Author Topic: Melitto and other New Species Stats  (Read 1747 times)

Serfious

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Melitto and other New Species Stats
« on: August 26, 2016, 11:13:43 pm »
Hey all,

With Aliens of the Galaxy now out and currently on it's way, I thought I'd try statting up some new species from The Force Awakens and other sources that came about after Saga stopped producing new books. I plan on using the very helpful Species Building Guidelines that Robshanti, Pukunui, NarCranor, and Darth Scorpion had a hand in to create such species as the...

Abednedo. Artiodac. Crolute. Delphidian. Dybrinthe. Lasat. Melitto. Narquios. Teedo. Dowutin. Ottegan. Kyuzo. Tarsunt. Blarina. And much, much more.

I'm going to try to base these stats on canon as much as possible, so some might have to wait until more information comes along.

Anyways, enough of the preamble. Let's get started with your first alien, the Melitto!


Melitto Species Traits
   Ability Modifiers: +2 Con, -2 Wis, -2 Cha.
   Medium Size: As Medium creatures, Melitto have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
   Speed: Melitto base speed is 6 squares.
   Conditional Bonus Feat: Because of their scent-memories, Melitto make excellent doctors, capable of detecting chemical components that were 
   markers for diseases. A Melitto with Treat Injury as a trained skill gains Skill Focus (Treat Injury) as a bonus feat.
   Keen Scent: A Melitto may choose to reroll any Survival check made to Track, but the result of the reroll must be accepted even if it is worse.
   Cilia: Although blind, they do have cilia that provide them the ability to see electrical fields as well as a keen sense of hearing and smell that
   effectively allows them to "see". They act normally without taking any penalties for blindness. This trait enables them to make Perception checks, and
   read and write as a sighted person. They ignore the effects of darkness as if they had darkvision. Additionally, the Melitto ignore all penalties to
   Perception checks from cover and concealment (but not total cover or total concealment).
   Special Equipment: Melitto suffer limitations outside their atmosphere. Without an antiox breath mask, a Melitto begins to suffocate. A
   replacement mask costs 2,000 credits (500 credits on Li-Toran), and a year's supply of filters costs 200 credits (50 credits on Li-Toran). To be able to
   converse with other creatures, a Melitto must purchase a vocoder for 50 credits. Melitto characters begin play with these items at no cost.
   An antiox breath mask is poisonous to other species.
   Automatic Languages: Basic, Melitto


Thanks for reading. Questions and constructive criticisms welcome.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2016, 11:19:39 pm by Serfious »

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Serfious

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2016, 12:06:28 am »
While I'm up I might as well do another, the Kyuzo as seen on the Clone Wars and in a deleted scene in The Force Awakens. FFG just released their version of them in the latest Age of Rebellion sourcebook, and I was influenced by it.


Kyuzo Species Traits
  Ability Modifiers: +2 Dex, -2 Wis, -2 Cha.
   Medium Size: As Medium creatures, Kyuzo have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
   Speed: Kyuzo base speed is 6 squares.
   Heightened Agility: A Kyuzo may choose to reroll any acrobatics checks, but the result of the reroll must be accepted even if it is worse.
   Expert Jumper: A Kyuzo's dense muscle fibers make them expert jumpers. A Kyuzo may take 10 on Jump checks even when rushed. They may also choose to reroll any Jump checks, but the result of the reroll must be accepted even if it is worse. They are always considered to have a running start when they jump.
   Special Equipment: Kyuzo suffer limitations outside their atmosphere. Without a highly pressurized breath mask, a Kyuzo begins to suffocate. A
   replacement mask costs 2,000 credits (500 credits on Phatrong), and a year's supply of cartridges costs 200 credits (50 credits on Phatrong). Kyuzo
   characters begin play with these items at no cost.
   A high pressure breath mask is poisonous to other species.
   Automatic Languages: Kyuzo
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 10:22:06 am by Serfious »

StevenO

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2016, 01:31:18 pm »
I'll admit little knowledge of these species so what I'll be looking at is more balance and such than anything fluff related.

Melitto!
Spoiler (hover to show)
Thanks for reading. Questions and constructive criticisms welcome.

Here the thing that really jumps out at me is "how is your superior sense of smell going to do you any good if you need to wear a breath mask at basically all times?"  I like the fluff idea that a superior sense of smell could provide that benefit to Treat Injury along with the "normal" benefit to tracking but then I'm back to that mask issue.

