The zergs show that quantity has a quality of it's own.IntroWell, as any D&D player may have noticed, it's really hard to make large number of small enemies threaten players once they start reaching higher levels.
It would be really cool if you could put your 10th level party against a hundred level 1 orc warriors, but the batle would be really one sided as the casters fly and drop nukes and the orcs can, at best, hit the party members on nat 20s, plus no sane DM wants to roll attacks, saves and iniatives for one hundred orcs, not to mention the models.
And the players wouldn't even get experience.
The good news is that DMG 2 gave us the mob template, wich turns that group of commoners into actualy something dangerous.
The bad news is that, like everything else in DMG2, it kinda sucks. Ok, it's probably the best thing in the book, and the only reason any D&D player should bother reading it, but the template itself really could use some work. It's a great idea and so I decided to properly polish it.
So I present you:
Mobs
Resumed version:[spoiler]
Size: dependant on the number of members. Large ones count as four and small ones count as half. Mobs have reach as the base creature.
8-20: large
21-37: huge
38-68: gargantuan
69-128: colossal
Other creatures can move across a mob, but it counts as dificult terrain and provokes attacks of oportunity from the mob. The mob can move over creatures whitout trouble, but causing attacks of oportuny for movement. Mobs attacks of oportunity deal Mob Up damage (see attacks) and hit automatically, except that they have no limit to the number of Aoos they may perform per turn. Mobs can change their shape at will as long as their area remains the same and pass trough any passage large enough to allow passage of their composing inidividuals.
HD:Equal to the number of members. Mobs breack up at 0 hp, with it's members killed, disabled and/or running for their lives.
Speed:reduce all movement speeds by 10 feet.
The following remain unchanged from the base creature, but apply the mob's size modifier: AC, grapple
The following remain unchanged from the base creature:Iniative, BAB, saves, physical stats, skills, attack options that don't demand an activation like poison, and any ability that's based on the total number of HD of the creature
Charisma, intelegence and wisdom change to 10.
Mob damage: die damage of the weapon most common on the mob, increased to the new size, and multiplied by the following factor based on the mob's size. Apply strenght modifier before multiplier.
1/2 BAB:Don't multiply
3/4 BAB: multiply by 2
Full BAB:multiply by 3
Armor and shield bonuses count as DR against all mob attacks. They stack with each other and any DR the creature may have. If a creature has enough natural DR that a single member of the mob couldn't hurt it, then the mob can't damage it.
Mob attack options:
Mob up: mobs automaticaly deal mob damage to all creatures in the same area of the mob at the end of the mob's turn, whitout need of any action. It may also choose to attack objects whitin it's reach as a free action at the end of their turn. Creatures that would do something to trigger an attack of oportunity from the Mob take automatic Mob Up damage.
Volley:Standard action, single target or area based on mob size. Uses mob's ranged weapons range. Ref save for half damage of 10+mob's dex+mob's BAB.
If the mob has enough BAB it can do iterative attacks as a fullround action, but only against a single target. Range increment penalties apply to the save DC.
Large:Can't use area attack.
Huge-5 radius circle.
Gargantuan-10 radius circle.
Colossal-20 radius circle.
Creatures hit by a volley can't move next turn and drop twice the damage they've taken in feet if they're flying. A sucessfull save means hit creatures move at half speed next turn and drops the damage taken in feet if flying.
Volleys cannot be used if the mob has ungrappled enemies inside of it, and cause attacks of oportunity just as using regular ranged weapons.
Mob grapple: as normal grapple, but creatures who are caught by the mob take mob damage instead of unarmed damage, and the mob can never be grappled itself. It can also carry grappled creatures at it's full speed. A mob who's grappling a target never takes any penalty for grappling.
Trample:The mob must start and end it's turn away from the creature, passing over it somewhere in between. Damage 2d6+1,5 str modifier of the mob, reflex DC 13+mob's size bonus+mob's strenght modifier for half damage. Enemies can choose to make an aoo instead of the save. Only smaller creatures than the mob are affected.
Mob mind:A mob cannot use any special ability that demands an activation like spells and breath attacks. It can still use abilities that work automaticaly such as poison, improved grappled, swallow whole, gaze attacks ect. Use the base creature HD for DCs
Mobs can still use skills as normal.
Mob Anatomy:Immune to criticals, precision damage and spells/effects that don't deal damage and/or don't outright kill a creature.
Mobs can be flanked, bullrushed, overrun and tripped as normal.
Mobs can only be grappled by oponents of their size or bigger. Evard's black tentacles and similar effects can grapple a mob if it fully envelops it. A mob can still grapple smaller oponents out of their own will.
