid/alchemist fire flasks, the party is helpless.
This can be easy for us "old hands" to forget, especially if one has played a lot of PFS where swarm preparation is second nature, but it can be a nasty, unfun surprise for new players. Tough fights are fun; fights where absolutely nothing works because you made the wrong choices at chargen (and had no way of knowing what the right choice was) isn't fun. Will 2nd edition adjust the swarm rules to avoid this loophole? 5e D&D simply makes swarms normally targetable with weapons, which seems silly to me (I can just individually slash the entire swarm? What?) but I'm hoping that Paizo has another solution in mind.
Swarms will generally subtract a flat amount from weapon damage, and add a flat amount to AoE/splash. Should be much more manageable!
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DR seems much more manageable; it conveys the idea that stabbing away at a swarm of insects is silly, but still gives non-magic/alchemical players a possible method of defeating the monster.
Swarms will generally subtract a flat amount from weapon damage, and add a flat amount to AoE/splash. Should be much more manageable!wouldn't this be just DRx/--?
Resistance: type1 X, type2 Y, type3 Z
Weakness: type4 NI think?
Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.
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Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.
As part of a party that nearly TPKed to a swarm, I disagree.
Our party had a Wizard with Burning Hands in memory. We also had multiple people with splash weapons to use against it. The Wizard called on his Arcane Bond to get an extra use of Burning Hands. We still just barely managed to take it out because of low damage rolls.
Martial characters need a better way to deal with them than requiring a magical item that allows them to hurt the swarm.
The new Weakness mechanics should make swarms a little easier to deal with. Y'all ever look into the actual rules on how alchemist fire works on a swarm? It is confusing as heck. And a lot of people think the RAI and RAW don't line up. Now you'll always at least trigger the weakness with an alchemist fire and do substantial damage from that, and it shouldn't be as confusing.
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Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.As part of a party that nearly TPKed to a swarm, I disagree.
Our party had a Wizard with Burning Hands in memory. We also had multiple people with splash weapons to use against it. The Wizard called on his Arcane Bond to get an extra use of Burning Hands. We still just barely managed to take it out because of low damage rolls.
Martial characters need a better way to deal with them than requiring a magical item that allows them to hurt the swarm.
Walk away from the swarm.
Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.As part of a party that nearly TPKed to a swarm, I disagree.
Our party had a Wizard with Burning Hands in memory. We also had multiple people with splash weapons to use against it. The Wizard called on his Arcane Bond to get an extra use of Burning Hands. We still just barely managed to take it out because of low damage rolls.
Martial characters need a better way to deal with them than requiring a magical item that allows them to hurt the swarm.
There's a difference between a near TPK and a TPK. Boo hoo. Encounter was sooo hard. Everything should be easy. Come on. Give me a break. The game is about challenging the players, not giving them everything on a platter. Be happy you're not in my game as you'd have to deal with troops too.
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There's a difference between a near TPK and a TPK. Boo hoo. Encounter was sooo hard. Everything should be easy. Come on. Give me a break. The game is about challenging the players, not giving them everything on a platter. Be happy you're not in my game as you'd have to deal with troops too.Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.As part of a party that nearly TPKed to a swarm, I disagree.
Our party had a Wizard with Burning Hands in memory. We also had multiple people with splash weapons to use against it. The Wizard called on his Arcane Bond to get an extra use of Burning Hands. We still just barely managed to take it out because of low damage rolls.
Martial characters need a better way to deal with them than requiring a magical item that allows them to hurt the swarm.
There is a sliding scale of escapism versus empowerment in role playing games; overcoming very challenging encounters is closer to empowerment, while taking smashing skeletons and kicking in the villans teeth is escapism. Everyone wants something different from the game. Please consider what others find enjoyable in the game, especially during the Playtest.
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There's a difference between a near TPK and a TPK. Boo hoo. Encounter was sooo hard. Everything should be easy. Come on. Give me a break. The game is about challenging the players, not giving them everything on a platter. Be happy you're not in my game as you'd have to deal with troops too.Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.As part of a party that nearly TPKed to a swarm, I disagree.
