We've completed work on our second trans-role critter, a level 21 elite controller that, once bloodied, transforms into a swarm creature with artillery as its role. Fun! Give them a try in your next session by downloading them right now.

You'll notice a couple of unusual traits with the second form swarm. For balance reasons, I gave its aura a range of two, and its reach for its melee basic attack a range of two. It will probably surprise your players the first couple of times it attacks, but that's okay.

I forgot to mention last week what I've done with XP for my trans-role critters. I split them in half and gave each form its own total. Why? Well, this makes it easier to award XP to a group who defeats one form and not the other (presumably they've escaped from or incapacitated the other form). But what do you do with a creature that is always bloodied? Well, that's up to you. I have a few suggestions, assuming the creature has some time to rest while your PCs do the same.

* Leave the creature as-is and reward the other half of the XP if it is defeated.

* Bring the creature up to its full HP (as if it wasn't a trans-role creature), and play it in its secondary form. (Maybe it regresses to its first form when its bloodied this time around?).

* Have the critter heal up to full, return it to its primary form, and start all over again.

If your PCs overcome and survive a challenge that they can learn from it should be worth XP, so I wouldn't shy away from awarding XP (perhaps with diminshing returns) for the same critter multiple times if they manage to defeat one form and not the other.

Finally, the Web Golem from the Demonweb minis line makes a fine miniature for the first form of this critter, and any medium vermin swarm mini will do the trick for its secondary.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy!