New BtS Critters

[Lord Z]

These critters will soon be appearing in the Court of Tarot Errata Article at Nexus Nine.net.

Swamp Apes
In the deep wilderness of the Florida Everglades, a strange creature has been spotted time and again over last two hundred years. It has been photographed and video-taped, but the footage is always blurry and unimpressive. It appears to be a great ape which has two-inch (5 cm) long brown fur, sometimes has whitish hair around its eyes, walks on two legs, and smells infamously foul. Swamp Apes, just as commonly called “Skunk Apes,” have been described as smelling like rotting cabbage but other witnesses describe the smell in a variety of terms: dung, skunk oil, rotten eggs, sulfur and moldy cheese. More Big Foot sightings occur in Florida than any other region of the United States except for the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Although seemingly a smaller subspecies of Sasquatch, the Floridian Swamp Ape is actually an entirely separate species of monster.
Swamp Apes are usually seen at night along the side of country roads. In the 1950s, one such traveler saw a dark figure while driving through the woods, so he stopped his car to see if the figure was a lost man. The driver soon noticed a terrible odor, and a hairy arm reached into the vehicle. The driver was able to escape by flooring his accelerator.
Some encounters have been even closer. A group of hunters were awoken by a Swamp Ape who fell through the roof of their cabin. The hunters could see it by its glowing red eyes. Before they could find and load their rifles, the ape tore a window out of the cabin and escaped into the swamp.
These creatures are notoriously difficult to document. Swamp Apes are almost never seen in the actual swamps and forests by hunters who are tracking them. One Floridian claims that he once had a hair sample from a Swamp Ape, but men in black broke into his house one night and confiscated it.
Swamp Apes (at least in the world of Beyond the Supernatural®) are supernatural scavengers of a sort. Although not true demons, Swamp Apes are evil and can still be very dangerous. Instead of being summoned to Earth, Swamp Apes almost always arrive on their own in the wilderness through ley line nexuses during eclipses, equinoxes, and hurricanes. They are transdimensional thieves who come to Earth to find exotic free meals.
Their diet on Earth consists mostly of cabbage palmetto and other swamp plants. These creatures will also steal from small gardens or dumpsters for vegetables. They will raid campsites for food. Everglade hunters are fond of leaving out pots of lima beans to stew, and this seems to be the creature's favorite food. Swamp Apes, however, are omnivores who have developed a taste for liver. They have been known to trap large alligators, tear their bellies open, eat the livers, and leave the rest. Trappers sometimes use lima beans or livers to tempt the creatures, but the Swamp Apes will not fall for these traps.
In the wild, Swamp Apes live alone. Usually, they make their homes in the abandoned dens of alligators. These small caves offer the creatures shelter, excellent hiding during the day, and access to fresh water from the Florida aquifers. By swimming through the aquifers, Swamp Apes can appear without warning almost anywhere in Florida.
These dens also allow Swamp Apes to horde whatever they have stolen. In addition to horded food, Swamp Apes instinctively gather items of power. These include magic relics and artifacts. The creatures have little interest in technology, but they will steal psi-devices from careless investigators.
Many people assume that Swamp Apes are harmless and gentle creatures because they do not hunt humans. This is a misperception. Swamp Apes do not hunt humans because the creatures are cowards and will avoid even human children if they can. If attacked, trapped or cornered, Swamp Apes can and will fight back. When the fight-or-flight response turns from flight to fight, the creature transforms slightly into a powerful and aggressive brawler. It instantly gains height and weight, and its eyes begin to glow red, thus revealing its identity as a creature not of this world.
In addition to being dangerous in a fight, Skunk Apes are scheming monsters. In order to clear humans out of an area, a Skunk Ape will attempt to cause trouble that drive them away. In the past, Skunk Apes have purposefully set wildfires, spread diseases, caused car wrecks, and sabotaged electrical lines. All of this chaos makes the job of looting from humans easier.
Swamp Ape – Supernatural Predator/Thief.
Also known as the Skunk Ape, Swaawanoki and Southeastern Big Foot.
Alignment: Miscreant, not particularly violent or sadistic but greedy and prone to causing trouble.
Attributes: I.Q. 1D6+3, M.A. 1D6, M.E. 4D6, P.S. 2D6 normally (+18 when frenzied), P.P. 3D6+3, P.E. 1D6+14, P.B. 1D6, Spd. 3D6.
Armor Rating (A.R.): 9, so a roll to strike less than 10 does no damage.
Hit Points: 1D6 x 10, Personal S.D.C.: 1D4 x 10 normally, +1D6 x 10 when frenzied.
Discorporation: When killed, a Swamp Ape will collapse into a large pile of hair. Analysis of the hair will reveal it to be rotting hair follicles from a variety of mundane animals like deer, coyote, and raccoons.
Threat Level: x4 Supernatural Predator. Horror Factor: 10 normally or 12 when frenzied.
Size: normally 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8m), but 7 feet (2.1m) or more when frenzied.
Weight: about 200 pounds (90 kg), or 300 pounds (135 kg) when frenzied.
Average Life Span: Unknown, possibly immortal.
P.P.E.: 2D4 x15.
Natural Abilities: This clever creature has a high intelligence somewhat smarter in many ways than animals. It avoids traps with instinctual ease and psychic awareness. It also sets its own simple traps for catching intruders or smaller animals. These ape-built traps, mostly log traps and pits, immobilize prey and cause no more than 1D4 damage due to a lack of sophistication. Swamp Apes can not talk or read but they do understand intentions through a type of instinctual empathy.
The creature's body is powerful, supernaturally strong and tough. The Swamp Ape has a natural armor rating due mostly to its supernatural nature but also to its thick hair. It's smell is due to its filth and a natural stink gland much like a skunk. Most humans and even animals only smell the creature when it is within 50' (15.2m), but Psychic Mediums can detect the distinctive smell a half-mile (.8 km) away. Surprisingly, the smell does not make the creature any easier to track. The Swamp Ape has excellent night vision but can not see in complete darkness.
The creature has no Inner Strength Points, but it does have a few special abilities which are psionic in nature. Swamp Apes heal four times as quickly as humans and can recover completely from debilitating wounds. They have a type of limited clairvoyance which tells them when and where traps and ambushes are located. They are naturally empathetic. They can magically light small fires similarly to the Firewalker's power of Create Fire. They can see the invisible like an animal.
Magnet for Disaster: The primary danger of this creature is its deeper connection to misfortune as a cosmic force. Even without trying, the Swamp Ape tends to attract bad luck. Natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, tornadoes, lightning strikes, and mud slides are 25% more likely to occur if a Swamp Ape is within a twenty mile (32.2 km) radius. The disaster never strikes the Swamp Ape directly. The power is always active, and the Swamp Ape can not turn it off even if wanted. This interference in the natural cycle of elements is very clear to Diviners but not to other psychics. A Swamp Ape can choose to intensify this effect by spending 10 P.P.E. and for a 10 minute duration. The effect is the same as the spell Luck Curse (no combat bonuses, no critical strikes or death blows, -40% penalty to skills, standard saving throw to ignore) on every creature (including itself) within 30 feet (9.1 m).
Aura of Cloaking: The Swamp Ape is not easily photographed or video-taped. Only the creature's smell is obvious.
Frenzy: The Swamp Ape can grow larger and stronger when it has to fight. The law of the conservation of matter isn't a concern to a frenzying supernatural predator. It's eyes glow red, and it develops the psionic power of nightvision. This change is reflected by the second set of numbers listed in Physical Strength, Size, Weight, and Combat.
Vulnerabilities: The Swamp Ape is a cowardly creature which avoids confrontation if possible. The creature also has a paranoid fear of music. Melodies from musical instrument have the affect of Horror Factor 16 against the monster, sending the beast fleeing if it fails its saving roll. Banjos work best. Recorded music has merely a Horror Factor 10, and singing doesn't affect the beast at all.
Skill Equivalents: Track by smell 60%, Climb 70%, Land Navigation at 80%, Mathematics: Basic at 20%, Prowl 40%, Track & Trap Animals 20%, Swim 98%, and Wrestling.
Attacks per Melee Round: 2 normally or 4 when frenzied.
Damage: 1D6 by bite or wrestling attack normally or 4D6 when fighting. Also see Disease Touch.
Bonuses (in addition to attribute bonuses): +1 to strike, +3 to parry and dodge, +2 to save vs psionics and other forms of mind control, +5 to save vs magic, +5 to Perception Rolls, impervious to possession.
Enemies: Swamp Apes trap alligators and other large wild animals, but it will rarely hunt a free (and thus more dangerous) animal. Swamp Apes have a love-hate relationship with humans. They love to steal a variety of tasty food and other goods from the humans, but they hate the humans themselves. If possible, it will try to drive away the humans by creating a distraction, fire, or some other disaster, and then raid the humans' possessions. Similarly, Swamp Apes don't get along with any other supernatural predators. If another monster gets too close, it will try to drive the intruder away through traps and sabotage, but it will not pick a fight directly. If anyone corners or injures a Swamp Ape, it will lash out violently.
Allies: None, even summoners and other mages don't call upon these creatures because they can't communicate and are unreliable.
Habitat: Swamp Apes visit the wilderness of the Florida Everglades and remain there for a few months at a time. They are more nomadic than territorial, so they are also seen frequently in the lowlands of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. A single Swamp Ape will stay in a particular den for one or two weeks at a time and then venture into another area. They could, however, show up in any warm and swampy area around the world.

Lusca
A hurricane rolled over Saint Augustine during a cold night in late November of 1896. Days after the storm passed, many residents went across Matanzas Bay to Anatasia Island on the other side. There, they searched the beaches to see what oddities the storm had dredged from the sea floor and left for them in the sand. They did not find any Spanish gold, but they weren't disappointed. Two boys playing on the beach found something very odd.
It was the body of a monster. Residents measured the body as being seventeen feet long, not yet stretched flat. The flesh was brown and rubbery in texture. It had stubs where tentacles had been torn off. One of these tentacles stubs stretched twenty-four feet.
Immediately, an argument of what to do with the thing. Fishermen wanted to cut it apart and use it for bait. Some business owners wanted to put it on display or sell it in pieces. Luckily for science, Mister DeWitt Webb was there. DeWitt Webb was the founder and president of the Saint Augustine Historic and Scientific Society. He convinced the people to give him a chance to study the body
Webb undertook a quick but thorough examination. He dug the body out of the sand. He measured it and took tissue samples. He even posed in front of it for photographs.
Webb thought at first he had found the body of a giant squid. That caused many fishermen to scratch their beards because they had never heard of a giant squid. That was a species only recently discovered by science. He searched for a cartilaginous pen, an anatomical feature common to all squids. He found none, so he concluded that his body was not exactly a giant squid but a similar species of giant octopus – never before seen by science. He calculated that if his body were in proportion to normal species of octopi and if it were still intact, it would have easily stretched from head to tentacle, seventy feet. With tentacles spread side to side, it could have spanned one hundred-twenty feet. He named his body, Octopus Giganteus.
The newspapers called it “The Saint Augustine Monster.” The Saint Augustine Monster made headlines around the world. As did the critics who called Mr. Webb a crackpot. They argued that the Saint Augustine Monster had to have been either a squid -- or more likely a piece of whale blubber which became separated from the rest of the whale in the storm. Many Saint Augustine residents to this day insist that the creature was a freakishly large jelly fish.
The creature was largely forgotten until generations later, a crypozoologist at the Smithsonian archives found Mr. Webb's tissue sample still in its original jar. The researcher studied it under a microscope and concluded two things. Firstly, this was clearly not whale blubber. Secondly, the cellular structure was more similar to octopus than squid. This evidence supported Mr. Webb theory of Octopus Gigantius. It still, however, could not be proven. No live Octopus Giganteus has ever been captured nor photographed. No bodies have been recovered intact enough for clear identification.
Other bodies in even worse states of decay have washed ashore on other beaches. Always after a great storm, on the beaches of Bermuda, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Iceland, Chile, and in August of 2005 in China. The Australian newspapers have named these bodies, “globoids.” Biologists still argue about the identity of the globoids to this day.
Where science leaves a gap, perhaps folklore can help us fill that gap. The natives of Andros Island in the Bahamas speak of a species of huge octopi they call “Lusca.” The Lusca dwell in the deep pits of blue water near the island in an area that the US Navy calls the “tongue of the ocean.” According to this legend, the Lusca only leave their pits when hurricanes pass overhead. They come to feed.

