The Boneshard Swarm of Bones Can See You Holding Still
In DCC, the Boneshard Swarm of Bones moves at 20 feet per round. That is slow enough to outwalk, which is the whole trap. A sluggish monster reads as harmless, so the table relaxes, debates, and forgets the clock. Movement speed is not the threat. Hesitation is.
The mechanic that matters is its blindsight. Hiding does nothing. Sneaking does nothing. Dousing the torches does nothing except inconvenience the players who still have eyes. The swarm perceives position directly, so any plan built on concealment fails on contact, and the party discovers this while standing inside shard range.
Run it on a hard clock and make every round of indecision cost ground. The correct answer is distance: stay beyond the swarm’s reach and keep walking. The swarm cannot close 20 feet against a party that commits to moving. It can absolutely shred a party that stands still arguing about which spell to cast.
At the table: Call initiative immediately, announce “it knows exactly where each of you is,” and on any round a character takes no move action, have the swarm drift into range and resolve shard damage before they act.
Related
- Spells Are Verbs, Not Damage Rolls
- The Monster Has a Plan Too
- Stat Blocks Lie: Monster Tactic in DCC
Daily field notes, weekly Issues. Follow @ItsAlrdyWritten or subscribe via RSS.