Hit Dice: 2d4 per point of CON
Mutations: Regenerative Capability II, plus 2 beneficial (any category).
Stats: Roll 4d6 discard lowest roll.
Second Order Synthetic Soldiers are highly adaptive, quick to learn from their mistakes, and born to fight. They rapidly acclimate to the prevailing environment of whatever world they are upon, enduring incredible extremes of heat, cold or worse (+4 bonus on Saves for heat and cold-based attacks/conditions). Radiation affects them at 2 class levels lower than its rating (no minimum), and they never receive extra mutations from radiation exposure. They are immune to the effects of poison and only take half damage from acids/corrosives on a failed Save.
Background
Since the discovery of the Polyphasic Pentaprism on Jorus II, the Second Order High Command has sent regiment after regiment of Synthetic Soldiers through hundreds of vortexes opened up by their Vortecticians. Some of these units establish beach-heads for full-on invasion efforts, while others are not quite so successful or lucky. Some regiments have disappeared, or been lost when the vortex closed prematurely.Consequently, there are any number of dislocated and displaced units of Synthetic Soldiers scattered across the galaxy and beyond. A few fight to find a way back home, others seek to carve out a new life for themselves well away from the prying minds and administrative reach of their former commanding officers.
Second Order Synthetic Soldiers have been encountered on Zandreel III, Denebus V, Ain IV and a number of other worlds, moons and habitats that have been ravaged, ruined, blasted or crashed in the course of several different, parallel yet sometimes overlapping interstellar wars and hypertemporal conflicts.
New Equipment
Standard Issue Armor -- Moderate (AC 5) Night Vision, Pain Insensitivity, Selective Reflection. Powered by integrated bio-reactor. Self Repairing (treat as Regeneration, recovering 10 hit points of damage per day). Comms range of 100 miles (auto-encrypted).Standard Issue Field Gear -- Trenching tool, Utility belt, Combat knife, 1d6 grenades (random), Gauss SMG, Laser Rifle or X-Laser Rifle.
New Mutations
Regenerative Capability IIMutant regains 1d4 hit points per hour continuously. They can regrow severed limbs in 1d4+2 days. There is a base 30% chance that they will regenerate from the dead unless reduced to ashes.
Selective Reflection
This armor can be set to reflect one specific energy type per attack similar to how the Reflective Epidermis mutation functions (MF p.25). The armor then is impervious to that particular form of attack, but remains vulnerable to all other types of energy.
First of all, that is really cool art! What is a Polyphasic Pentaprism? And is the setting alluded to here one that also has FTL spacecraft?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. I want to do a few more pieces in that style. Maybe this week I'll get more time for drawing again. I need to re-upload some of the old Netherwerks designs (like this piece) to the new Zazzle store...those that make the cut this time, that is. Need More New Stuff.
ReplyDeleteAhem. The Polyphasic Pentaprism is integral to the setting from which the Synthetic Soldiers originate. They make use of Vortexes to shift across various reality strata and do not manufacture FTL ships of their own, though some detachments have comandeered or otherwise taken-over a few such vessels...one such cold-sleep colony-ship was heavily damaged in the course of being subdued...
These soldiers are most impressive. It's fun to imagine one of these scattered vortex marines starting a new life. Only to have the old one turn up and threaten it's sanctity....
ReplyDelete@Jim: Hmmm, a cold-sleep colony-ship, eh? Kinda calls to mind my childhood hero, Khan Noonian Singh... These guys would be very suitable for FATE-alization if you ever get the itch.
ReplyDelete@Whitney: Yes, I like the soldiers-as-maroons angle, too. You could do a whole campaign from their perspective. Sorta "Bladerunner" in reverse.
@Whitney: Thanks--I really had fun writing the entry for this one as it just fell into place. These guys might make for a decent web comic down the road. Or at least a short story or two.
ReplyDelete@John: I'm not sure how to go about converting things into FATE...I'm still reading-up on that system. I expect to convert these guys over to Starships and Spacemen, possibly some other OSR-spawned SciFi rules down the road, depending on time and interest. And yes, the intent was to provide enough of a catalyst to form the backbone of a campaign just from this one creature/entity. The 'Bladerunner in reverse' angle sounds like it could work really well. I was thinking more along the lines of Strontium Dog from 2000AD, but there's no reason to combine the two ideas...
Just printed these guys out they look fantastic.. Quietly converting them over to Stars Without Number or they might be turned into something else. They have a Jack Kirby vibe to them.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Looks like our original reply got dropped somehow. In any case, thanks for the kind words. We're big Kirby fans hereabouts, so that really made our day when you compared the image to the King himself. We really should look at Stars Without Number again. More posts from this alternate Mutant Future are on the way.
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