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More Aliens!
An
Alien Anthology
Web Enhancement
DESIGN
STEVE MILLER AND OWEN K.C. STEPHENS
SPECIAL THANKS
CORY HERNDON, BRIAN CAMPBELL, AND LUCASFILM’S BEN HARPER
EDITING AND WEB PRODUCTION
SUE WEINLEIN COOK
WEB DEVELOPMENT
THOM BECKMAN
ART DIRECTION
SEAN GLENN
LUCAS LICENSING EDITORS
BEN HARPER AND LELAND CHEE
001
STAR WARS RPG CREATIVE DIRECTOR
THOMAS M. REID
VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF RPG R&D
BILL SLAVICSEK
Based on the
Star Wars Roleplaying Game
by Andy Collins, Bill Slavicsek, and JD Wiker, utilizing mechanics developed for
the new D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
® game by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.
U.S., CANADA
EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS
ASIA, PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA
Wizards of the Coast, Belgium
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
P.B. 2031
P.O. Box 707
2600 Berchem
Renton, WA 98057-0707
Belgium
Questions? 1-800-324-6496
+32-70-23-32-77
www.wizards.com/starwars
www.starwars.com
©2001 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™ All rights reserved. Used under authorization. Made in the U.S.A.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, FORGOTTEN REALMS, RAVENLOFT, DRAGONLANCE, DRAGON, and the Wizards of the Coast logo are registered trademarks owned
by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The d20 System and Web Enhanced logos are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast. Inc.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is
prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or
events is purely coincidental.
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On the shelves of any well-stocked game store, you’ll find
the
Alien Anthology
, a major supplement to the
Star Wars
Roleplaying Game
. The book features more than 100 new
aliens and creatures. With this web enhancement, you can
make that “more than 103”!
The following new creatures, alien species, and extra
adventure hooks are designed to be used with the
Alien
Anthology;
they follow the format of the entries in the
book. This bonus material is exclusive to the Wizards of the
Coast website:
www.wizards.com/starwars
.
ERA NOTES
Garrals are a product of Imperial genetic engi-
neering, and thus they don’t exist during the Rise
of the Empire era. If you need guard animals for a game set
before the rise of the Empire, try using nek battle dogs or
veermoks. After the fall of the Empire, garrals become less
common, but certainly still exist. By the time of The New Jedi
Order, scavengers, mercenaries, crime lords, and even the New
Republic occasionally use them.
q
Garral
Garrals are genetically engineered guard animals created by
the Empire to supplement Human security troops. They are
the result of work by Luthos Garral—an Imperial garrison
commander—and bear his name. Commander Garral was
well aware that troopers, no matter how extensively trained,
could not remain alert at all times. To overcome this limita-
tion, Garral genetically combined Mantessan panthacs with
several less vicious predators and a few domesticated crea-
tures. The resulting animal eventually was perfected as a
loyal, alert, easily-handled animal common in many Imperial
outposts in the fringe worlds. Closer to the Core Worlds,
Imperial reliance on technology makes garrals less common.
In appearance, garrals look almost identical to Mantessan
panthacs, but larger. They have a speckled coat of gray fur
along their backs, thick manes around their necks and
shoulders, and long, tufted tails. Garrals are territorial pack
hunters, generally assigned to a single Imperial outpost for
their entire lives. They often treat their handlers as pack
leaders, following and protecting them even when not
directed to do so. (Lower all Handle Animal DCs by 5 when
training a garral.)
Garrals have litters of 2d4 cubs and are very protective of
their young. Only a trusted and experienced handler can get
near a garral mother. Garrals grow to their full length of 2
meters in three years and have a life span of 30 years.
Large fangs and powerful claws make garrals dangerous
in combat. They normally attack creatures of Medium-size
or less with a grapple check. (Garrals may also use their
improved grab ability on smaller opponents.) If a garral
succeeds in its grapple check, it has forced its opponent to
the ground. It may then make a bite attack in addition to
its claw damage. This is the only instance in which a garral
will inflict both bite and claw damage.
hear one from hundreds of meters away.) This sound
agitates them greatly. If fighting near a repulsorlift, a garral
goes into a killing frenzy, attacking any living or moving
thing it doesn’t recognize. Because of this tendency, garrals
are not used in outposts equipped with repulsorlift vehicles.
002
Sand Tick
The sand tick is a nasty parasite found on numerous worlds.
It is approximately the size of a Human’s fist, with a round
yellow or brown carapace. It has no eyes or ears, but can
sense vibrations and wind currents through tiny hairs on its
12 legs. The sand tick can move with considerable speed
despite its minute size. It has three small mouths on its
underbelly; these are used to attach to a larger creature
while feeding.
Sand ticks can feed off any number of animals. Most
often, they are found on banthas and are considered a seri-
ous problem by bantha ranchers. The ticks prefer animals
with thick coats of hair, allowing them to remain hidden
while sucking fluids from their host. Among sentient races,
Wookiees and Ewoks are their favorite victims. Infestations
are most likely to occur during particularly hot, dry weather.
The creatures are capable of surviving for up to a year
without blood. When deprived of sustenance, sand ticks curl
up and enter a state of hibernation until new hosts present
themselves. More than one explorer has been bitten while
examining one he thought was dead.
A Huge creature, such as a bantha, can support two or
three ticks for many months, but will die within days if it
hosts a dozen. Sand ticks dislike reptilian creatures (such as
dewbacks) and will not feed on them. It is possible to create
sand tick repellent from certain compounds in a dewback’s
hide, but the repellent smells extremely foul.
Garral:
Predator 3; Init +4; Defense 22 (+8 natural, +4
Dex); Spd 16 m; VP/WP 19/14; Atk +7 melee (1d6+4, 2
claws), +5 melee (1d8+4, bite) or +7 ranged; SQ Acute
repulsor sensitivity, improved grab, keen senses, scent; SV
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2; SZ M; Rep 1; Str 19, Dex 18, Con
14, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 9; Challenge Code: C.
Skills:
Climb +6, Jump +6, Listen +10, Spot +10.
Feats:
Multiattack, Power Attack, Track.
Special Qualities:
Keen Senses—Incredibly sharp hearing
grants a +5 species bonus on all of a garral’s Listen and
Spot checks.
Acute Repulsor Sensitivity—Garral ears are particularly
sensitive to the sounds of repulsorlift machinery. (The base
DC for a garral to hear a repulsorlift is only 5, and it can
Sand Tick:
Desert parasite 1, Init +8; Defense 23 (+1 natu-
ral, +4 size, +8 Dex); Spd 6 m, 6 m climb; VP/WP 1/1; Atk
+12 melee (1d4–5, bite) or +12 ranged; SQ Disease, numb-
ing bite; SV Fort –1, Ref +8, Will –1; SZ D; Rep 1; Str 1,
Dex 26, Con 4, Int 1, Wis 9, Cha 2; Challenge Code: A.
Skills:
Climb +7, Hide +8, Listen +2, Move Silently +8,
Spot +2, Survival +3.
Feats:
Weapon Finesse (bite).
Special Qualities:
Disease—The most serious threat posed
by sand ticks is disease. A sand tick bite exposes its victim
to crazed bantha fever. (Injury, DC 15, incubation 1d4 days,
initial damage 1 Int and 1 Wis; Secondary damage 1d3 Int
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and 1d3 Wis. See Disease on page 111 of the
Star Wars
Roleplaying Game
.) A target bitten several times in a single
encounter needs to make only one save against the disease,
but if bitten in a different encounter, the target must make
a new save attempt.
Numbing Bite—Sand ticks numb a potential host with
secretions from their saliva before attaching themselves;
feeling their bite requires a Wisdom check (DC 20). An
attached sand tick deals 1 point of damage each day.
and are valued as much for their knowledge in this field as
for their talent at more violent pursuits.
