Incidental FFG Star Wars Species

And now for the rest of my adaptions.

Weirdly, I only wrote up three actual Star Wars species over the years. Most of these are incidental random ones I did because I thought they would be neat.

(Qort from Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures comic by Harvey Tolibao)

Aloxian

Brawn 3 Will 1

WT 11 ST 9

1 Rank in Survival

Starting XP 95

Quick Reflexes: Aloxians are quick to react to danger, both consciously and reflexively. Aloxians add 1 Advantage to checks they make to determine Initiative and to react to sudden dangers or unexpected events.

Bone Helmet: All Aloxian start with a vonduun crab skull to use as a helmet, which they believe helps balance their natural aggression, treating situations without it as if in a corrosive atmosphere with rating 8 but affecting Strain not Wounds. Losing it triggers the Berserk ability as an automatic out of turn incidental. For 10 XP, Bone Helmet can be bought off.

Berserk Active (Maneuver) Once per encounter, your character may use this talent.

Until the end of the encounter or until they are incapacitated, your character adds 1 Success 2 Advantage to all melee combat checks they make. However, opponents add 1 Success to all combat checks targeting your character. While berserk, your character cannot make ranged combat checks. At the end of the encounter (or when they are incapacitated), your character suffers 6 strain.

Helmet was costed as Air Supply and Berserk for 10-10XP, -5 XP for high Brawn + WT
Kind of a weird one I've never been super happy with. The concept sounds cool but in practise it's a complicated.

(Therm Scissorpunch from the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story)

Nephran

Brawn 3 Agility 1

WT 10 ST 10

1 Rank in Resilience

Starting XP: 100

Amphibious: Nephran can breathe underwater without penalty (or can hold its breath so long as to have the same result) and never suffers movement penalties for traveling through water.

Pincers: add 1 Setback to checks they make requiring fine manipulation, and unarmed attacks gain the Vicious 1 item quality.

I’m worried I’m giving too many species Resilience as their starting skill.

(Zoidberg from Futurama)

Variantion or Subspecies: Decapodian

Replace Brawn 3 with Brawn 2

Replace 1 Rank in Resilience with 1 Rank in Charm

Redundant Organs: Decapodians have many redundant organs that allow for them to live despite massive trauma. If a Decapoian suffers a Fearsome Wound or Agonizing Wound as the result of a critical hit, that result is ignored.

Yes, it is Zoidberg. I managed to work in the jokes about his ever changing anatomy by taking the Redundant Organs trait twice but also tried to work in the nebbishness and mating competitions.

(Star Wars Adventures by Derek Charm, a later addition after posting, very simple)

Patrolian

Intellect 3 Presence 1

WT 10 ST 10

Starting Experience: 100

Patrolian begin the game with one rank in Skulduggery. They still may not train Skulduggery above rank 2 during character creation.

Amphibious: Patrolian can breathe underwater without penalty and never suffer movement penalties for traveling through water.

(Off the starboard bow)

Klingon

3 Brawn 1 Cunning

WT 11 ST 9

1 Rank in Resilience or Deception

Starting XP 95

Redundant Body Systems: Decrease the difficulty to heal any Critical Injuries a Krogan is suffering from by one (Hard becomes Average, Average becomes Easy, and so on)

Basically a rework of the Krogan. If you want to have both, just say the Klingon tendency to have radically different makeup is a symptom of the Krogan injecting themselves with mamalian genes to stave off the Genophage. A 5 XP penalty was applied for having a combination of high Brawn and WT.

(Concept art for Oddworld by Steven Olds)

Slig

Intellect 1 Cunning 3
WT 12 ST 10
1 Rank in Coercion
Starting XP 110

Amphibious: Sligs can breathe underwater without penalty (or can hold its breath so long as to have the same result) and never suffers movement penalties for traveling through water.

Poor Vision: Take 1 Setback die when performing vision-based perception checks

Slig Pants: Slig start the game with a pair of mechanical legs, without these legs a Slig can only perform 1 manoeuvre per round.

The Oddworld guys, the Dug would serve as the Glukkon. They have a lot of XP for being a bunch of grunts. If they were built on a 120 point scale they would have a Starting XP of 100. And if built on a human/Genesys 110 XP, they would have a starting XP of 90.

(From the Dragonball Z anime flashback)

Saiyan

Brawn 3 Cunning 1

WT 12 ST 10

1 Rank in Perception or Coordination

Starting XP 95

Fight-Minded: Saiyans add 1 Setback die to all Charm checks they make. Other characters add 1 setback to all social skill checks they make targeting Saiyans.

Fast Metabolism: Saiyans recover twice as fast from the effects of poisons and toxins as humans. They also require a huge amount of sustenance (food, fuel, etc.) each day; if they are unable to meet this requirement, they become disoriented until they can satiate themselves. When attempting to recover from Critical Injuries they add a Boost to Resilience checks they make.

The Beast Within: Saiyans generally look humanoid. However, when your character is incapacitated due to exceeding their strain threshold while in human form, they undergo the following change as an out-of-turn incidental. They heal all strain; increase their Brawn and Agility by one, to a maximum of 5; and reduce their Intellect and Willpower by one to a minimum of 1. They deal +1 damage when making unarmed attacks, and their unarmed attacks have a Crit rating of 3. In addition, their jaws elongate into muzzles, their hair thickens and they grow more all over their bodies, and their eyes become those of a red primate. Your GM should ensure that NPCs react appropriately to this (at the very least, upgrading the difficulty of all social skill checks twice). Your character reverts to human form after eight hours, or if they are incapacitated (by exceeding either their wound threshold or their strain threshold).

Savage Control: Once per session, your character may make a Hard Discipline check as an out-of-turn incidental. If they succeed, they may either trigger The Beast Within or avoid triggering it when they exceed their strain threshold.

Weak Spot: Saiyans have very sensitive tails. If the tail is damaged, usually when an opponent aims for it in combat, the damage is not reduced by the character’s soak.

Well this was a challenge. I only tried because someone reminded me that the Ki blasts and flying was “normal” for Dragon Ball so even humans could do that. That just mean stripping down the Saiyans to their key traits.

