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GM > Starship > Starship-Scale Creature List > Swarm Dreadlancer
Starfinder Alien Archive 2 p.123
CE Huge starship monstrous humanoid
Speed 6; Maneuverability average (turn 2); Drift 1
AC 27; TL 24
HP 230; DT 5; CT 46
Shields heavy 240 (forward 60, port 60, starboard 60, aft 60)
Attack (Forward) super plasma cannon (3d6×10)
Attack (Port) micromissile battery (2d6)
Attack (Starboard) micromissile battery (2d6)
Attack (Turret) particle beam (8d6)
Offensive Abilities Nova Ultra (300 PCU)
Skills Signal Basic
Power Core advanced medium-range sensors, crew quarters (common), mk 2 tetranode computer, mk 6 defenses, mk 8 armor; Drift Engine guest quarters (2 common), shuttle bay; Systems +2 to any 4 checks per round; Expansion Bays
Modifiers +2 to any 4 checks per round
Other Abilities fleet mind, living starship, void adaptation
Engineer (2 actions) Engineering +20 (11 ranks)
Gunners (3 actions) gunnery +16 (11th level)
Pilot Piloting +21 (11 ranks)
Science Officer (2 actions) Computers +20 (11 ranks)
Environment any vacuum
Organization solitary, pair, or grist (3–8)
Fleet Mind (Ex) Like the individual Swarm
components, Swarm starships are bound
together into a singular hive mind through
a blend of radio, quantum, and telepathic
communication. All Swarm starships within
10 hexes of each other are in constant
communication; if one is aware of a threat,
all are. (Such awareness can spread along a “chainâ€
of Swarm starships under appropriate circumstances,
potentially alerting distant Swarm vessels.) Swarm
vessels can also communicate telepathically with all
Swarm creatures within 10 hexes.
Living Starship (Ex) A dreadlancer is a colony of symbiotic
creatures so immense that it functions as a starship
(and thus engages in only starship combat). Four central
brains (represented as a tetranode computer) command
a host of bioengineered Swarm components that act as
a unified organism. These brains allow the dreadlancer
to take crew actions using the skill bonuses, ranks,
and level listed in Crew Actions above. Modifiers for
the dreadlancer’s size, speed, and maneuverability are
already factored into its statistics. Critical damage to
life support instead damages the central brains, with
the listed effect applying to gunnery actions, in addition
to any penalties from weapons array critical damage.
Critical damage to crew has no effect on the dreadlancer,
due to the adaptability of its components.
The myriad components that make up the Swarm act as a
single-minded collective that consumes and incorporates other
life. Individual components of the Swarm cannot be dissuaded
from their tasks, sacrificing themselves if necessary. The
Swarm has little regard for manufactured weapons, instead
grafting biotechnology onto individuals or growing entire new
subhives. Constant mutation has shaped the Swarm into many
specialized forms, from microscopic parasites to bioorganic
starships. The two Swarm components listed here are some of
the more specialized Swarm evolutions.
Mindreapers are intelligence-retrieval components whose
method of gathering intel is far from subtle: they use a bioweapon
spike for lethal interrogations, impaling a victim through the
brain and extracting neural tissue. Once the mindreaper has this
brain matter, it can spend up to an hour extracting knowledge
from it. In combat, soldiers of the Swarm support mindreapers
in their duty. Rarely encountered alone, mindreapers bolster
allies while neutralizing enemies with painful psychic feedback.
Mindreapers are still units in the collective, but they show
more initiative and adaptability. Swarm packs that contain
mindreapers use more complex tactics than those without.
Swarm dreadlancers are a colony of Swarm components
that form a living starship built around a plasma bioweapon.
The vessel’s four brains allow damaged dreadlancers to repair
themselves given time and access to materials. These brains
can self-terminate if captured, and they can eliminate a brain
showing rogue tendencies.
A dreadlancer’s internal components are noncombatants,
but it can carry a complement of troops to repel boarders
and engage in extravehicular missions. It also contains a
Swarm transport shuttle. Use the statistics for the Ringworks
Wanderer (Starfinder Core Rulebook 310) for this shuttle,
except that it has the fleet mind and living starship special
abilities. The shuttle has the listed ranks and bonuses, and it
can take an engineer, gunner, and pilot action (one of each, in
the appropriate phases). It cannot take captain actions.
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