Our party had a Wizard with Burning Hands in memory. We also had multiple people with splash weapons to use against it. The Wizard called on his Arcane Bond to get an extra use of Burning Hands. We still just barely managed to take it out because of low damage rolls.
Martial characters need a better way to deal with them than requiring a magical item that allows them to hurt the swarm.
"Your incidental experiences are not universal". I think I need a macro for this line...
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Troops arent immune to weapon damage and single target spells. They also only usually show up at higher levels when the party has more resources designed to deal with them. Troops make for a fun encounter. Swarms are a piece of design that leads to bad play experiences for many players. And youre right, Im glad I dont play with you. I cant stand your attitude or rudeness.
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Most 'special threats' become easier to deal with as you gain levels, or it becomes expected that you are able to deal with those threats. Incorporeal requires extra preparation at low levels but soon you will have a magic weapon that gives you are fighting chance. Level drain is a major threat at low levels but as you level up you dedicate a few resources towards deathward and restorations. There are several more examples of 'special threats' in this old guide: Painlord's What to Expect at a PFS Table.
Swarms are different. I make a lot of preparations for swarms at low levels, and then pray I never see one at high levels (unless I happen to be a class that can easily deal with them). Any purchased answers to swarms do not scale, or are prohibitively expensive.
Of the games I've player the writers have been really good, I think every swarm I've seen could be ran away from or you could use its mindlessness against it but it is still this looming threat of certain death for many of my characters.
All that said; I'm waiting to see the playtest rules for swarms. I want them to change. I just don't know how.
Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game.
I mean, so were pre-Unchained Summoners, and all sorts of things that have since been patched up.
No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.
I agree that swarms should still be terrifying. The problem is that an encounter that the players are mechanically incapable of engaging with isn't a fun encounter to play. Hard combats are fun; impossible ones are not. I had a group on Sunday nearly die to a mimic, and then lose half of their party to a giant cyclops skeleton; they did poorly in both combats due to a variety of factors (tactics, dice rolls, high CR) but even when they were getting trashed, and flailing at a giant skeleton with inferior weapons because only one of them bothered to pack bludgeoning weapons, they were still having fun, because it was possible (though not likely) to win. They learned an important lesson about being prepared for skeletal undead, and experienced failure, but it was still fun. It didn't feel hopeless.
Facing a swarm without splash weapons or AOE spells, however, is literally pointless. You can't do anything, and that kind of helplessness just isn't fun.
You know. The PF2 persistent damage rules might be pretty fun to stick on some weak swarms. E.g. some sort of "gravedigger ants" that deal slashing and thus are an excellent natural defence against zombies.
The Swarm/Troop rules are pretty unfair.
Alchemists being core will help, and Spellcasters like Wizards, Druids, and their Sorcerous peers will shine here with the right spells available. But beyond that there need to be reliable mundane solutions to swarms, or they need to have an appropriate minimum CR (like 3rd-5th level).
Personally I prefer the idea of Swarms/Troops having much larger Hit-Point/Morale pool than an individual creature, and a severe weakness to Area of Effect attacks. That way mundane weaponry is just woefully inefficient, not completely worthless.
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(in the email sent to all the players before the game):
I will remind you to be prepared for the basics.
Disease
Poisons
Ability damage (potentially drain)
Swarms
Invisible opponents
Incorporeal opponents
Extremes in temperature
Being grappled
Religious extremists who do not like you
Travel in an area where Pathfinders are not legal
Then, after you leave the venture captains office...
any of those things can TPK a party.
The fact that Martial characters have significate difficulties with Swarms is not a surprise... but that's why the Party should not be exclusively Martial characters right? This is often a Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
I can recall encountering a Shadow at 1st level (in more than one PFS1 settings) -
Or encountering a scenario full of zombies when the Party of PCs had only one slashing weapon among the six of them (a dagger that was in a Pathfinder Pack), and the cleric was a Neg. channeling cleric (noticed an issue with wands of infernal healing vs cure light wounds then).
Or an animated stone object (Hardness/Mindless) when the PCs didn't have a Power Attacking Barbarian...
