Psychopomp Swarm

Thousands of tiny birds swarm through the air, pecking at everything in their path.

Psychopomp Swarm (CR 14) XP 38,400 LN Diminutive magical beast (swarm) Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +35 --- AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 size) hp 190 (20d10+80) Fort +18, Ref +18, Will +11 Defensive Abilities swarm traits; Immune weapon damage --- Speed 5 ft., burrow 5 ft., fly 90 ft. (good) Melee swarm (6d6) Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft. Special Attacks distraction (DC 24), ghost touch, reaping, whirlwind (at will, 10 ft. high, 6d6 damage, DC 24) --- Str 3, Dex 19, Con 19, Int 3, Wis 15, Cha 15 Base Atk +20; CMB —; CMD — Feats Acrobatic, Alertness, Great Fortitude, Hover, Improved Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Improved Lightning Reflexes, Improved Natural Attack (swarm), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Run, Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness, Wingover Skills Fly +20, Perception +35 SQ swarm traits --- Environment any land Organization solitary, frenzy (2–8 swarms), or plague (9–27 swarms) Treasure none --- Distraction (Ex) A psychopomp swarm's distraction ability affects undead as if they were living creatures that were not immune to the nauseated condition. Ghost Touch (Su) A psychopomp swarm's attacks, including its swarm attack and whirlwind attack, count as force effects for the purpose of affecting incorporeal creatures. Reaping (Su) A psychopomp swarm's attacks, including its swarm attack and whirlwind attack, ignore damage reduction. Whenever a psychopomp swarm damages a creature with an equal or lower CR than itself, that creature loses any fast healing, regeneration, rejuvenation, or similar ability it possesses until the end of its next turn, and any phylactery it possesses is destroyed. If two or more psychopomp swarms fill a single continuous space, each of those swarms counts as having a CR equal to their combined ECL for the purpose of this ability. Whirlwind (Ex) A psychopomp swarm's whirlwind attack deals damage equal to its swarm attack. The DC of a psychopomp swarm's whirlwind attack is Constitution-based.

Deities of death are notoriously hard to kill. Even those that have faded away due to a lack of worship will linger in the world, vestigial forces that occasional make their existence known by transforming an ordinary population of birds into a dreadful supernatural gathering known as a psychopomp swarm. The agents of death in its purest form, psychopomp swarms exist to ferry souls into the afterlife, especially souls that have experienced death at least once, yet stubbornly refused to move on.

Psychopomp swarms usually form in the immediate vicinity of those who have cheated death, including undead creatures and living creatures that have used magic to return from the dead one too many times, and exist until those targets are destroyed. However, the impersonal force that gives rise to a psychopomp swarm is more knowledgeable about the swarm's intended target than the swarm itself; the swarm itself usually attacks everything in its immediate vicinity, not knowing the exact reason for its creation.

 The Psychopomp Reckoning  The largest psychopomp swarm on record, belonging to a category known as a psychopomp plague, was twenty-seven times larger than a standard psychopomp swarm. However, some prophecies hint that an even larger psychopomp swarm can exist, fully sixty-four times larger than a standard swarm. Bestiary literature notes that, were this so-called psychopomp reckoning to form, it would be the only force in existence that could definitively thwart the regenerative powers of the fabled tarrasque. However, the process by which a psychopomp reckoning is formed is yet unknown, and would likely involve pacts with long-forgotten elder gods of death.