In my current game a player wants to play a Swarm of Insects as a character. We've discussed the background, and I've come to love the idea. But now we're on to the hard part: the crunch.

Currently this is what he has proposed:

Swarm of Insects

+2 Dex
-2 Str
-2 Cha

Special Qualities
Damage Reduction ?/Bludgeoning Weapons and Cold
Immune to Sleep Effects, Paralysis, Lycanthropy, Disease*, and Vampirism

Insect Body: His body is comprised entirely of insects, as such it is not bound to a humanoid shape, and can be "molded" to look like other creatures, even shaped to flow under doors, and through cracks. I need a way to codify this.

We're debating the rest and what ECL this should be weighing in at.

"Everyone will work for swarm, EVERYONE!"

swarm-swarm-swarm-swarm-swarm...

YEAH!!! :haw: :cool:

Pretty neat idea neh?

We were looking at the Savage Species book, when suddenly he looked up and said "Hey what about this?..."

We've started fleshing out who, and what he is. A swarm of insects that has been sent north by the "hive" to do several things:

• Recon: The Hive is always looking to expand, with the information they get from him they can make good decisions.
• Breeding. Reproduction is one of his most basic drives. Unfortunately this involves grappling, restraining, and "injecting" people with "bug eggs", which eventually kill them. So if anyone finds out what he is, or what he's doing-he's toast.
• This last bit was proposed by the player. He is looking for a magical item-which may or may not exist-that will either change the environment so they can breed anywhere, or change them so they can breed in any environment

We've agreed that he is expendable-after all the Hive can make more just like him. We've also agreed that he can't heal like normal PC's, instead having to create or locate more bugs to add to his swarm.

We're working on a Deity, based on the Hive-which will be the source of his Divine Spells. (He is playing a Cleric.)

One of his big challenges will be disguising himself, so he can interact with people and creatures. This will be an interesting game.

its a bit out there :-)

How will he speak? I suggest limited telepathy.

The disguise is no biggie after all a hood and a cowl ought to cover it, perhaps with the addition of a silver mask as per the king of Jerusalem in The Kingdom of Heaven (in fact a clever player might well leave a few meta game hints to let the other PCs suspect he is a leper or carries some disease which explains the gloves, robe, mask, inability to speak and unewillingmnes to eat with and touch the rest of the group.)

What about experience? if you combine it with the idea he can't heal but just breeds more bugs then how do the bugs he has gain experience?

Okay, so we've a deepwood sniper, a machismo-infused nature-abusing Orc druid, an undead sorcerer, and a swarm of man-killing bugs. Was this supposed to be a freakshow? At least we're well outside civilization this time.

Has anyone asked what would be, to me, the obvious question, of how this insect swarm will fare at below-zero temperatures? Are they magically-infused with heat-producing metabolites, or will we just have to feed them lots of steaming filth?

And which of our dumb-ass nutjob players decided to play a living swarm, anyway?

[edit: This sounds so disapproving when I read it, but my tongue is, if such is not obvious, firmly within my cheek.]

Quote from: jibbajibbaIts a bit out there :-)

Absolutely. That's sort of what makes it fun to us-it's just way out on the edge.

QuoteHow will he speak? I suggest limited telepathy.

We had discussed this, but hadn't thought of that. Our original plan, and admittedly this is pretty weak, was he'd use the noise generated by the bugs he was comprised of to imitate common. But this, limited telepathy, might be better.

QuoteThe disguise is no biggie after all a hood and a cowl ought to cover it, perhaps with the addition of a silver mask as per the king of Jerusalem in The Kingdom of Heaven (in fact a clever player might well leave a few meta game hints to let the other PCs suspect he is a leper or carries some disease which explains the gloves, robe, mask, inability to speak and unwillingness to eat with and touch the rest of the group.)

He'll also occasionally be leaking bugs. So that will add to the challenge, plus his movement won't be just like people-the way he sits, walks, and stands should all be clues.

QuoteWhat about experience? if you combine it with the idea he can't heal but just breeds more bugs then how do the bugs he has gain experience?

A good question, and one I hadn't thought of. On the one hand I want to handwave it, and not deal with it-but on the other I think it's a valid point. So I'll have to do some thinking.

Quote from: EngineOkay, so we've a deepwood sniper, a machismo-infused nature-abusing Orc druid, an undead sorcerer, and a swarm of man-killing bugs. Was this supposed to be a freakshow? At least we're well outside civilization this time.

Heh.

QuoteHas anyone asked what would be, to me, the obvious question, of how this insect swarm will fare at below-zero temperatures?

First thing I pointed out. But, because he is a Cleric he can use spells to offset the effects of climate and temperature.

QuoteAre they magically-infused with heat-producing metabolites, or will we just have to feed them lots of steaming filth?

Filth it is.

QuoteAnd which of our dumb-ass nutjob players decided to play a living swarm, anyway?

Aytch. Is that a surprise?

Quote[edit: This sounds so disapproving when I read it, but my tongue is, if such is not obvious, firmly within my cheek.]

No worries from my end, I smiled as I read all of this.

Quote from: EngineOkay, so we've a deepwood sniper

Remind me to show you the large world map again, so you can see where he picked as his place of birth. His character is from so far north, that's it almost funny.

He'll be the only human in the group (Who's not undead.), but I think he'll be a lot less bound by the strictures of normal society.

But yeah..thankfully you guys will spend a lot of time in the wilderness.

Can I just say this really makes me regret I couldn't meet all of you guys this weekend....

That is a cool idea.

BTW: IIRC, There are rules in the MM for swarms as monsters that you could use to help...bound...the issue, yes? How do those play?

Ohhh...you have to throw other swarms at him.

Other characters are going to get weirded out by all the swarms of insects, bats, birds, etc that attack them all the time...

Stats for this are difficult, because so very many of the normal swarm traits are over-ruled by this swarm having the ability to take human form [and presumably hold it well enough to do things like hold weapons and open doors]. For instance, it shouldn't have to enter an opposing square to attack, since it can hold a weapon like anyone else. But should it be immune to critical hits? Could a powerful blow to precisely the correct location disrupt whatever holds the swarm together? I'd think not.

[edit: I actually went through the Swarm monster and Swarm subtype page on d20 SRD, and tried to invent a new subtype, but ended up deleting the whole thing. Some kind of decision needs to be made on how coherent/cohesive the swarm is, and how easily the swarm can change from humanoid to some other form. This has serious, serious effect, such as whether or not the swarm is immune to weapon damage, which would seriously raise its ECL. Anything with an ability like that - ephemeral characters, for instance - generally ends up with a very high ECL, anyway. And are the individual members of the swarm flying? If so, the ECL needs to take into account flight. And the ability to inject people with its eggs and kill them, of course. I'd recommend building a table of levels, like my ghoul, so the player doesn't have to start with an ECL of 10, but can start off with a few of the abilities of the swarm.]

Quote from: Serious PaulFirst thing I pointed out. But, because he is a Cleric he can use spells to offset the effects of climate and temperature.

Ouch. I wonder what the duration on those is; will he have to eat up a huge amount of his daily spells just to stay alive?

Quote from: Serious PaulAytch. Is that a surprise?

No. I really had no other candidates in mind.

We should get out the Monster Manuals and Savage Species tonight and try to give him a useful write-up. After I finish my "to-do" list, which will probably be around midnight. *sigh*

Better check this for some ideas:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15816_5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-world.html

Quote from: EngineOuch. I wonder what the duration on those is; will he have to eat up a huge amount of his daily spells just to stay alive?

He'll be aided somewhat by a magical item his hive will bestow upon him, but yeah this will, and I think should, always be a concern of his. I figure it will be things like this that will balance this out.

I also plan on making some sort of system where I keep track of the size of his "swarm", so if he loses too many bugs he starts to lose his abilities. (Not enough bugs to heft the sword, or carry the shield.) As he loses bugs he'll lose both mental and physical attributes.

Quote from: droogBetter check this for some ideas:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15816_5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-world.html

Nice. I'll be using that for inspiration.

I would handwave the cold/heat stuff, and state the mass of the swarm keeps it together and generates its own hea, but maybe add a flavour of it with cold based attacks having the side effect of a slow spell.

I would track abilities as a % of hitpoints on the basis that hitpoints here are really number of bugs. So the creature needs 50% hits to act as a full creature (open doors etc etc ) and as it drops down in hits the number of things it can control diminished, only hold one object (weapon or whatever) at 25% etc etc you can create a list very easily.

I would also have it take only 30% damage from thursting and slashing weapons which will offset the loosing abilities as it looses hits and its inability to heal normally.

Quote from: Serious PaulI also plan on making some sort of system where I keep track of the size of his "swarm", so if he loses too many bugs he starts to lose his abilities. (Not enough bugs to heft the sword, or carry the shield.) As he loses bugs he'll lose both mental and physical attributes.

All those should be easy: make it proportionate to his HP. Beyond, say, half his HP, he can't hold anything. A straight proportion of ability scores to HP would be tedious - "Okay, I've lost 18.4 percent of my HP, so my STR is now 11, and my bonus is..." - and thus unlikely to be followed at the table. Easier would be to say that for every eighth of his HP, he gets a +2 to whatever he's doing. Once he gets to the bottom eighth, he's at +14, effectively unable to be anything but a couple hundred bugs, mentally and physically. [I thought about +2 per quarter of HP, but that'd be +2 at 3/4, +4 at 1/2, and +6 at 3/4, which isn't really much of a penalty.] This would, as you say, provide some balance for the enormous power of the "swarm abilities," provided we followed it at the table.