When playing PFS1e, Swarms are something the players (IMHO) need to prepare for. I have seen a Rogue with UMD pull a partly changed wand of burning hands (CL3) to finish off 2 swarms at once. That was her "paper" to counter the "rock" of the swarm.
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The Swarm/Troop rules are pretty unfair.
** spoiler omitted **Alchemists being core will help, and Spellcasters like Wizards, Druids, and their Sorcerous peers will shine here with the right spells available. But beyond that there need to be reliable mundane solutions to swarms, or they need to have an appropriate minimum CR (like 3rd-5th level).
Personally I prefer the idea of Swarms/Troops having much larger Hit-Point/Morale pool than an individual creature, and a severe weakness to Area of Effect attacks. That way mundane weaponry is just woefully inefficient, not completely worthless.
(in the email sent to all the players before the game):
I will remind you to be prepared for the basics.Disease
Poisons
Ability damage (potentially drain)
Swarms
Invisible opponents
Incorporeal opponents
Extremes in temperature
Being grappled
Religious extremists who do not like you
Travel in an area where Pathfinders are not legalThen, after you leave the venture captains office...
any of those things can TPK a party.
The fact that Martial characters have significate difficulties with Swarms is not a surprise... but that's why the Party should not be exclusively Martial characters right? This is often a Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
I can recall encountering a Shadow at 1st level (in more than one PFS1 settings) -
Or encountering a scenario full of zombies when the Party of PCs had only one slashing weapon among the six of them (a dagger that was in a Pathfinder Pack), and the cleric was a Neg. channeling cleric (noticed an issue with wands of infernal healing vs cure light wounds then).
Or an animated stone object (Hardness/Mindless) when the PCs didn't have a Power Attacking Barbarian...When playing PFS1e, Swarms are something the players (IMHO) need to prepare for. I have seen a Rogue with UMD pull a partly changed wand of burning hands (CL3) to finish off 2 swarms at once. That was her "paper" to counter the "rock" of the swarm.
So all it takes is having an item that greatly exceeds the wealth by level of a first level character? No problem then.
So all it takes is having an item that greatly exceeds the wealth by level of a first level character? No problem then.(in the email sent to all the players before the game):
I will remind you to be prepared for the basics.Disease
Poisons
Ability damage (potentially drain)
Swarms
Invisible opponents
Incorporeal opponents
Extremes in temperature
Being grappled
Religious extremists who do not like you
Travel in an area where Pathfinders are not legalThen, after you leave the venture captains office...
any of those things can TPK a party.
The fact that Martial characters have significate difficulties with Swarms is not a surprise... but that's why the Party should not be exclusively Martial characters right? This is often a Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
I can recall encountering a Shadow at 1st level (in more than one PFS1 settings) -
Or encountering a scenario full of zombies when the Party of PCs had only one slashing weapon among the six of them (a dagger that was in a Pathfinder Pack), and the cleric was a Neg. channeling cleric (noticed an issue with wands of infernal healing vs cure light wounds then).
Or an animated stone object (Hardness/Mindless) when the PCs didn't have a Power Attacking Barbarian...When playing PFS1e, Swarms are something the players (IMHO) need to prepare for. I have seen a Rogue with UMD pull a partly changed wand of burning hands (CL3) to finish off 2 swarms at once. That was her "paper" to counter the "rock" of the swarm.
Well, assuming that they were almost at 2nd level, each party member should have almost 1000 gp. I believe the value of a wand or burning hands (CL 3) with only about 10 charges is only 450 gp, which by no means greatly exceeds the rogues wealth. However, if the swarm was one of the party's first encounters, then they probably wouldn't have such an item. However, in this case, I can see why the DM would give his players such an item.
After the game, did you buy the wand on the CR?
Not yet, but I would have (I think she can afford to). BTW, we had three casters including myself, two of us could use the wand. But none of us had the right spells or items ourselves (I had Deadeye's Arrow as my attack spell for example).
