Scarab Swarm

This mass of iridescent blue-black insects emits a foul stench, and a faint chorus of thousands of clicking and clacking jaws can be heard from all sides.

Scarab Swarm (CR 3)

Fine Vermin (Swarm)
Alignment: Neutral
Initiative: +0
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet; Perception +4

Speed: 30 feet, Climb 10 feet, Fly 20 feet (clumsy)
Space: 10 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 18, touch 18, flat-footed 18 (+8 size)
Hit Points: 22 (4d8+4)
Saving Throws: Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +1
swarm traits
Immunity: mind-affecting effects, weapon damage

Offense

Melee: swarm (1d6 plus disease and distraction)
Reach: 0 feet

Special Attacks: Distraction (DC 13)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
1 (-5)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	-	11 (+0)	2 (-4)

Base Attack Bonus: +3
CMB -
CMD -

Feats:

Skills: Climb +8, Fly +0, Perception +4

• Racial Modifiers: +4 Perception

Languages:

Special Abilities

Disease (Ex)

Filth fever: Swarm-injury; save Fort DC 13; onset 1d3 days; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves.

Ecology

Environment: Warm Deserts
Organization: solitary, pair, or infestation (3-6)
Treasure: none


The scarab beetle is indigenous to warm deserts, particularly those of northern Garund. Scarabs are small, six-legged insects with sharp protrusions on their front legs that they use to aid in burrowing. They are primarily coprophagous, eating dung for sustenance. An individual scarab often spends days rolling a single ball of detritus across the desert until it can find the perfect place to bury and deposit eggs in the dung. Because of this practice of burrowing underground to create new life, scarab beetles have long been associated with Osirian burial rites and the church of Pharasma.

A scarab swarm comprises thousands of scarab beetles, each filthy from its constant contact with dung. Normally inattentive toward other creatures, scarab swarms subject those that get in their way to thousands of sharp bites as well as a highly infectious disease. Indeed, the bites of a scarab swarm are the least of their victims' worries, as the disease they carry claims far more lives than their hunger.

Some religious scholars theorize that scarabs are prone to swarm because they're drawn to the same malign energy that causes some undead to rise in Osirion, though most people regard this explanation as purely superstition. Some worshipers of Pharasma see the arrival of a scarab swarm as a portent for ill fortune and upon encountering such a sight utter quick prayers to the Lady of Graves.