Shimmerling Familiar? [3.5]

[Serpentine]

So I finally got around to running probably the last part of my campaign I'll do while I'm at university (the Temple of the Trickster God, if anyone wants to read along). The Warlock used his Ennervating... Aura? Cloak? thing to knock out a Shimmerling Swarm (MM...3, I think) (along with a swarm of flying pirahna and two swarms of centipedes - any advice on whether that's actually rule-legal? Seemed too easy). The party blue, sparkle, gem, and blue sparkly gem-obsessed gnome Sorcerer/Cleric of Garl Glittergold/Prestige Class decided to keep a sparkly blue Shimmerling as a familiar. Anyone have any thoughts on the crunch of this? It doesn't really matter, as we'll probably only have one or two games with it, but it'd be nice.
Shimmerlings are colourful sparkly fairly-like Chaotic Neutral pollen-eating fey that are dead stupid individually but obtain a more intelligent (7 Int, I think) hive mind when swarming. From memory, pretty much all their fancy abilities (hypnotism, dazzle) are more or less swarm-dependent.

[hamishspence]

Maybe use an existing familiar, such as a thrush (DMG) and refluff?

Wasn't that how they did hummingbird familiars in Dragon- thrush stats, different familiar bonus effect?

Alternatively, you could try and construct stats for a single shimmerling- maybe take a rat swarm, work out what changes convert its stats into those of a single rat, and thus you know what changes are needed to turn a shimmerling swarm into a single shimmerling.

[Andion Isurand]

...must...post...link

What is the Average Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow?

[Serpentine]

Hmmm, lets see...

Shimmerling
Size/Type: Fine Fey
Hit Dice: ¼d8 (1 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 5 ft (1 square), fly 50 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 24 (+8 size, +6 Dex), touch 24, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-21
Attack: Bite +2 melee (1d2-5)
Full Attack: Bite +2 melee (1d2-5)
Space/Reach: 1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Hive mind, low-light vision
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 22, Con 11, Int 1, Wis 15, Cha 18
Skills: Hide +36, Listen +2, Move Silently +6, Spot +2
Feats: Weapon Finesse
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Solitary, glimmer (5-20) or dazzle (20-200)
Challenge Rating: 1/10
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

A naked and glowing elfin creature only 4 inches tall balances on the leaf before you, and as you watch, it spreads dragonfly wings.

Individual shimmerlings are miniscule and nearly mindless fey that feed on pollen. It looks like a 4-inch tall elf with dragonfly wings. Its skin and hair are the same colour as the glow it gives off, which can be any colour of the rainbow.
A shimmerling weighs 1 ounce.
Shimmerlings speak Sylvan.

Combat
An individual shimmerling is practically harmless. It is more likely to hide than to attack.
Hive Mind (Ex): Individual shimmerlings can sometimes mass together into a swarm. When they do so, they form a hive mind, giving them an intelligence score of 7, as well as various other abilities. A group of shimmerlings large enough to obtain this hive mind becomes a shimmerling swarm (MMIII p. 152).


How's that? Incidentally, it would work quite well, with only minimal tweaking, as a Labyrinth fairy.
edit: Oh, and what benefit should it give its master?

[hamishspence]

The minimum damage a successful attack can do is 1 point- so a few shimmerlings (not enough to make a swarm) could be a quite dangerous encounter for 1st level characters. Maybe even 1 shimmerling could kill a 1st level commoner.

Good statblock though.

I like the concept of shimmerlings- a bit like the faeries in Fantasia.

Unseelie shimmerlings could have exactly the same statblock- but play up their aggressiveness, and they'd be more like a swarm of flying piranha.

Benefit to the master- maybe a bonus to casting spells with the light descriptor? Might fit the theme of glowing and varied colours.

[Serpentine]

That would go for any other small animal, like the rat, though.

[hamishspence]

Yup- the famous Killer Housecat problem.

A few creatures (toads, possibly thrushes) get no attacks at all. However, the shimmerling may not need to be one of these.

[Serpentine]

So what sort of little bonuses could a shimmerling familiar give? Would something like +1 to the DC of prismatic, light and/or chaos spells be too much?
(this character specialises is illusions, sparkles and pretty colours. Don't laugh, she's one of the most well-developed, and the oldest, character in my game)

(okay, you can laugh. Also she was a sparkly smurf before - pale blond-haired celestial-blooded (slighlty shiny skin) blue (Rod of Wonder fun) gnome)

[hamishspence]

So what sort of little bonuses could a shimmerling familiar give? Would something like +1 to the DC of prismatic, light and/or chaos spells be too much?

I'm not sure, but I think the various prismatic spells have the Light descriptor.

EDIT: The SRD doesn't mention it though.

I like the notion of +1 to DC to Light spells for a standard shimmerling familiar- if the various prismatic spells were ruled that way.

If I was doing shimmerlings, I'd play up "Light is Not Good"- and maybe draw on other fiction- that makes shimmerling-type creatures intelligent and ruthless- the spies of the fey courts.

Maybe not in a familiar though, unless it was an Improved Familiar.

[crizh]

I was looking at Shimmerling as a Metamorphosis form. Not a bad stat-block Serpentine.

One thing, I don't think it qualifies for Weapon Finesse. You would have to make that a bonus feat and give it something else as well. Not unreasonable as the swarm version doesn't need it which would easily explain it's absence there.

[Serpentine]

It does not indeed. Whoops. Any other ideas for a suitable feat? And a lot of swarms->individuals have different feats.

[Fizban]

I hate most of the improved familiars as much as the next guy, so I'd allow it as a normal familiar just fine. But with a 50' perfect fly speed and +36 to hide, it's the kind of familiar that probably shouldn't grant it's master any extra bonus. As for the bonus given, I think it's a dangerous chance for power creep. Normally familiars give either a skill bonus, toughness, or nothing. The undead familiar feat can give you an extra 2 HD of undead control, which is equivalent to +1/2 a caster level under very specific circumstances. A familiar is a class feature/feat of it's own, and I don't think it should really come with an extra free feat at the same time. Bonuses to spell DCs (even restricted) and initiative (I'm looking at you hummingbird) are always going to be better than bonuses to skills you don't even use, and both the Shimmerling and the Hummingbird are even better than most familiars due to their size bonuses.

That said, if you're okay with the hummingbird and/or familiars are more than just tools and bonuses in your games, then +1 DC of light spells is just fine. I'd actually be more inclined to use illusion [pattern] spells, since fey are more associated with those than light spells which tend to be evocations.

Edit: just remembered that some familiars grant save bonuses too. Still, those aren't as creepable since they're defensive instead of offensive, so I think the point stands. Unless you don't think it does, in which case you can ignore me

[realbombchu]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but you can have a shimmerling swarm as an improved familiar according to Dragon. Check it out. It's the Beowulf issue, #329, March 2005, page 98. If you can have the whole swarm, I would take it, and just have a favorite or spokesfey. If you really want just one, I would support the modified thrush idea.

[No Idea]

I personally love the idea of having a "spokesfey" that speaks for the whole swarm. It wouldn't even always have to be the same one everytime. That would be fun for roleplaying purposes. I mean sure the swarm is going to do what you say it would be like having a familiar with multiple personalities. Maybe they randomly elect a leader every few minutes of you just get to talk to whichever one the rest shove out front to deal with you.

[Serpentine]

Huh. I'll have to check that. In the meanwhilst, the party Warlock's already *bamf*ed the rest of the swarm to safety.