If a mob fails a save against a spell/effect that would normally kill/incapacitate a certain number of creatures, such as disintregate, slay living or wail of the bashee, it loses the total HP of the dead members from it's HP total.
Mobs take +50% damage from area damage spells.
Mobs take double damage from melee attacks from creatures with cleave.
Mobs take quadruple damage from melee attacks from creatures with greater cleave.
Feats:Detailed version
[spoiler]
Size and Type:Hit Dice: [spoiler]
A mob has a single pool of Hit Dice and hit
points. Like regular HP, it's an abstraction of both the endurance of the members of the mob and their will to destroy whatever it's on their path.
The mob has HD equal to the number of composing members (with large creatures counting as 4 and small creatures counting as half).
Reducing a mob to 0 hit points or lower causes it to breack up, with it's members killed, bleeding on the floor and/or routed, fleeing for their lives, though damage taken until that point does not degrade its ability to attack or resist attack. Mobs are never staggered or reduced to a dying state by damage.
However, for abilities based on the number of HD, like SR, the mob uses the number of HD of the base creature.
[/spoiler]
Initiative: As the most common among the creatures composing the mob.
Speed:
Armor Class: As the base creatures, with the respective penalty for the new size(-1 for large, -2 for huge, -4 for gargantuan, -8 for colossal)
If the creatures have diferent kinds of AC, use the most common.
Base Attack:Use the most common BAB of the members of the mob. Don't recalculate based on the new HD.
Grapple: Use the base creature attack bonus, modified for the mob's size, and as appropriate for its Strength modifier.
Attack/Full Attack:
Mob up
Volley[spoiler]
If at least half of the members of the mob have similar ranged weapons, they can fire at the same time at an area or target as a standard action. The mob cannot fire if it has nongrappled enemies on it's midst.
Range is the same as the ranged weapon more common in the mob. Damage is as the mob up attack, but based on the ranged weapon the mob is using. Range increments give a bonus on the defender's save of +2 for each range increment.
Single target: as mob up attack damage, enemy can make a reflex save equal to the mob's BAB+ 10+mob's dex modifier for half damage. If using a fullround action the mob can do iterative attacks, but whitout the -5 penalty.
Area attack: A mob of huge size or larger, as a fullround action, can deal mob up damage in an area based on their own size. Reflex of 10+BAB+mob's dex modifier for half.
Huge-5 radius circle.
Gargantuan-10 radius circle.
Colossal-20 radius circle.
Creatures who fail their saves against a volley of either kind are pinned down by the projectiles, and cannot move next turn. If flying, they drop down twice as much feet as they took damage.
Even if they make their saves, their speed is reduced to half in the next turn, and if flying they drop a number of feet equal to the damage taken.
[/spoiler]
Mob grapple: a mob can grapple as a standard action, altough it cannot be grappled back by creatures smaller than itself. Sucessfull rolls from smaller oponents just mean it managed to don't be brought down by the mob. Instead of unarmed damage, the mob deals the mob up attack damage to grappled oponents as they are mercyless steped over by the angry individuals. The mob can carry grappled oponents at it's full speed.
Space/Reach:The area occupied by mobs is completely shapeable,
though the mob usually remains in contiguous squares.
Mob mind:Expert Grappler (Ex)Trample (Ex)Special Qualities:[spoiler] A mob retains all the special qualities
of the base creature. In addition, it gains the following
special quality.
Mob Anatomy (Ex): A mob has no clear front or back and no discernible anatomy, so it is not subject to critical hits or sneak attacks. A mob can be flanked, tripped, bull rushed by anyone. A Mob can be grappled by creatures of it's size or bigger. Evard's black tentacles and similar spells/effects can affect a mob if they fully envelop it.
However, unlike standard swarms, mobs are made up of relatively small numbers of individual creatures, so spells or effects that target specific numbers of creatures can have
an effect on a mob.
Each specific creature that is slain, disabled, or otherwise incapacitated by spells or effects that target specific creatures decuts their full HP from the Mob's total HP. A mob that gains negative levels equal to its Hit Dice breaks up as if reduced to 0 hit points. Negative levels gained in this manner are not the result of negative energy (and thus cannot be blocked by death ward or removed by restoration), but never result in permanent level loss. A mob takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash
weapons and evocation spells.
Characters with cleave deal double damage to a mob in melee. Characters with greater cleave deal quadruple damage to a mob in melee.
[/spoiler]
Saves: A mob uses the same saving throws as the base creature, but failed saves never result in anything worst than negative levels as it loses members. Effects that don't instantly disable a creature (like blindness or curse) have no effect whatsoever on the mob.
Abilities: Skills:Feats: