The Yeerks in D&D: Creeping Players Out, One Controller At A Time

[Leliel]

For those of you that don't know, the Yeerks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeerks) are the main antagonist in the book series Animorphs, a parasitic alien race with a highly militaristic bent. Although not a truly evil species (They do what they need to live, and many of them don't enjoy it at all), but like a certain Fire Nation, that fact won't enter your mind while they're trying to invade the planet while trying to vaporize/infest you. Naturally, I personally believe that they are excellent antagonists, and I plan to use them in my next game as antagonists. So...

How should I go about introducing these body snatchers? Should I play up the "self-loathing" angle, and how much? Is the general paranoia of a "Controller player" plot a good idea? Should I allow a character from the Yeerk Peace Faction? How awesome is the suggestion of a gold Dragon-Controller?

Few points:

1) I do not intend on altering the Yeerks backstory what-so-ever. They're aliens, they're advanced, and they are magically ignorant. Though being Yeerks, that last part won't apply for long...

2) With the Yeerks come their thralls, and their thralls include Taxxons and Hork-Bajir. Needless to say, I need help introducing them as well.

3) Although the One (read the article) will be the ultimate antagonist, I fully plan on including the proper Yeerk Empire as well.

"The cake is a truth! Wait, that didn't come out right...": Random Yeerk on internet memes.

[Superglucose]

One thing is very clear (to me): the Controllers should be allowed periodic will saves as if Charm Person/Dominate Person (only a much, much higher save, obviously) was being used. The books are quite clear that given the opportunity, a host can sieze control of the body, or at least partial control, for a limited period. And make it so that the really high level wizards/clerics in your party, with those will saves in the upper twenties, have the ability to beat that yeerk out of their brain alltogether.

Finally, make sure to restrict those weapons. Do NOT let your players take Weapon Proficiency: Dracon Beam without some seriously good reason.

Otherwise this sounds interesting and I only wish I could play. I miss the Animorphs... one of the greatest childrens series of all time that gets no credence due to its length and publisher.

[Ascension]

Oh man, this brings back memories. I really loved those books way back when. I'd almost be tempted to run the campaign with a party of druids... :smallbiggrin:

You definitely need to play up the whole everyone's-a-potential-foe paranoia.

I think the PCs' main advantage here will be the yeerks' pride. Being, as you say, temporarily ignorant of magic and attacking a low-technology world, they're likely to think they've got free run of the place. In fact, they should have immense success in their initial operations. Any communities without significant magical protection will probably fall fairly quickly. It's in invading the cities that they'll really have to settle down into the infiltration they do so well.

You need to work out carefully how magic will affect them. Can a simple zone of truth be enough to out a yeerk, or can they work around it?

Finally, I'd be tempted to give all high-level yeerks the spymaster prestige class. It meshes quite well with their modus operandi. Well, their stealthy modus operandi, that is. Not with their send-in-the-Hork-Bajir modus operandi. Uhh, maybe not ALL high-level yeerks, come to think of it.

[alchemyprime]

I love Animorphs. Without them, I never would have gone past Star Wars with my sci-fi...
Wait...
I only read those cause the kid who protected me from bullies in first grade read them...
OMG, Animorphs made me a despondant nerd and eventually lead me down the path of sin and debauchery that is D&D!
Wait... cool, K.A. Applegate is a gateway drug!
Okay, for the Hork-Bajir, use the Skarn from MoI, but make a special monster progression for them, and make their favored class monk, and make it so their blades are as adamantine at 9th level.
That'll work.

Oh, Yeerk soulmelders! They can use a host's Con score instead of thier own! Good idea!
Oh, gold-dragon controller! That was a good idea!
Oh, dude, a party of druids works too well with this!

[alchemyprime]

I love Animorphs. Without them, I never would have gone past Star Wars with my sci-fi...
Wait...
I only read those cause the kid who protected me from bullies in first grade read them...
OMG, Animorphs made me a despondant nerd and eventually lead me down the path of sin and debauchery that is D&D!
Wait... cool, K.A. Applegate is a gateway drug!
Okay, for the Hork-Bajir, use the Skarn from MoI, but make a special monster progression for them, and make their favored class monk, and make it so their blades are as adamantine at 9th level.
That'll work.

Oh, Yeerk soulmelders! They can use a host's Con score instead of thier own! Good idea!
Oh, gold-dragon controller! That was a good idea!
Oh, dude, a party of druids works too well with this!

[Citizen Jenkins]

Well, to start off, you need to think of a reason why the moment the Yeerks find this place they won't just call in their whole empire and take the place in a day. Besides having the best host bodies ever (Dragon, Cloud Giant, Tarrasque, yes please!) the temptation behind magic is going to be immense. There's the little things: Yeerk necromancers with hordes of of insubstantial undead, a host of useful divinations, Teleport, etc. Then there's the big stuff, like how the Yeerk would respond to planar travel. What's any Yeerk going to think of when he finds out there are infinite planes of undying bodies available? What happens when the Yeerks find out Gods are real? Honestly, why wouldn't the Yeerks just jump all over this place the moment they found out about magic?

Worse, what happens when the big players on your world find out about this. How will the level 20 wizards, the infinite hordes of the outer planes, the Mind Flayers and the other big powers of your world react. Because some of these things aren't going to be Yeerk prey, they have a real shot of eating the Yeerks right up and taking their fancy starships for their own. And that's a pretty big temptation.

I think this has potential but it needs to be done with care, otherwise your players are going to have problems believing it. The way I would run it is that Visser Twenty Seven or some other low ranking Yeerk military commander was dispatched to conquer this world. He's found out a bit about magic, at least enough to know how valuable it is. He sees a shot to make his career on this (kinda of like Visser Three capturing an Andalite) but he's also seen enough of magic to hesitate about any overt actions, especially since his forces are very limited and calling for backup would alert the Yeerk command to how valuable this world really is. Therefore he's cautiously checking out the situation, acquiring any information or items related to magic, and slowly deploying Yeerks around the edges of society. This would continue quietly until our Visser had acquired enough knowledge about magic, and established some decent protections against it, for him to pursue an aggressive strategy of conquest, meaning lots of Yeerks infecting the most valuable host bodies either through typical action or covert force. Of course, the PCs will interfere at some point (because that's what PCs do), probably working to investigate and uncover the Yeerk threat during the early levels and then fighting off the invaders once they're fairly mid-high level.

[Collin152]

Tarrasque controller? Getting in and out every three days would be a real pain...

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Oo

I would be your slave for life if you would move to Indiana to run that.

I love that you're including the Yeerk peace movement, though it may never have appeared without an invasion of Earth. Players will hate the moral quandaries that happen with that. Also, how will Detect Alignment work with a controlling parasite? Or even Sense Motive? I also second giving every steathy Yeerk at least 1 level of spymaster, to give you mechanics for the cover identity.(probably give them a bonus to their cover, though, because the cover is a real person)
You can probably lift parts of plots whole-cloth from the books(6 and 29 come to mind), and the campaign can run as long as you want it too.

Also, again, this is AWESOME!

[Collin152]

Oo

I would be your slave for life if you would move to Indiana to run that.


I'd sell my friends into slavery AND give you my next birthday wish if you'd move to Arizona for it instead.
Gilbert would be nice, or maybe Chandler.

[Grug]

There's a monster in the Psionics handbook (or epic, I can't remember) that is a leech that dominates people by latching on. You could probably use that as a start.

[Serenity]

The Puppeteer, yes. You'd have to strip off the at-will psionic abilities, I imagine.

[Superglucose]

Well, to start off, you need to think of a reason why the moment the Yeerks find this place they won't just call in their whole empire and take the place in a day. Besides having the best host bodies ever (Dragon, Cloud Giant, Tarrasque, yes please!) the temptation behind magic is going to be immense.

First off, Yeerks couldn't control a Tarrasque, and it's easy to rule that they can't control Dragons for whatever reason, and to nix other monsters like Cloud Giants. If the human mages can't find the Fey in the woods, how in the name of HELL do the yeerks?




There's the little things: Yeerk necromancers with hordes of of insubstantial undead, a host of useful divinations, Teleport, etc. Then there's the big stuff, like how the Yeerk would respond to planar travel. What's any Yeerk going to think of when he finds out there are infinite planes of undying bodies available? What happens when the Yeerks find out Gods are real? Honestly, why wouldn't the Yeerks just jump all over this place the moment they found out about magic?

Who says that the yeerks can do anything about the gods? Who says the yeerks can use necromancy, or even infest undead bodies? Maybe they can infest Vampires and such, but certainly not zombies and skeletons. How do they respond to planar travel? Much in the same way everyone else does, I expect. The average person (and therefore the average Yeerk) wouldn't think too much about planar travel. Hell, even the leaders of most D&D Empires don't really think to much about planar travel. The yeerks don't have metagame knowledge. And divination would work AGAINST yeerks. How does a yeerk manage to subvert when he can be detected by a simple "Detect Thoughts" spell? How does a yeerk manage to win a fight against a Cleric who can cast "Energy Resistance"?



Worse, what happens when the big players on your world find out about this. How will the level 20 wizards, the infinite hordes of the outer planes, the Mind Flayers and the other big powers of your world react. Because some of these things aren't going to be Yeerk prey, they have a real shot of eating the Yeerks right up and taking their fancy starships for their own. And that's a pretty big temptation.

You're assuming his campaign has to deal with the great wheel. Why on EARTH does every DM assume there has to be multiple planes of existance? You can make bigger, badder enemies by advancing NPCs to epic levels than picking anything out of the MM. The Level 20 wizards will fight the yeerks, of course, but there's not much a Grease spell can do against a friggen battleship capable of destroying chunks of a planet. Battlefield control spells become pretty mundane, a fireball stands literally no chance of damaging a blade ship or a bug fighter... pretty much all the level 20 mages can do is win 1v1 fights against yeerks.

And that's not how wars are won.



I think this has potential but it needs to be done with care, otherwise your players are going to have problems believing it.

This setting has massive potential and all of the 'problems' you have come up with are, in my mind, really REALLY easy to resolve without altering the cannon of D&D monsters OR Animorphs.

I would do anything to play in this campaign, it looks simple, and I might even try it at some point, following the plot progression of the books themselves.

[Jayngfet]

the thralls should get a DC25 or so will save, if not higher, and I believe theres an andilite stat block on this site under homebrew from months ago if it helps...

[Callista]

"Not evil", huh? Considering that it would be easy enough to build a robotic body for a Yeerk--controlled by those ultrasonics they use to navigate, probably--I'd say they are. Of course, some individuals wouldn't be--I'd peg 'em at "Usually Evil"... Cultural evil, kinda like Orcs.

Anyway. With the Will saves, I'd suggest changing the save for every day: For example, DC 40 on day 1, DC 30 on day 2, DC 20 on day 3. Another option: Instead of flat DCs, make them modifiers to the Yeerk's opposed Will save--creating a contest between Yeerk and host. And, of course, you'd have to make a Will save every round. Only when it got to the point that you couldn't possibly lose a contest (or you've somehow intimidated the Yeerk into not trying) could you walk around with one in your brain without being in danger of getting your body hijacked.

Also, kudos for the idea. I'm a big Animorphs fan.

[SoD]

Just a note (I used to be totally into animorphs!) from memory a select few of the Yeerks were against the whole idea of enslaving the race, and trying to bring them down, the others definatly didn't hate what they were doing, it wasn't that they enjoyed it, it was just what they had to do. I pictured them as ''I'm just doing my job. It's not my fault if I *c0cks rifle* love it.''. Definatly mostly evil, by the books.

I'd also say that they can infect anyone with a brain. Therefore: vampires: yes. Zombies: no. Tarassque: yes, although controlling it for a (half hour or so, wasn't it?) however long every few days would be a difficulty. Gelatinous Cube: no. Etc, etc, etc.

[Zincorium]

I'd also say that they can infect anyone with a brain. Therefore: vampires: yes. Zombies: no. Tarassque: yes, although controlling it for a (half hour or so, wasn't it?) however long every few days would be a difficulty. Gelatinous Cube: no. Etc, etc, etc.

Vampires don't have anything resembling a normal metabolism, a yeerk would probably be unable to survive there.


As far as the tarrasque goes: constant rotation. Have a yeerk heading in to relieve the previous one before the span elapses. From what I remember of the books, there doesn't seem to be an impediment to doing it this way.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Vampires don't have anything resembling a normal metabolism, a yeerk would probably be unable to survive there.

As far as the tarrasque goes: constant rotation. Have a yeerk heading in to relieve the previous one before the span elapses. From what I remember of the books, there doesn't seem to be an impediment to doing it this way.It generally takes a while for a new yeerk to take control,(maybe an hour) plus they're backstabbers by profession. Neither of the 2 would trust the other one in their host.

[hewhosaysfish]

The Level 20 wizards will fight the yeerks, of course, but there's not much a Grease spell can do against a friggen battleship capable of destroying chunks of a planet. Battlefield control spells become pretty mundane, a fireball stands literally no chance of damaging a blade ship or a bug fighter... pretty much all the level 20 mages can do is win 1v1 fights against yeerks.

And that's not how wars are won.

If your hypothetical Wizard were attacking the Evil Overlord's castle, how would he do it? Would he cast Grease on the walls and hope they slip and fall over? Would he throw Fireballs at it until his 10d6 halfed-versus-objects subtract-the-hardness burned through the stonework?
Or would he Teleport in, Cloudkill the throne room, drop a Delayed Blast Fireball down the Evil Overlord's pants and Teleport out again?
Even if he doesn't want to get all Batman, he can Fly over the castle raining death on the Legions of Doom or sneak in Invisibly and put Trap the Soul on the Overlord's favourite nosering. He doesn't just try to batter the walls with his head!

[FatherMalkav]

For al the worries about Detect Thoughts/Alignent, in the BoVD (at least I think its that oce) there is a chapter on possession and how possessing fiends hide their nature behind their hosts mind. It may be worth a look if you happen to have the book.

I love this idea, much like the rest of the thread. I think I'll sggest it to my DM. :smallbiggrin:

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The Level 20 wizards will fight the yeerks, of course, but there's not much a Grease spell can do against a friggen battleship capable of destroying chunks of a planet. Battlefield control spells become pretty mundane, a fireball stands literally no chance of damaging a blade ship or a bug fighter... pretty much all the level 20 mages can do is win 1v1 fights against yeerks.

And that's not how wars are won.

Actually, the wizard will cast transmute metal to wood on the battleship then laugh as the air pressure from the inside makes it burst.

In addition, the 20th level wizard can ready an autotwinned Gate spell. When the battleship tries to fire, the wizard opens a Gate right before the beam then another gate to the same plane right behind the battleship. The beam will enter the first Gate, travel on that outer plane and exit through the second Gate, hitting the battleship from behind.

And here's the serious combat stuff:


The wizard Ghostforms then applies improved invisibility. He can no longer be harmed by ANY nonmagical attack. He teleports within Battleship. He transmutes rock to mud. Battleship bursts. He repeats 3-4 more times.

He shapechanges into a Pyroclastic Dragon. The Pyroclastic Dragon's breath is a line that forces a reflex save or result in instant disintegration. The wizard-still ghostformed and thus immune to nonmagical attacks-proceeds to teleport a few more times close to enemy battleships and use his Disintegrating Breath. The battleships can't make reflex saves vs magical attacks as they are nonmagical objects. Thus a single breath means a 100 ft long line of them is disintegrated with either explosive decompression or reactor meltdown following, depending on what systems have been compromised.

The wizard has naturally used an Astral Projection from some safe haven. This not only means that he can't die at all but that the items he uses (such as scrolls and wands) are actually copies made by the spell and he doesn't expend the real ones. As a result, he can repeat the Astral travel 5 times per rest and reuse his scrolls, wands and rods that many times per rest.

In conclusion, a 20th level wizard can laugh at anything nonmagical including energy beam weapons and account for a few dozen enemy spaceships per rest-or about 100 enemy spaceships per day. Now, how many 20th level enemy wizards are there in the planet?

[Bogardan_Mage]

It generally takes a while for a new yeerk to take control,(maybe an hour)
During which time the host is incapacitated. Although the Yeerk doesn't get full control of the host, the host doesn't either. It just lies there, pretty much.


plus they're backstabbers by profession. Neither of the 2 would trust the other one in their host.
Nonsense, Yeerks are perfectly capable of cooperation. Indeed, pretty much nothing they ever did would have been possible if they hadn't cooperated to do it. In their natural state they are utterly helpless, they need to be supplied with a host by some external hand.

That said, I don't see why it should be assumed Tarrasques are suitable for infestation. Yeerks can't infest just anything.

[Cuddly]

Well, to start off, you need to think of a reason why the moment the Yeerks find this place they won't just call in their whole empire and take the place in a day. Besides having the best host bodies ever (Dragon, Cloud Giant, Tarrasque, yes please!) the temptation behind magic is going to be immense. There's the little things: Yeerk necromancers with hordes of of insubstantial undead, a host of useful divinations, Teleport, etc. Then there's the big stuff, like how the Yeerk would respond to planar travel. What's any Yeerk going to think of when he finds out there are infinite planes of undying bodies available? What happens when the Yeerks find out Gods are real? Honestly, why wouldn't the Yeerks just jump all over this place the moment they found out about magic?

Worse, what happens when the big players on your world find out about this. How will the level 20 wizards, the infinite hordes of the outer planes, the Mind Flayers and the other big powers of your world react. Because some of these things aren't going to be Yeerk prey, they have a real shot of eating the Yeerks right up and taking their fancy starships for their own. And that's a pretty big temptation.

I think this has potential but it needs to be done with care, otherwise your players are going to have problems believing it. The way I would run it is that Visser Twenty Seven or some other low ranking Yeerk military commander was dispatched to conquer this world. He's found out a bit about magic, at least enough to know how valuable it is. He sees a shot to make his career on this (kinda of like Visser Three capturing an Andalite) but he's also seen enough of magic to hesitate about any overt actions, especially since his forces are very limited and calling for backup would alert the Yeerk command to how valuable this world really is. Therefore he's cautiously checking out the situation, acquiring any information or items related to magic, and slowly deploying Yeerks around the edges of society. This would continue quietly until our Visser had acquired enough knowledge about magic, and established some decent protections against it, for him to pursue an aggressive strategy of conquest, meaning lots of Yeerks infecting the most valuable host bodies either through typical action or covert force. Of course, the PCs will interfere at some point (because that's what PCs do), probably working to investigate and uncover the Yeerk threat during the early levels and then fighting off the invaders once they're fairly mid-high level.

I'd skip the whole "alien scouting us" thing to "zomg, fullscale invasion!" complete with dominated cloud giants and Tarrasques. And orbital bombardment. You now have a reason to throw every single powerful monster in every book at the players in the most brutal combinations you can.

Oh man, I'm getting ideas for a high level campaign already....

[Feralgeist]

another way they can do it is by subterfuge....you don't know who's a yeerk, because there are no "detect yeerk" spells, and since the enslavement is non-magical, the victim does not appear to be under any enchantment effect

[hewhosaysfish]

another way they can do it is by subterfuge....you don't know who's a yeerk, because there are no "detect yeerk" spells, and since the enslavement is non-magical, the victim does not appear to be under any enchantment effect

Detect Thoughts?