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View Full Version : Weird Villain Idea: Sentient Killer Whale



Leliel
2008-02-20, 02:21 PM
I have to admit, I can't take full credit for this idea. I got it from a different forum, but I put a new spin on it.

Basically, a governmental organization, using a combo of science and arcana, gradually grant an orca sapience through the alteration of his brain. (Why couldn't they just cast Awaken? 1. Because they couldn't mold the dolphin in their image in a true fashion if he didn't develop naturally (ie, how a human child develops), and 2. The head honcho was a sporting sort, and having a wizard do it would be "cheating".) However, what they failed to consider was that the aquatic mammal would also be highly intelligent once able to utilize his brain to the fullest extent, and that, once reading up on overfishing and other nasty things done to the ocean (not to mention he wasn't exactly treated in the best way), came to hate both his creators and most other landbreathers (his term for those that live on land, since "airbreather" is a bit of a misnomer for a cetacean). You know the drill: Rebelled against his makers, escaped into the wild, now plans to cause the downfall of civllization through doomsday device.

Basically, he plans to drastically raise water levels around the globe, flooding most of it, and severly decreasing the landbreather population. As a result, he belives, the overfishing and pollution will stop. After all, what's the point of fishing for one hundred thousand people if there's only ten? Of course, he can't do this by himself (it's amazing how much of a benefit opposable thumbs are), so he recruits landbreathers sympatheitc to his ideals-"What do you mean, 'hypocritical'? I said I hate most landbreathers."-and in return, gives them something that will help them survive this watery world-aquatic lycanthropy. Of course, not everyone who shares his ideals is willing to work for a misanthropic eco-terrorist who is willing to kill more then one (billion) person(s) to get there, so sometimes he orders his agents to somtimes infect coastal settlements and ships, then approach the likely miserable infectees and convince them to "help them build a world where people like you can prosper". A few of the recently created lycans who have not been approched by the agents yet are the PCs, and so begins a semi-underwater campagin.

So, how do like this idea? What should I do to improve it, if you don't?

Few notes:

1) Of course he's able to fight better than an odinary dolphin (yes, orcas are a type of dolphin). You see, he has a bionic harness with highly manipulatable tenticles on it (think Doc Ock from Spider-Man), that he uses when doing manual labor and when fighting. He can also easily slip them off, so as to do the better "stupid pet of his Dragon (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon) who right now players think is the main villain" act. He's also a psychic. Never increase your super soldier's intelligence without giving him psychic powers.

2) This should not be confused with my other lycanthrope game, which I still plan to run.

"Me? Oh, I'm not telling you to post right now, I'm just a dumb killer whale who happens to be owned by Leiliel...

...

...You know, for an evil genius, I can be pretty stupid somtimes."

FoE
2008-02-20, 02:33 PM
How would he even make contact with landbreathers in the first place?

I don't know, from a flavour perspective, this seems better as a Dragon, the main bad guy's head honcho. That way he's not in charge of his own recruiting, he's just part of a larger organization. "Orca! The good guys are coming in their submarine! Take a squadron of sharks with lasers on their heads and head them off!"

I like making the Brains Behind the Operation, too. He's aligned himself with some mad scientist and "pretends" to be his main henchman, but when the main villain goes down, you cast aside the curtain and reveal "the WHALE was your true enemy all along!" I did that once with an evil gun-toting monkey. :smallbiggrin:

I recommend, though, that if you go with this kind of villain, the campaign should be equally crazy. I would even have the heroes raiding Atlantis at some point to get weapons so they can match the Big Bad.

Jayngfet
2008-02-20, 09:43 PM
if you're gonna make a cyborg whale, go all out, give him some sort of magic eye to have all around vision and also some sort of spell like ability

also he should be an epic sorceror, for the hell of it

WhyBother
2008-02-21, 03:03 AM
First, Kamandi was a great, fun comic.

Second, as far as what you could pull off with this guy, you might consider making his "higher up" a kraken instead of a dragon: they're intelligent, but not so intelligent (and hard to to manipulate) as a dragon, the tentacles mean they could be capable of building any large device you require, and it would be more aquatic themed. I remember reading of at least one kraken that could create Drowned Ones of anyone he drowned but didn't care to eat, so that could be a fun option as well.

