Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

[Susano]

GRANDFATHER OF ALL THE REPTILES

 

[b]Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes[/b]
80	STR	70	25-	Lift 1.6 ktons; 16d6 HTH Damage
15	DEX	15	12-	OCV:  5/DCV:  5
40	CON	60	17-
35	BODY	50	16-
8	INT	-2	11-	PER Roll 11-
5	EGO	-10	10-	ECV:  2
40	PRE	30	17-	PRE Attack:  8d6
6	COM	-2	10-

28	PD	12		Total:  28 PD (10 rPD)
24	ED	16		Total:  24 ED (10 rED)
3	SPD	5		Phases:  4, 8, 12
24	REC	0
80	END	0
95	STUN	0		[b]Total Characteristics Cost:  214

Movement:[/b]	Running:	6"/12"
Leaping:	0"/0"
Swimming:	6"/12"

[b]Cost	Powers & Skills[/b]
65	[b]Five Heads:[/b]  Duplication (creates four 276-point duplicates); Cannot Recombine (-0)
40	[b]Bite:[/b]  HKA 2 1/2d6 (5d6+1 with STR), END 3
24	[b]Shell:[/b]  Armor (16 PD/16 ED); Activation Roll 11- or Locations 8-13 (-1)
10	[b]Scaled Hide:[/b]  Damage Resistance (10 PD/10 ED)
30	[b]Heavy:[/b]  Knockback Resistance -15"
4	[b]Aquatic:[/b]  Swimming +4" (6" total), END 1
5	[b]Tail:[/b]  Extra Limb (1), Inherent (+1/4); Limited Manipulation (-1/4)
3	[b]Great Age:[/b]  Life Support (Longevity:  lifespan of 800 years)
32	[b]Long Neck(s):[/b]  Stretching 5", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), 
Inherent (+1/4); Limited Body parts (neck[s]; -1/4), No Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No 
Velocity Damage (-1/4)

[b]Skills[/b]
4	Combat Skill Levels:  +2 OCV with Bite

2	AK:  Gray Marshes 11-
0	Analyze Animal 8-
0	Concealment 8-
0	Language:  Giant Turtle (native)
0	PS:  Giant Turtle Abilities 8-
0	Shadowing 8-
0	Stealth 8-
0	Survival (Marsh/Swamp) 8-
[b]219	Total Powers & Skills Cost
433	Total Character Cost

75+	Disadvantages[/b]
15	Physical Limitation:  Animal Intelligence (F, G)
15	Physical Limitation:  Cold-Blooded (F, G)
15	Physical Limitation:  Gigantic (roughly 32m long; -8 DCV, +8 to PER Rolls) (F, G)
5	Physical Limitation:  Reduced Leap, can't leap (I, S)
15	Physical Limitation:  Very Limited Manipulation (F, G)
293	[b]Experience
433	Total Disadvantage Points[/b]

 

Ecology:

Found in the Gray Marshes, this gigantic multi-headed snapping turtle is known to the local lizardmen tribes as Aksommdee, which translates to "Grandfather of all lizard-kind." Not surprisingly, many lizardman tribes worship Aksommdee as a divine being, treating it as a god taken material form. Sacrifices are made to it on a regular basis, with slaves, captives taken in battle, and the largest animals taken in hunting and fishing expeditions offered up. While Grandfather eagerly devours the offerings placed before it, he's not above attacking and eating his benefactors either, especially if he catches one alone in the depths of the marshes. The lizardmen, for their part, accept such incidents as simply part of nature's wheel.

 

Personality/Motivation:

Typical animal motivations.

 

Powers/Tactics:

Despite its great size (or, perhaps because of it), Grandfather is an ambush predator, lying in wait in deep bodies of water, or amid thick stands of growth. It will extend its necks in different directions with each head searching independently, and quickly snapping up anything that looks edible (basically anything human-sized or larger). Grandfather will prey on fish, alligators, snakes, lizards, deer, cougars, and even the local lizardmen.