Well, assuming that they were almost at 2nd level, each party member should have almost 1000 gp. I believe the value of a wand or burning hands (CL 3) with only about 10 charges is only 450 gp, which by no means greatly exceeds the rogues wealth. However, if the swarm was one of the party's first encounters, then they probably wouldn't have such an item. However, in this case, I can see why the DM would...So all it takes is having an item that greatly exceeds the wealth by level of a first level character? No problem then.(in the email sent to all the players before the game):
I will remind you to be prepared for the basics.Disease
Poisons
Ability damage (potentially drain)
Swarms
Invisible opponents
Incorporeal opponents
Extremes in temperature
Being grappled
Religious extremists who do not like you
Travel in an area where Pathfinders are not legalThen, after you leave the venture captains office...
any of those things can TPK a party.
The fact that Martial characters have significate difficulties with Swarms is not a surprise... but that's why the Party should not be exclusively Martial characters right? This is often a Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
I can recall encountering a Shadow at 1st level (in more than one PFS1 settings) -
Or encountering a scenario full of zombies when the Party of PCs had only one slashing weapon among the six of them (a dagger that was in a Pathfinder Pack), and the cleric was a Neg. channeling cleric (noticed an issue with wands of infernal healing vs cure light wounds then).
Or an animated stone object (Hardness/Mindless) when the PCs didn't have a Power Attacking Barbarian...When playing PFS1e, Swarms are something the players (IMHO) need to prepare for. I have seen a Rogue with UMD pull a partly changed wand of burning hands (CL3) to finish off 2 swarms at once. That was her "paper" to counter the "rock" of the swarm.
Wands are always made with 50 charges, so being able to find/buy a partially charged one is a GM decision.
Also, you're having to assume an almost level 2 character to make it work. The rules, however, suggest that a Swarm is a fair encounter for a first level party's very first encounter.
...Well, assuming that they were almost at 2nd level, each party member should have almost 1000 gp. I believe the value of a wand or burning hands (CL 3) with only about 10 charges is only 450 gp, which by no means greatly exceeds the rogues wealth. However, if the swarm was one of the party's first encounters, then they probably wouldn't have such an item. However, in this case, ISo all it takes is having an item that greatly exceeds the wealth by level of a first level character? No problem then.(in the email sent to all the players before the game):
I will remind you to be prepared for the basics.Disease
Poisons
Ability damage (potentially drain)
Swarms
Invisible opponents
Incorporeal opponents
Extremes in temperature
Being grappled
Religious extremists who do not like you
Travel in an area where Pathfinders are not legalThen, after you leave the venture captains office...
any of those things can TPK a party.
The fact that Martial characters have significate difficulties with Swarms is not a surprise... but that's why the Party should not be exclusively Martial characters right? This is often a Rock-Paper-Scissors game.
I can recall encountering a Shadow at 1st level (in more than one PFS1 settings) -
Or encountering a scenario full of zombies when the Party of PCs had only one slashing weapon among the six of them (a dagger that was in a Pathfinder Pack), and the cleric was a Neg. channeling cleric (noticed an issue with wands of infernal healing vs cure light wounds then).
Or an animated stone object (Hardness/Mindless) when the PCs didn't have a Power Attacking Barbarian...When playing PFS1e, Swarms are something the players (IMHO) need to prepare for. I have seen a Rogue with UMD pull a partly changed wand of burning hands (CL3) to finish off 2 swarms at once. That was her "paper" to counter the "rock" of the swarm.
I agree that, without DM intervention, a party of first level players is not likely to acquire a partially charged wand of burning hands. However,such an item doesn't necessarily greatly exceed wealth by level unless, as I said, the swarm was one of the party's first encounters.
The most common 1st level swarm is, unfortunately, the spider swarm, which places 1st level players, especially those who are inexperienced, in a very dangerous situation.
My biggest problem with fine and diminutive swarms is their poorly written "immunity to weapon damage." If, this weren't the case, the level 1 party in question could escape (taking advantage of the swarms slower speed and lack of intelligence) and come back later for any easy kill with alchemists fires/acids. If they couldn't run, torches could be used to output at least minimal damage against the swarm. But as written, neither of these options are viable.
Even that "paper" to counter the "rock" of the swarm is pretty crappy.
The wand deals an average of 7.5 damage (11.25 when accounting for AoE weakness). A leech swarm has 39 HP (a crab swarm has a similar number, a wasp swarm has 31 HP). Naively, we'd say you need about 4 rounds to kill the swarm, fewer if you get lucky.