The "blind without actually being blind" thing has been done before where it could be viewed as superpowered dark vision.  I believe they should still be subject to some types of cover and concealment that would overwhelm and confuse the senses.  Part of me also thinks than an adjustment to the Perception penalties based on distance could make such an ability more interesting; easy to see when close but harder to see more distance objects.  I often wonder how the reading works if the medium is all visual.

As a whole I think it is pretty well balanced.

While I'm up I might as well do another, the Kyuzo as seen on the Clone Wars and in a deleted scene in The Force Awakens. FFG just released their version of them in the latest Age of Rebellion sourcebook, and I was influenced by it.
Spoiler (hover to show)

Not bad.

Another "mask breather" although I wonder why someone that only needs what they breath to be at a much higher pressure needs filters in the mask for.  I guess the air compressor they wear should have some screening in it to keep particulates from building up in a higher than normal concentration.

I guess the big question for this species is that Expert Jumper ability.  I don't know how they move but if you want to make it strong but simple here is my thought: 
Expert Jumper:  Always count as having a running start when making jumps.  Has a +5 species bonus to Jump checks.

The other option would be a "take 10 at anytime" to go with that reroll take second which are pretty common with climbers and also swimmers.  Treating all jumps as a running start really helps cut the DCs for a standing jump.  I'd certainly drop the conditional bonus feat here and just go with a straight species bonus if you really want them to be exceptional jumpers.

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Serfious

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2016, 05:24:59 pm »
I'll admit little knowledge of these species so what I'll be looking at is more balance and such than anything fluff related.
Spoiler (hover to show)

Thanks for the feedback! The whole "scent" thing is actually straight from canon, the justification being it's not via their nose, but the chemical recepters on all the hairs you see pictured.

As for the cover and concealment, I thought long and hard about how to exactly pull off their abilities. After a couple iterations I settled on something akin to the Miraluka's ability almost verbatim minus the Force-using aspects. If you want to take a crack at it I'd love to see what you come up with!

Spoiler (hover to show)

I love the idea to always have their jumps start as running jumps. I'm going to try to edit them later and add that. FFG just stated these guys and their version essentially lets them use Force Jump as a species ability. I consider giving them something akin to the Jump bonus from surge, but there isn't an analogue in any species stats I could find in Saga that gave a flat bonus to the skill, so I was worried about setting the precedent. I'll likely edit it sometime tomorrow.

I just got Aliens of the Galaxy and decided to give a crack at a new species that seems like it will be integrated as one of the most common in the galaxy (seemingly on par with Twi'leks, Rodians and the like). Let me present the Abednedo!



Abednedo Species Traits
   Ability Modifiers: +2 Int, -2 Wis
   Medium Size: As Medium creatures, Abednedo have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
   Speed: Abednedo base speed is 6 squares.
   Darkvision: Abednedo ignore concealment (including total concealment) from darkness. However, they cannot perceive colors in total darkness.
   Conditional Bonus Feat: Gregarious and easily accepting of other alien species, Abednedo with Persuasion as a trained skill gain Skill Focus
   (Persuasion) as a bonus feat.
   Expert Climbers: Abednedo are adept at climbing in their underground homes. An Abednedo may choose to take 10 on climb checks even when
   distracted or threatened.
   Automatic Languages: Basic, Abednedish

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2016, 10:24:53 pm »
If you want an alternative version of "sight" that may be fine but I'd say keep the prospects of cover and concealment.  The Miraluka may avoid them but you could attribute that to the "Force" part of Force Sight and the Sense Surroundings application of the Force Skill which is explicitly does that.

I don't know what FFG does with Force Jump but when it come to jumping in SAGA a character using that power would easily put real world records to absolute shame.  At its lowest power level Surge grants +10 on jump checks with the suggested "count as a running start" added in as well plus the increased movement rate; this is also nominally a once per encounter thing.  There are other species that offer a "species bonus" to at least some aspect of a certain skill.

If you're wondering how much of a boost certain things are when it comes to skills remember that a d20 averages 10.5, rerolling it and taking the better averages 13.5 (a +3 improvment), while reroll take second averages 13 (+2.5) when used on all rolls 10 or lower but none over 10 although in practice it is often very similar to RRTB assuming you already know if you need to use it or not.

Not much to say about the Abednedo.  I'm thinking "Expert Climber" is a fairly common species ability so porting that over should be easy.
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Serfious

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2016, 10:24:06 am »
I guess the big question for this species is that Expert Jumper ability.  I don't know how they move but if you want to make it strong but simple here is my thought: 
Expert Jumper:  Always count as having a running start when making jumps.  Has a +5 species bonus to Jump checks.

