Borg-style creatures [3.5]

[Fortuna]

How would you go about this? I once had a go at statting out the actual borg, but came to the conclusion that the way I had them statted out they laughed at anything short of epic casting. How would you do something with the same sense of a)inhumanity, b)creepiness, and c)RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

[Ormur]

Half-golem half-warforged constructs?

[subject42]

Have you looked at the Kaorti? They might cover some of what you want to do.

[erikun]

Abeil (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_1.jpg), Formians (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/formian.htm), Yuan-Ti? What do you need for the "Borg-people" to do? I mean, the Formians can be rather nasty in large groups, especially at lower levels. I recall one person who ran across a group of 8 advanced workers, and needed to get around Cure Serious Wounds at-will at a low level.

Yuan-Ti, on the other hand, will kidnap people and mutate them into monsters.

[shadow_archmagi]

Mind flayers.

Hive mind? Check.

Ability to "infect" other races? Check.

Horribly creepy? Check.

OH DEAR GOD RUN AWAY? Check.

[Fortuna]

Mind flayers works. Unfortunately, I already have them scripted for a different role. However, that checklist is precisely what I want filled.

[shadow_archmagi]

Dwarves, then.

[Fortuna]

*blink*

Dwarves? Let's go through the list.

Hive mind? Actually, I am using that idea, so check.

Infection? No-go.

Creepy? Check.

Run away? Check.

So 3/4, not bad.

[shadow_archmagi]

*blink*

Dwarves? Let's go through the list.

Hive mind? Actually, I am using that idea, so check.

Infection? No-go.

Creepy? Check.

Run away? Check.

So 3/4, not bad.

Dwarf alcoholism is because the dwarfyness is spread through booze.

[Thurbane]

Dragonborn: you will be assimilated and reborn in the glorious image of Bahamut! :smalltongue: ...not really.

[Fortuna]

Dwarf alcoholism is because the dwarfyness is spread through booze.

Sadly, I doubt my group will go that far.

[kladams707]

*blink*

Dwarves? Let's go through the list.

Hive mind? Actually, I am using that idea, so check.

Infection? No-go.

Creepy? Check.

Run away? Check.

So 3/4, not bad.

Vampiric dwarves then?

[Fortuna]

Vampire.... dwarves. Hmmm. That might actually work.

[Coidzor]

Dwarf alcoholism is because the dwarfyness is spread through booze.

:eek: ...So those alcoholics in Dwarffortress really are on to something when they think that they're dwarves!?

But seriously. Kaorti are nasty mofos from the Far Realm, they are so otherworldly they have to spout Geigeresque resin all over their hives and have resin armor made from their own excretions in order to go outside of their hives.

Kaorti resin weapons are a nifty treat as well as far as booty goes.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20030916a I can't find the web enhancement that mentioned them, but here's something with a bit aboot 'em.

I think this might be it, actually. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031014a)

[Woodsman]

Lemme tell you, never doubt the altering powers of a Yuan-ti.

I had a character end up on the wrong side of that once. Turned into something akin to a wereyuan-ti.

[Lysander]

You could just make them zombies controlled telepathically by a sorceress queen.

[shadow_archmagi]

Or obsessed fans!

BLAINS

BLAINS

DAVID BLAINS

[Lunawarrior0]

Personally I would go with Slaad. You would have to refluff them a little (for the hive mind thing).

They have infection.

They are pretty creepy in my opinion.

And a Death Slaad once TPKed my entire of level 10s in 3 turns + a surprise round with implosion, so I think they have the "run away" down.

have the low level workers refluffed to be mind controlled by the higher level things and you have the hive mind down.

[Bob]

pretty much every undead in the monster manual

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Axiomatic (MotP) Half-Iron-Golem Legion Devils (FC2). :smallamused:

Linked Minds within 300 feet
Part-living, part-machine
Construct immunities
Always Lawful Evil
SR: Yes
Improved Str and natural armor
All hit points shared within 100 feet
+4 attack per other within 100 feet
Teleport adjacent to another within 100 feet
Use the best save out of all of them within 100 feet (and they have evasion!)

So if you have a group of 20 of these guys, you can't pick them off 1 at a time, they get 20 saves against any abilities that can affect them (assuming they don't allow SR and get past construct immunities) so will probably laugh off AoEs, they hit like trucks and are hard to hit, they get instant reinforcements within a certain range, and they're creepily synchronized. I think this fits. :smallbiggrin:

And the best part is that you can create them within the rules--it's not an "infection" per se, but if someone's captured they can be turned into one. Have a number of these things with 18 levels in sorcerer--these are the Queens. When someone is captured, you permanently polymorph them into a legion devil and mindrape them into being fanatically loyal to the collective. They will then voluntarily fail the save against turning into a construct when you attach the iron golem graft.

Next, you use the Savage Species template-application ritual to gradually turn them into an axiomatic creature instead of gaining levels (4 levels, to be exact), at which point they begin leveling normally. They'll have a ton of LA but only 3 HD, so they don't have totally ridiculous stats, and the shared HP makes them not too fragile. My favorite tactic when using legion devils is to have a few hiding invisibly within 100 feet getting constantly healed (or simply have invisible legion devil clerics healing themselves) to keep their HP up while they methodically demolish their foes.

Whaddya think?

[Zaq]

The Daelkyr have some fun potential. They're Eberron, but they're not terribly difficult to refluff.

