Saturday, July 3, 2021

Harder, better, faster, stronger - Gene Soldier (GLOG Class)

The Occult Secret Agent was originally intended to be a one-off, but Spwack suggested making it the "caster" of a traditional adventuring trio in an occult technothriller setting. Here's the fighter, based off the prompt "biological weapon";

Helix Warrior by Joel Thomas, from d20 Future

Lurking within the human genome is an ancient secret, traces of a nonhuman bloodline that has been preserved since antiquity. Annunaki, Nommo, Atlanteans, Nephilim, every conspiracy has a different name for the gods that myth and scripture say once took human spouses. With gene therapy these ancestral variances can be exaggerated, made more pronounced. The results speak for themselves, producing operatives that are simply more than human..

Class: Gene Soldier

Every template you have in this class gives you +1 To Hit and every odd level also gives you +1 Defence. You can wear any kind of armour and cannot fumble with natural weapons and your choice of five other weapons.

Starting Skill: 1. Athletics 2. Medicine 3. Philosophy 4. Survival 5. Literature 6. Tactics

Starting Equipment: Cool black-pleather ninja suit (no armour, but +1 to Sneaking), tactical webbing, wraparound sunglasses, suppressed submachinegun or pair of mini-uzis and 5 magazines, carbon-black ninja-to, wrist-mounted computer, well-thumbed copy of Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1 item from equipment table below.

A: Hardened, Augment
B: Determinator, +1 Augment
C: Tyger Tyger, +1 Augment
D: Apex, +1 Augment

A: Hardened
You count as wearing light armour even when bare naked and your fists count as light weapons. Your not-entirely-human nature is detectable to an X-ray scan, blood test, or by someone trained in Medicine.

A: Augment
You start with 1 level in a biological Augment of your choice. Each time you gain another template you gain another Augment at level 1 and increase the level of all your previous Augments by 1.

B: Determinator 
You do not go the way of all flesh. Once per round, you can choose to take 1d6 damage from a source of harm instead of its normal damage.

C: Tyger Tyger
When you kill or neutralise an enemy, you may immediately make another attack against another target as long as they are in range.

D: Apex
Your genetic inheritance is realised (see Augments below). Your natural aging effectively ceases, and you become immune to all natural diseases. You can heal back from any injury without scars as long as you survive, even loss of limbs or horrific systemic injuries like having acid injected into your bloodstream, suffering 3rd degree burns or having your spine crushed.

Haven Troopers from Metal Gear Solid 4

AUGMENTS
Flesh
You have a Flesh-out-of-6 chance to be able to perform absurd feats of strength - stuff like wrenching open bulkhead doors, bending tank cannon barrels or throwing full oil drums, +1 if it is a feat within the normal limits of human ability. If you fail you can choose to lose 1d6 hp to reroll.

If you have level 4 in Flesh your bloodline is revealed to originate with the Nephilim giants that built the first human civilisations. You gain a full foot in height and can now wield heavy weapons one handed and emplaced weapons two-handed without bipod or brace.

Bone
No environmental condition natural to Earth's surface has any chance of killing or impairing you, and you have Bone-out-of-6 chance to survive even conditions as extreme as prolonged exposure to hard vacuum, the radiation of a reactor core, or being trapped in a burning building, though not necessarily without consequences you will take a long time to recover from.

If you have level 4 in Bone, your bloodline is revealed to originate with the Atlanteans, first great conquerors and empire-builders of Earth. You grow gills between your ribs and your skin takes on a bronze hue. You gain the ability to breathe water and propel yourself through bodies of liquid at your full running speed using your body's electrostatic field, your immunity to harm from common conditions on Earth's surface extends to below the surface of the ocean.

Blood 
For each level of Blood you possess, you gain one of the following physical mutations;
  • You gain a venomous spur at the base of your thumb, it is invisible when not deployed. Your unarmed attacks now count as Medium weapons and if you catch someone when they are unaware or can't fight back you can render them unconscious unless they save against your venom.
  • You can quadruple your jump height and distance.
  • You can see as well as an eagle, including having telescopic vision.
  • You have a supercharged adrenal gland. You can take 1d6 damage to perform an additional action on your turn.
If you have level 4 in Blood, your bloodline is revealed to originate with the Nommo, amphibian gods from Sirius. Your eyes become disconcertingly large. You can change your appearance to mimic anyone you have met as long as they possess generally humanoid biology, within 10 minutes. You also have a Blood-out-of-6 chance to avoid detection of your genetic augmentation by anything other than a DNA test.

