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View Full Version : EX-TER-ME-NATE! [New monster]



Obrysii
2009-10-26, 11:09 AM
For my modern D&D campaign, the group is going to run across a small group of these beings, who are attempting to mine into the world to gather up its magical potential in order to rebuild their species.



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Daleks_appearence.jpg
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Daleks_appearence.jpg

Dalek
Medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 20d8+100 (180hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20ft; Fly 50ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 35 (+20 natural + 5 deflection)
BaB/Grapple: +15/+17
Face/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Attack: Beam Arm +17 (3d6)
Full Attack: Beam Arm +17/+12/+7 (3d6)
Special Attack: Beam Arm, Plunger Arm
Special Qualities: Sensors, Barrier, DR 10/adamantine
Saves: Fort +11, Reflex +6, Will +11
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 20, Int 20, Wis 8, Cha 26
Feats: Weapon Focus (Beam Arm), ?
Skills: ?

A salt-shaker shaped being wheels towards you. It has a large head with two glowing lights on its side, a large blue 'eye' on a metal eye socket on a movable head, and a pair of arm-like extensions. One ends in a plunger, the other appears to be a tube - perhaps a barrel for a weapon. Various bumps move along its sides, and it ambles forward, screaming in a harsh, warbling voice, "EX-TER-ME-NATE"

Xenophobic beings of extraordinary ego, Daleks are lovecraftian horrors encased in powerful adamantine shells, and come from beyond the stars to conquer and destroy all that comes before them.

Possessing only hatred, the Daleks feel no joy, no pleasure. They fear nothing - nothing except a time-traveling being known as "the Doctor."

Combat
"IT IS NOT WAR, IT IS PEST CONTROL!"

Daleks are supremely confident, and wade into combat without fear of Attacks of Opportunity or fear of damage. Lacking physical attacks, the Daleks rely on their potent arm beams and strong sensory perception.

Arm Beam (ex): The exoskeleton shell of the Dalek contains a potent weapon - its Arm Beam. This weapon has a range increment of 50ft, and fires a concentrated beam of raw arcane energy - the very same that powers the disintegrate spell. Anything killed by its arm beam is disintegrated.

Plunger Arm (ex): Though not truely a weapon, the plunger arm of a Dalek can cause significant damage against a helpless foe. Against a helpless foe, instead of doing a coup de gras, a Dalek may elect to suck the soul from an enemy. This is similar to the soul bind spell, except that the soul resides within the Dalek's shell.

Sensors (ex): The Dalek has an unbelievably powerful sensor array - granting it the ability to detect blood traits, heart rate, current health, and other biological functions of enemies as a free action. A Dalek is never considered flat-foot and cannot be flanked. A Dalek cannot see through walls. In addition, they gain any and all benefits of the True Sight spell at all times.

Barrier (su): A Dalek is surrounded by a nearly impenetrable barrier capable of absorbing any damage from any effect until it reaches its maximum capacity. A standard Dalek is capable of absorbing 40 points of damage before its barrier drops. This barrier is replensished at a rate of 1 point per round when not being used.

Zeta Kai
2009-10-26, 12:20 PM
Wouldn't the fact that they are like 90% mechanical make them Constructs? I'm just not seeing them as Abberations. Also, most Daleks can't fly, & have a weakness versus stairs.

BRC
2009-10-26, 12:38 PM
Wouldn't the fact that they are like 90% mechanical make them Constructs? I'm just not seeing them as Abberations. Also, most Daleks can't fly, & have a weakness versus stairs.
I agree on the first point. The armor is more an entity in itself controlled by an organic brain than mere armor.

Though in one episode they are shown to be able to fly. In fact, people fleeing one run up some stairs and laugh at it, only for it to hover up the stairs after them. The fly speed isn't very fast though, and it's definitely not faster than their normal ground speed.

Zeta Kai
2009-10-26, 01:13 PM
Though in one episode they are shown to be able to fly. In fact, people fleeing one run up some stairs and laugh at it, only for it to hover up the stairs after them. The fly speed isn't very fast though, and it's definitely not faster than their normal ground speed.

That episode came after 30+ years of speculation/evidence that they could not navigate stairs, & was more of a black-humor joke in response to said meme. It is now suspected that the hovering Daleks are either elite or an improved model over the older non-hovering types. It'd be better to say that they can perform a decent Jump check when necessary, rather than fly outright. After all, if they could fly at-will, why not do it all the time?

BRC
2009-10-26, 01:14 PM
That episode came after 30+ years of speculation/evidence that they could not navigate stairs, & was more of a black-humor joke in response to said meme. It is now suspected that the hovering Daleks are either elite or an improved model over the older non-hovering types. It'd be better to say that they can perform a decent Jump check when necessary, rather than fly outright. After all, if they could fly at-will, why not do it all the time?
So it could work either way. 1.0 Daleks can't fly, 2.0 Daleks can. The DM can pick which version they prefer.

Edit: I must ask, why the high Charisma?

Obrysii
2009-10-26, 01:46 PM
I picked aberration because it made more sense to me, as they are organic on the inside.


They have extremely high charisma to represent their extremely high egos.

The Daleks of the new series have been shown to fly, albeit slowly.

BRC
2009-10-26, 01:50 PM
I picked aberration because it made more sense to me, as they are organic on the inside.


They have extremely high charisma to represent their extremely high egos.

The Daleks of the new series have been shown to fly, albeit slowly.

I never associated Charisma with Ego in the sense of you think you're awesome. Charisma is more likability and Force of Personality. Most Egotistical people are unlikeable. You can be Egotistical and have a High charisma, but they arn't linked together. The Dalek's think they are the greatest thing in the universe, but they don't do to well convincing others of that.

Lapak
2009-10-26, 01:58 PM
I picked aberration because it made more sense to me, as they are organic on the inside.


They have extremely high charisma to represent their extremely high egos.

The Daleks of the new series have been shown to fly, albeit slowly.The Daleks in the new series can actually fly pretty quickly in open spaces. They cruise slowly when they're in a fight, because nothing can hurt them and there are plenty of targets, but they were also shown dive-bombing cities and such.

golentan
2009-10-26, 02:00 PM
I feel the damage on the arm beam is nowhere near high enough. Has there ever been a foe who survived a direct hit by it? (with the exception of the Doctor, who cheated)

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-26, 02:28 PM
To respond to an earlier comment: the first flying darleks were scout units in one of the companion books that also introduced aquatic assault units. Both models had horizontal shells. There were also rough terrain heavy daleks that were basically WotW tripods.

The flying dalek in the mentioned 7th doctor episode was actually an Imperial Dalek, one of the upgraded series created by Davros' third resurrection. That series had the imperial Daleks clad in black and white while the older ones had the more conventional bronzed look. The two factions were enemies and the Doctor pitted them against each other.

In all honesty, i don't find the new daleks nearly as scary as the older ones. The classic daleks were a pragmatic race who used virus bombs to reduce planetary populations and EMP weapons to ruin communications. THen they wiped out the military and set about enslaving everything that was left. One of the key points that made them scary was that they HAD weaknesses and were destroyable. It was just practically impossible to survive long enough in their presence to exploit them.

Anyway, enough media discussion:

The barrier is mostly superfluous [even in the new series honestly, they could resist artillery strikes back in the day...] because classic Dalekanium or Dalek-metal had a hardness of about 40...it was however very vulnerable to oxidising acids. Perhaps a weakness to something like Acid AND Lightning?

Oh, and the Dalek beam is probably much more powerful but slow cycling; that said, it should probably also ignore all forms of damage reduction [in their third appearance, there's reference to their wepaons being armed with "cosmic wavelenghts" so pretty much nothing is going to stop them].

My 2 cents. It'll probably get ignored because of the new series. [If you want daleks, seriously, track down Genesis of the Daleks, i know it's online somewhere]

Athaniar
2009-10-26, 02:32 PM
Didn't the new series Daleks fly through space en masse at the end of season 1?