A level 2 rogue probably has a 6 UMD, though, and needs a DC 20 to activate the Wand of Burning Hands (CL 3). That gives a 35% chance to successfully activate the wand each time they try.
Of course, if the rogue ever rolls a natural 1, they are locked out of trying to use that wand again for the rest of the day.
Out of boredom, I rolled some dice in MatLab. I was curious how many rounds it took to kill a CR Leech Swarm with a CL3 wand of burning hands. Here's what it looks like in PF1e. The x-axis on the top plot is the number of UMD attempts needed to kill a leech swarm from full HP. I accounted for the 1.5x damage from AoE. The most common number of rounds from my dice roll is 10 (for a class with burning hands on their spell list, this becomes 4-5 rounds, and they don't have to worry about locking themselves out of the wand).
I didn't directly account for the chance of wand lockout (resulting in loss of all ability to deal damage to the swarm), but I plotted its probability on the same x-scale (second axis). Basically, by the time you need 10 attempts, you've got a 40% chance of being locked out (1-0.95^10).
Well, it ... doesn't look good for the gallant and well-prepared Rogue. Maybe the group's Sorcerer can cast CL 2 burning hands about 6 times ...
Alchemists fire and acid vials are really cheap and effective at dealing with low level swarms.
They're pretty good at dealing with low level swarms that have low HP. A decent number of swarms at CR 4 or lower have a bunch of HP though (e.g. crabs swarm and leech swarm referenced above iirc). For higher HP swarms, you're still looking at 8-10 Alchemists Fires, which is quite a few (especially if you have a party of 4-5).
Walk away from the swarm.Learning how to deal with swarms is part of the game. No need to nerf everything. Once a character or two gets eaten to the bone, they'll figure it out.As part of a party that nearly TPKed to a swarm, I disagree.
Our party had a Wizard with Burning Hands in memory. We also had multiple people with splash weapons to use against it. The Wizard called on his Arcane Bond to get an extra use of Burning Hands. We still just barely managed to take it out because of low damage rolls.
Martial characters need a better way to deal with them than requiring a magical item that allows them to hurt the swarm.
All too often players get into the mindset that the only way to overcome something is to kill it. Discretion is the better part of valor.
For good reasons:
The first being GMs that pinch pennies with XP. Do I still get XP for being smart enough to run away from the swarm? Usually not.
The second being 30 years of game designers that write encounters you cannot run away from.
The CR 2 Bat Swarm isn’t a lot of fun for low level characters either.
It has a fly speed better than most character’s move speed, enough hit points to take multiple hits, and a touch AC high enough that characters are going to have trouble hitting.
Seoni has a single scroll of Burning Hands, Ezren has it in memory so he could cast it twice (using his Arcane Bond for the second casting), Amiri has a single flask of acid, Lini has a single flask of acid, Valeros and Merisiel each have both alchemist fire and acid,
Burning Hands has a Reflex Save of +7 for half damage, just to add insult to the situation.
PF2 has Alchemist as a core class, so we could add in Damiel and their seven bombs. That class is able to take it out all by themselves. Without him, you’ve got problems.
Oh, and writers usually give some indication there are undead allowing you to adjust your preparation. I can’t recall any scenarios that warn of swarms.
In 3.0 you could use a torch to injure swarms. I’ve been told that rule exists in 3.5 as well. That change alone would make them much more manageable.
Alchemists fire and acid vials are really cheap and effective at dealing with low level swarms.
"A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage."
vs"A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells."
Does this mean that only swarms composed of creatures larger than diminutive are damaged by splash weapons? Or that the swarm of fine creatures take only double the splash from such weapons? Or that they take double the regular and the splash damage? I can imagine the difficulty of a first level swarm hinges on the DM's answer.
I'm inclined to go with the second, and seeing as how CR 1 swarms have pretty good AC, 2 damage per successful attack still makes swarms a difficult encounter.
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The CR 2 Bat Swarm isn’t a lot of fun for low level characters either.
