The Swamp-Lurk.

[Russell Hoyle]

Swamp-Lurk, brutish beast demonstrating the danger to be found whenever one ventures out into the wilderness...

Concept: Bestial predator, hunched and powerful. It lays up patiently near the path less-travelled.

Will B2
Per B4
Agi B2
Spd B3
Pow B6
Fort B6

Ste:B7 Hea:B4 Ref:B3

Beliefs:
Food will come if I wait long enough.
If I kill the four-legs, the two-legs will leave it behind for me.
Swim down deep and they won't follow.

Instincts:
Wait, wait, wait until they're close!
Kill one and then flee!
Get inside, Lock and Bite!

Traits: Massive Stature, Hideous, Slimy Coat, Breath-Holder, Brute, Crushing Jaws, Patient.

Slimy Coat: Thick matted hair, heavy with moss and scum from the swamp. +1D stealth in the swamp. Smells terrible (like a swamp!).
Dt 4pts

Breath-Holder: This beast can hold its breath for several minutes under water. Dt 3pts

Skills:
Stealth B4
Brawling B4
Observation B3
Swamp-Wise B3
Man-Wise B2

Powerful Jaws I:B5 M:B9 S:B12 Add:2 VA:2 Fast, On the Inside
Brutal Fists I:B3 M:B6 S:B9 Add:2 VA:- Fast

PTGS:
Su:B4 Li:B7 Mi:B9 Se:B10 Tr:B11 MW:B12

Comments welcome.
Rusty

[Russell Hoyle]

No comments?

Bastards! (*sniff*)

The Swampie is maybe a bit dull?
(bloody animated cauldron up-staging my pet)

Or perhaps I misread your tacit approval?

Anyhow, If no-one has any suggestions, I plan on wikification.

Rrrrusty

[kruug]

I'll try him out in a Fight!...tonight!

[Russell Hoyle]

Thanks Chris!

You are clearly a gentleman of the first order, intellectually superior and, if l may say so, demonstrate exemplary personal deportment.

Rusty

[IvanHo]

The Brute trait isn't really needed. It will be incapacitated by a midi wound anyway because of the b2 Agility.

Either leave out the Brute trait or raise the Agility.

/Uffe

PS: I assume it should be quite easy to beat in a fight. Low speed, short reach. But hesitation due to surprise could make it nasty.

[Drozdal]

Mark hit on jaws seems a bit harsh.

B9 equals traumatic or mortal wound on most of the 3-4 LP characters + VA2 on top of that... With Brawling of B4 it's more than likely that Swamp Lurk will hit the Mark at one point during the Fight (especially while on the inside).

[Russell Hoyle]

Thanks Droz and IvanHo for your comments.

On reflection you are both right. Certainly the brute trait is redundant. I envisage the Lurk as a geurilla-fighting type of beast - one quick attack and off!

With respect to the dangerousness offered by Powerful Jaws, I agree it is a major hazard to the characters, but I wanted to make the thing dangerous to horses.

When I am at home I will have a skim through the other natural weaponry traits in the MB and find a less overwhelming alternative (but hopefully not make the Lurk 'toothless' in the process).

I wonder if retaining the power of the attack, but reducing its VA might be a middle-road?

Any AP feedback Kruug? I have yet to find time to sit down with the kids and try this one.


Cheers,
Rusty

[Drozdal]

With respect to the dangerousness offered by Powerful Jaws, I agree it is a major hazard to the characters, but I wanted to make the thing dangerous to horses.
So where are his beliefs / instincts about striking the biggest game of the pack first?

And who travels thru the swamps on horseback? :D

[Russell Hoyle]

Beliefs:
Food will come if I wait long enough.
If I kill the four-legs, the two-legs will leave it behind for me.
Swim down deep and they won't follow.


Please refer Belief #2
Perhaps re-editing to make it more explicit?

Also, with respect to horses in swamps you are right of course, but its my swamp dammit! And my players are perhaps a little less than always-sensible....

Perhaps I will tone down the bite (as the typical Lurk will target smaller prey) but leave him with belief #2 as one unique to this particular Lurk.
Maybe I will need to change an instinct to reflect belief #2? I think Instinct #2 would be better phrased: "Kill a four-leg first!"

Thanks Dro!

Rusty

[kruug]

On Friday we tested this bad boy out. Jack Ashburn, our intrepid anti-hero (Temple Acolyte turned Smuggler) decided to go wondering into the swamp to search for a special mushroom, a secret ingredient for his special brew of alcohol. He Circled up a guide who knew where to find said mushrooms. The guide warned him that only a few days ago he had spotted a monstrous beast lurking in the swamps, devouring what appeared to be a horse carcass. He refused to venture into the swamp with Jack. They had a Duel of Wits, where Jack tried to convince him to come with him, but Jack failed miserably. Jack called the NPC a coward; the NPC used Family Secret-Wise to dredge up some dirt on Jack's whore of a mother, and the discussion ended there.

Jack wandered into the swamp and failed his Orienteering test. He was hopelessly lost. Perception test! Fail!

A slimy, hideous and knobbly monstrosity lunged out of the murk and attacked!

Jack rolled his 8 Steel (!) vs Hesitation of 5 (6 because of the swamp-lurk's Hideous trait), and ended up hesitating for 3 rounds. He opted to Run Screaming. His Speed was B2.*

The Swamp-Lurk won the Initial Positioning test, and was at Optimal. It successfully Closed to Inside, then Locked and Bit Jack on the chest, penetrated his armor, and gave him a Light wound and a -1 Lock penalty. That dropped Jack's Speed to 0, so he was incapacitated. A nice snack for the Swamp Lurk.

We decided to test it again, using a character with B5 Speed and B5 Reflexes. Due to the swamp-lurk's Instinct to "Get Inside, Lock and Bite," it was fairly predictable and easy to script Avoid, Strike. Avoid. Avoid, Strike. Dancing around the Swamp-Lurk's attacks, and taking pot-shots on the excess actions. It wasn't very interesting, but it worked.

Did I play the Swamp-Lurk properly? Should I have changed up my tactics, instead of scripting Close, Lock and Bite every action, should I have done something differently?

*Jack's player has since seen the merit in having a decent Speed. In fact, having any Stat below B3 is generally bad.

[kruug]

Edit: Sorry, double-posted.

[Tobias]

You can ignore the instinct, of course.

Charging may be an option? Getting a bonus from the massive stature...

Run away from anything that passes its steel test.

[Kublai]

Yeah, according to the intent, the Lurk should've backed away and fled as soon as his ambush failed.

[Russell Hoyle]

Well, I introduced the Lurk to my players last night - a young elven Forrester and a human Knight, both charged to rescue hostages taken by an orc warband camped in the ruins of an ancient fortress out in the Badlands.

Their path took them though the Broken Lands, alternately swampy and rocky, the elf knew of a path and chose an auspicious day for their travel (using Song of the Eldar and getting a 1D bonus). Nevertheless the broken lands are confusing and the pair became lost (failed tracking roll) on their way to the Grey Citadel - precipitating the Swamp-Lurk encounter.

The Lurk surprised them but they (and steeds) amanged to make their Steel rolls! Fight! progressed...

I scripted Close, Lock and Bite; Close Lock and Bite; Close Lock and Bite - the Lurk making a bee-line for the Knight's mount.
Unfortunately it transpires that Speed B6 horses are much better at positioning than Speed B3 Lurks even with increased Ob (+2) due to swampy terrain!
The Knight however, also chose to close with a charge and subsequent block and strikes.
The Lurk couldn't land a decent bite on the horse - the knight kept interposing his shield! The Lurk's B4 Brawling also let him down.
While the Knight only acheived a Su wound with his sword, the elf losed an arrow which resulted in a superb hit (and a Se Wound), incapacitating the beast which the Knight then finished with a coup de gras.

I wasn't displeased with the Lurk's performance, but really I think he relies on a failed Steel test by his victims in order to get in and give a good bite!
Otherwise the horse does just dance cirlces around him. I am happy to leave his numbers as-is though. Perhaps I should have levied a greater Ob penalty to the horse for the terrain?

After the fight, our wise elf tried a begginners luck Swamp-wise test to see if she knew anything useful about the creature.
No luck but another check towards Swamp-wise!

We had fun (they moreso I think because they got to slay a nasty monster) and they found their way to the Grey Citadel at dusk, seeing it at the far end of a ridge just as it started to rain...

Rusty

[Russell Hoyle]

I agree with Tobias and Kublai - the Lurk needs an instinct which reads:

On a failed ambush, get away quick!
or
If they fight back, flee!

Or something...
Rusty

[Kublai]

How about the trait Pack-hunter? Muahahaha!

[Russell Hoyle]

Thanks Guys for all the input - any last minute suggestions before I wikify?

Rusty

[kruug]

What if, instead of Brute, you give him a trait like "Swamp Walker", to negate the +2 Ob movement penalties in the swamp? That would make him really scary.

[Tobias]

I'm getting the idea that that's the way the beast was played anyway - but you're right, it should be an explicit trait.

[Russell Hoyle]

You are both right. Brute is out for being redundant & l need to add a trait to reduce / obviate Swamp terrain penalty for the Lurk.

I will make the changes and put him up on the wiki.

Rusty.