Elite Town Guard (Basic Lore)

Elite Town Guard (Swarm; CR 10)
Usually Lawful - Medium - Humanoid
This creature possesses the Swarm role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure. This monster frequently has the Swarm role, but may be set to different roles if desired. The Town Guard represent the 'local authorities.' Frequently also called the Watch, Town Guards are the forces that maintain the peace in organized settlements, typically, but not always, of Civilization. It is possible, but rare, for monsters to have a Town Guard. Now, in most cases, a single Town Guard can easily be represented by a Constituent, and higher-level adventurers presented with sufficient obstacles by higher-level 'Guards', since a Constituent can be generated at any level required by the Million Monster Machine. Some GM's may feel this is not as realistic as they might like, since if the Guard has level ten Watchmen on salary (or even higher!), what do they need the adventurers for? To address this power difference, but allow the Guard to still keep their town safe against more powerful foes, we present the Elite Town Guard, which is almost always used with the swarm role, turning them into a troop. The individual members of such a troop can be lower level watchmen, or, if the GM chooses to have an Elite Town Guard with a different role, or no role at all, then that Guard is indeed a high level elite. Now, this is not to say that a large city or metropolis doesn't have Constituents also acting as elite Guards of any level required, but the bulk of their forces are likely to be highly-trained more-or-less 'normal' watchmen formed into these troops. A troop of town guards is a squad of approximately 16 to 20 town guardsmen who have been trained to act as a single fighting force in combat. Because of this coordination, town guard squadrons are actually significant threats and ample defenders of a town, even against some of the mightier threats a town might face, such as ogres and orcs. Most towns have dozens of town guard squadrons, and significant defense points, such as city gates, might have several of these troops on duty at all times. Larger villages and cities likely also utilize these squadrons to police the cities, ensuring the citizens are protected from lawbreakers and banditry. Of course, not all town guard squadrons are quite so noble, and it is not unheard of for squadrons to partake of a little banditry themselves.