The other option would be a "take 10 at anytime" to go with that reroll take second which are pretty common with climbers and also swimmers.  Treating all jumps as a running start really helps cut the DCs for a standing jump.  I'd certainly drop the conditional bonus feat here and just go with a straight species bonus if you really want them to be exceptional jumpers.

I ended up going with take 10, may reroll (and keep second), and always count as having a running start. I'm still considering the +5 flat bonus to replace part of it, so I'll let you know if I try them out and the current set up doesn't capture the Kyuzo feel.

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2016, 10:40:44 am »
Sorry about the hiatus. Life has been busy, but a good busy. To make up for it I present a species I was a huge fan of in The Clone Wars and really wanted to see done.



 Karkarodon!
Karkarodon Species Traits
   Ability Modifiers: +2 Str, -2 Dex.
   Medium Size: As Medium creatures, Karkarodon have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
   Speed: Karkarodon base speed is 6 squares. They have a swim speed of 4 squares.
   Breathe Underwater: As amphibious creatures, Karkarodon can't drown in water.
   Expert Swimmer: A Karkarodon may choose to reroll any Swim check, but the result of the reroll must be accepted even if it is worse. In addition, a Karkarodon may choose to take 10 on Swim checks even when distracted or threatened.
   Natural Armor: Karkarodon have tough skin that provides a +1 natural armor bonus to their Reflex Defense. A natural armor bonus stacks with an armor bonus
   Natural Weapon: A Karkarodon has natural weapons in the form of a power bite. When a Karkarodon make an unarmed attack, it may choose to use it's natural weapon, dealing 1d6 points of piercing damage with the attack instead of normal unarmed damage. Karkarodon are always considered armed with their natural weapons.
     Automatic Languages: Basic, Karkarodonese

Serfious

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2016, 11:05:41 am »
Another Clone Wars favorite of mine that I've been wanting to see for a good, long while. The Harch!



 Harch
Harch Species Traits
   Ability Modifiers: +2 Con, -2 Wis, -2 Cha.
   Medium Size: As Medium creatures, Harch have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
   Speed: Harch base speed is 6 squares.
   Bonus Feat: A Harch gains Dual Weapon Mastery as a bonus feat provided he or she meets the prerequisites of the feat (minimum Dexterity of 13 and a base attack bonus of +1).
   Extra Arms: Harch can hold up to four items or weapons at a time. This ability does not grant extra attacks; however, it does mean that a Harch can wield two two-handed weapons at a time.
   Skilled Grappler: Due to their extra arms, Harch gain a +5 species bonus to grab attacks.
   Imposing: A Harch may choose to reroll any Persuasion checks made to intimidate, but the result of the reroll must be accepted, even if it is worse.
     Automatic Languages: Basic, Harch.

StevenO

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2016, 12:01:42 pm »
Once again, not bad.  I'm guessing the Karkarodon abilities are copied from similar species.
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Serfious

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2016, 12:14:32 pm »
Indeed. Aquatic species seem to all have the same Breathe Underwater and Expert Swimmer abilities and I didn't see a reason to re-invent the wheel. From there, his natural weapon was a no brainer, and while I toyed with going Str +2, Wis -2, Cha -2, I saw how awkward the race looked walking on dry land and tried to pull inspiration from the Trandoshan stat block for the Abilities and +1 Ref. Considering sharks tend to have pretty rough skin in real life, and the main example of we see of a Karkarodon tends to wade into the thick of combat in melee range I thought that defense bump would make work well.

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2016, 05:40:12 pm »
Parwan
Spoiler (hover to show)
Maybe it seems accurate but I see a LOT of problems with this.

Natural Attack = Electrical zap.  It seems strange that this could be improved with Martial Arts when it seems to me it shouldn't improve.  At best I'd say this attack deals Stun/Ion damage to a target instead of the more nebulous "energy/electrical" damage which really doesn't exist in SAGA.

Insulated Hide:  My issues here tie in with my issues with having a natural attack that deals energy damage.  Here I'd say having something with DR 10 vs Stun attacks makes sense.  Saying it applies DR 10 to the attacks you list is often ignoring that many of those weapon also deal OTHER forms of damage which don't care about the insulated hide.  The Force Pike and Electro staff also deal damage as piercing/bludgeoning respectively and don't care that the target can negate some energy damage.  I mean why not just have it provide DR 10 vs lightsabers as well?