Defel professionals are experts or thugs. Adventurers are
scouts, scoundrels, or soldiers. In order to function away
from their homeworld, Defel must wear special visors that
allow them to “see” light wavelengths other than ultraviolet.
A Defel who goes without such a visor is effectively blind in
normal light. Defel can easily speak Basic, and their
language similarly is within the grasp of most beings in the
galaxy that choose to learn it.
Defel
The Defel are a curious mammalian species who, under
most lighting conditions, appear to be mysterious bipedal
shadows with reddish eyes and long white fangs. Under
ultraviolet light, however, it becomes clear that Defel are
stocky beings covered in fur that ranges in color from bril-
liant yellow to dazzling azure. They have long fingers that
end in vicious yellow claws and protruding lime-green
snouts. They stand between 1 and 1.7 meters in height and
average 1.2 meters at the shoulders.
The Defel originate on Af’El, a large, high-gravity
planet orbiting the super-giant Ka’Dedus. Due to the
unusual chemical composition of Af’El’s upper atmos-
phere, only ultraviolet light passes freely to the surface of
the planet, while longer wavelengths of light are
completely deflected. Because of this phenomenon, all life
forms on Af’El, including the Defel, are blind to the non-
ultraviolet spectrum.
Defel fur also absorbs other light wavelengths. It is specu-
lated that this quality was an evolutionary response to a
now-extinct predator that projected lights on different
wavelengths to locate prey. Regardless, this feature now
makes the Defel highly regarded as bodyguards, assassins,
and commandos. In darkness, a Defel is all but invisible—
even to beings able to see in the dark. Their unnerving,
shadowy appearance in the light makes even unskilled Defel
useful as bodyguards, as few beings are aware of the source
of this strange effect; many incorrectly attribute the Defel
appearance to an ability to become insubstantial. The Defel,
naturally, do nothing to dispel such rumors.
On Af’El, the Defel live in large, well-maintained under-
ground cities considered among the marvels of the galaxy.
While they never developed space travel or even flight—the
violent storms that continuously ravage the surface of Af’El
discouraged the Defel from looking to the sky—they had
developed metal alloys and atmosphere recyclers more
advanced than even those the Republic was using in space-
ships when scouts first visited the Ka’Dedus system. So,
while Defel society has almost all the technological hall-
marks of galactic culture, as a species they have little or no
interest in space travel.
Defel who travel the galaxy are proud and independent to
the point of stubbornness. Some leave their homeworld in
search of adventure, but most leave to work for other
beings on specific contract jobs. Many Defel trade on their
unique physical characteristics and the legends that
surround their kind. However, most work for starship manu-
facturers and smelting plants that produce durasteel and
other alloys requiring a carefully balanced mix of ores. The
Defel have produced some of the galaxy’s best metallurgists
Defel Commoner:
Init –1; Def 9 (–1 Dex); Spd 6 m;
VP/WP –/8; Atk +0 melee (1d2, punch) or –1 ranged; SQ
Invisibility, limited vision; SV Fort –1, Ref –1, Will +1; SZ S;
FP 0; DSP 0; Rep 0; Str 10, Dex 8, Con 8, Int 10, Wis 12,
Cha 12.
Equipment:
Variety of personal belongings.
Skills:
Craft (varies) +2 or Profession (varies) +2,
Knowledge (metallurgy) +2, Read/Write Defel, Speak Basic,
Speak Defel.
Special Qualities:
Invisibility—Because of a genetic adap-
tation to a long-forgotten predator on their homeworld,
Defels absorb all light wavelengths except ultraviolet. In
effect, they appear as patches of darkness, much like shad-
ows; in areas of low light, they are effectively invisible.
Unless the creature is under direct normal sunlight (or the
artificial equivalent, such as a brightly-lit medcenter), the
Defel gains a +2 circumstance bonus to attacks, and its
target loses all Dexterity bonuses to Defense. At the same
time, attacks against a Defel in these circumstances confer a
50% miss chance. Under especially low-light conditions
(such as a dimly-lit cantina) the attacker must guess where
the Defel actually is (see the
Star Wars Roleplaying Game
,
page 143) as well.
