Hivoid

Thousands of bees move together in a humanoid-shaped swarm. Viscid orbs form eyes that communicate sentience, and yearning.

Hivoid CR 6
XP 2400
N Medium vermin (swarm)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +28

DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13; (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)
hp 63 (14d8)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +4
Defensive Abilities swarm traits

Immunities mind-affecting effects

Weaknesses swarm traits

OFFENSE
Spd fly 60 ft. (good)

Melee slam (1d4+1) or swarm (2d6 plus poison)
Ranged sting dart +13 (1d8+1/19-20 plus poison)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks conscripting gaze (3/day), worker initiation

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th)

3/day—summon swarm (wasp swarm, Bestiary pg 275), summon giant wasp (Bestiary pg 275)

STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 16, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +10; CMB +11; CMD 24
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Hover ^B, Improved Critical (sting dart), Mobility, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Wind Stance, Wingover ^B

Skills Acrobatics +20, Fly +21, Perception +28

Languages telepathy 100 ft.

SQ hive body, hive mind

ECOLOGY
Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary, pair, division (1 plus 1-3 hive workers), hive (1 plus 1-3 hive workers plus 5-15 giant wasps)
Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Conscripting Gaze (Su) Looking into a hivoid’s vacant eyes is like receiving orders directly from the queen. A hivoid’s gaze recruits drones for its army. 3/day, it may turn its gaze against a single creature within 30 feet as a standard action. The target must make a Will save (DC 18) or become a loyal drone, following the hivoid’s commands as dominate monster. The creature is allowed a new Will save to avoid the effect every round at the end of its turn, unless it is the target of the hivoid’s worker initiation. A creature that successfully saves against conscripting gaze cannot be affected by the same hivoid’s conscripting gaze for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Hive Body (Ex) A hivoid’s composite body is more tightly formed than most swarms. As a result, its traits are slightly different than most swarms:

• Although it is made up of fine creatures, a hivoid does not gain immunity to weapon damage. Instead, it suffers half damage from piercing and slashing weapons as a swarm made up of tiny creatures;
• A hivoid can initiate combat maneuvers. It is not automatically immune to any combat maneuvers, however it can gain immunity to a designated combat maneuver until the end of its next turn as an immediate action. For example, if a creature attempts to bull rush a hivoid, it can fragment its body quickly enough to gain immunity to bull rush until the end of its next turn. If another creature tries to grapple the hivoid before the hivoid has taken its turn, the hivoid cannot gain immunity to grapple until after the end of its next turn because it has already used its immediate action for that turn;
• A hivoid is not susceptible to high winds, such as those created by a gust of wind spell. For purposes of determining the effects of wind on a hivoid, treat the hivoid as a medium creature.

Hive Mind (Ex) Although made up of mindless bees, when a hivoid takes shape it forms a hive mind, gaining an Intelligence score, skill points, and language-based communication. As its mind is made up of a collective of mindless creatures, a hivoid retains the vermin immunity to mind-affecting effects.

Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based. A hivoid suffers 1d4 damage when it successful hits with an attack that poisons a target.

Worker Initiation (Su) Drones slogging about the ground either slow the hive or are abandoned. As a full round action, a hivoid can force feed a mutating pollen to an adjacent creature suffering the effects of its conscripting gaze. The creature suffers 2 Con damage and gains the hive worker template (below). If this Con damage is ever fully healed, the creature loses the hive worker template. A creature with the hive worker template no longer makes Will saves to resist the effects of the hivoid’s conscripting gaze.

Whether through unconscious imitation, freak evolution, or influence from beyond, on rare occasions a swarm of bees adapts a humanoid shape and gains a hive mind. Still, bees are creatures of purpose and hivoids primarily follow their vermin instincts of gathering nectar and pollen.

A hivoid’s advantage over unintelligent swarms of bees presents in the face of danger. A hivoid targets obvious casters with its conscripting gaze as soon as possible. If successful, it summons giant wasps or wasp swarms to distract other enemies while it uses worker initiation on the caster. If it is unsuccessful in conscripting a caster, it settles on the next nearest targets in range and uses Flyby Attack to swarm enemies while remaining safely in the air. Once it has dropped an enemy, it uses worker initiation on any enemy still under its control.

Hive Worker

A hivoid can create a hive worker when it uses its worker initiation ability on a living creature under the effect of its conscripting gaze. A hive worker’s statistics are identical to the base creature, save for the following changes.

· Fly 30 ft (Poor). If the creature already has a fly speed, it uses this fly speed or its base fly speed, whichever is higher, and this manoeuvrability or its base maneuverability, whichever is better;

· It gains a sting attack as a secondary natural weapon, dealing damage typical of its size (1d4 Medium, 1d3 Small). If the creature already has a sting attack, it deals this damage or its normal damage, whichever is higher.