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Swarmcalling

Swarmcalling shapes a character's supernatural focus, training, and power set.

Power index

Swarmcalling Powers

42 powers, grouped by tier. The rules needed for quick reference are shown directly in each row.

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Tier 0

2

Call a tiny burst of insects, mites, gnats, spirit-bugs, or crawling vermin around one creature within range. The target must make a CON save, taking 1d6 poison or piercing damage on a failed save and moving 5 ft. in a direction you choose if it can move.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 30 ft.
Duration: Instant
Effect: 1d6
Type: Poison / Piercing
Save: CON

Call, calm, or direct a handful of harmless local insects, spiders, rats, birds, fish, or other Tiny creatures within range. They can perform simple collective tasks such as gather, scatter, point toward food, form a symbol, or carry a Tiny object a short distance.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 30 ft.
Duration: 10 Minutes
Type: Swarm / Utility

Tier 1

4

Call a 5-ft. radius swarm cloud centered within range. The area is lightly obscured and difficult terrain for hostile creatures. A hostile creature that starts there must make a DEX save, taking 2d6 piercing damage on a failed save, or half on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: 1 Minute
Effect: 2d6
Type: Piercing
Save: DEX

Distracting Buzz

A swarm harasses one creature within range. The target must make a WIS save or subtract 1d4 from its next attack roll, ability check, or concentration save before the start of your next turn.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: 1 Round
Effect: 1d4
Type: Swarm / Debuff
Save: WIS

Sense nearby nests, hives, burrows, flocks, colonies, infestations, and collective creature movement in the emanation. You learn the direction of the largest swarm or colony, whether it is hostile, hungry, diseased, natural, magical, or spirit-born.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self (120 ft.)
Duration: Instant
Effect: 120 ft.
Type: Sense / Swarm

Send a small scouting swarm of insects, birds, rats, spiders, or spirit-creatures through the area. It can search, listen, smell, or watch. As a bonus action, you may receive simple impressions from the swarm while it remains within range and has a physical path to you.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 300 ft.
Duration: 1 Hour
Effect: 300 ft.
Type: Scout / Swarm

Tier 2

4

Cover a 10-ft. square within range with biting, crawling swarm-creatures. The area is difficult terrain. A hostile creature that enters for the first time on a turn or starts there must make a DEX save, taking 3d6 piercing or poison damage on a failed save, or half on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 3d6
Type: Piercing / Poison
Save: DEX

Your swarm watches from many angles. For the duration, you have advantage on Perception checks in the emanation, and creatures cannot gain advantage against you from flanking or being hidden unless they are behind total cover or leave no sensory trace.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self (60 ft.)
Duration: 10 Minutes
Effect: 60 ft.
Type: Perception / Swarm

Send a Tiny swarm-creature or spirit-pest to carry a short message, scent, thread, token, or harmless mark to a known creature or location within range. It travels by plausible routes and can be intercepted, killed, or delayed by barriers.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 1 Mile
Duration: 8 Hours
Effect: 1 mile
Type: Messenger / Swarm

When you or an ally within range is targeted by an attack, interpose a cloud of wings, bodies, or spirit-swarm. The attacker subtracts 1d6 from the attack roll. If the attack misses, the protected creature may move 5 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks.

Action: Reaction
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: 1 Round
Effect: 1d6
Type: Defense / Swarm

Tier 3

4

Devouring Swarm

Call a 10-ft. radius devouring swarm centered within range. A creature that enters for the first time on a turn or starts there must make a CON save, taking 4d8 piercing damage and being unable to regain hit points until the start of its next turn on a failed save, or half damage only on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 90 ft.
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 4d8
Type: Piercing
Save: CON

Sickening Cloud

Fill a 15-ft. radius sphere with buzzing pests, spores, dander, rot-flies, or spirit-gnats. Creatures in the area must make a CON save when they start there, taking 3d8 poison damage and becoming poisoned until the start of their next turn on a failed save, or half damage only on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 90 ft.
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 3d8
Type: Poison
Save: CON

A mass of wings, bodies, or spirit-pests helps lift one willing creature or unattended object within range. The target can hover up to 10 ft. above the ground and move 20 ft. per round, but falls safely if the swarm is dispersed. This is not true flight and cannot exceed 10 ft. altitude.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 30 ft.
Duration: 1 Minute
Effect: 20 ft.
Type: Movement / Swarm

Shape a swarm within range into a simple tool, curtain, rope-like bridge, crawling ladder, written symbol, warning sign, false shadow, or moving silhouette. The swarm cannot form rigid objects, precise machinery, or a convincing individual creature.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: 10 Minutes
Type: Swarm / Utility

Tier 4

4

Direct a swarm to chew, corrode, scratch, or hollow a mundane object, door, rope, barricade, corpse, food supply, leather, wood, paper, or unattended container. The swarm deals 5d8 piercing or acid damage to the object at the start of each of your turns for the duration.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 Minute
Effect: 5d8 / round
Type: Piercing / Acid