Lusca – Natural Predator
Also known as Octopus Giganteus Veril, Globoid.
Alignment: Similar to Miscreant; these creatures are likely to be docile animals living far removed from humans most of the time. If their habitat is disturbed by a storm, however, their instincts will change to that of a frenzied predator. They will travel to the surface of the water and grab whatever easy meals they can find, gorging themselves on large fish, dolphins and even sailors.
Attributes: High animal intelligence because cephalopoda have surprisingly advanced brains, P.B. 1D4, Spd. 20 in water or 4 crawling across land of the deck of a ship, all other physical attributes are 20.
Armor Rating (A.R.): none.
Hit Points: 100 standard; or by gamemaster's option, 50 H.P. for each armed opponent who is fighting the creature.
S.D.C.: 50 standard; or by gamemaster's option, 10 for each 10' (3m) of length. Attacking a specific tentacle requires a called shot and inflicting 15 S.D.C. to hurt it or 25 S.D.C. to cut through the entire tentacle.
Discorporation: The creature isn't supernatural, so it doesn't discorporate immediately if killed. It's body, however, is developed for survival under the extreme pressure of the ocean's floor. A surface level, the body will quickly decay and become unrecognizable within days unless it is kept frozen. Ghouls enjoy rotten Lusca meat almost as much a human flesh.
Threat Level: x2 at most, although the Lusca is dangerous, it is not a supernatural creature and as such does not cause a resonance effect in psychics.
Horror Factor: 16.
Size: 75' (23m) standard from head to the tip of it's longest tentacle; or by gamemaster's option, 1D10 x10' (3m).
Weight: Varies, often around 2 tons.
Average Life Span: Unknown, but cepholopods like squids tend to have very short lifespans in the range of one or two years regardless of size.
P.P.E.: 2D6.
Natural Abilities: These monsters can breath underwater indefinitely, and can survive at the surface for up to an hour at a time. They can probably survive high pressure and freezing conditions at any ocean depth. They have 2D6 tentacles each. They nest off the coast of Andros Island, but they can travel with deep sea currents all over the seven oceans. They can swim tirelessly at 10 miles per hour (16 kmph) or in short bursts of 400 yards or meters per melee. Lusca have no eyes, so they navigate and hunt by sensing vibrations in the water. As a side effect, they are immune to blinding effects. 50% of Lusca can change their color like a chameleon which grants them a chance to sneak up on victims despite their incredible size: 20% Prowl Skill in the water, or -2 to Perception Rolls of victims (or -4 in a hurricane). The other 50% can spray streams of ink which affectively creates a cloud of blindess against opponents in the water.
Vulnerabilities: These monsters are not supernatural creatures, so any hit point damage they suffer is slow to heal. Unless trapped, they will break off attacks when their own personal S.D.C. is depleted along with half of their Hit Points. They will not fight to the death if they can avoid it. If encountered during a hurricane, the creature can already be injured by the storm, -10% to Hit Points.
R.C.C. Skills or Equivalents: 20% Prowl in the water, Swim 100%, Detect Ambush or Trap 50%, Track Animals 20% and Navigation 50%.
Equivalent Level of Experience: 1st.
Attacks per Melee: 4 attacks; or by gamemaster's option, 2 attacks for each armed opponent.
Damage: Tentacle slaps inflict only 1D6, but an entangling attack is particularly deadly. Lusca have both hooks and suction cups on their tentacles. Victims of an entangling strike suffer an initial 3D6+5 damage followed by 2D6 damage from crushing and 1D6 damage from drowning per additional melee until they break free. Freeing a human-sized or smaller character from this grip requires an opposed grappling roll (D20 +P.S. versus the Lusca's D20 +20) or inflicting at least 15 points of damage to that tentacle. When the victim stops struggling (or when the gamemaster wants to make an example of some poor character), the Lusca can bite with its beak for 4D6 damage. P.S. bonuses have already been added.
R.C.C. Bonuses (including attribute bonuses): +1 per tentacle to Strike, no Initiative bonus, +3 to Dodge in the water if swimming away, will never dodge if in a feeding frenzy, never parries, +5 to Save vs. Horror Factors normally or immune during a feeding frenzy, +3 to Save vs. poisons, magic, drugs and toxins.
Magic and Psionics: none.
Enemies: Whales are a natural enemy of the Lusca and the only creature which feeds on them. When a Sperm Whale attacks a Lusca, there is only a 50% chance that the Lusca will win.
Allies: None, Lusca are lone hunters. An evil psychic or arcanist could possibly manipulate these creatures into attacking a specific target, but the evil human would first have to find a Lusca within the range of his mystic powers. A Lusca which died in a storm, if it is found within one day and still mostly intact, can be manipulated by magic such as the Animate & Control Dead Spell or by certain creatures like Tectonic Entities. A re-animated Lusca corpse will have 200 S.D.C., no Hit Points and has the same powers as a zombie. If the actual Creature Zombie ritual is used on the Lusca Corpse, the resulting super-zombie will have 500 S.D.C. and no Hit Points.
Habitat: They can travel anywhere in the ocean, but they nest in the it is most likely to be found within a power triad like the Bermuda Triangle. Following the flow of large storms, their bodies can be found washed up anywhere around the world.

