This week we continue an exploration of the creature types in the Menagerie, highlighting a few of the more interesting examples from each as we go. So far we've looked at Aberrations & Chimeras, Angels, Demons & Devils, Animals, Beasts & Insects, Axiomites & Constructs, Fey & Proteans, Dragons & Elementals, and Plants & Fungi. This week we'll take a look at some monsters that are advanced in scale, Giants & Swarms.
These two creature types have a lot in common, though it may not seem like it at first. Both take a familiar concept and advance it in size. For Giants, this means making whatever it was bigger, and often giving it new and unusual tricks not available to its smaller cousins. For Swarms, on the other hand, this means adding so many more of them. Both also share a similarity in that they are not unique traits. Giant and Swarm, as a trait, is always in addition to the base traits that a creature already possessed. This means that a Ranger with a favored enemy of Animals would still have an advantage when fighting a swarm of an animal, or a dire version of it. Conversely, a character could specialize in the Giant or Swarm creature type itself, in which case the expertise would generalize to any other creature type, assuming that the creature in question is bigger than normal or encountered in shockingly huge quantities.
As we look at these creature types, and some examples from the Menagerie, it's important to be refreshed on some of the conventions that the book uses in order to maintain its level-agnostic format. Important statistics like attacks, skill, saves, or the DCs for special abilities do not list a number. Rather, they simply call out a difficulty level from the challenge table. For a DC, this is always whatever the number is directly. For an active roll, such as an attack or saving throw, this is the number on the table minus ten. Hit Points are given as a multiple of the monster's level, and damage is typically listed without a number of dice included. When listed this way, damage dice are assumed to be one die base, plus another die for every five levels the monster has. For example, one of the monster's we'll highlight later, the Bridge Troll, would deal 1d4+5 bludgeoning damage with its fist if level 1-4, 2d4+5 if level 5-9, 3d4+5 if level 10-14, and so on.
GIANTS
BRIDGE TROLL GOBLINOID
Role: Balanced (+Durability)
[Giant, Goblinoid, Large]
Senses: low-light vision; Perception: [hard]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [hard]
Hit Points: 20x[level]; Regeneration (acid, fire)
Fort: [hard], Ref: [med], Will: [med]
Defensive Abilities: (1 Reaction)
{R} Attack of Opportunity
{F} Scofflaw Fury
Trigger: A creature attempts to cross the bridge troll’s bridge without paying the toll
Effect: The bridge troll Enters Rage. It will not stop raging until the triggering creature is dead or returns to the side of the bridge where it started.
Armored: Bridge trolls use armor for defense. The difference between [med] and [hard] AC is an item bonus.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 5
Melee Attacks:
{A} fist [hard] (d4+5 S; agile, forceful)
{A} weapon [hard] (varies with weapon)
Ranged Attacks:
{A} weapon [hard] (varies with weapon)
Special Attacks:
{A} Superpower: The bridge troll Strikes. This strike deals one more weapon die of damage, plus one more weapon die if the troll is at least 5th-level, and every 5 levels thereafter. The bridge troll is flat-footed until the start of its next turn after using this ability, and cannot use this ability if flat-footed.
{AA} Lunge: The bridge troll Strikes, increasing its reach for the attack by 2 hexes. The bridge troll is flat-footed until the start of its next turn after using this attack.
STATISTICS
Str: +3, Agi: +1, End: +3, Int: -2, Wis: +0, Cha: -1
Languages: Jotun (conversant)
Hard Skills: Athletics, Crafting, Intimidation
Special Abilities:
Boulder Thrower: A giant can use boulders as a ranged attack that deals d10 bludgeoning damage with the forceful and thrown 4 traits.
ECOLOGY
These trolls live under the bridges they call home, and perform maintenance to keep them in working order. Indeed, in high-travelled areas a bridge troll might have a truly awe-inspiring, exquisite bridge, and some bridge trolls will actively build bridges in places where they think there might be a demand for it. Bridge trolls expect to be paid for this work, even if nobody asked them to do it, and are famous for charging tolls from those that would use their bridge.