A defensive swarm orbits you and chosen allies in the emanation. Hostile creatures treat the area as difficult terrain. The first time each round a chosen creature is hit by an attack, reduce the damage by 4d8 + your WIS modifier.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self (10 ft.)
Duration: 1 Minute
Effect: 4d8 + WIS
Type: Reduction / Swarm

Choose one creature within range and engulf it with crawling panic. The target must make a WIS save or become frightened of the swarm for the duration. While frightened this way, it takes 3d8 psychic or piercing damage at the start of its turns and cannot willingly move closer to you. It repeats the save at the end of each turn.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 90 ft.
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 3d8
Type: Psychic / Piercing
Save: WIS

When a creature you can see attacks or targets you, dissolve briefly into a rushing swarm and reform in an unoccupied space within range that your swarm could physically reach. The triggering attack has disadvantage, and if it misses, you leave a cloud of pests in your old space until your next turn.

Action: Reaction
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: Instant
Effect: 60 ft.
Type: Movement / Swarm

Tier 5

4

Borrow the Colony

Take command of a natural colony, nest, hive, flock, shoal, or vermin cluster within range. The swarm follows broad non-suicidal commands: gather, scatter, scout, harass, carry, obscure, consume, or guard. Intelligent or magically bound swarms may resist with a WIS save.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 1 Mile
Duration: 1 Hour
Effect: 1 mile
Type: Command / Swarm
Save: WIS

Swarming locusts, stinging insects, or spirit-vermin fill a 20-ft. radius sphere centered within range. The sphere is lightly obscured and difficult terrain. A creature that enters for the first time on a turn or starts there must make a CON save, taking 5d10 piercing damage on a failed save, or half on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 300 ft.
Duration: Concentration, 10 Minutes
Effect: 5d10
Type: Piercing
Save: CON

A swarm cloaks you as crawling armor, feathered mantle, insect veil, or spirit-mass. For the duration, you gain temporary hit points equal to 5d8 + your WIS modifier, advantage on Intimidation checks, and resistance to poison damage while the temporary hit points remain.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self
Duration: 10 Minutes
Effect: 5d8 + WIS
Type: Temp HP / Poison

When a creature starts its turn in one of your swarm areas or fails a save against one of your Swarmcalling powers, intensify the mass. The creature takes an extra 3d8 piercing, poison, or psychic damage, and one ally within 30 ft. of it may move 10 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks.

Action: Reaction
Use: At-Will
Range: 120 ft.
Duration: Instant
Effect: 3d8
Type: Piercing / Poison / Psychic

Tier 6

4

Carrion Cleanse

Send a swarm to consume rot, corpses, spoiled food, diseased matter, poison residue, blood traces, or organic waste in a 30-ft. radius area within range. This can clear evidence, prevent mundane disease spread, or expose objects hidden inside organic matter. Magical disease or necromancy may resist with its effect DC.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 60 ft.
Duration: 10 Minutes
Effect: 30 ft.
Type: Cleanse / Swarm
Save: Varies

Link your senses to up to twelve willing creatures or swarms in the emanation. Each linked target can share simple sensory impressions and danger warnings with the group. Linked creatures cannot transmit full speech unless they already share a language or swarm-code.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self (1 mile)
Duration: 1 Hour
Effect: 12 links
Type: Hive Mind / Sense

Partially disperse into a coordinated swarm. For the duration, you can move through spaces as narrow as 1 inch, have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks, and cannot be grappled unless the effect can contain a swarm.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self
Duration: 1 Minute
Type: Swarm / Body

Swarmcalling Dominion

Your Swarmcalling powers ignore resistance to piercing or poison damage from nonmagical armor and mundane anatomy. You can sense swarms, hives, nests, colonies, infestations, and collective creature movement within 1 mile if there is a physical ecological trace.

Action: Passive
Use: At-Will
Range: Self
Duration: Permanent
Effect: 1 mile
Type: Swarm / Sense

Tier 7

4

Command any number of nonmagical Tiny swarm-creatures in range with simple collective commands. They can scout, harass, obscure, consume, lift light objects, or form messages. They will not perform suicidal actions unless magically conjured by your own Swarmcalling powers.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 1 Mile
Duration: 1 Minute
Effect: 1 mile
Type: Command / Swarm

A violent swarm storm fills the emanation. Hostile creatures treat the area as difficult terrain. A hostile creature that starts there must make a DEX save, taking 7d10 piercing damage and being pushed 10 ft. on a failed save, or half damage only on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self (60 ft.)
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 7d10
Type: Piercing
Save: DEX

Concentrate a devouring swarm on one creature or object within range. The target must make a CON save, taking 10d8 piercing or acid damage and losing any temporary hit points on a failed save, or half damage only on a success. Objects and unattended organic matter take maximum damage.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 90 ft.
Duration: Instant
Effect: 10d8
Type: Piercing / Acid
Save: CON

Carry a dormant swarm inside clothing, hair, skin-shadow, bags, armor gaps, tattoos, or spirit-marks. For the duration, you may release or recall one active Swarmcalling area as a bonus action, centered within 30 ft. of you, using the original remaining duration.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self
Duration: 1 Hour
Effect: 30 ft.
Type: Swarm / Storage

Tier 8

4

Create a 60-ft. radius cloud of insects, birds, bats, spirit-pests, or vermin centered within range. The area is heavily obscured for hostile creatures and difficult terrain. Hostile creatures that start there must make a CON save, taking 8d10 piercing damage and becoming blinded until the start of their next turn on a failed save, or half damage only on a success.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: 300 ft.
Duration: Concentration, 10 Minutes
Effect: 8d10
Type: Piercing
Save: CON

Divide into Swarm

When you would be hit, grappled, restrained, swallowed, or reduced to 0 hit points, divide into a swarm and reform in an unoccupied space within 60 ft. that the swarm could physically reach. The triggering hit or restraint fails; if triggered by dropping to 0, you instead remain at 1 hit point.

