wick
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Posts posted by wick
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Re: Please help me understand
You can also use charges to simulate the D&D-esque, spells per day, game mechanic. Over time XP can be used to exapnd the number of charges each day.
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Re: Why doesn't 6e use hexes as a unit of measurement?
I agree that not having three terms for the same thing (inch/hex/2 meters) makes life easier. However, there have been some problems at the table with my group because of maps in 6E.My group ALWAYS uses the rules for turn mode when using a map, and as Prestige pointed out, those rules "still use hexes in facing". How do people handle turn mode on non-hex maps?
My group has also had problems with scale when trying to have a combat over a large area. Lets use Giant Stadium as an example. The field is 360 feet long by 160 feet wide thats about 110 meters long by 49 meters wide.
In previous editions where 1h=2m this meant we needed a map that was about 55 inches by 25 inches to fit the entire field. Now thats a huge map (5 feet by 2 1/2 feet), but its doable. Now that 1h=1m, however, if you don't scale the map you'd need something about double the size.
Right, so most people would say "Just scale your map. Make a hex equal something larger than 1 meter (maybe 2, or 3 or 4 meters)". This is a great idea, but we haven't been able to make it work for some reason because of movement and AOE.
If a map has a scale of greater than 1h=1m, and my flight is 35m, how many hexes do I move in a half move? How is my turn mode effected?
If I have an 8m AOE radius blast, how many people what are in adjacent hexes can I hit if the scale is greater than 1h=1m? Why does the scale of the map change the number of targets I can hit?
Also if you scale up a map how do you figure out knockback?
Now I apologize if any of these sound like snide questions, but they aren't meant to. This has been a topic of discussion within my gaming group for a while, and we have been unable to come up with any decent solutions.
Any help figuring this out would be appreciated, just understand that "fudge it" doesn't work in conjunction with using a map in my group.
I would maybe cut up an old mat or just draw on a paper for each player a zoom in of the Hex that they are in. They would have 2 minatures to represent their character. One on the big board representing their location in the big view i.e.. 1" = to greater than 2 meter, scale. And they would have another minature on their own hex map representing their placement in the larger scale hex in terms of 1" to 2 meter scale. You may want the scale of the larger hex to be able to be broken down into several hexes such as 1 hex= 6 meters which can be broken down into like 7 smaller 2 meter hexes. This will allow you to calculate turns , provide a zoom in for an AoE power, ans a start/end hex for movement while allowing you retain the ability to fight/move on a much grander scale.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes
30 STR 20 30 15- HTH Dmg 6d6 END [3]
21 DEX 33 21 13-
25 CON 30 25 14-
25 BODY 30 25 14-
20 INT 10 20 13- PER Roll 13-
15 EGO 10 15 12-
30 PRE 20 30 15- PRE Attack: 6d6
0 COM -5 0 9-
5 PD 0 5 5 PD
5 ED 0 5 5 ED
4 SPD 9 5 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12
10 REC 0 10
50 END 0 50
50 STUN 5 40
10 RUN 8 10m END [1]
2 SWIM 0 2m END [1]
4 LEAP 2 4m 4m forward, 2m upward
CHA Cost: 157
Cost POWERS
22 Helmet/suit: Life-support system: Self contained breathing +10, Safe environment All: +9, Immune Disease/Bio+10, Immune all chemicals+10; OIF (-1/2), difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: Heat Vision: Infrared Perception (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: Night vision (Sight Group); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
5 Helmet: Penetrating thermal vision: N-Ray vision (Sight Group) blocked by insulating or dense materials; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: Ultra Vision: Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: IR Filters: Enhanced sense +2 PER to reduce sight penalties in high IR environments such as on Earth, vision can be adjusted to overcome penalties in any unusual environment (Sight Group); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Targeting Laser: +3 OCV with Plasma cannon. 3 X 5pt CSL only; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the helmet is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Universal Translator Speech; IIF (-0.25), Diff to replace (-0.25)
5 Medical Kit: Healing 2d6: IIF (-1/4), Extra time: 1 Turn (-1 1/4), Requires paramedics role (-1/2), 6 charges (-3/4)
10 Clinging (10pts) 1D6 KB resist, represents climbing ability inherent to race.
8 Faster Running: +4” running
2 Agile Leap: +2” of leap
17 Right Bracer: 1D6+1 HKA STR + HKA = 2.5 D6 damage; Armor piercing (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Right Bracer: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the bracer is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
15 EC: Powered Devices
5 Slot#1: Left Bracer: Cloaking Device: Invisibility to sight group; Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2); IIF difficult to replace (-1/2)
10 Slot#2: Left Bracer: Self Destruct Device: 10D6 Energy Blast; Explosion (+1/2); Mega scale (1"=100M +1/4); No Range (-1/2); OIF: Left bracer difficult to replace (-1/2), Gestures: to activate (-1/2) and 2 hands require (-1/2); Charges: 1 charge (-2), Non recoverable (-2); Lockout: Cannot use other powers in EC while destruct activated; Extra time: bomb counts down 5 minutes before destruction (-2)
POWERS Cost: 134
Cost SKILLS:
3 Acrobatics 13-
3 Analyze 13-
3 Break fall 13-
2 KS: Alien Species 11-
2 KS:Predator Culture 11-
3 Mimicry 13-
2 Navigation 13-
2 Survival: Tropical 13-
2 Survival: Arctic 13-
2 Survival: Mountains 13-
2 Survival: Urban 13-
3 System Operations 13-
3 Tracking 13-
Everyman:
0 Acting 8-
3 Climbing 13-
0 Concealment 8-
0 Computer Programming 8-
0 Deduction 8-
0 Native Lang. 4pts no literacy 8-
3 Paramedics 13-
0 Persuasion -8
0 PS: Hunter 11-
3 Shadowing 13-
3 Stealth 13-
0 Transport Fam. Mil Spacecraft 8-
0 AK: Home world 8-
SKILLS Cost: 44
Cost: PERKS
2 Fringe Benefit: Member of the Tribe. Includes access to predator technology and starships.
10 Tribal Vehicle/Base: Each member of the tribe contributes to a starship that serves as both a base and means of transportation.
PERKS Cost: 12
Cost: TALENTS
3 Bump of Direction
3 Resistance: +3 to Ego skill roll to resist interrogation only
TALENTS Cost: 6
Value DISADVANTAGES
10 Distinct. Feature: 8' + Tall Alien humanoid. Easy Conceal with Cloaking device +5, Ext.Com react: Fear+10. Not distinctive to other of same race/society -5
15 Distinct. Feature: Spirit world disturbance, not concealable +15, ext.React:10, unusual sense-10: those who can sense magic or spirits feel something unnatural is present if not exactly where.
20 Hunted: U.S. Gov. Division 13 Spec ops. Occasion 8- , more powerful+15, NCI +5, imprison/kill -0
10 Physical. Limitation: Naturally more sensitive to Infrared, without Helmet enhanced senses on an earth like world the following penalties are suffered: -2 PER, -2 OCV, -1 DCV, penalties do not apply on ship or on home world. Infrequent+5, greatly+5
25 Psychological Limitation: Code of the Hunter: Will not hunt children, pregnant women, or unarmed opponents. Total +10 (-5 EGO roll to overcome), Very common +15. Penalty can be modified if predator decides to fight at a disadvantage..i.e. Removing helmet or throwing down some weapons but only against a worthy opponent.
20 Psychological Limitation: Obsessed with trophy collecting. When attacking a group of worthy opponents the predator will hunt one and retreat with corpse. If denied the corpse it will seek to steal that corpse before finding a new prey to hunt. When attacking a group of lesser opponents may kill all opponents first before collecting trophies (treats group as one worthy opponent.) Strong+5, Very common+15
5 Social Limitation: Hierarchy of Hunters: A hunter must obey and respect the decisions of the stronger hunters. Precedence based on a combination of one on one duels, trophies collected, and prestige. Occasional +5, Major effect +5, only in Predator Society -5
DISADVANTAGES Points: 105
Base Pts: 238
Exp Required: 0
Total Exp Available: 0
Exp Unspent: 0
Total Character Cost:
Power Upgrades can be bought with experience pts:
Cost POWERS
30 EC: Shoulder mounted Plasma Cannon: 4D6 RKA; Reduced End: 0 END (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
20 Spear: HKA 2D6; Armor Piercing (+1/2), Reduced End 0 End (+1/2); OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
2 PLUS to Spear: Long Weapon: 1" stretch (reduced END0 (+0.25), [7Activ pts], OAF (-1), Always direct (-1/4), No Noncom stretch (-1/2), only to cause dmg (-1/2), no Velocity dmg (-1/4) =2 pts real cost for stretching
2 PLUS to spear: Throwing Spear: Ranged: based on STR (+1/4), 1 recoverable charge when thrown (-1 ¼), OAF (-1), Lockout: Cannot use HKA until recovered (-1/2)
28 Razor net: 3D6 3 DEF Entangle hardened 3DEF: Continuous (+1); Uncontrolled (+1/2), End 0 (+1/2); 1 recoverable charges (-1 1/4); OAF (-1), Extremely difficult to replace (-1), cannot form Barriers (-1/4)
17 PLUS to Razor Net: 1 1/2D6 RKA: Armor Piercing (+1/2), Continuous (+1); Uncontrolled (+1/2), End 0 (+1/2); 1 recoverable charges (1 1/4); OAF (-1), Extremely difficult to replace (-1); Linked lesser to greater (-1/2)
25 Razor Disc: 2D6 RKA: Armor Piercing (+1/2), Auto Fire 2-3 targets (+1/2), Reduced End: 0 END (+1); OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1), Range Based on STR (-1/4), No Knock Back: weapon slices right through target (-1/4)
25 Razor Disc: 2D6 HKA+ 2D6 from STR: the Disc can be held and used in close combat: AP (+1/2), Reduced End: 0 END (+1), OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
13 Dart Launcher on Right Bracer: 2D6 RKA; Armor Piercing (+1/2); 3 recoverable charges (-3/4), OIF (-1/2), Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
10 Mini- razor discs: 1D6 RKA; Reduced End: 0 END (+1); IIF (-1/4) Extremely difficult to replace (-1), Range Based on STR (-1/4), No KB (-1/4)
* Trophy weapons: In AVP one Predator had what looked like a knife made of some creatures bone. To add flavor a variety of melee weapons could be added made from trophies collected but will likely not be of a superior quality to the usual arsenal.