Limited Vision—Defel can see only by light in the ultra-
violet range. When away from their homeworld, they must
wear special visors. Without them, they are considered blind
as defined in the
Star Wars Roleplaying Game
core rule-
book.
Species Features:
–2 Dex,–2 Con, +2 Wis, +2 Cha.
Automatic Languages:
Defel and Basic.
003
Adventure Hooks
The following story seeds revolve around aliens and crea-
tures presented in
Alien Anthology
or in this web enhance-
ment. They are here to help fuel the creation of your own
Star Wars
adventures and campaigns. Have fun!
—S. M.
Beware the Bantha
The heroes are protecting isolated moisture farms (either
on Tatooine, or another water-poor world such as
Kirdo III) from bandit attacks. After repulsing one such
assault, they find a clue to the bandits’ hideout. While
traveling through a narrow canyon en route, they must
avoid being trampled by a bantha stampede: 128 of the
massive beasts come raging down the pass. While this
could look like a trap staged by the bandits, the heroes
soon find the hideout demolished by banthas—and the few
survivors swear they had nothing to do with the stampede.
“The beasts have gone crazy,” the bandits claim. Worse,
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reports begin to emerge that bantha herds have begun to
attack farms and even small villages.
A crazed hermit claims the banthas have finally tired of
servitude and are rising to destroy all sentient beings on the
world. Can this be true? Or is the real explanation related to
those mysterious
Lambda
-class shuttles seen only on moon-
less nights? Maybe those strange, unidentifiable trace
chemicals that have turned up in the water harvested
by the local moisture farms have something do to with it....
Masks
The heroes are approached by a wealthy merchant who
wants them to find his runaway teenaged daughter and
bring her home. He claims they had a fight, but says he can
see now that she was right and wishes to apologize. He will
pay almost anything to see his daughter again.
The party traces the young woman to an Ubese enclave
on an isolated island. Informants tell them that she and one
of the Ubese have fallen in love and that she is living
among them, dressed as they are, in armor and a breath
mask when in public. The informant can point the party to
a particular tenement, but is unsure which of the 100 resi-
dents is the girl they seek.
Once the party manages to locate the girl and avoid
bringing the wrath of the entire Ubese enclave down on
their heads, she tells them that she ran away from home
because she discovered her father is engaged in a wide
range of criminal activities. Just then, heavily armed thugs
attack, having followed the heroes covertly as they searched
for the girl. Can the party manage to convince the paranoid
Ubese that they had nothing do to with this assault and
avoid being attacked from two sides? Can they protect the
love of a young Human and Ubese? Can they get revenge
on the merchant for using them as patsies? And on the
topic of the merchant—is he really as bad as the daughter
thinks? Maybe he was somehow being forced into the crim-
inal activity she spoke of, and there’s a much larger situa-
tion here than first met the eye.
004
The Scent of Credits
A Human hero (most likely a noble or scoundrel) is
approached by a representative of a cosmetic company who
was referred by a mutual acquaintance. The GM character
wants to give the hero a supply of perfume that reportedly
acts as an mild aphrodisiac on many species. The hero (and
anyone else interested in testing the product) is required to
write short reports on how the perfume seemed to affect
other beings. A fee of 100 credits will be paid for each report
the representative finds acceptable.
Under most circumstances, the perfume grants the char-
acter wearing it + 2 Charisma and an additional +2 circum-
stance bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks. Each phial of
perfume has 30 doses, and each application lasts 15 hours
or until washed off. However, there is a 5% chance that an
alien species exposed to the compound will have an unfore-
seen reaction. GMs should check for this response whenever
the character wearing the perfume interacts with a new
species. If the percentile roll indicates the alien is adversely
affected, roll on the following table to see the results.
The Squib Who Knew Nothing
A data storage device containing the only existing copy of a
super-codebreaking computer program was stolen some
months ago from a research lab. Now it has turned up in
the hands of a wandering Squib who has offered it for sale.
Agents of every military and quasi-military organization in
the galaxy, minions of every crime lord and smuggling ring,
and representatives of every self-centered, ambitious politi-
cian race to be the first ones to either meet the Squib’s
price or take the program by force. Of course, the heroes are
involved, either on their own or at someone else’s behest.
After eliminating some of the competition, forging
alliances with others (and then having to deal with the
betrayal of that alliance), the heroes and perhaps one or two
other groups finally confront the Squib. The good-natured
alien doesn’t even know the value of this program. He will
let it go to the highest bidder—and a scavenger hunt ensues
as all the interested parties scramble to find obscure items
that could have value only to a Squib.
Random Perfume Effects
1d6 Effect
1 Alien is extremely attracted to the character (grants
+
10
to Charisma when interacting with that alien).
2 Alien immediately falls in love with character (
+
15 to
Charisma when interacting with that alien).
3 Alien takes a strong dislike to the character (–5 to
Charisma when interacting with that alien).
4 Alien takes a violent dislike to the character (Alien must
make a Will save [DC 15]—on failure, the alien attacks
the character).
5 Alien attacks character in a sudden homicidal rage 1d4
rounds after exposure.
6 Alien collapses and will die of respiratory failure in
1d6
+
4 minutes unless given medical care (Treat Injury
check [DC 18, DC 20 if the character wearing the
perfume is still present]).
How did the cosmetic company miss that this creation
could have such an adverse effect upon non-Humans? Five
percent is high enough a percentage that even the
simplest of lab tests should have revealed it—the product
was clearly not ready to be released in any public areas.
Was this just another example of corporate greed or
incompetence? Or were more sinister forces behind this
product, such as the intent to harm aliens and create
animosity between aliens and Humans? On the other
hand, perhaps the representative for the cosmetic company
was actually working for an enemy of the heroes and
merely wanted to make their lives difficult....
Target: Garral
Alliance agents get word of a project headed by geneticist-
turned-New Order-military officer Luthos Garral. Rumor has
it the project is directed at creating a new breed of
warbeast. The heroes are charged with a mission to infiltrate
a
Carrack
-class cruiser that will be carrying Garral and the
first mated pair of his creatures to a meeting with a group
of moffs and an Imperial Advisor. The party is to kidnap
Garral and secure—or eradicate—his creation. (Alliance offi-
cials know they can’t destroy Garral’s research, but they
hope to force him to explain everything he did and possibly
help in creating a counter.)
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Anything but the most poorly-devised plans should allow
the heroes to infiltrate the ship carrying Garral and his crea-
tures. As they begin to enact the next stage of their plan,
however, an accident occurs: Garral’s creatures escape their
cages. Not two, but 12 of the deadly creatures go on a
rampage through the ship. The captain orders the compart-
ment with the loose creatures sealed … and, as fate has it,
the heroes and Garral are in that section as well. They now
have to fight for their lives alongside the Imperials.
Wizards of the Coast, where he continued to write for the
D&D® worlds until he joined the design team for the new
Star Wars
roleplaying game. His recent work for this line
includes the
Secrets of Naboo
campaign pack. Steve lives in
a cluttered apartment with his cats, Archie and Edith.
Owen K.C. Stephens was born in 1970 in Norman,
Oklahoma, and attended the University of Oklahoma. He
enrolled in creative writing courses (taught by F
ORGOTTEN
R
EALMS
® novelist Mel Odom) and in 1997 attended the TSR
Writer’s Workshop at the Wizards of the Coast Game Center.
Owen’s first work in the adventure game field was an article
on elven names in issue 250 of
D
RAGON
®
magazine. He
moved with his wife to the Seattle area in 2000 after joining
Wizards as part of the
Star Wars
design team.
About the Authors
Steve Miller joined the staff of TSR in 1994, contributing
heavily to the development of the R
AVENLOFT
® and
D
RAGONLANCE
® game settings. In 1997, he made the move to
005
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