| Hit Dice: | 10d8+10 (58 hp) |
| Initiative: | +6 |
| Speed: | 15 ft. (3 squares), climb 10 ft. |
| Armor Class: | 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +7/— |
| Attack: | 2d6 plus distraction plus wounding |
| Full Attack: | 2d6 plus distraction plus wounding |
| Space/Reach: | 10 ft./0 ft. |
| Special Attacks: | Distraction, wounding |
| Special Qualities: | Half damage from piercing and slashing, swarm traits, wind vulnerability |
| Saves: | Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +4 |
| Abilities: | Str 4, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 2 |
| Skills: | Balance +10, Climb +8, Listen +8, Spot +8; racial bonuses |
| Feats: | Alertness, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness |
| Environment: | Any city |
| Organization: | Swarm |
| Challenge Rating: | 5 |
| Treasure: | None |
| Alignment: | Always neutral |
| Advancement: | — ♊ |
| Level Adjustment: | — |
You hear a cacophony of barks, meows, chitters, and buzzes. Insects and rats, cats and dogs—swarming together!
The pest swarm is a horde of the city’s unwanted denizens: stray dogs, feral cats, rats, and bugs of every kind. When clustered together, they wreak havoc with thousands of miniscule claws and bites.
Pests rarely congregate into swarms like the one described above. The summon pest swarm spell creates a sufficient accumulation of cats, dogs, rats, and insects to be considered a swarm.
Pest swarms created by the summon pest swarm spell move at the direction of the spellcaster. Those rare examples of pest swarms not created by magic move randomly across the city until dispersed.
Wind Vulnerability (Ex): Because some of a pest swarm’s constituent creatures can fly, high winds can break up the swarm. Wind effects deal 1d3 points of nonlethal damage to a swarm per spell level (or Hit Dice of the originating creature). A pest swarm rendered unconscious by means of nonlethal damage becomes disorganized and dispersed, and it doesn’t re-form until its hit points exceed its nonlethal damage. Unlike swarms composed entirely of flying creatures, a pest swarm can’t be blown away by high winds.
Distraction (Ex): Fortitude DC 16, nauseated 1 round. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Wounding (Ex): Any living creature damaged by a pest swarm continues to bleed, losing 1 hit point per round thereafter at the beginning of the pest swarm’s turn. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 10 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic.
Skills: A pest swarm has a +8 racial bonus on Balance and Climb checks. (Some individual animals within the swarm can fly, but they stay close to the landbound animals so the swarm stays cohesive.) It can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.
A pest swarm uses its Dexterity modifier instead of its Strength modifier for Climb checks.
In theory, a pest swarm could form in any location that has a large population of its constituent creatures, such as a forest. However, in a natural environment of that sort, the conditions that would prompt a swarm to gather—in particular, a shortage of easily available food—do not come into play.
Environment: Pest swarms are found only in cities, being composed of creatures native to that environment. Organization: A solitary pest swarm occupies a 10-foot square. As many as four pest swarms might congregate in one location, so that they take up four contiguous 10-foot squares.
Typical Physical Characteristics: The individual creatures that form a pest swarm vary in size from Diminutive to Small. For ease of play, assume that on average, the creatures in the swarm are Tiny. And while it consists of some insects and other vermin, the swarm as a whole has animal characteristics.
Source: Cityscape, page 136. Corrected hit points.