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Fantasy Monsters in Star Wars
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Pel
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shapeshifters are fine in SWU, but these polymorphs don't make a lot of sense from a physics standpoint. The Lahsbee transformation is at least permanent, so that might be ok as it's part of their life cycle, but a Dazouri 'hulking out' at will and then reverting to diminutive form? Doesn't work without a lot of GM hand waving and...magic.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:28 pm    Post subject: Re: Fantasy Monsters in Star Wars Reply with quote

nuclearwookiee wrote:
CRMcNeill wrote:
The EU suggests that several others may also exist in the SWU (Chimaera, Hydra, Gorgon and Manticore), although it's possible they are exceedingly rare / extinct and remembered only in history books.

I have to say, it never even occurred to me that these were real creatures a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. I always assumed they were references to a common mythology. But in a galaxy of rancors and acklay, why not?

Pel wrote:
Star Wars doesn't have lycanthropes, so you can toss a were-wok at your party.

I don't know, Shistavanen are basically werewolves; Togorians, weretigers; and Chadrafan aren't too far off from wererats. Wink


Zarn wrote:
There's Jenet for wererats - Chadra Fan look more like werebats to me.

Then there's the mass changers - the Dazouri and the Lahsbees - that outright violate mass conservation. So if you need someone to hulk out, go for one of those.


Those would maybe count for the 'half-man/half-beast' forms of weres, but unless there was the 'curse' where they could turn others to their kind with bite/claws, or the like, they are just visually those weres..
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pel wrote:
Shapeshifters are fine in SWU, but these polymorphs don't make a lot of sense from a physics standpoint. The Lahsbee transformation is at least permanent, so that might be ok as it's part of their life cycle, but a Dazouri 'hulking out' at will and then reverting to diminutive form? Doesn't work without a lot of GM hand waving and...magic.

Is it possible that the mass conservation issue could be side-stepped by something similar to Doppelganger? Doppelganger appears to summon "virtual matter" in order to deceive non-living sensors (as in, not Affect Mind-based), so what if something like the Dazouri is actually summoning temporary mass from the same source by which a Jedi or Sith creates a fully realistic illusion through the Force?
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:20 pm    Post subject: Re: Fantasy Monsters in Star Wars Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
Those would maybe count for the 'half-man/half-beast' forms of weres, but unless there was the 'curse' where they could turn others to their kind with bite/claws, or the like, they are just visually those weres..

Agreed. The key to a were-anything is the ability to transform from one form to another.

Sith Alchemy is always a great window into creating such things, especially since things like lycanthropy or vampirism are stereotypically transferred by bite and/or transfer of bodily fluids. The source could be a Sith Lord experimenting with creating a biologically augmented army, with the result (or the failure) producing some sort of classic monster. Hybrids like chimaeras, manticores, griffons and the like are all possible...
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Whill
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Pel wrote:
Shapeshifters are fine in SWU, but these polymorphs don't make a lot of sense from a physics standpoint. The Lahsbee transformation is at least permanent, so that might be ok as it's part of their life cycle, but a Dazouri 'hulking out' at will and then reverting to diminutive form? Doesn't work without a lot of GM hand waving and...magic.

Is it possible that the mass conservation issue could be side-stepped by something similar to Doppelganger? Doppelganger appears to summon "virtual matter" in order to deceive non-living sensors (as in, not Affect Mind-based), so what if something like the Dazouri is actually summoning temporary mass from the same source by which a Jedi or Sith creates a fully realistic illusion through the Force?

An illusion makes a bit more sense. In my SWU, shapeshifters can't magically add or subtract mass. They can only slightly change their height.

Sometimes I wonder where Bruce Banner's extra mass comes from when he turns into the Hulk. For some reason it is easier for me to dismiss outrageous comic book fantasy.
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MrNexx
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't forget that wonderful, quasi-physics suggestion for mass changers: Dark Matter.

I think Minotaurs would be fun... Ansalonian style minotaurs, pirates and traders of space, rather than the high seas. With their own Dark Side tradition, and a lesser, but still honorable, Light Side tradition side by side.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 10:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MrNexx wrote:
I think Minotaurs would be fun...

Oh yeah. My game has "Minotaurs", courtesy of D6 Space Aliens. Check out Taurids on p.76. They have a lot of mercenaries. In my SWU, they come from a satellite galaxy, from a region of space there known as "D6 Space." (Witty, huh?) In my SWU there was a brief civil war in the Minos Cluster a couple years before AotC. The side wanting to usurp control of the entire sector and separate from the Republic used a Taurid clone army created by the Lonthyn, another D6 Space alien species. The separatist lost, but the surviving Taurid clones had no particular loyalty to the losers and had no herd, so the loyalist winners of the war offered the surviving clones a chance to settle in the Minos Sector and most of them did. Another herd moved in too and the Minos Cluster population of Taurids are known as the "Minotaurs" after the unit clone unit name.

The Minosian Civil War was the spark that set off the galactic separatist movement and directly lead to a couple other 2-year local wars that lead directly into galactic Separatist War of the films (and are part of my explanation for the classic films referring to the Clone Wars in the plural.) The "first" clone army of these Clone Wars were the Minotaurs. My Minos Cluster has a "Labyrinth" too, but it is part of a nebula in space on the border of the Minos and Elrood sectors, and the space lane going through the the area is called the "Ikarus Way". I love mythology, which of course was a huge inspiration for Tolkien and D&D.

MrNexx wrote:
...Ansalonian style minotaurs, pirates and traders of space, rather than the high seas. With their own Dark Side tradition, and a lesser, but still honorable, Light Side tradition side by side.

I don't know much about Dragonlance but this sounds like a cool idea. That could easily be an offshoot group of Taurids in my SWU. If you have a chance and are so inclined, take a look at Taurids in D6 Space Aliens and let us know what you think.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just looked at Taurids; man, I hate the notations in d6 Space.

There's some broad similarities and I might use them as a base, but Ansalonian Minotaurs worship Sargas as their primary deity... a god of wrath, vengeance, and retribution. They see him as representing that which is seized with brute strength and held with honor.. Their secondary deity is Kiri-Jolith, who is the god of Courage and Justice.

So, they'd have this strong Dark Side tradition, based on wrath and vengeance, but one that exists beside an insurgent Light Side tradition based on courage and honor.

I might spend some time writing them up.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's be an interesting project, converting the D6 Aliens races over to the SWD6 standard alien template, to ease their inclusion into the game...

But considering the background of the Taurids in D6 Space, there could just as easily be multiple tribes of them, with some having much darker traditions than others...
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Pel wrote:
Shapeshifters are fine in SWU, but these polymorphs don't make a lot of sense from a physics standpoint. The Lahsbee transformation is at least permanent, so that might be ok as it's part of their life cycle, but a Dazouri 'hulking out' at will and then reverting to diminutive form? Doesn't work without a lot of GM hand waving and...magic.

Is it possible that the mass conservation issue could be side-stepped by something similar to Doppelganger? Doppelganger appears to summon "virtual matter" in order to deceive non-living sensors (as in, not Affect Mind-based), so what if something like the Dazouri is actually summoning temporary mass from the same source by which a Jedi or Sith creates a fully realistic illusion through the Force?


Thing is Dazouri do not have to even be force sensitive to do their shifting. So how would they be tapping the force??

MrNexx wrote:
Don't forget that wonderful, quasi-physics suggestion for mass changers: Dark Matter.

I think Minotaurs would be fun... Ansalonian style minotaurs, pirates and traders of space, rather than the high seas. With their own Dark Side tradition, and a lesser, but still honorable, Light Side tradition side by side.


I had one player ask if SW had one, or a Hippo, after playing spelljammer, and loving the Giff.. Never could figure out what his stats brackets would be.
High str, that's a given. But would they be kno inept? Tech/Mech inept??
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
Thing is Dazouri do not have to even be force sensitive to do their shifting. So how would they be tapping the force??

In D&D, lycanthropes don't have to be wizards or sorcerers to shape-shift; it's just what they do. It could simply be the result of some nasty experiment by a Sith that taps and corrupts the connection to the Force that's inherent in all living beings, even the ones that can't consciously use the Force.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MrNexx wrote:
There's some broad similarities and I might use them as a base, but Ansalonian Minotaurs worship Sargas as their primary deity... a god of wrath, vengeance, and retribution. They see him as representing that which is seized with brute strength and held with honor.. Their secondary deity is Kiri-Jolith, who is the god of Courage and Justice.

So, they'd have this strong Dark Side tradition, based on wrath and vengeance, but one that exists beside an insurgent Light Side tradition based on courage and honor.

I might spend some time writing them up.

Interesting. Cool. Please share what you come up with!

CRMcNeill wrote:
But considering the background of the Taurids in D6 Space, there could just as easily be multiple tribes of them, with some having much darker traditions than others...

That's what I was thinking. It's a big galaxy. There could be multiple herds of them with varied offshoot cultures.

CRMcNeill wrote:
That's be an interesting project, converting the D6 Aliens races over to the SWD6 standard alien template, to ease their inclusion into the game...

I haven't taken the time to do that. I like a lot of the aliens in there, but use them as NPCs not PCs. The cat people there are a partial inspiration for a cat people I made as a PC species. There is some neat stuff, like the little intelligent fish that inhabit mecha-like suits and the robot trader "species". There's definitely room in the SWU for a lot of that stuff.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:

Thing is Dazouri do not have to even be force sensitive to do their shifting. So how would they be tapping the force??


"It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together." That's how! Well, that and some GM hand waving, possibly a Jedi mind trick...


Quote:
I had one player ask if SW had one, or a Hippo, after playing spelljammer, and loving the Giff.. Never could figure out what his stats brackets would be.
High str, that's a given. But would they be kno inept? Tech/Mech inept??


High STR of course, DEX penalties out of water or vacuum, leave KNO alone, but cap TEC & MEC at 3D or even 2D+2 to reflect their difficulty manipulating technology not adapted for their physiology.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zarn wrote:
Try Neh-Thalggu (brain collectors) on for size. Add some organic tech, harvesting the nervous system of others for computers for instance, and you've got some pretty horrific stuff there.

That's an interesting one, but Neh-Thalggu aren't nearly as recognizable as the more classic fantasy monsters. I'd certainly never heard of them until you brought them up. They'd make a very good nasty space monster, but unless you're really into the latest D&D monsters, they'd probably miss the connection.

Quote:
Perhaps add a dash of Event Horizon as well, and introduce a singularity drive that is much faster than conventional drives - but every now and then (a double one on a Wild Die?) Lovecraftian stuff happens.

I've considered something similar for my envisioned WH40K crossover, with hyperspace-dwelling entities mentally attacking and possessing ships and their crews in an attempt to access realspace. Nothing concrete yet, but the idea is there...
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pel wrote:
Ring Wraiths have potential, and are probably what Sith Spirits were based on so you can play around with that.

IIRC, one of the theories on Sith Spirits was that they had to tie themselves to a location or object of some sort, almost like a Lich and its phylactery. Since most Sith Spirits seem confined to their tombs or its immediate vicinity, the possibility of a Sith Spirit tied to something like a ring is not out of the question. The only drawback seems to be that Ringwraiths seem to be a lot more, well, physically present than Sith Spirits...

Quote:
Treants or Ents could also give your players pause and could run around with Ho'Din or Revwiens.

Another good one. I've considered a Groot-type SW alien as well...
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