PF - Are Variant Mummies Worth It?

[unseenmage]

The Create Variant Mummy (https://aonprd.com/SpellDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Create%20Variant%20Mumm y) spell does what you'd expect creating one of three variant mummies (https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Mummy).

For our table this line, "Although most mummies are created merely as guardians and remain loyal to their charge until their destruction, certain powerful mummies have much more free will.", means mummies obey their creator, so no worries there.

As this is for a necromancer character and mummy rot is basically rust monster for corpses that all the variants replace mummy rot is good.

Bog mummy seems underwhelming.

Ice mummy is cool as it can grapple and constrict from afar.

Tomb guardian comes with a free CR 3 or less swarm (our GM is okaying that variant of this variant) which is either amazing or useless, I'm not sure which.
Getting a potentially commandable undead swarm with each tomb guardian could be good.

The most amusing idea I had was to raise one with a piranha swarm in it so it walks around leaving gasping flopping fish everywhere it goes.

[Zanos]

All the mummies aren't great because you're getting a 8hd undead from a 7th level spell with okay strength and atrocious dexterity.

I am going to assume you automatically have control over these, although I don't think create undead actually grants control.

Base Mummy: 24 Str, 20 AC, 8HD, 20 ft movespeed. This isn't the worst minion, but he's not very good either. Give him some armor and a real weapon, maybe buffed with GMW. You could do much better with a decent skeleton or frostfallen if you're cheese tolerant, though. The Despair ability is relatively low save DC of 16, and remember that you and your party have no natural immunity to it. If your party is accommodating they could all intentionally make saves vs. despair at the start of the day to get immunity for 24 hours. It is a save or lose, so might be worth keeping some mummies around. The disease on hit is, like most diseases, mostly useless to PCs. I actually think the DC 16 save or lose aura is the standout feature of the base mummy so I'm kind of skeptical of any variant that loses this, and the interesting variants lose it.

Give him a chain shirt and a +3 weapon and he'll have 24 AC and be hitting at +16/+11. Add desecrate for 72 HP. Great melee combatant? No, but passable, and anyone in melee with him is going to have to make a DC 16 will save or he gets to Coup De Grace them. Will saves are not the specialty of most bruiser type monsters, but the 20ft move speed is really going to limit the Mummy's effectiveness in general combat.

Bog Mummy: DR 5/- Is better than DR 10/Slashing, so this mummy loses out there. The most common natural weapons, bite and claw, deal slashing damage, and most humanoid enemies sport slashing weapons. Vulnerablity to cold instead of fire could be useful. Fire damage is common. Grave Ichor is a disease, and therefore mostly useless to PCs. I'd call this one strictly worse than the base mummy unless you're fighting fire elementals and archers.

Ice Mummy: Loses despair and mummy rot, gains +1d6 cold damage and save vs slow on it's natural attack. Notably this does not give immunity if you save against it, but the save is Fortitude instead of Will, and it's not a save or die. While very few things are outright immune to slow, the enemies that you really want to hit with slow are usually going to have pretty rocked fort saves. It's CMB isn't really good enough for it's ranged grapple ability to shine, but could be useful for pining down targets with terrible CMD, like casters.

Tomb Guardian: You get a free scarab swarm. A scarab swarm is CR 3. It's distraction attack has a fort save of 13. I don't think you're getting a lot of mileage out of this one. The swarm, being Fine, is immune to weapon damage, so if your enemy has no other options than weapon attacks you could have it slowly nibble them to death. I'm not familiar enough with PF swarms to know if there's some CR <= 3 swarm with busted abilities that redeems this.

Like most non-templated undead I only really see niche uses for these, or maybe if you can't get your hands on any good creatures to turn into skeletons and zombies.

[unseenmage]

Loads of good analysis.
Thanks for that!

So far the only Create Undead creatures we've found that are explicitly controlled are Blast Shadows. Also mummy if you squint at it just right.

I'm still sifting through swarms for decent options. Most are gag options or have diseases.

[unseenmage]

Create Variant Mummy spell -> Osirian Tomb Guardian -> w/infested variant -> "For variation, instead of carrying a scarab swarm, an infested mummy can hold any swarm of CR 3 or lower."

So as per Archives of Nethys here are the swarms of CR 3 or lower, without templating or adding the swarm subtype to new monsters or anything.
Although... the Young template reduces size by one category AND reduces CR by one so theoretically any fine size to small size creature could be presented as a swarm.
'A mummy rises from the earth at the necromancer's command and a swarm of halfling children clamber from it's bandages.'
Truly, a horrifying scenario.