While way too much for Star Wars and probally evem Genesys, I copied the Shifters from the Genesys Expanded Player's Guide. The tails being a weak spot actually meshed with Genesys rules and the 15 XP negates the Shifter (5 XP) + Improved Shifter (10 XP) Talents with an additional XP penalty for high Brawn + WT. The Resilience rider on Fast Metabolism seemed to fit Zenkai.

I was very tempted to rework Savage Control and the Beast Within for Aloxians. Maybe at some later revision.

(From Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm)

Tarkata

Brawn 3 Presence 1

WT 11 ST 10

1 Rank in Perception or Discipline

Starting XP 90

Blades and Teeth: Tarkata have sharp teeth and blades on their forearms. Tarkata may spend 4 Advantage from a combat check they make targeting an engaged enemy to deal an additional hit to the target; the hit has a base damage of Brawn +2 and a Critical rating of 3. (This hit inflicts +1 damage for each Success, as usual.)

-5 XP for High Brawn and WT, their arm blades pre-empt their teeth with damage so they are rolled into the same ability.

(Meelina by Justin Murray, Mortal Combat X concept art.If Meelina/Half-Tarkata aren't supposed to be pure freaks, then having some kind of lips makes sense, even if no design really makes it work)

Half-Tarkata

All 2

WT 10 ST 10

1 Rank of any skill up to a maximum of two ranks at character creation

Starting XP 105

Inherited Jaws: Half-Tarkata retain the inhumanly wide mouths and sharp teeth of the Tarkata. When a Half-Tarkata makes an unarmed combat check, the attack increases its base damage by +1 and has a Critical rating of 3.

Just a Human with 5XP deducted for being able to bite people during Brawl attacks.

(Games Workshop  Runequest Box 3: Trolls and Trollkin, sculpted by the Perry Twins and painted by Richard Abbott. Artwork by Jan Pospisil)

Uz

Brawn 3 Willpower 1

WT 12 ST 10

1 rank in Stealth or Survival

Starting XP 100

Fast Metabolism: Members of the species recover twice as fast from the effects of poisons and toxins as humans. They also require a huge amount of sustenance (food, fuel, etc.) each day; if they are unable to meet this requirement, they become disoriented until they can satiate themselves. When attempting to recover from Critical Injuries they add 1 Boost die to Resilience checks they make.

Shadow Dweller: When making skill checks, Uz remove up to two setback dice imposed due to darkness. Uz add 1 setback die to all checks they make while in bright natural light, such as direct sunlight.

Not quite as Gloranthan or as Star Wars like as I wanted them to be, but the gist was gotten across. XP penalty for high Brawn and WT but XP bonus for low Willpower + ST. Notice the half-troll which would become the Warhammer/Warcraft orc on the far left of the models. Compare the decades of design changes, pick the one that better fits your Star Wars game, witch masks on the cheap or proper prosthetics.

(From Nintendo Direct for Splatoon/Splatoon 3 promo art)

Inkling

Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 1, Cunning 2, Willpower 2, Presence 2

Starting Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn
Starting Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
Starting Experience: 90
Starting Skills: An Inkling starts with one rank in either Athletics or Charm during character creation. They obtain this rank before spending experience points, and may not increase Athletics or Charm above rank 2 during character creation.
Amphibious: An Inkling can freely shift between their humanoid form and their cephalopod form on an instinctual level. This species can breathe underwater without penalty and never suffers movement penalties for traveling through water or other non-toxic liquids, particularly their own ink. An Inkling may need to make an Athletics check to scale sheer surfaces or jump gaps, at the GM’s discretion.

Ink Jet: Ink Jet: An Inkling can spray a highly-pigmented ink from its pores, which they can use to mark territory and more easily traverse ground. As a Manoeuvre, an Inkling can coat a surface area up to a maximum of Short range to use the Amphibious Trait or as an Action, an Inkling may also use Ink Jet as an attack with the following weapon profile: (Ranged, Damage -, Critical 2, Range [Short]; triggering a critical temporarily applies the Blinded critical injury, lasting until the start of the Inkling's next turn)

Spline Shooter: This liquid-spraying weapon is used by Inklings to extend their ink spray.

Ranged, Damage -, Critical 2, Range [Medium]; triggering a critical temporarily applies the Blinded critical injury, lasting until the start of the Inkling's next turn. An Inkling can target a surface area up to a maximum of Medium Range for the purpose of coating it in ink.

Subspecies: Octoling
Replace Intellect 1 Willpower 2 with Intellect 2, Willpower 1
Replace Starting Skills with 1 Free rank in either Mechanics or Athletics

 

Saw someone make an Inkling/Octoling write up for Genesys and I redid for Edge of the Empire 130 XP total. Ink Jet is a combination of Climber (valued at 5xp) and the potential for a temporary Critical. Probally could of reworked Ink Spray from the offical Quarren species. Weirdly, they might have rabbits in the earliest concept. Making them weird Lepi (Rabbit-People) found in the Unofficial Species Menagerie. For a sort of swamp rabbit, use that theme and make all the 70s references you want)

Here is a great example of the creation process in action

(Wayne Reynolds or Kyle Hunter for your choice of how unpleasant your goblins look)

Paizlin – V1

Agility 3 Presence 1

WT 8 + Brawn ST 10 + Willpower

1 Rank in Survival or Stealth

Starting XP: 105

Size Matters Not: Pazlins have a Silhouette of 0 and their encumbrance value is halved

Dark Vision: When making skill checks, Pazlins remove up to two Setback dice imposed due to darkness.

Fast Metabolism: Members of the species recover twice as fast from the effects of poisons and toxins as humans. They also require a huge amount of sustenance (food, fuel, etc.) each day; if they are unable to meet this requirement, they become disoriented until they can satiate themselves. When attempting to recover from Critical Injuries they add 1 Boost die to Resilience checks they make.

Vicious Little Monsters: Pazlins add a Boost Die to all combat checks that target characters who have a larger silhouette than they do.

Paizlin – V2
Brawn 1 Agility 3 Presence 1

WT 8 + Brawn ST 10 + Willpower

1 Rank in Survival or Coercion

Starting XP: 90

Size Matters Not: Pazlins have a Silhouette of 0 and their encumbrance value is halved

Dark Vision: When making skill checks, Pazlins remove up to two Setback dice imposed due to darkness.

