These are the sci-fi races I was developing for my 54 Sci-Fi game. I was trying to cover most of the basic "playable" stereotypes I could think of.
Ancient
Also known as Titans, the ancients are a race of highly evolved humanoids that reached their apex during Earth’s early history. In fact some ancients are believed to have influenced humanity and may be the kernel of truth behind many ancient culture’s gods, such as the Greek and Egyptian gods.
Physical Traits
Ancients have a wide variety of frames, though they tend to be athletic in nature. Some appear to be completely human, but most ancients have some unnatural features ranging from unusual skin (covered in scales, feathers or the like) or features that appear animalistic in nature (and may resemble known or unknown animals). Height ranges from 6’ 3” up to 8’ tall. Females tend to be a few inches shorter. Average weight is around 300-550 lbs., with females about 1/3 lighter.
Ancients have many different skin tones, though they tend towards earthy browns or greens. Albinism is possible, but exceptionally rare, making up less than 1% of the population. Ancients may or may not have hair, and may even sport other materials besides hair. Hair can be any color imaginable, but tends towards metallic colors when present. Ancients may have from one to a dozen eyes, sometimes in unusual places.
Culture
Ancients often cluster into clans who tend to share a common appearance and culture. Ancient clans are as likely to be matriarchal as patriarchal, and in many cases consist of an oligarchy instead of being ruled by a single individual.
Most ancients keep lesser beings as slaves to tend to their needs, allowing the ancients to pursue psychic or intellectual pursuits. They tend towards decadance, but a rare few ancient clans are progressive in nature, seeking to expand and improve their race’s knowledge.
Racial Traits
Vision: Standard
Speed: Standard
Ability Modifiers: +1 to Discipline Aptitude, -1 to Melee or Ranged Combat.
Skills: Discipline (Psionics) R1, Knowledge (Any One) R1, Language (Ancient) R3, Language (Galactic) R2
Naturally Psionic: Once a scene, an Ancient may reuse a psionic power that is normally limited to once per scene with no consequences.
No Psionic Prohibition: You ignore psionic prohibitions due to your profession or specialty.
Decadent: Up to once per scene, when faced with the option to indulge in a vice, the game master can choose to require you to make a Presence check. On a failure, you must spend an action each turn to indulge in the vice until you succeed the check or the scene ends.
Bioengineering Prohibition: An ancient cannot take ranks in Discipline (Bioengineering).
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Cathe
Reminiscent of humanoid cats, cathe are aggressive, honor-bound creatures with a taste for war. They enjoy the hunt and combat with opponents who test their skill.
Physical Traits
Cathe tend to have lithe frames that are sleek and agile. Height ranges from 5’ 9” to 6’ 1”, with females being usually an inch or less shorter. Average weight is around 145-190 lbs., with females about 30-45 lbs. lighter.
Cathe tend have fur-covered bodies that range from pitch black, gray and white to a deep umber color. “Hunter” breeds are often marked with stripe-like patches, “purebreeds” tend towards a single coloration such as black, gray, white or orange, while “mongrel” breeds often sport spots, sockings, color variations or patterns. Eyes tend to be gray, green or yellow and have cat-like slits.
Male cathe do not grow beards, but may instead grow manes that they groom as a symbol of status and leadership.
Culture
There are two major groups in cathe society; common cathe are pooled into a work force with little distinction between “breeds”, other than a slight condensation towards “mongrel” cathe. Above this common pool are cadres that are filled with the ranks of like-minded predatory cathe. These cadres often only adopt cathe of a certain “breed”. These cathe fill both the warrior and elite ruling class of the culture.
Cathe are driven by a strong devotion to personal honor. They greatly prize working through adversity to accomplish their goals and place little value on something that is not earned through trial and/or tribulation of some sort. Friendships are often marked with friendly rivalry, though families are often expected to staunchly stand beside their kin through thick and thin, providing aid and most especially comfort in difficult times. While families will heartily support blood members, they are careful not act in a manner that brings dishonor or removes the glory of struggle from any endeavor a cathe undertakes, though moral support and/or mitigation of the more unpleasant aspects of a struggle or crisis is allowed.
