Swarm mongers are unparalleled survivors, thriving on the filthy fringes of society. Whereas other druids commune with nature or even the spirit of a city, swarm mongers find beauty and strength in decay, and they draw their power from fungus, disease, and their own singular will to survive.
The swarm monger is an archetype of the druid class.
Archetype Main Ability Scores:
The swarm monger mainly focuses on STR/DEX for combat, CHA for their class features, and WIS for their class features and spells.
Archetype Feature Replacements:
1st – Nature Bond, Nature Sense. 2nd – Woodland Stride. 4th – Resist Nature’s Lure. 13th – Wild Shape.
Fecund Familiar (Ex)
A swarm monger bonds with an urban familiar, except the familiar does not gain shared spells or deliver touch attacks abilities.
The swarm monger must select her familiar from the following options: cat, house centipede, rat, raven, or scarlet spider. The fecund familiar gains the benefits of its master’s child of pollution, shadowy opportunist, and venom immunity class abilities.
As a standard action, a swarm monger can cause her familiar to burst forth into a full swarm of identical creatures, filling four contiguous 5-foot squares and gaining temporary hit points equal to half its master’s maximum hit points. While in swarm form, the familiar loses the improved evasion familiar special ability. It uses its normal AC, saving throws, and skill bonuses, and it gains the swarm subtype and the ability to make swarm attacks (dealing 1d6 points of damage at 1st level and using the swarm monger’s druid level as the swarm’s Hit Dice to determine damage increases as per the swarm subtype). The swarm monger is immune to her own familiar’s swarm attack.
Beginning at 5th level, any creature damaged by a fecund familiar’s swarm attack must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + half of the druid’s level + her Wisdom modifier) or be sickened for 1d6 rounds. At 12th level, creatures that fail their Fortitude saving throws instead become nauseated.
A swarm monger can transform her familiar into a swarm a number of times each day equal to her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), and the transformation lasts for 1 minute per druid level, or until the swarm monger reverts her familiar back to a singular form as a standard action. A fecund familiar cannot be reduced in size to Diminutive or smaller when in swarm form.
This ability replaces nature bond.
Shadowy Opportunist (Ex)
A swarm monger gains a +2 bonus on Knowledge (local) and Stealth checks.
This ability replaces nature sense.
Low Friends (Ex)
At 2nd level, a swarm monger gains Vermin Heart as a bonus feat.
This ability replaces woodland stride.
Child of Pollution (Su)
Starting at 4th level, a swarm monger gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against disease and poisons, and she can eat spoiled or rotting food and drink without ill effect. Once per day for every four druid levels she has, a swarm monger can devour a handful of rotting food as a standard action to gain a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + her druid level that last for 1 hour.
This ability replaces resist nature’s lure.
Swarm Shape (Su)
At 13th level, a swarm monger can transform into a swarm of vermin. She doesn’t leave her gear behind when she uses this ability, and she can revert to her mundane form normally. The swarm monger can use this ability a number of times per day equal to her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).
Each time the swarm monger uses this ability, she gets a total allotment of levels equal to her druid level and any swarm she chooses to create costs one or more of those levels. She can “spend” her allotment of levels to create any combination of swarms so long as their total does not exceed her druid level.
| Number of Levels | Swarm Type(s) |
| 2 druid levels | Spider swarm |
| 4 druid levels | Rat swarm |
| 6 druid levels | Crab swarm, wasp swarm |
| 8 druid levels | Centipede swarm, leech swarm |
| 10 druid levels | Army ant swarm |
Once the swarm monger creates these swarms, they remain in existence until destroyed or she orders them to return to her body. When all swarms have returned to her body or are destroyed, her flesh wraps itself back around her bones and she regains the ability to act normally. If her bones are not where she left them, she must first locate them in order to regain access to her body. She always know if her bones are destroyed and her consciousness remains in control of the swarms until they too are destroyed (and she dies). If she can use the swarms to get help and arrange for someone to repair her bones (using anything that would normally restore her to life), at which point, she can return the swarms to her body.
This ability replaces the normal wild shape options gained at 13th level.
