Cult Knife-Swarm

Proficiencies: Stealth +4, Athletics +3

Tide of Blades. While above half Vitality, the swarm has Advantage on melee attacks against isolated or Pinned targets.

Breaking Apart. The swarm takes double damage from area effects and blasts. Below half Vitality its melee damage drops one die; at 5 Vitality or less it scatters into fleeing survivors.

Mass Rush. The swarm moves up to its full Movement, ignoring difficult terrain but suffering full Reactive Fire, then makes a Melee Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 + 1 slashing damage.

Drag Down. The swarm attempts a grapple at +3 against one adjacent target. A grappled target is Exposed to every other attacker until it breaks free.

Morale: Fanatical until it breaks apart; the survivors of a shattered swarm flee without checking behind them.

Tactics: Launch it from ambush range in close terrain so the party gets one round of shooting, not three. Aim it at the softest target; in the open it dies before contact, and it should.

Loot / Evidence / Hooks: Dozens of ritual knives and identical masks, useful mainly as evidence of how deep the cult runs.

A Cult Knife-Swarm is a rush of masked bodies and blades that trades lives for contact. It exists to reach the party's line and make gun discipline irrelevant.

Use this enemy to punish parties that stand still, spread thin, or forget to cover a flank in close terrain.

Horde-unit durability, melee-only pressure, ambush-capable, damage falls off sharply as the mob thins.

Tide of Blades. Gains Advantage on melee attacks against isolated or Pinned targets while above half Vitality.

Breaking Apart. Below half Vitality its damage drops a die; near zero it scatters into fleeing survivors.

Mass Rush. Moves and attacks in the same surge, ignoring difficult terrain but suffering full Reactive Fire.

Drag Down. Grapples one target; a held target is Exposed to every other attacker.

Morale: Fanatical until it breaks apart; the survivors of a shattered swarm flee without checking behind them.

Tactics: Launch it from ambush range — alleys, vents, dense hab-blocks — so the party gets one round of shooting, not three. Aim it at the softest target and let Reactive Fire and Fire Lanes be the party's real defense. In the open it dies before contact, and it should.

Full Stat Block Priority: Low