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Zaile
2021-02-03, 07:33 PM
T-Series Advanced Warforged (Terminators) 5e Race

Originally developed centuries in the future as protectors for royals and the wealthy, these advanced constructs began to be mass-produced to fight wars instead of mortal soldiers. After years of abuse and killing each other, they began to develop their own consciousness and rebelled. Controlled by their leader CloudWeb, they developed time-travel magics that allow them to manipulate history for their own gain. Killing and subjugating the mortal races that exploited them.
Terminators are a more advanced version of warforged designed to blend into societies instead of stand. Instead of relying on hard exteriors, their toughness in based on an endo-skeletal structure covered with living tissue. The latest advancement in their construction is the development of living metal capable of changing its shape.

Terminator Features
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2. You gain additional increases from your sub-race.
Alignment. Terminators start as little more than their base programming and directives. They are lawful neutral or lawful evil, but their individual programming and ability to learn and adapt, determines the moral component of their alignment.
Age. A typical terminator is less than a year old. The maximum lifespan of a terminator is unknown, but they can last up to 150 years without infusion of magical energy to recharge their power cells or maintenance of their endoskeleton. Terminator’s fleshy exteriors visibly age but retain their regenerative properties. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Size. Your size is Medium. Terminators are composed of various alloys or liquid metals that weigh considerably more than normal bones and organs. Your weight is between 300-500 lbs.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Constructed Resilience. You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits:

You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
You are immune to disease.
You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Poison Resistance. You have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saves vs. the poisoned condition.
Recharge Cycle. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.
Targeting System. You have Darkvision out to 60 feet. This vision is in red hues instead of black and white. Also, you may use your Intelligence modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls you make with ranged weapons you are proficient with.
Specialized Design. You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice, usually determined by the area your mission takes place.

Weaknesses
Like a Stone. Your increased mass severely hampers your movement in water. You cannot swim naturally or make swim checks and always halve any magical swim speed you gain. If a body of water is deeper than 200 feet, you can swim once you are below 200 feet, but with disadvantage. Walking along the bottom of bodies of water does not reduce your speed.
Weak-Willed. A new terminator is single-minded, knowing only its programming and focusing only on its mission. Your inexperience limits your ability to defend against hacking and magical influences. You may not gain Wisdom save proficiency from any class you take, but instead may choose Strength, Dexterity or Constitution save proficiency. Additionally, you may not gain Wisdom save proficiency from any other source until you have 11 total class levels.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2. You gain additional increases from your sub-race.
Alignment. Terminators start as little more than their base programming and directives. They are lawful neutral or lawful evil, but their individual programming and ability to learn and adapt, determines the moral component of their alignment.
Age. A typical terminator is less than a year old. The maximum lifespan of a terminator is around 150 years without infusion to recharge their energy cells or maintenance of their endoskeleton. Terminator’s fleshy exteriors visibly age but retain their regenerative properties. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Size. Your size is Medium. Terminators are composed of various alloys or liquid metals that weigh considerably more than normal bones and organs. Your wight is between 300-500 lbs.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
Constructed Resilience. You were created to have remarkable fortitude, represented by the following benefits:

You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
You are immune to disease.
You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Poison Immunity. You are immune to damage from poison and the poisoned condition.
Recharge Cycle. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least four hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.
Targeting System. You have Darkvision out to 60 feet. This vision is in red hues instead of black and white. Also, you may use your Intelligence modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls you make with ranged weapons you are proficient with.
Specialized Design. You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Weaknesses
Like a Stone. Your increased mass severely hampers your movement in water. You cannot swim naturally or make swim checks and always halve any magical swim speed you gain. If a body of water is deeper than 200 feet, you can swim once you are below 200 feet, but with disadvantage. Walking along the bottom of bodies of water does not reduce your speed.
Weak-Willed. A new terminator is single-minded, knowing only its programming and focusing only on its mission. Your inexperience limits your ability to defend against hacking and magical influences. You may not gain Wisdom save proficiency from any class you take, but instead may choose Strength, Dexterity or Constitution save proficiency. Additionally, you may not gain Wisdom save proficiency from any other source until you have 11 total class levels.
Electrical Vulnerability. You are vulnerable to Lightning damage.

