Contrary to the situation in PF1, it appears you can now attack swarms with weapons. Taking the example of a rat swarm, they have "Resistance Physical 6 except bludgeoning" so slashing and piercing will subtract 6 damage from all attacks, while bludgeoning will do full damage.
I like this. Is my interpretation correct?
Finally, since it's an Animal type, does this mean druids can use Wild Empathy to communicate, Make an Impression, and Make a Request? My magic eight ball says "Yes".
A swarm is a mass or cloud of creatures that functions as one monster. Its size entry gives the size of the entire mass, though for most swarms the individual creatures that make up that mass are Tiny. A swarm can occupy the same space as other creatures, and must do so in order to use its damaging action. A swarm typically has weakness to effects that deal damage over an area (like area spells and splash weapons).
Being a swarm no longer grants any kind of basic resistance. The stat block is what determins resistance and weakness. So yes, a rat swarm has resistance 6 to slashing and piercing, while having no resistance to bludgeoning damage.
This monster doesn’t have a single mind (typically because it’s a swarm of smaller creatures), and is immune to mental effects that target only a specific number of creatures. It is still subject to mental effects that affect all creatures in an area.
Make an Impression and Make an Request have the mental trait and target one creature. Unless you have some skill feat to apply them all targets in an area at once, you can't use them against a Rat Swarm (or any other creature with the Swarm Mind defensive ability).
You might want to get a new eight ball :)
Contributor
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I have my own opinions on how these rules work, but I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks (especially the Paizo design team).
Can a PC target a swarm with a spell that affects 1 creature, such as magic missile or heal animal? What about final sacrifice?
Does 1 creature refer to 1 individual thing, or anything encompassed by the statblock?
I have my own opinions on how these rules work, but I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks (especially the Paizo design team).
Can a PC target a swarm with a spell that affects 1 creature, such as magic missile or heal animal? What about final sacrifice?
Does 1 creature refer to 1 individual thing, or anything encompassed by the statblock?
My sense is that if Targets says "1 creature", then it would not affect a Swarm because a Swarm is described as "a mass or cloud of creatures" (emphasis mine).
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Contributor
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I have my own opinions on how these rules work, but I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks (especially the Paizo design team).
Can a PC target a swarm with a spell that affects 1 creature, such as magic missile or heal animal? What about final sacrifice?
Does 1 creature refer to 1 individual thing, or anything encompassed by the statblock?
My sense is that if Targets says "1 creature", then it would not affect a Swarm because a Swarm is described as "a mass or cloud of creatures" (emphasis mine).
Understood. I also know that you can whack a swarm with a club and deal damage, but Strike also targets 1 creature. So there's precedent.
I notice the "immune to effects that target an individual creature" language is missing from the swarm trait, likely on purpose. It seems like we're supposed to just treat it like 1 big creature, mechanically. I feel like the "mass or cloud of creatures" is just to describe thematically what a swarm is for newer players.
I have my own opinions on how these rules work, but I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks (especially the Paizo design team).
Can a PC target a swarm with a spell that affects 1 creature, such as magic missile or heal animal? What about final sacrifice?
Does 1 creature refer to 1 individual thing, or anything encompassed by the statblock?
My sense is that if Targets says "1 creature", then it would not affect a Swarm because a Swarm is described as "a mass or cloud of creatures" (emphasis mine).
Understood. I also know that you can whack a swarm with a club and deal damage, but Strike also targets 1 creature. So there's precedent.
I notice the "immune to effects that target an individual creature" language is missing from the swarm trait, likely on purpose. It seems like we're supposed to just treat it like 1 big creature, mechanically. I feel like the "mass or cloud of creatures" is just to describe thematically what a swarm is for newer players.
Hmm. Good point! I need to ponder on this further. I suppose the least issue producing approach is simply to say it is "a" creature.
Since a swarm "functions as one monster", I have been operating on the assumption they can be targeted and affected "as one monster" unless otherwise stated.
This has been my assumption too.
Swarms, despite being described as a collective, are treated as one monster for purposes of their stat block and everything else and swarm trait itself provides no special rules on targeting it.
Although the 'swarm mind' feature does give it protection against mental effects with target caps which, as Blave points out, means you can't Make an Impression on a rat swarm unless the GM is feeling generous.