Racial Traits
Vision: Low-light
Speed: Normal
Ability Modifiers: +1 Dexterity, -1 Intelligence.
Skills: Acrobatics (Balance) R1, Language (Cathe) Ranks = ½ Int, Language (Galactic) Ranks = 1/3 Int, Perception (Listen, Spot) R0, Weapon Skill (Natural) R1
Athletic: Once per scene, when making a Melee or Strength-based skill check, cathe may draw an extra card from the top of their deck for an extra success.
Natural Attack: Cathe have a natural Claw attack. Attack +4/Damage +1.
Honorbound: Up to once per scene, when an individual makes a disparaging remark directed at you or your companions, the game master may require you to make a Presence check. On a failure, you must take an action to force the individual to apologize and/or pay for the insult. You must continue to act until restitution is made, you make the check or the scene ends.
Mutation Prohibition: A cathe cannot take ranks in Discipline (Mutation).
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Chimerae
Chimerae are a race of reptilian humanoids whom are known for their mastery of bioengineering.
Physical Traits
Chimerae have a wide range of heights and body frames due their use of bioengineering. Various individuals are engineered for specific life-duties, and their appearance is molded to best carry out that life-duty. Chimerae can range from as little as 3’ tall to over 7’ 6”. Females tend to be about 20% shorter than comparative males. Like height, a chimerae’s weight depends on their breeding specialization and runs the gamut from as little as 30 lbs. to over 500 lbs.
Chimerae generally have scaly skin and lizard-like heads, but a few breeds of chimerae have tough, hide-like skin and/or crocidilian heads. All chimerae sport a tail, though the length and thickness of the tail depends on the breed’s job function; combatic chimerae tend to have stubs whereas dextrous chimerae tend to have long, slim tails and “noble” or diplomatic chimerae tend to have long, thick tails that can be used for a wide variety of means. The rarest of chimerae breeds resemble snakes, though such breeds possess arms but have a snake-like lower section.
Chimerae are incapable of growing beards, but many breeds often sport horns or decorative frills that are groomed and decorated like various human hair styles.
Culture
Chimerae are born in specially engineered clutches whom are all designed to perform a specific “life job”. Each chimerae clutch forms a sort of family bond in which all members are raised, trained and mated for life. A given clutch has about 2-6 members – the numbers are always initially an even number, with one male and female pair. Likewise, not all the members are blood related.
Because chimerae are trained for a life job, they tend to be very focused and good at what they do. They are rarely disdainful towards other chimerae, though competition between clutches with the same life job is not only common, but encouraged.
Unfortunately, because of the “life job” all chimerae are born into, cross-training or delving outside of one’s life job is frowned upon. Though it is rare that a chimerae may be “repurposed” to learn another life job (usually to fill in a needed gap caused by a death), it is considered shameful and degrading to be diverted from one’s original intent.
Even so, there are a rare few “perverts” among chimerae society who seek to broaden their knowledge or skills willingly. Such individuals face ostrazation, ridicule and possibly even legal repercussions for daring to go beyond the bounds of their life path.
Racial Traits
Vision: Low-light
Speed: Normal
Ability Modifiers: +1 to any one, -1 to any one
Skills: Discipline (Bioengineering) R1, Knowledge (Any one) or Craft (Any One) R1, Language (Chimerae) Ranks = ½ Int, Linguisitics (Galactic) Ranks = 1/3 Int, Perception (Spot, Smell) R0, Weapon (Natural) (R0)
Hyperspecialization: Once per scene, when making a skill check based on your Life Job skill, you can draw an extra card from the top of your deck for an extra success.
Life Job: Choose one subskill (except Armor, Endurance or Evade). You gain Rank 2 in the skill. You may increase the skill up to Rank 4 at character generation.
