A Monster a Week

[doctor_madu]

That's my Halloween resolution. For the next year, I intend to burn one monster a week – some from folklore, some from pop-culture, some by request, some from the depths of my fevered imagination. Some may duplicate other monsters burned elsewhere on this fine forum: I'm not going out of my way to exhaustively search every monster-idea that pops into my head. I figure that's okay, as long as I'm not cut-and-pasting someone else's work.

By all means, these are here for kicking and punching and peer-reviewing. And without further ado (apart from a thanks to Kurt Komoda) let's start things off with the penanggalan!

Edit: Bestiarium Threadguidicon
Post #...
1. Penanggalan
3. Blood-Avatar Incarnation of the Orcish God of Darkness and Blood
7. Kobolds
18. Purple Worm

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Penanggalan

Concept: A vile vampiric creature that thrives on the blood of new mothers and children!

Hook: Babies in the village are becoming sick and dying. Some blame the plague, or the evil eye, or angry gods. But the beautiful midwife is plump and rosy… and her head detaches from her body at night, flying about atop a dangling, swaying tangle of slimy viscera. Before morning she returns to her home, soaks her innards in a vat of vinegar to shrink their blood-bloated state, and slides back into her body.

Beliefs: These wretches deserve to suffer – the blood of their mothers and children will sate me! Men are suspicious and hateful – I’ll throw them off my trail by framing a village outcast. None who bear my touch shall survive.

Instincts: Never tangle my organs in thorny plants. Always congratulate pregnant women near parturition (Birthing-wise). Always come up through the floor (Stealthy).

Traits:
Detachable Head (Dt), Horrid Viscera (Dt), Vinegary (Char), Blood Drinker (Dt), Wingless Flight (Dt), Fangs (Dt), Surprising Strength (C-o)

Stats:
Wi Pe Ag Sp Po Fo
B4 B5 B4 B5 B4 G6
Speed Multplier 8x (flight), 3.5x (embodied), 2x (slithering)

Attributes:
He Ref MW St
B6 B4 B11 B7
Hesitation 6

PTGS:
Su Li Mi Se Tr MW
B5 B7 B9 B10 B11 B12

Skills: Bloodletting B3, Brawling B4, Falsehood B4, Herbalism B4, Midwifery B4, Persuasion B4, Soothing Platitudes B3, Stealthy B5, Birthing-wise B4, Blood-wise B3, Pariah-wise B3, Sunrise-wise B3

IMS: Bare-Fisted: +0 Power, VA-, Add 2, Fast, Shortest. Bite: +1 Power, VA-, Add 2, Slow, Shortest. Viscera: +0 Power, VA-, Add 2, Fast, Short.

Typical script: Avoid | Avoid, Lock | Lock

Blood Drinker: The blood of expectant mothers and newborn babies is all the penanggalan wants – and it fuels her Forte with stolen life. Typically, she approaches a sleeping mother or infant and bites them, lapping up the flowing blood. Each feeding drains a Health die from victim: any whose Health reaches 0 suffers death. Each week the penanggalan is denied a feeding, her Forte drops by 1. At Forte 0, she withers and dies.

Detachable Head: After sunset, the penanggalan’s head may come away from its body, dragging a slimy mass of pulsing, faintly glowing organs. When not flying, the head must slither atop its twisting, ropy pile of guts. The benefit of head-detachment is this: if the penanggalan suffers wounds to its arms and legs, it may obviate those by detaching. Torso wounds are reduced by a step upon detachment – so if a penanggalan with a Li to its left arm and a Mi to its torso leaves its body behind, the Li wound falls away, and the organs suffer only a Li. Damage done directly to the organs must be healed normally, and persists even after rejoining the head and torso. Detachment is fairly rapid: 15 actions in Fight! or a single action in Range & Cover. Reattaching the head is considerably more difficult, and requires the penanggalan have a large jar (at least ten gallons) of vinegar with which to soak its bloated innards so they’ll fit within the body cavity – this takes at least an hour. If the penanggalan is unable to reattach to her body before morning (for example, it’s been hidden, cremated, or packed with broken glass), she dies at sunrise with a terrible scream.