The frustrating thing is that bridge trolls do not usually have a firm grasp of economics, and often ask for very specific things as a toll and rarely asking for the same thing of the same person twice. Refusal or inability to pay results in the bridge troll forbidding passage, and a fight to the death if a traveler tries to force its way across. In some cases, bridge trolls that have learned to make use of currency can become a welcome and important addition to a settlement that spans across rivers, gorges or anyplace else that a bridge would be helpful.
These trolls can be a more interesting challenge than simple combat, although they are effective combatants when they need to be. While not nearly as clever as Sphinxes, they too offer a more lateral-thinking encounter than mere brute force. As with pretty much any species of troll, dealing with a Bridge Troll without the proper tools can, at best, result in a draw. It's this arrogant invulnerability that makes Bridge Trolls such stubborn guardians of their domains. While still presented in a level-agnostic format, the odds are that these trolls can't present much of a challenge to high-level parties with easy access to alternate means of travel, unless other circumstances conspire to remove those alternatives.
TITAN GIANT
Role: Bruiser (Boss)
[Air, Colossal, Earth, Epic, Fire, Giant, Water]
Senses: darkvision; Perception: [incredible]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [hard]
Hit Points: 50x[level]; Regeneration (neutronium)
Fort: [incredible], Ref: [hard], Will: [hard]
Resist: hardness
Immune: elemental
Weak: neutronium
Defensive Abilities: (5 Reactions)
{R} Attack of Opportunity
{R} Primordial Regeneration
Trigger: The titan’s Regeneration is suppressed
Effect: The titan’s Regeneration resumes.
Deep Denizen: A Titan is immune to damage resulting from the pressure of deep water.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 10; hex 20 fly
Melee Attacks:
{A} slam [incredible] (d12+24 B; agile, disarm, finesse, grab, shove, trip)
Special Attacks:
{AA} All-Out Pummeling: The titan makes slam Strikes against a target until it misses an attack.
Primal Powers: ([incredible] DC)
At Will – excoriating light, cyclone, glaciate, hailstorm, lunacy, mighty reversal, regolith, shore up, stoke, strength sap, suffocate, tectonic sight, wall of light, will-o-wisp
3/day – disjunction, meteor swarm, storm of vengeance
1/day – primal phenomenon, time stop
STATISTICS
Str: +8, Agi: +4, End: +8, Int: +4, Wis: +4, Cha: +4
Languages: Jotun (fluent)
Incredible Skills: Athletics, Crafting, Nature
Hard Skills: all other skills
Special Abilities:
Ancient Power: A titan’s ability modifiers are not calculated using the monster creation rules.
Boulder Thrower: A giant can use boulders as a ranged attack that deals d10 bludgeoning damage with the forceful and thrown 4 traits.
Empowered Spells: If a titan can cast a spell at will, the spell is always heightened as though it is a Cantrip.
Epic Damage Reduction: This monster has resistance to all damage it is not immune to. If it already resists a damage type, the value of its resistance is doubled for that type. This resistance still does not apply to un-typed damage.
Epic Hit Points: After calculating this monster's Hit Points from level, multiply this total by the number of party members.
Epic Initiative: When this monster rolls initiative it is only used to determine the first time it acts. After it has taken its first turn in combat, its next turn is always inserted into the initiative order after two party members have acted consecutively. Party members that choose to delay their turns do not count toward triggering this monster's next turn.
Epic Restoration: This monster recovers quickly from harmful conditions. At the end of its turn, it can choose one condition it has. The value of that condition is reduced by 1. A condition without a value is cured instead. The monster can choose another condition to reduce this way for every 4 party members. It cannot choose to reduce the same condition more than once this way. This ability cannot cure consistently applied conditions, such as flat-footed or flanked.
Epic Invulnerability: This monster's resistances and immunities cannot be circumvented by any means.
No Breath: A titan does not breathe and is never exposed to inhaled afflictions.
Perfect Camouflage: A slumbering titan is indistinguishable from a geographic feature.
Quaking Step: Each time a titan moves, a one-kilometer area around it is subjected to an earthquake, as the spell. The titan is never affected by magical or mundane earthquakes.
Space Flight: A titan can fly unhindered through the vacuum of space.