Natural Attack (Bite): You have a natural attack of Attack +4/Damage +1 or Attack +2/Damage +3 (+draw for extra wound).
Small (Optional): You gain a +1 bonus to Dexterity, but take a -1 penalty to Strength. You have -1 wound. Cannot be taken with Large.
Large (Optional): You gain a +1 bonus to Strength and a +1 bonus to Resistance. You draw an extra card to deal damage. You require double the normal amount of food and water. You also take a –1 penalty to Defense and Dexterity. Cannot be taken with Small.
No Bioengineering Prohibition: You ignore Bioengineering Prohibitions due to your profession or speciality.
Cybernetic Prohibition:You cannot take ranks in Discipline (Cybernetics).
Bounds of Life: Choose 3 Skills at character generation. You cannot take ranks in those 3 skills.
Clutchborn: Up to once per scene, when attempting to perform the same skill check as another individual who is not part of your birth clutch, the gamemaster can require you to make a Presence check. On a failure, you must act in an adversarial manner towards the individual, such as attempting to outdo or sabotage their efforts. This lasts until you succeed at the Presence check or the scene ends.
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Cyberhomid
Cyberhomids are a race of machines who have become sentient. Logical and efficient, they continually seek to make sense of the universe and improve their own nature.
Physical Traits
Cyberhomids have a wide variety of frames, each specialized for their specific mission. Soldiers tend have imposing, armored frames while Scienctists are often slim, lithe and unimposing. Height ranges from 5’ 10” upwards to 7’. Cyberhomids are sexless, though their frame, personality and voice can be modified to appear more masculine or feminine.
Cyberhomids have a steel and ceramic skeletal-like frame, though those units designed to interact with other races can have their chassis modified to appear to be that of a living creature.
Culture
Cyberhomids are part of a collective, with each individual programmed for a specific task within the collective. This collective is not race-wide, and there are many collectives, some of which vie violently against each other. All cyberhomids have built in transcievers that allow them to “mentally” communicate with others within their collective.
As a general rule, cyberhomids are disdainful towards other living creatures, though certain units are programmed to sympathize with and interact with certain life forms when the collective determines that such life forms have useful resources or information that the collective can benefit from.
Rogue cyberhomids are possible, but they must keep their rogue status somehow secret from other cyberhomids within their former collective lest they be hunted down to be returned to the collective and properly reprogrammed.
Racial Traits
Vision: Lowlight
Speed: Enhanced
Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence, -3 Presence
Skills: Any one subskill R1, Endurance (Physical) R1, Language (Binary) Ranks = 1/3 Int, Language (Galactic) Ranks = ½ Int, Perception (Spot, Listen) R0
Machine: A cyberhomid is immune to poison and does not need to eat, drink or breathe.
Natural Armor: A cyberhomid has a natural armor of +3. A cyberhomid may choose to give up 1 point of natural armor for a +1 bonus to any one skill. This choice must be made at character creation and cannot later be changed.
Transciever: A cyberhomid can communicate with any other cyberhomid in its collective at up to Long range. You do not need to play a card or expend a power point to use this ability. This is otherwise considered a Rank 1 Cybernetic power.
No Cybernetic Prohibition: You ignore cybernetic prohibitions due to your profession or specialty.
Cold Logic: Up to once per scene, when faced with a decision between an emotional response and a rational choice, the game master can require a Presence check. On a failure, you must choose the rational course of action until you beat the difficulty or the scene ends.
Bioengineering Prohibition: A cyberhomid cannot take ranks in Discipline (Bioengineering).
Supernatural Prohibition: A cyberhomid cannot take ranks in Discipline (Supernatural).
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Deevi
Deevi are a race of bodiless souls that inhabit other beings to interact and experience the world around them. They are sometimes misidentified by primative cultures as demons or angels.