 

Appearance:

Grandfather is an immense five-headed snapping turtle. Measuring roughly 100 feet in length from the tip of one of its beaks to the end of its long tail, Grandfather is well over two centuries old (based on sightings), and may be as a half a millennium in age. Grandfather's scales are a dull bronze, while its lighter colored shell is heavily pitted with age and is covered in small clusters plant growth.

 

Designer's Notes:

Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles comes from a drawing I found of a five-headed snapping turtle. The name "Grandfather" is borrowed from the Indonesian myth of "Father-of-all-the-Turtles" (see The Asian Bestiary, Volume 1), while the idea of a huge snapping turtle of unknown age living in the local swamp is something I first suggested for a Haymaker! project years and years ago. The Gray Marshes are something I developed for a Digital Hero submission, and aren't found in any setting. Other than a name and the lizardmen, I don't have much else in mind for the place.

 

Grandfather himself was created by simply scaling up the Hydra found in The Hero System Bestiary -- a solution that escaped me for months it seems. I simple tinkered with a few values, compared Grandfather to a few other Gigantic-sized creatures found in The Hero System Bestiary and The Asian Bestiary, Volume 2, and I was ready to go. Enjoy!

GRANDFATHER OF ALL THE REPTILES

(HEAD)

 

[b]Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes[/b]
60	STR	50	21-	Lift 100 tons; 12d6 HTH Damage
15	DEX	15	12-	OCV:  5/DCV:  5
30	CON	40	15-
13	BODY	6	12-
8	INT	-2	11-	PER Roll 11-
5	EGO	-10	10-	ECV:  2
25	PRE	15	14-	PRE Attack:  5d6
6	COM	-2	10-

28	PD	16		Total:  28 PD (10 rPD)
24	ED	18		Total:  24 ED (10 rED)
3	SPD	5		Phases:  4, 8, 12
18	REC	0
60	END	0
58	STUN	0		[b]Total Characteristics Cost:  151

Movement:[/b]	Running:	6"/12"
Leaping:	0"/0"
Swimming:	6"/12"

[b]Cost	Powers & Skills[/b]
40	[b]Bite:[/b]  HKA 2 1/2d6 (5d6+1 with STR), END 3
10	[b]Scaled Hide:[/b]  Damage Resistance (10 PD/10 ED)
30	[b]Heavy:[/b]  Knockback Resistance -15"
4	[b]Aquatic:[/b]  Swimming +4" (6" total), END 1
3	[b]Great Age:[/b]  Life Support (Longevity:  lifespan of 800 years)
32	[b]Long Neck:[/b]  Stretching 5", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), 
Inherent (+1/4); Limited Body parts (neck[s]; -1/4), No Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No 
Velocity Damage (-1/4)

[b]Skills[/b]
4	Combat Skill Levels:  +2 OCV with Bite

2	AK:  Gray Marshes 11-
0	Analyze Animal 8-
0	Concealment 8-
0	Language:  Giant Turtle (native)
0	PS:  Giant Turtle Abilities 8-
0	Shadowing 8-
0	Stealth 8-
0	Survival (Marsh/Swamp) 8-
[b]125	Total Powers & Skills Cost
276	Total Character Cost

75+	Disadvantages[/b]
15	Physical Limitation:  Animal Intelligence (F, G)
15	Physical Limitation:  Cold-Blooded (F, G)
5	Physical Limitation:  Large (roughly 3 m long, -2 DCV, +2 to PER Rolls) (I, S)
5	Physical Limitation:  Reduced Leap, can't leap (I, S)
15	Physical Limitation:  Very Limited Manipulation (F, G)
146	[b]Experience
276	Total Disadvantage Points[/b]

 

[Curufea]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Nice!

[AlHazred]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

And here I was thinking the Grandfather of all Turtles was Gamera...

 

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

I smell a kaiju rumble coming on!

[Kristopher]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

In a fantasy setting, such a creature might as well be a god of some sort. Wow.

 

Nice work. Nice art, too.

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

In a fantasy setting, such a creature might as well be a god of some sort. Wow.

 

Nice work. Nice art, too.

 

Sure. Full Life Support (50 pts), Damage Reduction, the Divine Package, and possible some divine powers -- like Summon Grandfather's Children (which calls all the snakes, lizards, alligators, and crocodiles in the Gray Marshes.

