Galaxy Command: Space Monsters

Okay, I just sent off a list of illustrations to Amanda Webb for the Choicer Player's Guide. While I'm waiting on art for that project (which I'll preview in a few days), I'm working on a bestiary for Galaxy Command, imaginatively titled "Space Monsters!" It will be fully Pathfinder compatible, and in keeping with Galaxy Command's cheesy 70s sci-fi TV, low-budget aesthetic I will be commissioning NO- absolutely zero- new art for this book. Part of the challenge (and the fun) of this book is finding cool stock illustrations and adapting them for use in a retro sci-fi setting. Right now, I've got about 10 statblocks, and I want to have a book of about 20-30 good ones before I put it out. I'm going to go on vacation in a couple of days, so I won't do much writing this week, but I'll finish up Space Monsters when I get back from San Antonio.

Here's a preview: The Warp Widow, a mastermind/manipulator type inspired by Malcolm McClinton's drider stock art from Inkwell Arts. Let me know what you think.

Warp Widows (CR 11)

Huge LE Native Outsider

Space Pirate/Boss Monster

XP 12,800

Init +1 Senses Darkvision 500 ft, lowlight vision, scent, Perception +4

Languages Galactic Common, Proximite, Orphak, Gravity Cat, WARSTAR

Defense

AC 18 Touch 11 Flatfooted 17 (+7 natural, +2 deflection, +1 DEX, -2 size )

HP 16d10 + 48 hp (136 HP)

FORT +8 REF +11 WILL +14

Resist Electrical 10, Fire 10, Force 15

Weaknesses Nocturnal (-2 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks and saving throws in daylight or bright artificial light)

Offense

Spd 50 ft Climb 50 ft

Melee two claws +19 (1d8+5 slashing, 20/x2)

Ranged laser rifle +16 (2d12+1 force, 20/x3, full auto, 100 ft range increment, 20 round/cell)

Spell-like Abilities (CL 16^th)

            At Will – Web (DC 19)

            5x/Day – Slow (DC 20)

            3x/Day – Blink (CL 16^th)

            1x/Day – Greater Teleport (self plus 50 lbs of gear, galactic range)

Statistics

Str 20 Dex 13 Con 16 Int 25 Wis 18 Cha 12

Base Atk +16 CMB +22 CMD 38 (cannot be tripped)

Feats Personal Firearms Proficiency, Advanced Firearms Proficiency, Burst Fire, Dead Aim, Dodge, Gear Head, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Run, Shot on the Run

Skills Acrobatics +5, Bluff +5, Climb +15, Computer Use +17, Craft (electronic) +25, Craft (mechanical) +15, Drive +9, Knowledge (streetwise) +15, Knowledge (tactics) +15, Pilot +9, Stealth +7

Gear Ring of Protection +2 (forcefield ring), handmade masterwork quality laser rifle, 6x spare cells, computer/data pad, nicely appointed personal starship for emergency escapes

Ecology

Environment urban areas and space stations, throughout Command and WARSTAR space

Organization usually solitary, often accompanied by various space pirates or mercenaries

Treasure carried weapons plus 1d6+1 other advanced energy weapons or forcefields of the GM’s choice

Special Abilities

            Nocturnal (EX)
            Warp Widows are evolved for darkness and subterranean hunting. They suffer a -2 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks and saving throws in daylight or in bright artificial light.

            “Who Do You Think Assembled Your Blaster?” (EX)

            At the beginning of the encounter, as a standard action, the Warp Widow can attempt a Craft (electronic) check, the DC of which is equal to 10 + the average party level of the Warp Widow’s opponents. If this check is successful, the Warp Widow gains the ability to exploit weaknesses it (or another of its species) built into the opponent’s ranged weapons. The Warp Widow gains a number of Sabotage Points equal to 10 + one additional point per point she beats the Craft (electronic) Check DC by.

            The Warp Widow can spend Sabotage Points at any time, as a free action, even on another creature’s turn. Unused Sabotage Points are lost at the end of an encounter. The Warp Widow can spend any number of points desired, including points used for different purposes (such as penalizing both a shot’s attack roll and damage roll)

            The Warp Widow can spend Sabotage Points to:

• Reduce a ranged attack roll with any firearm or energy weapon (-1 penalty per S.P. spent)
• Reduce a damage roll with any firearm or energy weapon (-1 damage per S.P. spent, can reduce a damage roll to 0 HP)
• Force the weapon to target the shooter’s ally, provided that ally is within 50 ft of the Warp Widow and within line of sight (Flat 5 S.P. cost)
• Provide a bonus on ranged attack roll with any fire arm or energy weapon, or increase damage by +1 (+1 bonus per S.P. spent, usually used in conjunction with the above ability)
• Force a weapon to eject all remaining rounds or its magazine/energy cell (Flat 5 S.P. cost)
• Destroy a weapon. Weapon explodes, inflicting upon the wielder 1d6 fire damage per shot remaining (Max 10d6, REF DC 18 half) (Flat 10 S.P. cost)

Sabotage Points only affect high tech ranged weapons and firearms. At the GM’s option, crude firearms, (such as revolvers) might be immune to the Warp Widow’s tampering.  Likewise, innate ranged energy attacks are usually immune to this effect, though the GM has final say on what abilities are and aren’t vulnerable to tampering. For example, a half dragon’s breath weapon is completely immune, but a cyborg Powered Hero’s power blast might not be, especially if it were built using components a Warp Widow might have potentially had access to. This ability does not affect thrown or muscle powered weapons (such as spears or sling bullets, ect).

Roleplaying

            Warp Widows a rare breed of coldly intelligent techno-paths, who have spread throughout the galaxy. Warp Widows have only a rudimentary culture of their own, instead, they live on the fringes of human-controlled space, using their vast intellects to establish a lair and place within a human organization that needs their skills. Warp Widows have a genius for weapons that surpasses the skill of even the most ingenious Proximite, and often find comfortable niches for themselves as armorers for WARSTAR or any Space Mafioso capable of meeting their million-credit price.

            Warp Widows are arachnituars, with the thorax and abdomen of a massive web-spinner spider, and a mostly humanoid upper torso and forelimbs. These creatures have mottled purple, black and grey hides capable of withstanding laser fire and are prodigiously strong. Warp Widows are an exclusively female species- the males are non-sentient parasites, resembling hand-sized ticks that spend their entire lives attached to the female’s thorax, fertilizing her. Warp Widows have mask-like, unexpressive faces that reveal almost nothing of the great and horrible thoughts that flit through their minds. Warp Widows move with a skittery speed, and their long fingers twitch and clutch and writhe constantly, as if the giant spiders were sketching the designs for new rail guns in the air before them.

           

            Warp Widows speak Galactic Common and several other languages. They have an enormous technical vocabulary and an almost autistic obsession with weapons, tactics and payment for their genius. These creatures know a million different words to describe the caliber of a bullet but stumble and stutter when looking for a word describing love, or friendship, or honesty, or describing an animal in any term other than in describing ballistic trauma.

            Warp Widows are known for their mastery of technomancy. Bionic circuits woven into their carapace allow them to slow local space/time fields, spin force-field based webs, and even teleport across galactic distances faster than a top-quality space cruiser. Warp Widows use their abilities intelligently, and are not above using their teleportation talent as a last-ditch escape route; they will never fight to the death if they can avoid it. That’s what underlings are for, after all.