New Monster Template: Hivemind

 I will NEVER be able to forget what Aaron told me about the movie that inspired him to create this in his novel.

Something like it was sorely missed in Pathfinder, though.

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New Creature Template: Hivemind

A hivemind, or collective, is created when the minds of many creatures are bonded together by powerful magic (like the bonding of minds occult ritual). More rarely, hiveminds can form spontaneously as powerful telepathic races or cultures evolve and share more and more of their thoughts and goals.

Creating a Hivemind

“Hivemind” is an acquired or inherited template that can be added to any creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature). Usually, all creatures in a hivemind share the same type or subtype, but exceptions are known for acquired hivemind templates. A hivemind uses the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Challenge Rating: Each body in the hivemind gains +1 CR for every other body it contains.

Type: A hivemind creature’s type remains unchanged and it gains the hivemind subtype.

Defensive Abilities: A hivemind creature retains all of the base creature’s defensive abilities and special qualities. Since all members share a single conscience, mind-affecting effects can affect a group of hivemind creatures only if all members of the group fail their saving throw against them.

Special Attacks: Each body in the hivemind retains its special abilities and gains the following special ability.

Hive Mind (Ex): All members of a hivemind are in constant telepathic communication within each other, regardless of distance. If one is aware of a particular danger, they all are aware of a particular danger. If one member of the hivemind in a group is not flat-footed or flanked, none of them are.

Ability Scores: All creatures in the hivemind share the same mental scores. Each member of the hivemind gains the highest Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma score among all the bodies. In addition, the hivemind creature gains a +1 bonus to an ability score of its choice for every 4 members it contains. Base creatures without an Intelligence score are considered to have Intelligence 0 for this purpose. A hivemind whose Intelligence score increases above 0 is no more immune to mind-affecting effects.

Feats: Each body in the hivemind retains their own feats, but every member is considered to possess the same teamwork feats possessed by any other member. If one or more members of the hivemind are able to use spells or spell-like abilities, all members gain Conduit Casting as a bonus feat, without having to meet its prerequisites.

Skills: For every skill in which any of the hivemind’s members have ranks in, each body in the hivemind gains the higher skill ranks possessed among all members, though applying their own individual bonuses to the skill.

Languages: A hivemind speaks all the languages that its members know, and may learn new languages depending on its collective Intelligence score.