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Old 02-07-2017, 01:14 PM   #1
Jaware
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
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Default need help with swarm statistics

Hello all, I seem to have forgotten which book a piece of information is located in...

I am looking for how to determine the hp of a swarm, or the equivalent amount needed to disperse it.

I swear I remember reading it in a book somewhere... but I don't remember which one?

anybody got any ideas?
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Old 02-07-2017, 02:05 PM   #2
kdtipa
 
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

no clue. I'm sorry.

But if I were trying to make a ruling as a GM...

I think I wouldn't abstract it like D&D/PF does. I think I'd decide how many individuals there are, and say each individual only needs one point of damage to be killed (maybe two for a rat).

Swarms suck in D&D/PF, but imagine a more specific treatment of them. Say you upset a hornet's nest, and you now have about 60 insects flying around intent on stinging you. You'd probably have to do something about sting damage, and maybe poison. But suddenly being able to try swatting and killing one each round (after you perceive its presence... usually after it stings) would be pretty brutal and scary for the character and player.

In fact... I might do something like this in my current campaign...
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Old 02-07-2017, 02:47 PM   #3
Jaware
 
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

Quote:
Originally Posted by kdtipa View Post
no clue. I'm sorry.

But if I were trying to make a ruling as a GM...

I think I wouldn't abstract it like D&D/PF does. I think I'd decide how many individuals there are, and say each individual only needs one point of damage to be killed (maybe two for a rat).

Swarms suck in D&D/PF, but imagine a more specific treatment of them. Say you upset a hornet's nest, and you now have about 60 insects flying around intent on stinging you. You'd probably have to do something about sting damage, and maybe poison. But suddenly being able to try swatting and killing one each round (after you perceive its presence... usually after it stings) would be pretty brutal and scary for the character and player.

In fact... I might do something like this in my current campaign...
I agree scary indeed. But the basic set gives he values for a couple swarms, like bees, bats; rats, etc.

I'm making a swarm host in my game. It's function is to create lots of the creatures which work similar to the kryll from gears of war.

except their job is to kill all biological creatures and to convert their biomass into a use able resources for the race of intelligent robotic zombies.

they don't just come in Swarms though. They don't come in one hex Swarms anyway. More like 2000 hex storms. And they do corrosion damage. Do they eventually eat through all obsticals.

That's pretty scarry to me hahaha.
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Old 02-07-2017, 02:55 PM   #4
Nereidalbel
 
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

Build it as a single entity with Injury Tolerance: Diffuse with the Body of Swarm modifier. That should cover your needs for things that have more than just a handful of rats and such.
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Old 02-07-2017, 02:55 PM   #5
ericthered
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

Pick an appropriate number. Its as simple as that. How tough do you need it to be?

Examples are given on page 461 of basic. I think that's all there is.
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Old 02-07-2017, 03:15 PM   #6
Flyndaran
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

I find it weird that it gives 1000 bees twice the HP of a dozen rats to disperse.
That really proves that it's not about toughness of individual animals, but a vague game defined level of difficulty to "disperse".
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Old 02-07-2017, 09:37 PM   #7
Jaware
 
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

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Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
Build it as a single entity with Injury Tolerance: Diffuse with the Body of Swarm modifier. That should cover your needs for things that have more than just a handful of rats and such.
But the whole second to disperse thing hurts...

I was looking into horror, and there's a way to make swarms as big or as small as you want to. It looks pretty useable.

but the biggest difference is a swarm of say 3 hexes. And a storm of 5000 hexes or enough to cover a city.

I don't want to build a enemy for every size...
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Old 02-08-2017, 12:20 AM   #8
simply Nathan
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
I find it weird that it gives 1000 bees twice the HP of a dozen rats to disperse.
That really proves that it's not about toughness of individual animals, but a vague game defined level of difficulty to "disperse".
Bees sense you killing bees and they become agitated and intent on killing you. Rats are smarter than bees and start to flee once they take a far smaller amount of casualties.
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Old 02-08-2017, 12:41 AM   #9
Nereidalbel
 
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaware View Post
But the whole second to disperse thing hurts...

I was looking into horror, and there's a way to make swarms as big or as small as you want to. It looks pretty useable.

but the biggest difference is a swarm of say 3 hexes. And a storm of 5000 hexes or enough to cover a city.

I don't want to build a enemy for every size...
One level of Reduced Time eliminates that second. And all you need for different sizes is note cards saying "this size has this much HP, all else is the same."
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Old 02-08-2017, 03:10 PM   #10
mr beer
 
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Default Re: need help with swarm statistics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
I find it weird that it gives 1000 bees twice the HP of a dozen rats to disperse.
That really proves that it's not about toughness of individual animals, but a vague game defined level of difficulty to "disperse".
Intuitively, I think it would be considerably easier to successfully fight 12 rats than a swarm of bees.
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