Necrophage Swarm

Family: Necrophage

Medium swarm of diminutive monstrosities, neutral evil

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 27 (6d8)
Speed 20 ft., Climb 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
1 (-5)	17 (+3)	10 (+0)	1 (-5)	10 (+0)	4 (-3)

Saving Throws Wis +2
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Damage Immunities cold, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, poisoned, restrained, stunned, exhaustion
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages none
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

• From the Void. As necrophage slasher.
• Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’ s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Diminutive creature. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

ACTIONS

• Attach. When the necrophage swarm deals damage to a target, the target must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 13) or have some of the swarm attach and continue to deal damage. Each round on their turn the affected creature can use an attack action to remove the creatures or is subject to area of effect damage, with the exception of cold damage. Otherwise they take 1d6 damage.
• Shredding (swarm has more than half HP). Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm’ s space. Hit: 9 (2d6+3) piercing damage.
• Shredding (swarm has half HP or less). Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm’ s space. Hit: 4 (1d6+1) piercing damage.

ABOUT

Created from the loose organic material and viscera left behind by the work of their larger kin, these small necrophage creatures are the prime example of the necrophage letting nothing go to waste. They are typically formed within the distended cavities of necrophage carriers as they pick up and ‘eat stray body parts. However, they can also be created if there is enough ‘extra material’ left behind within the influence of the Void Artifact.

The necrophage is not undead, the necrophage is not a disease. The necrophage is a living organism that infests corpses, reconstitutes the the organic material into new forms that it uses to kill more host creatures to continue to grow and expand. The forms the necrophage-infested bodies take are viceral, twisted horrors of their former selves. It can also form small discreet creatures out of the biological material it has subsumed. The necrophage is controlled and originally created by a insidious, psychic artifact found deep in the void. No one yet has been able to discern where the artifact came from, why it was created, or by whom. Some say, especially the fanatic cults that have grown up around its influence, that it created itself as a manifestation of the universe’ s need to ascend to a higher, singular being. In either case, its goals and and actions involve adding more biological material under its control and creating more unused biological material for it to take.

The artifact itself can infest the minds of living creatures nearby and slowly corrupt their minds and bodies, eventually turning them into a new necrophage creature. The artifact has little control over the exact form the necrophage takes, but it is usually efficient at its particular job.

The artifact is intelligent, it schemes, it corrupts, and it finds the most effective way to safely get more material.