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-26, 02:42 PM
Didn't the new series Daleks fly through space en masse at the end of season 1?

they did, and i wept with frustration. They looked so LAME...

Obrysii
2009-10-26, 03:22 PM
The arm beam deals raw arcane energy - it ignores hardness and DR.

Should I make them have extraordinarily low charisma instead?

And perhaps I should change the barrier ability to basically making them immune to all damage except acid and lightning?

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-26, 03:30 PM
by d20 modern logic, their behaviour indicates a Charisma score of around 3 as they are effectively autistic by dint of being unable to tell where their self ends, hence their constant anger about anything being different from them.

[The description for Charisma drain is almost word for word identical to my 'dealing with special children' handbook...]

Debihuman
2009-10-26, 03:35 PM
Obviously these are the new and "improved" daleks. While I am partial to daleks as Living Construct, I see the case for them as Aberrations. A dalek's exoskeleton simply houses an alien mind. "Daleks are organisms from the planet Skaro, integrated within a tank-like mechanical casing. The resulting creatures are a powerful race bent on universal conquest and domination, utterly without pity, compassion or remorse."--Wikipedia to the rescue.

I would give them the following skills: Appraise, Concentration, Decipher Script, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (Architecture and engineering) Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (Local) Knowledge (The Planes), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Sense Motive and Spot.

Don't they have some sort of universal translator?

Debby

golentan
2009-10-26, 03:38 PM
The arm beam deals raw arcane energy - it ignores hardness and DR.

Yes, but it doesn't deal ENOUGH raw arcane damage. An aberration with 20 hit dice should be dishing out way more than 3d6 a round, and a dalek should auto kill anything of first level rather than a slim chance of random joe shmoe 1st level commoner getting hit and living, or a 1st level barbarian standing better than even odds.

"Dodging" should be the option of preference, rather than "Oh, no, if I get hit several more times I'm done for."

deuxhero
2009-10-26, 03:39 PM
The arm beam deals raw arcane energy - it ignores hardness and DR.

Should I make them have extraordinarily low charisma instead?


Ego Whip FTW!

Mando Knight
2009-10-26, 03:44 PM
"Dodging" should be the option of preference, rather than "Oh, no, if I get hit several more times I'm done for."

Indeed. Especially given the damage output of other intelligent 20HD creatures. I'd put it closer to 10d6, so that it has a roughly even chance of being dangerous even to each other, and so it's closer to a fireball in damage.

sigurd
2009-10-26, 04:46 PM
Psionic Aberrations in a rare metal shell.

Some sort of psi attuned platinum housing.

Obrysii
2009-10-27, 04:26 PM
Indeed. Especially given the damage output of other intelligent 20HD creatures. I'd put it closer to 10d6, so that it has a roughly even chance of being dangerous even to each other, and so it's closer to a fireball in damage.

I was thinking bumping it up to that level of damage, as it seems from what I've seen of the series that the Daleks tend to only be weak against themselves - that they tend to hit one another in combat.

Or something :p

golentan
2009-10-28, 03:21 AM
I was thinking bumping it up to that level of damage, as it seems from what I've seen of the series that the Daleks tend to only be weak against themselves - that they tend to hit one another in combat.

Or something :p

Daleks don't have friendlies. They have Daleks, non-daleks, and ideologically different daleks (who count as non daleks but very occasionally come in lower on the priority list). Once they kill everything else (and they will. The doctor won't live forever, and they'll be waiting. Waiting to pounce) they will settle into internecine warfare until there is only one dalek left. He is obviously pure by virtue of being alone, and has accomplished everything that could ever be dreamed of by dalek kind. So he'll kill himself before the moment is ruined.

Long live the Dalek Empire!!!

Obrysii
2009-10-28, 07:54 AM
Alright, after reviewing various episodes, yeah - the Daleks have very low Charisma, almost always obeying an established leader.