Fast Metabolism: Members of the species recover twice as fast from the effects of poisons and toxins as humans. They also require a huge amount of sustenance (food, fuel, etc.) each day; if they are unable to meet this requirement, they become disoriented until they can satiate themselves. When attempting to recover from Critical Injuries they add 1 Boost die to Resilience checks they make.

Nimble: Paizlins have a melee and ranged defense of 1.

XP unchanged due to Silhouette but +5 to compensate for combination of low Brawl and WT. Way too many powers to be used in a Star Wars game.

Lancer The Three Sisters - The Tom Bloom Planets

Edit: I forgot The Three Sisters was also a thing in another Lancer product. Names repeats.

Another stupid idea I had, that I never gave the appropriate attention to and probably should have thought through more before putting it to text. Since Netflix Castlevania and Devil May Cry came out, I’m in the unfortunate position of repeating what Adi Shankar did to those stories. And I think he is an awful producer and writer.

Massif Press was originally the work of two, Tom Bloom and Miguel Lopez. And while it has expanded nicely into a label for a variant of other people willing to work in the tactical space of the Lancer RPG. The original two have taken different paths. Miguel went to Wizards of the Coast and ate a non-compete clause, and Tom continued to work of smaller tactical RPGs and wargames, partly under the Chasm label. Most notably Icon, Magnagothica: Maleghast and Cain. All powered by his artwork just as much as the mechanics.

There’s a natural overlap to merge the lot of them together. To leverage a shared visual style and ethos into supplementary work for the bigger Lancer RPG. While providing a totally different set of places to visit that aren’t just repeats of the same UN Mecha vs Human Greed and Artificial Gods. Even if it might just end up like that.

First the scene must be set.

At the approximate distance between Kunlun Line – Blink Station Arka Tagh and the Ural Line is a cluster of three worlds, settled under the Second Committee. From a colonial fleet, equipped with what was the latest in genetic replication and terraforming equipment. Crafting a group of likely worlds into suitable habitats for humanity and in turn provide a springboard forward into the region, each growing symbiotically with one another. This was called Operation Three Sisters, after the companion agriculture principle.

Space is a hostile place, however. Although all ships made planetfall, the circumstance of their transit made Operation Three Sisters non-viable. Passing through a radiation cloud during transit, the convoy experienced irregular and inconsistent equipment malfunctions, resulting in each colony missing vital technological systems required to maintain even a Pre-Fall technological base.

Tom Bloom

The Games

CAIN

Tom Bloom too

The most stable world is Eden, not exactly the most original, but most Second Committee names were not. Eden was settled by Seedship Tasman as the second of the three in the convoy, but the last to founded. Suffering partial failures in the archives and powerplant, it limped into orbit 30 years after it was due to arrive. Worse, the colonists found that not only were they missing large stretches of the knowledge database, but they could not restart the engines.

Eden has persisted as an early-spaceflight planet. Fusion plants prevent it from degrading to mere industrial levels. But the reliance of disassembling and recovering hard-copy material from the Tasman has meant knowledge has been reset to pre-Fall Cradle. To most of the population, who have grown and died, Cradle may not even exist except as a half-remembered line in a history class. Cradle and Eden’s pasts slurring together. Eden is called Earth in parlance, for it is earthly.

What makes Eden so special is the technology is not something that just stays still. Even the remotest and least concentrated human society will develop technologically to manipulate their environment, even if other useful technology is forgotten. Unlike what they call Union “High-Band”, Edenic “Low-Band” networks piggyback off quantum states found in large-scale computing. Providing low-energy solutions to which Union had never considered.

To early colonists, the nano-scale technology on the Tasman was junk. Not simple enough to use without instructions or immediately reverse engineering. But with the growing energy needs of the glass and steel cities, their time has come. Integrated into the population, they provide the substratum for the network, computing with their host’s spare brainpower and digital technology. They perform calculations for everything and are so ubiquitous as to be forgotten. But as the world’s scientists cracked paracausality, the network’s capabilities have grown, super-charging a data-hunger world economy.

The cost of this is, just as Union NHPs are a black box, fragments of a god less than a cosmic moment from becoming a reality-warping Eidolon. Eden’s Low-Band network is just as capable of transforming. The nano-systems pull from the neural connections. The human body has evolved to treasure its bad thoughts so it can avoid them or inflict them. Now they have machines to manifest them outright.

Those who know, obfuscate, they call it grace. Those with nanobot bioaccumulation so severe to be medically diagnosable, Exorcists. The best are called virtues. The connection between thought and reality, psychic powers. Those in the know call them blasphemies. When people with high grace crack, the resulting network-based Semi-Eidolon mashed from their subconscious, bodies and whatever material that happens to be nearby, are called Sins.

Those in the know are called CAIN, they are the ones who own the lucrative rights to the genie they could never put back in the bottle and are so obliged to clean up the mess. SERAPH is their orbital rail station. The first point of call for a Dispora or Union ship. They claim the planet is quarantined for domestic viruses, but the computing queue is available for Manna/ mineral ore. Plenty of people want to see the stars though. If the anti-nano blockers fail for a visitor (say if a transfusion occurs), CAIN will try and eliminate them before word gets out.

An SSC research team is poking around, trying to figure out why weird stuff happens they cannot perceive but local can. Harrison Armories is making bids to governments to get Low-Band technology for R&D. The Union administrator is being corrupted by CAIN for the greater good. Horus cults run rampant, local Sin-worshiping nutjobs masterminded by a sinister telecommunication company with an illegal omninet hook and a fondness for baroque iconography. IPSN wants to start shipping workers and ore about the system but doesn’t understand why their expensive ships turn into slaughterhouses after too long and their NHPs are having issues.

Magnagothica: Maleghast

Tom Bloom as well

The planet is the city, but the city is not the planet. Anzenmezzeron is a colossal city buried deep in a crater/valley/hole in the planet’s grey crust. When the Seedship Flinders reached orbit, the crew were faced with a difficult decision. The terraforming systems were fried, and the planet could never be rendered truly habitable enough for the human species. So, they found the deepest and widest hole and burrowed down into that. Letting the organic sludge they could save fill it with air and food. Hoping someday the combination of urban waste gas and primitive ecosystem could transform the planet. Planetary population remains at low altitudes. With some tens of millions dwelling around reclamation facilities, mining towns and self-made ecosystems. Technology has stabilized at post-industrial levels, with solar technology supplemented by fusion and a focus on preserving mechanical and medical technology.

