Segev
2014-04-07, 01:43 PM
The 3e version of these delightful little horrors is in the Fiend Folio, which leads to some weirdness based on 3.0/3.5 divides. It is a good start, however.
Things of interest include that 75 rats makes up a lesser swarm, 150 an "average" swarm, and 150 a greater swarm. The hit dice also are 6, 12, and 24, respectively.
Since hit dice scale linearly with number, one can actually calculate finer-grained numbers of rats if one wishes, starting with 12.5 (I suggest rounding up) rats needed per hit die the swarm is to have.
One could potentially have some fun expanding the rules for combining swarms to include splitting them once combined (what kind of action does it take, and what is the resulting memory-base and identity of the split hive mind?).
However, of particular interest to me is their composition as a merging, splitting hive mind, and their mechanics, particularly as sorcerers or psions.
The bigger the swarm, the more levels of sorcerer or psion they have. Do they pick new spells/powers known each time they merge to form a new, bigger swarm? Is it effectively a new entity? What about when they split? If one swarm splits and re-merges, is it a new hive mind, or the old one restored? Does it have the same spells known? Does it get to pick a whole different list?
If a greater swarm is destroyed and reforms as an average swarm, does it have the spell slots spent it had before?
What about Charm and other mind-affecting spells? Do they remain in effect on a shrunken swarm, or on both halves of a split swarm? If your Charmed swarm merges with an uncharmed one, does it get a new save, automatically break free, or automatically enslave the rest of them? What if you add just 1 rat? Is it Charmed or does it break the Charm on the hive mind?
They're really neat critters, but they have a lot of complicated questions one needs to answer lest situations come up wherein judgment calls which need be made as consistent as possible have to be performed on the fly.
Things of interest include that 75 rats makes up a lesser swarm, 150 an "average" swarm, and 150 a greater swarm. The hit dice also are 6, 12, and 24, respectively.
Since hit dice scale linearly with number, one can actually calculate finer-grained numbers of rats if one wishes, starting with 12.5 (I suggest rounding up) rats needed per hit die the swarm is to have.
One could potentially have some fun expanding the rules for combining swarms to include splitting them once combined (what kind of action does it take, and what is the resulting memory-base and identity of the split hive mind?).
However, of particular interest to me is their composition as a merging, splitting hive mind, and their mechanics, particularly as sorcerers or psions.
The bigger the swarm, the more levels of sorcerer or psion they have. Do they pick new spells/powers known each time they merge to form a new, bigger swarm? Is it effectively a new entity? What about when they split? If one swarm splits and re-merges, is it a new hive mind, or the old one restored? Does it have the same spells known? Does it get to pick a whole different list?
If a greater swarm is destroyed and reforms as an average swarm, does it have the spell slots spent it had before?
What about Charm and other mind-affecting spells? Do they remain in effect on a shrunken swarm, or on both halves of a split swarm? If your Charmed swarm merges with an uncharmed one, does it get a new save, automatically break free, or automatically enslave the rest of them? What if you add just 1 rat? Is it Charmed or does it break the Charm on the hive mind?
They're really neat critters, but they have a lot of complicated questions one needs to answer lest situations come up wherein judgment calls which need be made as consistent as possible have to be performed on the fly.