"Roil," A Pathfinder 1st Edition Template For Swarms (Patreon)

Swarms are among the most dangerous, and annoying, types of foes in Pathfinder 1e. But, more importantly, they aren't always appropriate for an adventure. Sure, it makes sense for their to be a lot of rats in the abandoned moat house, but a rat swarm is a "biting mass of hundreds of disease-ridden rats driven to uncharacteristic heights of aggression" all crammed into a 10-foot square. That's not just a swarm, that's a jam-packed carpet of rats.

Sometimes, you just want a bit less than a carpet of creatures. You just want, you know, enough to roil around. A normal swarm of bees. A typical infestation of rats. Stuff that may pose a danger, but has no change of totally incapacitating characters for multiple rounds.

So, here is the simple Roil template, to knock down swarms to lesser threats of reduced density and intensity.

(Art by AlienCat)

Roil [Simple Template; -2 CR, minimum CR 1/2]

*Roil Traits: A roil swarm made up of Tiny creatures takes weapon damage normally. A roil swarm composed of Fine or Diminutive creatures takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons. Unlike a typical swarm, a roil swarm is not immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells), though it does receive a +4 trait bonus saving throws against spells tow which a typical swarm would be immune. All other swarm traits work normally.

*Roil Attack: A roil swarm does not automatically deal damage to creatures in their space at the end of the roil swarm's move. Instead, the roil swarm must make a melee attack with an attack bonus equal to x1.5 the roil swarm's CR (minimum attack bonus +0). If the attack misses, the target does not suffer any effect from the attack.

*Roil Distraction: A character that fails its save against the distraction ability of a specific roil swarm is only nauseated the first time each day they fail their save. On subsequent failed saves, the target is only shaken for 1 round.

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