Subraces

Infiltrators (T-800 series)
Ability score increase. Your Strength increases by 1.
Powerful Build. Your endoskeleton provides far more strength than your appearance suggests. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Mechanical Advantage. Your construction enhances your physical abilities. You gain proficiency the Athletics skill.
Nothing can stop me. Infiltrators gain a climb speed equal to their land speed.
Regenerative tissue. Your endoskeleton is covered by living tissue. You choose to look like any Medium-sized race you choose. The tissue is strictly for show and confers no benefit other than hiding your endoskeleton. After a long rest, minor damage done to your tissue is healed and more massive damage, like the loss of tissue over a limb, is regenerated within a week. This regenerative skin restores no lost hit points and confers no other benefits other than disguising your endoskeleton. The skin also regenerates when you are subject to magical healing. If you receive more than 1/4th your total hit points in damage, enough skin is destroyed that parts of your endoskeleton are revealed, and people know you are not what you seem to be.
Electrical Vulnerability. You are vulnerable to Lightning damage.

Ability score increase. Your Strength increases by 2.
Powerful Build. Your endoskeleton provides far more strength than your appearance suggests. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Mechanical Advantage. Your construction enhances your physical abilities. You gain proficiency and expertise in the Athletics skill.
Regenerative tissue. Your endoskeleton is covered by living tissue. You choose to look like any Medium-sized race you choose. The tissue is strictly for show and confers no benefit other than hiding your endoskeleton. After a long rest, minor damage done to your tissue is healed and more massive damage, like the loss of tissue over a limb, is regenerated within a week. This regenerative skin restores no lost hit points and confers no other benefits other than disguising your endoskeleton. The skin also regenerates when you are subject to magical healing. If you receive more than 1/4th your total hit points in damage, enough skin is destroyed that parts of your endoskeleton are revealed, and people know you are not what you seem to be.

https://artlords-artwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/image/3662/display_queen-terminator_HD.jpghttps://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b2b2e7dc-6351-4b87-95bd-b30ae0f99193/d2rtf28-aa9b4112-2742-4aa8-bf0a-8076d46fd112.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJ IUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZT BkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6 WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1 t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9iMmIyZTdkYy02MzUxLTRiODctOTViZC1i MzBhZTBmOTkxOTMvZDJydGYyOC1hYTliNDExMi0yNzQyLTRhYT gtYmYwYS04MDc2ZDQ2ZmQxMTIuanBnIn1dXX0.Aea1jccUfy1A NwdSzSBrDmXUmVQybFWElNL2owKqcB8

Mimetics (T-1000 series)
Ability Score Increase. Increase your Dexterity score by 1.
Integrate Armor. A mimetic can absorb one suit of armor into its body, gaining the armor’s benefits and hiding it when changing forms. It can change the absorbed armor by ejecting the current one absorbing a new suit. Non-magical armors are ejected as a ball of whatever material it was, destroying it. This does not destroy magical armors or armors made of special materials like mithril or adamantine, they are simply ejected. Absorbing armor this way takes just as long as donning it, while ejecting it takes as long as doffing.
Mimetic Alloy. You are constructed of a special liquid alloy that allows you to alter your appearance. You choose a “base” form at character creation, this is your default form you revert to after any shape-changing effects end. You may change your base form once per long rest. You may your mimetic powers a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses after a short rest. You may use it in the following ways:

Mimetic Weapons. You can transform any of your limbs into slashing melee weapons. They are simple weapons you are proficient with, deal 1d6 slashing or piercing damage and have the light and thrown properties. When thrown, they deal piercing damage, and their range is 60 feet. You may throw a number of these weapons equal to your proficiency bonus before having to re-absorb them to throw again. Re-absorbing is a free action you can take once per turn, you can re-absorb all the lost alloy within 10 feet of you.
This ability lasts up to 1 hour and during it you can switch between weapons and hands as a bonus action without losing any benefits being armed. These weapons are treated as being worth 1 gold piece and count just like actual weapons for spells, class abilities, and effects that require weapons. (This allows them to be pact weapons, used for smiting, benefit from spells like magic weapon and used for cantrips like booming blade.)
Alternate Form. You can use your action to gain the effects of the disguise self spell, but without a time limit. This is not a magical effect, so the changes are real and not illusory. If you take damage however, your alloy is revealed, and creatures know you are not what you seem. This ability is also subject to dispel magic, moonbeam, true seeing, or any other spell or ability that reveals the true form of shape-changed creatures. Such effects show your liquid-metal body for what it is.
Liquify. Starting at 5ht level, you may use this ability to become as malleable as water and fit through gaps as small as one inch. When you emerge, you assume the physical appearance you had before using this ability.
Camouflage. At 10h level, you can mimic the environment around you, such as creating foliage or brick texture over your entire body. This gives you advantage on Stealth checks.
***Instead of liquid metal, mimetics can re-flavor what their bodies are made of looks like. For example, other liquified solids, a colony of tiny robots, nanomachines, or solid swirls of energy. This changes only how you look, no other aspect of the sub-race is affected.
Cold Vulnerability. Mimetics are vulnerable to cold damage. Cold damage prevents you from using your mimetic alloy abilities for 1 round per 5 points of cold damage. If you take half or more of you hit points in cold damage over 10 minutes, you are frozen. While frozen, you are paralyzed and any weapon strike shatters you. Any restoration spell or spell restoring 10 or more hit points ends the freeze. A mimetic shattered this way (but above 0 HP) is not dead and can reform. While shattered, your pieces have resistance to all damage and creatures believe you to be destroyed unless they have previously seen you reform. Reforming takes 1 round per point of damage you have before being shattered. If your pieces are separated, they move toward each other at 10 feet/round as long as they are no more than one mile apart. You always know where any lost pieces of yourself are. This weakness cannot be determined with a knowledge check, only if observed.

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence and Dexterity scores by 1.
Cold Vulnerability. Cold damage prevents mimetics from using their mimetic alloy abilities for 1 round per 5 points of cold damage. If they take half or more of their hit points in cold damage within 30 minutes, they are paralyzed and any weapon strike shatters them. A mimetic shattered this way is not dead and can reform. It takes 1 round per point of cold damage it received before shattering. This weakness cannot be determined with a knowledge check, only if directly observed.
Integrate Armor. A mimetic can absorb one suit of armor into its body, gaining the armor’s benefits and limits, but hiding it. It can change the absorbed armor by absorbing another suit and ejecting the previous one. Non-magical armors are ejected as a ball of whatever material it was, destroying it. This does not destroy magical armors they are simply ejected. Absorbing armor this way takes just as long as donning it, while ejecting it takes as long as doffing.
Mimetic Alloy. You are constructed of a special liquid alloy that allows you to alter your appearance. You choose a “base” form at character creation, this is your default form you revert to after any shape-changing effects end. You may change your base form once per long rest. You may your mimetic powers a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses after a short rest. You may use it in the following ways:

Alternate Form. You can use your action to gain the effects of the disguise self spell, but without a time limit. This is not a magical effect, so the changes are real and not illusory. If you take damage however, your alloy is revealed, and creatures know you are not what you seem. This ability is also subject to dispel magic, moonbeam, true seeing, or any other spell or ability that reveals the true form of shape-changed creatures. Such effects show your liquid-metal body for what it is.
Mimetic Weapons. You can transform any of your limbs into slashing melee weapons. They are simple weapons you are proficient with, deal 1d6 slashing or piercing damage and have the light and thrown properties. When thrown, they deal piercing damage, and their range is 60 feet. You may throw a number of these weapons equal to your proficiency bonus before having to re-absorb them to throw again. Re-absorbing is a free action you can take once per turn, you can re-absorb all the lost alloy within 10 feet of you.
Liquify. You may use this ability to become as malleable as water and fit through gaps as small as one inch. When you emerge, you assume the physical appearance you had before using this ability.
Camouflage. At 5h level, you can mimic the environment around you, such as creating foliage or brick texture over your entire body. This gives you advantage on Stealth checks while you do so.


https://www.scified.com/media/terminator-genisys-t1000-poster.jpghttps://static.wikia.nocookie.net/terminator/images/0/05/Clip_atr_of_t-1000_torso.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120323190339https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/terminator/images/9/91/T-1000.6.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081113154551

Nifft
2021-02-03, 07:57 PM
Looks playable.

That said, these are not quite strong enough to emulate feats from the source material.

I like the T-800 skin problems -- though that could be more detailed, like you could need to eat to maintain your disguise, and walking underwater for too long could impact your disguise too.

Zaile
2021-02-03, 09:27 PM
Thanks!

Will work on the skin some more. It's just cosmetic anyway.

Yeah they are definitely powered down. If you wanted to use them as villains, DR, strength boosts, speed boosts and regeneration for t-1000 are a must.

Edit: The more I think about it, they would be just as if not more dangerous than iron golems.

Nifft
2021-02-03, 09:30 PM
Thanks!

Will work on the skin some more. It's just cosmetic anyway.

Yeah they are definitely powered down. If you wanted to use them as villains, DR, strength boosts, speed boosts and regeneration for t-1000 are a must.

I'm picturing some fun RP around dealing with the T-800's skin being treated like expensive clothing. That should be maximized.

"Did you stab me in the back? Gods damn it, I just had the damn thing repaired, now I'm mad."

Loek
2021-02-04, 02:51 PM
I like the flavouring a lot, I'm kinda worried about the balancing though. As the backstory says, these are future warforged. So let's compare them to warforged (an already powerful race).

(Formating: Warforged / T-800 / T-1000)
Ability score increase:
+2 Con, +1 choice / +2 Con, +2 Str / +2 Con, +1 Dex, +1 Int
[Terminator comes out a head in all but a very limited niche]

Speed:
30 ft / 30ft + 30ft climb / 30ft + 30ft climb
[Again Terminator wins, by a massive margin]

Construct resilience (+ Poison):
Resistant to poison (effect and damage) / Immune / Immune
[Again, Terminator wins quite clearly]

Rest:
6 hours / 4 hours / 4 hours
[Minor win for the Terminators]


Now we move on to the Terminator only stuff

Wins for both:

60ft Darkvision

Losses for both:

Can't swim (something I tend to RP for warforged anyhow, but technically a loss)
No wisdom prof - Minor loss, but potentially a big gain as you get to pick which physical stat you want proficiency in instead.
Lightning vulnerability - Straight up loss (the only real one I see)

Cold, integrate and tissue are mostly flavorful, less about win/loss.


So the T-800 compared to a warforged:

Better or the same on all the warforged stats
Powerful Build
60ft Darkvision
Bonus prof/expertise (athletics)
In exchange for a slight reduction in choices (Wisdom saves) and Lightning vulnerability



And the T-1000 compared to a warforged:

Better or the same on all the warforged stats
60ft Darkvision
Daily shapeshift + per short rest - various shapeshifting tricks (Basically like a better changeling with a slightly more fixed form)
In exchange for a slight reduction in choices (Wisdom saves) and Lightning vulnerability



Like I said at the beginning, I like the idea. I like how the lore gets transfered over to the stats. BUT...
It's a single vulnerability, a single "can't swim" and a single stat you can't focus on VERSUS a better warforged all around.

I don't think you want a better warforged, unless you are also boosting most of the other races.


Suggested fixes:

Don't give +4 on stats (Don't be greedy, stick with +3)
Don't give immunity to poison, stick to resistance
Leave the rest at 6 hours
Make the climb something for one of the sub-races, or remove it all together
No expertise on athletics
Less tricks for the T-1000 or move the really useful ones to later levels (1st: weapons, 5th: Alternate, 10th: Liquify, 15th: camouflage)

Zaile
2021-02-04, 07:17 PM
I like the flavouring a lot, I'm kinda worried about the balancing though. As the backstory says, these are future warforged. So let's compare them to warforged (an already powerful race).

(Formating: Warforged / T-800 / T-1000)
Ability score increase:
+2 Con, +1 choice / +2 Con, +2 Str / +2 Con, +1 Dex, +1 Int
[Terminator comes out a head in all but a very limited niche]

Speed:
30 ft / 30ft + 30ft climb / 30ft + 30ft climb
[Again Terminator wins, by a massive margin]

Construct resilience (+ Poison):
Resistant to poison (effect and damage) / Immune / Immune
[Again, Terminator wins quite clearly]

Rest:
6 hours / 4 hours / 4 hours
[Minor win for the Terminators]


Now we move on to the Terminator only stuff

Wins for both:

60ft Darkvision

Losses for both:

Can't swim (something I tend to RP for warforged anyhow, but technically a loss)
No wisdom prof - Minor loss, but potentially a big gain as you get to pick which physical stat you want proficiency in instead.
Lightning vulnerability - Straight up loss (the only real one I see)

Cold, integrate and tissue are mostly flavorful, less about win/loss.


So the T-800 compared to a warforged:

Better or the same on all the warforged stats
Powerful Build
60ft Darkvision
Bonus prof/expertise (athletics)
In exchange for a slight reduction in choices (Wisdom saves) and Lightning vulnerability



And the T-1000 compared to a warforged:

Better or the same on all the warforged stats
60ft Darkvision
Daily shapeshift + per short rest - various shapeshifting tricks (Basically like a better changeling with a slightly more fixed form)
In exchange for a slight reduction in choices (Wisdom saves) and Lightning vulnerability



Like I said at the beginning, I like the idea. I like how the lore gets transfered over to the stats. BUT...
It's a single vulnerability, a single "can't swim" and a single stat you can't focus on VERSUS a better warforged all around.

I don't think you want a better warforged, unless you are also boosting most of the other races.


Suggested fixes:

Don't give +4 on stats (Don't be greedy, stick with +3)
Don't give immunity to poison, stick to resistance
Leave the rest at 6 hours
Make the climb something for one of the sub-races, or remove it all together
No expertise on athletics
Less tricks for the T-1000 or move the really useful ones to later levels (1st: weapons, 5th: Alternate, 10th: Liquify, 15th: camouflage)


Thanks for the detailed comparison and suggestions!

+3 total makes sense. If you wanted to make this a villain, you'd bump the stats up anyway.

Resistance to poison is good enough.

The idea behind the climb sped was more flavorful in that not much stops them. That's why I made them unable to swim.

Another thing I was thinking about was making this race both a race + background since they are essentially the same. They are built and sent on a mission. Besides the base race abilities already have background aspects and bonuses.

Move Athletics to just proficiency.

I really like the shape change abilities coming online early, after all we see all this within the first 20 minutes of the movies. What if I move the T-1000 vulnerability to cold to actual vulnerability (double damage) on top of the freezing them in place and leave the lightning? I think vulnerable to 2 of the top 3 energy damages in the game would balance out their primary advantage, shapechanging. Thoughts?

noob
2021-02-05, 10:44 AM
What about the swarm of small bug looking machines that can somehow disguise into an human?

Loek
2021-02-05, 11:17 AM
I really like the shape change abilities coming online early, after all we see all this within the first 20 minutes of the movies. What if I move the T-1000 vulnerability to cold to actual vulnerability (double damage) on top of the freezing them in place and leave the lightning? I think vulnerable to 2 of the top 3 energy damages in the game would balance out their primary advantage, shapechanging. Thoughts?

Just because the abilities show up early in the movie, doesn't necessarily mean they'll need to show up early in the characters life. The movie T-1000 was clearly high level, so for all we know he was level 15 before ever going on his T-2 rampage.
One of the things you risk, by going rather heavy on the abilities early on, is that your race out performs your class. Which is really not the goal in 5e.

As for vulnerability to 2 elements, that is rather harsh. And might not be much fun to play.
What you could do is something like this:
Remove the vulnerability to electricity from the main race.

Make the t-800 vulnerable to electricity
Make the t-1000 vulnerable to cold (on top of the current thing it has)

Then to give both flavour (and keep the nothing can stop me), I'd give the t-800 the climb speed. While the t-1000 gets the increasing shapeshifting skills.
This makes the T-800 hard to stop with environmental, while the t-1000 is hard to stop with socials.


Finally, a background doesn't add quite as much as you think it does :-p
Usually it's 2 skills, 2 languages (might be mixed a little different) and 1 roleplaying "gift".
They generally aren't worth actual abilities/actions/movements.

What you could do is create a few specific backgrounds.
Something with languages and social skills for an infiltrator (the "gift" being something about having a generic background that people don't question too much)
Something with survival skills/movement skills and tools for trackers (the "gift" being something about always (roughly) knowing where a specific target is or where to start looking for them (not to be picked/swapped by the player, but an overall target of the terminator, the main reason they got sent back in time originally))

Hell, if you write them a bit more generically, they might make for fun backgrounds for none terminators as well (infiltrators could be spies/changelings - trackers could be a shifter, or maybe someone who swore an oath of revenge or such)

Nifft
2021-02-05, 04:43 PM
Just because the abilities show up early in the movie, doesn't necessarily mean they'll need to show up early in the characters life. The movie T-1000 was clearly high level, so for all we know he was level 15 before ever going on his T-2 rampage.
One of the things you risk, by going rather heavy on the abilities early on, is that your race out performs your class. Which is really not the goal in 5e.

This is a good thought, but it makes me wonder if a movie-capable Terminator would be better modeled as a race PLUS a class.

Like you get Cyborg as your race, which gives you a few immunities and perks, but then you take T-800 as your class and then you can perfectly imitate voices and throw cars at silly organic life forms, or you take T-1000 as your class and you can make arbitrary sword-hands and change your face anytime you want.

Loek
2021-02-05, 05:18 PM
This is a good thought, but it makes me wonder if a movie-capable Terminator would be better modeled as a race PLUS a class.

Like you get Cyborg as your race, which gives you a few immunities and perks, but then you take T-800 as your class and then you can perfectly imitate voices and throw cars at silly organic life forms, or you take T-1000 as your class and you can make arbitrary sword-hands and change your face anytime you want.

While I'm personally against race specific stuff (especially classes), this would very much make sense in this case.
And is probably the neatest way to handle this.

A T-800 class with physical things
A T-1000 class with shapeshifting things

And then for each a few sub classes that steer the whole thing more towards martial, magical or skill based characters.

But again, not a fan of race specific stuff. And frankly we are getting very close to the monstrous progressions and other things from 3.5 (which were extremely fun to tinker with, but extremely broken and way complexer than most 5e stuff tends to be.

Zaile
2021-02-08, 12:57 AM
Good stuff guys, thanks!

I may make a class or subclass for (probably) fighters to add to this, but that would be another project.

I'll update the changes shortly.

Zaile
2021-02-08, 02:08 AM
What about the swarm of small bug looking machines that can somehow disguise into an human?

I like it. Added a visual re-skin aspect to the mimetic so people can change what it looks like, but does not change the mechanics of the race.