CorpCommander Posted August 6, 2003 Report Share Posted August 6, 2003 Ok, I am trying to create a special type of giant squid that sits in pools of water and attacks players that come near. I purchased multiple limbs to represent the many tentacles. For the short tentacles I purchased entangle with limited range (2"). For the larger tentacles I purchased an EB with autofire (2 attacks). I am a little unclear about how the skill rapid autofire, the advantage autofire and the manuever rapid fire are differentiated. Here is what I think can happen: The Rapid Fire manuever allows a ranged attack to be used multiple times. The negative benefit is reduced OCV. The Autofire advantage allows an attack power to be used more than once. Rapid Autofire allows an autofire power to be used with the Rapid Fire manuever. Therefore if I have Autofire on my EB and Entangle and the rapid autofire skill then this squid can use all of his tentacles to attempt to get several characters at once. No? I've also given the squid some martial arts. Do I need to buy stretching for it to use them in non-adjacent hexes or is there a better method? No Non-combat, only to cause damage, limited body parts. How does that sound so far? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkling Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 I don't think I would buy the EB or the Autofire. Extra Limbs. Stretching. HtH Rapid Fire. A stack of PSL's to counteract Sweep penalties. Spend the EB points on STR directly. Now the squid has a full range of combat manuevers, and can Sweep the characters with multiple hand to hand attacks. Grab a couple. Lash a couple. If you feel guilty about the expense, put Rapid on it's Targeting Senses, and/or give it 360 degree perceptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GamePhil Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 I tend to shy away from Entangles for Grabs and similar constructs, but I believe they have been used in official material and I have no major problems with it. Technically, the way to get the most flexibility with your attack might be considered, uhm, somewhat strange: buy Duplication for the tentacles. This allows absolute control: each tentacle can be doing something wildly different, and the arms (the longer tentacles, if memory serves) can be built a little differently to have higher STR and so on. With only 8 Duplicates, even with some of the Different Advantage it shouldn't be too expensive. This isn't a better way, but it's probably how I would do it. Also, see the Hydra Power in HERO 5th for an example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkling Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 my my my...I like tha Duplication approach involving the Hydra sample...right there in the margin on page 101. Cool. I'd go with that option for sure. The tentacles can have different regen rates than the main "body" of the squid, and the tentacles could be bought with the resurrection option to "regrow" after amputation...required amputation requirements are already included in this manner...when the Tentacle BODY is gone, it is amputated and may just lash around blindly. I like it very much. The main squid pays for the Duplication and it's radically altered duplicates...and perhaps megaswimming and darkness (ink). Mind link it to the Tentacles, and buy the Body the best enhanced senses. The Tentacles can cheat with "Detect Papa Squid Target" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted August 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 Great ideas Hey, those are all great ideas. I built the squid on 250 points to go up against 5 150 point characters. I suspect someone will get hurt. However it wasn't needed for tonight but surely next Wednesday I will need it so I still have time to tinker. One thing you never see in movies with giant squids (and there are a few!) is that the squid doesn't really seem to mind losing a tentacle here or there. Lord of the Rings, 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea, etc. all feature this sort of creature getting some rough damage on the tentacles and shrugging it off but when the main body is hit, oh boy, watch the pain it takes! I gave it Darkness (ink glands) 3x a day. I made it susceptible to fire. I have a multipower for the tentacles. That seems to work pretty good. I can shift power around in it and get the right effect - the thing has to make decisions about how it is going to use it's tentacles but has leeway. The EB still makes sense because it has razor sharp suckers on it however there are other ways (as suggested above) that are more effecive or cost efficient. I don't mind the entangle being used as a grab mainly because I also bought stretching with it which allows it to extend it's reach to do damage or to draw the striken foe to its Gaping Maw ! I will look at the hydra example though. It sounds like a great place to look into doing something extremely differently than I had considered at first glance! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 CorpCommander, you might want to try a different Susceptibility. Fire doesn't seem right for a squid. Squid aren't any more susceptible to fire than we are, although if you want it that way - go for it. My suggestion is something like electricity, poison, contaminants (don't know if this is a Fantasy campaign or not). Worse of all, howabout: Susceptibility: 3d6 Stun/Body from Polkas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted August 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 Originally posted by Tech Susceptibility: 3d6 Stun/Body from Polkas It is a Fantasy game and even I the GM and suscpetible to Polkas! Fire isn't natural to creatures who live in water so it was an obvious one and it's also something these characters have access too. Electricity is too, um, Vernish! Plus they will suspect that immediately. Since it is a steampunk campaign set in the Iron Kingdoms I guess they might have some recourse to electricity but they won't have time to get anything electircal before they face off The CREATURE! Muhurahahahaha! Sorry, GM's laughing can be distrubing to some of you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 Hey CorpCommander, why not give your Giant Squid: 4d6 Absorption to Stun, only vs Electricity just in case they really do try electricity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted August 10, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 Originally posted by Tech Hey CorpCommander, why not give your Giant Squid: 4d6 Absorption to Stun, only vs Electricity just in case they really do try electricity. Why that is the evilest thing I've heard in a while... Do you gamemaster? :-D I know for a fact that they are eventually going to try fire. The beastie is too powerful as is without them having something to defeat it with easily. Of course by the time they figure it out someone could be quite dead. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted August 10, 2003 Report Share Posted August 10, 2003 I'm with Farkling here. I'd go with the Extra Limbs, Stretching and Skill levels to Sweep. Quite possibly Clinging as well, if you want your Giant Squid to have those little suction cup things that monster Squids and Octopai are often drawn with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuscaDomestica Posted August 11, 2003 Report Share Posted August 11, 2003 Add some realism give it Distinctive appearance, strong smell of Amonia. Some giant squids (the more traditional non artic species, genus Archatuthus) reak of the stuff. Also remember it is a Celeopod so it has complete control over its color. When big squids strike at their prey they usually flash quickly between colors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 Originally posted by CorpCommander Why that is the evilest thing I've heard in a while... Do you gamemaster? :-D Why, yes, I do GM a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Originally posted by MuscaDomestica Also remember it is a Celeopod so it has complete control over its color. When big squids strike at their prey they usually flash quickly between colors. Ah yes, thats right. That would give it some chameleon-like abilities as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted August 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Electricity Ok, looks like they ARE going to try electricity on this beast... Heehehe. FReD, pg.88, Absorbtion... How about 5D6 absorb Electricty, points go to SPD... Damn. That is just evil. "OK, its segment 3 and, what's this folks, unbelievable, the champ is getting up early! He's flapping his tentacles! he's striking the poor, hapless heroes! Oh Gods I have to turn away, its too horrible to watch!" "Dude, hit it harder with that electric probe of yours!" {the GM laughs evily now... very evily} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiMan Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Don't forget to let us know how it comes out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted August 15, 2003 Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Re: Electricity Originally posted by CorpCommander Ok, looks like they ARE going to try electricity on this beast... Heehehe. FReD, pg.88, Absorbtion... How about 5D6 absorb Electricty, points go to SPD... My suggestion is to make it still go to STUN, CorpCommander. If it absorbs to SPD, the characters will know right away something's up. If it goes to STUN, it'll take awhile before they find out, if at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted August 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 Re: Re: Electricity Originally posted by Tech My suggestion is to make it still go to STUN, CorpCommander. If it absorbs to SPD, the characters will know right away something's up. If it goes to STUN, it'll take awhile before they find out, if at all. They are new to the system. I want them to see what happens when things go wrong. I am not sure they are aware that such transformations are even possible in the game. This should set them straight. I expect it will give them one heck of a fright. Since the squid is in a pool and happy being there it won't come after them. It is a swamp squid though so it does have some ability to cross land (thogh this ability has never been witnessed, simply speculated on) it would never use this ability to attack something outside of its water nitch beyond reaching out and saying "Hello!" with a suckered tentacle! I am going to translate a few other Iron Kingdom creatures and come up with an adventure. I'll PDFize it and see who will be willing to host it. One of the things I think this system could use are more free/cheap adventure modules. Thats the only thing I like about D20 - lots of sellers in the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted August 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2003 20 August 2003 If the Party keeps to their current rate of dungeon crawling they should encounter the beastie on next Wednesday night. I will let you know how it comes out then post the cirtter here. Sadly one of the best roleplayers has left for college and he was the one most likely to get ensnared by it first. Still the others will be interesting. The party wizard has a 25 point disad for being a coward. He should absolutely freak. The Priestess of Morrow should pretty much kick it's ass though. She has some decent long range stun only attacks. There is an Ogrun martial-artist. It ought to be interesting if he decides to jump in the water to face off the creature or stay out and defend his mates from the tentacles. hmmm, wasn't there a movie "Day of the Tentacle"??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.