Background/History:
Not much is known about this predatory species except that there have been a few encounters reported from reliable sources in the late 20th century. The first recorded encounter was in the summer of 1987 in Guatemala by Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer and his special Search and Rescue Task Force. His fire-team consisted of 7 expert, heavily, armed soldiers that were sent on a covert mission to rescue Cabinet ministers whose helicopter was downed by guerilla forces. Major Schaefer reports encountering an alien that used advanced technology to render itself invisible and had a shoulder mounted weapon that is deduced to fire a bolt of Plasma. This alien wiped out the major's team in less than 48 hours and seemed to hunt the team in search of body parts for trophies. Dutch managed to defeat this creature after discovering that the creature sees body heat and could not detect him after he was covered in mud. Major Schaefer fashioned crude explosives and weapons and armed with knowledge of the creature’s ability to see his body heat, Dutch set up an ambush. After defeating the alien, the Major narrowly escaped from a large explosion caused by a self destruct device activated by the dying creature. The blast covered an area of nearly a half a kilometer radius and although seemingly a product of a fission or Fusion it left no radioactive fallout.
The second confirmed encounter was in the summer of 1997 in Los Angeles by LA PD Lieutenant Michael Harrigan and Detective Leona Cantrell. The encounter was thoroughly documented by a special Task force set up by Division 13 who was tasked with capturing the Predator's advanced technology after the first reported encounter in 1987. The task force, led by Special Agent Peter Keyes successfully tracked the predator using a net of motion sensors on rooftops to a meat packing plant and attempted to capture the predator with liquid nitrogen guns, heat insulated suits, black lights, and sprinkling radioactive particles in the air in order to render the alien's cloaking device inert. The predator was not fooled and changed the elector-magnetic spectrum range to ultraviolet in order to see the capture team's black lights. Although, visible, the Predator killed the capture team. Lieutenant Harrigan managed to chase the creature down and kill it. Lieutenant Harrigan reports that a group of 5 of the creatures then de-cloaked and retrieved the body of their comrade but did not attack Harrigan. One actually gave the Lieutenant an antique flintlock pistol which has been authenticated to be almost 200 hundred years old circa 1700's, which leads to speculation that the aliens have been hunting the Earth for at least that long.
From the classified corporate files of Wayland industries file # 316B-29X: A third encounter with this species occurred on an archaeological expedition to a whaling station (Bouvetøya) 1000 miles North of Antarctica, lead by Billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland. The expedition was in search of a buried pyramid discovered by heat imaging from a satellite. The expedition was caught in a battle between this predator species and another unknown species of alien. The only was survivor, Alexa Woods an Arctic survival expert hired on as the expedition guide. She reported that the team’s archaeologist had discovered that the Pyramid was a trap to bring humans to the Pyramid to act as hosts for the parasitic offspring of the unknown aliens and that the Predators would hunt these creatures as part of a Rite of Passage ceremony. The Aliens were able to overcome 2 of the 3 predators. The remaining Predator allied with Alexa and together they were able to wipe out the nest of Aliens using the predator self destruct device to destroy the Pyramid. One large version of the alien species, reportedly the egg layer, reached the surface and attacked Alexa and the Predator. By the end of the fight the Alien ‘Queen’ fell into freezing depths of the Antarctic seas and the predator was mortally injured. A spacecraft appeared form nowhere, presumably with the same cloaking technology possessed by the Predators, and several predators emerged to retrieve their fallen comrade.
Personality/Motivation:
The Predator Society is similar to human ancient hunting societies. The best warriors are the leaders of the tribe through their past exploits and through ritualistic duels. The predators are trophy collectors but only choose the hunt species that are able to pose a threat in combat. Against a group of dangerous foes the Predator will seek one out one of the group to kill and collect trophies. If denied a trophy it will seek to retrieve the trophy before killing again. If fighting a group of lesser opponents the predator will kill the group first before collecting trophies, usually chasing fleeing opponents down before collection. The predator will not attack people that provide no “sport” such as unarmed, children, or pregnant women.
Powers/Tactics: The basic predator is equipped with Cloaking Device, life support systems, a self destruct device, helmet with visual enhancements, targeting laser, medical kit, and Claw Bracer. These are given to the young upon reaching adult hood. Replacement and repair of these devices requires the predator to return to the base ship and is only done when the Predator abandons an expedition or finishes the hunt at the appointed time making these Foci difficult to replace. As the predator becomes more experienced and undergoes rites of passage, it is granted more weaponry. Common weapons: Plasma cannon that patches into the Power system along with the self destruct mechanism and cloaking device. There are also a variety of melee weapons including knives and spears made of a metal alloy not found on earth that is extremely durable. Dart launchers, Razor wire nets, and flying disc blades are common. This upgraded weaponry can be replaced but requires a trip back to his home world and therefore extremely difficult to replace in most situations.
Appearance
Predators are 8”+ tall humanoids with claw like mandibles and dreadlock like strands on their head. They wear little in the way of clothing preferring bits of Armor and a helmet. They prefer hot environments but have been know to hunt in almost any environment. The predator home world has a dense atmosphere that screens higher spectrum of visual light and in response the predator’s natural vision is sensitive to the Orange spectrum of light.
Designer's Notes:
I have decided to only treat some of the movies as canon to the Predator Mythology and some of the books and graphic novels that I read many years ago. For example, the latest Alien VS Predator: Requiem is pure garbage. Unlike the Alien Movies, most of the predator movies are fairly good and don’t detract from the mythology.
Throughout the 1st 2 movies theirs seems to be some mystical connection and some magically sensitive individuals can sense a disturbance of some kind when the predator is in the area. I was not really sure how to simulate so I went with a Distinctive feature limitation although this is not a huge handicap.
From the first movie when the predator takes off his mask his point of view is shown as very orange in color. I extrapolate from this that the Predator’s vision is sensitive to the Infrared spectrum of light and therefore evolved in an environment where Infrared is hard to see. By giving the predator a penalty to his attack rolls when helmet is removed it serves to level the playing field and to make the fight more challenging while representing having obscured (I read as partially flashed) vision. Basically the equivalent of a human having their eyes dilated and walking outside on a sunny day without sunglasses
From the second movie: This predator is kind of a wuss, he has many more gadgets for killing than the first predator but he fights much weaker opponents ( Heavily armed Special forces units in the first movie VS gang members or cops in the second.) He did fight and kill the government capture squad but only because they were hunting him. The predator also would kill off entire squads of thugs instead of killing them one by one, which was different from the first movie.
From the 3rd movie: Predators in an Arctic environment is a departure from the first two movies. A different kind of Blade disc is introduced and one Predator had a knife. Also dispelled the idea that the Plasma cannon are a standard piece of gear since the Predators had to go through a rite of passage to earn theirs.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes
30 STR 20 30 15- HTH Dmg 6d6 END [3]
21 DEX 33 21 13-
25 CON 30 25 14-
25 BODY 30 25 14-
20 INT 10 20 13- PER Roll 13-
15 EGO 10 15 12-
30 PRE 20 30 15- PRE Attack: 6d6
0 COM -5 0 9-
5 PD 0 5 5 PD
5 ED 0 5 5 ED
4 SPD 9 5 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12
10 REC 0 10
50 END 0 50
50 STUN 5 40
10 RUN 8 10m END [1]
2 SWIM 0 2m END [1]
4 LEAP 2 4m 4m forward, 2m upward
CHA Cost: 157
Cost POWERS
22 Helmet/suit: Life-support system: Self contained breathing +10, Safe environment All: +9, Immune Disease/Bio+10, Immune all chemicals+10; OIF (-1/2), difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: Heat Vision: Infrared Perception (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: Night vision (Sight Group); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
5 Helmet: Penetrating thermal vision: N-Ray vision (Sight Group) blocked by insulating or dense materials; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: Ultra Vision: Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
2 Helmet: IR Filters: Enhanced sense +2 PER to reduce sight penalties in high IR environments such as on Earth, vision can be adjusted to overcome penalties in any unusual environment (Sight Group); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Targeting Laser: +3 OCV with Plasma cannon. 3 X 5pt CSL only; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the helmet is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Universal Translator Speech; IIF (-0.25), Diff to replace (-0.25)
5 Medical Kit: Healing 2d6: IIF (-1/4), Extra time: 1 Turn (-1 1/4), Requires paramedics role (-1/2), 6 charges (-3/4)
10 Clinging (10pts) 1D6 KB resist, represents climbing ability inherent to race.
8 Faster Running: +4” running
2 Agile Leap: +2” of leap
17 Right Bracer: 1D6+1 HKA STR + HKA = 2.5 D6 damage; Armor piercing (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Right Bracer: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the bracer is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
15 EC: Powered Devices
5 Slot#1: Left Bracer: Cloaking Device: Invisibility to sight group; Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2); IIF difficult to replace (-1/2)
10 Slot#2: Left Bracer: Self Destruct Device: 10D6 Energy Blast; Explosion (+1/2); Mega scale (1"=100M +1/4); No Range (-1/2); OIF: Left bracer difficult to replace (-1/2), Gestures: to activate (-1/2) and 2 hands require (-1/2); Charges: 1 charge (-2), Non recoverable (-2); Lockout: Cannot use other powers in EC while destruct activated; Extra time: bomb counts down 5 minutes before destruction (-2)
POWERS Cost: 134
Cost SKILLS:
3 Acrobatics 13-
3 Analyze 13-
3 Break fall 13-
2 KS: Alien Species 11-
2 KS:Predator Culture 11-
3 Mimicry 13-
2 Navigation 13-
2 Survival: Tropical 13-
2 Survival: Arctic 13-
2 Survival: Mountains 13-
2 Survival: Urban 13-
3 System Operations 13-
3 Tracking 13-
Everyman:
0 Acting 8-
3 Climbing 13-
0 Concealment 8-
0 Computer Programming 8-
0 Deduction 8-
0 Native Lang. 4pts no literacy 8-
3 Paramedics 13-
0 Persuasion -8
0 PS: Hunter 11-
3 Shadowing 13-
3 Stealth 13-
0 Transport Fam. Mil Spacecraft 8-
0 AK: Home world 8-
SKILLS Cost: 44
Cost: PERKS
2 Fringe Benefit: Member of the Tribe. Includes access to predator technology and starships.
10 Tribal Vehicle/Base: Each member of the tribe contributes to a starship that serves as both a base and means of transportation.
PERKS Cost: 12
Cost: TALENTS
3 Bump of Direction
3 Resistance: +3 to Ego skill roll to resist interrogation only
TALENTS Cost: 6
Value DISADVANTAGES
10 Distinct. Feature: 8' + Tall Alien humanoid. Easy Conceal with Cloaking device +5, Ext.Com react: Fear+10. Not distinctive to other of same race/society -5
15 Distinct. Feature: Spirit world disturbance, not concealable +15, ext.React:10, unusual sense-10: those who can sense magic or spirits feel something unnatural is present if not exactly where.
20 Hunted: U.S. Gov. Division 13 Spec ops. Occasion 8- , more powerful+15, NCI +5, imprison/kill -0
10 Physical. Limitation: Naturally more sensitive to Infrared, without Helmet enhanced senses on an earth like world the following penalties are suffered: -2 PER, -2 OCV, -1 DCV, penalties do not apply on ship or on home world. Infrequent+5, greatly+5
25 Psychological Limitation: Code of the Hunter: Will not hunt children, pregnant women, or unarmed opponents. Total +10 (-5 EGO roll to overcome), Very common +15. Penalty can be modified if predator decides to fight at a disadvantage..i.e. Removing helmet or throwing down some weapons but only against a worthy opponent.
20 Psychological Limitation: Obsessed with trophy collecting. When attacking a group of worthy opponents the predator will hunt one and retreat with corpse. If denied the corpse it will seek to steal that corpse before finding a new prey to hunt. When attacking a group of lesser opponents may kill all opponents first before collecting trophies (treats group as one worthy opponent.) Strong+5, Very common+15
5 Social Limitation: Hierarchy of Hunters: A hunter must obey and respect the decisions of the stronger hunters. Precedence based on a combination of one on one duels, trophies collected, and prestige. Occasional +5, Major effect +5, only in Predator Society -5
DISADVANTAGES Points: 105
Base Pts: 238
Exp Required: 0
Total Exp Available: 0
Exp Unspent: 0
Total Character Cost:
Power Upgrades can be bought with experience pts:
Cost POWERS
30 EC: Shoulder mounted Plasma Cannon: 4D6 RKA; Reduced End: 0 END (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
20 Spear: HKA 2D6; Armor Piercing (+1/2), Reduced End 0 End (+1/2); OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
2 PLUS to Spear: Long Weapon: 1" stretch (reduced END0 (+0.25), [7Activ pts], OAF (-1), Always direct (-1/4), No Noncom stretch (-1/2), only to cause dmg (-1/2), no Velocity dmg (-1/4) =2 pts real cost for stretching
2 PLUS to spear: Throwing Spear: Ranged: based on STR (+1/4), 1 recoverable charge when thrown (-1 ¼), OAF (-1), Lockout: Cannot use HKA until recovered (-1/2)
28 Razor net: 3D6 3 DEF Entangle hardened 3DEF: Continuous (+1); Uncontrolled (+1/2), End 0 (+1/2); 1 recoverable charges (-1 1/4); OAF (-1), Extremely difficult to replace (-1), cannot form Barriers (-1/4)
17 PLUS to Razor Net: 1 1/2D6 RKA: Armor Piercing (+1/2), Continuous (+1); Uncontrolled (+1/2), End 0 (+1/2); 1 recoverable charges (1 1/4); OAF (-1), Extremely difficult to replace (-1); Linked lesser to greater (-1/2)
25 Razor Disc: 2D6 RKA: Armor Piercing (+1/2), Auto Fire 2-3 targets (+1/2), Reduced End: 0 END (+1); OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1), Range Based on STR (-1/4), No Knock Back: weapon slices right through target (-1/4)
25 Razor Disc: 2D6 HKA+ 2D6 from STR: the Disc can be held and used in close combat: AP (+1/2), Reduced End: 0 END (+1), OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
13 Dart Launcher on Right Bracer: 2D6 RKA; Armor Piercing (+1/2); 3 recoverable charges (-3/4), OIF (-1/2), Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
10 Mini- razor discs: 1D6 RKA; Reduced End: 0 END (+1); IIF (-1/4) Extremely difficult to replace (-1), Range Based on STR (-1/4), No KB (-1/4)
* Trophy weapons: In AVP one Predator had what looked like a knife made of some creatures bone. To add flavor a variety of melee weapons could be added made from trophies collected but will likely not be of a superior quality to the usual arsenal.
Background/History:
Not much is known about this predatory species except that there have been a few encounters reported from reliable sources in the late 20th century. The first recorded encounter was in the summer of 1987 in Guatemala by Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer and his special Search and Rescue Task Force. His fire-team consisted of 7 expert, heavily, armed soldiers that were sent on a covert mission to rescue Cabinet ministers whose helicopter was downed by guerilla forces. Major Schaefer reports encountering an alien that used advanced technology to render itself invisible and had a shoulder mounted weapon that is deduced to fire a bolt of Plasma. This alien wiped out the major's team in less than 48 hours and seemed to hunt the team in search of body parts for trophies. Dutch managed to defeat this creature after discovering that the creature sees body heat and could not detect him after he was covered in mud. Major Schaefer fashioned crude explosives and weapons and armed with knowledge of the creature’s ability to see his body heat, Dutch set up an ambush. After defeating the alien, the Major narrowly escaped from a large explosion caused by a self destruct device activated by the dying creature. The blast covered an area of nearly a half a kilometer radius and although seemingly a product of a fission or Fusion it left no radioactive fallout.
The second confirmed encounter was in the summer of 1997 in Los Angeles by LA PD Lieutenant Michael Harrigan and Detective Leona Cantrell. The encounter was thoroughly documented by a special Task force set up by Division 13 who was tasked with capturing the Predator's advanced technology after the first reported encounter in 1987. The task force, led by Special Agent Peter Keyes successfully tracked the predator using a net of motion sensors on rooftops to a meat packing plant and attempted to capture the predator with liquid nitrogen guns, heat insulated suits, black lights, and sprinkling radioactive particles in the air in order to render the alien's cloaking device inert. The predator was not fooled and changed the elector-magnetic spectrum range to ultraviolet in order to see the capture team's black lights. Although, visible, the Predator killed the capture team. Lieutenant Harrigan managed to chase the creature down and kill it. Lieutenant Harrigan reports that a group of 5 of the creatures then de-cloaked and retrieved the body of their comrade but did not attack Harrigan. One actually gave the Lieutenant an antique flintlock pistol which has been authenticated to be almost 200 hundred years old circa 1700's, which leads to speculation that the aliens have been hunting the Earth for at least that long.
From the classified corporate files of Wayland industries file # 316B-29X: A third encounter with this species occurred on an archaeological expedition to a whaling station (Bouvetøya) 1000 miles North of Antarctica, lead by Billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland. The expedition was in search of a buried pyramid discovered by heat imaging from a satellite. The expedition was caught in a battle between this predator species and another unknown species of alien. The only was survivor, Alexa Woods an Arctic survival expert hired on as the expedition guide. She reported that the team’s archaeologist had discovered that the Pyramid was a trap to bring humans to the Pyramid to act as hosts for the parasitic offspring of the unknown aliens and that the Predators would hunt these creatures as part of a Rite of Passage ceremony. The Aliens were able to overcome 2 of the 3 predators. The remaining Predator allied with Alexa and together they were able to wipe out the nest of Aliens using the predator self destruct device to destroy the Pyramid. One large version of the alien species, reportedly the egg layer, reached the surface and attacked Alexa and the Predator. By the end of the fight the Alien ‘Queen’ fell into freezing depths of the Antarctic seas and the predator was mortally injured. A spacecraft appeared form nowhere, presumably with the same cloaking technology possessed by the Predators, and several predators emerged to retrieve their fallen comrade.
Personality/Motivation:
The Predator Society is similar to human ancient hunting societies. The best warriors are the leaders of the tribe through their past exploits and through ritualistic duels. The predators are trophy collectors but only choose the hunt species that are able to pose a threat in combat. Against a group of dangerous foes the Predator will seek one out one of the group to kill and collect trophies. If denied a trophy it will seek to retrieve the trophy before killing again. If fighting a group of lesser opponents the predator will kill the group first before collecting trophies, usually chasing fleeing opponents down before collection. The predator will not attack people that provide no “sport” such as unarmed, children, or pregnant women.
