Reaper OCC WIP

[vaporsight]

This is mostly background and work in progress for a variant host armor based on Slappy's Swarmlord. I came up with the idea while running a campaign earlier this year. At gencon, me and one of my players had the pleasure of meeting Chuck Walton and his excitement for the setting renewed my interest and stoked the ole intellectual fires. That being said, lemme introduce you to the idea behind the Reaper.

Developed by a minor house to fill a rather strange role, both as a spiritual icon linked with their views on life and death, and as way to make the impact of inter-House warfare less of a resource drain, this House created a variant of their Swarmlords. By tweaking the metabolism and changing some fundamental aspects of the armor, they created a horror to behold. One that was seldom seen, but for the most dire circumstances. The Reapers oversee the introduction of genetic material to the Genepool and protect their Engineers and fledgling Saints.

In a seedling or other settlement, outside their host armors, a Reaper pilot has a strange role. They oversee the rites of the dead and their introduction into the bio-mass of Genepool.

Reaper armor differs from a Swarmlord in a few different ways, most notably is the lack of a swarm. The hive is replaced by a rookery. Unlike the falconer's more flexible Warhawk, the Reapers rookery holds a myriad of single purpose birds. Another major change is the fact that Reapers are always Carnivore, Vampiric, or Parasitic in Metabolism.

While Reapers see some field time against the Machine, they are primarily fielded as shock weapons against other human Houses to keep them in line. After battle, they scour the field, gorging themselves and their Ravens on the bodies of the dead. While much of this fuels the rapacious demand of the Rookery and Armor, the excess is stored in fat cells for later deposit into the Genepool.

The minor house, was based somewhat on Celt mythology, and as far as the way I used them, they had eventually been absorbed by a House based on Nordic myth.

As these guys were boogie men in my campaign, I only have the barest idea of stats and such. I am planning on using the Swarmlord as a template, or make it a template that you lay over the Swarmlord. They are big, hulking, and scary. They wield a scythe as badge of office and some have access to a splicer's-tech upgrade to their armor that gives them a cloak that literally soaks up blood and the like as it brushes the dirt. As said, these guys are boogie men.

This is the basic stats and such for the Reapers. I used the Swarm Lord by Slappy as a template.

Alignment: Any, but typically Aberrant or selfish.
Attribute Requirements: I.Q.: 13, M.E.: 14, and P.S.: 14 or higher.
Attribute Bonuses: +1 to I.Q., +1D6 to M.E., and +2D4 to P.S.
O.C.C. Bonuses: +2 to save vs. insanity, and +6 to save vs. horror factor.
Base S.D.C.: 50, plus any from Physical skills.
Common Skills: Standard.
O.C.C. Skill Program: Basic Military (+20%), Athletics (+10%), Bio-Technology (+10%), and Infantryman (+10%) or Medical Coroner (+10%).
Elective Skills: Select any one Wilderness Skill and three Electives from the following list at first level. Select another two Elective Skills at levels 2, 4, 8, and 12. All new skills start at level one proficiency.
Communications: Any (+5%)
Domestic: Any (+10%)
Espionage: Any (+5%)
Medical: First Aid only.
Military: Any (+5%)
Physical: Any
Rogue: Gambling and Find Contraband only.
Science: Any (+5%)
Technical: Any
Transportation: Any, except Pilot Wing Packs.
Wilderness Survival: Any (+10%)
W.P.s: Any
Secondary Skills: The character gets to select four Secondary Skills at level one and one additional skill at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. These are additional areas of knowledge that do not receive any special O.C.C. bonuses.

