Idea: Players as Non-Evil Half-Alien Invader Hybrids

[Leliel]

A "maverick" idea that's been swirling about my head for a while is one where the players, as the title suggests, take the role of alien abductees who were implanted with their DNA and abilities, but escaped with the help of a friendly ET. Now, other than keeping their true nature a secret, they have to beat the body snatching/shapeshifting infiltrators of society before they (the invaders), gain enough of a foothold to launch an effective full-scale fleet. Now...

Is this a good idea? What would be some good, non-ET ideas for antagonists? What abilities should the PCs half-alien status grant them? How loudly should I groan at the mention of a "phone home" joke?

Before we start, I should mention I took heavy inspiration from David Icke's "reptoid Illuminati" conspiracy theories while making this idea, so that might be something to read on Wikipedia.

"ET respond to thread".

[Hunter Noventa]

Perhaps an innate ability to detect invaders in disguise, along with an affinity for any advanced technology the aliens might have.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Use the Alienists(CArc). I don't care how, that class is just to flavorful not to use it in this campaign.

[Tengu]

This might be a good opportunity to include psionics in an otherwise core-caster filled world. Or a world without magic, not sure is this supposed to be DND, d20 modern or something else.

[MorkaisChosen]

Give 'em some kind of super-sense, maybe a really good sense of smell or a sense of kweng (kweng being a sense aliens have but we don't that allows them to detect biomass. Made up right now.). For some reason I just feel they should be able to gribble the life out of things- you know, tentacles and claws that can come out. Might not work...

[Prometheus]

Extraterrestrial or Extraplanar? Does it really make a difference? Oddly enough, I'd recommend making them extraterrestrial if you want their homeland to be unreachable, and extraplanar if you want it to be just difficult to reach.

Aliens should have at least one biological weakness and one strength. Perhaps they are allergic to a certain metal or a common food item, need a daily soaking in water, sleep for an extraordinarily large amount of time, are almost always the targets of lightening, are hated by animals, have no sense of hearing or something else. Maybe they don't need to eat, or don't need to drink, or don't need to breathe, they have an extra strong sense (as MorkaisChosen suggested), have a special method of movement (swim, fly, burrow, but also possibly treestride, or something more bizarre, like they can pass through silver), have an important immunity (widespread disease, certain school of magic, certain type of energy). These things make playing an alien, or half-alien unique, but more importantly, make them stand out as bizarre individuals.

The biggest question in my mind is why the characters don't expose the invaders for who they are? Even if it would put them at some bodily risk, you'd think that some lawful good characters would attempt it. More to the point, PCs have a tendency to derail important plot devices, and there has to be a reason why they don't or can't. Some Ideas:
-Aliens are sneaky: They can shapechange or turn invisible and their bodies disappear. They are incredibly manipulative and use humanoids as their agents. They take advantage of circumstance, rather than make any obvious moves.
-Aliens are heresy: Some powerful religious or ideological organization opposed the idea that there is life beyond this planet/plane. It makes their world unimportant, and God not necessarily a humanoid (humane?) one. Therefore, not only is talk of aliens crazy, its wrong.
-Aliens are waiting: For 9/10 of the game, the action is preventing a humanoid power from setting into motion the plan that lets the aliens swoop in and defeat the rest of the humanoids easily.

[Ascension]

Good half-aliens trying to prevent full aliens from invading? Sounds like a rough plot outline of Dragonball Z to me...

I definitely think the aliens should be shapeshifters, and good ones at that. The PCs can tell who they are, but they can't seem to convince anyone else that they're right, so they end up having to do all the work themselves.

I'm assuming this is a "modern" RPG? Or are we talking aliens in D&D fantasy land?

[Xuincherguixe]

Seems like a neat idea.

You might want to have different sorts of aliens too, that fulfill different roles. It might be some kind of interspecies alliance, they could have enslaved several, or could have done genetic engineering (either creating from nothing, or modifying an existing life form).

The players could be half-whatever's of any of those things. At the very least, it expands the list of things for them to slaughter.

The reason for the Alien invasion could be a very good one. All those evil things that threaten to destroy existence? They could be trying to keep the seals up, or eliminate them as threats. Knowing the unpredictable nature of humanity, it's understandable they'd want to keep them far away from said evils.


There should be some organization which absolutely refuses to acknowledge the existence of the alien threat. It declares the players insane, and is generally out to "get them". You have a choice of if they know the there is an alien threat and are out to get the players because they don't want to give up control, or they refuse to believe at all. They may or may not be being influenced by the aliens.

If the setting is more historical, they declare the party evil, cursed by god or the gods, and that they must be destroyed. If it's more modern, the party is insane. People who claim to have witnessed their abilities are also insane, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or lying. Also, many of them will feel obligated to cure the players of their insanity. You know, the kind they don't have.

Depending on how depressing you decide to make things, with sufficient proof you <em>might</em> be able to convince the organization that the aliens are real, or even when the ray guns start blowing up monuments they still deny their existence. The general populace may or may not buy it, depending on how depressing you make the game ("I may be getting abducted, but I know it's not by aliens. My leaders tell me aliens don't exist!")

And, in a bit of subversion, you can have some "conspiracy nuts". They might believe in aliens, but they've got a lot of it wrong. And, they're convinced the players are part of the threat. They are most likely to be a very diverse group, and likely not organized well at all. With a fair amount of infighting. Some of them may not be crazy. And since I've already established a precedent here, there may be sane people who have believe things which many might believe are insane. Feel free to mix things around a whole bunch so it becomes very difficult to know who to believe. An additional advantage to this is that it becomes harder to predict the plot.

The alien's may or may not be exerting influence on either or both of the groups. I say they shouldn't be, because it's pretty predictable. Yeah, none of what I've really suggested is anything terribly new, but it fits. No need to turn it into a total cliche though.


You could also one group of some sort that isn't really out to get them persay, they just keep happening across them. Let's say a mining company. Each time they come into contact with the mining company, they come under fire. For a different misunderstanding each time.
"WE DUG TOO DEEP! DEMONS ARE ATTACKING US!" (It helps if that actually happened)
"IT'S THE RIVAL COMPANY AGAIN TRYING TO SABOTAGE US!"
"IT'S GOVERNMENT INSPECTORS TRYING TO UNCOVER OUR ILLEGAL OPERATION!"
And so on.

[Randel]

Well, there is the Daelkyr Half-blood race from Magic of Eberron. They get a free symbiote that they grow from their flesh, but in exchange they need to have at least one on hand or take CON damage each day.


I had an idea for a house rule where they could create more symbiotes by consuming magic potions and growing a symbiote when the gp total of the potions used equals the recommended price of the symbiote, provided the half-blood could create the symbiote to use as its normal bonded symbiote (Magic of Eberron has a list of the symbiotes and their price for determining treasure)


Anyway, a list of possible alien powers:

1. can create monsters, or at least temporary ones. Maybe a variant of some summoning spells or the Astral Construct psychic power. In exchange they either need to be around the type of creatures they create or they might have to eat and drink more.

2. They can create weapons, tools, magic items, potions, or whatever it is the aliens use. They are supposed to be one of the aliens workers to produce supplies but have gone rogue. They need to regularly consume at least trace quantities of some substance (like gold ), and they need lots of food and more of that substance to create the weapons/tools/potions etc.

3. Some kind of spell-like ability or energy attack try looking at the various reserve feats for some ideas on abilities to give them.

4. The power to influence certain monster types. Perhaps an ability like Hide from Undead, or Suggestion that works on oozes or whatever the aliens use.

5. shapeshifting abilities.

[hewhosaysfish]

And, in a bit of subversion, you can have some "conspiracy nuts". They might believe in aliens, but they've got a lot of it wrong. And, they're convinced the players are part of the threat. They are most likely to be a very diverse group, and likely not organized well at all. With a fair amount of infighting. Some of them may not be crazy. And since I've already established a precedent here, there may be sane people who have believe things which many might believe are insane. Feel free to mix things around a whole bunch so it becomes very difficult to know who to believe. An additional advantage to this is that it becomes harder to predict the plot.

What about some a government agency that knows just enough to be dangerous: they know the PCs are weird hybrid things but don't know they're on the same side... Too cliche, the Men In Black?

On the flipside, you could have a group of mystic weirdos who believe the aliens have come to bring us enlightenment or transcendence, perhaps that they are not aliens but gods or spirits (or that ancient gods were actually aliens). They may or may not be receiving instructions from actual aliens.

You could also one group of some sort that isn't really out to get them persay, they just keep happening across them. Let's say a mining company. Each time they come into contact with the mining company, they come under fire. For a different misunderstanding each time.

Not necessarily for misunderstanding, just for some reason which has absolutely nothing to do with the alien invasion.

[Leliel]

Seems like a neat idea.

You might want to have different sorts of aliens too, that fulfill different roles. It might be some kind of interspecies alliance, they could have enslaved several, or could have done genetic engineering (either creating from nothing, or modifying an existing life form).

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. X-COM, here I come!

The reason for the Alien invasion could be a very good one. All those evil things that threaten to destroy existence? They could be trying to keep the seals up, or eliminate them as threats. Knowing the unpredictable nature of humanity, it's understandable they'd want to keep them far away from said evils.

I was thinking that they're invading so as to help gain the upper hand against another ET race that they're at war with. Sort of like the Skrull from Marvel, though I hadn't heard of them when I made this idea.

There should be some organization which absolutely refuses to acknowledge the existence of the alien threat. It declares the players insane, and is generally out to "get them". You have a choice of if they know the there is an alien threat and are out to get the players because they don't want to give up control, or they refuse to believe at all. They may or may not be being influenced by the aliens.

If the setting is more historical, they declare the party evil, cursed by god or the gods, and that they must be destroyed. If it's more modern, the party is insane. People who claim to have witnessed their abilities are also insane, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or lying. Also, many of them will feel obligated to cure the players of their insanity. You know, the kind they don't have.

Yep. Thought of that.

Depending on how depressing you decide to make things, with sufficient proof you <em>might</em> be able to convince the organization that the aliens are real, or even when the ray guns start blowing up monuments they still deny their existence. The general populace may or may not buy it, depending on how depressing you make the game ("I may be getting abducted, but I know it's not by aliens. My leaders tell me aliens don't exist!")

Thought of that too. Believe me, the citizens will not be stupid.

And, in a bit of subversion, you can have some "conspiracy nuts". They might believe in aliens, but they've got a lot of it wrong. And, they're convinced the players are part of the threat. They are most likely to be a very diverse group, and likely not organized well at all. With a fair amount of infighting. Some of them may not be crazy. And since I've already established a precedent here, there may be sane people who have believe things which many might believe are insane. Feel free to mix things around a whole bunch so it becomes very difficult to know who to believe. An additional advantage to this is that it becomes harder to predict the plot.

Got them too.

You could also one group of some sort that isn't really out to get them persay, they just keep happening across them. Let's say a mining company. Each time they come into contact with the mining company, they come under fire. For a different misunderstanding each time.
"WE DUG TOO DEEP! DEMONS ARE ATTACKING US!" (It helps if that actually happened)
"IT'S THE RIVAL COMPANY AGAIN TRYING TO SABOTAGE US!"
"IT'S GOVERNMENT INSPECTORS TRYING TO UNCOVER OUR ILLEGAL OPERATION!"
And so on.

Did not think of that. Sounds good though.

I like these ideas!