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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Swarm Strider

Source Monster Core 2 pg. 310
All living creatures eventually become worm food. Yet if a creature perishes while gripped by overwhelming emotion or unfinished business, its flesh can become infused with those obsessions or a simple refusal to perish, infecting whatever detritivores feast on the body. As they feast, the invertebrates awaken to a type of collective intelligence, including some of the dead creature's memories and motivations. Once the body is stripped bare, the vermin swarm together and intertwine to recreate the dead creature's form out of thousands of wriggling bodies. These reborn are known as swarm striders.

Though many swarm striders are accidental creations, a few rare mortals purposefully transform themselves into swarm striders through powerful rituals. Most often, this process involves specially preparing a grave with ample scavengers and enchanting the site with occult magic to anchor their soul until it can live within the swarm. Through transformation, these intentional swarm striders seek out the power to slip past any defense or claim the virtual immortality of an ever-regenerating horde, as a swarm strider can reconstitute their form from even a single worm. However, the transformation inevitably scars the creature—often causing emotional detachment, the disintegration of old taboos, and a dissociated sense of self now that one mind has become a thousand. In their transformed state, even the best-intentioned swarm strider might embrace villainy and lose any semblance of their former selves over the span of many years.

Swarm Strider Abilities

A swarm strider gains the aberration and swarm traits. They lose any traits that represent their former life, such as human and humanoid, though they usually remain the same size, keep the same items, and use the same weapons as they did before their rebirth. Swarm striders typically have the following abilities.

Darkvision

Tremorsense 30 feet (imprecise)

All-around Vision

Clinging Remnants A swarm strider's melee Strikes and ranged Strikes made against targets within their weapon's first range increment deposit biting vermin on the target, dealing 1d4 persistent piercing damage, increasing to 2d4 at 5th level, 3d4 at 10th level, 4d4 at 15th level, and 5d4 at 20th level.

Discorporate When the swarm strider is reduced to 0 HP, their constituent creatures collapse, scattering on the ground under their space and each adjacent square. If even one of the creatures gets away, the swarm strider can eventually re-form over 1d10 days (potentially longer in areas where there are few invertebrates).
The scattered invertebrates must be destroyed within 1 round to destroy the swarm strider permanently. The invertebrates have a collective pool of HP, typically equal to 1/4 of the swarm strider's maximum HP, and the same AC, saves, immunities, resistances, and weaknesses as the swarm strider. The invertebrates can't take actions but they escape automatically once the round elapses. At the GM's discretion, clever means of trapping or eliminating the creatures might be sufficient to destroy the swarm strider.

Immunities precision, swarm mind Resistances resistance 2 to physical and poison, increasing to 5 at 5th level, 10 at 10th level, 15 at 15th level, and 20 at 20th level.

Weaknesses weakness 2 to area damage and splash damage, increasing to 5 at 5th level, 10 at 10th level, 15 at 15th level, and 20 at 20th level

Draw Bugs [one-action] (healing) The swarm strider draws more arthropods from the environment around them to reconstitute some of their damaged body. They regain the listed number of HP, which is typically 5 HP, increasing to 10 at 5th level, 15 at 10th level, and 20 at 15th level. At the GM's discretion, the swarm strider doesn't recover HP in areas where there aren't enough arthropods to call to themselves.

Squirming Embrace [one-action] The swarm strider Strides. If they end their movement sharing a space with a creature, they deal 1d6 piercing damage to the creature, with a basic Reflex save. The save DC is the high spell DC for the swarm strider's level. The damage increases by 1d6 at 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter. The swarm strider can Burrow, Climb, Fly, or Swim instead of Striding if they have the corresponding movement type.

Swarm Shape [one-action] (concentrate) The swarm strider collapses into a shapeless swarm of their constituent creatures. They drops all items in their possession. In this form, the swarm strider can't use attack actions and can't cast spells, but they can move through areas small enough for their constituent creatures to fit without having to Squeeze. They can use the same action to coalesce from their swarm shape back into their normal form.