Physical Traits
In their natural form, deevi appear as a bright, star-like spark, only a few centimeters in diameter. The light is usually a sky blue color, but based on the “aura” of the deevi, can vary from a bloody crimson through a flourescent green to a pulsing black color.
Culture
Deevi do not generally congregate when in energy form though they have been known to organize secret societies once they have acquired a physical form.
Most deevi do not seek the permission of the host they intent to inhabit, nor do they share control of the body they possess. These deevi usurp the original possessor of the body, driving the original personality into a sort of coma while the deevi takes control.
There are a rare few deevi, however, who will not possess an individual without permission and may even take a “back-seat” to the individual’s consciousness, only providing suggestions and advice, taking over the body only when the individual is rendered unconscious or willingly gives control over to the deevi.
Racial Traits
Vision: Life sense
Speed: Fly Normal
Ability Modifiers: 0 Strength, +5 Presence.
Skills: Discipline (Supernatural) R1, Endurance (Mental) R1,
Language (Galactic) Ranks = ½ Int, Perception (Any one, Intuition) R0
Possess: Once per scene, a deevi can target an individual to possess. If the Deevi successfully persuades the target (via Diplomacy, Seduce, Intimidation or Torture), the deevi can inhabit the target’s body. The deevi gains the Strength, Dexterity, Speed, Vision and natural attacks (but not necessarily the skill to use said attacks) of the possessed creature and uses all of its own other abilities and skills. It cannot use any of the host’s disciplines or manuevers. Damage to a host body deals the same amount of damage to the deevi.
Host Body: You start with a basic host body that you are in possession of. You automatically win any attempts to possess your host body. You may abandon the host body to possess another, and return to the host body at another time if you so wish. You can expend experience to improve the host body (You cannot expend experience to improve other seized bodies). If you lose the basic host body or it is slain, you can replace it within 24 hours with another basic host body.
Humanoid Host
Medium Humanoid (Racial Type)
Str: 3♠
Dex: 3
♦ Int: 3♣
Pre: 3
♥
Mel: 1
Ran: 1
Disc: 1
Def: 1 (6
♦A5)
Res: 3
♥
Resolve: 3
Wounds: 1
Vision: Normal
Speed: Normal
Skills: Armor (Unarmored) (R0) 1, Evade (R0) 1, Endurance (R0) 3,
Language (Galactic) (R2) 5, Perception (Listen, Spot) R0, Weapon Group (Any one) (R1) 3
Attack: By weapon
Gear: Clothes, one weapon worth up to 10 credits
No Supernatural Prohibition: You ignore supernatural prohibitions due to your profession or specialty.
Insubstantial: When not possessing a body, you cannot wear or use items. Likewise, attacks directed against you automatically miss if the card used is a ♠ or a ♣.
Cybernetic Prohibition: A deevi cannot take ranks in Discipline (Cybernetics).
Eugenics Prohibition: A deevi cannot take ranks in Discipline (Eugenics).
Sensate: Up to once per scene, when confronted with a new experience, the game master can require you to make a Presence check. On a failure, you can spend no actions other to indulge in the new sensation until you succeed the check or the scene ends.
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Eloi
The eloi are a race of humanoids who have used genetic manipulation and breeding programs to produce a genetically enhanced and superior being. Unfortunately, they are sometimes blinded by their own arrogance and feelings of superiority to other races.
Physical Traits
Eloi males tend to have slim, yet athletic builds, with females have shapely, hourglass frames. The average male eloi between 6’ 1” to 6’ 5” tall, with females falling into a petite 5’ 2” to 5’ 7” tall. Males tend to weight 175 – 210 lbs., while females tend to be 100-135 lbs. in weight.
Eloi have a uniform, burnished bronze-like skin. All eloi have golden blonde hair and steel-blue eyes. Albinism or other genetic defects are absent in all eloi, and it is extremely rare for eloi to tolerate blemishes or scars acquired by accidents or through adventuring.
Eloi are incapable of growing beards and tend to treat those sporting beards or mustaches as being borderline feral creatures.
Culture
Eloi prize individualism and have little loyalty to one another, let alone other races. Adult members have little loyalty to former parents and child-rearing is treated more as an apprenticeship than done out of love.
Eloi continually seek self improvement in both physical and mental aptitudes. However, they loathe performing unskilled labor tasks, and prefer to hire other races or invent machines capable of handling such tasks.
Racial Traits
Vision: Standard
Speed: Standard
Ability Modifiers: +1 Intelligence, -1 Melee Combat
Skills: Discipline (Eugenics) R1,
Language (Galactic) Ranks = ½ Int (+1), Knowledge (Any one) R1, Perception (Any one, Spot) R0
Enhanced: At character generation, choose a primary ability and one secondary ability composed from the chosen primary ability. Once per scene, when making a skill check based on the chosen ability or secondary ability, you may draw an extra card from the top of your deck for an extra success.
Non-threatening: If you have not yet attacked in a combat or made a threatening gesture or speech, any opponent attempting to attack you must make a Presence check (
Diff 5 + your Presence + Diplomacy skill) to target you.
No Eugenic Prohibition: You ignore eugenic prohibitions due to your profession or specialty.
Superior Lifeform: Once per scene, when interacting with non-eloi, the game master may require you to make a Presence check. On a failure, you are treated as being untrained in the Persuasion skill and all subskills until you succeed the check or the scene ends.
Mutation Prohibition: An eloi cannot take ranks of Discipline (Mutation).
Gray
Masters of technology, this ancient race is on the decline, a victim of its own technology.
Physical Traits
Grays are thin and almost featureless, showing little muscle tone. They have slightly enlarged heads set on disturbingly thin, long necks. Height ranges from 4’ 1” to 4’ 3” with no distinction between males and females. Average weight is 65-75 lbs., again with no distinction between male or female.
Grays have stone-gray skin that it criss-crossed with a mazework of faintly visible black blood vessels. They are utterly hairless and their large eyes are black and pupiless.
Unlike most other races, though grays have sexual orientations of male or female, they do not display visible genitalia and reproduce by means of cloning.
Culture
Grays spend their waking lives pursuing intellectual pursuits, often focusing on developing new technologies. Unlike most other humanoids, grays dislike forming communities, and generally only gather into groups reluctantly.
Usually, those grays who do organize into larger groups will do so in the pursuit of the same goals or in developing new technologies.
Grays have no reason to form family bonds, and tend to have an emotional detachment towards other beings, though they may show great respect for other’s skills.
Gray communities are always led by a single authoritative individual, and most communities use technological or psychic means to monitor and regulate the thoughts of individuals within the community to suppress stray or “harmful” thoughts.
Racial Traits
Vision: Normal
Speed: Slowed
Ability Modifiers: +1 Dex, +1 Discp, -1 Strength.
Skills: Craft (Any one) R1, Knowledge (Any one) R1,
Language (Gray) Ranks = ½ Int,
Language (Galactic) Ranks = 1/3 Int, Perception (Spot, Touch) R0
Analytical: A gray is treated as having at least Rank 0 in any Intelligence-based skill.
Mental Giant: Once per scene, when making an Intelligence-based skill check, you may draw another card from the top of your deck to gain an extra success.
Detatchment: Once per scene, when another individual requests your assistance, the game master may require you to make a Presence check (
Diff 10 + drawn card). This check takes no action but cannot be performed more than once a turn. If you fail the check, you cannot spend any action to assist the individual until you make the check or the scene ends.
Bioengineering Prohibition: A gray cannot take ranks in Discipline (Bioengineering ).
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Morlock
The race known as morlocks have become over-exposed to strange radiations and harmful elements that has caused extreme mutation and instability among their race. It has also unfortunately caused mental regression among the race, sending them to a near feral existence and having caused them to lose much of the knowledge of the amazing technology they once possessed.