Giant Alligator
Fossil records demonstrate that crocodillians have changed little since the Permian Age, 265 million years ago. Some grew to be forty feet (12.2 m) long. The Saint Augustine Alligator Farm is the current home of Gomek, a stuffed twenty foot long crocodile. Those are the naturally occurring monsters. Unnaturally large alligators can be found for a number of reasons. A rift or ley line storm can pull a creature out of the distant past and drop it into a swamp in the modern age. Sometimes, when an alligator is exposed to a supernatural force such as a Possessing Entity or a demon, it can mutate after the supernatural influence has left. The affected alligator can revert back to form of one of its many massive ancestors. These mutant creatures are considered supernatural predators due to their cursed auras and power even though they were once natural creatures.
Giant Alligator – Supernatural Predator (based upon Erick Wujcik's Giant Crocodile).
Also known as Proto-Crocodile, Dire Lizard.
Alignment: Effectively Miscreant.
Attributes: Low animal intelligence, P.S. 20, 10 for all other physical attributes.
Armor Rating (A.R.): typically 11; or at gamemaster's option, 10 +1 per armed opponent.
Hit Points: typically 70; or at gamemaster's option, 50 +1 per foot of length.
S.D.C.: 100.
Discorporation: It will not vanish. If supernaturally large, however, it will loose mass after being killed until it shrinks to a mere ten feet (3m) long.
Threat Level: x4 Supernatural Predator like a Hell Hound.
Horror Factor: 12.
Size: 20 feet (6.1m) to 40 feet (12.2m) long. The upper limit for a naturally occurring alligator in the wild will be 20'. A supernaturally enlarged creature can be as long as 20' + 5' per armed opponent up to 40'.
Weight: 1 to 2 tons.
Average Life Span: 50 years at average, up to two hundred years.
P.P.E.: 2D6.
Natural Abilities: Amphibious, a scavenger and ambush predator who will hide at the water's edge and wait for prey to come within 10' (3m) where it can attack. It can remain motionless waiting for prey for months at a time. An ambush attack will be equivalent to a Prowl Skill of 50% or -5 penalty to a Perception Roll.
Vulnerabilities: Soft underbelly has no armor rating protection. Although it is capable of crawling across land at a good rate of speed, an alligator will simply never chase prey across land. It will fight to the death only if cornered.
R.C.C. Skills or Equivalents: Prowl 50% and Swim 90%.
Equivalent Level of Experience: 5th.
Attacks per Melee: 2 attacks, one by bite and a second by tail strike.
Damage (including attribute bonuses): tail strike for 1D6 +5 damage, bite for 3D10 +10 damage. A bite attack will also entangle a victim, preventing escape. While in the jaws of a giant alligator, the victim will take another 1D6 from crushing jaws and 1D6 from drowning damage per melee.
R.C.C. Bonuses (including attribute bonuses): +1 to Perception Rolls, +4 to Strike, no initiative nor defensive bonuses.
Magic and Psionics: None.
Enemies: Swamp Apes have been known to hunt alligators for their livers. In the natural world, alligators sometimes cross paths with sharks in brackish water.
Allies: None, alligators are lone hunters. An evil psychic or arcanist could possibly manipulate these creatures into attacking a specific target, but the evil human would first have to find an alligator within the range of his mystic powers. An alligator which is already dead can be manipulated by magic such as the Animate & Control Dead Spell or by certain creatures like Tectonic Entities. A re-animated alligator corpse will have 100 +1 per foot of length S.D.C., no Hit Points and has the same powers as a zombie. If the actual Creature Zombie ritual is used on the alligator corpse, the resulting super-zombie will have 300 S.D.C. and no Hit Points.
Habitat: Alligators and crocodiles are native to warm swamps and rivers around the globe.

[Shawn Merrow]

Nice

[Lord Z]

Thank you! The Swamp Ape also had a special disease causing power, but I ultimately decided that it was getting to complicated.

