[Monster/Familar] Chaos Butterfly

[Mysticsage]

Chaos Butterfly Swarm



Least Chaos Butterfly Swarm

Fine Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar, Swarm)
Hit Dice: 5d8-5 (17 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square), fly 40 ft. (Perfect)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Size, +4 Dex), Touch 18, Flat-Footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/-
Attack: Swarm (1d6)
Full Attack: Swarm (1d6)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Bewilderment, Spell-Like Abilities
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Hive Mind, Immune to Weapon Damage, Immune to Wind, Malleability, Swarm Traits
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +6 (+8 versus Illusions)
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 18, Con 9, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 17
Skills: Bluff +11, Disguise +15 (+17 Acting in character), Hide +28, Knowledge: The Planes +5, Listen +10 Sense Motive +8, Spellcraft +3, Survival +10 (+12 On other planes, +16 Navigating Limbo)
Feats: Ability Focus (Bewilderment), Improved Initiative
Environment: Limbo
Organization: Solitary, Flock (2-6 Swarms) or Tide (7-12+ Swarms)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually Chaotic Neutral
Advancement: 6-10 HD (Least) 11-19 HD (Lesser) 20+ HD (Greater)
Level Adjustment: - (Improved Familiar)

Summary

Chaos Butterfly swarms are a product of the endless generative energy that flows throughout Limbo, raw chaos given form as a mass of rainbow butterflies. They are cousins to the Slaad, though generally much less hostile. Generally cheerful and friendly, if a bit child-like, Chaos Butterflies can provide welcome aid to a party exploring or trapped in Limbo - or mislead them into travelling somewhere they would rather not via a series of illusions.

The individual butterflies of a swarm can be incredibly hard to make out, appearing as one single scintillating mass, but closer examination reveals each butterfly to much resemble their mundane counterparts. Their wings are formed of a strange crystalline substance that shifts between all the colours of the rainbow and is suffused with a soft glow. By controlling their colour and luminosity, the butterflies can disguise themselves and generate illusions. The individual butterflies of a swarm are essentially harmless, it is only when united that they wield the magical abilities of a swarm. Larger and more powerful swarms wield vastly more potent Spell-Like Abilities.

Chaos Butterflies tend to be very enthusiastic about crafting illusions, seeing it as an art form. While their own illusions are generally quite realistic, they rarely acknowledge this, focusing on flaws so minute only they can easily notice them. This dissatisfaction with their own works can lead some swarms to seek out more talented illusionists, particularly those who demonstrate a high degree of artistic talent or creativity, occasionally taking on a role as their familiar.

Chaos Butterfly swarms understand, but are not physically capable of speaking, Common and Slaad. They use their Spell-Like Abilities to communicate if they feel the need to, generating sounds or text as appropriate.

Combat

Chaos Butterfly swarms are generally non-hostile, except when dealing with characters who are strongly aligned with the powers of Law, as indicated by the Chaos Butterfly swarm's Detect Law Spell-Like Ability. They may, however, attempt to trick or mislead a party using their other Spell-Like Abilities as a practical joke. If pressed into direct combat, a Least Chaos Butterfly Swarm will attempt to hover out of reach of it's enemies while using Mirror Image and Hypnotic Pattern, before closing to envelop as many targets as possible - particularly targets who are standing close together - and allowing their Bewilderment ability to do the work for them. Should they receive too much damage, the swarm will retreat, possibly under the cover of a Minor Image or Disguise Self effect.

A Least Chaos Butterfly swarm?s attack is treated as a chaotic-aligned weapon and a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction, dealing 1d6 points of damage to any creature whose space it occupies at the end of its move.

Bewilderment (Ex): Any creature that begins its turn with a Least Chaos Butterfly swarm in its space must succeed on a DC 17 Will save or be affected as though by a Confusion spell for 1d2 rounds. This is a Mind-Affecting Pattern effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Hive Mind (Ex): Any Chaos Butterfly swarm with at least 1 hit point per Hit Die (or 5 hit points, for a standard Least Chaos Butterfly swarm) forms a hive mind, giving it an Intelligence of 8. When a Chaos Butterfly swarm is reduced below this hit point threshold, it becomes mindless.

Immune to Wind (Su): Chaos has never been a force for consistency. Though the flapping of their wings can trigger storms and hurricanes, Chaos Butterflies themselves feel not a thing, oblivious to the storms they brew. Through the collective magic of the swarm, a Chaos Butterfly swarm with at least 1 hit point per Hit Die (or 5 hit points, for a standard Least Chaos Butterfly swarm) is completely immune to the effects of high winds, storms and other adverse weather conditions (including the vulnerability to high winds possessed by most swarms).

Malleability (Ex): Due to their nature as a collective of thousands of much smaller creatures, Chaos Butterfly swarms are able to arrange themselves into virtually any shape they desire. This does not in any way alter their traits, save for changing the the space that they occupy, though they cannot exceed the shapeable 10 ft. cube that they would normally assume. They may reduce the amount of space the swarm occupies however, by crowding together tightly. This ability allows the swarm to mimic the shape of virtually anything it can imagine and then apply their Disguise Self ability to complete the disguise, explicitly allowing the shapes and formations assumed with this ability to count as the base body type used for the spell. Rearranging and coordinating the swarm in this way is a Move action.

Skills: A Chaos Butterfly swarm has a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks, Disguise checks and Survival checks made to navigate Limbo.

Spell-Like Abilities: At Will - Dancing Lights, Detect Law, Disguise Self, Ghost Sound (DC 13); 3/Day - Gust Of Wind (DC 15), Minor Image (DC 15); 1/Day - Hypnotic Pattern (DC 15), Mirror Image. Caster level 5th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.