Reaper Aerie Armor: The Reaper receives an experimental Host Armor design known as The Aerie, the Bio-Tech equivalent of living power armor, brimming with weapons, Bio-Enhancements, and a special organic nest that continuously spawns powerful Bio-Tech avians. The Reaper is genetically bonded to one specific Hive Armor.
Step One: Standard for Host Armor, except for the following changes: M.D.C. of the Nest is 2D6x10+30, speed and leaping ability is reduced by 15 percent, and weight is increased by 4D4x10 lbs.
Step Two: Determining Metabolism. Aerie Armor is is either Carnivore or Vampiric. All aspects are identical for normal Host Armor, except that Aerie Armor must consume twice the usual amount of food each day. This is necessary to sustain the various types of avians that grow within the aerie.
.
Step Three: Available Bio-Energy points for the Reaper is M.E. attribute number, +P.E. attribute number, +1D4x10 points, plus points from their chosen metabolism. These Bio-E points can be used to purchase Bio-Enhancements from any category except Ranged Bio-Weapons. In addition, the Reaper starts with 5D4x10 Bio-E points that are used to purchase Avains for the character’s personal murder. Each level of advancement, starting with level two, the Reaper gets an additional 1D6 Bio-E to add to the capabilities of the actual Host Armor, and 1d4x10 Bio-E points to be used to strengthen the Aerie. These Bio-E points can be spent as soon as they are acquired or saved and combined with points from subsequent levels of experience.
If the Reapers Hive Armor is destroyed, another will be bonded to him. It will only have the most basic Bio-Enhancements, but it will have 5D4x10 Bio-E points available to purchase Avians. Reapers are just too rare, and the Resistance does not want to squander their training.

Step Four: Biological Enhancements, Weapons, and Avians. Bio-E points allocated for Bio-Enhancements and Avians must be spent separately. Selections can be made from any of the categories, except Ranged Bio-Weapons. The energies of the suit are dedicated to manufacturing Avians, and trying to create ammunition for other Bio-Weapons proves to be just too much for the suit (and the pilot) to handle. Besides, Reapers consider their Avians to be far superior weapons to any Bio-Weapon available for “lesser” suits of Host Armor, so they do not see this as a limitation at all.

Special Aerie Armor Bonuses: +6 on initiative and the pilot cannot be surprised from behind, +1 to strike and parry, and +5 to Horror Factor. Avians will also attack anything that threatens the Aerie Armor. Any robot, drone, animal, or even human that attacks the Hive Armor in hand-to-hand combat will be assaulted by any Avian currently perched in the Aerie every time the opponent successfully strikes the armor (just select the most abundant Avian in the character’s personal murder in order to determine damage) .
Avian Generation: The organic Aerie constantly spawns new Avians to replace birds that die in combat or from old age. The amount of Avians the Aerie can create is proportional to the total size of the character’s personal murder. They can replace half their murder in 24 .

Penalties: As the character adds more Avians to his murder, the organic Aerie mounted on the armor grows larger as well. For every 4 Avians, add another 4D6 M.D.C. to the aeire and 50 pounds to the weight of the armor. The increased weight decreases speed and leaping ability by 10 percent. For every 8 Avians, the Reaper suffers additional penalties of -2 to parry and dodge. Once the swarm reaches 16 Avians, the Aerie becomes so heavy it forces the Hive Armor to hunch forward in order to support the weight. When the armor is forced to assume this posture, all penalties from increasing the size of the swarm are doubled. At this point, most Reapers enhance their Aerie Armor with Elongated Arms in order to keep the suit more stable (future penalties are not doubled, they increase at the standard rate).

Standard Equipment: Military fatigues, dress clothing, survival knife, utility belt, first-aid kit, Face Wrap, tinted goggles, hatchet for cutting wood, one light or heavy Bio-Weapon of choice and one weapon for each W.P. with appropriate ammunition for heavy combat, tent, knapsack, backpack, two water skins, two week supply of emergency food rations, and some personal items.

Money: Has 1D6x100 credits in precious metals, relics or trade items, as well as 6D6x10 in available credits. Money can be spent now on additional equipment or saved for later.

[The Reaper Man]

I am the "player" vaporsight refereed to, here is a fluff snippet/preview.

“It was something I will never forget. Oh, the battle was horrific enough but it is what I saw after that will stay with me for the rest of my days. After the battle was over, as I lay there regaining consciousness, a black shape fell out of the sky and landed on the Biotic lying dead next to me. It looked like a bird but it had chitin plates and reptile skin. It began to eat the poor man's eyes. Then it looked back and there on the hill was this shape cloaked in darkness, I couldn’t see it well with all the mist surrounding it. It began to walk towards me, slow and ominous. I could do nothing but lay there. As it got closer I could begin to see more of it, and once it was upon me it became clear. This armor was something I have never seen before and hope to never see again. The cloak was black as night, its armor the same. The strange host armor was edged in what looked like raw meat and blood. Its eyes white as bone, its teeth were long like fangs and dripping blood and gore. It was then that I noticed the other “birds” all different but all the same. The last thing I saw was a pointed beak coming down to my face, and a tearing sensation as my world went black..”