It has a fly speed better than most character’s move speed, enough hit points to take multiple hits, and a touch AC high enough that characters are going to have trouble hitting.
Seoni has a single scroll of Burning Hands, Ezren has it in memory so he could cast it twice (using his Arcane Bond for the second casting), Amiri has a single flask of acid, Lini has a single flask of acid, Valeros and Merisiel each have both alchemist fire and acid,
Burning Hands has a Reflex Save of +7 for half damage, just to add insult to the situation.
PF2 has Alchemist as a core class, so we could add in Damiel and their seven bombs. That class is able to take it out all by themselves. Without him, you’ve got problems.
Oh, and writers usually give some indication there are undead allowing you to adjust your preparation. I can’t recall any scenarios that warn of swarms.
In 3.0 you could use a torch to injure swarms. I’ve been told that rule exists in 3.5 as well. That change alone would make them much more manageable.
Using the iconic's gear isn't a good way to evaluate whether something needs to be changed as they're extremely suboptimal. Just look at poor Harsk who shoots a crossbow every other round at all levels.
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Alchemists fire and acid vials are really cheap and effective at dealing with low level swarms.
"A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage."
vs
"A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells."Does this mean that only swarms composed of creatures larger than diminutive are damaged by splash weapons? Or that the swarm of fine creatures take only double the splash from such weapons? Or that they take double the regular and the splash damage? I can imagine the difficulty of a first level swarm hinges on the DM's answer.
I'm inclined to go with the second, and seeing as how CR 1 swarms have pretty good AC, 2 damage per successful attack still makes swarms a difficult encounter.
"Splash weapons" are their own category of item and aren't a "weapon" in the sense listed there, so it's #2. They do 1.5x damage to swarms.
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"Splash weapons" are their own category of item and aren't a "weapon" in the sense listed there, so it's #2. They do 1.5x damage to swarms.Alchemists fire and acid vials are really cheap and effective at dealing with low level swarms.
"A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage."
vs
"A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells."Does this mean that only swarms composed of creatures larger than diminutive are damaged by splash weapons? Or that the swarm of fine creatures take only double the splash from such weapons? Or that they take double the regular and the splash damage? I can imagine the difficulty of a first level swarm hinges on the DM's answer.
I'm inclined to go with the second, and seeing as how CR 1 swarms have pretty good AC, 2 damage per successful attack still makes swarms a difficult encounter.
1.5, my mistake. Doesn't that mean swarms take 1 (1.5 * 1 splash damage rounded down) per successfully hit with an alchemist fire? With a high AC, that's a difficult fight, even assuming everyone has alchemist fires.
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1.5, my mistake. Doesn't that mean swarms take 1 (1.5 * 1 splash damage rounded down) per successfully hit with an alchemist fire? With a high AC, that's a difficult fight, even assuming everyone has alchemist fires."Splash weapons" are their own category of item and aren't a "weapon" in the sense listed there, so it's #2. They do 1.5x damage to swarms.Alchemists fire and acid vials are really cheap and effective at dealing with low level swarms.
"A swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures is immune to all weapon damage."
vs
"A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells."Does this mean that only swarms composed of creatures larger than diminutive are damaged by splash weapons? Or that the swarm of fine creatures take only double the splash from such weapons? Or that they take double the regular and the splash damage? I can imagine the difficulty of a first level swarm hinges on the DM's answer.
I'm inclined to go with the second, and seeing as how CR 1 swarms have pretty good AC, 2 damage per successful attack still makes swarms a difficult encounter.
A direct hit with an alchemists fire does 1d6 fire damage which you would multiply by 1.5. Any other interpretation would leave the line about them taking 1.5x damage worthless.
Using the iconic's gear isn't a good way to evaluate whether something needs to be changed as they're extremely suboptimal. Just look at poor Harsk who shoots a crossbow every other round at all levels.
Pregens are what people often use when playing at a convention and what people learning the game look at when first trying to build a character of their own. Considering the cost of each alchemical weapon, a starting character is unlikely to have more than one or two such items,
Also, you should get a new copy of the pregens. At first level, Harsk now has:
Feats Rapid Reload (heavy crossbow)