Dr.Who d20 question

[avakeiya]

I'm trying to homebrew a pathfinder type setting blended with the Dr.Who universe. Most of the alien creatures are taken care of, but I'm having trouble classifying Daleks.

Would they be considered constructs or aberrations? Would their laser thing do lightning damage, be susceptible to spell resistance, etc? Should their force field thing that melts bullets also work for arrows and spells, should it have any affect on melee weapons. Would their armor be more similar to steel, adamantine, or mithril when it comes to stats? etc, etc....

Any input would help

Also, any ideas for how the sonic screwdriver would work on traps and magic locks and such would also be appreciated.

[eftexar]

I would say to go with Aberration, but with the augmented subytpe (construct). Or you could do the opposite (but either way it solves deciding one or the other).
Electricity damage would be appropriate for their laser, but wouldn't it in the D&D nature of things, technically be an extraordinary ability?
Their force field I believe is actually a time shield so it doesn't so much melt the bullets, so I think it would apply to everything. You could do an AC deflection bonus, but I think a miss chance would be more appropriate balance wise.
I would build their armor in as a natural AC bonus or DR/-, instead of as actual armor.

As far as the sonic screwdriver, why not just allow it to work at a distance and then supply a bonus to checks to disable traps or locks?

[Marc_In_Da_Room]

On the subject of Daleks i would suggest making them a playable species as they have a planet of origin and are sentient beings (be it one-track minded). Their "instant death" laser ability would deal energy damage, IMO.

Also, the sonic screwdriver should give the player a bonus to checks when opening locked doors, concealed panels and recieving information from computer databases (remember though that sonic screwdrivers do not affect wood, and so cannot unlock doors that are wooden).

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Daleks - Definitely aberrations. Their lasers should bypass things like armor and spell resistance and their own 'shells' should give a whooping big DR (I'm of the opinion that a single Dalek deserves to be considered an excessively nasty variant of Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, and so should never be killable by anything short of a High-level, Highly Optimized party).

As to the screwdriver - +5 on all skill checks regarding any sort of technology or material (wood has Screwdriver Immunity), or information gathering skill check (scan slime, scan anomaly, scan computer, etc,). The Screwdriver can be used once per encounter to deal non-lethal sonic damage to all enemies within 30ft, with a chance to stun (as seen in the second episode featuring Donna Noble).

Hope that helps, at least.

[avakeiya]

Daleks - Definitely aberrations. Their lasers should bypass things like armor and spell resistance and their own 'shells' should give a whooping big DR (I'm of the opinion that a single Dalek deserves to be considered an excessively nasty variant of Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, and so should never be killable by anything short of a High-level, Highly Optimized party).

As to the screwdriver - +5 on all skill checks regarding any sort of technology or material (wood has Screwdriver Immunity), or information gathering skill check (scan slime, scan anomaly, scan computer, etc,). The Screwdriver can be used once per encounter to deal non-lethal sonic damage to all enemies within 30ft, with a chance to stun (as seen in the second episode featuring Donna Noble).

Hope that helps, at least.

thanks, that fits my image of what the screwdriver can do based on what i've seen in the show. Also, i agree that daleks should be used for higher level campaigns, but how much DR should i give them and how powerful should i make their death ray. In the show it looked like 1 hit 1 kill, but that would make it too one sided for a game session. Should it count as electricity or just magic? And if one killed a dalek and forged a weapon or armor of dalekanium, would it gain the ammo melting quality and bypass damage reduction like adamentine?

what would be the right number of daleks for a challenging campaign. they tend to travel in swarms(?), but considering how powerful they are too many could shift the game from a challenge to the dm screwing the player over.

finally, what episode did the doctor use the screwdriver as a weapon?

[Phosphate]

Pretty sure the screwdriver has been used to shatter objects such as windows. I would make it deal lethal damage, but only to constructs.

I imagine the daleks as being somewhere above CR 15 individually, so a swarm might not be the best idea ever. Also, 1 hit 1 kill is not that far fetched if you allow saves, don't forget that Phantasmal Killer is only level 4.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Pretty sure the screwdriver has been used to shatter objects such as windows. I would make it deal lethal damage, but only to constructs.

I imagine the daleks as being somewhere above CR 15 individually, so a swarm might not be the best idea ever. Also, 1 hit 1 kill is not that far fetched if you allow saves, don't forget that Phantasmal Killer is only level 4.

...How about the Dalek Laser is a Disintegrate spell?

Di-sin-te-grate! DISINTEGRATE!

[Phosphate]

At will? Marvelous! ;)

[Fitz10019]

It's a sonic screwdriver. When you say wood is immune, it sounds like you're treating as a magnetic screwdriver. Is it described that way? Also, the composition of the door (wood, often) should have nothing to do with the composition of the lock (metal, often).

In my opinion, any scifi-ish setting should have the energy type radiation. If so, I would make their laser radiation, and give Daleks immunity:radiation. This would make them safe from friendly fire, btw.

I disagree with the weapon use of the sonic screwdriver, unless perhaps it's a 1d3 minute stun that can be preformed only when the target is eligible to be coup de grâce'd.

What hardness and HPs should the sonic scewdriver have?

Also, the Daleks will need grey, black, silver, gold versions, or a version for each metal.

[avakeiya]

It's a sonic screwdriver. When you say wood is immune, it sounds like you're treating as a magnetic screwdriver. Is it described that way? Also, the composition of the door (wood, often) should have nothing to do with the composition of the lock (metal, often).

In my opinion, any scifi-ish setting should have the energy type radiation. If so, I would make their laser radiation, and give Daleks immunity:radiation. This would make them safe from friendly fire, btw.

I disagree with the weapon use of the sonic screwdriver, unless perhaps it's a 1d3 minute stun that can be preformed only when the target is eligible to be coup de grâce'd.

What hardness and HPs should the sonic scewdriver have?

Also, the Daleks will need grey, black, silver, gold versions, or a version for each metal.

In the show, the sonic screwdriver is unable to work on wood and deadbolts. it can hack into computer systems, open locks, analyze lifeforms, intercept transmissions, mend barbed wire, cut ropes, and so on. According to the dr.who wiki it can't kill, wound, or maim living things, so the sonic affect suggested should only work on constructs and inanimate objects.

the setting is pathfinder basic with some lunatic with a blue box thrown in. therefore I'd like to stick with standard d&d energy types.

The daleks used in this campaign are from the latest season, so they can fly with poor maneuverability, shoot lazers, etc. Color is irrelevant for the darlek grunts in the setting, and they are all made of the same material.

[Marc_In_Da_Room]

i still say that Daleks should be a playable species, but that's just my opinion.

[Reluctance]

Don't.

The world of Dr. Who is E6 at best. And not super suited to D20 in general. The daleks' ability to kill-zap your average person may sound impressive, until you remember that it makes them as deadly as your average housecat. High-level characters would curbstomp the setting, much like they can curbstomp cthulhu.

Plus, the setting tends to focus around the protagonist, and everybody else with cool powers gets them from the protagonist in some way or another. Unless everybody wants to play a party of companions - and handing one of them Doc while the rest play normies is going to imbalance things something fierce - there's not much you can do.

I guess you could run a pre-reboot Epic Time Lord Adventures game. Even then, you can give everything much more reasonable stats, on the grounds that most things are only shown overpowering low-level passerbys. You do face the problem that time lords without their tech aren't much more adventure-capable than humans, but at least tech toys can somewhat mimic what D20 level progression can give.

[Phosphate]

That's true most of the time. It's true most of the time with most D&D villages too.

But you can't E6 a tank. A starship. An infantry soldier. A dalek (I mean, if we admittedly give them Disintegration, that's minimum CR 14).

You can't even say the doctor has only 6 class levels, since he can wipe memories and regenerate, which would make him at least a mid level psion.

[Analytica]

In my opinion, Daleks are pretty much Beholders mechanically. They are flying, genocidal, single-minded despite being intelligent, socially incapable, and have at-will death rays.

[Debihuman]

I'm trying to homebrew a pathfinder type setting blended with the Dr.Who universe. Most of the alien creatures are taken care of, but I'm having trouble classifying Daleks.

Would they be considered constructs or aberrations? Would their laser thing do lightning damage, be susceptible to spell resistance, etc? Should their force field thing that melts bullets also work for arrows and spells, should it have any affect on melee weapons. Would their armor be more similar to steel, adamantine, or mithril when it comes to stats? etc, etc....

Any input would help

Also, any ideas for how the sonic screwdriver would work on traps and magic locks and such would also be appreciated.

I envision daleks as Constructs with the Augmented Humanoid subtype.
Lasers would do Electricity damage (their lasers are easy to destroy in the show); daleks would get get SR and DR. Forcefield would stop all projectiles and would have 50% chance of stopping spells (shouldn't be 100%). Armor could be astral driftmetal or some other obscure metal.

Debby