Action: Reaction
Use: 1/Long Rest
Range: Self
Duration: Instant
Effect: 1 HP
Type: Swarm / Survival

Plague of Many Mouths

Release a predatory plague across the emanation. Hostile creatures of your choice that start there must make a CON save, taking 8d8 poison damage and 8d8 piercing damage and becoming poisoned on a failed save, or half damage only on a success. Poisoned creatures repeat the save at the end of each turn.

Action: Action
Use: 1/Long Rest
Range: Self (120 ft.)
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 8d8 / 8d8
Type: Poison / Piercing
Save: CON

Swarm Sanctuary

Turn an area up to 100 ft. across into a protected hive, rookery, nest-field, vermin refuge, or spirit-colony. Chosen creatures inside have advantage on Stealth and Perception checks, and hostile creatures entering are harried, reducing their speed by 10 ft. unless they succeed on a WIS save.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Touch
Duration: 8 Hours
Effect: 100 ft.
Type: Sanctuary / Swarm
Save: WIS

Tier 9

4

All Hives Answer

Call on every natural swarm, hive, nest, colony, flock, shoal, or crawling mass in range. They do not become suicidal, but they can deliver warnings, obscure roads, guide allies, consume supplies, carry small signs, reveal intruders, or mark a trail across the area.

Action: 10 Minutes
Use: At-Will
Range: 10 Miles
Duration: 24 Hours
Effect: 10 miles
Type: Command / Swarm

A vast living plague spreads through the emanation. Hostile creatures that start there must make a CON save, taking 12d10 poison or piercing damage and losing reactions on a failed save, or half damage only on a success. Structures and objects made of organic matter take the damage automatically.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self (300 ft.)
Duration: Concentration, 1 Minute
Effect: 12d10
Type: Poison / Piercing
Save: CON

Sovereign Swarm

Your Swarmcalling powers ignore resistance to poison and piercing damage from mundane armor, anatomy, or nonmagical protection. Swarms you command cannot be dispersed by mundane smoke, fire, water, noise, or wind unless the effect is massive or story-protected.

Action: Passive
Use: At-Will
Range: Self
Duration: Permanent
Type: Swarm / Immunity

Every commanded swarm in the emanation surges at once. Creatures of your choice in the area must make a DEX save, taking 16d10 piercing damage and being knocked prone and blinded until the start of your next turn on a failed save, or half damage only on a success.

Action: Action
Use: 1/Long Rest
Range: Self (120 ft.)
Duration: Instant
Effect: 16d10
Type: Piercing
Save: DEX

Tier 10

4

Avatar of the Swarm

Become an avatar of countless bodies. For the duration, you can move through spaces as narrow as 1 inch, resist bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, cannot be grappled or restrained by effects that cannot contain a swarm, and once per turn one creature within 10 ft. takes 6d10 piercing or poison damage.

Action: Bonus Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Self
Duration: 1 Minute
Effect: 6d10
Type: Piercing / Poison

Hive Without End

Create or awaken a massive hive, rookery, vermin-city, spirit-colony, or migratory swarm refuge in a suitable area. It produces no wealth and obeys ecological limits, but can defend, scout, clean, pollinate, carry messages, or obscure the area under your broad commands.

Action: Action
Use: At-Will
Range: Touch
Duration: 24 Hours
Effect: Hive
Type: Hive / Creation

The First Swarm

Call a mythic swarm tied to a plague, migration, omen, famine, army, forest, city, god, or ancient hive. Define its principle with the GM: the swarm that devours a tyrant’s harvest, shields a people, carries a prophecy, cleanses a battlefield, or remembers the first nest. It can be ended only by Tier 10 swarm magic, divine intervention, or a story condition set when called.

Action: Action
Use: 1/Ever
Range: 1 Mile
Duration: Until Resolved
Effect: Unique
Type: Swarm / Story
Roll: Varies
Save: Varies

World-Eating Cloud

Call a catastrophic swarm cloud in a 300-ft. radius centered within range. Hostile creatures that start there must make a CON save, taking 18d10 piercing and 18d10 poison damage on a failed save, or half on a success. Organic objects, crops, paper, leather, and exposed supplies are consumed at terrifying speed.

Action: Action
Use: 1/Long Rest
Range: 1 Mile
Duration: Concentration, 10 Minutes
Effect: 18d10 / 18d10
Type: Piercing / Poison
Save: CON