Nerve
For each level of Nerve you possess, you gain one of the following mental mutations;
  • You gain access to the memories of your genetic ancestors, allowing you to become proficient with any skill that was invented before your birth with a minute of meditation until the next time you sleep. You can only have 1 skill per level of Nerve active at a time.
  • You can read the emotions and surface thoughts of others. This isn't a psychic effect, you are listening to their subvocalisations and heartrate, watching microcues, and Sherlocking their personality. If someone knows you can do this they can save to try to hide their true feelings.
  • You can decode any cypher with d6-Nerve hours of study (min. 0) and have Nerve-out-of-6 chance of successfully intuiting any password.
  • You can read as fast as you can flip pages and retain everything you see. Given the necessary implements you can recreate anything you have ever seen or read from memory in photorealistic detail.
If you have level 4 in Nerve, your bloodline is revealed to originate with the Annunaki, travelers from a distant star who uplifted humanity from the apes. Your skin turns a golden hue. You possess true free will, decoupling your actions from circumstance, making you immune to emotional and mind-influencing effects. (You can see the Fnords).

Breath
(Stolen from Spwack's psion, because the Discipline mechanics are too cool to get memory holed)
You have unlocked the secret bioenergetic properties of your bloodline, which you might call vril, orgone, pneuma or chi depending on the common nomenclature of your conspiracy. 

As an action, roll under your Wisdom to enter a state of Focus. If you suffer a critical hit, are knocked prone or go below half or 0 HP, you must reroll to retain Focus. Being knocked unconscious automatically causes you to lose Focus. 

You learn how to do one the following things while Focused;

1. Use Wisdom in place of a stat chosen when you enter Focus.
2. Force a minor unnamed NPC to save or believe the next thing you tell them as long as it's reasonably plausible.
3. Bend, break or decay a small unmoving object by staring at it for 2 rounds.

For each level of Breath after the first, you learn one Discipline. You can acquire more by seeking out enlightened masters and learning from them, they will always require a significant service for their tuition.

If you have level 4 in Breath your bloodline is revealed to be the Denisovan coneheads who taught humans spirituality, science and hierarchy. Your skull elongates noticeably and your hair turns red if it wasn't already. You can now use the Surges from any Disciplines you know.

Equipment
1. Tactical mask with built-in radio.
2. Abseiling harness and 50 meters fiber cord line.
3. Grappling hook gun.
4. Pocket Furnace, destroys documents and other small items of potential evidence.
5. Geckotech boots & gloves, lets you climb as fast as you can walk even on surfaces with no handholds, must maintain contact with at least 3 limbs.
6. Ex-Soviet PSS silent pistol (requires special hard-to-find ammo, actually quieter than a Hollywood silenced pistol).
7. Bug detector, finds hidden electronics 5:6 times if 10 minutes spent sweeping a room.
8. D8 Flashbangs, blinds and deafens for d3 rounds on a failed save.
9. Black leather trench coat.
10. Nice suit (+1 to reaction rolls), cut and elasticated for freedom of movement.
11. Night vision goggles, allows grainy black-and-green vision in darkness.
12. Set of multi-theater camouflage paints.
13. .50-cal sniper rifle.
14. Canister of actual honest-to-G_d knockout gas, contains enough to fill a theater hall, save-or-sleep, only 2% chance of persistent coma.
15. Shoes with concealed poisoned toe-blade. Click heels to reveal.
16. High-end multitool with 12 features.
17. D4+1 limpet mines, can be timed or remotely detonated.
18. Black SUV.
19. Thermite charge, will reduce even most really hard stuff to slag within about a minute.
20. An unusual or esoteric item of inexplicable origin;
  1. A bright red card that has a 4:6 chance to hack any card reader.
  2. A bright blue card that will extend unlimited credit, has a 3:6 chance of attracting unwanted attention.
  3. A bright green card that can scrape ice off windshields and instantly open poor-quality locks.
  4. Experimental vibroknife, deals damage as a medium weapon and counts armour as 1 grade poorer (heavy to medium, medium to light, light to nothing). Jams up on a fumble and becomes a regular knife until repaired.
  5. Atlantean healing sarcophagus, reverses progression of illnesses and quadruples natural healing. If used on a normal person, 10% chance they must save or acquire a permanent mutation every 24hrs of use.
  6. Soliton radar. Detects position of living beings of dog-size or larger in a 10-meter radius. Ordinary comms chatter will make it fritz out.

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