Powers/Tactics: The basic predator is equipped with Cloaking Device, life support systems, a self destruct device, helmet with visual enhancements, targeting laser, medical kit, and Claw Bracer. These are given to the young upon reaching adult hood. Replacement and repair of these devices requires the predator to return to the base ship and is only done when the Predator abandons an expedition or finishes the hunt at the appointed time making these Foci difficult to replace. As the predator becomes more experienced and undergoes rites of passage, it is granted more weaponry. Common weapons: Plasma cannon that patches into the Power system along with the self destruct mechanism and cloaking device. There are also a variety of melee weapons including knives and spears made of a metal alloy not found on earth that is extremely durable. Dart launchers, Razor wire nets, and flying disc blades are common. This upgraded weaponry can be replaced but requires a trip back to his home world and therefore extremely difficult to replace in most situations.
Appearance
Predators are 8”+ tall humanoids with claw like mandibles and dreadlock like strands on their head. They wear little in the way of clothing preferring bits of Armor and a helmet. They prefer hot environments but have been know to hunt in almost any environment. The predator home world has a dense atmosphere that screens higher spectrum of visual light and in response the predator’s natural vision is sensitive to the Orange spectrum of light.
Designer's Notes:
I have decided to only treat some of the movies as canon to the Predator Mythology and some of the books and graphic novels that I read many years ago. For example, the latest Alien VS Predator: Requiem is pure garbage. Unlike the Alien Movies, most of the predator movies are fairly good and don’t detract from the mythology.
Throughout the 1st 2 movies theirs seems to be some mystical connection and some magically sensitive individuals can sense a disturbance of some kind when the predator is in the area. I was not really sure how to simulate so I went with a Distinctive feature limitation although this is not a huge handicap.
From the first movie when the predator takes off his mask his point of view is shown as very orange in color. I extrapolate from this that the Predator’s vision is sensitive to the Infrared spectrum of light and therefore evolved in an environment where Infrared is hard to see. By giving the predator a penalty to his attack rolls when helmet is removed it serves to level the playing field and to make the fight more challenging while representing having obscured (I read as partially flashed) vision. Basically the equivalent of a human having their eyes dilated and walking outside on a sunny day without sunglasses
From the second movie: This predator is kind of a wuss, he has many more gadgets for killing than the first predator but he fights much weaker opponents ( Heavily armed Special forces units in the first movie VS gang members or cops in the second.) He did fight and kill the government capture squad but only because they were hunting him. The predator also would kill off entire squads of thugs instead of killing them one by one, which was different from the first movie.
From the 3rd movie: Predators in an Arctic environment is a departure from the first two movies. A different kind of Blade disc is introduced and one Predator had a knife. Also dispelled the idea that the Plasma cannon are a standard piece of gear since the Predators had to go through a rite of passage to earn theirs.
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Re: Hit Locations in Super-Hero Game?
Reminds me of critical hit charts in D&D. I refuse to use or play with them. Rationale: If I get a lucky hit and kill or take an opponent that is all well in good but that is against a villian, if I kill or permanently main the bad guy so what there will always be more. However if a bad guy kills or maims me then it is done...time to make a new character. Those types of games the odds are always against you as a player. I would come with a small stack of characters and explain that they are replacement characters becuase it is not a matter of if but when your character falls permanently to a lucky hit.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
With regard to the self-destruct mechanism, I'd only change one thing to better reflect the movieversion. I timed the self-destruct sequence in the original film once, and Schaefer only had 43
seconds to get clear before the detonation took place - and even then, he still caught part of the
blast (the novelized version of Predator 2 made it clear that Schaefer suffered some radiation
exposure from the blast, and the scene where he's diving for cover tends to bear that out, as the
energy pulse from the blast does reach him before he's completely out of the way).
About the Predator's STR: the score listed in the writeup might be enough to let it crush concrete
in its bare hands, but is it enough to allow it to tear through a metal roof (say, of something like
a subway car)?
Major Tom 2009
I am not super familiar with all the literary works associated with the Predator mythology so from the movies I assumed their was no radiation. It would also make sense becuase if the devices had been used multiple times on earth over the last 10,000 to 20,000 years, there would signs of radiation easily detectable by modern scientists that would date back to when man was mostly hunting and gathering through out the world. I always saw the device as a means to erase the existence of a failed hunt. Leaving residue of a fission bomb behind would not really support that.
Also, in the movie at least, Dutch just seemed a little battered and no obvious visual signs that he had radiation sickness caused by the explosion. And did walk away under his own power. If he did get radiated it was not obvious and a pretty crappy thing to do to a hero (kind of reminds me of aliens 3 where in the first 5 minutes Newt and Hicks are killed off to further a crappy plotline.)
My reasoning behind the timer is this. Dutch is merely human and while strong and atheletic he can only run so fast, top that off by running through very difficult terrain. By the description of the size of the blast it was really large about a kilometer in diameter(I believe the special Agent Keyes character said 120 square blocks of jungle were destroyed, if memory serves.) So Dutch had to get about half a click away running through a jungle and only started to run when the counter was like half way done counting down. I would say that there is a perceptual time dilation effect going on, you know like when time seems to fly by for one person and go more slowly for another i.e...you can justify 5 minutes being percieved by the character and by the movie watcher as vastly different. And don't forget the rule of time bombs in cinema, they always just have enough time for the hero to performed his prescripted action whether that is to disarmed it or get out of the blast radius. I figured Dutch could probably escape most of the blast by running fullout and diving under cover at the last minute in about 2.5 minutes (and this to me seems very generous, which is another reason to make it an explosive effect.)
I have also addressed the strength issue but wanted to hear more from other posters before I update it in this thread.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
I would give him both Climbing and Clinging for those surfaces (like rigging) where the former would work and the latter might not. Also' date=' their ability to brachiate through trees could be a form of Flight.[/quote']You probably could use flight to simulate but why could that not be simulated by leaping from tree to tree (he has a superhuman amount of leap even if he is not leaping city blocks) and cling to the trees as he goes along?
The climbing skill would probably be a good addition.
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Tarjik studied the Monastary through his binoculars, robed figures went about there daily routines of gardening, cleaning, and conducting martial arts exercises. The monks on the exercise courtyard went through their fluid movements in perfect coordination with each other. So serene and peaceful, at one with the world. Tarjik spat on the ground, this would be too easy, his mistress seemed to think that these monks would put up some kind of a fight, but Tarjik was prepared. Still looking on, Tarjik smiled as he gave the signal in the radio. From multiple locations across the mountain top a puff of smoke and a "THOOM" sound could be heard each mortar raining death upon the stone structure.
Soon the flash and bark of Kalishinkovs spat down on the monastary grounds making the robed figures fall and twitch with atomatic fire. Tarjik spoke in Chinese in his radio and soon after helicopters swooshed low over the mountains rockets rapidly launching explosive projectiles and machingun whirling. Below a monk jumped from the monastary roof onto a incoming missle's tail fins sending the projectile on a new course back towards a helo which promptly burst in to a cloud of fire and shrapnel. The monk then landed on the ground in a crouch small gouts of earth spitting up around him as gunfire tried to reach a target. Ah ...now this would be a challenge..."Taurus! Get the team from their tents we are going down there.", the World Stone would be his and no one would stand in his way, no one!
As they rode the helicopter in, he ordered the Chinese soldiers to concentrate fire away from the landing zone and to cease mortar and rocket fire, no used in leveling the structure after all. The Chinese Army MI-17 helicopter landed in the training courtyard amidst dozens of fallen monks and smoking ruins. Two Chinese soldiers stepped off to secure the LZ. Tarjik and his team followed close behind. Tarjik inhaled deeply taking in the scene of destructions and smiled. Suddenly a robed figure landed next to a soldier and after pummeling him with a few deft strikes sent the soldier flying through the air at the other soldier with a swift kick. The other soldier barely got his finger on the trigger and barrel raised before his comrade impacts, knocking him down and sending his assault rifle clattering to the ground. Taurus grunts, "I'll get 'im boss" and procedes to charge at the monk. The monk swiflty leaps over Taurus sending him on his way with a kick to the back of his head. Gemini chants and points a finger at the monk who almost doubles over in pain, pus filled blisters appear on his face and hands but he seems to shake the worst of it off. Tarjik draws and arrow to his bow and begins to fire on the monk who grabs the first two shots and dodges a third. Meanwhile Scorpio lifts his arm releasing small darts at his robed target and scoring a few hits. Quickly the Monks reactions start to slow and Tarjik shoots and arrow at the ground next to the monk the arrow head detonating on impact sending the target sprawling. Virgo, a beautiful blonde woman with deep green eyes, grabs the monk by the chin and gives him a kiss. Her eyes lighten for a moment and she says to Tarjik, " Sagitarius, he is ours and he will tell us everything we want to know." As he standws over the glazed eyed monk, Tarjik smiled, his mistress will be very pleased. .............
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
Seconded. 5 more points on STR seem right. (which would make it 28)I probably wouldnt go with Climbing being a Familiarity only. They seemed to naturally good at it.
That would be why the predator has "Cling" as on of it's powers. At some points in the movies it seems like the Predator has almost spiderman-esque climbing abilities. Ex. in the first movie in various scenes the predator scales the sides of trees by crawling rather than by climbing i.e.. gravity would pull a climbers legs down if they were not wrapped around a branch or the trunk. It would seem redundant to give him both a good climbing ability as well as Cling. It may make good sense to also give him both too in case his cling was suppressed for some reason but that seems pretty unlikely.
In my "final" Version I am going with 30 strength and I changed the Vision disadvantage a little to make it say that Pred's are sensitive to infared spectrum. The Pred's helmet enhanced senses is now a variable filter that alows the Pred to adjust his vision to reduce sight penalties in unusual lighting conditions..i.e. on Earth more infared light gets through the atmosphere than on the Pred's homeworld and the Pred would be partially flashed due to his physical disadvantage, the helmet negates these sight penalties, this could also work with other weird light conditions on other planets as well.