Death is permanent, but it is not always thorough. A rare phenomena is the splintering of a mortal soul. This can happen when a person dies in a sudden or violent manner or when the person's willpower to resolve unfinished work is strong. The True Ghost is an energy life form which has broken off from the main portion of the soul and remains in the mortal world. While fragment remains, the main portion of the soul moves on to an unknown fate. The vast majority of ghost-sightings are linked to the Haunting Entities, but a small percentage of those sightings are exactly what they seem to be, True Ghosts.
True Ghosts are naturally invisible and immaterial. They can pass through solid objects such a walls at will. Passing through the body of a living creature will give the creature a chill but otherwise will have no effect on it. Only characters who can see the invisible or spirits can see True Ghosts. Their appearances vary greatly from one True Ghost to another. They can either be solid and life-like or partly transparent and misty.
It is not the intention of this article to define the existence of an afterlife. That subject is better left to the gamers. Even the True Ghost itself does not know what if anything happens to the rest of the soul after the splintering. Instead, this character class merely creates the option of having ghosts in the game who are closer to the concept of a ghost than the various entities and spirit guides in the main rule book of Beyond the SupernaturalTM, 2nd Edition.
If a player character dies, the gamemaster may allow the player to continue using that character as a True Ghost. This is not, however, as good of a deal as it may seem. The player-character must restart his or her career as a True Ghost at first level and with no experience. True Ghosts are themselves fragments of a greater whole being, and thus don't have the mental capabilities or the original mortal. Their attributes are lower than average, their long term memories are partially missing, and some skills have vanished altogether. Without a biological brain, their minds are slower to learn and adapt, thus True Ghosts advance using the Nega-Psychic's Experience Level Chart doubled – that means the True Ghost doesn't reach second level until 4,001 experience points, third level until 8,001 experience points, etc.
At the gamemaster's option, a True Ghost may serve as the Spirit Guide of a Psychic Medium.
True Ghost Entity – Haunter (and an optional playable character class).
Also known as Soul Fragment Entity and Actual Dead Dude.
Alignment: Any, the True Ghost usually has the same alignment as it had during life, but there are several reasons why its alignment may have changed.
Attributes: The True Ghost is a mere shadow of its former living self with a partially intact mind and no physical body. Typically I.Q. 5+2D6, M.E. 5+1D6, M.A. 3+2D6, and Spd. of 25 (17 mph/28 kmph). No other attributes are applicable. Attributes are never higher after death than they were before death.
Armor Rating (A.R.): Not applicable as it is an intangible energy form.
Hit Points: See P.P.E. explanation below for Hit Points, no personal S.D.C.
Discorporation: If the True Ghost is killed, it will sound like shattering glass and will disperse as a small cloud of incense-smelling gray smoke.
Threat Level: x4; Haunter or Prankster.
Horror Factor: 10.
Size: averages around 5 ft tall (1.5m) and weighs nothing.
Average Life Span: If a True Ghost does not remain active and motivated, it will fade away within a year. So long as a True Ghost remains active and feeds on P.P.E., it may linger for centuries. It might even be immortal.
P.P.E.: A True Ghost starts with 1D10 points and can hold a maximum of 10 + (1D10 x level). This internal reservoir functions as the Hit Points of the True Ghost. Additionally, it must feed by absorbing P.P.E. from other creatures. A True Ghost requires slightly more P.P.E. than most entities, 10 points per day to feel full and satisfied. Cold spots in the air are a side effect of the True Ghosts' nature as an energy feeder. Any P.P.E. beyond the ten needed for nourishment are held in the True Ghost's internal reservoir. If it does not feed, it will loose Hit Points/P.P.E. at a rate of 2 per day as it breaks apart and fades into nothingness. It can feed on environmental energy from areas like ley lines and places of magic, and this energy is actually most satisfying. Any damage which would result in a loss of Hit Points, depletes the True Ghost's reserve of Hit Points/P.P.E.
Natural Abilities: Invisible and intangible, can fly and hover at about 17 mph (28 kmph), it has no maximum altitude but can find little or no P.P.E. at higher altitudes, can pass through solid matter (but not energy), doesn't tire but can grow moody if it doesn't take quiet breaks from time to time, invulnerable to physical attacks, invulnerable to most energy and fire attacks except when the attack is magical or psychic, invulnerable to toxins and poisons, invulnerable to cold and heat, invulnerable to disease and illness, does not breath, immune to the Stealing of Psychic Energy attacks of mystics and other entities, can communicate with other spirits, Psychic Mediums, spirit guides, creatures who have the Commune with Spirits power.
Vulnerabilities: All magic and psionic attacks. A True Ghost can not pass a line of salt, dirt, or clay on a floor, not even by hovering over it or passing under it. Any character who knows the living name of the True Ghost can command it unless the True Ghost makes a save vs psychic attack/mind control. Exorcisms and spells which control entities are particularly useful against True Ghosts. Some legends state that a buildings with no two windows alike can confuse ghosts and keep them from returning; that is partly accurate. Asymmetrical artificial structures like a house with all different windows are difficult for a True Ghost to move through due to celestial geometry, so it can only enter or exit such structures on a roll of a natural 20 with no more than one attempt made per hour. The personalities of True Ghosts are as fragmented as their minds, so they are -5 to save vs insanity and many develop full schizophrenia. If using Chi Rules, a True Ghost is considered to be a being of pure, positive chi regardless of its alignment.