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Sure. Full Life Support (50 pts)' date=' Damage Reduction, the Divine Package,[/quote']

My wife likes my Divine Package...

 

what?

 

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Designer's Notes:

Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles comes from a drawing I found of a five-headed snapping turtle. The name "Grandfather" is borrowed from the Indonesian myth of "Father-of-all-the-Turtles" (see The Asian Bestiary, Volume 1), while the idea of a huge snapping turtle of unknown age living in the local swamp is something I first suggested for a Haymaker! project years and years ago. The Gray Marshes are something I developed for a Digital Hero submission, and aren't found in any setting. Other than a name and the lizardmen, I don't have much else in mind for the place.

 

I'm glad I stumbled across this again, because I have just the use for this creature in an upcoming Turakian Age-based game. I plan to send the PCs into the Great Grey Swamp, one of three vast geographic features which separate the subcontinent of Kumasia from the rest of its landmass. The Great Grey is well populated with Seshurma (lizard-men) and Ran-tari (frog-men), but I want to add a few other unique, interesting and dangerous things for them to encounter. Grandfather here should fit in very nicely indeed.

 

Thanks, Michael. Great work as always.

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Do you need a 6E version?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

No, I'm still running 5E. If that was an offer, thank you very much. But I certainly won't object if you want to post a 6E version -- I have what I need.

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Later, perhaps.

[Bismark]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

No' date=' I'm still running 5E. If that was an offer, thank you very much. But I certainly won't object if you want to post a 6E version -- I have what I need.[/quote']

 

Just in case you might find this useful, here is the 5E .hdc file for a character one of my old Turakian Age players wanted - a Ran-tari hero by the name of: Kar-mit

 

His 'dreadlocks' are the tails of young ran-tari that did not successfully escape when the adults go into the breeding pools and eat the slow youngsters - they have been magically grafted on so they keep waving even though their original 'owners' are now long dead (and very tasty they were too ).

 

[i lifted the 'weeding out the unfit youngsters' idea from the practices of the amphibian Gowachin aliens in Frank Herbert's [i]The Dosadi Experiment[/i]]

 

BTW, Susano - nice beastie; will make use of it at some point

[Bismark]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

...and for those that do not use HERO Designer (thanks for the Rep, Lord Liaden!), here is Kar-mit in simple .txt format and in PDF; he is good for a laugh - until you see what I did with his blowgun damage... (the need for serious lung power did give me an excellent excuse to min-max the STR and CON, though )

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Minor problem -- you have to pay full price to bring Everyman (and Everyfrog) Skills up from 8- to whatever value you intend. So his 13- Stealth is 3 points, not 2.

[Bismark]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Minor problem -- you have to pay full price to bring Everyman (and Everyfrog) Skills up from 8- to whatever value you intend. So his 13- Stealth is 3 points' date=' not 2.[/quote']

 

I forgot to mention that this campaign used the old 4th ed. vintage house rule that characters got a 1pt discount on Skills that had started off as Everyman. To make it rules-as-written (which I would do if I was designing it for anything 'official' - this is just an old character I had lying around) would require the change you mentioned.

 

He is going to get a full re-design if I do another Turakian Age campaign as it will be a 6e campaign, and all the old characters I intend to re-use will get a re-design (no need to give them all STR 20, DEX 18 or 20, etc. to make them points-efficient any more).

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

how in the Gray Wastes is a group of 75/75 characters s'pose to survive that!?

 

And this makes me wonder about Demogorgon from Savage Tide for some reason...

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

how in the Gray Wastes is a group of 75/75 characters s'pose to survive that!?

 

And this makes me wonder about Demogorgon from Savage Tide for some reason...

