Felltower & Swarms

I noted the other day that I don't exactly run swarms as written. That's very true. Here is what I do with them.

- You must roll "to hit" a swarm. They're treated as SM+0, so no bonus to hit. They (generally) do not defend, so Telegraphic Attack is useful for the +4 to hit.

- Swarms have a HP score for dissolution as an effective threat; however, they also have a HT score - generally HT 10, although HT 11 or 12 is possible. Once they reach 0 HP or below, they must make a HT roll to stay cohesive as a swarm. A failure removes that hex worth of the swarm.

- Swarms in general are mooks, and auto-fail HT rolls at -1xHP. In general doesn't mean always.

- You don't get "free" attacks against a swarm. You use your normal complement of attacks. Again, they usually don't defend, and they automatically hit, and you don't get to defend . . . so TG and All-Out Attack are useful to multiply your effectiveness.

Overall, this makes swarms more effective, but also a little more random when it comes to their ability to sustain damage. This removes some of the mechanistic "and I can auto-kill one swarm per second" that I dislike, but also allows fighters with more attacks to take advantage of them.

You could see this with the very nasty Stymphalian Bird Swarms from beyond the Olympus Gate.