[3.5->SC2.0] Let's Stat: Orcs!!!

[iconoplast]

Ok, a confession: I'm not going to run a Fantasy Campaign.  I'm going to introduce Project LONG STAIRS to my Spycraft Game.  For Fantasycraft, just swap out the Cal II guns for crossbows, or drop the XP value by 2.

Here's the writeup of the Orc:

Cognitive zombies - intelligent, but not conscious. They're perfect predators for stalking humans in a human-shaped environment. Clever and adaptable- they use scavenged modern military hardware, and wear body armor. They'll capture you and torture you and turn your skin into boots, but there's no "them" at all- light's on, nobody's home.

They have huge brain regions for processing memory - especially somatic skill memory - and have a sort of visual mimetic aquisition ability whereby they can learn a new skill simply by observing it's use- that's how they're all such goddamn good marksman. One watches a specops boy shoot to kill, and then picks up a rifle himself and does the same. His cohorts watch, and they map the skill too.

They're perfectly tuned to human pheromones and metabolism, and can sniff the air, and then play the human animal like a guitar- creating situations which strum the nerves, inspiring panic, fear, dread, or a false sense of security.

They can't survive above Second Landing, but the boffins are terrified of what will become of humanity if they figure out how to do it.

And the statblock:
Standard NPC - 85xp Init V, Atk VI, Def IV, Res V, DmSv VII, Comp. III

Qualities:Minion, Horde, Commander, Unnerving I, Fearsome, Treacherous, Tough I, Nocturnal, Low Light Vision, Superior Attr (Str+6), Feat (Wolf Pack Basics, Mastery, Supremacy), Feat (Tactical Advantage (Commander), Tac-Squad Basics (Others)), Feat (Axe Moves, Great Sword Basics, or Hammer Basics), Skilled (Intimidate VIII)

Gear I (Cal I Security Pick: Hobbyist's Armor)

Gear II (Cal II Weapon: Maul, Broad Axe, or Broadsword + Deadly Precision)

Gear III (Cal II Weapon: KAC Masterley 12g Shot, RSA SVU Semi-Auto Rifle, or FN P90)

----

Too much?  Wolf Pack Supremacy + Tac-Squad Basics + Tactical Advantage + Horde?  Is that unfair? 

[Gentry]

I'd drop Tough, but that's just me.

[Mister Andersen]

Icon, what do you have besides the core book? The Dungeon fairly screams for Fragile Minds, and theres some qualities from Classic Fantasy that would be useful.

You also want Skilled (Sense Motive VI, Tactics VII)

[Valentina]

Long Stair is amazing. I wanna send Baileywolf $20US just for starting it.

Elves are just as gorgeous as you can imagine- sexy as hell too, and they smell like honeysuckles and summer wind if you're stupid enough to pull down your mask and breathe in.

If you do, then they've got you- the sink chemical claws into your limbic system, and you start to weep because when they open their arms it's like Mom and God and the love of your life is welcoming you home to warmth and comfort and joy.

You'll be too whacked out of your head to see the dark crimson vine trailing off down the corridor or into a hole somewhere, the pulsing fibrous connection the elf has to the true creature down below.

The elf is flower and root in one organ. If you're lucky, the chemicals the thing secretes just paralyzes you, and you die in a slow ecstasy as it dissolves and absorbs your flesh.

If you're unlucky, it's Springtime in the Dungeon, and you're the bumble bee. You'll mate with the thing in a frenzy, and then stumble naked and disoriented until another elf attracts you. You'll screw that one, and them move on after leaving the first one's pollen behind. On and on, driven by chemicals, until you drop from exaustion. Spent, helpless, there's plenty down in the darkness that'll be happy to have you then.

SOP- keep masks sealed, burn elves, and drop incindaries down any elfholes you find.

-B

Holy drek. All of it.

[Mister Andersen]

Those aren't elves, those are dryads

[iconoplast]

Icon, what do you have besides the core book? The Dungeon fairly screams for Fragile Minds, and theres some qualities from Classic Fantasy that would be useful.

You also want Skilled (Sense Motive VI, Tactics VII)

Adding Skilled now.  I own Fragile Minds, but not Classic Fantasy or Spellbound (Keep meaning to pick them up for the qualities & types, but never get around to it).