Fangs: Behind her smiling lips, the penanggalan hides a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Horrid Viscera: The internal organs of the penanggalan slip out of its body and dangle, coiling, from the base of its neck as it flies through the air. Faintly luminous, they not only can strangle and entangle (+2D to Lock), their touch prompts a Health test (Ob 3) – failure results in the transmission of a wasting disease characterized by open sores and the loss of a point of Forte per night, lasting for seven nights. Characters reduced to 0 Forte are paralyzed with shivering fits and debilitation. Once the seven nights are past, lost Forte returns at the rate of 1 point per day. But with the victim in such a state, chances are good that the penangallan will come to throttle them in their stupor.

Surprising Strength: The penanggalan’s wriggling guts are stronger than one would think. Call-on for Power when the Horrid Viscera have come out to play.

Vinegary: A penanggalan can oftimes be detected by the odor of vinegar.

Wingless Flight: Once freed of the weight of her body, a penanggalan may float quickly through the air, glimmering like a firefly. This is bobbing and swooping flight, not hummingbird darting or falcon-dives.

[ThisIsVictor]

I have nothing to say except: Awesome. Totally and completely awesome.

[doctor_madu]

Preface: most of monsters I'll post here are discussed to lesser or greater extent with Odie over the course of the week, but this one in particular owes a great debt to him. Where there are errors or misconstruances, I beg you, dear reader, to believe that they are mine and not his.

Aprés-preface: I have a sketch of the beast in question, and maybe in a couple days it will transform into a drawing, which I will then append.

Incarnation of the God of Darkness and Blood: the Dreadful Sanguinary Aspect — The Face of God Who Is Blood, Who Sheds Blood, And Who Feasts On The Blood Of His Foes; The Living Tide of Blood Which Drowns the World.

Concept: An avatar of the God of Darkness and Blood, representing the Blood portion thereof. A rampaging, blood-fueled divine death machine.

Hook: The Servants of Darkness and Blood have managed to summon this aspect of their brutal god. Even if you can’t fight it yourself, your friends and family will soon end up under the Orcs’ hooked knives to give the incarnation another day to bring Hell to earth. A hundred and one innocents bled to death in torment over a hundred and one nights to summon him here – will their end herald yours?

Beliefs: Elves are the spawn of my foe – I will punish them with nothing less than destruction. My Servant/summoner’s efforts should be rewarded appropriately. All things that bleed are mine in the end.

Instincts: Always fight in Aggressive stance. Always emit the Death-Howl before joining battle. Always pause to revel in the spilling of innocent blood.

Traits:Gigantic Stature (Dt), Heartless (Dt), Death-Howl (Dt), Should Not Be (Dt), Sanguinary Sense (Dt), Bat-Winged (Cos), Blood Incarnate (Cos), Barbed Armor (Dt), Kin to Darkness (Dt), Extra Arms (Dt)

Stats:
Wi Pe Ag Sp Po Fo
G5 B5 B6 B5 G6 W6
Speed Multplier 4x (bigass biped)

Attributes:
He Ref MW St
G7 B5 G14 G5
Hesitation 3 (1 for murder, fear, or violence, 0 for pain)

PTGS:
Su Li Mi Se Tr MW
B6 B12 G10 G12 G13 G14
5D Superior Quality plated mail

Skills: Drinking (blood) W3, Axe B7, Lash B7, Brawling B7, Armor Training, Black Ichor Poison* , Intimidation G5, Blood-wise B5, Servant-wise B5, Panicked Foes-wise B5 *As Black Bile Poison training, but uses the incarnation's own noxious ichor.

IMS: Smashing Armored Fists: B4/B8/B12, Fast, VA1, Add 2, Long. Terrible Lash: B5/B9/B13, Unwieldy, VA-, Add 2, Longest+2. Mighty Axe**: B6/B12/G2, Slow, VA3, Add 2, Longest, may Great Strike. **Sweet Axe, but a one-handed weapon to the Blood Avatar.

Barbed Armor: Like the spider-folk who must respond to blood summons, the Blood-Tide’s armor bears a forest of spikes, spines, and cruelly sharp, wickedly hooked projections. Anyone who closes to the Inside or otherwise comes into bodily contact with the Dreadful Sanguinary Aspect is pierced by by these many hooks and barbs that worm their way through clothing and armor alike, seeking to add the victim’s blood to the bulk of the Blood Avatar – automatically inflicting a Superficial wound with each incident of contact.

