Broodlings

Broodlings are a triumph of the Sii's mastery in biological engineering. Smallish creatures that are subordinate to the Sii’s will, they are deadly in packs and serve to harry his opponents in battle.

Broodlings are controlled by a Sii using his psionic powers. As a Sii’s understanding of the Great Ocean deepens, his psionic powers strengthen, allowing him to control more broodlings at a time. Each additional control level enables a Sii to control two more broodlings. Moreover, keeping the broodlings focussed on combat requires a continuous taxing of control.

Gestation
A broodling is formed by infesting the corpse of a fallen foe with a larva. After a period of incubation, the larva matures and consumes the corpse, becoming a broodling. The higher the class of the corpse, the bigger the size of the broodling. The size of a broodling affects in large measure its strength.

When a broodling first emerges from the corpse, the Sii forms a psychic link with it, asserting his will. Therefore it is essential that the Sii be present in the room at the maturity of the larvae, else distance will prevent this link from being formed, and the broodling wanders off. This can be overcome by the Ultrasonic Gestation Resonator, an artifact.

Offensive capabilities
Having a mental link to each other, a pack of broodlings acts as a cohesive unit, enabling them to strike the opponent with precision. This means that the damage they deal is considered as a single hit. For instance, taking the case where there are 10 broodlings and each does 10 damage points. The total damage they would do before the mob’s armour class or AC is taken into consideration is therefore 100 damage points (10 * 10). If the mob has enough AC to reduce the damage it takes by 10, the broodlings will deal 90 damage points (100 – 90). If the hits were counted separately, the mob would take 0 damage points. Therefore, broodlings being taken as a unitary whole is a good thing offensively as it mitigates the effect of the mob’s armour class.

One limitation of the brood’s offensive capabilities is that its damage type is solely edged. This means that if the mob is completely or highly edged resistant - and there are a fair number of mobs with that property at the higher end - the brood will not be able to hurt it.

Defensive capabilities
Defensively, the broodlings also act as a unitary whole, which is not such a good thing here. Take the case where there are 10 broodlings with 10 hit points or HP each, and a mob does 50 damage points to the brood. The result is that 5 broodlings will die as their health points are pooled together. 10 broodlings will not take 10 rounds to die, nor is the damage split among the broodlings (each broodling taking 5 damage points).

Broodlings do not seem to be any good at tanking, and it is a fair bet that whatever a broodling can tank, the Sii should be able to tank with great ease anyway.

Skills
There is a brood skill set: potency, discipline, and expiration. The help files on these skills speak for themselves.