I mean the mothman sound terrifying

I have this image of a happy go-lucky Halfling skipping down the path with a swarm of butterflies slaughtering all the Goblins that try and ambush them.

THE MIGHTY MONARCH!

Calyptra = the vampire moth.

Moths

- heh, that is a really fun sounding theme!

I love making fishermen with this build by taking thornwhip via the druidic warrior fighting style

@@fullmetalpotato1258take shilelagh as the other cantrip for the rod, take crusher too and be able to push em back or reel em in

@@epitaph4606 yeeee love that!!!

Sure. But the extra damage is by far the worst of all the options for your swarm. I mean, if you have nothing better to do, extra damage is better than nothing. And, unlike the fey wanderer, you deal the damage only once per round. The fey wanderer does it for each target so you can deal the damage several times per round if you attack more than 1 creature. - The Innkeeper

@@TwistedTentacleInn It's not an attack, so it will be reliable against enemies that resist/are immune to non-magical attacks. Remember that in 5e, an attack has an associated d20 roll. The swarm damage isn't part of the attack roll like, say, Hunter's Mark. The downside is, of course, no critical hit damage. Still, being able to hurt a werewolf when you don't have a magic/silvered weapon at your disposal is a good thing. It's scratch damage, but better than no damage. I do agree that it'll usually be the least effective thing you can do with the feature, though. Moving yourself out of danger or moving an enemy into danger are fantastic. Especially if the DM has you fighting near, say, a cliff...

@@TwistedTentacleInn, whether it’s the worst thing is situational. Very often it will be the best thing you can do. The Fey Wanderer does a d4 vs d6, and “several times” is a tall order. At level 5 it’s typically twice (thrice at most) with a hand crossbow and CBE. In that scenario you’re also doing d6 weapon damage instead of d8, and you’re creating more competition for your bonus action in a class that uses it often. Again, I’m not arguing that the swarmkeeper damage option is better, but it’s far from trivial. 2 successful attacks from the Fey Wanderer damage = 1.5 more average damage than 1 successful attack from the Swarmkeeper.

@@Sean-fo8kg sure, when you're not fighting things with resistance to non magical attacks, which at lower levels is common, but beyond 5th is far less common. And in terms of your comment about it being the worst option being situational, that's effectively what I said too. "if you have nothing better to do..." means that yeah, it's the best option if the others aren't viable. - The Innkeeper

@@TwistedTentacleInn "The worst option on my free ability is to deal extra damage". OK... the point is you get options. None of the options are bad just more situational, there is always going to be a general best use option. Saying that the worst option for this ability is terrible compared to the fey wander's ONLY ability is kind of pointless and dumb; if all the options were better that would not be fair. You usually have to sacrifice some power for versatility.

How does it pair with half cover?

@@birchtree14 if i had to guess its because its supposed because it dosent proc oppptunity and any readyed attacks for moving are less likely to hit. Most likely wrong though

@@birchtree14 you move away 5ft, which does not provoke an opportunity attack, so you can still move away from tough enemies on your turn, and gives your plus 2 to your armor class until your next turn. Also, it's not a limited resource. You can do this every turn if you want.

Exactly what I’m doing for an upcoming game! Playing our own Unsleeping City but as kids. Playing the book worm kid who likes bugs and history. Carrying around a hollowed out quarter staff that stores silk moths. I’m absolutely ready for that shillelagh combo

With the ammo flavored as amphetamine syringes.

@@andrewzachar bruh I'm just seeing and I died on the spot

*Flying* velociraptors. >:)

Not necessarily. The Velociraptors just juggle you in the air

Heh, that was my theorized pathfinder hunter build lol

@@BR4IN1N4J4R That is hilarious.

Character idea. Auntie edna Crazy old cat lady who throws shoes with a swarm of cats and tressyms (winged cats).

@@kel8923 Beard'o'Bees, fully adjustable disguise, even on a centaur.

Yup. Add in telekinetic for more movement. Though later on spirit guardians or any of the damaging wall spells would.do better..or mayb evards black tentacles.

Thank you!

A year later, how has the build gone? I’m about to start a campaign and want to do Kenku SK as well. Instead of ravens I’m going with Shrikes.

My first character is level 4 swarmkeeper and a level one bard that is gonna be a college whispers bard. I'm gonna have some fun.

If you take mobile then the fly speed is 20

Swarmkeeper + bard multiclass would be perfect then.

Gettin' mad Shrek vibes, my dude.

But the multiclass is thematic and fun and effective! (A little bonus action heavy tho)

Hunter isn’t shit but it also isn’t amazing My main complaint is that all of it’s features give you either an option or another kinda forcing ranger into even more of a specialist

Hunter is very decent but its kinda outdated, they should've gotten an expanded spell list in tasha's

Oooo loving the Gaara reference

A swarm of scarab beetles for that Egyptian flair. Play it on an Aarakocra wielding a spear and now you're Azir!