 

Well, for starters, I'd never have it attack/fight a group of 75+75 PCs. It's more of a plot device, something for PCs to see (and avoid) and/or outwit. Or it' a threat -- sort of like King Kong was. Can you rescue the sacrifice before Grandfather shows up? And if he does, can you redirect him to tangle with something else? Like that oncoming horde of lizardmen, for example. I'll also point out that I can guarantee that are guys on the boards running/playing in FH games on far more than 150 points who could slug it out with Grandfather on an equal basis.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Well' date=' for starters, I'd never have it attack/fight a group of 75+75 PCs. It's more of a plot device, something for PCs to see (and avoid) and/or outwit. Or it' a threat -- sort of like King Kong was. Can you rescue the sacrifice before Grandfather shows up? And if he does, can you redirect him to tangle with something else? Like that oncoming horde of lizardmen, for example. I'll also point out that I can guarantee that are guys on the boards running/playing in FH games on far more than 150 points who could slug it out with Grandfather on an equal basis.[/quote']

 

I don't know, it might require a Perseus or Beowulf-level hero (or team of them) to take this thing down.

 

(Just how powerful is Beowulf, anyway?)

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

I don't know, it might require a Perseus or Beowulf-level hero (or team of them) to take this thing down.

 

(Just how powerful is Beowulf, anyway?)

 

I built him on 300 points (5E.)

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsassorted/beowulf.html

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

I built him on 300 points (5E.)

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsassorted/beowulf.html

 

Excellent writeup. For some reason, Firefox doesn't like downloading the HDC file very much.

 

Getting back to Grandfather, whivh would be more interesting: to have it as a unique creature that will never die naturally but once slain is gone forever, as one of a very rare species that very rarely reproduces, or as a phoenix-like creature of elemental magic of which there is only one, but it comes back a suitably long period after it is killed (possibly not in the lifetime of human PCs)?

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Excellent writeup. For some reason, Firefox doesn't like downloading the HDC file very much.

 

Getting back to Grandfather, whivh would be more interesting: to have it as a unique creature that will never die naturally but once slain is gone forever, as one of a very rare species that very rarely reproduces, or as a phoenix-like creature of elemental magic of which there is only one, but it comes back a suitably long period after it is killed (possibly not in the lifetime of human PCs)?

 

I think that depends on the nature of your setting and/or the intended use of the character itself.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Getting back to Grandfather' date=' whivh would be more interesting: to have it as a unique creature that will never die naturally but once slain is gone forever, as one of a very rare species that very rarely reproduces, or as a phoenix-like creature of elemental magic of which there is only one, but it comes back a suitably long period after it is killed (possibly not in the lifetime of human PCs)?[/quote']

 

Not to make light, since the background color is obviously quite different for each of these; but from the viewpoint of a PC party, what do you see as the practical difference between these? In each case the heroes are likely to encounter it only once, and none of these backgrounds is likely to affect their willingness to kill it, or it to kill them. (Well, unless they're conservationists.)

[Markdoc]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Not to make light' date=' since the background color is obviously quite different for each of these; but from the viewpoint of a PC party, what do you see as the practical difference between these? In each case the heroes are likely to encounter it only once, and none of these backgrounds is likely to affect their willingness to kill it, or it to kill them. (Well, unless they're conservationists.)[/quote']

 

It's more an effect on how they interact with the world as a whole. In my current game, there are very few natural monsters. That means two things. One, when they players meet a monster they never go "Oh, it's a greeble" and know how to deal with it. Every monster is different and potentially threatening. Secondly, almost every monster was constructed or summoned by somebody, which means it's there for a reason.

 

Those two changes in attitude have a very wide-ranging effect on how the players interact with the game world.

 

cheers, Mark

[Darbor]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Very impressive creature and a beautiful drawing. It would have to be flavor for our world as we aren't powerful enough to take it on. It makes sense that it would sit in the swamp and ambush its prey. Think of the energy it would expend just moving around.

 

How would you calculate the cost of moving? 1 END per 10AP put into moving but does this have any AP in moving?

[Susano]

Re: Creature: Grandfather-of-all-the-Reptiles

 

Very impressive creature and a beautiful drawing. It would have to be flavor for our world as we aren't powerful enough to take it on. It makes sense that it would sit in the swamp and ambush its prey. Think of the energy it would expend just moving around.

 

How would you calculate the cost of moving? 1 END per 10AP put into moving but does this have any AP in moving?

 

It has 6" of Running. So it spends 1 END to move 6" per Phase. While this isn't very realistic with regards to its size and mass, it's a fantasy creature after all.