These are from the Alpha Dawn boxed set expanded rulebook (which I had as a child but never played!). The allowed weapons and alignments are dependent upon your campaign setting, obviously.
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| Androidarts' renderings - my favorite versions |
Dralasites (Amorphous Funny Blobs)
- They only see in black and white, but can smell well enough to recognize people by smell alone. Disguises generally do not work upon them. They gain a +3 bonus to track a known target by smell (the DC moderated by the judge) but environmental factors may affect this.
- Elasticity - can have a number of limbs equal to Agility divided by 3, rounded up. Any combination of "arms" and "legs" applies. For each arm above the second, they gain 1 attack per round, at the end of the round. For each leg above the second, they gain 10" to move per round. They take half damage from blunt and impacting weapons, but half again as much damage from piercing and cutting weapons. Each limb takes a full turn to grow or absorb. Any number of fingers or manipulators may be grown from each limb.
- Empathic Lie Detection - If a lie is told in the Dralasite PC's presence, it (he? she?) has a DC 14 of detecting the falsehood, modified by Intelligence, rolled secretly by the Judge.
- Base AC 11, HD d8. They can squeeze into regular bipedal armor, and gain full benefits from it.
- Saves, Crits, and Action Die as a Thief of the same level
Vrusk (Thri-Kreen/Phraints/Bug-Men)
- Vrusks are mostly Lawful.
- Ambidexterity - Multi-jointed arms and two thumbs per hand give them the ability to attack with two weapons without any penalty - they always get two attacks per round, at the same time.
- Move at 40" per round, owing to their 4 walking legs.
- Comprehension - Vrusk get their Personality bonus to a DC 14 check to understand any cultural interchange that the player him-/her-/itself cannot. This includes understanding the casting of a spell, a bartered exchange in a market, a religious ceremony - whatever. With a full turn spent in observation, the Judge can give extra information to the player in secret about what the purpose of the ritual/ceremony/exchange was.
- Base AC 12, HD d8
- Saves, Crits, and Action Die as a Cleric of the same level
- Normal armor for humans and even elves will not fit Vrusk and must be made especially for them.
Yazirians (Tree-Gliding Ape-Men - could also be Phanatons from X1 Isle of Dread)
- Glide - Yazirians have membranous growths that stretch between their arms, legs, and body. On their homeworlds, where gravity is somewhat less than that of Aereth, they are able to fly upon thermal wind currents for great distances. On Aereth, they are able to glide short distances, and take -1d damage from falls on a DC 10 check, modified by Agility. They may move their Agility score in feet for every 5 feet loss in altitude.
- Night Vision - Yazirians can see in what humans and other demihuman races take for complete darkness. However, in sunlight or bright light, they attack at -1d unless their eyes are shielded by special goggles.
- Battle Rage - Yazirians may use Mighty Deeds as a Warrior of the same level.
- Base AC 10, HD d10
- If a Yazirian wears armor, they may not take advantage of the Glide ability. They can wear Human armor with a little modification - they derive -1 bonus to the AC owing to armor worn (except shields, bucklers, and helmets)
- Saves, Crits, and Action Die as a Fighter of the same level
Sathar (Evil Sapient Worm Creatures)
- Sathar favor Chaos
- They may not wear armor made for demihumans or humans. Their bodies are somewhat limp and are held upright by hydraulic forces. They receive half damage from blunt attacks. They may travel on their bellies as a snake at half speed, and squeeze through small openings at the discretion of the Judge
- They receive no damage from electrical attacks, and are immune to sleep spells.
- They may see in a 270 degree arc around them, and so are harder to surprise. Backstab attacks do not work as well on Sathar, and only the normal amount of damage is done to them.
- Hypnotism - by modulating psionic energies in tandem with the sussuration of their voices, Sathar may attempt to hypnotize any creature with whom they may converse. This acts as the first level Wizard spell Charm Person, but they suffer no ill effects from a failed casting. This may be attempted no more than 3 times per day before their psionic stores are depleted. In addition to their level, they add their Personality modifier to the Action Die roll.
- Sathar may learn and cast one Wizard or Cleric spell per level (the level of the spell is of no consequence - if they find a level 5 spell they may learn and attempt to cast it in the usual manner)
- Base AC11, HD d4
- Action Die, Crits, and Saves as a Wizard of the same level
The following are from Zebulon's Guide, an expansion for Star Frontiers that I saw but never had or played:
Humma (Kangarooish Warriors)
- Iron Guts - they suffer no drawbacks from eating rotten or poisoned food, and never need to make a saving throw to escape the ill effects of ingested poisons.
- Spring! - A Humma may leap up to 50 feet into combat with an opponent, and will gain an initiative bonus of +5 if it does so. They may leap this distance out of combat, or leap 20 feet straight up into the air, assuming normal gravity conditions.
- Prehensile Tail - a Humma may hold an extra melee weapon in its prehensile tail, and thus gain an extra melee attack per round. They may use the tail to steady themselves or to lift themselves up, slightly. Simple operations can be completed with the tail but they cannot e.g. type using a keyboard or paint brush strokes this way.
- Saves, crits, and Action Die as Warrior of the same level
- Base AC11, Hit Die d10
Osakar (Multi-limbed, budding, Smooth Talkers)
- Amibidextrous - Multi-jointed arms that rotate within biologically unusual sockets enable them to attack with two single-handed weapons each round without penalty
- Adapted Speech Organs - Their fluted throats and double tongues allow Osakar to learn 3 times the number of spoken languages allowed by their Intelligence modifier. Half of these may be held in reserve until such time that they come into play. These are not necessarily the written forms of the languages; they will know the spoken forms of the written languages they know (as determined by their Intelligence modifier as usual)
- Highly Developed Smell - With a DC 12 check, modified by Intelligence, the Osakar may track or recognize a target through normal conditions, or detect the presence of previously-encountered poisons or compounds. Environmental conditions may improve or reduce the DC (e.g. rain, smoke, gasses)
- Their weird anatomical forms (4 multi-jointed arachnoid legs terminating in hand-like manipulators) allow movement at 40" per round, and they receive the ability to climb as a Thief of the same alignment and level
- Saves, Crits, and Action Die as a Thief of the same level
- They are unable to use most armor but may use shields and helmets. They may purchase modified armor at 3 times the usual cost.
- Tough scaly hide gives them Base AC14, with d8 Hit Die
There are other races in Zebulon's Guide, the Ishfnit (pretty much space Dwarves with fancy eyeballs) and Mechanons, which are essentially Robots. There are plenty of cool robot classes for DCC out there, already, and if you need a link to one,
Hmm. Stand by on that issue, readers. I'll see if I can fix it. Meanwhile, the class stuff from +Patrick Wetmore 's ASE fits nicely into DCC, in my opinion, but they would need a little twerkin'. There's even a Robot! Keep an eye out for the ASE Player's Guide that Patrick teases Labyrinth Lord fans with (I'm unsure if it's cool to link to it at the moment). If you haven't yet found the amazingness that is ASE, then I abjure you to check it out at Patrick's blog over thisaway. It gleefully and lovingly smashes many old school gaming conventions in the way that people must have felt when they first encountered the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
It has guns AND robots! And a dungeon that generated itself!
Excellent writeup, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry I missed this comment, but thanks!
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