[Slight001]

Interesting...

Try not to be to discouraged by the lack of responses. These forums are a bit odd at times...

[The Galactus Kid]

I will have to read this a little later once I have the time, but it sounds like you all ar having a lot of fun with this.

[BookWyrm]

I can imagine one wielding a rather nasty-looking bone-scythe.

[Slight001]

I can imagine one wielding a rather nasty-looking bone-scythe.

I believe these are more choosers of the dead then true grim reapers.

[Premier]

Whew, after reading this,WIP OCC, it seems even more grim than when I first heard about it at Gen Con. Such a nice creative touch and atmosphere with this OCC concept. It has a nice purpose via a scavenger of Biotech and life as a whole to feed the ravenous Gene pools, yet it is a nice use of resources to scour and scavenge larger areas.

Here are a few questions for ya:

1. How many ravens does the Reaper start off with?

2. How many does the Reaper get in level(s) of advancement and or do they cost Bio-E?

3. Are there different types of Ravens or can they be upgraded with certain Bio-E enhancements?

4. How do Reapers interact withe rest of their Great House residents and the Librarian's Host?

Welcome to the boards....

THE SPLICE MUST FLOW

[vaporsight]

Whew, after reading this,WIP OCC, it seems even more grim than when I first heard about it at Gen Con. Such a nice creative touch and atmosphere with this OCC concept. It has a nice purpose via a scavenger of Biotech and life as a whole to feed the ravenous Gene pools, yet it is a nice use of resources to scour and scavenge larger areas.

Here are a few questions for ya:

1. How many ravens does the Reaper start off with?

2. How many does the Reaper get in level(s) of advancement and or do they cost Bio-E?

3. Are there different types of Ravens or can they be upgraded with certain Bio-E enhancements?

4. How do Reapers interact withe rest of their Great House residents and the Librarian's Host?

Welcome to the boards....

THE SPLICE MUST FLOW

So these answers are all gonna be tentative, as the OCC is still getting tweaked.

1. The Reaper's Ravens are much like bug swarms, since the base Armor was based largely on the Swarm Lord, they can start with a few powerful Ravens or a myriad of weaker but utility birds. We are looking at around 3-5 for a starting Reaper.

2. They cost Bio-E that can be spent on more Ravens and Crows, or upgrading existing ones.

3. So far we have only a few Raven types, and we are coming up with better names once I have something worthy of posting; the largest of the Birds are meant to get close and physically attack their opponents with powerful talons and armor piercing beak. This is the bird most commonly seen with Reapers as this is also the model that can gorge and recover genetic material for the Pools.

The next largest is what we call the Beamer, having basically a Bio-Energy vent built into the mouth, it is not as physically tough, but makes up for durability with ranged capability.

The smallest of the offensive birds is a shedder, many of their non-primary flight feathers are actually rather advanced organic missiles. They don't have the explosive power as those on host armor, but they are meant to attack flesh targets and rip them apart with razor edged missiles more then detonations.

The last type is called the Vulture and is truly large compared to it's cousins, its big noggin is packed with sensory enhancements and like all of the birds, has a biocomm built in, though slightly more advanced than it's combative brothers and sisters allowing the Reaper to share senses and benefit from some of its capabilities.

4. As envisioned, Reapers are actually a carry over of a minor House that had been absorbed by a Great House we've patterned on Norse mythology and the Reaper house as something akin to Celtic. That being said, the house has been full absorbed and integrated into the larger whole and the Reapers have made a true name for themselves. As someone said earlier, they are the Choosers of the Slain on the battlefield and there is an honor to being Culled by a Reaper. Most funeral rites involve a Reaper attending like a minister does last rites. To be shunned by the Reaper is to be found not worthy of providing for the House.

