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LOTRfan
2010-05-09, 11:50 AM
This is the race of Visitors from the reimagined series "V." I thought it would be fun to play as one of them, and I created game statistics just to see what it might be like to play as one. I included a few drawbacks to make the race more balanced (although I know nothing of balancing, so it probably isn't perfect). This is for the Vs living aboard the Ships above Earth, not a common Visitor.

V racial traits (Earth Fleet)
+2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma; The Visitors are more efficient than Humans. They have increased speed and agility while being disconnected from their emotions.
Medium Size
Base Speed 30 feet
+1 natural armor
Cloned Skin: The Vs that live aboard the 29 Motherships hovering above Earth have grafted cloned Human skin onto themselves, in an attempt to make diplomacy between Humans and the Visitors easier. V's get a +10 bonus to disguise when attempting to look human. There is a disadvantage, however, in that since the skin is attached to the V’s central nervous system, removing it causes 1d10 wound points. Revealing the skin also gives the Visitor a +4 bonus to intimidation checks.
Retractable Claws: When entering combat, a V may use its natural weapons by punching them through their cloned fingers. This causes the loss of 1 wound point. The claws deal 1d4 damage.
Retractable Teeth: The Vs have a large row of razor sharp teeth generally used by females to dismember mates. While usually used only in mating rituals, they can be highly effective weapons. Each bite deals 1d6 damage.
Darkvision 60 ft: The Visitors have darkvision 60 ft with their natural eyes. Unfortunately, their human eyes cover them and their vision is the same as humans. In order to make use of their darkvision, they must dislocate their cloned eyes, dealing 1 wound point damage.
Bliss: While capable of sleep, the Vs find it more efficient to become one with their leader, Anna, telepathically to become refreshed. Eight minutes of this, which the V people call “Bliss,” is the equivalent of eight hours of sleep. This signal reaches all V’s no matter where they are. Bliss is like a drug, which encourages them to have faith in the V government and repress their emotions. Even those who know of its affects must succeed on a Will save (DC 18), or gladly participate.
Automatic Languages: Read/write V native tongue, Speak V native tongue, Speak (one human language), Read/write (One human language).

If it isn't obvious already, I'm using the vitality/wound point system to determine health instead of the common Hit point system.

Ashtagon
2010-05-09, 12:12 PM
I'm sure I recall seeing a few scenes in which visitors with the "human skin" were able to "dislocate" their jaws, without suffering any special discomfort.

I would treat that skin as a piece of equipment with no special biological link to their body, rather than as an integral part of their body.

As long as the skin is intact, it gives a +10 bonus on Disguise checks to appear human. They can punch as a human without breaking the skin, but extending their claws or using their visitor bite attack will automatically break the skin, revealing the disguise. However, this skin reduces their sense of touch and makes them clumsier, resulting in a -2 penalty to Dexterity (ie. back to same levels as a human) while it is worn. The disguise also obscures their own vision, rendering their darkvision useless.

As for racial stats...

* +2 Dex: Visitors have faster reflexes and are more agile than humans. This is lost while the human disguise is worn.
* -2 penalty on all Charisma-based skills when dealing with non-visitors: Visitors just don't get human psychology due to their alien ways of thinking.
* Visitors gain a +4 bonus on Intimidate checks made on the same round that they break their human skin disguise. Added to the general Charisma-based skill penalty, this amounts to a +2 bonus overall.
* +1 natural AC bonus.
* Claws attack: 1d4/1d4 damage, can be retracted when not in use as weapons. Using this automatically breaks the disguise.
* Bite attack: 1d6 damage. Using this automatically breaks the disguise.
* Darkvision 60 ft. This is lost while the human disguise is worn.

Notes:

* I gave them back their Charisma, as they are very capable of cooperating with each other. Just because they are at war with humanity doesn't make them dumb.
* Equally, I dropped the idea of the skin granting a Charisma bonus. Charisma is primarily a mental stat rather than something about physical appearance.
* I don't recall seeing any claws in use as weapons in the series; this could possibly be dropped. Equally, the bite in the series was more of a "swallow infeasibly large objects" rather than something that could be practical to use in actual combat.
* Bliss: I don't recall anything about this is the series either.

Disclaimer: I am basing my comments on the original series from the 80s. If they've done a remake, I haven't seen it.

LOTRfan
2010-05-09, 12:31 PM
I'm sure I recall seeing a few scenes in which visitors with the "human skin" were able to "dislocate" their jaws, without suffering any special discomfort.

I just rewatched the episode, and you are right about them not suffering any discomfort with the jaw. I'll change the bite part later today.


I would treat that skin as a piece of equipment with no special biological link to their body, rather than as an integral part of their body.

In the new series, however, the skin does become an integral part of the V once it is applied. It causes a large amount of pain, as opposed to the original. I think I might keep it that part the same.


As long as the skin is intact, it gives a +10 bonus on Disguise checks to appear human. They can punch as a human without breaking the skin, but extending their claws or using their visitor bite attack will automatically break the skin, revealing the disguise. However, this skin reduces their sense of touch and makes them clumsier, resulting in a -2 penalty to Dexterity (ie. back to same levels as a human) while it is worn. The disguise also obscures their own vision, rendering their darkvision useless. .

Once again, the skin becomes a physical extension of the wearer when used in the new series, and the infiltrators are seen doing stunts that would be extremely hard for the average human to do. I'm not sure what the disguised V's were like in the old series.


* I don't recall seeing any claws in use as weapons in the series; this could possibly be dropped. Equally, the bite in the series was more of a "swallow infeasibly large objects" rather than something that could be practical to use in actual combat.
* Bliss: I don't recall anything about this is the series either.

All three of those are new additions for the reimagined series (although the actual bite isn't seen, it is said the leader killed and ate another V using her teeth). I see your point with the Charsima and will make changes accordingly.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb21710/common/skins/common/blank.gif- here's a picture of Anna's teeth, I can't find a picture of
the V with the claws coming out.

Boci
2010-05-09, 12:40 PM
* Visitors gain a +4 bonus on Intimidate checks made on the same round that they break their human skin disguise. Added to the general Charisma-based skill penalty, this amounts to a +2 bonus overall.

To be fair, I think anyone would get a bonus to intimidate if they burst out of the flesh of another creature.

Ashtagon
2010-05-09, 01:17 PM
...

Once again, the skin becomes a physical extension of the wearer when used in the new series, and the infiltrators are seen doing stunts that would be extremely hard for the average human to do. I'm not sure what the disguised V's were like in the old series.

...

The visitors in the original series were physically better than the average human. But this could reasonably be explained by the fact that every single one was part of an elite military force sent to spearhead an invasion fleet. In effect, they all had an elite array for ability scores and were also all a level or three above the average Earthling soldier.