ECOLOGY
Before the dawn of sentient beings, and perhaps even before most deities and outsiders were spawned, titans shaped the universe, building and sculpting planets and igniting stars to serve as their forges. Indisputably the first giants, titans are the only known giants which do not have another creature type trait in addition to the Giant trait. Historians agree that it was through the power of the titans that smaller creatures were uplifted to their bigger sizes, though most suppose this was an unintended consequence of those beings inhabiting an area where a titan slumbers.
In the eons since their creative flurry, most titans went to sleep, becoming indistinguishable from the landscapes they once built. Most scholars suggest that this is a good thing, for if the titans were to ever wake up again and resume their cosmic construction project, the effects on the people and creatures that call those worlds home would surely be catastrophic. Still, some deranged or desperate individuals make it their life’s work to find and resurrect a titan to either make the titan serve its bidding, or simply to bring about an apocalypse. It should be the fervent hope of all life that they do not ever succeed.
One of the most epic monsters in the game, Titans are one of the few creatures that have no need to even fear ancient true dragons. Their long slumber means that these behemoths are not at risk to be stumbled on accidentally for parties that would simply be squished. Whereas the humble Bridge Troll above is often most appropriate for lower-level parties, the incredible Titan is likely best reserved for an endgame challenge for an experienced party with all of the tools available from gaining many levels along the way.
SWARMS
Many creatures that are otherwise too small or too weak to be threatening become suddenly dangerous if encountered in a swarm. Such large groups gain the swarm trait in addition to their typical traits, and swarms are usually the only creatures that have more than one size category, possessing both the size of the swarm itself and its constituent creatures. Swarms use the overall size to determine its space on a battlefield, but use the size of the individuals for determining any other effects like creature bulk or bonus damage from size.
Because a swarm is a threat thanks exclusively to the sheer quantity included, all swarms are immune to effects that target a specific number of creatures. This immunity even extends to weapon attacks. This can make swarms extremely difficult for unprepared groups, but those that can take advantage of their weakness to area of effect and splash damage tend to have an easier time dealing with them. Swarms have very limited action economy, and generally cannot use reactions like Attack of Opportunity or do anything with their turns in combat other than to move over targets and damage them in the process.
As with giants and outsiders, swarm is not a unique trait. Instead, the swarm trait is applied where needed to other creature types. In this way, identifying a swarm can be helpful for recognizing the overall behavior of the encounter, but offers little in the way of recognizing what additional dangers may be present. For example, a swarm of venomous insects might deal additional poison damage, while a swarm of leeches might instead deal devastating amounts of bleed damage. Even creatures that are big enough to act alone behave very differently if in a swarm, as in the case of zombie swarms.
Because swarms are not a creature type by themselves, there is not one particular skill that can be relied upon as a Knowledge Specialty for identifying them. Instead, swarms use the Knowledge Specialties of their constituent creatures. A swarm of rats would use Nature, while a swarm of demons would instead require Religion.
ANT SWARM INSECT
Role: Void
[Insect, Medium, Miniscule, Swarm]
Senses: low-light vision, hex 4 smell; Perception: [med]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [med]
Hit Points: 30x[level]
Fort: [med], Ref: [hard], Will: [med]
Weak: area, splash
Defensive Abilities: (0 Reactions)
Swarm Traits: An ant swarm is immune to any effect that targets a specific number of creatures.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 3
Special Attacks:
{AAA} Swarming: The swarm Strides up to three times, until it occupies the same space as one or more foes. A creature in the swarm’s space when it stops moving must attempt a [med] Reflex save.
Success: As failure, but half damage.
Success (+5): As success, and 5 less damage.
Failure: The target takes d6 piercing damage and increases its sick value by 1 per 10 Hit Points it loses.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage.
STATISTICS
Str: -6, Agi: +4, End: +4, Int: -6, Wis: +0, Cha: -2
Languages: none
Hard Skills: Acrobatics, Stealth, Survival
Special Abilities:
Variant Swarms: There are several different types of ants that might swarm. Each variant alters the base statistics as follows:
Army Ant: The swarm is Huge size.
Bullet Ant: The swarm’s damage dice are d10.
Bulldog Ant: Damaged targets also take d6 persistent piercing damage.
Fire Ants: Increase a target’s sick value by 1 more on any result.
Harvester Ant: Damaged targets also take d6 persistent poison damage.
ECOLOGY
Ants are especially well known for swarming, and there are many different varieties of ants that do so.
For most swarms, there is little variety when it comes to their abilities and tactics. Indeed, the things that set swarms apart from others tend to be the different damage types they deal and the other rider effects from that damage, if any. Just like the Ant Swarm comes in a basic variety, with several variants included, so too do most other swarms in the Menagerie. Using these variants to switch things up can keep even basic swarms relevant at higher levels, and a more intense version of a swarm is a great reason to use a higher level variant of something that is already somewhat familiar.
ZOMBIE SWARM UNDEAD
Role: Tank (Boss)
[Colossal, Epic, Medium, Mindless, Swarm, Undead]
Senses: darkvision; Perception: [easy]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [med]
Hit Points: 50x[level]
Fort: [hard], Ref: [easy], Will: [med]
Immune: cold, emotion, fear, mental, poison
Weak: area, slashing, splash
Defensive Abilities: (0 Reactions)
Swarm Traits: A zombie swarm is immune to any effect that targets a specific number of creatures, except for weapon attacks. The swarm is instead resists weapon damage.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 3
Special Attacks:
{AAA} Swarming: The swarm Strides up to twice, until it occupies the same space as one or more foes. A creature in the swarm’s space when it stops moving must attempt a [med] Reflex save.
Success: As failure, but half damage.
Success (+10): As success, and 10 less damage.
Failure: The target takes d8 bludgeoning and d8 piercing damage and increases its sick value by 1 per 10 Hit Points it loses. A target that takes piercing damage is exposed to Brain Rot.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage.
Grasping Dead: A target that fails its save against a zombie swarm is grabbed. A target that critically fails is restrained.
STATISTICS
Str: +2, Agi: +0, End: -, Int: -, Wis: -, Cha: -
Languages: none
Hard Skills: Athletics
Special Abilities:
Epic Hit Points: After calculating this monster's Hit Points from level, multiply this total by the number of party members.
Epic Initiative: When this monster rolls initiative it is only used to determine the first time it acts. After it has taken its first turn in combat, its next turn is always inserted into the initiative order after two party members have acted consecutively. Party members that choose to delay their turns do not count toward triggering this monster's next turn.
Variant Swarms: There are several types of zombies that might swarm. Each one alters the base statistics as follows:
Bloated Zombie: The swarm resists acid and fire damage. Every time the swarm takes more than 20 damage at once, a bloated zombie explodes. All creatures in the swarm’s space, or within hex 2 of it, take d6 bludgeoning and d6 piercing damage.
Fast Zombie: The swarm can Stride up to three times and the Reflex DC is [hard].
Plague Zombie: Targets are exposed to a different disease than Brain Rot. Which disease is determined at the swarm’s creation.
ECOLOGY
Zombies are typically more of a nuisance than a dire threat, unless they are found in swarms. When so many zombies gather together, fighting them all off at once becomes a herculean task, and escaping a zombie swarm without being bitten is a rare feat.
The Zombie Swarm is an answer to the obvious question, can a swarm be a boss monster? It also is a great example of swarms that are more than just enormous conglomerations of little creatures. The Zombie Swarm is the perfect tool to make zombies threatening, even for higher-level parties, and the really nail that feeling of being outnumbered and overwhelmed that is often a staple of any genre that features zombies. As with the Ant Swarm above, many different variants included can keep this boss monster fresh and relevant throughout the level spectrum, making the Zombie Swarm a great choice to use and reuse throughout a undead- or horror-heavy adventure.
Giants and Swarms are both great for taking the otherwise familiar, and making it a BIG challenge. Their similarities to base forms only serve to highlight the important differences, and these creature types can keep even a knowledgeable party off balance, even if they specialize in the base creature types. Next week we'll continue our tour of the Menagerie with two creature types that fit almost anywhere, Oozes and Undead.
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