No. Enc.: 1 flock (consisting of 1d100 Caw-Caws)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: Fly: 140' (60')
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: Hit points equal to No. Enc.; HD = HP/5, rounded up
Attacks: 1 (multiple pecks)
Damage: 1d12
Save: L2
Morale: 8
Horde Class: None
The Caw-caw is a miniature version of the common crow or raven. It is a small black bird, about 4 inches in wingspan, about the size of a large butterfly. The Caw-caw gets its name from the "caw-caw" call it makes. A single Caw-caw by itself is hardly a threat. However, the Caw-caw always travels in an insect-like swarm. The birds stay in constant contact with each other through its metaconcert mutation. For all practical purposes, the Mutant Lord should treat a Caw-caw flock as one large entity consisting of 1d100 individual Caw-caws.
When attacking, a Caw-caw flock will engulf a victim in a swirling mass. The numerous pecks of the many Caw-caws will do 1d12 hit points of damage. Since each Caw-caw has only 1 hit point, the entire flock's hit point total is equal to the number number encountered. Since they travel in a tight mass, a successful hit will "kill" as many Caw-caws as the amount of damage rolled. (For example: A flock of 30 Caw-caws is hit for 6 points of damage. Six are killed, and there will be 24 Caw-caws remaining in the flock.) When rolling for their attack, take the Caw-caws' current hit point total and divide by 5, rounding up, for their HD "total." Therefore a flock of 40 Caw-caws will attack as an 8 HD creature. If a party kills 15 of them during a round of combat, the flock will be down to 25 hit points and will therefore attack as a 5 HD creature during the next round of combat.
Because of the strong mental unity of these birds, the flock has the ability to "bounce" mental attacks back upon an attacker through a form of mind reflection. It is not a wise idea to try to drive them off with mental abilities since this could be disastrous for the PC.
Caw-caws live as one unit in large trees or in multiple ground nests. If a PC sees a large mass of small black birds approaching, it best to hide and wait for them to pass. There's a reason a flock of Caw-caws is referred to as a "murder."
Mutations: metaconcert, mind reflection
Elven Banner (1985)
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From the back cover:
The Elven Banner, the only thing that might save the kingdom, is in ashes.
Drogar of the Black Helm is massing his marauding army on...
What HD would you have the flock attack as on the to hit chart? Perhaps 1 HD for ever 5 birds, so a flock of 20 would attack as a 4 HD creature?
ReplyDeleteI like these guys, they will be making an appearance in my swamp of doom.
Good point. 1 HD for every 5 birds, rounding up. I shall update the post.
ReplyDeleteGood call there. Swarm monsters are always a bit fiddly in most systems and if done wrong can be waaaaaay too nasty or too wimpy.
ReplyDelete-Eli