The Reapers and their Engineers have a strange relationship with the Great Houses Librarians. The House of the Aesir maintain three separate Librarians that they call the Norns. The Norns control the fate of the house, how it will be led and keep the lore and such, but once someone has fallen, their thread of fate is cut and no longer under their purview.

Among the forces of the house, it is a privilege and a fear to work with a Reaper. Dreadguard find it an honor to fight next to them, though this is lessened by the fact that Reapers are usually only sent on the field when fighting other Houses. Biotic's, because of their odd standing in the house as it is, are usually overjoyed to fight with a Reaper nearby since if they fall they are almost guaranteed to be fed back to the Vats and enter the Houses version of Valhalla.

I could keep going, but that is the general idea behind them, I hope I answered your questions.

[The Reaper Man]

Well looks like Splicers bug (he he, puns) bit me again I have just given Vaporsight all the information that we have on this OCC for editing and the like to get it hopefully ready for GenCon 2015. So for the people at the Palladium booth see you there.

[vaporsight]

Edited the beginning comment to add the basic work up of the OOC and the basic armor.. here are the basic write up of the birds. I'm still working on the vulture, as I'm not sure how I want the 'resource gathering' part to work mechanically.

Beamers- Flying energy expulsion vents, Beamers are small targets that resemble natural crows at a distance. Up close it is impossible to mistake them for anything natural. Their vent mounted just along the chest aimed by the head. They have basic senses, unless a vulture is nearby.
+5 to strike and dodge
Base speed 70 mph
Base MDC 40
Deals 2d8+10 M.D. (cannot take aimed shots)
May fire 10 blasts per minute before needing rest.
3 attacks per melee– 30 bio-e

Increased Speed +2 to dodge– 10 bio-e
Increased Size +10 MDC and +2 damage and gain 5 more shots per minute, -1 dodge– 20 bio-e
Flame Breath- (Cannot already have Lightning Discharge, or Mega-Beam Upgrade) this upgrade replaces the Beamers standard attack and gives them a variant of flame breath dealing 3d12 ONCE per melee and has a range of 30 feet.- 15 bio-e
Electrical Discharge- (Cannot already have Flame Breath, or Mega-Beam Upgrade, must have Increased Size)- this upgrade replaces the Beamers standard attack and deals 2d12 electrical damage and have a chance to be stunned. Range of 30 feet. – 10 bio-e
Mega-Beam Upgrade- (Cannot already have Flame Breath, or Electrical Discharge upgrades, requires Increased Size and Solar Wings) this mutation brings forth the most damaging capabilities of a Beamer, requiring 2 melees to deploy and fire, dealing 1d8x10 mega damage at targets nearly half a mile away. While deployed, the bird loses all bonuses to Dodge for one melee round. 30 bio-e
Solar Wings (Requires increased size)- +10 damage, makes payload effectively unlimited. +10 MDC. 20 points


Ripper
+5 to Strike and Dodge
Base MDC of 60
Dealing 2d6+3 mega-damage per strike. Always attack the head or exposed sensors and do not suffer the negative for normally attacking small targets. 3 Melees per round – 15 bio-e

Increased Speed +2 to dodge– 10 bio-e
Increased Size +10 MDC and +4 to damage– 20 bio-e
High Frequency Claws (Cannot already have Acid Edged Talon) +2 to strike, +1d6 damage– 20 bio-e
Acid Edged Talons – (Cannot already have High Frequency Claws) deals an additional 1d6 acid damage for 1d4 rounds following a successful strike. 15 bio-e
Claw Upgrade 1 Base damage becomes 3d6– 10 bio-e
Claw Upgrade 2 (requires Increased Size) Base damage becomes 3d6+6– 20 bio-e
Flying Blade Plumage (requires Increased Size) – gain a flying blade dealing 1d4 mega-damage. 4 bio-e ea (max 4)


Missile Hawks – +5 to strike and dodge
base MDC 40
has four missiles that take four hours to regrow. Dealing 5d8 with 5m blast radius, per missile. 3 attacks per melee. 40 bio-e per bird