Lighter than Air:  This should cause all kinds of issues.  For one it should probably cause a -2, or even a -4, STR penalty on top of the ability modifiers you already have.  If it floats then anything it carries is really going to weigh it down negating any benefit from floating and requiring a lot more effort to lift/carry; when you float you also don't have anything to push off against when trying to use your STR.  As described you even make it sound like they could fly without specifically saying that but at best they could only do that unencumbered.

Tentacles:  Ok, here I can see some benefits but the +2 is very non-standard.  Throw in the previously suggested -4 STR and I'd say you could easily get a +5 species bonus to Climb due to those tentacles and also because of that "lighter than air" quality.  I'm not sure about the grapple bonus but is there another species with such a bonus and what is it at?

I already posted an idea on this forum for the lasat some months ago:

Lasat

Lasat Species Traits
Spoiler (hover to show)
Pretty basic but compare to the Rodian.  Your Teedo seem to be much the same.


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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2016, 02:28:38 pm »
Parwan

Parwan Species Traits
  Revised
Spoiler (hover to show)

Honestly, I think this has more issues than the original take but some of it stems from how stupid the species concept is to begin with.

The biggest problem with the revision: giving it +4 DEX.  NOTHING in SAGA gets +4 DEX.  DEX is just that important in SWSE and if you carry it further you've actually increased the character's melee potential by upping DEX even more instead of reducing it.  When I suggested a STR penalty I meant just adding a STR penalty with no need to give it an ability increase somewhere else to offset it.  When it comes to abilities STR is either at, or tied for, the bottom as the only thing many characters care about STR for is encumbrance/load capacity assuming the GM is even tracking it.  I think a -2 STR, +2 DEX, -2 CON stat modifier line probably works but I may also change the size to small to decrease carrying capacity and perhaps native grappling ability.

On Conductive I've thought a little more and you don't need to say the base damage can't be boosted but I might alter how it is boosted.  As an energy discharge getting STR to the damage may not make much sense but I wonder about letting it benefit from the character's personally (CHA) to deliver a slightly bigger charge.

With the Insulated Hide I'm now wondering if maybe it could be DR 5 vs. energy.  This would cover a lot more stuff but DR 5 is a lot less serious that DR 10 which would have shut down some of those weapons you mentioned before.  Looking at other species you'd see the Given (GoI) which actually get DR2 as a species ability.

I mentioned that the species concept is just wrong to me and that stems from the "lighter than air physiology" concept.  They seem a bit like jellyfish but to be "lighter than air" that means they're going to need to displace a higher weight of air than they occupy.  In a really heavy atmosphere they may be able to float but in a standard atmosphere they'd likely need to be filled with hydrogen gas and that would have its own problems.  If they were "small" creatures they may still occupy more volume enabling them to float but they aren't going to have a lot of mass to go with them.


Looking up the Jablogians I'm thinking they don't need much if anything.

I look up pictures of the Zilkin and I think very small Gungans.
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Sparx MacGyver

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2016, 03:14:54 pm »
Just to add here. What seems to be the most despised species ever(next to ewok), is also pretty awesome. Look at Gungans from the Core book. They get a +2 DEX a,nd +2 Ref, for a net of +3 Ref before anything else. Granted they take some penalties (-2 INT, _2 CHA), but that's still nothing to sneeze at. Plenty of species give a bonus to DEX, but to also give a +2 Ref is a pretty big bonus.
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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2016, 04:47:08 pm »
Just to add here. What seems to be the most despised species ever(next to ewok), is also pretty awesome. Look at Gungans from the Core book. They get a +2 DEX a,nd +2 Ref, for a net of +3 Ref before anything else. Granted they take some penalties (-2 INT, _2 CHA), but that's still nothing to sneeze at. Plenty of species give a bonus to DEX, but to also give a +2 Ref is a pretty big bonus.

If it wasn't for the Jar-Jar syndrome/stigma I suspect Gungans would be a lot more popular.  Of course then you put them beside the craziness that is the Nagai which only "pay" -2 CON for +2 DEX, +2 REF, another +2 ability score, and free proficiency with a pretty good exotic weapon AND the ability to reroll Persuasion checks all of which makes the Gungans look pretty weak despite providing what is usually a net +3 REF Defense.  I don't ban much but the Nagai are one species I would never allow a PC to use.
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Sparx MacGyver

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Re: Melitto and other New Species Stats
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2016, 07:33:01 pm »
I completely forgot about the Nagai. Could they be fixed a bit?
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