Bat-Winged: A pair of looming wings emerges from the Blood Avatar’s back. Impressive, but unable to lift his armored bulk.

Blood Incarnate: The Blood-Tide is an animate glush of poisonous black blood, inhabiting and animating a gigantic suit of superb-quality armor. The ground he treads is seared with the vile fluid that spills from every joint and gap in his armor.

Death-Howl: Intimidation tests made by the Blood Avatar are open-ended when his chilling ululation rips across the battlefield.

Extra Arms: Four gnarled, massive arms sprout from the Blood Avatar’s armored torso: one bears a terrible lash, one a mighty axe, one pours an endless stream of blood from its palm, and one makes a horrifying gesture. The blood and gesture arms may be used normally, if it matters.

Gigantic Stature: Nearly twenty feet of black blood and black iron.

Kin to Darkness: While the sun shows its face the Dreadful Sanguinary Aspect suffers +1 Ob to all tests.

Sanguinary Senses: The Black Tide is unaffected by sensory penalties related to darkness, night, or obscuring vapors. In addition, the Blood Avatar may use Blood-wise as Aura Seeing and Reading, with advantage dice equal to half the subject’s wound penalty – spilled blood speaks louder, after all.

Should Not Be: The Dreadful Sanguinary Aspect is a blight upon the world – all things not born of evil cry out at its very existence, and it earth itself rejects him. Once summoned, the Black Tide must make a Will test with each dawn. The obstacle rises by 1 each day – failure means that it can inflict itself on the earth no longer, and must disperse. Somewhat mitigating this is the ability of the Aspect’s summoner to make a Rituals of Blood test at the same Ob and add the margin of success to the Black Tide’s Will as advantage dice. This, obviously, requires more blood.

NB: the ritual to summon the Dreadful Sanguinary Aspect is fantastically long and involved, and demands at the very minimum the blood of 101 innocents slowly spilled over a gigantic suit of appropriately-shaped Superior-quality armor in the course of 101 nights. The armor, incidentally, is not considered part of the incarnation -- it is merely the Black Tide's chalice and vessel in this world. The avatar suffers all the normal penalties of armor-use.

[Fuseboy]

(Might you consider making a new thread for each monster? Then it's a searchable bestiary!)

The barbed armor seems really weak, supies are nothing given that it's dagger-like projections on a 20' armored hulk. How about giving him a power 1 weapon that gets used every time he locks? (A bit like wolves' locking bite, except this is a biting lock.)

Given his emphasis on scaring his foes, I think going the G5 Intimidate is far too weak. Just encountering him is going to trigger steel tests at +4 or +5 Ob, judging by Steel guidelines. That's way more effective than his puny Intimidate (which needs 4 or 5 successes to trigger a Steel test). Consider Dreadful (Intimidate C-O) trait?

[doctor_madu]

Michael,

Thanks for the comments -- spot-on, I say. An excellent point re: Intimidate. As far as seperate threads go, I am loath to gum up the forum with a bajillion (or merely 52) threads "Monster a Week X" but I dig the desire to have them searchable. Editing an index into post 1, perhaps?

Next week: my shot at a monstrous character stock. Tongue may or may not be firmly inserted in cheek.

~Gary

[Odie]

Perhaps we should add a trait which adds dice to Intimidate, then? Truthfully I was just going to assign advantage dice, 2 or possibly even 3, based off the skill description, resulting in 7-8 open-ended gray dice. But we could codify it in a trait if that's what folks think we ought to do, or just use Dreadful so the dice aren't open-ended but can be re-rolled.

-B

[doctor_madu]

Squeaking in just under the deadline! And speaking of squeaking, this week it's... kobolds. Yes, you heard that right.

Concept: Small cthonic people with a great big chip on their collective little shoulder.

Hook: If there’s anything lower than a Chattel-born two-lifepath slave, it’s a kobold. Slain for practice by adventurers, gleefully abused by Orcs, sprayed with chlorine gas by playful green dragons, the kobolds have had enough – they’re out for revenge, and they’re going to eat your baby.