Amoeba Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Amoeba%20Swarm) CR1 2HD, Fine ooze
SQ amphibious
Bat Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Bat%20Swarm) CR2 3HD, Diminutive animal
SA wounding
Carrionstorm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Carrionstorm) CR1 2HD, Tiny undead
SQ pallid bond
Choleric Ooze Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Choleric%20Ooze%20Swa rm) CR2 3HD, Tiny ooze
SA corrosion, viscous (DC 15)
Chon Chon Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Chon%20Chon%20Swarm) CR3 6HD, Tiny aberration
Int 7
SA babble, Spell-Like Abilities
Cicada Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Cicada%20Swarm) CR2 4HD, Diminutive vermin
SA song (DC 12)
Cockroach Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Cockroach%20Swarm) CR2 4HD, Diminutive vermin
SQ hold breath
Fleshdreg Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Fleshdreg%20Swarm) CR2 4HD, Tiny aberration
SQ arcane bite
Flesh-Eating Cockroach Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Flesh-Eating%20Cockroach%20Swarm) CR2 4HD, Diminutive vermin
Ground Wasp Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Ground%20Wasp%20Swarm ) CR2 3HD, Fine vermin
Hook Fly Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Hook%20Fly%20Swarm) CR1 2HD, Diminutive vermin
SA bleed (1)
SQ gestate
Locust Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Locust%20Swarm) CR2 4HD, Fine vermin
SA devour, voracious (see giant locust)
Melancholic Ooze Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Melancholic%20Ooze%20 Swarm) CR1 2HD, Tiny ooze
SA paralyzing slime, viscous (DC 15)
Monkey Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Monkey%20Swarm) CR2 3HD, Tiny animal
SQ coordinated swarm
Mosquito Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Mosquito%20Swarm) CR3 4HD, Fine vermin
SA attach, blood drain
Pallid Wriggler Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Pallid%20Wriggler%20S warm) CR2 3HD, Diminutive aberration
SQ indescribable swarm (DC 13), snort
Patchwork Insect Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Patchwork%20Insect%20 Swarm) CR1/2 2HD, Diminutive vermin
SQ indescribable swarm (DC 11)
Phlegmatic Ooze Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Phlegmatic%20Ooze%20S warm) CR1/2 1HD, Tiny ooze
SA maddening slime, viscous (DC 14)
Piranha Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Piranha%20Swarm) CR3 4HD, Tiny animal
SA bleed (1d6)
SQ Keen Scent (Ex)
Rat Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Rat%20Swarm) CR2 3HD, Tiny animal
Disease (Ex) Filth fever: Swarm—injury; save Fort DC 12; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Raven Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Raven%20Swarm) CR3 5HD, Tiny animal
SA blindness
Ravenous Urchin Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Ravenous%20Urchin%20S warm) CR2 4HD, Tiny vermin
SA jet, underfoot
SQ amphibious
Sanguine Ooze Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Sanguine%20Ooze%20Swa rm) CR1/3 1HD, Tiny ooze
SA euphoric slime, viscous (DC 13)
Scarab Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Scarab%20Swarm) CR3 4HD, Fine vermin
SA Disease (Ex) Filth fever: Swarm—injury; save Fort DC 13; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves.
Skull Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Skull%20Swarm) CR1 2HD, Tiny undead
Snake Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Snake%20Swarm) CR2 3HD, Tiny animal
Spider Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Spider%20Swarm) CR1 2HD, Diminutive vermin
SA Poison (Ex) Swarm—injury; save Fort DC 11; frequency 1/round for 2 rounds; effect 1d2 Str; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Torble Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Torble%20Swarm) CR2 3HD, Tiny vermin
SQ hive mind, primitive sight, telepathic sensitivity
Ubashki Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Ubashki%20Swarm) CR2 3HD, Tiny undead
SA Disease (Ex) Ubashki Fever: Injury; save Fort DC 13; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d2 Str damage and 1d2 Wis damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. A creature afflicted by ubashki fever develops unsightly splotches and sores all over its body that persist until the disease is cured. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Wasp Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Wasp%20Swarm) CR3 7HD, Diminutive vermin
SA Poison (Ex) Swarm—injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Water Strider Swarm (https://www.aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Water%20Strider%20Swa rm) CR1 2HD, Diminutive vermin
SA blood drain (1d2 Constitution)
SQ water walking

And because it amuses me:
Origami Swarm (https://aonprd.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Origami%20Swar m) CR2 3HD, Tiny construct
"...act as a rat swarm, except they have fire vulnerability, the construct type, and do not have the disease special ability."

[unseenmage]

At the end of the day, the infested variant is kind of not great.

Because you raise the mummy with it's cool new swarm
THEN a strong gust of wind blows away half your investment.

Or it dies to other environmental factors, fish out of water, animals or vermin freezing to death, etc.

Or just good old fashioned damage.

It IS a CR 3 or less dude associating with a CR 5+ creature controlled by an at least CL 14 spellcaster who is definitely going to be swinging above their weight class.


So yeah, the life and times of an infesting swarm will he short, brutal, and ultimately pointless.

In the end, raising it as undead or using it as materials should probably be assumed.