So here's my "fixed" version:


Dalek
Medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 20d8+100 (180hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20ft; Fly 50ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 35 (+20 natural + 5 deflection)
BaB/Grapple: +15/+17
Face/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Attack: Beam Arm +17 (10d6)
Full Attack: Beam Arm +17 (10d6)
Special Attack: Beam Arm, Plunger Arm
Special Qualities: Sensors, Barrier, DR 10/adamantine, Exoskeleton
Saves: Fort +11, Reflex +6, Will +11
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 20, Int 20, Wis 8, Cha 6
Feats: Weapon Focus (Beam Arm), ?
Skills: ?

A salt-shaker shaped being wheels towards you. It has a large head with two glowing lights on its side, a large blue 'eye' on a metal eye socket on a movable head, and a pair of arm-like extensions. One ends in a plunger, the other appears to be a tube - perhaps a barrel for a weapon. Various bumps move along its sides, and it ambles forward, screaming in a harsh, warbling voice, "EX-TER-ME-NATE"

Xenophobic beings of extraordinary ego, Daleks are lovecraftian horrors encased in powerful adamantine shells, and come from beyond the stars to conquer and destroy all that comes before them.

Possessing only hatred, the Daleks feel no joy, no pleasure. They fear nothing - nothing except a time-traveling being known as "the Doctor."

Combat
"IT IS NOT WAR, IT IS PEST CONTROL!"

Daleks are supremely confident, and wade into combat without fear of Attacks of Opportunity or fear of damage. Lacking physical attacks, the Daleks rely on their potent arm beams and strong sensory perception.

Arm Beam (ex): The exoskeleton shell of the Dalek contains a potent weapon - its Arm Beam. This weapon has a range increment of 50ft, and fires a concentrated beam of raw arcane energy - the very same that powers the disintegrate spell. Anything killed by its arm beam is disintegrated.

Plunger Arm (ex): Though not truly a weapon, the plunger arm of a Dalek can cause significant damage against a helpless foe. Against a helpless foe, instead of doing a coup de gras, a Dalek may elect to suck the soul from an enemy. This is similar to the soul bind spell, except that the soul resides within the Dalek's shell.

Sensors (ex): The Dalek has an unbelievably powerful sensor array - granting it the ability to detect blood traits, heart rate, current health, and other biological functions of enemies as a free action. A Dalek is never considered flat-foot and cannot be flanked. A Dalek cannot see through walls. In addition, they gain any and all benefits of the True Sight spell at all times.

Barrier (su): A Dalek is surrounded by a nearly impenetrable barrier that grants it a +5 deflection bonus to AC (already in the stats above), and is capable of absorbing any damage from any effect until it reaches its maximum capacity. A standard Dalek is capable of absorbing 40 points of damage before its barrier drops. This barrier is replenished at a rate of 1 point per round when not being used.

Exoskeleton (ex): A Dalek is a small organic aberration bound within a powerful adamantine shell - they are one and the same, and though the Dalek inside can survive for a time outside of the shell, it is unlikely to do so for long. The Dalek inside is a 1 HD aberration with only its intellect to protect it.

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-28, 08:06 AM
If they're MADE of adamantine, surely adamantine can't penetrate theiir hardness...

Which should be 20, btw.

Random832
2009-10-28, 09:44 AM
That episode came after 30+ years of speculation/evidence that they could not navigate stairs, & was more of a black-humor joke in response to said meme.

That was only speculation, though. They hovered up stairs before, in 1988 in "Remembrance of the Daleks". Was there any actual canon evidence they couldn't?

The beam weapon I would almost say should be disintegrate as an SLA/PLA. That caps out at 40d6.

I'm not sure the organic being inside the shell should have a whole HD.

Someone needs to stat up The Doctor (or Time Lords generally) now.

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-28, 10:05 AM
That was only speculation, though. They hovered up stairs before, in 1988 in "Remembrance of the Daleks". Was there any actual canon evidence they couldn't?

The beam weapon I would almost say should be disintegrate as an SLA/PLA. That caps out at 40d6.

That's the episode he's referring to.

