General Rules: Monsters - Viper Swarm

Viper Swarm (from Dawnforge: Crucible of Legend)
Tiny Animal (Swarm)

Hit Dice: 3d8 (13 hit points)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 15 feet, climb 15 feet, swim 15 feet
Armor Class: 17 (+2 size, +3 Dexterity, +2 natural); touch 15, flat-footed 14
BAB/Grapple: +2/-
Attack: Swarm (1d6 plus poison)

Full Attack: Swarm (1d6 plus poison)

Space/Reach: 10 feet by 10 feet/0 feet
Special Attacks: Distraction, poison
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, immune to weapon damage, swarm traits
Saves: Fortitude +3, Reflex +8, Will +2
Abilities: Str 6, Int 1, Wis 12, Dex 17, Con 11, Cha 2
Skills: Balance, +12, Climb +7, Hide +8, Listen +8, Spot +8, Swim +7
Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Skill Augmentation (Listen and Spot)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, tangle (2 - 4 swarms), or colony (7 - 12 swarms)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: -

A viper swarm is a terrifying tanle of tiny snakes, all writhing and slithering over one another to get where they are going.

Combat
Viper swarms slither over their prey, delivering a number of poisonous bites to each foe.

In order to attack, a viper swarm moves into opponents' spaces, which provokes attacks of opportunity. It can occupy the same space as a creature of any size, since it crawls all over its prey, but remains a creature with a 10 foot by 10 foot space. Viper swarms never make attacks of opportunity, but they can provoke attacks of opportunity. A viper swarm’s attacks are nonmagical. Damage reduction sufficient to reduce the swarm attack’s damage to 0, being incorporeal, and other special abilities usually give a creature immunity (or at least resistance) to damage from a swarm.

Unlike other creatures with a 10 foot by 10 foot space, a viper swarm is shapeable. It can occupy any four contiguous space and it can squeeze through any space large enough to contain one of its component creatures.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a viper swarm in its space must succeed at a DC 11 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 11, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Constituion. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Swarm: A swarm has no clear front or back and no discernible anatomy, so it is not subject to critical hits or flanking. A viper swarm is immune to all weapon damage. Reducing a swarm to 0 hit points or lower causes it to break up, though damage taken until that point does not degrade its ability to attack or resist attack. Swarms are never staggered or reduced to a dying state by damage. Also, they cannot be tripped, grappled, or bull rushed, and they cannot grapple an opponent. A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind. A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells. A viper swarm is susceptible to high winds such as that created by a gust of wind spell. For purposes of determining the effects of wind on a viper swarm, treat the swarm as a creature of Tiny size. A swarm rendered unconscious by means of nonlethal damage becomes disorganized and dispersed, and does not reform until its hit points exceed its nonlethal damage.

Skills: A viper swarm has a +4 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, and Spot checks and a +8 racial bonus on Balance and Climb checks. It can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. Viper swarms have a +8 racial bonus on all Swim checks to perform a special action or avoid a hazard. They can always take 10 on Swim checks, even if distracted or endangered. Viper swarms can use the run action while swimming, provided they swim in a straight line.

Vulnerabilities
Viper swarms are extremely difficult to fight with physical attacks. They have a few special vulnerabilities as follows.

A lit torch swung as an improvised weapon deals 1d3 points of fire damage per hit.

A weapon with a special ability such as flaming or frost deals its full energy damage with each hit, even if the weapon's normal damage can't affect the swarm.

A lit lantern can be used as a thrown weapon, dealing 1d4 points of fire damage to all creatures in squares adjacent to where it breaks.

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