Anzenmezzeron is called the city of One Billion Corpses, a descending ramble of gothic structures and primitive corpse reclamation facilities, deep in what should have been a marine trench. It is wholly ungoverned except for the urban gangs and “Houses”, corporations and cartels with power. The Houses are heavily linked to external corpostate influences, though such efforts are coordinated by local representatives, who travel to Anzenmezzeron for business from nearby urban centres, incognito. It is known the SSC has a strong interest in aquiring novel, if not revolutionary trends and technologies. Others have more cursorary interests, a planet's worth of customers is still a valuable resource.

At the heart of the city is the engines for the Flinders, now the source of the city grid. The engine sheds have taken on a superstitious dread in the planetary culture, referred to as Hell and seen as the source of the urban social-security system. Inhabitants who dwell there, the so-called “devils” receive radical genetic splicing and medical work as a privilege of maintaining the decaying engines and ply their influence over the ascending sprawl.

As the genetic banks were deemed useless without a supporting ecosystem, early colonists transformed them into engineered urban and wasteland compatible organisms, many which matched cultural tastes before functionality. This includes the creation of biological components, tissue samples without a supporting organism that are surgically grafted into the recipient. The so-called Ending of Death social policy has further encouraged a culture of radical body-modding and gene-splicing as a sign of affiliation.

Anzenmezzeron's Ending of Death social policy is unique. Inhabitants have genetic samples taken and are regularly synchronized to the city grid. As the inhabitants die of non-natural causes, the grid attempts to reboot their vitals using the genetic signature and composite material from the corpse reclamation facilities. No more than six days later, most of the inhabitants are flash cloned into unstable and unhealthy bodies. Why such a measure exists is not known, but it’s speculated to do with the original crew of the Flinders trying to preserve their lives to oversee the terraforming. Certainly, Union observers have noted the corpse reclamation facilities are constructed from the terraforming equipment of the Flinders. Including whatever new technology was developed by early colonists. Alternatively, holographic and nano-cloud copies of inhabitants, referred to as spirits are possible.

This system does not extend beyond Anzenmezzeron. The immense power requirements rely on the Flinders, and the concept is despised outside the city. Nevertheless, it is custom to return corpses to the city for burial. Those who have undergone the process cannot leave the city except with the help of ritualized medical workers/morticians. Necromancers, as they are called, exude the organic compounds required to maintain the partially human tissue of the city inhabitants.

Morbidity in all forms is common in the city and less elsewhere, where religious devotion or fatalism are more common philosophies. Cannibalism is also noted to occur within the city. Union policy is to avoid dangerous areas and rethink travel.

The sole planetary port is a large expanse of cleared wasteland adjoining the trench. Orbit to ground shuttles must be used as the planet has never supported an atmosphere dense enough for local traffic.

ICON

Tom Bloom yet again

The first and possibly the most successful of Operation Three Sisters, undone by unseen forces and Second Committee attitudes. The Seedship Cook seemed to have escaped serious damage from the radiation. And was the first to make planetfall, establishing settlements and terraforming the planet Garden into an ever-increasing approximation of pre-industrial Cradle. However, the radiation had damaged the systems that regulated the genetic banks. Effectively the entire ecosystem was spliced before arrival, mutating out of the assumed limits. What was worse is that human genetic material had entered the environment. Though the initial embryos were safe, there was no telling if the ecology could have some unexpected genetic interaction.

The colonists decided to make the best of it. Clean samples could be obtained in the future from System 2 (Eden) and System 3 (Anzenmezzeron). The ecology proved tameable, with scientists mapping out the shifted niches of new flora and fauna. Garden achieved system-wide spaceflight and awaited signals from the other members of Operation Three Sisters. With the crises on the other to planets though, Garden found itself increasingly isolated. Over generations, increasingly large numbers of human-influenced fauna or worse, humans with animalistic traits were occurring in the deeper wilderness, where the spliced ecosystem was continuing to cross-pollinate and supercharge growth. Historians within Union and Purview who specialise in the psychology of Second Committee worlds, suggest that a bunker mentality developed from a triple isolation from assumed norms.

Increasingly, a technological gap developed between the spliced communities and the less altered population. Certainly, spaceflight dropped off and increasingly large, monumental and fortified urban sprawl developed. The Arken Empire as the inhabitants of Arden Eld (modern planet name) recall, was a tyrannical and increasingly industrial state bent of ripping up and remodelling the world. Favouring subaltern and automated processes, even as it increasingly employed spliced populations. Arken seems to have even unlocked the secrets of paracausality, but seems to have used it to develop storage spaces for mind-uploading, rather than communication or FTL. The end of the empire is surrounded in myth, but seems to be explosive and subducted numerous urban areas. Amateur archelogy and tomb-robbing (locally termed Churnning) shows grandiose plans to upload their civilisation to be immortal in the face of the apocalypse. In which case, they might have ignored warning signs of power fluctuations or nuclear exchanges.

Modern Arden Eld comprises of numerous city-states set between impressive ruins and dense wilderness. Ruined areas appear to be leaking toxins into the soil, local refer to those as “Blight”. Biological subalterns seem to thrive across large stretches of land, though they are seen as spiritual by the inhabitants. Their purpose is unknown, it is speculated they serve an ecological regulation function in the face of unknown mutations. Human-derived genetic groups “Aethrynn” and “Trogg” differ from the baseline in a way no recorded ethnic group or even archaic human species has done. The remainder of sapient life is only not aliens on the basis they are derived from Cradle life. Union policy about NHPs applies. Integrated nanocloud technology is widely understood, if limited, and used for resource manipulation (local term elemental control).

Arden Eld is beginning to emerge into a second industrial age, based on acquiring technology and salvage from the Arken ruins. The subsequent rise in militarisation has attracted the attention of corpostates and local representatives are present. Harrison Armoury is pursuing arms contracts and non-military technology upgrades with preexisting Second Committee/Arken technology. SSC maintains a network of biologists in cooperation with Union administration to catalogue the unique ecology. Horus cells are not known, but Omninet rumours suggest that at least one cell on Eden is offering bounties to confirm the existence of so-called demons. Suggesting that NHP-equivlents were developed and Eidolon exist deep below the ruins. With a ruined if preexisting asteroid mining infrastructure, IPSN has suggested that reopening them could be a valuable concern.

The United Nations of Eden and the city of Anzenmezzeron have both suggested deploying their armed forces as Union Auxilleries in return for increased development and and lifting of travel/commerce restrictions. The unreliability of thier armed forces and ongoing health concerns mean such suggestions are limited.

Limited Challenge Role Setting

 So, I had an idea for a limited CR setting.

That’s is one where the number of higher Challenge Rating foes decrease the more powerful, they are. Now most of these sorts of ideas tend to be very focused, a selection of monsters meant to fit a theme, usually mythological. But by applying it to all of them I hope to see what interesting concepts shake out of the exercise.

I’ll be using the Pathfinder 1E Bestiary 1, since that’s about as good a collection of concentrated OGL monsters as you can get.

The idea goes like this: There should be only one of each monster above CR 20 because there is only one Tarrasque.
Therefore, there should be 10 of the next range below and further down. I had originally debated whether to divide the 20 or so CRs into blocks of 4 or 5 but settled on the latter for neatness. I assume there is no limit to the number of monsters at CR ½ or under. Which overruled another idea to have 100,000 for CR ¼ to ½.

CR 21+: 1 of Each

CR 16-20: 10 of Each

CR 11-15: 100 of Each

CR 6-10: 1,000 of Each

CR 1-5: 10,000 of Each

This immediately lends itself to a Tolkien-style setting. Not one based on choice, but simple because the two dominate forms of humanoids are the playable set, known as Demi-Humans in prior editions and the Orcs and Goblins.

I started by going through them alphabetically, but gave up when I realsied how many fall under animal or one-off humanoid. Only writing entries when something interesting cropped up.

Aboleth - CR 7 so only a 1000, if there were any more once, they probably weren't many more than that. A Leviathanic civilisation.

Leviathanic in this case referring to Hobbes, as each intelligent creature is its own body politic, self-sufficient and not inherently needing each other except for mating.

Same for Intellect Devourers.

 

Angles - CR 14, 16 and the Solar at 23.

The number of Angels in existence is 21, and there is 1 Solar, who is the second most powerful individual creature in the setting. Not just the founder of cults but a being whole religions are built around.

Animated objects range from CR 1/2 to 11. So, expect only a few to be named foes but everyone knows about them, even if they never saw one.

Archeons are less so, CR 2, 4 and 14 means they are the heavenly host that fill the background scenes of illuminated scrolls, with only the 100 Trumpet Archons possibly being listed in grimoires with names.

Azata Are just kind of there, just like in regular Pathfinder filling a planar slot. There are enough to fill an afterlife but again, only the top hundred at CR 13 would be known.

If any has used them as a major plot point, I would like to know.

 

Barghests come in multitudes and probably tie to Goblin lineages and tribes where they form a kind of evil ancestor/fiendish spirit. There are only 10,000 Goblin Dogs so maybe the mark of a chief is the ownership/companionship of one. To be a king is to have a warren of these to outfit a calvary squadron independent of Worgs.

 

Lots of humanoids in the 10,000 category. Much more likely to be weirdos who have travelled long distances to sit in dungeon environments or more interestingly, there are homelands where they concentrate.

Boggard swamp isn't just a big swamp but a region where nearly all 10,000 of the nasty toads dwell and defend. Makes recruiting or dissuading them much more of a plot point, if the villain is seeking to raise an army from each homeland.

Elves and Gnomes probably gave up a lot to become playable characters, there are enough fey, fey-like beings or spirit written up as physical monsters (Naga for example) to fill several kingdoms, but they suffer the same limiting factor as non-playable humanoids where the hard limit restricts them to world-wide bands or a single region as Their Land

 

Things in the 10,000 categories portray a mosaic ecology, where you only get so many of each medium or largish mammal and the next region over it's a raptor or a giant spider occupying the same ecological niche. Something is supressing the spread of these monsters or supplanting them.

For some stupid reason D&D 3E decided a non-magic wolf of normal size was a threat on its own for four, armed people.

But big animals and oozes are much rarer, Cave Bears, non-Raptor dinosaurs, fake-dragons and elephants are only a thousand each. Either very rare or found in very specific and fragile environments.

Non-earthly ecologies tend to fit around this number as well, a thousand of each monster. Maybe the world is quite desolate, where monsters and people are few and far between.

While most dinosaurs are in the 1,000-creature range, Deinonychus and Pteranodon are CR 3. Meaning they feed into the widely spaced mosaic ecology or it implies there is a lost world region if not scattered.

 

Didn't remember that Cyclops Ogres and Trolls fall under CR 5, so there are enough that everyone will probably encounter them but few will see them without adventuring. Since 10,000 across the world is still sparse. But still 10 times as likely as a chimera. Manticores are CR 5 meaning them show up relatively frequently as well.

Likewise, there being a limit of 10,000 doppelgangers and other gotcha monster like Were-Rats and Were-Wolves is interesting. From the description they are immediate threats any community, yet even regular D&D and Pathfinder tend to use them sparingly. Everyone knows there is only so many, so there is unlikely to be one here. But there are maybe 10,000 settlements (maybe an appreciative fraction) where they lurk, stirring up trouble. Or they are like Lamia and Medusa (1,000) and hide out sometimes in the wilderness like Eberron Shifters, with their own secret codes and societies.

 

While there are only a thousand horses suitable for riding, there are an unlimited number of ponies and riding dogs. Travel is at a bit of a slow pace.

 

Most demons types are only a 1000 to 100 of each (excluding Dretch and Quasits at 10,000), enough to fill obscure and blasphemous tomes but too many for general circulation. But most of the iconic ones are CR 15-20, meaning the 10 are certainly referenced by name and a GM might want to assign one when such a creature comes up.

Balor Lords are called out as being CR 21-25 with unique Demon Lords at CR 26 or greater. Since the rules stated that Anything above CR 20 was unique, it means perhaps you skip the Demon Lords of the abyss at all and just have ruling  Balor Lords, who do not deign to leave their plane of power except to bring about the end of creation.

A 100 Retrievers means those are precious status symbols that filter down to lesser powers. Assume each Balor Lord and regular Balor has one and have the rest pop up wherever.

 

Everything that applies to Demons applies to Devils. With the exception that Bearded Devils, being CR 5 form a clearly distinct Legion of the Hell vibe and witnessing their marching might convey the scale, despite being 10,000 max. Hellhounds being 10,000/1,000 in number means you would see them mixed in for pretty much everything.

The whole planar ecology is small and mostly in the 1,000 to 100 range per species. They are immortal creatures, each with a set range and a set prey.

Half-Celestials and Half-Fiends might be a more common foe for cults to use where another game would use summoned monsters. Just because their CR+1 to +3 more easily allows them to fit under the limit.

Kytons (Pathfinder's Not-Chain Devils) are CR 6 and get thrown far into the background as a mere 1,000 monstrous freaks. Sprinkle them as creepy cult leaders or an adventure for thwarting their collective schemes. Just know that a concentrated effort to get rid of them from the players might succeed.

 

Dragons are interesting.

While they have a fairly linear growth pattern, moving up a CR band each major growth stat block, it means that dragons are broadly OK with losing 90% of their cohort each stage of their lives until there are only 10 remaining. The Ancient Dragons of their colour.

On the face of it, the greatest of the dragon species should be known far and wide, sine there are the 100 greatest dragons whose hunger and plans could threaten empires and obliterate kingdoms. Song and grimoire dedicated to their history and cataloguing their actions and weaknesses. Even for the 1000 Elder dragons. With the frequency that D&D-derived games use dragon gods, these 100 could be the mortal instruments of speakers for them, Bahamut and Tiamats’ cardinals or apostles.

But even within the pattern worldbuilding wrinkles appear.

Red and Gold Dragons Wyrmlings and Young Dragons start in the CR 5-10 range, a mere 1,000 and Red Dragons stay that way as Young Dragons. Maybe Red Dragons disperse and though tough enough for their birth environment, find themselves outmatched as they approach maturity but are not yet powerful enough to take on full adults. Gold Dragons bulge out at the young and adult stages, keeping to 100 of each. Maybe they are just so powerful that when they seek out danger, they take on only the greatest challenges.

Silver Dragons also start at CR 6 and are Young Dragons at CR 10. Considering their natural shapeshifting, the 1000 of each cohort are probably nested within humanoid settlements until they reach maturity, they have to struggle with the rest.

White Dragons are a different set all together. Their Ancient Dragons top out at the 1,000 mark. Meaning there is 10,000 Young White Dragons and another 1,000 Adults. Substantially outnumbers all other dragon colours.

What implications do we draw from this?

That to most of the inhabitants, a dragon’s breath cold? That the mountain tops and frozen wastes are dominated by hundreds of comparatively weaker and dumber dragons? That most heroes have slain a white dragon in their lives, and it's seen less of a triumph than a milestone?

 You could ven explain the lack of riding animals with Dragonlance-style knights on dragons being the preferred method for nobility to fight. And slaying the local dragon is seen as an act of rebellion, for the feudal system allows one's dragon to feed with compensation to those who lose livestock. Or that each feudal nation finds some dragons to pay tribute/ally with to provide elite mounts.

The arbitrary limit I imposed of choosing the number by the monster entry CR also explains the mosaic ecology. As there are so many dragon entries, the number of dragons increases compared to all other animals. The majority of higher trophic positions in the ecology, the apex predators, are filled with dragons. Young Dragons gorging themselves for the next fight or Adult and Ancient Dragons (mostly White Dragons) dominating whole regions to feed their Leviathanic existence.

Half-Dragons defaulting to CR 7 means there are maybe 100 of each colour if split evenly. So very rare and if there is a dragon religion, following the words of the Ancient Dragon council(s), they might serve as a caste or one-off creature made for a purpose.

 

The 100 Crag Linnorms and the 10 more other each of the other two are everything I just wrote about dragons but more concentrated. Like how Golarion has Linnorm Kings, where Vikings only pick a king who has slain such a beast. Here, there are Linnorm Emperors, Brytenwalda who can meet a "Dragon Emperor" face to face. Or they are just exceptionally nasty creatures which are the doom of many proper dragons and dwell in the north, maybe the White Dragon's natural foes.

 

A 1,000 Driders means something, an exclusive process as punishment or reward, but rarely given. There are 10,000 Drow Nobles. 10 great houses more like Hindu Varna where they form sub-castes or semi-independent tribes or 100 houses of large extended families?

Maybe split the difference and give the Drow a little flavour by having both, one for each civilisation of dark elves.

 

Dryads, Nymphs and elementals (including stuff like Invisible Stalkers, Mephits and other elemental outsiders) are interesting. The arbitrary limit means there are only so many places magically charged to house such monsters outside their planes. Elementals cross the CR 10 mark as Elder Elementals, meaning the 100 or so of each should have had their identities listed in a tome.

 

Special attention must be pointed out to the Froghemoth at CR 13, a 100 and no more roam the earth and since they came from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks as aliens, it seems fitting to make them such again, terrible beasts brought to the setting by some cosmic force and now strike terror in the lands.

 

100 Devourers. 1,000 Ghosts. 1,000 Mohrg. 10,000 Ghouls. 100 Liches. 10,000 Mummies. 10,000 Skeleton Champions and the same again for each skeleton variant. 1,000 Spectre. 1,000 Vampires (10,000 Spawn). 10,000 Wights. 10,000 Wraiths and 1,000 Dread Wraiths.

The undead are numerous and probably one of the most common type of monster the CR imposes on a setting, not that implies every graveyard has one or two of them. But there must be ancient cities and lost crypts filled to the brim with them or emptied out to serve as armies of the dead by necromancers.

The limited number of higher-tier undead suggest that there is a finite amount of negative energy on the material plane. And most of it is bound up with the greater undead, the Liches who might have ruled or still do rule an empire. Like the Tomb Kings from Warhammer. You could even use the WFB 4E+ idea of Vampires vs Mummies by having the 1,000 Vampires be an alchemical/ritual splinter group, one which preserve more of their bodies at a constant cost in blood.

That might be their MAD doctrine to the mortals, do not destroy us or the number of undead in the world will increase. It could also be taken that maybe the ways to make undead are lost arts except to them. It's a very different setting if every Ghoul and Mummy has a serial number made of hieroglyphics marked on its arm or torse.

Without the binding magic of the long-forgotten kings or priests, the dead remain spirits or mindless skeletons/zombies. If you want to make the undead lords entirely bad, maybe they preserve the ritual that allows spirits to manifest on the plane itself.

The Shadows, Spectres and Wights are a special problem. While they have always been an issue due to their ability to accelerate their numbers and overwhelm a setting, the low number of monsters, most of whom are low CR/HD made this a bigger setting issue.

Assuming the power limit is essential unless they drift off to the Negative Plane quickly. The undead can create more of themselves, but the CR limits mean once they hit the cap, they lose the ability, merely killing the target.

Though Yellow Musk Creepers are not undead, they have the same issue and at CR 2, are relatively plentiful for a monster. But the CR limit might just be the carrying capacity of whatever limited environment they find themselves competing in.

 

There are 100 each for Cloud and Storm Giants and a 1000 each of the rest. Still just about fall under the banner of humanoids, with their small bands of sperate homelands, just scaled up. But Expect the more friendly giants to be miffed if you don't know their name or who their relatives are.

 

Gibbering Mouthers are very common for a monster at CR 5, bubbling up from the deeps, spun off the 10 Shoggoths who restless pace the lower strata or lie beneath some forgotten realm. Or shoggoths are the final stages of Gibbering Mouthers, what happens when the monster learns placidity.

 

Golems are rare and there are only 10 Iron Golems in the world, maybe the secret is lost. Iron Cobras might be their replacements at CR 2-3.

 

There are 10 Krakens and they rule the deep. Cults serve them since their domains, if not their names are known.

 

10,000 Nightmares but only 100 Cauchemar Nightmares. The evil Shadowfaxs.

 

100 phoenixes at CR 15 probably means they keep all their special symbolism. Maybe individuals have regional distinctions that locals use in their depictions. Birdwatchers track genealogies. Similarly 100 purple worms mean the dwarves and sages know them all and their locations. Killing one is a big deal for the setting though doable by a band of heroes with "only" CR 12.

 

Weirdly, a 1000 Rakshasas mean they are substantially fewer in number than their real-life mythological counterparts. No doubt they all have monikers passed down through the ages. But still as many as required to have them appear as foes without being setting shaking.

 

100 Ropers mean those areas of the underground are clearly marked or widely estimated.

 

Even the base game says there is only one Tarrasque. And on the material plane it is the most power force. At CR 25, only the Balor Lords are greater and they never leave their realm. Only the Solar and the armies of the church or the might of the dragons could force it back to sleep.

 

At CR 1/2, there are unlimited numbers of Tengu, when some of the specialised races of playable characters like Svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes) hit the 10,000 limit at CR 1.

 

A 1,000 Treants means there is one Fangorn Forest alike or only a few in any major woodland.

Even More Species For FFG Star Wars

SLA Industries, you either know it or you have no idea.

It gave us Dave Alsop and his cavalcade of art for various projects and represents a deep roar at the injustice of Glasgow's housing policy and national government.

This cover rocks so hard

But that's neither here nor there.

Instead, this is a Star Wars/FFG write-up of the different species found in it. About half were added in books after the original core book, each one more overpowered and dangerous than the last. The 313 Stormer alone was like playing a D&D troll. Most of these guys except for some of the more egregious bio-engineered monsters ended up in the 2^nd Edition. Which was much prettier, but lacked the heavy inked art of young Dave Alsop honing his skills.

When I mixed these guys into my Edge of the Empire campaign, they were a hoot. Alongside the Mass Effect species, they filled a miserable and barely healed sector, and the players just rolled with it.

Each planet was scarred for wars between the Dark Side-abusing Company and the Citadel Alliance which had stopped its evil at the cost of planetary ecologies, infrastructure and countless lives. Sometime after the Old Republic and the Sith had finished duking it out and various parts of the galaxy were left to their own devices.

In particular, the shape-shifting Veraphon. Which was introduced as a character’s long-lost sister, now working for a mob boss. Only to have “her” dissolve into a freaky blade monster on the ship they thought the adventure was over.

Also all but three of the art here is by Dave Alsop.

Matteo Spirito/Dave Alsop

ADV (Advanced Carrien)

Willpower 3 Intellect 1

WT 12 ST 11

Starting XP 90

1 Rank in Survival

Fearsome: Your character add 1 setback to Charm, Leadership, and Negotiation checks they make, but they add 1 boost die to Coercion checks they make. This does not apply when interacting with other Advanced Carrien.

Ruin-Dweller: Advanced Carrien have an evolved resistance to radiation, granting 1 Boost Die to Resilience checks made to resist the effects of radiation.

Gave them a 5 XP penalty for high Willpower and Strain. So the goblin-equivelent is 6 feet tall and armed with a hocky stick because the players are highly-trained killing machines and need to be swarmed in tunnels to be threatened.

1E said they were human-derived bioweapons like the stormers. 2E said they were once jackel people and Mort's original inhabitants before the company screwed them over. Advanced Carrien are supposed to be the smart ones, starting to get a bit of the old brains back.

Ebonites

Glam Elves or Metel Elves (natural eye-shadow)

All 2

WT 8 ST 12

Starting XP 100

1 Rank in Charm and Discipline

Blue Ebb: At the GM's discretion an Ebonite may sense the presence of Force-use within short range. An Ebonite may spend 2 Strain per Setback die to remove Setback dice from a Medicine or Coordination skill check.

Sub-Species: Dark Ebonites/Eban/Brain Wasters

Increase WT by 3

Starting XP 95

Swap 1 Rank of Charm for 1 Rank in Coercion

Unpleasant: Dark Ebonites take 1 setback die to Negotiation and Cool rolls

Replace Blue Ebb with Red Ebb

Red Ebb: At the GM's discretion an Ebonite may sense the presence of Force-use within short range. An Ebonite may spend 2 Strain per Setback die to remove Setback dice from a Brawl or Athletics skill check.

Extremely boring bird people
Possibly by Jacob Atienza

Neophron

Brawn 1 Agility 1 Cunning 3 Presence 3

WT 10 ST 10

Starting XP 90

1 Rank in Perception and Charm

They said that them being Predators with big scaly tails was OK in the 90s, not so today
Three images because they have changed a lot, bottom is oldest

Shaktar

Brawn 3 Intellect 1 Willpower 3 Presence 1

WT 12 ST 8

1 Rank in Coordination

XP 90

Natural Weapons: Your character’s Brawl attacks have their damage increased by +1 and have a Critical rating of 3

Warrior Presence: When an engaged opponent makes a check targeting a Shaktar, as an out-of-turn incidental the Shaktar may suffer 2 strain and add two setback dice to the dice pool.

A 5 XP penalty was applied due to a combination of high Brawn and WT.

All of these

End up mushed together, hundred of years of decaying and mixing vats. Art by Mullen from Dungeon Crawl Classic.

Storm-Sons

Brawn 2 Agility 1 Intellect 1 Cunning 1 Willpower 2 Presence 1

WT10 ST10

Starting XP 170

1 Rank in Resilience

Regeneration: Whenever a Storm-Son would recover one or more wounds from natural rest of recuperation, he recovers one additional wound. He does not recover one additional wound when receiving first aid or medical treatment from another character, or when using a medpack. Storm-Sons can regrow lost limbs as well, though it usually takes at least a month before the limb is usable.

Fearsome: Your character add 1 setback to Charm, Leadership, and Negotiation checks they make, but they add 1 boost die to Coercion checks they make. This does not apply when interacting with other Storm-Sons.

Spend 15 XP on Mutations from list

Amphibious: This species can breathe underwater without penalty (or can hold its breath so long as to have the same result) and never suffers movement penalties for traveling through water. (10 XP)

Chameleon: This species is naturally capable of changing its exterior coloration or appearance to blend in with its surroundings. Other characters who rely on visual perception add 2 setback to checks they make to spot this species. (5 XP)

Elongated Limbs: The species’ limbs are quite long compared to its overall size, whether they take the form of mantis-like scything claws, elastic tentacles, or something more bizarre. Members of this species can make Brawl checks targeting enemies within short range; despite the extended distance, the difficulty of such checks remains Average Difficulty. They can also target objects at short range with other checks at the GM’s discretion. (5 XP)

Flesh Pockets: You have effectively 1 rank of the Talent: Hidden Storage for your natural body, but it does not count as a talent. (10 XP)

Additional Sensory Organs: The species has more sensory organs than it really needs, which might take the form of numerous compound eyes, huge bat-like ears, sensitive bristles across its entire body, or anything else that seems suitable. Members of the species add 1 Boost to Perception and Vigilance checks they make. If their senses are overloaded, they might instead add 1 Setback to such checks or suffer other penalties, as decided by the GM. (5 XP)

Huge: Increase your character's Silhouette to 2 and their encumbrance threshold to 2. (5 XP)

Extra Limbs: The species has more limbs than are strictly necessary for movement in, and manipulation of, their environment. They can perform a second manoeuvre during their turn without suffering strain or giving up their action, but they can never perform more than two manoeuvres during their turn. (15 XP)

Slashing Bits: This species has sharp claws, talons, or teeth. When a member of the species makes an unarmed combat check, the attack increases its base damage by +1 and has a Critical rating of 3. (5 XP)

Armored: Whether due to a naturally tough exoskeleton, bony plating, or a more esoteric cause, the species sports natural armor. The species gains +1 soak. (15 XP)

These guys are basically the Mutants from Genesys. Combined all the Stormer variants into one mutated mass and picking out enough talents to cover all their abilities. Except Grit Stormers, I couldn't find a good talent to represent their brain-eating ability to absorb knowledge.

 So overpowered they had to not just remove them from 2E but make them NPCs you kill on sight. Homebrew to the rescue though.

Veraphon

All 2

WT 10 ST 8

Starting XP 90

1 Rank in Resilience

Changeling: As an action, a Veraphon may suffer 3 strain and make an Average Resilience check. If the Veraphon succeeds, it changes appearance to match that of a silhouette 1 character whom it has observed before. An observing character must make opposed Perception vs Deception check to detect that something is amiss with the impersonated character's likeness, mannerisms or behaviour. As always, the GM can add Setback or Boost dice for situational effects that might affect the check, such as a Setback if the Veraphons garb does not match expectations a or Boost if the Veraphon has studied the impersonated individual's mannerisms closely.

Regeneration: Whenever a Veraphon would recover one or more wounds from natural rest of recuperation, it recovers one additional wound. The Veraphon does not recover one additional wound when receiving first aid or medical treatment from another character, or when using a medpack. The Veraphon can regrow lost limbs as well, though it usually takes at least a month before the limb is usable.

So many abilities that I abstracted the most prominent and sectioned off the rest as talents to purchase.

Racial Talent Fluid Body (25 XP)

Fluid Body: As an action, a Veraphon may make a Hard Resilience check and if successful, upgrade Brawn or Agility dice a number of times up to the rating of the other listed characteristic, suffering 1 strain per upgrade. This effect lasts until the end of the encounter.

Racial Talent: Body Weapon (5 XP)

The Veraphon can manifest a blade from its appendages, suffering 1 strain to do so. When making an unarmed combat check, the attack increases its base damage by +1 and has a Critical rating of 3.

Racial Talent: Body Armor (15 XP)

The Veraphon can, as an Action, suffer 2 Strain to gain +1 Soak until then end of the encounter.

Racial Talent Body Control (10 XP)

The Veraphon, as a Manoeuvre, can suffer 2 Strain to become size 0 until the end of the encounter or when the Veraphon chooses to end it, whichever comes first.

No matter how much the games insist they are empathy-less combinations of cat and lizard, the art does not lie.

Wraithern or Wraith Raider

Agility 3 Willpower 1

WT 9 ST 11

1 Rank in Vigilance or Survival

Starting XP 100

Arctic: Adapted for truly frigid environments, Wraithern remove 2 setback dice from any Survival or Resilience checks they make due to cold weather.

I didn't make rules for Frothers becuase another Brawn 3, Willpower 1 race which are just Highlander meet Trainspotting was a step too far in a system with Clones and Mandalorians as human + mandatory weapon skill options. Also FFG doesn't have drug-addiction rules that I could leverage, that I remember.