Xenomorph Poll

[Bhu]

If you had to design them would you make them Aberrations or Native Outsiders?

[BWR]

I did them as aberrations. They certainly seem to be the movie poster-child for aberrations.

[Brother Oni]

If you had to design them would you make them Aberrations or Native Outsiders?

Since Outsider implies that they're partially composed of their native plane, Aberration would be the best match. My D&D knowledge is a bit rusty, but is there any reason why Animal is off the table?

[SiuiS]

Aye, aberrations. Outsider isn't for alien stuff, it's for spiritual stuff.

[tomandtish]

Assuming we are talking about everyone's favorite xenomorohs? If you are picking one only, definitely aberration. However arguments can be made for stealing bits from other categories.

EU material (esp. Novels) make it pretty clear that they are a bioengineered species, so you might borrow some from construct. And you can borrow from vermin for everyone's favorite suffocation nightmare.

In short, this is certainly a case where you can justify picking traits from multiple categories as long as they match the concept.

[BWR]

Assuming we are talking about everyone's favorite xenomorohs? If you are picking one only, definitely aberration. However arguments can be made for stealing bits from other categories.

EU material (esp. Novels) make it pretty clear that they are a bioengineered species, so you might borrow some from construct. And you can borrow from vermin for everyone's favorite suffocation nightmare.

In short, this is certainly a case where you can justify picking traits from multiple categories as long as they match the concept.

Being bioengineered doesn't make it a construct. Constructs lack things like 'life' and inherent methods of reproduction. Life created from scratch or altered from base stock is still life. I don't really see what other categories of 3.x creatures apart from aberration they should be.
Humanoid? Not in the MM sense
Undead? They aren't dead
Magical beast? No real magic there, and anyway plenty of aberrations have magical abilities.
Plant? No
Vermin? Possibly but they show a bit too much intelligence for that.
Elemental? No
Construct? They are alive, have real anatomy, life cycles, reproduction and more, so no.
Animal? no
fey? no
Dragon? no
Ooze? no
monstrous humanoid? possibly. They are monstrous, they are humanoid in the sense of being basically shaped with a torso, legs at the bottom, head at the top and arms with fingers at the sides, but that's not really enough in d20. armor and weapon proficiencies don't fit and they are a bit too alien, imo.

[DigoDragon]

Ohhhhhh~

Who was created as weapons of war?
A-ber-ra-tions!
Alien and vile and deadly hardcore?
A-ber-ra-tions!
Impregnates their host and bursts outta the chest?
A-ber-ra-tions!
So what category would seem to fit best?
A-ber-ra-tions!

A-ber-ra-tions!
A-ber-ra-tions!
A-ber-ra-tions!
a-berrrr ra-tionsss... (ha-ha)!

[Psyren]

+1 to aberrations.

We more or less already have them though - take a look at Kythons from BoVD, they even have the life-cycle. A few tweaks and you have XMs.


Ohhhhhh~

Who was created as weapons of war?
A-ber-ra-tions!
Alien and vile and deadly hardcore?
A-ber-ra-tions!
Impregnates their host and bursts outta the chest?
A-ber-ra-tions!
So what category would seem to fit best?
A-ber-ra-tions!

A-ber-ra-tions!
A-ber-ra-tions!
A-ber-ra-tions!
a-berrrr ra-tionsss... (ha-ha)!

Aye aye, captain!

[Bhu]

Since Outsider implies that they're partially composed of their native plane, Aberration would be the best match. My D&D knowledge is a bit rusty, but is there any reason why Animal is off the table?

Animal is off the table due to their intelligence. A xenomorphs intelligence is based in part at least off of the species it used for a host. Xenos from dogs for example have been noticeably dumber than those made from people. Th Queen was able to use an elevator, and shut off power to part of the station she was in.

Questions 2: Darkvision or BLindsight?

[Talakeal]

Animal is off the table due to their intelligence. A xenomorphs intelligence is based in part at least off of the species it used for a host. Xenos from dogs for example have been noticeably dumber than those made from people. Th Queen was able to use an elevator, and shut off power to part of the station she was in.

Questions 2: Darkvision or BLindsight?

Going by the video games they have sonar and keen smell. So blindsight and scent i guess?

[BeerMug Paladin]

Definitely aberrations. Just because they fit into the theme aberrations have of generally being quite strange, yet somehow are a creature.

[tomandtish]

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. Aberration is certainly the best default to use. But for these critters, I wouldn't just take the default aberration template and call it a day.

Saves? Well, aberrations get good will saves. But that's probably not true for these guys. Either good fortitude (hey are tough), good reflex (they are fast) or both. That could come from magical beast,but also seems in line with a living construct.

Aberrations need to eat, sleep, and breathe. Eating is heavily debated but EU is pretty clear that they don't need to breathe and can even spend extended time in the vacuum of space. While they go dormant when nothing is around, it's also unclear if they actually need sleep,as such. Those are construct traits.

So are they aberrations? Yep, that's certainly the way to go. But I wouldn't be afraid to steal a little from other templates to make the concept work better. You can still call them aberrations. Just make sure that the abilities match the concepts.

[Excession]

In 4e, they could potentially be "Elemental (demon)". Demons are a subtype of elemental in the default cosmology there. The acid blood is a good elemental trait, and "kill everyone" is a common demonic behaviour. Still, their extraterrestrial origin is a strong point for aberration, which is probably what I would go with.

[Bhu]

I've been asked to design it more off the films than the EU. Looking around I can find the following for them:

Probably have SPiderclimb as they can move at full speed while climbing, as well as running on walls and ceilings

Acidic "blood" with immunity to their own species acid at least. Some variants (runners) may be able to spit acid

Polarized silicon for skin, which would make them fairly resistant to cold and at least minor heat (which doesn't explain their vulnerability to fire)

Demonstrated observational learning and self awareness meaning Int is at least a 3, but not at full human levels (Queens may be higher). However runners are observedly less intelligent so Int may be tied to host species.

They eat with their pharyngeal jaws, but what they eat is unknown. They do suspend kills from ceilings so possibly humans at least. In most of the films corpses were untouched for at least 17 weeks, but in Alien3 the Dragon i seen eating a human.

Very little emotion, so possibly a bonus to some saves

Rumored to be telepathic (they communicate somehow)

genetic memory

high AC or minor DR

vulnerable to sudden massive changes in temperature

pharyngeal jaw is armor piercing

very stealthy with camouflage in its hive or mechanical environments

can fight while at negative hp or even after suffering massive wounds with no penalty

well adapted to swimming

can exist in vacuum for short periods of time

can respirate in even the harshest atmospheres

radiate no heat as their body matches the ambient temperature

may or may not have sight, speculation about echolocation or electro-reception (it can detect humans it obviously wouldn't be able to see)

produces resin for hive building and cocooning victims



did i miss anything?

[BWR]

There seems to be a lot of EU stuff here.


Probably have SPiderclimb as they can move at full speed while climbing, as well as running on walls and ceilings


Or just a Climb speed. No need for magic powers where they aren't needed.


Polarized silicon for skin, which would make them fairly resistant to cold and at least minor heat (which doesn't explain their vulnerability to fire)


Some natural armor. No need to make them resistant or vulnerable to anything (apart from immunity to acid). A fear of fire is pretty common to most animals, and there's no real reason to believe there's anything more than that at work.


Demonstrated observational learning and self awareness meaning Int is at least a 3, but not at full human levels (Queens may be higher). However runners are observedly less intelligent so Int may be tied to host species.

I'd probably put them at 2. Queens may get up to 3. The drones don't show much intelligence or learning ability beyond stealth and kill. The queen can understand intent and threat and hypotheticals after a single exposure, and understand the concept of elevators.





They eat with their pharyngeal jaws, but what they eat is unknown. They do suspend kills from ceilings so possibly humans at least. In most of the films corpses were untouched for at least 17 weeks, but in Alien3 the Dragon i seen eating a human.

I'd say carnivore. Eat just about anything animal. They definitely seem to be hunters of some sort.




Very little emotion, so possibly a bonus to some saves
No real reason to believe this. Maybe some 'alien' modifier if you really want, but they show about as much emotion as most nearly mindless predators one finds in D&D.



Rumored to be telepathic (they communicate somehow)
No real evidence for this in the movies. It could easily be pheremonal or sound beyond human hearing. If you want to make them even more aberrant, fine, but sticking to the movies there is no reason to add this.




genetic memory
How? Instinct to hunt and procreate and create hives. No genetic memory beyond this has been shown in the movies. A bit less sure about the EU.




high AC or minor DR

Not really. Their skin is tougher than most animal hides, fine, but compared to most D&D adventurers it shouldn't be too tough. Less impressive than most metal armors pseudo-Renaissance adventurers wander around in, at least. In the movies, the opposition were mostly unarmed and unarmored squishies. the xenos went down easily enough when anything resembling firepower hit them. Nothing to indicate DR or much by the way of AC.




vulnerable to sudden massive changes in temperature
Any worse than humans? Can't remember other than that they get a bit sluggish in cold. Not very familiar with the stuff beyond the movies, I'll admit.




pharyngeal jaw is armor piercing
Meaning what? A semi-high attack bonus, most likely. I can't really see it being anything else.




very stealthy with camouflage in its hive or mechanical environments
Ranks in Stealth (or Hide/Move Silently). Not too much more. Maybe a +4 racial bonus (which is pretty good)


can fight while at negative hp or even after suffering massive wounds with no penalty
Sure.




well adapted to swimming
I guess. Racial bonus to Swim? +2 or something.




can exist in vacuum for short periods of time
So can humans (and presumably any humanoid species).




can respirate in even the harshest atmospheres
What are
the harshest environments'? The Plane of Fire? The Plane of Water?For all we know, the xenos can hold their breaths really well but will drown eventually. If they are vulnerable to certain tempertatures or energy types it follows that they can't survive in the harshest environments. Of course, in most D&D worlds this won't be a problem since everyone can breathe almost everywhere unless explicitly stated this is difficult.




radiate no heat as their body matches the ambient temperature
Until they run up against their temperature limit.




may or may not have sight, speculation about echolocation or electro-reception (it can detect humans it obviously wouldn't be able to see)
No obvious eyes. I'd give them Blindsight to make things easy.

I put the average drone at about CR 3 when I threw xenos at my players. They are dangerous in close quarters when they meet squishy humans but go down easily when faced with any half-way decent opposition, especially with a clear line of sight.
My computer died a while back so I don't have the stats, but I think I gave them about 18 Str, nat armor +5, 2 HD, claw/claw/bite/tail 1d4/1d4/1d6/1d6.

Your average xeno is not going to be a big problem for an experienced group of players. Even hordes of them will be little more than annoyances to any moderately optimized group beyond 5th level.

[darksolitaire]

I'd probably put them at 2. Queens may get up to 3. The drones don't show much intelligence or learning ability beyond stealth and kill. The queen can understand intent and threat and hypotheticals after a single exposure, and understand the concept of elevators.

The escaped drones from Resurrection seemed smart enough. They were spawned from humans, so they could reasonably have int 3, while aliens from dogs could have 2. I can't remember how smart Runner was on top of my head.



No obvious eyes. I'd give them Blindsight to make things easy.


Unless you count fisheye lens scenes from Aliens 3 as cinematography, Xenomorps have vision .

[Bhu]

There seems to be a lot of EU stuff here.



Or just a Climb speed. No need for magic powers where they aren't needed.

It's for ease of writing. I can write out that they have bonuses to climb and can climb walls and ceilings, and can move at full speed, and etc or i can just say "permanently has Spiderclimb in effect" I have a lot of nerve damage so I like to be concise.



Some natural armor. No need to make them resistant or vulnerable to anything (apart from immunity to acid). A fear of fire is pretty common to most animals, and there's no real reason to believe there's anything more than that at work.

Ash describes them as replacing their skin with polarized silicon. It should mean they are somewhat heat resistant.



No real reason to believe this. Maybe some 'alien' modifier if you really want, but they show about as much emotion as most nearly mindless predators one finds in D&D. All the info I can find says they have never shown an emotional response other than concern for the eggs/queen.



No real evidence for this in the movies. It could easily be pheremonal or sound beyond human hearing. If you want to make them even more aberrant, fine, but sticking to the movies there is no reason to add this. It's referenced in the novelization of the film that it's thought the Queen is telepathic at least as she seems to be able to give orders from a distance (which is never explained in the film). In ALien 3, Golic releases the alien he calls the Dragon because of supposed telepathic messages it keeps giving him (granted he is also likely insane). In Resurrection the RIpley Hybrid clone appears to have some sort of mental connection to the aliens as well.



How? Instinct to hunt and procreate and create hives. No genetic memory beyond this has been shown in the movies. A bit less sure about the EU.

Via ALiens wiki : "Through cloning in the events surrounding Alien: Resurrection (noted in the novelization), it appears that the Xenomorphs' hive mind includes a collective memory that passes along even at a genetic level. Through the tests conducted on Ellen Ripley, it is revealed that the memory passed from Ripley onto the new generation of Xenomorphs allows them to read and understand different languages."

Via AVP wiki: "Thanks to the Xenomorph's ability to inherit memories genetically, and as a side-effect of the cloning process that created the Cloned Xenomorphs, the creatures have access to Ellen Ripley's memories through their Queen, although they do not apparently fully understand these memories.[5] Through this connection, the Xenomorphs consider Ripley 8 to be one of their members and consequently spare her when she is captured whilst trying to escape the Auriga, delivering her unharmed to the Queen.[3][6]

The Cloned Xenomorphs are shown to be more aggressive than normal Xenomorphs and significantly more intelligent too, displaying impressive problem solving skills and the ability to learn rapidly and even set traps to lure and ambush victims.[3] The Cloned Xenomorphs were first able to escape their containment cells on board the Auriga by killing one of their own and using the effects of the dead creature's acidic blood to melt through the enclosure's floor and allow the others egress. Similarly, the Lead Alien Drone was shown to learn almost immediately that disobedience would result in punishment in the form of a freezing nitrogen spray, and later used the same spray to eliminate USM personnel searching for it.[3] Later, a Drone used discarded weapons to lure Frank Elgyn to his death."




Not really. Their skin is tougher than most animal hides, fine, but compared to most D&D adventurers it shouldn't be too tough. Less impressive than most metal armors pseudo-Renaissance adventurers wander around in, at least. In the movies, the opposition were mostly unarmed and unarmored squishies. the xenos went down easily enough when anything resembling firepower hit them. Nothing to indicate DR or much by the way of AC.

From aliens wiki: "It possesses an exoskeleton much like that of a lobster, impenetrable to everything but the most powerful human firearms (12-gauge shotguns, Pulse Rifles, and stanchion launchers are quite effective). Ash claims the creature's skin is made from 'protein polysaccharides', so this would imply a substance similar to chitin. He also says the creature replaces its surface cells with polarized silicone, which is a very inert, heat resistant, and flexible polymer. This allows the creature great environmental resistance. However, they are vulnerable to sudden, massive changes in temperature, as shown in Alien 3, when the creature is destroyed by first immersion in molten lead and then sudden cooling with fire sprinklers, causing its silicone shell to shatter."



Meaning what? A semi-high attack bonus, most likely. I can't really see it being anything else. It's used as a death blow similar to mindflayers. They grapple with opponents to hold them down then drill the pharyngeal jaws through the skull, killing opponents instantly. It's also capable of penetrating metal, meaning it may have a higher critical threat range.


So can humans (and presumably any humanoid species). Yes but they've been shown to be fully functional with no apparent discomfort.



What are
the harshest environments'? The Plane of Fire? The Plane of Water?For all we know, the xenos can hold their breaths really well but will drown eventually. If they are vulnerable to certain tempertatures or energy types it follows that they can't survive in the harshest environments. Of course, in most D&D worlds this won't be a problem since everyone can breathe almost everywhere unless explicitly stated this is difficult. I'm assuming they mean chemical or particulate pollution.

I should mention that given their ability to inherit some characteristics of the host due to horizontal gene transfer, I'm doing the adult aliens as a template.

[BeerMug Paladin]

You prefer simplifying things, yet you're doing the adult xenomorph as a creature template?

Wouldn't it be easier to just write a general xenomorph adult and maybe add a single distinctive feature each drone has that ties it to the specific racial background?

Elongated pointy ears for elves, fangy grins for orcs, hyperactivity for gnomes, etc... It doesn't all have to be real in-game differences for every creature ever. After all, there's more similarity between all the humanoid races among one another than there is between something like a horse and a human.

So you just make those cases really different. Humanoid and animal.

And I'd probably drop the telepathy, give them blindsense, and have no particular resistances except an immunity to acid. They could have the lizardfolk's hold breath ability as well. And give them a climb speed. So I pretty much agree with what BWR suggested.

[Bhu]

You prefer simplifying things, yet you're doing the adult xenomorph as a creature template?



Templates aren't really any more difficult or time consuming than writing up a regular statblock. They're actually easier in some cases.

[McStabbington]

Just a quick point of order from someone who has watched the films a gazillion times: there's no clear evidence that the Queen ever knew how to work the elevator. Ripley was understandably scared to death as she was running from the hive, she came to the elevators and found that they had returned automatically to the top level. In her fear and frustration, she activated first one elevator, then the other by hammering on the buttons as hard as she could.

The Queen was smart enough to know that, when an elevator opened, you could get into it, largely because she had just seen someone else do it. It's not clear that the Queen was smart enough to know that it would take her to the same place that Ripley went automatically. It's almost certain that the Queen didn't know the cause and effect relationship between "push button" and "work elevator".

So, she's not exactly stupid. There are only a few animals that have that level of intelligence: some birds, dogs, apes and monkeys, elephants, dolphins and, just for a change of pace, octopi. But there's no evidence for her having an intelligence exceeding 2, much less even approaching human intelligence. Most of what you see in the original movies could be explained by some rudimentary learning combined with instinctive behavior and a preternaturally vicious and territorial disposition. There are plenty of insects that can do just about everything a xenomorph does with their nesting, hive and predatory behavior, and there's no evidence that they have any form of telepathy. It's only when you start getting into the progressively goofier sequels and EU that you start getting the . . . less-grounded stuff.

[Bhu]

I promised I'd do everything from the films, from the facehuggers up to the Predalien, so alas I will be getting into the goofier sequels.

[JustSomeGuy]

Aaaannd... now i'm picturing a Disney goofy alien.

[Brother Oni]

Aaaannd... now i'm picturing a Disney goofy alien.

Sort of like this?


http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs10/i/2006/137/2/e/Chibi_Predator_and_Alien_by_Maiss_Thro.jpg

[JustSomeGuy]

Needs more buck teeth. And a jaunty hat.

[Excession]

Needs more buck teeth. And a jaunty hat.
Maybe this http://youtu.be/XU1MAokrrUk

(sings) Hello my baby...

[Killer Angel]

My D&D knowledge is a bit rusty, but is there any reason why Animal is off the table?

it could be, if we consider an extraplanar animal. But I'd stay with aberrations.

[Bhu]

Your thoughts gentlemen on a size limit for the template? As in must be x or bigger?

Also given the aliens biomechanical nature should it be able to infect Living Constructs.

[BeerMug Paladin]

Small or bigger. Probably limit its maximum size to huge.

[Bhu]

Could a facehugger potentially nab a Huge critter? I could see a Trilobite doing it but a Facehugger might have trouble.

[hamishspence]

Might depend on the Huge Critter.

I could see a Facehugger having little trouble with a giraffe since they have fairly small heads and mouths.

Not sure how hard it would be for one to tackle an orca, an elephant, a fully grown Great White, an ancient saltwater crocodile, etc.

[JustSomeGuy]

Pretty far from an expert, but do they actually 'need' to hug the face, or does that just stop the target pulling them off while they impregnate (or whatever they do) the target?

If they could dive down a whale's neck uninjured, could they do 'their business' effectively enough to make an alien whale thing? For that matter, wouldn't it be safer in a crocodile's throat than working through it's teeth to inseminate the thing?

And on that thought, could a facehugger theoretically 'do' a xenomorph through it's mini me mouth, or would that be a pretty effective preventative against facehugging?

[Bhu]

As evidenced by the first film the transfer process is not immediate. The facehuggers legs grab the face, and the tail wraps around the throat. Presumably they have some sort of contact poison as well, as I cannot explain why most species simply wouldn't bite down on the tube when it goes down their throat (or even why they'd open their mouth). They wrap the tail around the throat to make it clear they will choke the victim to death if attempts to remove them are made. After a brief period of suspended animation the facehugger lets go and dies, and the victim awakens.

But looking at them, they seem designed to target humanoids. Their legs/tail combo is perfectly made for attacking us, and we'd be the only species smart enough to realize about their acid blood, and so avoid biting them. And their origin does suggest they were designed as bioweapons.

[Bhu]

New QUestion: As I'm designing the Xenomorph as a template, What if any restrictions would you place on Special Attacks/Qualities being kept from the base creature?