R.C.C. Skills: Land Navigation at 80%, Understands and Speaks Native Language (to anyone who can hear it) at 90%, Literate in Native Language at 70%, Mathematics: Basic at 90%, Prowl at 90%, Detect Concealment at 25% and Dowsing at 50%. These skills do not improve. Choose any other five skills, usually those related to the True Ghost's former occupation in life, and these chosen skills advance with experience as normal. Any other skills the True Ghost knew during life simply were not part of the fragment when the soul fragment split from the whole. True Ghosts may learn new skills but no more than one new skill per level of experience beginning at second level. After death, True Ghosts find learning new skills to be a very difficult and slow process.
Equivalent Level of Experience: Most NPC True Ghosts are first level creatures; older True Ghosts have 1D4+2 levels or possibly more.
Attacks per Melee: 2 psionic attacks per melee round, +1 attack at 5th level, 10th level, and 15th level.
Damage: By psionics only.
R.C.C. Bonuses (in addition to attribute bonuses): +1 to Perception Rolls involving areas it knew when alive, +2 to Dodge, impervious to possession. It has no bonuses to save vs psionic attacks & magic. Without being able to See the Invisible, striking at a True Ghost involves a -10 penalty to Strike. A True Ghost can not parry nor roll with an impact due to its incorporeal nature.
Magic: None at first level, but a True Ghost can learn one spell at a time in place of the single skill per experience level. The maximum level of the spell is the same as the True Ghost's current experience level. Casting magic from its own Hit Points/P.P.E. reserve is very dangerous, so almost no True Ghosts follow the spellcaster's route.
Psionics: Base I.S.P. is 20 + 1D4 per level starting at Level One. A True Ghost does not regenerate I.S.P. naturally, but it may gather I.S.P. from ambient energy of certain places or living creatures (see special attack below). It needs a 12 to higher to save vs psionic attack. It may convert energy at a rate of 4 P.P.E. to 1 I.S.P.
Special: Stealing Life Energy: A True Ghost may draw on the I.S.P. or P.P.E. of an animal, a person, demon, or another entity of a different species. Each attempt is considered a psychic attack, and the intended victim must roll to save vs psionic attack. A successful roll to save means the True Ghost did not receive any energy. A failed save means the Entity can steal up to 20 I.S.P. or 5 P.P.E. from that specific target. The target temporarily loses the energy points as if he had used psionic powers or cast magic himself. A target who willingly offers his or her energy does not roll a save vs psionic attack, and the energy is automatically taken. This is often the case with human allies. Chi energy may not be stolen in this manner if using rules from Ninjas and SuperspiesTM or Mystic ChinaTM.
Traditional Psionic Powers: True Ghosts, due to their fragmented nature, have a wider variety of psionic powers available to them. All True Ghosts have the following powers at lessened I.S.P. costs: Mind Block (1), See Aura (1), See the Invisible (no cost), Sense Dimensional Anomaly (no cost), Ectoplasm (no cost for vapor, 6 for a solid limb, or 12 for an entire ectoplamsic body for 4 minutes per experience level) and Commune with Spirits (no cost).
Choose one of the following packages or roll percentile dice:
Healing Spirit [1-10%]: Stop Bleeding (Others; 4), Deaden Pain (4), Healing Touch (6), Attack Disease (12) and the skills Paramedic or Holistic Medicine at 50% each.
Machine Spirit [11-20%]: Telemechanics (10), Open Lock (6), Thoughtography (6), any other two Machine Psionic powers, and the skills Basic Mechanics and Jury Rig at 50%.
Pyrokenetic Spirit [21-30%]: Impervious to Fire (6), Burnt Message (4-8), Alter Air Temperature (8), Create Fire (6), Draw Fire (8), Part Fire (8), Throw Fire (7), and Extinguish Fire (5). and the Firefighting skill at 40%.
Hydrokenetic Spirit [31-40%]: Alter Air Temperature (8), Hydrokinesis (varies), Dessication Touch (20; requires forming an ectoplasmic limb to use) and the skill Dowsing at 20%.
Electrokenetic Spirit [41-50%]: Telemechanics but limited to only electronic and electrical devices (10), Charge Battery (6), Energy Conduit (10), Electrokinesis (varies), and the skill Basic Electronics at 30%.
Illusionary Spirit [51-60%]: Alter Aura (2), Ectoplasmic Disguise (12; requires forming a full ectoplasmic body first), Mask I.S.P. and Psionics (5), Mask P.P.E. (4), Deaden Senses (4) and the skills Art and Impersonation at 16% each.
Telekinetic Spirit [61-70%]: Telekinesis (varies), Rope Trick (4), Telekinetic Push (4) and Telekinetic Punch (6).
Mentalist Spirit [71-80%]: Thought-Reading (10), Total Recall (3), Telepathy (4), Hypnotic Suggestion (6) and Mind Wipe (varies).
Tracking Spirit [81-90%]: Sense Evil (2), any two Sensitive Psionic powers except Dispel Spirits, and the skills Tracking (people) and Track & Trap Animals at 20% each.
Entity-Hunting Spirit [91-100%]: Sense Evil (2) and either Demon Punch (6) or Mind Bolt (varies).
Additional Psionic Powers: A True Ghost may develop one new psychic power (not a package of powers) from the packages every experience level beginning at 3rd level.
Enemies: Other P.P.E. predators consider a True Ghost to be a rival and will seek to drive it out of their territories.
Allies: Psychics, especially Psychic Mediums, of similar alignments and similar goals.
Habitat: True Ghosts first appear where they died, and they tend to remain in that area until they grow accustomed to their undead status. Afterward, they may travel anywhere.