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Re: Need helps coming up with "arm" powers
Lance Armstrong- Endurance reserve and can ride a bicycle really fast. J/K
Armed and Dangerous: HKA , maybe strangle opponent?
Strength of Arms: +STR
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Re: Teen superhumans but no adult ones
Makes me think of control. Often minors are taken into custody for their own "good" with little recourse to their wishes. The young can also be more easily manipulated. On the plus side, there should be plently of supervillians and powerfully groups to hunt you.
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Re: With Great Power...
"They higher the climb, the higher you fall..." Sounds like you have characters that need to be brought down to Earth.
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Re: Sort of a WWYCD: Overthrowing Charismatic Conqueror
....
Fortunately, we seem to be on pretty solid ground as far as the legitimacy of our mission is concerned. There might be some objections here and there, but I don't expect the global community as a whole will take issue with us.
As long as the tech suppressing field isn't up, we can make the attempt in relative safety - but we've got no way to ensure that. With the field up, we'll likely be sitting ducks in Tamerlane's stronghold. Still, it's looking more and more like accepting the invitation may be necessary. Besides - walking into a trap you know is a trap is a very comic-book thing to do!
I'll need to check with the GM on this one - but I think only select parts of the competition are being filmed. I might be wrong; but if not, that gives us a little wiggle room.
Why do you assume the global community would approve of the UN attempting political assassinations? People forget that there are many countries in the world that are run by dictators to one degree or another and some even hold high offices in the UN. There would be outcry both from the world at large and from within the UN. Do you think that Iran or Venezuela would approve the overthrow of dictators, that would set a precident with in the UN and soon enough they may find their own leaders the target of the UN's uber menschen hit squad? They would see this act as a steping stone, today a warlord of a lawless land tommorrow the dictators of stable but corrupt nations. A good portion of the world is governed by thugs and you think they would approve the UN deciding which world leaders are good or bad? There is a reason that Iran is the head of the department in the UN for WMD inspections.
As for the suppression field and trap, you may be able to leverage the use of the cameras to your advantage. If he wants to improve his image, Tamerlane will make everything look nice and make sure everyone is on their best behavior for the camera, but he will have to have the suppression field off for the cameras to work. Ask if you can film the event, if yes you can get some non suppression time in the enemy stronghold for at least a little while. If the answer is no then at least you don't have to worry about being caught on film at the worst possible time.
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Re: Sort of a WWYCD: Overthrowing Charismatic Conqueror
Has the new country created by Tamerlane been recognized by the UN and the world as a country?
I would not take Covert OPS off the table, just abduct rather than kill. Of course if you are identified or captured that will be egg on the UN's face. I mean you are talking about illegally removing a contry leader and that can have major political repercussions and toppling countries is not the UN's line of work. You should probably get more intel first by going to the inivitation and doing some mind probes, if your poweres are known he will be prepared for this and maybe even if your poweres are not known. It may not stop you from scanning his staff or servants or just questioning them normally.
And don't forget you are constantly being filmed which cannot be good and will be used against you.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
Can I have copies for the character archive on my website?I don't think I can attach files to this forum's e-mail. Send me your e-mail address and I will send you the Word Doc. I am also using Excel to build the powers.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
Here's some Predator factoids for you out of the "Bible" itself for writing for them. They see Primarily in the Infra Red range, hence, filter for other forms of vision (and have issues, telling details of like temperature things against like temperature backgrounds). While they can survive in extreme cold, they really hate it. Cold annoys them and they have issues really thinking when they are cold, and are prone to stupid mistakes when so annoyed. The Pyramid in the Antarcticc, was put there back in the days when the Antarctic was a tropical jungle, hence why they were going there. Physicality, Casually they are stronger then the most well conditioned Male of the Human Species, and can crush Concrete in their Bare hands (So work their strength out around to what one would need to with casual strength, one arm a 250 pound guy buy the throat, and toss him aside like yesterdays trash, so, 30-35 range for Predator Males. More for the Females, which are larger and meaner then the males (supposed to be, a few writers have forgotten this, so it's 50/50 now). Predators breath 1% more Oxygen and 4% more Nitrogen then Humans do (And like a LOT more Humidity and Temperature....Jungle Critters by nature) but can get by for about a week without the breathing apparatus. They've also got what's called a Kill Gland in their system, which basically will prod them into Berserker rages and is a communicable effect (though they can regulate that with hormones). Predator flesh and blood if consumed by Humans will extend the human lifespan as well. It's the Predator Blood that also neutralizes the Xenomorph Acid blood. Toss in the 75 foot jumps and what not, if you are in 6e you want to make sure to include some super leap and some levels for climbing that sort of thing.You can also find much of the same info on Wikipedia as well as the various PredaFansites.
~Rex
I don't remember any 75 ft leaps in the movies, certainly Olympic level + leaps but not leaping small buildings by any means.
Doh, i forgot about the Pred blood neutralizing alien acid. Maybe that can be a resistance to acid in General. (This is detailed in some comics/novels) My theories on the Alien acid blood is that it is great for destroying metals, plastics and other in organics but does not work as well vs flesh. This can be shown in the movie: Aliens when some colonial Marines get burned by the acid in a few scenes but the Acid does not disolve their affected body parts (yet another reason why AVP: Requiem was retarded and not canon. Reference the scene where the hunter has his whole arm disolved after shooting a face hugger with a rifle.) In which case this would be a limitation on the Alien acid secretions rather than a power/advantage of the Predator.
I did not know about the Gland making them bezerk or the stronger females. It did not strike me that the predator went "Bezerk" in any of the films. Angry?..sure... out of control?...not really. i don't think that would get a disadvantage. In the 2nd film the predator actually was fleeing from the lone police officer that was getting the better of him, which does not strike me as something a bezerker would do. In the first film the Pred whittles down the resuce team to a more manageable size before attacking the rest as a group. What would be the trigger for a "bezerk rage" ?
My theory as to why Predators take off their masks in Certain circumstances: The first movie has the pred removing his mask before fighting mono a mono with Arnie. I believe that by doing so he suffered combat penalties so that he could fight this worthy opponent on a more personal level and to level the playing field. At this point the Predator only had his physical prowess and his bracer claws but Arnie was completely unarmed, both were somewhat injured.
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Re: Sort of a WWYCD: Overthrowing Charismatic Conqueror
Sounds like a black ops mission to me. Go in and assasinate the dictator and his lieutenants covertly and be prepared to have peace keepers step in. Maybe use the invite as an opportunity to case the joint. Or if political assassinations are against your team's ethics you can try to gather evidence.
You can always meet him and decide for yourself if he is the real deal or just another mass murderer and decide your course from there. I don't think it would be a good idea to attack him during the invite. Too many eyes on you, but going back in covertly a week later would be better.
An interesting thing is the technology blackout. This means little communication in or out of the country. You could always take out their tech suppressor so that bad news can leave to convince the world to act and good news can enter the country to perhaps influence the people to revolt. Once the situation degenerates you may have cause to act openly against him.
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Re: We Screwed Up, Please Help Us...
Regardless of her father's profession she is an innocent in trouble. I may as well have the assistants help to make them look good as well. No point depriving a perfectly good crime boss of his incompetent henchmen. Of course if the mission goes South in a big way you will likely get the blame and a new Hunted.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
Power Upgrades:
Cost POWERS
20 Spear: HKA 2D6; Armor Piercing (+1/2), Reduced End 0 End (+1/2); OAF (-1) Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
2 PLUS to Spear: Long Weapon: 1" stretch( reduced END0 (+0.25), [7Activ pts], OAF (-1), Always direct (-1/4), No Noncom stretch (-1/2), only to cause dmg (-1/2), no Velocity dmg (-1/4)=2 pts real cost for stretching
2 PLUS to spear: Throwing Spear: Ranged: based on STR (+1/4), 1 recoverable charge when thrown (-3 ¼), OAF (-1), Lockout: Cannot use HKA until recovered (-1/2)
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
Looks okay to me. Mind you, I was going 'WTF' watching the first AVP film... The Predators only showed up on Earth in the hottest of summers. It suggests that they're evolved to handle much warmer climates than us.So why did one start running around in Antarctica?
Aside from that, my main gripe about that film was its ransacking of the Dark Horse Comics mini-series. I thought the Japanese corporate ranching colony on a planet selected by the Preds for a hunt was a much better way to integrate the Aliens with the Predators.
Ah well. The Hollywood boys know what is 'way kewl' much better than people who can actually write.
The comics would be a much better source probably. I do shake my head with disbelief with each new movie becuase they keep changing things. AVP: Requiem is definitely not canon...that movie is just a bad horror movie rather than the SCFI movie I have come to enjoy.
Stats: I always invisioned the Predator as having strength that was really just above a proffessional heavy weight weight lifter's Str. If Arnie is like a 25 I will probably bumb Pred Boy up to 30. It would also help against the power creep that I think you will find in player characters. I.e. I am a normal human with mental powers and just happen to have 30 STR (with no logical reason given for the increase STR in their origin story.)
Susano you can archive my Pred design and tweak it too. I will try to finish up the upgrade weapons as well. And post them.
I am indeed a Rookie. I am not sure how this build will stand up against a hero group. Also, I don't have the experience to guage the stats very well. I need to get a group together and play the stock champions characters so that I can learn the mechanics better.
Note on the Life support system: Although it may not seem like the Predators are equiped for extreme environments like outer space vacuum or artic cold (Even in AVP they ran around half naked) , I contend that any species capable of space flight should have the tech to protect themselves from these harsh environments. The Preds would dress for the environment of their hunt i.e. SFX advanced technology snow suit or space suit, etc..
Evolution of the predator: From what I can glean from the movie: As mentioned in my original post, they are more sensitive to seeing the Orange maybe red spectrum of vivisible light, maybe these wavelengths don't penetrate their atmosphere as well as in ours. They breathe oxygen but maybe from a more oxygenated environment, hence the breathing masks and in P2 the Predator even uses a breathing mask at one point. I should probably build this as a disadvantage. Predators are adapted to a hot and wet environment and prefer to hunt there.
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Re: Predator: rough draft. Any comments?
This Predator is the base template. As the Predator gains experience and passes rites of Passage he can can get upgrades to his weaponry. In game terms you can add the upgrades to bring up the power level to fight against your oponents.
Updrage #1
EC: 30 pts Shoulder mounted Plasma Cannon: 4D6 RKA; Reduced End: 0 END (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Extremely difficult to replace (-1)
This weapon is part of the elemental Control along with the Cloaking Device and Self Destruct. All run of the suits power system.
I will produce more upgrades in the future to include spears and Razor nets, and Blade discs.
I am pretty new to champions so I am not sure how well the villian will do in combat against superheroes or even against a group of Competent Normals. Perhaps multiple predators can team up against a tough hero. They mostly fight one on one but against rather than work together but in AVP one teams up with a human to take on the much more powerful Alien Queen. From what I can gather one predator vs more powerful group will sperate and kill individuals of the group until the group is at a manageable level collection trophies one at a time. If the group of prey is weaker the Predator will seek to kill all members of the group first and then comeback to retrieve trophies. This makes the inconsistent hunting strategies make sense between the first 2 movies.
If fighting a weakened opponent that has proved a challenge, the Predator has been surprised or taken significant damage from the opponent, the predator will even the match by removing helmet to suffer the to OCV;/DCV penalties, and/or remove upgrades.
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[ATTACH=CONFIG]35346[/ATTACH]
PREDATOR
VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes
23 STR 13 23 14- HTH Dmg 4 1/2d6 END [2]
21 DEX 33 21 13-
25 CON 30 25 14-
25 BODY 30 25 14-
20 INT 10 20 13- PER Roll 13-
15 EGO 10 15 12-
30 PRE 20 30 15- PRE Attack: 6d6
0 COM -5 0 9-
5 PD 0 5 5 PD
5 ED 0 5 5 ED
4 SPD 9 5 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12
10 REC 0 10
50 END 0 50
50 STUN 5 40
10 RUN 8 10m END [1]
2 SWIM 0 2m END [1]
4 LEAP 2 4m 4m forward, 2m upward
CHA Cost: 150
Cost POWERS
22 Helmet/suit: Life-support system: Self contained breathing +10 , Safe environment All: +9, Immune Disease/Bio+10, Immune all chemicals+10; OIF (-1/2), difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Heat Vision: Infrared Perception (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Night vision (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Penetrating thermal vision: N-Ray vision (Sight Group) blocked by insulating or dense materials; Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Ultra Vision: Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Visual light spectrum vision: Enhanced sense +2 PER to reduce sight penalties from unusual lighting conditions (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Targeting Laser:+3 OCV with Plasma cannon. 3 X 5pt CSL only; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the helmet is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Universal Translator Speech; IIF (-0.25),Diff to replace (-0.25)
5 Medical Kit: Healing 2d6 : IIF (-1/4), Extra time: 1 Turn (-1 1/4), Requires paramedics role (-1/2), 6 charges (-3/4)
10 Clinging (10pts) 1D6 KB resist, represents climbing ability inherent to race.
8 Faster Running: +4” running
2 Agile Leap: +2” of leap
17 Right Bracer: 1D6+1 HKA STR + HKA = 2.5 D6 damage; Armor piercing (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Right Bracer: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the bracer is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
15 EC: Powered Devices
5 Slot#1: Left Bracer: Cloaking Device: Invisibility to sight group ; Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2); IIF difficult to replace ( -1/2)
10 Slot#2: Left Bracer: Self Destruct Device: 10D6 Energy Blast; Explosion (+1/2); Mega scale (1"=100M +1/4); No Range (-1/2); OIF: Left bracer difficult to replace (-1/2), Gestures: to activate (-1/2) and 2 hands require (-1/2); Charges: 1 charge (-2), Non recoverable (-2); Lockout: Cannot use other powers in EC while destruct activated; Extra time: bomb counts down 5 minutes before destruction (-
POWERS Cost: 146
Cost SKILLS:
3 Acrobatics 13-
3 Analyze 13-
3 Break fall 13-
2 KS: Alien Species 11-
2 KS:Predator Culture 11-
3 Mimicry 13-
2 Navigation 13-
2 Survival: Tropical 13-
2 Survival: Arctic 13-
2 Survival: Mountains 13-
2 Survival: Urban 13-
3 System Operations 13-
3 Tracking 13-
Everyman:
0 Acting 8-
0 Climbing 8-
0 Concealment 8-
0 Computer Programming 8-
0 Deduction 8-
0 Native Lang. 4pts no literacy 8-
3 Paramedics 13-
0 Persuasion -8
0 PS: Hunter 11-
3 Shadowing 13-
3 Stealth 13-
0 Transport Fam. Mil Spacecraft 8-
0 AK: Home world 8-
SKILLS Cost: 41
Cost: PERKS
2 Fringe Benefit: Member of the Tribe. Includes access to predator technology and starships.
10 Tribal Vehicle/Base: Each member of the tribe contributes to a starship that serves as both a base and means of transportation.
PERKS Cost: 12
Cost: TALENTS
3 Bump of Direction
3 Resistance: +3 to Ego skill roll to resist interrogation only
TALENTS Cost: 6
Value DISADVANTAGES
10 Distinct. Feature: 8' + Tall Alien humanoid. Easy Conceal with Cloaking device +5, Ext.Com react: Fear+10. Not distinctive to other of same race/society -5
15 Distinct. Feature: Spirit world disturbance, not concealable +15,ext.React:10, unusual sense-10: those who can sense magic or spirits feel something unnatural is present if not exactly where.
20 Hunted: U.S. Gov. Division 13 Spec ops. Occasion 8- , more powerful+15, NCI +5, imprison/kill -0
15 Physical. Limitation: Naturally more sensitive to the orange spectrum of visible light, without Helmet enhanced senses on an earth like world the following penalties are suffered: -2 PER, -2 OCV, -1 DCV, penalties do not apply on ship or on home world.
25 Psychological Limitation: Code of the Hunter: Will not hunt children, pregnant women, or unarmed opponents. Total +10 (-5 EGO roll to overcome), Very common +15. Penalty can be modified if predator decides to fight at a disadvantage..i.e. Removing helmet or throwing down some weapons but only against a worthy opponent.
20 Psychological Limitation: Obsessed with trophy collecting. When attacking a group of worthy opponents the predator will hunt one and retreat with corpse. If denied the corpse it will seek to steal that corpse before finding a new prey to hunt. When attacking a group of lesser opponents may kill all opponents first before collecting trophies (treats group as one worthy opponent.) Strong+5, Very common+15
5 Social Limitation: Hierarchy of Hunters: A hunter must obey and respect the decisions of the stronger hunters. Precedence based on a combination of one on one duels, trophies collected, and prestige. Occasional +5, Major effect +5, only in Predator Society -5
DISADVANTAGES Points: 110
Base Pts: 245
Exp Required: 0
Total Exp Available: 0
Exp Unspent: 0
Total Character Cost:
Background/History:
Not much is known about this predatory species except that there have been a few encounters reported from reliable sources in the late 20th century. The first recorded encounter was in the summer of 1987 in Guatemala by Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer and his special Search and Rescue Task Force. His fire-team consisted of 7 expert, heavily armed soldiers that were sent on a covert mission to rescue Cabinet ministers whose helicopter was downed by guerilla forces. Major Schaefer reports encountering an alien that used advanced technology to render itself invisible and had a shoulder mounted weapon that is deduced to fire a bolt of Plasma. This alien wiped out the major's team in less than 48 hours and seemed to hunt the team in search of body parts for trophies. Dutch managed to defeat this creature after discovering that the creature sees body heat and could not detect him after he was covered in mud. Major Schaefer fashioned crude explosives and weapons and armed with knowledge of the creature’s ability to see his body heat, Dutch set up an ambush. After defeating the alien, the Major narrowly escaped from a large explosion caused by a self destruct device activated by the dying creature. The blast covered an area of nearly a half a kilometer radius and although seemingly a product of a fission or Fusion it left no radioactive fallout.
The second confirmed encounter was in the summer of 1997 in Los Angeles by LA PD Lieutenant Michael Harrigan and Detective Leona Cantrell. The encounter was thoroughly documented by a special Task force set up by Division 13 who was tasked with capturing the Predator's advanced technology after the first reported encounter in 1987. The task force, led by Special Agent Peter Keyes successfully tracked the predator using a net of motion sensors on rooftops to a meat packing plant and attempted to capture the predator with liquid nitrogen guns, heat insulated suits, black lights, and sprinkling radioactive particles in the air in order to render the alien's cloaking device inert. The predator was not fooled and changed the elector-magnetic spectrum range to ultraviolet in order to see the capture team's black lights. Although, visible, the Predator killed the capture team. Lieutenant Harrigan managed to chase the creature down and kill it. Lieutenant Harrigan reports that a group of 5 of the creatures then de-cloaked and retrieved the body of their comrade but did not attack Harrigan. One actually gave the Lieutenant an antique flintlock pistol which has been authenticated to be almost 200 hundred years old circa 1700's, which leads to speculation that the aliens have been hunting the Earth for at least that long.