[Randel]

Hmm:

Warforged: Just change them a bit so that they are more like Frankenstein monster golems... they are constructs made using dead bodies and their strength supplimented with armor built into their bodies. Soldiers that go into battle, kill the enemy, then bring back the corpses to their mad-scientist creator (or his warforged apprentices) who then use the corpses as raw material to make new warforged.

They also dig up cemetaries to get the recently buried and collect organs (Egor, fetch me a brain). Plus, due to their ability to take 10 on death saving throws then when you defeat them in battle there is the possibility that they are just 'mostly dead' and can get back on their feet with either some healing or by resting.

For added cruelty, make it so that they can be healed by electric attacks so that standard procedure for them is to fire lightning bolts into melee and carry around flasts of some electric-damaging alchemic item. (I think Eberron has one that is a flask of acidic stuff that generates electricity when shattered or something).


Skeletons - Forget zombies, start a skeleton apocalypse. These undead don't just bite you and recruit you for team zombie... they kill you and rip your flesh off and recruit your bones to fight with them! For extra nastiness, make it so that they can cannibalize their fallen to heal themselves... if one skeleton is destroyed in battle then his buddies will sift through his remains to see how many of his bones he has left intact... then they patch themselves up with them.

Expect to see groups of skeletons walking with weapons at the ready, their bones each looking a bit off as they've patched themselves together with various human, dwarven, elven, and orcish bones to keep themselves in fighting condition. Not to mention the mess you find at the battle sight after they've 'recruited' a few more people.

[Lapak]

Checklist:
Hive mind?
Ability to "infect" other races?
Horribly creepy?
OH DEAR GOD RUN AWAY?

Hmmm. You know what? Wererats.

No, really. Just play them a little off-center, and the fact that your players think they know what's up will make things that much worse.

Have them led/controlled by a super-intelligent psionic Rat King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king_%28folklore%29) to cover the Hive Mind aspect. Reveal that slowly, and play up the mind-control aspect a bit: the wererats act off, seem oddly detached, seem immune to fear and ignore injuries and casualties.

Lycanthropes are already super-creepy, given how they blend into the populace and infect those around them. Throw in a plague-driven psionic monstrosity lurking in the sewers beneath a city, and you have a full blown freakout in the making.

[wizuriel]

Axiomatic (MotP) Half-Iron-Golem Legion Devils (FC2). :smallamused:

You are an evil evil person :D

[Flarp]

Undead could easily fill this role. When controlled by a central source (probably an Epic Necromancer, but not necessarily), you literally pervert the very concept of life.

Particularly for non-free-willed but still-aware undead, the whole "unending torment" aspect gets a lot of people.

You could also go the zombie movie route and have it be spread by a plague.

[Coidzor]

^: I believe that web tome of necromancy came up with the idea of necromantic hive-minds along with some mechanics for it. Might look at this. (http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Tome_of_Necromancy_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29/New_Rules#Locations_of_Necromantic_Importance)


Axiomatic (MotP) Half-Iron-Golem Legion Devils (FC2). :smallamused:

Linked Minds within 300 feet
Part-living, part-machine
Construct immunities
Always Lawful Evil
SR: Yes
Improved Str and natural armor
All hit points shared within 100 feet
+4 attack per other within 100 feet
Teleport adjacent to another within 100 feet
Use the best save out of all of them within 100 feet (and they have evasion!)

So if you have a group of 20 of these guys, you can't pick them off 1 at a time, they get 20 saves against any abilities that can affect them (assuming they don't allow SR and get past construct immunities) so will probably laugh off AoEs, they hit like trucks and are hard to hit, they get instant reinforcements within a certain range, and they're creepily synchronized. I think this fits. :smallbiggrin:

And the best part is that you can create them within the rules--it's not an "infection" per se, but if someone's captured they can be turned into one. Have a number of these things with 18 levels in sorcerer--these are the Queens. When someone is captured, you permanently polymorph them into a legion devil and mindrape them into being fanatically loyal to the collective. They will then voluntarily fail the save against turning into a construct when you attach the iron golem graft.

Next, you use the Savage Species template-application ritual to gradually turn them into an axiomatic creature instead of gaining levels (4 levels, to be exact), at which point they begin leveling normally. They'll have a ton of LA but only 3 HD, so they don't have totally ridiculous stats, and the shared HP makes them not too fragile. My favorite tactic when using legion devils is to have a few hiding invisibly within 100 feet getting constantly healed (or simply have invisible legion devil clerics healing themselves) to keep their HP up while they methodically demolish their foes.

Whaddya think?

Now that set up does seem to get in a lot of the borg's on-show qualities as well. Hell, I"m imagining a spelljammer sort of setup for 'em now...


The Daelkyr have some fun potential. They're Eberron, but they're not terribly difficult to refluff.

Something from the far realm that ended up in Limbo and didn't end up Giant Frog?

[Oslecamo]

Brood spawn from elder evils can infect people they hit with a special disease that slowly turns them intro fanatic broodspawns.

Technicaly they aren't made of metal, but they're of the cold subtype, and hit hard.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Why are people suggesting controlled undead? Part of the key with the Borg was that there are no individuals, no leadership, merely the will of the collective.

Use a horde of uncontrolled undead, all acting as one.

[Fortuna]

That could be scary. Very scary. I think I will use undead. Specifically, skeletons and zombies for the most part. Then they fight a big nasty lich in the middle of a ritual, likely kill him, and a skeleton picks up where he left off:smallbiggrin: