Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Spider changeling
Dumpshock Forums > Discussion > Shadowrun
Nerdynick
Okay, so I'm looking to make a spider-based changeling, looking something along the lines of D&D driders or 40k's Sarpedon (pic here: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ch...r_Sarpedon.jpg). How would I do this inside the rules?
ShadowDragon8685
I wouldn't, because that thing would be exterminated with the most extreme prejudice imaginable within approximately three seconds of the GM receiving a description of it.

Because fucking nobody likes Bug Spirits, yo. Not even Spider Spirits.


Also, I think Shapeshifters shapeshifting is an all-or-nothing proposition. No spider-taurs.
EKBT81
QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685 @ May 15 2013, 07:17 AM) *
Also, I think Shapeshifters shapeshifting is an all-or-nothing proposition. No spider-taurs.

I guess the OP may have meant "changeling" as the colloquial SR term for SURGE-afflicted, not as a shapeshifter.

Although I pretty much agree with you about the in-setting reactions to such a character.
SpellBinder
Also agreed. Many people lump insects and arachnids together, usually out of ignorance and the fact that they often look quite similar.

Even the changeling negative trait Insectoid Features, which may be as minor as compound eyes, can draw hostile reactions from people.
sk8bcn
I must say I imagine shapeshifters to be animals, not insects.
Mantis
Yeah if this going to be a PC, I just wouldn't do it. Too much negative reaction from people that have seen the horrors of bug spirits. If you want it as an NPC of some sort, just make it a free spirit that takes that form materialized and if it needs to be some sort of baddy for the characters to fight, well you can still use a spirit or else use the rules for mutated critters from Running Wild and tag some abilities on it that make it what you want.

sk8bcn, I think what you mean is shapeshifters are mammals as insects are also animals.
sk8bcn
yes, my bad.
bannockburn
Step 1: Start with a Nartaki
Step 2: Get a couple extra arms (Shiva Arms quality for your SURGE cocktail)
Step 3: Elongated Limbs
Step 4: Dermal Deposits to mimic chitinous exoskeleton
Step 5: Setae (for climbing walls)
Step 6: Natural Venom and / or Corrosive Spit optional. Add Fangs of the mandibular variety for extra freak factor (or take insectoid features)
Step 7: Extravagant Eyes. Emphasis on extra. Can be combined with 360° Eyesight.
Step 8: Unusual Hair.
Step 9: Add Spidersilk Gland bioware at opportune location.
Step 10: ????
Step 11: Profit!

Being shot in the face within 3min of play, most likely by your new comrades to be? Priceless.
Nerdynick
Sorry, to clear things up, this is an npc I'm going to be sending pcs against when they go to Chicago for a brief jaunt. I figured I didn't want to do the guy as a spirit because all the other enemies are spirits and none of them are half-humanoid.

And if I looked like that, I certainly wouldn't stick around any place *but* Chicago.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
I am currently playing such a character, made in pretty much the style Bannockburn indicated (human, though, instead of Nartaki, and he has some ware). There are a few differences. And yes, He really does go to great lengths to hide what he is, because the prejudice is so very high (though, ironically, he craves human contact, lest he go insane from seclusion). He is pretty much forced to live on the streets, and he does not have any SIN's, fake or otherwise, and really only has a very few things that he owns, because he has to be willing to move at a moments notice. He sneaks wherever he goes, and only has a very few friends willing to look beyond the freak that he is. But he is a lot of fun to play, even if he is a challenge to play. smile.gif

Damned Comet...
Nerdynick
QUOTE (Tymeaus Jalynsfein @ May 15 2013, 08:01 AM) *
Damned Comet...


Worst. Day. Ever.
bannockburn
QUOTE (Nerdynick @ May 15 2013, 03:05 PM) *
Worst. Day Year. Ever.


FTFY wink.gif
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (bannockburn @ May 15 2013, 06:18 AM) *
FTFY wink.gif


Damn, Ninja'd. smile.gif
bannockburn
Sorry, I'm pretty deep (read: around 20.000 words) in the changeling stuff right now, and I needed to point it out wink.gif

Worth noticing though: There are changeling communities in most major cities (including Chi-Town), so even such freaks can find people that are a bit more understanding about their deformities. Not necessarily instantly trusting, but also maybe not of the shoot first, ask questions later persuasion.
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (bannockburn @ May 15 2013, 06:28 AM) *
Sorry, I'm pretty deep (read: around 20.000 words) in the changeling stuff right now, and I needed to point it out wink.gif

Worth noticing though: There are changeling communities in most major cities (including Chi-Town), so even such freaks can find people that are a bit more understanding about their deformities. Not necessarily instantly trusting, but also maybe not of the shoot first, ask questions later persuasion.


No worries...

This is true... though in my character's case, he is unwilling to extend too much trust too quickly (Even Freaks tend to be hard on "Insect Spirits" and the like, though they MAY give you a chance before they pull the trigger). He stays to the (far) fringes of society for his contact, and he is always cloaked when on those fringes, to at least conceal what he is. And he always knows how to get out of a place he enters, before he enters it. He has a FEW people he would call friends, but they can be numbered on one hand. He is a professional thief/infiltration specialist archetype. He is a Fun character to play.
ShadowDragon8685
QUOTE (Nerdynick @ May 15 2013, 09:05 AM) *
Worst. Day. Ever.


That day also gave us uninhibited flesh-and-blood catgirl pornstars. I'd call it a wash.
bannockburn
Since when is that good? o_O
ShadowDragon8685
QUOTE (bannockburn @ May 15 2013, 12:04 PM) *
Since when is that good? o_O


Since, like, ever! Duh!
Stahlseele
"Catgirls are Proof that the Gods want us to be happy!"
bannockburn
I say thee nay. wink.gif
Kittens. Yes. Girls. Most definitely yes. The combination thereof is unholy.
Mantis
Says the guy that came up with a way to make a drider changeling.
bannockburn
A what now?
Stahlseele
a drider is a spider centaur.
which is easy enough to do in SR4, just take a normal centaur, give him 4 additional legs instead of arms through surge and call it a day more or less . .
Mantis
QUOTE (bannockburn @ May 15 2013, 04:51 AM) *
Step 1: Start with a Nartaki
Step 2: Get a couple extra arms (Shiva Arms quality for your SURGE cocktail)
Step 3: Elongated Limbs
Step 4: Dermal Deposits to mimic chitinous exoskeleton
Step 5: Setae (for climbing walls)
Step 6: Natural Venom and / or Corrosive Spit optional. Add Fangs of the mandibular variety for extra freak factor (or take insectoid features)
Step 7: Extravagant Eyes. Emphasis on extra. Can be combined with 360° Eyesight.
Step 8: Unusual Hair.
Step 9: Add Spidersilk Gland bioware at opportune location.
Step 10: ????
Step 11: Profit!

Being shot in the face within 3min of play, most likely by your new comrades to be? Priceless.

Basically a drider changeling, what the OP was asking for.
bannockburn
Ah. Thanks, that word was unknown to me.

Also, it is unholy, too wink.gif
Lantzer
QUOTE (Nerdynick @ May 15 2013, 01:00 PM) *
Sorry, to clear things up, this is an npc I'm going to be sending pcs against when they go to Chicago for a brief jaunt.


Ah, then. Building him is easy. Decide what you want him to be able to do. Give him reasonable dice pools to do it.

What? No-one said every NPC has to be built the hard way.
Umidori
Some of us pride ourselves on being able to make fully legal NPCs, though. Sure, a GM can always fudge the rules, especially for Rule of Fun, but if there's a way to make them 100% undeniably legit? That's a challenge some of us relish.

Of course, I can tell you from firsthand experience, it's not always possible to get what you want. Like an escaped clonal cyborg NPC who has a sort of symbiotic relationship with a free Spirit of Man (they helped each other escape their respective captors/masters). In this case, the cyborg is SINless, evading corporate recovery, and suffering from severe cultural and social ineptitude, so she has no realistic access to the specialized nutrient baths that jarheads require regularly in addition to their physical maintenance. The workaround I went with is that the spirit knows the Nutrition spell and uses it to "feed" her brain, which falls outside of the regular boundaries of the respective rules for cyborgs and this spell, so it annoys me, but I consider it acceptable.

~Umi
Lantzer
It's an interesting philosphy, and one I used to maintain. At some point I had to wonder though... What's the point? At first I tried to make NPCs on the same points as the PCs. But that was kind of an artificial restraint (and sometimes boost) that was inappropriate for many scenarios. Later, I built NPCs to do a job, and used points to get a feel for how powerful they were. These days, I have a good feel for how powerful they are from their dice pools, and know the reasonable ranges for a desired power level for those dice pools, so I skip the middle man and make them a lot faster and use a lot less paper to record them.

The character generation system is there to ensure that the PCs are roughly equivalent in overall power with each other. The rest of the world is staffed by NPCs who may be more or less powerful, and more or less specialized. Very few of them care about their point totals, because they are all played by me and don't suffer from inter-NPC OOC jealousy.
hermit
QUOTE
Worth noticing though: There are changeling communities in most major cities (including Chi-Town), so even such freaks can find people that are a bit more understanding about their deformities. Not necessarily instantly trusting, but also maybe not of the shoot first, ask questions later persuasion.

I kind of doubt the Changelings in chicago would be very accepting of things with insectoid features either. Atb the very least, they'd have their dual fellows assense that guy hard, and he'd probably be met with suspicion anyway. Because, you know, bugs. And they might very well just shoot too. Just because they're different doesn't mean they're suicidally tolerant, after all.
sk8bcn
QUOTE (Umidori @ May 16 2013, 04:12 AM) *
Some of us pride ourselves on being able to make fully legal NPCs, though. Sure, a GM can always fudge the rules, especially for Rule of Fun, but if there's a way to make them 100% undeniably legit? That's a challenge some of us relish.


Never imagined that. Either as GM and PC, I wouldn't care about it (as long as it seems possible).
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (hermit @ May 17 2013, 01:28 AM) *
I kind of doubt the Changelings in chicago would be very accepting of things with insectoid features either. Atb the very least, they'd have their dual fellows assense that guy hard, and he'd probably be met with suspicion anyway. Because, you know, bugs. And they might very well just shoot too. Just because they're different doesn't mean they're suicidally tolerant, after all.


Exactly... smile.gif
Mongoose
Is there some reason the guy needs to be a changeling? Why not some dude who had a fancy "wheel chair" he made up for bug hunting? Lots of ways to loose your legs in Chicago...
ShadowDragon8685
QUOTE (Mongoose @ May 17 2013, 12:35 PM) *
Is there some reason the guy needs to be a changeling? Why not some dude who had a fancy "wheel chair" he made up for bug hunting? Lots of ways to loose your legs in Chicago...


You'd have to be a a fucking moron to get yourself a set of fake spider-legs in Chicago.
Mongoose
And yet there's a whole gang named "the spiders"...

If you are such a badass that you can survive in solo deep inside a bug infested zone, it doesn't matter much what other people think of how you look. Nobody around to see you.

And by "wheel chair", I meant some form of vehicle that acted as legs. Not implants, or at very most a modular implant, and very obviously mechanical. Need to go somewhere you might be seen and people can't tell robots from bugs? Fine, you put on you "social contact" gear.
hermit
QUOTE
And yet there's a whole gang named "the spiders"...

Who ... are from Seattle?

QUOTE
If you are such a badass that you can survive in solo deep inside a bug infested zone, it doesn't matter much what other people think of how you look. Nobody around to see you.

If someone sees you, it will matter. Because someone will then shoot you.

QUOTE
And by "wheel chair", I meant some form of vehicle that acted as legs. Not implants, or at very most a modular implant, and very obviously mechanical. Need to go somewhere you might be seen and people can't tell robots from bugs? Fine, you put on you "social contact" gear.

And maintainance of this custom vehicle/cyber-thing is done by ... dust and wind?
bannockburn
After a few more thoughts on the matter: This might really depend on the faci-ness (yes, it's a word now, shut up Whedon) of the spiderguy.
Imagine a dude, SURGEing in the CZ. He kinda looks like an eight-legged freak now and fears for his life. But he is charismatic and daring stories of 'Spiderman' of beloved comic fame but with a freakish twist start making their rounds.
After all, spiders eat insects, do they not?
Could be a local hero, even biggrin.gif
hermit
And ever since Serious Sam Sam Verner roundhouse-kicked Spider, it's been a respectable, if creepy, Totem.
Stahlseele
Man-Spider . . now that one is actually pretty easy to do . .
Tymeaus Jalynsfein
QUOTE (Stahlseele @ May 17 2013, 01:47 PM) *
Man-Spider . . now that one is actually pretty easy to do . .


Indeed, the character I am playing is a Man-Spider rather than a Drider style surge.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Dumpshock Forums © 2001-2012