The easiest way to do this would probably be to make the whale a natural lycanthrope who just never uses his hybrid or humanoid form. Better yet, strip away the humanoid form and give him a free feat or two to make up for it and improve his psionics. The hybrid form might make a nasty surprise. You might also want to add more aquatic lycans to give your players some species variety, and to through them off the trail of the big-brained orca. After all, if the enemy force is almost entirely werewhales, then the highest-ranking whale you find is probably to blame.

Talic
2008-02-21, 03:13 AM
Were-Shark Evil Goons FTW!!!!!

Attilargh
2008-02-21, 04:02 AM
Second, as far as what you could pull off with this guy, you might consider making his "higher up" a kraken instead of a dragon...
"The Dragon" as in "the TV Tropes name for the right-hand man of the Big Bad". (Er, the right-flipper dolphin.) Not necessarily an actual dragon.

The only change I would recommend would be to change the system to Mutants & Masterminds, if only because the rogues gallery in the book already includes the Sinister Simian. Plus, superpowers.

Roderick_BR
2008-02-21, 04:21 AM
Maybe this would be archetypical, but how about an awakened whale druid? It just wants to "balance" things in his favor. That also would give him the badassery it needs, some ability to move on dry land sometimes, and he could get some merfolk mercenaries as henchmen in water, and something on land, like, let's say, lizardfolk? I don't know why, but that's an idea.
If you really want it (I may yoink this idea later), you would have to make an manipulative villain, with contacts everywhere.
PC: "What? We are fighting an oversized fish!? And losing!?!?!"

I remember a fish creature that mind controlled the group to force them to drop their weapons once .... :smallannoyed: Someday my wizard will go there and fish the damn thing.

Kami2awa
2008-02-21, 04:21 AM
I'd not bother with the bionic tentacles; give him psychic powers for every occasion. Want to manipulate stuff? Telekinesis. Talk to humans? Telepathy. Melt the ice caps? Pyrokinesis (maybe channelling it through half a million followers to get the psychic energy level needed).

This is a great idea; for inspiration about aquatic beasties taking over coastal towns read The Shadow Over Innsmouth by HP Lovecraft, and John Windham's The Kraken Wakes. The storyline would work well if set in the 19th-early 20th century when sea travel was the best way to get between continents and held the British Empire together; if your whale-monster could dominate the sea he could hold the world very much to ransom.

Alternately, set it in Japan where the economy and food source has always been tied very strongly to the sea.

Chumbaniya
2008-02-21, 07:29 AM
You started off saying it was a killer whale, then said it was a dolphin, then said it was a porpoise. None of these things are the same. What is it?

nargbop
2008-02-21, 09:58 AM
Four words :
Special Mount Seige Crab

SadisticFishing
2008-02-21, 02:44 PM
In my opinion, if you want to make it more interesting... Make her have the ability to alter form into a human(oid). If she's stuck in the water all the time, it could be awkward.

Attilargh
2008-02-22, 01:59 AM
You started off saying it was a killer whale, then said it was a dolphin, then said it was a porpoise. None of these things are the same. What is it?
Actually, orcas are dolphins. They are not, however, porpoises, although they are closely related.

Kizara
2008-02-22, 02:51 AM
Make it breathe fire. And Acid. At the same time.

Alternately, have it breathe a cloud of ravenous pirana. With lycanthropy.


Seriously! Think about your players reactions when you say the words "It breathes a wave of were-pirana at you, roll Reflex half (and in a quiet tone) and Will disbelief."


Additionally, his name is Sparky.

Khanderas
2008-02-22, 04:03 AM
Make it breathe fire. And Acid. At the same time.

Alternately, have it breathe a cloud of ravenous pirana. With lycanthropy.


Seriously! Think about your players reactions when you say the words "It breathes a wave of were-pirana at you, roll Reflex half (and in a quiet tone) and Will disbelief."


Additionally, his name is Sparky.
Being a ware piranah would suck majorly. Oh 3 nights of the month you are a tiny, ugly, fish. Sucks if you are caught on land. And sucks even harder if you wake up from a night as a fish at 300 feet below the surface.
Also, piranahs are fresh water fish, but maybe noone will notice :)

Leliel
2008-02-22, 05:04 PM
Actually, orcas are dolphins. They are not, however, porpoises, although they are closely related.

Oh. My error. I thought "porpoise" was synonymous with "cetacean" as well. Sorry.