[mrloucifer]

So I sent some swamp apes after my players a week or so back... it wasnt pretty. One player was nearly drowned as an ape held him down underwater, and a second player was beaten down to like -5 H.P. before his teammates stopped it.

Fighting in the swamps is never pretty... especially with swamp apes.

[Lord Z]

I am buzzed with fan-boy excitement. It's a swamp ape rampage. Did anyone shout, "You darn dirty apes!" ?

[mrloucifer]

So I sent some swamp apes after my players a week or so back... it wasnt pretty. One player was nearly drowned as an ape held him down underwater, and a second player was beaten down to like -5 H.P. before his teammates stopped it.

Fighting in the swamps is never pretty... especially with swamp apes.

You like to drown folks, don't ya. You almost got half our team down in the sewers at the open house. And now you have giant monster apes to hold them down.

Nice.

I'm never gonna live that game down am I?

I swear the near simultaneous / synchronized drowning of the entire party our first hour into the game was unintentional… I had planned at best to only drown one of you to scare the others so they would respect my authority.

[mrloucifer]

I am buzzed with fan-boy excitement. It's a swamp ape rampage. Did anyone shout, "You darn dirty apes!" ?

Sadly no... my group's lame like that.

[mrloucifer]

You like to drown folks, don't ya.

Ya know, the more I think on this statement, the more I'm seeing how the writings on the wall with me.

I do have a fear of drowning (what an ugly way to go) so perhaps that comes out in my games? Any shrinks out there wanna help me out here?

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

You like to drown folks, don't ya.

Ya know, the more I think on this statement, the more I'm seeing how the writings on the wall with me.

I do have a fear of drowning (what an ugly way to go) so perhaps that comes out in my games? Any shrinks out there wanna help me out here?

You are a sick, sadistic person. You like to violently and forcefully inflict your pain and suffering upon others.



You are Batman

[mrloucifer]

Works for me!

[Shawn Merrow]

as anyone tried doing the "Grays" or Saurian aliens for BTS. i think it would be cool.

Started work on something like that for the Rifter. It stalled though after a stay in the hospital. I should get back to it someday.

[vika]

We use aliens but usually more grotesque than the greys.

On the other hand. The aliens can be very cute but when you are face down on the examination table in the mother ship that is not what are you thinking about.

[Shawn Merrow]

as anyone tried doing the "Grays" or Saurian aliens for BTS. i think it would be cool.

Started work on something like that for the Rifter. It stalled though after a stay in the hospital. I should get back to it someday.

Then can we still pursue this topic here in the meantime till that Rifter comes out?

Why couldn't you? Just because I did some work on it does not mean no one can talk about it.

[Lord Z]

Until such an article is created for PB, I have another recommendation. It's a non-Palladium product, but since PB doesn't really have competing product, I'll go ahead and give this recommendation. Micheal Tresca wrote an e-book for Reality Deviants. It's an OGL sourcebook designed for use with D20 Modern. It's entitled, Alien Invasion. I liked it a lot. It has several species of aliens based upon actual reports of close encounters. They are all here -- chupacabras, grays, nordics, MiBs, reptoids, etc. There is even included a typical abduction scene presented in the format of a mini-adventure. This sourcebook would be a great starting place of an alien menace themed campaign.

Links here at RPGNow for $2 as of the time of this message being written and at [url=http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=product&o[p_id]=268]RPGObjects[/url] for $1.50. Lulu also sells printed copies for I think $14.

[Lord Z]

TrumbachD, what is the Grays' motivation for abducting a BtS character?

[Lord Z]

Species-wide O.C.D.? I like it.

[gaby]

Doing Great

I like to see more of What lordZ can come up with?

[Lord Z]

Now that I have my computer back, I will soon go back to seriously working on Boxed Nightmares 2 for Prince Artemis' Rifter 0 series. It's got a truckload of material from different authors (including me) and a great new artist.

Now, I'm getting interested in the Greys. Darn you clever writers and your distractions! My project of the moment is a new play by blog game that started tonight -- New New York!

[Stone Gargoyle]

My version of the Greys is now up:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108897

[Lord Z]

Stone, I like what I see. I particularly like the detail in the home solar system of the Greys. You've obviously put a lot of thought into this -- evidenced by the SDC rating of the compound eye. Why are the Greys dying out in the first place? Also, you wrote that they become psionic vampires when they lose connection with their hive mind -- so under what circumstances does the connection break down?

[Stone Gargoyle]

Stone, I like what I see. I particularly like the detail in the home solar system of the Greys. You've obviously put a lot of thought into this -- evidenced by the SDC rating of the compound eye. Why are the Greys dying out in the first place? Also, you wrote that they become psionic vampires when they lose connection with their hive mind -- so under what circumstances does the connection break down?

I will be detailing that more as I continue with the thread. Basically they are dying from birth defects and inbreeding. As for the psionic vampirism issue, it is a type reaction to the lack of mental stabilization from having their people around, so isolation amongst humans would cause it.