Beliefs: We will have our revenge on the Dwellers Under the Sky for their eons of mistreatment. All the fruits of the earth rightfully belong to the Dwellers Under the Ground (i.e., kobolds). Babies are surprisingly delicious.

Instincts: Always Help another kobold when able. Always build tunnels with defenses in mind (Rude Carpentry). Never trust a Dweller Under the Sky.

Traits:
Small Stature (Dt), Modestly Scaly (Dt), Agoraphobic (Dt), Dark-Adapted Vision (Dt), They’re Everywhere! (Dt), Iron Teeth (Dt), Stumpy-tailed (Char), Gem-eater (Char), Snouty (Char), King Kobold (Dt-special), Earthbinder (Dt-special)


Stats:
Wi Pe Ag Sp Po Fo
B3 B3 B5 B5 B3 B4


Attributes:
He Ref MW St
B4 B4 B8 B4
Hesitation: 7

PTGS:
Su Li Mi Se Tr MW
B2 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8


Skills: Brawling B3, Mining B4, Rude Carpentry B3, Spears B4, Gem-wise B3, Tunnels-wise B3, Traps-wise B3

IMS: Bare-Fisted: +0 Power, VA-, Add 2, Fast, Shortest. Kobold spear: +2 Power, VA1, Add 2, Fast, Long. Kobold Pick: +3 Power, VA1, Add 2, Unwieldy, Short. Pointy iron teeth: +1 Power, VA2, Add 2, Slow, Shortest, Devastator.

Agoraphobic: A Steel test is required when leaving the comfort of the tunnels to stand unprotected Under The Sky.

Earthbinder: In every Great Warren, there will be an Earthbinder, the kobolds’ ambassador to the spirits of earth and stone. She possesses Spirit Binding B4, Circination B3, is Embodied in Kobold-tunnels (+2) and has 0-level Domain bindings in Caves, Wells, Pits, and Cellars – pretty much any place below ground. NB In the someday-forthcoming Kobold LPs, Earthbinder will be the sort-of capstone mage-type path.

Gem-eater: With iron teeth and earth-elemental nature, kobolds treat gems like jujubes. Nummy!

Iron Teeth: Though small, a kobold’s bite is far worse than its bark. A kobold in melee does not just bite to hurt – it takes a piece out of anything that gets between its iron teeth. Armor in particular tends to suffer from koboldian mid-combat snacking – for the teeth (and teeth alone) are Devastators.

King Kobold: In every major warren there will be a leader-type who is Diminutive (+1MW) and possesses Command B4 and Oratory B3 in addition to the listed abilities. The King coordinates the warren’s defense, and has first pick of babies from the stewpot. Great Warrens will usually host 3-5 clans, each with its own King. NB Again, in the someday-to-be-written-if-I-ever-get-off-my-arse Kobold LPs, this'll be the sort of war-type top end.

Modestly Scaly: Kobolds have leathery skin and light scales of horn, earning 1D of natural armor at every location.

Snouty: Kobolds have blunt snouts packed with sharp little iron teeth. They are sometimes described as doglike, piglike, or lizardlike. Kobolds prefer to think dogs, pigs, and lizards are all koboldian in aspect.

Stumpy-tailed: Rumors that they wag when excited are quickly suppressed.

They’re Everywhere!: Thoroughly well-versed in the art of fighting big folks, kobolds are masters of the swarm-and-overwhelm strategy. Up to five kobolds may contribute helping dice for positioning and attacks, provided they are all similarly armed. The helpers thus forfeit individual actions in Fight!.

[Fuseboy]

Rude Carpentry is fun, give them an instinct or a belief about using it to their advantage. After all, they've been planning their revenge for a while!

For Agoraphobic, what about making Steel tests +3 Ob when not underground? As written it seems it won't have much of an effect.

[Silvros]

I bet when the foolhardy adventurers that are escaping a Kobold Warren with the two babies in two, and who finally make it outside, will disagree heartily with you sir. The few moments it buys as you retreat across the field and the Kobolds stand there going "Damn that's a big sky," will be critical to someone, someday.

Also, I don't know that being scared of the sky would make the big guard dog slavering for your blood any scarier. Sounds like it should be seperate steel tests for each, to me. (Either one being likely to cause a kobold to go scurrying for his cavern, wailing his heart out, should he fail the test)

Also, Thumbs Up, Gary. When (if?) Brodie and I ever get to play the Monster Burner World Tour, I can bet alot of your creations will get some play testing. :P

[Fuseboy]

I bet when the foolhardy adventurers that are escaping a Kobold Warren with the two babies in two, and who finally make it outside, will disagree heartily with you sir. The few moments it buys as you retreat across the field and the Kobolds stand there going "Damn that's a big sky," will be critical to someone, someday.

What I meant to say is that it's only relevant to players in a few situations; what I proposed would make it more obvious.

Anwyays.. I like these guys. My players just burned themselves up some very non-optimal 3LP adventurers, so these guys seem about the right level of challenge!

[doctor_madu]

Awesome, guys, and thanks both for the feedback. Agreed on the Belief/Instinct for Rude Carpentry -- I'll edit to reflect. Agoraphobic I ripped straight from Blossoms -- it may indeed need a tweak to reflect that these are not just dudes who spend a lot of time underground, but little glomes who wet their loincloths at the sight of all that space above them. Though... 10-Will, they've already got a rough Hesitation to hit with a B4 Steel. Maybe something like Really, Really Agoraphobic, where the only results for a failed Steel are Run Screaming (back underground, presumably) or Swoon?

~Gary

Edit: Now I find myself wondering about carpentry. Implies a means to fell trees and work wood, and I wonder if it's not better represented with something like Coarse Masonry. This does verge into LP Burning territory, doesn't it.

[Fuseboy]

Yes, it does - and it's very cool. Imagine the poor bastards at the bottom of kobold society who have to fetch the trees for the carpenters? (Generally at night.)

[Odie]

Getting a Minecraft/Dwarf Fortress vibe from that...

I think the Agorophobic trait is fine as-is. Most will want to pick Run Screaming, but I'd like to leave room for a kobold who Stands & Drools, gets ahold of himself, and chases after that sweet, sweet baby.

I like Rude Masonry, especially given that their teeth might count as tools.

-B

[pseudoidiot]

I can't help but picture Kobolds building phallic structures when I read 'rude carpentry'.

[Fuseboy]

Comments like that'll get you assigned to the tree-cuttin' detail. :-)

[luke]

I can't help but picture Kobolds building phallic structures when I read 'rude carpentry'.

LOLZ

[doctor_madu]

Life and family issues caused the first of probably many hiccups in the "one monster a week" schema. To make up for this in some small way, I offer a cartoon which is likely more or less safe for work, unless your work really really really does not have a sense of humor. I created it with a marginally-successful BL Rude Illuminations test.




http://www.unflinching.org/images/rude_carpentry.jpg



The people responsible for this image know very well who they are, and have my thanks.

On that note, the next monster will be... The Purple Worm.

~Gary

[doctor_madu]

Or something like that.

Purple Worm

Concept: A subterranean beast of great size and prodigious appetite

Hook: In any place below the earth you might find one of these creatures – a ruined citadel, an abandoned dwarvish mine, a wizard’s rift. Bound by magic to guard treasure, or simply lured there by a steady supply of meat (in the form of adventurers) the purple worm is huge and slow but tough – and its enormous maw has spelled the doom of many who’d close with it.

The purple worm is a colossal annelid-like creature, some 40 to 50’ in length and covered in a thick, segmented, blotchy purple hide. It is constantly on the prowl for food (when it's not recovering from a feeding, at least) and senses its prey through the vibrations of footfalls, mining picks, and such. Its palate is undiscriminating, and a ’worm will attack anything that moves – save another purple worm – and will attempt to eat anything it can get its mouth around. It burrows through soil at the rate of a pace or so per minute, and can gnaw through rock (thanks to its fulminating digestive juices) much more slowly – a pace per hour to be generous. Above ground it moves in a series of hitching contractions at something less than a steady jog.

In combat, the worm bites with the intent to consume – it has little room for strategy in its ganglial brain. The tail sting may only be brought into play when there is sufficient room, above ground or in a subterranean space large enough that the worm may maneuver freely.

Beliefs: All things that move are my prey. I must sleep long after eating my fill. My eggs must be protected.

Instincts: Always fight Aggressively. Never leave a meal undevoured.

Traits:Gigantic Stature (Dt), Enormous Maw (Dt), Vast Purple Bulk (Char), Unfeeling (Dt), Digester (Dt), Stinging Tail (Dt), Unflinching (Dt), Potent Venom (Dt), Earthsense (Dt)

Stats:
Wi Pe Ag Sp Po Fo
B2 B2(3) B2 B2 B9 G4
Speed Multiplier 1x, Massive Worm Form

Attributes:
He Ref MW St
B4 B2 B14 B7
Hesitation 4

PTGS:
Su Li Mi Se Tr MW
B4 B8 B10 B12 B13 B14

Skills: Brawling B5, Burrowing B5, Hungry-wise B2, Tunnels-wise B2

IMS: Tail Sting: -2 Power, VA2, Add 2, Unwieldy, Long. Bite: +0 Power, VA-, Add 2, Slow, Long


Digester: The purple worm’s vile stomach fluids immediately begin dissolving its victim’s armor, clothing, hair, hooves, and/or horns. Make an armor test at the end of each exchange: treat a failure result as a 1. That is, if one tests for a piece of SQ armor and a die fails, reroll that die to check for another failure – if so, it loses 1 point. PQ armor loses a die for each failure. Chemical burns from the acidic slime inflict a B4 wound at the end of each exchange.

Earthsense: Attuned to the vibrations transmitted through earth and rock, the purple worm adds +1D to its Perception when 50% or more of its body is in contact with its native habitat – which is to say it must be within its own tunnel, or laying full-length against stone or soil (and not, say, coiled to fight). Earthsense enables the beast to count Perception as Observation against Stealthy characters in its native environs, but only against those who attemtpt to move in a Stealthy fashion. Characters who stand perfectly still are essentially invisible to the thing’s rudimentary sensorium.

Enormous Maw: The purple worm’s hook-toothed mouth is so huge it can engulf a human(oid) with a minimum of difficulty. In fact, this is its preferred method of feeding. The worm may Bite and Lock simultaneously: an opponent reduced to 0 Power (unable to struggle) is drawn into the beast’s gullet, provoking a Steel test (Run Screaming is sadly not available as a failure result at this stage). At that point the Lock is technically released, but the unfortunate victim can only use weapons on the Inside and may not position. Worse, the victim and potential meal is smeared in the creature’s digestive juices which immediately attack armor, clothing, and flesh – see Digester, above. Even worse, the victim and probable worm-snack may only linger on for (victim’s Health) exchanges before starting to suffocate: each additional exchange spent inside the beast prompts a Forte test, beginning at Ob1 and ascending thereupon. Failure means asphyxiation. However, if one can inflict 3 Midi wounds or a Severe before succumbing, one may gouge a large enough hole in the beast’s flesh to escape.

Potent Venom: Successful injection (Mark result on a tail sting hit) prompts a Health test against Ob 5: take MoF as an Ob penalty to all actions and as a reduction to the Health attribute. In the off-chance that the victim survives the worm encounter, the lost Health returns at a rate of 1 die per day of rest and recuperation.

Stinging Tail: At the end of the purple worm’s lengthy body is a bony spine charged with venom. On a Mark hit with the tail the venom is discharged into the target.

Unfeeling: The creature is essentially a 40’ chunk of purple appetite sans mentation. Its bulk is such that meager cuts and bludgeoning do little to engage its notice. Adventurers seeking to lay the beast low (short of a mortal wound) must reduce its Power to 0 – Mental stats, Agility, and Speed do not count for purposes of incapacitation.

[luke]

Unfeeling -- brutal!

Why'd you make its weapon attacks so low-powered?
Also it's going to get killed in positioning.

[Silvros]

Imho, needs a stealthy. Make it a low exponent if you wnat, and give it some awesome bonuses for tunneling up underneath an adventurer.

Also, might consider upping the weapon lengths for two reasons: a) anyone who wants to fight it with melee weapons is going to have to venture into it's reaches, and b) to give it some dim hope of a prayer in having dice in positioning. I don't think Longest is Crazy for it, but, I also think that's a really awesome beasty you have there.

[Kublai]

Up that Forte to 6, at least. Right now, it'll go down pretty easy with only a B14 MW.

[Fuseboy]

My guess it that it would position exclusively with Charge. Occurs to me a creature that moves that slowly would have to attack mostly by stealth. While it's cool to imagine it bursting out of the ground and snapping up horses and whatnot, it would only get one if it's lucky; the others would clear out quickly. But, curled up in a jungle cavemouth, or submerged at a watering hole would be ideal. (Or merely buried in disturbed earth?)

Should it be a bit more.. gray? At the moment it feels like a big animal.

How fast can they tunnel? Walking speed? Or does it inch along like a giant earthworm, taking hours to travel on body length? Can it move through stone, or is it restricted to soil (and existing hollows, hence the love of mines)?

[Odie]

Hell, I'd switch the Forte to B6 or B7, and change the Power to G9. What's really this thing's notable quality: that it can take a ton of hits, or that it fucking destroys whatever's in its path? That'll give it a bit of a weapon power boost as well.

Luke's right, that thing'll get murdered in positioning, save perhaps for Charges (but there's a stiff penalty for charging more than one distance). Do we really think the thing can move less quickly or deftly than a 3-lifepath Man?

Edit: Hm, and no natural armor of any kind, eh?

-B

[Fuseboy]

I'm not sure how you'd represent this mechanically, but it's a bit like positioning against a train. It's coming, doesn't matter what you do. Holding it at bay with a spear is basically impossible, it doesn't care if you have a spear - you can stab it and it's still coming in anyways. Maintaining means running backwards.

[Silvros]

I'm not sure how you'd represent this mechanically, but it's a bit like positioning against a train. It's coming, doesn't matter what you do. Holding it at bay with a spear is basically impossible, it doesn't care if you have a spear - you can stab it and it's still coming in anyways. Maintaining means running backwards.

You'd represent it mechanically by positioning...roll speed vs it's speed. When you win, you ran backwards farther than it ran forward. Now, if it has you trapped, you may end up using the nowhere to run, no where to hide rules that are stickied in Spark. But if you've got room to run, you keep on running.

Maybe it could use a trait to give it an edge in charging, or that let's it use a skill for positioning, like the Blind Swordsmen positioning skill in Blossoms? Could even use it's borrowing skill, for that, I believe.

[ThisIsVictor]

I'm not sure how you'd represent this mechanically, but it's a bit like positioning against a train. It's coming, doesn't matter what you do. Holding it at bay with a spear is basically impossible, it doesn't care if you have a spear - you can stab it and it's still coming in anyways. Maintaining means running backwards.

Maybe give it a trait that lets it Charge every positioning test? Possibly without costing an action like Charge does. A way to defeat it might to trick it in Charging at a wall. I'm picturing the scene from Tremors when they kill the first graboid.

--Victor

[AsthmaticHamster]

Per Silvros' comment, I would expect Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide to come up with this thing all the time. If you walk into a room with only 1 door, and then the purple worm bursts from the ground between you and the door, you're screwed.

[Odie]

Maybe give it a trait that lets it Charge every positioning test? Possibly without costing an action like Charge does. A way to defeat it might to trick it in Charging at a wall. I'm picturing the scene from Tremors when they kill the first graboid.

What about a trait that lets it combine a Strike (or Lock, but certainly not both) with a Charge? The way that Great Wolves can combo Lock & Strike with their bite. This thing Charges mouth-first, after all. Maybe Charge/Strike and Tackle/Lock?

-B

[Fuseboy]

That's a fearsome idea. The triple action is a bit convoluted mechanically, but how about two traits, one of which lets the beast Close with Power (instead of Speed), then a Locking Bite (i.e. a Strike where extra successes can be instead/also spent on obtaining a lock).

[Delaric]

submerged at a watering hole would be ideal

This would be so scary. Talk about freaking out!

[ThisIsVictor]

I like that. It fits with the beastie charging down a tunnel and biting into the first living thing it hits.

[Odie]

Hmm, I'm very hesitant to change Withdraw and Maintain to Power. I have a hard time justifying that fiction-wise, especially Withdraw. And mechanically you're basically saying "this thing can out-manuever almost everything," and that's...really weird to me.

It's got Reflexes 2. It's already not going to be positioning for one entire volley. As single actions go, "charge forward chomping wildly" is about all I can see this thing doing. Well, that, and maybe "lie in wait with Camoflage" or something.

-B