Dragon Shadow

Swarm of Darkness (Henchman; CR 12)

Pure Evil - Huge - Swarm (Dragon)

Lore:	K. (Dungeoneer)
27		44
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

19

Perception:
29	+19
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses

Movement Types:

Defense

AC

32

Man Def

31

Monster Health
		22
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+9
Refl:	+9
Will:	+14

Strong Against:

• (Swarm 1) Hardened (½ damage): slashing (physical, common), piercing (physical, common)
• (Swarm 2) Immune (no effect): Critical Hits and Flanking
• (Swarm 3) Immune (no effect): any attack that targets Maneuver Defense
• (Swarm 4) Immune (no effect): any spell that targets a specific number of creatures, except mind-affecting spells (if this creature has an Int score).
• (Dragon 1) Immune (no effect): magical sleep (drowsy, sluggish, asleep), paralyzed, stunned
• (Dragon 2) Immune (no effect): sonic (energy, common)
• (Dragon 3) Immune (no effect): fear
• Immune (no effect): Sonic (energy, common) damage
• Immune (no effect): Negative (energy, uncommon) damage

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Huge
15 ft.		15 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+19

Man Off

+19

Action

'

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 0x Darkswarm (swarm -- auto-hit) (3d8+9/19-20 x2)
  as negative (energy, uncommon)
  plus: Madness

Full Attack (Melee):

• 1x Darkswarm (swarm -- auto-hit) (0/19-20 x2)
  as negative (energy, uncommon)
  plus: Madness

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

1

STR

20

DEX

10

CON

17

INT

15

WIS

16

CHA

Skills:

• Perception: 19
• Stealth: 23
• All other skills: 14 (no ranks)

Languages: Draconic, Fuligin, Common

Feats:

Special Abilities

Madness (Su)

This ability replaces the normal "Distraction" ability that other swarms get. Instead, Swarms of Darkness fill the minds of those they envelop with a dizzying array of sounds, images and sensations, making it difficult to discern reality from illusion. This is a mind-affecting effect, though even creatures normally immune to such effects will become dazzled while in the same square as a Swarm of Darkness. Any living creature that takes damage from a creature with the madness ability must make a Fortitude save, DC 22, or become Baffled. If the creature makes the save, they are instead Dazzled. If they take damage on any following round while still Baffled or Dazzled, they must make another DC 22 Fortitude save, or move up one on the Status Array. While sharing a space with the swarm, you cannot get rid of the Dazzled condition. At the end of any round in which you are not inside a swarm's space, you may make another DC 22 Fortitude save to attempt to move down one step on the status array. (While outside of the swarm's space, you cannot go up on the status array if you fail the save, you simply remain at the status you currently have.) Dazzled ==> Baffled ==> Confused In addition, spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a Caster Check against the swarm's Maneuver Defense (DC 31). Finally, any skill checks that involve patience or concentration have their DC's increased by +5 while sharing space with a swarm.

Art of Darkness (Su)

If targeted by (or included in) a Negative Energy (energy, uncommon) attack from a black dragon, Swarms of Darkness are not harmed (they are immune to negative energy). Instead, until the end of their next turn, they gain a bonus to their Darkswarm attack damage equal to the CR of the dragon which subjected them to negative energy. Negative energy from any source other than a black dragon does not trigger this ability.

Swarm of Darkness

This creature possesses the Henchman role, and therefore counts as monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure.

Swarms of Darkness are the Henchmen for Black Dragons, but they may be encountered on their own as well. Regardless of how you meet them, they are potent and dangerous foes.

Swarms of Darkness are the partially vanquished shadow-forms of black dragons. These miasmic terrors will eventually re-form into their corporeal bodies, becoming full black dragons again, given 10 or 15 years to recover from whatever event pushed them to this state.

Frequently, swarms of darkness will be found in the company of a black dragon. These are typically the siblings or other nearby rival black dragons that the surviving black dragon has beaten nearly to death, and now keeps around as testaments to its power and mercy. The dragon will sometimes use rituals to mentally enslave the swarms of darkness, binding them into service even after they reform into full dragons. Other times, the dragon will simply kill the reformed dragons as soon as they re-form.

Swarms of darkness are powerful adversaries, even without a dragon's assistance. They are clouds of negative energy with a powerful intelligence driving them. While they have many of the characteristics of a swarm, they are also still dragons (kind of).

Combat Tactics

Swarms of Darkness need to be in the same space, engulfing a target, to do anything to that target. They also gain no particular benefit from a full attack action, so they will move every round if they need to. They are intelligent and cruel, but also arrogant and overconfident, so they will not run away from a fight. They will, however, make use of their environment, triggering any lair defenses they might have, or manipulating prey into chasing it to a better locale to fight.

If there is a black dragon about, the swarms of darkness will target the most heavily armored characters and ignore the unarmored types. If there is no dragon about, they will spread their attacks out, maximizing their madness effect, but trying to keep everyone enveloped.

Note that multiple swarms can move into, stop and occupy spaces that other swarms occupy. However, no more than two swarms can inflict damage or effects on a single target in a given round.

Out of Combat

Swarms of Darkness are the remains of Black Dragons, and if they manage to slip away from the control of a Black Dragon, they are always working to get back to that exalted draconic state. No one knows exactly what condenses a Swarm back into a Dragon, but they are always striving toward that goal.

Rewards

XP: (Henchman role included.)

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth gp.

Weight: lbs.     Volume: cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)