Yeah I built Gara as soon as swarmkeeper and genie patron for warlock came out. Eldritch blast/ gathered swarm (sand bullets) and the gourd for the genie vessel.

Shikigami.

yup. Telekinetic feat adds more pushing. The dmg is a bit meh for this type of build but it does look fun. Would definitelu be better with multiclassing. At least 2 fighter imo so you can do the combo on the 1st round of combat (the spike growth + atk spell for save vs. Push and telekinetic save vs. Push).

This is how i'd probably go as well using spell attack cantrips to trigger gathering swarm. However i'd put in 2 levels of fighter as well for action surrge so you can setup the spirit guardians + spell attack combo on round 1. You can also add the telekinetic feat to move one more creature.

@@TheRobversion1 Oh yeah, Forgot to mention Telekinetic Feat . That's a great addition to the whole shtick. Also, druidic warrior can make you pretty SAD, using Shillelagh for some melee goodness .

@@Andrija722 yeah though imo not as integral.if you can get good cantrips from rhe cleric plus good spell attacks like guiding bolt. Thoufj fighting style wise, yeah might as well take it. It just that at least you arent shoehorned into it if you wanted to take something else like defense fighting style.

@@TheRobversion1 I agree, there is a lot of versatility here.

I wish hunter was more powerful, because some of its abilities are very nice

this is a blast from the past, They were called brownies, I loved the amount of shit they talked.

Fun for 3D flying adventures..Squirrel suits , gliders & parachutes could add tons of possibilities..

Swarm dice doednt work with crits. It doesnt happen on the attack. It is delivered by your swarm after a successful attack. Gloomstalker works best for crit fishing due to extra attack and always on advantage.

@@TheRobversion1 We're gonna have to tell DNDBeyond and Roll20 this if its true, it's been rolling those on crits

@@KarmaEpsilon well you could if you want. IMO the way i understand it RAW wise is the extra dmg is delivered by the swarm (kind of like a pet delivering dmg) and not actually you (so if you crit it's not included). The dmg isnt a magical part of your weapon (or your spell attack if you are using that to trigger it) or due to a maneuver you do nor is it a spell buffing you or cursing your opponent. It comes from a different source. But if your DM allows you to do it, why not? extra dmg is always good.

@@TheRobversion1 No I went back and reread it it definitely happens after the attack "hits" but whether that is separate or with damage seems totally up to the dm. "immediately after the attack hits" is both specific and vague at the same time, i was just letting the algorithm tell me what the ruling was since I'm playing online with the pandemic and everything. As a dm I should really keep a closer eye on this stuff. Personally I will let it keep applying as such, (because damage happens immediately after an attack hits too you know?) but I definitely understand the other viewpoint.

@@KarmaEpsilon imo its not a big deal if it doubles on a crit. just an extra 3.5 points of dmg that happens rarely. The gloomstalker still will be the better critfisher especially if multiclassed into fighter and using elven accuracy (6 attacks at level 8 on round one without using bonus action, all with advantage). That's 18 d20 rolls on round 1 to hopefully land a crit. IMO the swarmkeeper lends itself more to a caster type control ranger over a martial critfisher.

Ranged is probably the better option.

@@TreantmonksTemple thinking about it further, ranged synergises with the ability to fly (even if it’s not very far/high). Are there any feats that might often be overlooked but synergise well with this subclass?

@@jonathanholmes3149 PAM could be useful if the enemy is reliant on melee attacks and is out for your blood. Pairs well with a quarterstaff and the combat style that gives you druid cantrips to grab shillelagh. Mobile would pair extremely well with the level 7 ability, as the +10 to speed from that applies to all movement. Shield master *can* lead to a total of 20 feet of movement. Keep in mind that, thanks to the wording of the feat, you can use that bonus action shove before making the weapon attack. Shove, advance, attack, swarmshove. Crusher is a similar situation that does NOT eat your BA and is more likely to work. StRanger/Shillelagh choice. Make the DM really, really irritated. Sentinel w/crossbow expert can do nice things for you by merit of pulling the enemy within 15 feet and making it much harder to get away. Consider it to effectively be +15 to your movement in terms of getting an enemy within 5 feet of you. Once your swarm can knock enemies prone, grapple feats start to pair well. Prone it, grapple it. Slasher can pair with the forced movement to severely limit the enemy's mobility. Halved movement, moved 15 feet, and possibly knocked prone? Great way to really mess with that enemy's options. Slasher is compatible with finesse weapons. Telekinetic, as a BA, would also allow for a ton of forced movement.

if you're looking for someone who can make.saves almost.impossible, the best bet is eloquence bard + wild magic sorcerer..while quicken mind sliver is great, the eloquence bard boost outclasses it. Assuming level 7 wild, level 3 eloquence (to actually have a strong control spell), you can: bonus action: -1d6 save eloquence reaction: -1d4 wild action: banishment or polymorph with heightened metamagic disadvantage. Oh and of course cast through one of those magic items in tashas that provides penalties to saves.

Yes, but I'll be saving them for another video.