From the classified corporate files of Wayland industries file # 316B-29X: A third encounter with this species occurred on an archaeological expedition to a whaling station (Bouvetøya) 1000 miles North of Antarctica, lead by Billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland. The expedition was in search of a buried pyramid discovered by heat imaging from a satellite. The expedition was caught in a battle between this predator species and another unknown species of alien. The only was survivor, Alexa Woods an Arctic survival expert hired on as the expedition guide. She reported that the team’s archaeologist had discovered that the Pyramid was a trap to bring humans to the Pyramid to act as hosts for the parasitic offspring of the unknown aliens and that the Predators would hunt these creatures as part of a Rite of Passage ceremony. The Aliens were able to overcome 2 of the 3 predators. The remaining Predator allied with Alexa and together they were able to wipe out the nest of Aliens using the predator self destruct device to destroy the Pyramid. One large version of the alien species, reportedly the egg layer, reached the surface and attacked Alexa and the Predator. By the end of the fight the Alien ‘Queen’ fell into freezing depths of the Antarctic seas and the predator was mortally injured. A spacecraft appeared form nowhere, presumably with the same cloaking technology possessed by the Predators, and several predators emerged to retrieve their fallen comrade.
Personality/Motivation:
The Predator Society is similar to human ancient hunting societies. The best warriors are the leaders of the tribe through their past exploits and through ritualistic duels. The predators are trophy collectors but only choose the hunt species that are able to pose a threat in combat. Against a group of dangerous foes the Predator will seek one out one of the group to kill and collect trophies. If denied a trophy it will seek to retrieve the trophy before killing again. If fighting a group of lesser opponents the predator will kill the group first before collecting trophies, usually chasing fleeing opponents down before collection. The predator will not attack people that provide no “sport” such as unarmed, children, or pregnant women.
Powers/Tactics: The basic predator is equipped with Cloaking Device, life support systems, a self destruct device, helmet with visual enhancements, targeting laser, medical kit, and Claw Bracer. These are given to the young upon reaching adult hood. Replacement and repair of these devices requires the predator to return to the base ship and is only done when the Predator abandons an expedition or finishes the hunt at the appointed time making these Foci difficult to replace. As the predator becomes more experienced and undergoes rites of passage, it is granted more weaponry. Common weapons: Plasma cannon that patches into the Power system along with the self destruct mechanism and cloaking device. There are also a variety of melee weapons including knives and spears made of a metal alloy not found on earth that is extremely durable. Dart launchers, Razor wire nets, and flying disc blades are common. This upgraded weaponry can be replaced but requires a trip back to his home world and therefore extremely difficult to replace in most situations.
Appearance
Predators are 8”+ tall humanoids with claw like mandibles and dreadlock like strands on their head. They wear little in the way of clothing preferring bits of Armor and a helmet. They prefer hot environments but have been know to hunt in almost any environment. The predator home world has a dense atmosphere that screens higher spectrum of visual light and in response the predator’s natural vision is sensitive to the Orange spectrum of light.
Designer's Notes:
I have decided to only treat some of the movies as canon to the Predator Mythology and some of the books and graphic novels that I read many years ago. For example, the latest Alien VS Predator: Requiem is pure garbage. Unlike the Alien Movies, most of the predator movies are fairly good and don’t detract from the mythology.
Throughout the 1st 2 movies theirs seems to be some mystical connection and some magically sensitive individuals can sense a disturbance of some kind when the predator is in the area. I was not really sure how to simulate so I went with a Distinctive feature limitation although this is not a huge handicap.
From the first movie when the predator takes off his mask his point of view is shown as very orange in color. I extrapolate from this that the Predator’s vision is sensitive to the orange spectrum of light and therefore evolved in an environment where orange is hard to see. Just my take on this. By giving the predator a penalty to his attack rolls when helmet is removed it serves to level the playing field and to make the fight more challenging while representing having obscured vision.
From the second movie: This predator is kind of a wuss, he has many more gadgets for killing than the first predator but he fights much weaker opponents ( Heavily armed Special forces units in the first movie VS gang members or cops in the second.) He did fight and kill the government capture squad but only because they were hunting him. The predator also would kill off entire squads of thugs instead of killing them one by one, which was different from the first movie.
From the 3rd movie: Predators in an Arctic environment is a departure from the first two movies. A different kind of Blade disc is introduced and one Predator had a knife. Also dispelled the idea that the Plasma cannon is a standard piece of gear since the Predators had to go through a rite of passage to earn theirs.
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[ATTACH=CONFIG]35344[/ATTACH]
PREDATOR
VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes
23 STR 13 23 14- HTH Dmg 4 1/2d6 END [2]
21 DEX 33 21 13-
25 CON 30 25 14-
25 BODY 30 25 14-
20 INT 10 20 13- PER Roll 13-
15 EGO 10 15 12-
30 PRE 20 30 15- PRE Attack: 6d6
0 COM -5 0 9-
5 PD 0 5 5 PD
5 ED 0 5 5 ED
4 SPD 9 5 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12
10 REC 0 10
50 END 0 50
50 STUN 5 40
10 RUN 8 10m END [1]
2 SWIM 0 2m END [1]
4 LEAP 2 4m 4m forward, 2m upward
CHA Cost: 150
Cost POWERS
22 Helmet/suit: Life-support system: Self contained breathing +10 , Safe environment All: +9, Immune Disease/Bio+10, Immune all chemicals+10; OIF (-1/2), difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Heat Vision: Infrared Perception (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Night vision (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Penetrating thermal vision: N-Ray vision (Sight Group) blocked by insulating or dense materials; Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Ultra Vision: Ultraviolet Perception (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Visual light spectrum vision: Enhanced sense +2 PER to reduce sight penalties from unusual lighting conditions (Sight Group); Reduced End 0 (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Targeting Laser:+3 OCV with Plasma cannon. 3 X 5pt CSL only; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Helmet: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the helmet is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
4 Helmet: Universal Translator Speech; IIF (-0.25),Diff to replace (-0.25)
5 Medical Kit: Healing 2d6 : IIF (-1/4), Extra time: 1 Turn (-1 1/4), Requires paramedics role (-1/2), 6 charges (-3/4)
10 Clinging (10pts) 1D6 KB resist, represents climbing ability inherent to race.
8 Faster Running: +4” running
2 Agile Leap: +2” of leap
17 Right Bracer: 1D6+1 HKA STR + HKA = 2.5 D6 damage; Armor piercing (+1/2); OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
8 Right Bracer: Armor 5PD / 5 ED, the bracer is very durable; OIF (-1/2), Difficult to replace (-1/4)
15 EC: Powered Devices
5 Slot#1: Left Bracer: Cloaking Device: Invisibility to sight group ; Reduced Endurance 0 END (+1/2); IIF difficult to replace ( -1/2)
10 Slot#2: Left Bracer: Self Destruct Device: 10D6 Energy Blast; Explosion (+1/2); Mega scale (1"=100M +1/4); No Range (-1/2); OIF: Left bracer difficult to replace (-1/2), Gestures: to activate (-1/2) and 2 hands require (-1/2); Charges: 1 charge (-2), Non recoverable (-2); Lockout: Cannot use other powers in EC while destruct activated; Extra time: bomb counts down 5 minutes before destruction (-
POWERS Cost: 146
Cost SKILLS:
3 Acrobatics 13-
3 Analyze 13-
3 Break fall 13-
2 KS: Alien Species 11-
2 KS:Predator Culture 11-
3 Mimicry 13-
2 Navigation 13-
2 Survival: Tropical 13-
2 Survival: Arctic 13-
2 Survival: Mountains 13-
2 Survival: Urban 13-
3 System Operations 13-
3 Tracking 13-
Everyman:
0 Acting 8-
0 Climbing 8-
0 Concealment 8-
0 Computer Programming 8-
0 Deduction 8-
0 Native Lang. 4pts no literacy 8-
3 Paramedics 13-
0 Persuasion -8
0 PS: Hunter 11-
3 Shadowing 13-
3 Stealth 13-
0 Transport Fam. Mil Spacecraft 8-
0 AK: Home world 8-
SKILLS Cost: 41
Cost: PERKS
2 Fringe Benefit: Member of the Tribe. Includes access to predator technology and starships.
10 Tribal Vehicle/Base: Each member of the tribe contributes to a starship that serves as both a base and means of transportation.
PERKS Cost: 12
Cost: TALENTS
3 Bump of Direction
3 Resistance: +3 to Ego skill roll to resist interrogation only
TALENTS Cost: 6
Value DISADVANTAGES
10 Distinct. Feature: 8' + Tall Alien humanoid. Easy Conceal with Cloaking device +5, Ext.Com react: Fear+10. Not distinctive to other of same race/society -5
15 Distinct. Feature: Spirit world disturbance, not concealable +15,ext.React:10, unusual sense-10: those who can sense magic or spirits feel something unnatural is present if not exactly where.
20 Hunted: U.S. Gov. Division 13 Spec ops. Occasion 8- , more powerful+15, NCI +5, imprison/kill -0
15 Physical. Limitation: Naturally more sensitive to the orange spectrum of visible light, without Helmet enhanced senses on an earth like world the following penalties are suffered: -2 PER, -2 OCV, -1 DCV, penalties do not apply on ship or on home world.
25 Psychological Limitation: Code of the Hunter: Will not hunt children, pregnant women, or unarmed opponents. Total +10 (-5 EGO roll to overcome), Very common +15. Penalty can be modified if predator decides to fight at a disadvantage..i.e. Removing helmet or throwing down some weapons but only against a worthy opponent.
