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Alien mercs

Started by Carados, October 08, 2009, 09:30:11 PM

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Carados

Thought I'd post some of my aliens so I can get some feedback about them in general.

There is no fancy back story to them, even so:
They are mercenaries who are native to an area close to the Tau empire.  They aren't particularly fond of the way the Tau do things, especially with rumours of what happened with the vespids, and so the species actively resist them be it through direct or indirect means.  They are nimble warriors who rely mostly on speed and mobility as their primary weapon and protection although they do have an exoskeleton that can be as tough as flak armour.  These three characters know two of my other inquisitors directly and are used extensively by one of them as a means of subduing opponents without causing serious harm.


Cynipidae
WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld   Spd
54   75   67   42   91   53   54   71   34   6

This one is armed with a deathspitter (counts as a webber).

Tiphiidae
WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld   Spd
53   76   63   41   92   62   50   74   33   6

And this with a Venom cannon (Needle weapon which I've modified so its range C, since I don't envision his particular weapon being designed to work at range I).  It has a simple stun toxin.

Both make use of a motion tracker and predictor.

Also for both of these they have the following abilities:
Acrobatic
Catfall
Barbed Tail
Chitinous hide
Razor sharp claw (C-left)/(T-right)
Feeder tendrils
Living ammunition

These last two I've made up.  The 'feeder tendrils' are adept at picking up on scents (which is why I ask for wind directions in games) so in certain situations they'll get a bonus to detect things.  Living ammunition is different to its Tyranid namesake in that it effectively gives me infinite ammo during a game, however to offset this I've doubled all reload values.  Another alternative is to keep reload as is but reduce the number of shots by half.  Basically I want them to feel like alien weapons without making them too powerful or weak.  Perhaps for simplicity should I just dump the ability altogether?

Finally there is one of the higher social classes who is based off the hive tyrant model.  These aliens operate in a similar fashion to the Orks in that the higher class an individual is, the bigger it is - this of course leads to the large strength and toughness characteristics.  Unfortunately, with increased bulk comes a lack of agility and so the initiative is much lower than the other two (but primarily its to stop him steamrolling everyone).  Acrobatic and Catfall are also lost.

Ichneumonidae
WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld   Spd
62   73   133   91   71   72   68   79   81   5

Weapons:
Lash Whip (as neural whip minus the shock rule)
Barbed Strangler (as grenade launcher with frag and krak grenades)

Equipment:
MIU motion predictor, motion tracker, range finder, infrascope

Abilities:
Barbed Tail
Chitinous hide
Razor sharp claw (left)
Feeder tendrils
Living ammunition
Flesh hooks

Flesh hooks just give a bonus to climbing, however with his size and bulk weak walls won't support him.  I don't intend to use Ichneumonidae much at all.  Being somewhat important to the species he'll mostly run from any dangerous situation even if he can feasibly destroy anyone who opposes him.  Why would you encounter him?  Simply because he has ties with my inquisitors.  I'm sure most puritans out there would object to such contact with xenos  ;).


A more elaborate story for them will come when I start getting some of my other characters done.
Thoughts and opinions people?


(By the way, how do I make the stats more presentable?)

Kaled

Quote from: Carados on October 08, 2009, 09:30:11 PM
(By the way, how do I make the stats more presentable?)
You could change the font to something like Courier;
WS  BS  S   T  I  Wp  Sg  Nv  Ld  Spd
62  73  133 91 71 72  68  79  81  5

Or just write them like this;
WS=62 BS=73 S=133 T=91 I=71 Wp=72 Sg=68 Nv=79 Ld=81 Spd=5
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

GhouraAgur

QuoteLiving ammunition is different to its Tyranid namesake in that it effectively gives me infinite ammo during a game, however to offset this I've doubled all reload values.  Another alternative is to keep reload as is but reduce the number of shots by half.  Basically I want them to feel like alien weapons without making them too powerful or weak.  Perhaps for simplicity should I just dump the ability altogether?

But if it's living ammunition, doesn't reloading seem a little...mechanical?  How about having the weapons recharge, with a long time to do so as the creature is exhausted, and his glands/mini-hives need time to refill/replenish.

Molotov

I'm a huge fan of fleshing out the 40k universe that little bit more, and minor Xenos races are a vital part of that! I have to say that I'm left a little disappointed by these aliens, though. I've seen your models (I believe so, anyway...?) in one of the Battle Reports, and I quite liked them. Now, whilst it's possible this race is some splinter of the Tyranids that's gained individual sentience, I think you're missing a valuable opportunity to make an insectoid race that isn't like the Tyranids. Most of the names you've used (Deathspitter, Venom Cannon, Feeder Tendrils,  Lash Whip, Barbed Strangler, Flesh Hooks) are straight from the Tyranids, and that's a terrible shame really, because your aliens just come off as being slightly different Tyranids.

If you had just a little bit more backstory, if you changed the names of some of the equipment, I think it'd be very cool indeed!

I also like GhouraAgur's idea of using the regeneration mechanic instead of reloading - it seems closer to what you want.

Looking forward to further progress on these guys!
INQ28 Thread | INQ28 Blog
INQ28, done properly, is at least the equal of its big brother - and Mol is one of the expert proponents of "done properly".
- precinctomega

Inquisitor Cade

What I think is... oh wait Molotov has already said all that I think, go read his post again.

Looking at the models I think they are distinct enough from tyranids to be a separate species, which in my opinion they would have to be if the backstory you gave is valid. The mechanics you've chosen for the weapons seem pretty good, if you implement recharging ammo and rename them, and I'd suggest not frag and krak for the grenade launcher but perhaps gas grenades, seems more biological.

It might be interesting to give them all a different spectrum of vision, such as the night sight rules (revised Inquisitor Armoury) with a penalty to sight checks in the light, but not in the dark. Or else if they 'see' motion, as I guess you want the motion trackers to suggest I'd only let them see with them and not with normal awareness checks.
*Insert token witticism*

Carados

Back!
I completely agree with all the Tyranid names being a bit lazy and all, in truth it was laziness but also because I've been away all weekend so needed -something- to try and get across what I was aiming for before I left.  My aim is not to have these related to Tyranids at all so all that will change once I've been to my job interview tomorrow and thought about things some more.

For living ammunition I did originally think of some kind of recharge mechanic but I wasn't entirely sure how to go about it, especially with the webber because these can be exceptionally dangerous when used right.  How about if I give each weapon a particular shot value, and each turn this value increases by a set value ('A').  'A' cannot make the current number of shots exceed the original value.  There will be a second value ('B'), this value is the number taken off the number of shots available when the weapon is fired.  This is sounding similar to the hellgun rules, lemme have a look at them...
Seems pretty much exact, hah.  How does the hellgun recharge rule sound then?

For the 'barbed strangler' I'd like to keep at least one explosive grenade type because although these are biological there is absolutely no reason for them not to use lethal cocktails or other exotic methods that cause an explosion.  E.g. it might fire a type of ball which has another ball inside it thus there are two cavities that are seperated.  The inside one might be exceptionally fragile and upon impact might shatter causing the two solutions/gases/whatever to mix causing something nasty to happen.

I like the idea of having a different type of vision, I was toying with the idea of giving them night vision.  But giving them a penalty in 'normal' light conditions would be interesting and would help flesh them out as a seperate race too.  The motion trackers etc. are actually pieces of what little technology they ultilize.  Having said that, if they do see differently then they'll obviously want to make use of them.  Yesh, I'm liking that lots.

No mention of stats so I'm assuming you're all in agreement with them  :)
Cool.

Inquisitor Cade

For the recharge I'd suggest using the one in the rulebook i.e. an underlined number in the reload column is the number of turns it takes for a shot to recharge, except that it starts with more than 1 shot. I'd suggest a high number of shots but a long reload time (maybe for the needle based weapon 20 shots but reload 6 for example) as biological systems would be very slow to replenish compaired to a mechanical equivalent.

The thing about fragmentation grenades is that they fragment, they don't just produce a shockwave but propel shards of metal in all directions. And any movie shows that the shockwave of an explosion is mostly harmless as long as you turn your back on it.
Biologically producting explosives whithin your body is not unpreccidented within 40k, but there is a reason that the catachan barking toad is so rare, you'd have to test to see if the character would spontaniously explode if he ever got hit/ shot/ fell over/ looked at too hard. I'd settle for toxic gases and the like.

When it comes to stats, they are aliens, so we have no base of normality or appropriateness. They all have very impressive Bs's so I'm assuming they have highly advanced scensory organs, which would tie in nicely with whatever 'alternate' vision you give them. I'd say you've overdone Initiative, even the tank has a very impressive I. I'd drop all of their I's by 15-20 giving a species average of 20-30 points higher than humans for the nippy ones and a few points higher for the biggun. I'd also restrain S and T for the big guy, 80's is really very high, if occasionaly attainable by humans. I really wouldn't go in excess of 100, or even 90, and given he has chitinous hide to represent the naturel armour I don't think he has the bulk to justify a super T as well, not from my memory of the model at least, though I don't know how you've altered it.
They have impressive mental stats for what they are. If the first two are 'drones' or lower genetic class an Sg on the lower side of human average may suit them better than the higher ones they have, and I suppose being mercinaries explains the high Nv. For the other guy supposing he'll be equivalent to a mercinary captain, I'd lower his Sq to a more 'unremarkable' level, and perhaps trim a few points from the Wp too. for his leadership, how about making it 10-15 points lower but give him a rule giving him leader and +20Ld for interacting with the lower class aliens, as this would fit him being part of a genetic higher class.
*Insert token witticism*