Increased Speed +2 to dodge– 10 bio-e
Increased Size +10 MDC and gain 4 more missiles, -1 dodge– 20 bio-e
Solar Wings (Requires increased size)- Reduces regrowth time by 1 hour. +10 MDC. 20 bio-e
Point Defense Cells (Requires Solar Wings)- Places a cluster of Super Light Cells along the head and wings, to provide defence against missile fire. Each cell gets a reaction shot at any volley of incoming missiles, or they can be used when in close with an enemy (within 30 feet). When used as offensive weapons they gain no bonus to strike and deal 1d10 damage. Using the cells in this way uses all the birds actions per melee. 6 bio-e each (8max).
Harrier(Requires Increased Size, and cannot have Phoenix or Thunderbird upgrades)- doubles payload of missiles, +2 to strike and dodge, each missile dealing 7d8 with no blast radius. 20 bio-e
Phoenix (Requires Increased Size, cannot have Harrier or Thunderbird upgrades)- For every two missiles, the missile hawk can grow one napalm canister dealing 3d8 damage with a 15m blast radius. Anything in the radius continues to burn for 1d4 rounds, dealing 2d8 mega-damage per melee. 20 bio-e
Thunderbird (Requires Increased Size, Cannot have Harrier or Pheonix upgrades)- For every two missiles the newly christened Thunderbird can grow one Lightning cannister. This cannister deals 5d10 electrical damage, potentially stunning living targets or EMP machine ones. 20 bio-e.


As always, comments and questions are welcome.

[Wooly]

Good work Vaporsight. Nice background and crunch.

[The Reaper Man]

Ok so Vaporsight stopped by the house today and me and him were able to work out ALOT of various things concerning this project and a few others. So at this time I would say this thread is dormant and I would say any future updates will be put in with the larger project. So for everyone that was watching this thread, stay tuned.

[The Galactus Kid]

Awesome, Reaper Man!!!

[89er]

I want to know more of how the Reaper recycles the dead and deals with the machines press ganging the deceased into service. Birds sound good for theme, but what else separates this from a Swarm Lord variant?

[The Reaper Man]

The Reaper armor is meant to reclaim any bio matter from anywhere battlefields, dinner left overs, if it was once a organic living being that could be classified as "animal" it can eat it. When it returns to the house it "deposits" all that it has gathered into a container to be added to the gene pool to be used to create more bio-tech for the house. It specializes in fighting other organics, it can fight the machine but it isn't as good as a swarmlord. In the house we are making the Reapers and the Swarmlords have a rivalry of sorts. They are constantly competing for accolades from the house leadership in a never ending game of one-upmanship.

At least that is how I see it.

[89er]

The Reaper armor is meant to reclaim any bio matter from anywhere battlefields, dinner left overs, if it was once a organic living being that could be classified as "animal" it can eat it. When it returns to the house it "deposits" all that it has gathered into a container to be added to the gene pool to be used to create more bio-tech for the house. It specializes in fighting other organics, it can fight the machine but it isn't as good as a swarmlord. In the house we are making the Reapers and the Swarmlords have a rivalry of sorts. They are constantly competing for accolades from the house leadership in a never ending game of one-upmanship.

At least that is how I see it.

That makes more sense with a recycle bin approach to bio matter. Thanks for the description.

[say652]

Out of curiosity, all of this is possible with Eugenics power category, how do you put a price tag on Splicer upgrades?
Instead of bio-e the power category uses credits/dollars to purchase upgrades, I found the bio energy weapons and would love to add them into my characters.
I frequently mix hu and rifts, now I am on a Hu & Splicer kick. So to stop rambling, great great stuff, how much?

[vaporsight]

I want to know more of how the Reaper recycles the dead and deals with the machines press ganging the deceased into service. Birds sound good for theme, but what else separates this from a Swarm Lord variant?

Like Reaper Man mentioned, the Reapers aren't supposed to be mainline fighters. They can do so in a pinch, but their main duty is to retrieve bio-matter from battles and return it to the house. This is especially important to the house that created them, and a type of genetic memory that they graft into their high ranking soldiers. The mainstay of this will be the Vulture bird, I'm still working on it because it's got a lot to it, and is a relatively 'powerful' creature. As part of a party, it can provide supplemental Bio-E similar to a Geneticist, but that isn't it's primary focus.