20 Psychological Limitation: Obsessed with trophy collecting. When attacking a group of worthy opponents the predator will hunt one and retreat with corpse. If denied the corpse it will seek to steal that corpse before finding a new prey to hunt. When attacking a group of lesser opponents may kill all opponents first before collecting trophies (treats group as one worthy opponent.) Strong+5, Very common+15
5 Social Limitation: Hierarchy of Hunters: A hunter must obey and respect the decisions of the stronger hunters. Precedence based on a combination of one on one duels, trophies collected, and prestige. Occasional +5, Major effect +5, only in Predator Society -5
DISADVANTAGES Points: 110
Base Pts: 245
Exp Required: 0
Total Exp Available: 0
Exp Unspent: 0
Total Character Cost:
Background/History:
Not much is known about this predatory species except that there have been a few encounters reported from reliable sources in the late 20th century. The first recorded encounter was in the summer of 1987 in Guatemala by Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer and his special Search and Rescue Task Force. His fire-team consisted of 7 expert, heavily armed soldiers that were sent on a covert mission to rescue Cabinet ministers whose helicopter was downed by guerilla forces. Major Schaefer reports encountering an alien that used advanced technology to render itself invisible and had a shoulder mounted weapon that is deduced to fire a bolt of Plasma. This alien wiped out the major's team in less than 48 hours and seemed to hunt the team in search of body parts for trophies. Dutch managed to defeat this creature after discovering that the creature sees body heat and could not detect him after he was covered in mud. Major Schaefer fashioned crude explosives and weapons and armed with knowledge of the creature’s ability to see his body heat, Dutch set up an ambush. After defeating the alien, the Major narrowly escaped from a large explosion caused by a self destruct device activated by the dying creature. The blast covered an area of nearly a half a kilometer radius and although seemingly a product of a fission or Fusion it left no radioactive fallout.
The second confirmed encounter was in the summer of 1997 in Los Angeles by LA PD Lieutenant Michael Harrigan and Detective Leona Cantrell. The encounter was thoroughly documented by a special Task force set up by Division 13 who was tasked with capturing the Predator's advanced technology after the first reported encounter in 1987. The task force, led by Special Agent Peter Keyes successfully tracked the predator using a net of motion sensors on rooftops to a meat packing plant and attempted to capture the predator with liquid nitrogen guns, heat insulated suits, black lights, and sprinkling radioactive particles in the air in order to render the alien's cloaking device inert. The predator was not fooled and changed the elector-magnetic spectrum range to ultraviolet in order to see the capture team's black lights. Although, visible, the Predator killed the capture team. Lieutenant Harrigan managed to chase the creature down and kill it. Lieutenant Harrigan reports that a group of 5 of the creatures then de-cloaked and retrieved the body of their comrade but did not attack Harrigan. One actually gave the Lieutenant an antique flintlock pistol which has been authenticated to be almost 200 hundred years old circa 1700's, which leads to speculation that the aliens have been hunting the Earth for at least that long.
From the classified corporate files of Wayland industries file # 316B-29X: A third encounter with this species occurred on an archaeological expedition to a whaling station (Bouvetøya) 1000 miles North of Antarctica, lead by Billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland. The expedition was in search of a buried pyramid discovered by heat imaging from a satellite. The expedition was caught in a battle between this predator species and another unknown species of alien. The only was survivor, Alexa Woods an Arctic survival expert hired on as the expedition guide. She reported that the team’s archaeologist had discovered that the Pyramid was a trap to bring humans to the Pyramid to act as hosts for the parasitic offspring of the unknown aliens and that the Predators would hunt these creatures as part of a Rite of Passage ceremony. The Aliens were able to overcome 2 of the 3 predators. The remaining Predator allied with Alexa and together they were able to wipe out the nest of Aliens using the predator self destruct device to destroy the Pyramid. One large version of the alien species, reportedly the egg layer, reached the surface and attacked Alexa and the Predator. By the end of the fight the Alien ‘Queen’ fell into freezing depths of the Antarctic seas and the predator was mortally injured. A spacecraft appeared form nowhere, presumably with the same cloaking technology possessed by the Predators, and several predators emerged to retrieve their fallen comrade.
Personality/Motivation:
The Predator Society is similar to human ancient hunting societies. The best warriors are the leaders of the tribe through their past exploits and through ritualistic duels. The predators are trophy collectors but only choose the hunt species that are able to pose a threat in combat. Against a group of dangerous foes the Predator will seek one out one of the group to kill and collect trophies. If denied a trophy it will seek to retrieve the trophy before killing again. If fighting a group of lesser opponents the predator will kill the group first before collecting trophies, usually chasing fleeing opponents down before collection. The predator will not attack people that provide no “sport” such as unarmed, children, or pregnant women.
Powers/Tactics: The basic predator is equipped with Cloaking Device, life support systems, a self destruct device, helmet with visual enhancements, targeting laser, medical kit, and Claw Bracer. These are given to the young upon reaching adult hood. Replacement and repair of these devices requires the predator to return to the base ship and is only done when the Predator abandons an expedition or finishes the hunt at the appointed time making these Foci difficult to replace. As the predator becomes more experienced and undergoes rites of passage, it is granted more weaponry. Common weapons: Plasma cannon that patches into the Power system along with the self destruct mechanism and cloaking device. There are also a variety of melee weapons including knives and spears made of a metal alloy not found on earth that is extremely durable. Dart launchers, Razor wire nets, and flying disc blades are common. This upgraded weaponry can be replaced but requires a trip back to his home world and therefore extremely difficult to replace in most situations.
Appearance
Predators are 8”+ tall humanoids with claw like mandibles and dreadlock like strands on their head. They wear little in the way of clothing preferring bits of Armor and a helmet. They prefer hot environments but have been know to hunt in almost any environment. The predator home world has a dense atmosphere that screens higher spectrum of visual light and in response the predator’s natural vision is sensitive to the Orange spectrum of light.
Designer's Notes:
I have decided to only treat some of the movies as canon to the Predator Mythology and some of the books and graphic novels that I read many years ago. For example, the latest Alien VS Predator: Requiem is pure garbage. Unlike the Alien Movies, most of the predator movies are fairly good and don’t detract from the mythology.
Throughout the 1st 2 movies theirs seems to be some mystical connection and some magically sensitive individuals can sense a disturbance of some kind when the predator is in the area. I was not really sure how to simulate so I went with a Distinctive feature limitation although this is not a huge handicap.
From the first movie when the predator takes off his mask his point of view is shown as very orange in color. I extrapolate from this that the Predator’s vision is sensitive to the orange spectrum of light and therefore evolved in an environment where orange is hard to see. Just my take on this. By giving the predator a penalty to his attack rolls when helmet is removed it serves to level the playing field and to make the fight more challenging while representing having obscured vision.
From the second movie: This predator is kind of a wuss, he has many more gadgets for killing than the first predator but he fights much weaker opponents ( Heavily armed Special forces units in the first movie VS gang members or cops in the second.) He did fight and kill the government capture squad but only because they were hunting him. The predator also would kill off entire squads of thugs instead of killing them one by one, which was different from the first movie.
From the 3rd movie: Predators in an Arctic environment is a departure from the first two movies. A different kind of Blade disc is introduced and one Predator had a knife. Also dispelled the idea that the Plasma cannon is a standard piece of gear since the Predators had to go through a rite of passage to earn theirs.
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Re: Making nuclear weapons look like firecrackers
Certainly good points Ian Mackinder. Except that Japan was being starved by resources and effectivley blockaded. So would they have been able to mass produce experimental weapons like the new subs?
A Japanese A-bomb could have been a big threat. I am not sure what intel the Allies had about their program or how reliable their spies. If they were 90% sure from an excellent source that the Japs were way behind then it may not have been a big concern.
I saw a program on TV where they did utilize bombs to try to spread diseases such as the Plague.
The element of the Japanese military and government was certainly ready to have each citizen and military unit fight to the death. Whether their will to fight was broken may be argumentative. But it is a fact that the U.S. did fear that they would have to kill a large number of armed civilians if a landing invasion was necessary.
The Japs did not know we had 2 bombs. Having more than one demonstrated that we did have more than one and gave a veiled threat that we may have more. If 2 why not 3 or 4 etc...
As for the atmosphere burn...even if there is a small possibility....the effects if you are wrong are irreversible and final for everyone. I bet they checked their math about 100 times on that bet.
Kristopher: Why would the Russians taking huge chunks of the Japanese Empire not be a big concern to the U.S. ? The U.S.S.R had definitely proved that they were keeping what the won rather than liberating in Eastern Europe. A conventional attack on the Japanese island would have taken a long time much less on the Asia mainland and the remaining islands would have been a lengthy bloody process and how much larger would the U.S.S.R be by the time the Japanese surrendered.
Also the A-bomb helped keep Russia in check after the war ended. At least up until they developed their own and the cold war actually began.
How to build: Aliens(TM)
in Champions
Posted
I want to creat the Aliens from the film of the same name.
My idea is to build the Queen with Duplication (Face hugers) as charges (Eggs). the Huggers will have Transform (to transform people/animals into Alien Drones and a corpse). She will also be able to multiform from egg layer form to independent Queen, the reverse will take a longer period of time.
I am having a little problem with the blood. Here is what I am thinking:
Molecular acid for blood: 8D6 energy Blast:
Advantages:(+4 3/4)
Continuous (+1)
NND: Dilution in water, removing armor, foci, or clothing with acid on them( activation roll or time to remove , PD Force Field (+1 ),
Does body (+1),
Triggered: when Aliens takes body damage(+1/4),
Endurance: 0END(+1/2),
Explosion: (+1/2)
Uncontrolled: (+1/2)
Limitations: (-1 3/4)
Gradual effect: 1 turn losing 1 DC per phase.(-1/4) ,
no range (-1/2),
Limited Power: Damage based on amount of Body damage taken, max of 8D6. (-1?) The Max damage will change for a face hugger or a drone since they have less blood/body than the queen.
8D6 might be kind of excessive..i will have to think about scaling that back.
Things like damage shield just don't seem to fit all of the description but I could add that as a naked power advantage. The damage shield portion could be used for when the alien gets stabbed and the weapon foci melts
I am also considering a change environment effect for the acid: Make holes. These holes can make a tremendous effect on the surrounding environment such as on space/air craft or just falling hazards.
These are just some of my initial thoughts. I will have to do some on line research to see what others have thought up concerning these cinema monsters.