Pillywiggin Cavalry

A dark, buzzing cloud of black and yellow insects bursts from the nearby trees. As it approaches, you can make out war-crying voices and glinting blades.

Originally Posted by MythMage of the Dicefreaks forums.

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When a pillywiggin colony is in danger of destruction, her inhabitants will band together with their bee allies and form a cavalry. A contingent of pillywiggin cavalry is composed of 5,000 pillywiggins, each of whom rides a honeybee. The fey forge a unique mental and spiritual connection to their mounts and each other, enabling the cavalry to fight more effectively, and to access magic more powerful than any individual member could unlock on her own. This link can only be created in the context of a cavalry.

Pillywiggin Cavalry
Fine fey (Swarm)
Hit Dice	16d6+3 (63 hp)
Initiative	+6
Speed	5 ft., Climb 5 ft., Fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class	24 (+6 Dexterity, +8 size), touch 24, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple	+8/-
Attack	Swarm (4d6 plus poison)
Full Attack	Swarm (4d6 plus poison)
Space/Reach	10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks	Distraction, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities	Damage reduction 5/cold iron, Darkvision 60 ft., immune to weapon damage, linked mind, Low-Light Vision, Spell Resistance 29, swarm traits
Saves	Fort +7, Ref +16, Will +13
Abilities	Strength 1, Dexterity 23, Constitution 11, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 16, Charisma 21
Skills	Balance +12, Climb +14, Diplomacy +24, Handle Animal +24, Hide +41, Jump -8, Knowledge (nature) +19, Listen +22, Perform (dance) +24, Ride (Dexterity)+27, Survival +3* (+5* in aboveground natural environments), Tumble +25
Feats	Ability Focus (distraction), Ability Focus (poison), Dodge, Great Fortitude, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (Briar Web), Toughness, Weapon Finesse (B)
Environment	Temperate plains, forests, and hills
Organization	Solitary, with lady, or army (2-4 with lady)
Challenge Rating	9
Treasure	Standard
Alignment	Usually lawful good
Advancement	None
Level Adjustment	–

Combat

Pillywiggin cavalries generally form only when a pillywiggin city is in jeopardy. When it does, it is likely to immobilize as many enemies as possible with Briar Web and entangle, possibly from hiding, before swooping in to dispatch its enemies in melee.

Distraction (Ex): Any living creature that begins its turn with a swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 20 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based, and includes a +2 bonus from Ability Focus.

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 20, initial and secondary damage 1d3 Constitution. This poison acts differently than that possessed by a single honeybee because a swarm inflicts many more stings at a time than one (or a few) honeybees can. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 bonus from Ability Focus.

Spell-like Abilities:

• Always active – speak with vermin*;
• at will – Briar Web** (DC 17), charm vermin* (DC 16), entangle (DC 16), magic fang (can affect self), gust of wind (DC 17);
• 1/day – command plants (DC 19), control winds (DC 20), wall of thorns.

Caster level 16th. Save DCs are Charisma-based.

• * as the animal spells, but they work on vermin instead.
• ** from Complete Divine.

Sting: A bee that successfully stings a creature with skin leaves its stinger embedded in that creature’s skin (effectively disemboweling itself), and dies 1 round later. It usually tries to distract its victim during that time by acting like it will attack again, which allows the bee’s allies more time to attack. A swarm attack from a pillywiggin cavalry inflicts 8d10 individual bee stings upon an affected creature. Despite this fact, the sheer number of bees in the swarm prevents it from suffering loss of hit points through this loss of members.

Linked Mind (Su): As long as a pillywiggin cavalry is together, every pillywiggin and every bee in the swarm become linked, capable of instantaneous communication and perfectly understanding each other. This special link causes each bee and pillywiggin pair in the swarm to be treated as a single creature of the fey type for most effects. This mind link does not constitute a true hive mind, however, and does not make the swarm susceptable to individually targetted mind-affecting effects.

Tenacity (Ex): A pillywiggin cavalry does not disburse when reduced to zero hit points, instead remaining coherent until most of its members are dead. This allows the swarm to continue functioning normally until its hit points are reduced to -26.

Skills: A pillywiggin cavalry has a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Jump, and Spot checks; it also has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks. A pillywiggin cavalry can use the Handle Animal skill on vermin as if they were animals with Intelligence scores of 1. *It also has a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks made to orient itself.

A pillywiggin cavalry uses its Dexterity modifier instead of its Strength modifier on Climb checks. It can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened.