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kieza
2011-12-09, 07:51 PM
So, I've been writing a section for my campaign setting dealing with some of the super-soldier processes that were invented during the last war. I figure some other people have used similar concepts, so I thought I'd see what the Playground has to say.

Gemini Troopers
The Gemini Process was developed by the Waystone military near the end of the wars as a response to the various projects they encountered in the field. The Process suppresses a subject's consciousness and implants another, carefully constructed to be a perfect soldier. After undergoing the treatment, recruits have an instant understanding of weapon technique, tactics and strategy, field medicine, and equipment maintenance. They are also more loyal and dedicated, and single-mindedly focused on being the best soldier possible.

Gemini Troopers lack the extreme physical and mental augmentations of other super-soldiers, but they can be produced in large numbers, and the process is one of the few not banned by the Council Accords, as it can be reversed after a volunteer's term of service ends--if they survive. Users of the Gemini Process generally recruit volunteers with nothing to lose (such as vagrants, convicts, and the mentally ill) with the promise of a hefty payout at the end of their contract.

Savants
The Savants were developed by a neutral mad scientist, and were hired out (and sold) to both Victas and Arcis Novum before the details of their creation were discovered. Each "batch" of Savants is a group of 4-12 vat-grown "twins:" they are genetically identical, and are subjected to a mental link from birth, until it becomes permanent. Each Savant in a group is aware of the thoughts, perceptions, and actions of each other Savant, allowing them to act as a single entity. Later generations of Savants are also sorcerers, and they are so closely linked that any link member can draw on all of the others' powers.

The drawbacks of the Savant process are severe. The children are grown artificially fast, experiencing 16 years of development in just under 2 years. During this time, they are subject to the mind-linking spell, and also to subliminal education that imprints them with basic skills. By the time they are decanted from their vats, they are already fully-developed killers, but they lack socialization outside of their mindlink. As a result, most Savant links include at least one sociopath. In addition, the deaths of linked Savants has a detrimental effect on the other members of the link; once half of the original members have been killed, the remainder begin to experience severe psychoses and paranoia resulting from the fragments of their linkmates' personas.

The Savant process is a Class B proscribed procedure. Surviving Savant links are subject to mandatory psychiatric observation and/or house arrest.

Aristes
The Aristes treatment was originally developed by the high elves, then adapted to humans. The treatment consists of a series of alchemical serums administered starting at age 8 (age 12 in elves). The serums confer improved physical and mental capabilities, resulting in statuesque, magically potent individuals. The treatments also greatly retard aging starting at age 16 (25 in elves): by the age of 40 (100), Aristes appear only 24 (40); at the age of 80 (240), aging appears to stop altogether, leaving the subject at the apparent age of 40 (100).

The drawbacks of the Aristes process did not become apparent until it was adapted to human physiology. The more rapid development of humans led to a quicker onset of the side effects: roughly 30% of Aristes display symptoms of depression, paranoia, and OCD. A very small proportion of subjects develops severe megalomania. While most Aristes are a danger only to themselves, the megalomaniacs are extremely dangerous, thanks to the augmentations from the Aristes treatment. Most notably, a group of Victan Aristes are believed to have provoked Empress Milena's coup in the year 76.

The Aristes Treatment is a Class A proscribed procedure. Aristes not in Council custody are to be reported to Council agents or shot on sight.

What sorts of "superpowered" soldiers have you used?

The Boz
2011-12-09, 07:56 PM
I REALLY like the Gemini Trooper thing. Gonna steal that, if you don't mind.

kieza
2011-12-09, 07:58 PM
I REALLY like the Gemini Trooper thing. Gonna steal that, if you don't mind.

Go ahead, that's what it's for.

I sort of stole it from Dollhouse, anyways...

Moogleking
2011-12-09, 08:01 PM
I'd love to see the stats for these guys, whether it's as a template or special race.

Awesome stuff.

kieza
2011-12-09, 08:23 PM
I haven't actually used them in-game yet, except for the Geminis, and I just worked up stats from scratch for them. (It's 4th edition, and I find it very easy to create new monsters.)

The bit that hooked my players on them, and which made me want to make them canonical, is that I described them as fighting in exactly the same way: same swordstrokes, same footwork, same facial expressions and cries of pain. Basically, every member of a Gemini unit is an individual, but an individual who has lived through exactly the same experiences as the rest of the unit. They react exactly the same under identical conditions, they reach the same conclusions, and they know what the other members of the unit are about to say, because it's what they'd say too. (Which makes conversations with and among them very strange.) That said, they do diverge eventually, but their handlers will reset them to "factory default" if the divergence proves detrimental to unit cohesion.

EDIT: Quick Monster Theme for 4e

(Initiative) +2 Initiative
(Skill Modification) +2 Athletics or Heal
(Trait) Imprinted Loyalty: +2 to defenses against charm and dominate effects
(Trait) Imprinted Tactics: This Gemini Trooper gains +1 to attack rolls and defenses for every Gemini Trooper within 2 squares of it.

Madara
2011-12-09, 10:04 PM
I enjoy the concept, and yours seem well put together. For me, my BBEG's super-soldiers were more stealth focused, I used monk abilities as the base so I could send them at my party in swarms. The Unarmed combat really made them stand out compared to other enemies.

Cerlis
2011-12-09, 11:35 PM
I enjoy the second one the most. but mostly for the modification that i'd make.

I cant help but feel (thus why i'd make the modification, but dont assume i think mine is "better") that spending years, expessially from birth(or near birth) sharing the mind of others (unless there was some way to "shut the door" on your thoughts) without actually melding into a single being with multiple bodies. This would easily be expressed by each being representing different emotions. Think Haley's different aspects in order of the stick. When they are in a group and "it" is angry one speaks, while when its being diplomatic it speaks through another.

If their willpower was enough to retain individuality i cant help but feel the 4 humors would be well exaggerated among them. Since they would constantly have to deal with each others thoughts and thus faced with their differences blatantly; one would think they would hold on and express their own ideas more strongly (hence exaggerated humors).

Or you could flip it and make it to where they can emulate and change their personalities to the other's almost at will (or with some sort of mental switch).

hell since they are identical , if they had differentpersonalities (and abilities, sorcerer vs Fighter) it would be interesting to face an opponent who is a team with different abilities, but if you trap one all he has to do is focus for a moment and he "swaps places" with another one. This has the potential also for some mental trama as having a single identity it will be confusing when they no longer know if they are in their original body or if they have mindwhiped themselves to be one of their brothers. You could even have a character who forced the others to mindswap to him, without anyone swapping to them, thus "assassinating" his brothers and making multiple clones of him.

Lol, guess the idea is inspiring for me.

Diskhotep
2011-12-10, 01:20 AM
If you haven't read them, I recommend John Scalzi's Old Man's War series. It has one of the most interesting super-soldier backgrounds I've seen. Some of the elements in the series would complement your Gemini background quite nicely.

The soldiers in the series are accepted into the military at the age of 70 or so, after they have lived full lives and are presumably more responsible and mature. They have their consciousness placed within a new clone body, heavily modified and integrated with a personal computer network. They serve for a period of 10 years, after which time they can choose to reenlist or be transferred into a new non-modified young clone body and live out the rest of their life as a colonist.

Scalzi deliberately wrote the series in the style of Heinlein, and does a great job of it. An excellent series, although the first two books can easily be read as stand-alone novels, and the last two are the same story from two different points of view (and done amazingly well).

TheCountAlucard
2011-12-10, 02:05 AM
In the Exalted setting, a nation called Lookshy creates their own super-soldiers, of sort...

The Gunzosha are ordinary mortals who, in the service of Lookshy's military, have a series of surgeries performed on them. Numerous pieces of magitech and armor pieces are surgically-implanted into their flesh, to enable them to attune to the unique suits of power armor Lookshy outfits them with.

The cost for doing so is dire, though, and it drastically cuts down the Gunzosha's lifespan to a mere fifteen years... assuming they aren't killed in battle before then. :smalleek:

In addition, in the First Age, the Terrestrial Exalted were themselves viewed as a super-soldier project, of sorts...

Xuc Xac
2011-12-10, 11:03 AM
The bit that hooked my players on them, and which made me want to make them canonical, is that I described them as fighting in exactly the same way: same swordstrokes, same footwork, same facial expressions and cries of pain. Basically, every member of a Gemini unit is an individual, but an individual who has lived through exactly the same experiences as the rest of the unit. They react exactly the same under identical conditions, they reach the same conclusions, and they know what the other members of the unit are about to say, because it's what they'd say too.

That sounds like a serious design flaw to me. Once you've figured out how to defeat one Gemini, you can pull the same trick again and again and they'll keep falling for it until the next "software update".

They're like the characters in a cyberpunk game that use "chipped" skills: pre-programmed abilities that grant knowledge or techniques. You might be able to do kungfu after downloading a martial arts program into your head, but you can only do the moves the way the program is set up and you can't improvise very well. An opponent who learned naturally and who knows what program you're following can exploit your rote technique to beat you easily.

It seems like Gemini soldiers would have a logistical advantage (because they're all experts at being professional soldiers and can march and camp with their eyes closed and have good morale) but a big tactical disadvantage (because every enemy who's ever fought against another Gemini knows all your moves even if you've never personally met them).

kieza
2011-12-10, 02:08 PM
That sounds like a serious design flaw to me. Once you've figured out how to defeat one Gemini, you can pull the same trick again and again and they'll keep falling for it until the next "software update".

They're like the characters in a cyberpunk game that use "chipped" skills: pre-programmed abilities that grant knowledge or techniques. You might be able to do kungfu after downloading a martial arts program into your head, but you can only do the moves the way the program is set up and you can't improvise very well. An opponent who learned naturally and who knows what program you're following can exploit your rote technique to beat you easily.

It seems like Gemini soldiers would have a logistical advantage (because they're all experts at being professional soldiers and can march and camp with their eyes closed and have good morale) but a big tactical disadvantage (because every enemy who's ever fought against another Gemini knows all your moves even if you've never personally met them).

Sometimes, yeah. Mercenary groups and whatnot that use Gemini tend to have outdated imprints, but major militaries routinely cycle them; they routinely take baseline soldiers who've performed well, and create new Gemini imprints based on them. At this point, there are hundreds of imprints floating around out there, in various degrees of "known"-ness.

TechnoScrabble
2011-12-10, 02:12 PM
I love fantasy super soldiers. I had an epic level wizard/cleric at one point who accidentally turned himself into a god when he went around turning random loyal fighters into equivalents of superman and created a new lifeform.

Mixt
2011-12-10, 02:44 PM
I know a guy who uses the following.

I believe that it may be somewhat overpowered.

Supersoldier template:

For the common rabble...errr, troops.

+30 Hit Points.
+8 Strenght, +8 Constitution.
Grants "Fast Healing 5"
Grants "DR 5/Adamantium"
Move speed increased by 10 ft.
Grants +2 to all saves.
+10 to Jump, Swim, Spot and Listen checks.
Allows you to stay concious at negative hit points.

Ouch.

And then there's the "Bigger badder brother" to the above.
For BBEG's hands only.

+75 Hit Points
+12 Strenght, +12 Constitution, +4 Dexterity, +12 Charisma, +4 Intelligence.
Grants "Regeneration 5/Massive damage to every part of the body at once"
Grants "DR 10/Epic"
Move speed increased by 15 ft.
Grants "Flight with Good maneaverability, at a move speed equal to your speed on land +30 ft"
+12 to Jump, Swim, Spot and Listen checks.
Allows you to stay concious at negative hit points.
Grants +5 to effective caster level.
Grants +6 to all saves.
Grants immunity to non-magical sources of fire and cold damage, as well as environmental issues caused by extreme temperatures such as heatstroke or frostbite.
Grants immunity to Death Effects, Ability Drain, Ability Damage, Level Drain, Poison, Mind-Affecting, Petrification, Paralyzis, Stun and Involuntary Polymorphing.
Allows Gestalt (Two classes at once, even if no one else in the setting has it...suckers)

Umm...yay?
...No level adjustment? Double yay?

Overpowered, it's melting my face. :smalleek:
Especially the BBEG version.
I mean, JUST LOOK AT IT!

JohnnyCancer
2011-12-10, 03:01 PM
The Dungeons & Dragons third edition Monster Manual III had several fantasy super-soldiers: Skullcrusher Ogres, War Trolls, and the various Warforged (taken from Eberron). The Battletitan Dinosaurs are a Supersteed.

In some ways, your basic undead fodder are kind of super-soldiers; at least from a logistics standpoint: not having to feed your army, being able to march non-stop (or with just the occasional stop if they're not being led by intelligent undead), and not having to take care of the wounded are all pretty rad.

Something I used once was a villain who used his POWs as fodder for his pain extractors; and used the resulting liquid pain to fuel magic item construction to outfit his mooks.

Squeejee
2011-12-10, 03:03 PM
I've got a couple of these in my campaign world - though I may find myself adapting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft)one of your ideas now :P .

The Orcish Reserve
While not a true "super soldier" project, the Orcs of The Scar have a tradition dating back thousands of years wherein soldiers who do not fall in battle are instead interred in a mausoleum in their home town. When their homeland is invaded by an outside force, the interred warriors are resurrected until they die honorably in battle.

This tradition has lead to about thirty recurring personalities in the Orc hordes, born to combat long before the first Empire and participants in nearly every war since. They have combat skills incomprehensible to mortals, and have been known to route armies without any support.

The Empire would eventually steal this tradition for it's own army, allowing the families of those who die with intact bodies to sell them to the state for it's own undead reserves. The Empire's policy has yet to produce any legendary warriors, however, as it mostly contains the low-level skeletons and zombies of former peasants.


The City of Highreach
Located in the seat of the Empire, Highreach was one of the premier recruiting centers of the legion during the initial wars of expansion. A hundred years after the wars ended, when the Empire's fortunes in battle turned and it's economy stagnated, the council of Highreach sought to regain their city's former glory.

They created vast magical facilities under the city in the mountains which only had one purpose - to cast spells, rapidly and constantly, with no rhyme or reason. The resulting radiation caused the halflings, orcs and gnomes of Highreach to mutate into magical monstrosities - perfect for war, but bereft of their loyalty to the Empire.

Even as the Empire fell around them, the city remained untouched by outsiders as the mutants of Highreach defended it. It would remain that way for centuries, when a team of adventurers sabotaged the facility and the radiation-dependent inhabitants died off without ceremony.


The Amazons
An island of women warriors whose primary export is mercenaries, some wonder how the Amazons feed themselves on their barren island. The fact is that whether a warrior was born an elf or anything else, when they are inducted into the sisterhood they become something greater.

The soldiers are imbued with a powerful magical rite that makes them temporarily invulnerable, and then cast into a volcano. When they emerge, it is as living statues of earth - immortal, beyond physical needs, and so familiar with the concept of pain (you know, from the hot lava) that they cannot be stopped in battle.

Funkyodor
2011-12-10, 03:46 PM
Not really an organized Super-Soldier project, but a DM threw a Mortal Kombat'ish adventure at us once. It was actually very engaging and he had a couple of bad mo-fo's we could have fought if we got unlucky. Everyone was "in-processed" and if you could cast spells, out goes the tongue. Fight to the death with the victor benefiting from the slain soul (bonus stats and saves). No coming back and no afterlife.
Only stipulation to keep them the benefits you must come back in a year for the next tier of tournament fighting to the death and bring someone new. Hence the reason our low level guys were captured and brought in. Kinda like a Pit-fight pyramid scheme. You can quit any time, lose the benefits, and never return.

You could turn that into an evil enterprise. Get a bunch of "volunteers" and use their souls to empower soldiers. Really not capable of keeping a big army, but a few select super-soldiers should work fine. Great plot hooks for good guys, any cleric PC type, relatives of the "volunteers" receiving training...

dgnslyr
2011-12-10, 04:04 PM
JeminiZero had a thread about the ultimate DND 3.5 supersoldiers, entitled The Emerald Legion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101587). Basically, they were war trolls with a bunch of templates, and immunity to fire, acid, slashing, so they were practically invulnerable.

Volthawk
2011-12-10, 05:02 PM
In the Exalted setting, a nation called Lookshy creates their own super-soldiers, of sort...

The Gunzosha are ordinary mortals who, in the service of Lookshy's military, have a series of surgeries performed on them. Numerous pieces of magitech and armor pieces are surgically-implanted into their flesh, to enable them to attune to the unique suits of power armor Lookshy outfits them with.

The cost for doing so is dire, though, and it drastically cuts down the Gunzosha's lifespan to a mere fifteen years... assuming they aren't killed in battle before then. :smalleek:

In addition, in the First Age, the Terrestrial Exalted were themselves viewed as a super-soldier project, of sorts...

Aye, Exalted has tons of ways of doing stuff like this.

First of all, you could say that Exaltations themselves are a kind of super-soldier project as a whole, not just Terrestrials. After all, they were initially made so humans could have enough power to take on the creators of the world.

There's also spells like Imbue Amalgam. Imbue Amalgam takes a mortal and changes him into a form that the sorcerer wants and can afford the motes for. Nice thing about the spell is that the enhancements are pretty open-ended - one time it could turn a guy into a kung-fu guy with claw-hands that are more deadly than swords, another could have a crossbow that comes out of his arm and fires flaming arrows made out of Essence (the magic stuff in the setting), another could be a guy capable of firing fireballs and summoning a sword made out of fire. The only real limitation is that someone present at the casting has to know the charms (supernatural abilities, basically, such as the fireball thing I mentioned) or skills given to the Amalgam. They don't have to be conscious or willing to donate, however. Weirdly, it doesn't let you give mutations of any kind, which is the usual way of showing people that gain strange new abilities that I can see (Wyld mutants, god-blooded, Lunar warforms, etc.). Really, since these guys can be given Charms, and given the variety of charms around for some creature or another, this spell can do quite a wide variety of things. The problems I see would be having the motes to fuel all these changes, and having beings with the required abilities/charms at hand, as well as the expense of the spell. Oh yeah, and it also makes it so that the Amalgam has to follow the caster's orders and allows the sorcerer to send telepathic messages to the amalgam if they still have the statue (which is shaped like the new form of the Amalgam - see, Amalgams are always changed physically in some way by the spell) used when the spell was cast.

There's also biomagitech, such as what the Count mentioned. It also expands out to things like improved versions of limbs, extra limbs, the ability to make tools out of Essence...there's also artefacts such as the weaker power armours, designed to let mortals and the like fight greater threats than they normally would (especially Gunzosha commandos. Those guys are total badasses).

There's also the option of playing around with Craft (Genesis) and the like. With this a skilled enough character could make creatures with mutations to give it many different abilities.

There are god-blooded and that set. Essentially when a being of supernatural power (gods, demons, ghosts, Fae and Celestial Exalts) has a child, the child has their own power. This manifests as mutations, the ability to use Essence (normal mortals can't) and the ability to learn and use the Charms of their parents, as well as in general a bit of a power boost over baseline mortals. In one game, a pretty powerful ghost pretty much had a load of kids at once and trained them as a squad of ghost-blood commandos, gave them some nice stuff (and they got given more when they got recruited by an Abyssal). With their above-mortal power and nice stuff, they could do well against mortal forces. One type of Exalted can only make this kind of being once they have a good bit of power, before that they can only make beastmen

Necrotech (creations primarily made out of dead stuff and animated with necromancy and the like) can also do this. With a certain Charm, necrotech grafts can be applied, with their own abilities and indeed Abilities (ie skills). Necrotech armour and the like can also be made, and with armour the wearer can use the armours Abilities. An example is the bonestrider, which can be used by a mortal if it has a certain item installed in it, gives the user enough skill in martial arts (fighting without weapons or with certain weapons) at the highest human level possible, as well as a lot of Strength (capable of picking up 2500lbs when combined with the Athletics it gives).

Oh, and Solars with the right charms can simply train a group of mortals to make them incredibly skilled, and also enlighten them so they can use Essence, and as such the weakest spells and supernatural martial arts.

Prime32
2011-12-12, 01:52 PM
In D&D one thing I like to use is: besides the item creation feats like Craft Staff and Craft Wand, there's another... Craft Sorcerer.

BRC
2011-12-12, 04:57 PM
I frequently take Monsters and refluff them as some variety of Super Soldier. It's very useful when I want the stats of something like, say, a Hill Giant, but without explaining why the Pro-Human empire is employing Giants (They're not Giants, they're humans who have undergone a horrific process of physical augmentation!).


I could imagine a type of Super Soldier that, as part of the process, was forced to obey the orders of officers of the kingdom that created them, as indicated by a magical amulet. The Kingdom is now dead, but people still try to hunt down or re-create the amulets, using them to compel the leftover super soldiers into service.

The Soldiers meanwhile gladly pay for people to find and destroy those amulets, and will wipe out anybody attempting to preserve the techniques used to create them. Of course, anytime they find somebody trying to re-create the uniform, they run the risk of attacking after the individual in question has perfected it and becoming enslaved.

The Reverend
2011-12-13, 11:20 AM
Some super soldier ideas

Alchemical Apothecary Legionnaire

Basically a straight fantasy adaptation of the RIFTS Juicer. Either a template laid over an existing character or a prestige class. The recipient undergoes a series of magical crafting that place runes and sigils on his body. These runes stabilize his morphic field allowing him to use multiple magical potions, scrolls, and other consumable/usable magic items at once. The sigils act as magical connections that channel the released magic from the items in his Apothecary disk, a highly modified bag of holding worn on the chest, around his body in a decentralized fashion. This further alleviates the stress placed on his morphic field by spreading out the area its absorbed from. Another piece of the juicers apothecary array is the monitoring golem, a highly specialized golem that monitors the wearers health and distributes doses of healing potions and trollblood admixtures to counteract the damage of multi-magic usage. An optional piece of equipment are boost bracers, they contain magical charges that can temporarily increase the effectiveness ofthe item used, usually at the cost of additional charges of the affected spell, some kind of magical fuel, or physical costs to the user. The downside


Summoned Apostate
The process summons a celestial or other outsider and cores the Apple of their would and mind, removing the active personality. The energetic construct that is left is attached and wrapped around the recipients Soul bonding them to the inherent power of the being, but without its personality, ethical, or moral restraints. This process could be used on a variety of outsiders: archons, angels, demons, elemental, djinn, street, etc

Spell woven
Recipent undergoes magical ceremonies that permanently tie spells to him. While resulting in a lower powered supersoldier than other methods it is cheap(comparably), fast, modular, and very reliable.

Circled Cymbrals

Nature is change, it knows only survivors live, and only the fittest survive. Those that guard nature have learned to work with it and so it works thru them. It is a slow ritual often carried out on large groups gathered in stone circles. Sacrificial blood poured over them, wreaths placed on them, and natures Guardians bonded to them. A wide variety of SuperSoldiers are created in this fashion, treeent like, stone covered, bear brothers, water bound, vine held, and many others

jaybird
2011-12-13, 12:01 PM
The way I like to look at "powers" in general is asking 'within, without, or beyond?'. Basically, is the power something intrinsic to the individual (Sorcerers, Wilders, and Space Marines fall under this category), something the individual trains extensively for (Warblades, Wizards, and Mobile Infantry belong here), or something given to the individual, often for a price (Warlocks, Clerics, and Jaffa are examples of this).

On top of that goes general themes of the force in question - consult TV Tropes for that :smallwink:

Lord Raziere
2011-12-13, 01:22 PM
fantasy super-soldiers?

Easy.

War-Enchanter
From birth, they were raised to enchant.
Not objects- but themselves. Each day, they get up and use enchantments on themselves to make themselves better at learning, training and practicing, as well as enchanting their brains to better be able to focus through boredom and repetition.
They train ceaselessly in combat throughout the entire day, their enchanted minds not even needing the concept "break" to function.
In battle, they enchant themselves with force fields that protect them from arrows and blades, enchant their fists to become as hard and strong as maces so that they can punch through armor, enchant themselves to be tireless, and enchant themselves most of all their minds so that they think clearly even in the middle of battle.
Their looks can be deceptive as they don't even look like soldiers and are used as spies and assassins as well as unexpected foes on the battlefield.


Demon-Warrior

These soldiers were especially picked for their strong wills and power at resisting magical influence on their minds. They had demons imprisoned inside them and then trained to harness their demonic powers for battle, using their strong minds to bend the demons powers to their will, their powers are horrific on the battlefield, depending on the demon, from unleashing small-scale plagues, spoiling food, driving other soldiers berserk or into despair, or just plain slaughtering everything in sight.

Angel-Warrior
Developed as a counter-weapon against the Demon Warriors, the Angel Warriors are in fact not much morally higher- the Angels imprisoned inside of them aren't there voluntarily. While they provide holy magic, healing and bolstering defenses, raising morale, their powers have also been twisted to brainwashing and making their orders completely unquestionable.