Prior to that, there were examples of Daleks being unable to transverse anything but completely flat surfaces: stairs themselves were made evident along the London waterfront in the [i think] 1963 Dalek Invasion of Earth, their second appearance.

The first time that Daleks appear with any notable agility is where they use Gravitational platform devices to fly during Planet of the Daleks. As subsequent appearances were with splinter groups or earlier in their timeline, nothing more is made of this until the writing staff changes before the arrival of the 5th, Emo-doctor.

To my knowledge, the Daleks have never disintegrated anything, rather baking your insides with x-rays. In the most recent stuff, people tend to explode under sufficient beams though...

Random832
2009-10-28, 10:11 AM
That's the episode he's referring to.

I thought the episode he was referring to was the new series episode "Dalek", which a lot of people at the time and without knowledge of the old series except for a vague recollection of the "can't climb stairs" meme _thought_ were introducing as an entirely new ability.


To my knowledge, the Daleks have never disintegrated anything, rather baking your insides with x-rays. In the most recent stuff, people tend to explode under sufficient beams though...

I guess I could be remembering wrong... disintegrate just seems to fit so well for a D&D-ish Dalek, though, even if the ones from the show didn't do it.

They could even call out DIS-IN-TE-GRATE!

hmm... http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Gunstick implies that it should be electricity damage.

I think the exposed skeleton was what was messing me up - it's so similar to the OOTS effect for a failed disintegrate.

Obrysii
2009-10-28, 11:35 AM
That was only speculation, though. They hovered up stairs before, in 1988 in "Remembrance of the Daleks". Was there any actual canon evidence they couldn't?

Flying Daleks have been found in the new series multiple times.

I think a 10d6 damage is good, considering it's a ranged attack with no save.


Someone needs to stat up The Doctor (or Time Lords generally) now.

The Doctor, Timelord Bard 20.

That's what I'm going to use. Timelords, potentially, have something like Str +4, Con +4, Int +10, Wis +6, Cha +6, and of course their regeneration ability.

They're a bit harder to peg down precisely, though, seeing as we have all of two examples in the new series.

Mulletmanalive
2009-10-28, 12:07 PM
There are about 9 in the previous serieses, serii...however you pluralise that.

If anything, the Doctor himself is possibly a bard with the spells replaced with the Archivist's Dark Knowledge feature. Their physical abilities and personality vary wildly between incarnations.

I built a version of the 2nd doctor and had him in the background of one of my games, though he was easier to build i suppose. I used my MV scholar and archeologist classes for him though; it was simpler that way.

The Master, as he appeared in previous series was basically a Montebache [the base class from the Dragon Compendium] or possibly you could just use the Sword and Sorcery stats for Domonic d'Honaire.

The other time lords who appeared were mostly noticably less intelligent than the 4th doctor, but then, they mostly obeyed the rules so weren't exposed to as much.

Not a fan of how the newer versions of the doctor are always fully aware of everything that's happened in any and all of the 6 galaxies [older stuff limited the range of Tardis to a 6 galaxy region because of dilation from the black hole that powers them]. Kills some of the fun if there's no discovery or investigation...

Desmond Tiny
2009-11-04, 07:56 PM
This is awesome. The ray should not disentigrate. It should be an u typed energy damage that overcomes all resistances. Also what CR is it. I would definitely use it.

Lappy9000
2009-11-05, 12:57 AM
If they're MADE of adamantine, surely adamantine can't penetrate theiir hardness...I'm pretty sure that adamantine is the only thing tough enough to penetrate adamantine. Heck, even an adamantine golem's Damage Reduction is breached by the stuff (and Epic, but it is a 54 HD monster (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/golem.htm)....)

Obrysii
2009-11-05, 10:01 AM
This is awesome. The ray should not disentigrate. It should be an u typed energy damage that overcomes all resistances. Also what CR is it. I would definitely use it.

Well, Disintegration is an untyped energy...

Desmond Tiny
2009-11-05, 07:19 PM
What I mean is that it should deal untyped damage but not disentigrate enemies like in the show. Also its damage reduction should be higher. Also what is its challenge rateing.