Re: [HoE] HOE baddies

[Hector Ugarte <hugarte@netdex.com>]

Pat Gamblin wrote:
 
> Cool. Well, here's my first attempt at a cool HOE critter. Got the idea
> when the radrats writeup mentioned 'the only things that could survive a
> nuclear holocaust are cockroaches and rats.' : }
> 
> Demon 'Roaches
> 
>    It isn't known where or when these creatures came to life. They appear
> to be fifteen foot long cockroaches with thick armoured shells. First
> sighted in the remains of Washington, DC,  reports of giant, man-eating
> bugs recently began to proliferate throughout the midwest and the northwest
> of the continent. They apparently live in small colonies, usually based in
> the remains of a pre-Bomb city in nests made from rubble and wrecked bonded
> together with their saliva, and hunt in groups of 3 to 6, spread over a few
> square miles. When one finds a target, it releases a pheremone signal to
> the others that it has found prey. It then moves in immediately and
> attempts to stun the target(s) using its Mental Stun ability. As soon as
> they arrive, the others join in. Once all of the targets are stunned, the
> demon 'roaches immediately start to feed. Once they are done, they return
> to the colony, bringing a few scraps of food, if any is left. An adult
> demon 'roach can easily eat two full grown humans a day and has been known
> to eat just about anything and anyone it finds, including corpses other
> things have killed. The only way to avoid it is to run away or hit it with
> overwhelming firepower (doing several wounds to the head or torso or
> severing a leg), playing dead tends to just make you dead. They track by
> smell, not sight, and will not move further away from the colony than 10
> miles or so.
> 
> Profile
> Corporeal: D: 2D8, N: 3D8, S: 5D12, Q: 3D6, V: 7D12.
>    Climbin' 4D8, Dodge 3D8, Fightin': Brawlin' 4D8, Sneak 1D8, Swimmin' 3D8.
> 
> Mental: C: 4D6, K: 1D6, M: 1D4, Sm: 1D6, Sp: 1D8.
>    Search 4D6, Trackin' 2D6, Area Knowledge: Huntin' Zone 3D6, Survival:
> City 4D6, Guts 3D8
> 
> Pace: 12.                               Wind: 20
> Size: 12.                                Terror: 9 (11 if in a group of 3
> or more)
> 
> Special Abilities:
> Armour: 3
> They have six legs and no arms or hands.
> Bite: Damage: STR + 2D8 After the first round of chewing (uninterrupted) on
> a target) the
>             Demon 'Roach gains one level of armour piercing versus its
> meal. This goes up each
>             round to a maximum of 3 levels of armour piercing.
> Kick: STR.
> Mental Stun: Attack roll: 4D8.     Damage: 1D12 Wind only.

> Pat Gamblin

Why are they so big? This is the first thing that comes to mind for me.
At size 12 you need a 12 or better to cause one wound; on top of that
you gave them armor 3 so any damage you do do to the thing is reduced by
three die types!!!! AND you gave them a 7d12 in vigor AND a 5d12 in
strength!!! On a good non-ace str roll they do 11+2d8, let's say they
get a 16 to add to their str, that's 27 points of damage or 4.5 wounds,
to one location on a normal sized human being. Now fight 3-6 of them. 
 It seems to me that you were trying to make the buggest and baddest
darn varmint around. Try to tone it down a bit. The way you have these
critters they shpuld have eaten all that's left of humanity in the west
and should be well on their way to conquering the Earth. 
 Remember roaches are already pretty scary now in the real world. Some
of the suckers can be 5+ inches long and fly! That's creepy! I would
make the things smaller, HOE already has too many BIG things in it. The
radrats are creepy because you really can only tell them apart from
regular rat at nite when they glow. Even if you only make them human
sized they still would be pretty formidable. Heck if you made them small
they'd be harder to hit with guns,(or bazookas in their current state).
 The mental stun thing should be reworked as well. Instead of a mental
stun how about a paralysing spray or a noxious gas that they eject, or
like a stink bug you don't be come aware of the chemical until the
players kill one of the bugs: "Just squash 'em Bob! They splat good." 
"Whut's that funny smell Fred?" 
"I duh no Bob but I ain't feelin' so good"
"Me neither Fred."
 Whump. whump. Two unconcious yokels or in the mind of the bugs, MEAT.
Biology can be just as scary as fantastic supernatural powers. 
-ruben