Physical Traits
Morlocks have a wide range of body frames, often including deformities that can sometimes barely make them even humanoid. Height usually ranges between 5’ 6” to 6’ 1” with little difference between males and females. Weight ranges widely, from as little as 120 lbs. to upwards of 500 lbs. or more.
Morlocks tend to have thick, leatherish gray skin, often pock-marked with lesions or sores. They tend to be hairless, but a lucky few have thick white hair. Some strains of morlocks are totally blind and devoid of eyes (with their other senses enhanced to compensate), while those who can see tend to have yellow or solid-black pupiless eyes.
Culture
Morlocks tend to live in clans based around a single family line. These clans desperately cling to the technological knowledge and marvels they possess and constantly seek out the chance to repair or replace their failing technology.
Morlocks are known for taking slaves, especially prizing those who are technically savvy. They are not above eating those who displease or are worthless to them.
Racial Traits
Vision: Normal
Speed: Slowed
Ability Modifiers: +1 Strength, Dexterity or Presence, -1 Intelligence
Skills: Athletics (Lift),
Language (Galactic) Ranks = 1/3 Int, Perception (Any two) R0, Weapon Skill (any one)
Controllable Mutation: Once per scene, a morlock can play a card from his hand instead of drawing from the top of the deck when activating a mutation.
Unstable Mutation: A morlock has one mutation of up to Rank 3. Once per game day, the morlock may swap the mutation out for another one of up to Rank 3. The morlock can use any card to activate the mutation.
No Mutation Prohibition: You ignore mutation prohibitions due to your profession or specialty.
Damaged Genes: Up to once per scene, when a morlock uses a mutation, the game master can require a Presence check. On a failure, one of your Primary ability scores (which matches the suit of a card drawn by the game master) drops to 1 until you succeed the check or the scene ends. The change to your primary ability score does not affect your secondary or tertiary abilities.
Eugenics Prohibition: A morlock cannot take ranks in Discipline (Eugenics).
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Veredun
In their natural form, veredun strongly resemble wolves. However, this predatory race is capable of assuming the shape of other humanoid races in order to mingle with their prey.
Physical Traits
Veredun, in their natural form, appear to be large timber wolves. They have an average length of about 5’ to 5’ 5” and are about 3’ to 3’ 3” tall at the shoulder. Average weight is around 250 –320 lbs. Females tend to be significantly smaller by about 1/3 in length/height and weight.
In their natural form, a veridun’s fur-covered body ranges in colors from gray, white, black or browns, with “noble” families often sporting a contrasting streak along the back or underbelly, or a “sock” contrasting color on the forepaws.
However, when among other creatures, veredun normally shapeshift to assume a form that blends in with the race they are hunting or deceiving. Veredun can alter their features slightly in humanoid form, but generally prefer to take on nondescript features so as to not draw attention to themselves and prefer to assume a constant disguise and false personality/background they use to hunt. However, significant scars, wounds and the like transfer from form to form, making a wounded or battle-scarred veredun somewhat easier to identify.
When a veredun attacks its prey, it generally uses it shapeshifting ability to assume a half-wolf, half-humanoid shape of frightening proportions that is primarily designed to frighten and keep prey off-guard. This form tends to exceed the average upper bounds of the humanoid race the veredun is stalking by a few inches and hundred pounds or so.
Culture
Veredun society is centered around an extended family known as a pack, with the oldest living members controlling the pack. Family members are expected to give their undying loyalty to the pack, and intrapack conflict is common.
Veredun packs constantly seek to improve their social position by subverting other humanoid groups for their resources, as well as maintaining large “herds” for use as food.
Most Veredun have utter contempt for other races, and only associate with other beings for the resources and opportunities they provide to thwart other veredun packs. Generally speaking, at the first opportunity, most Veredun will willingly turn on other races to devour them as food as soon as their usefulness is at an end. This also goes for Veridun who belong to a different pack, or in rare cases their own packs, when a member becomes too much of a liability.
Racial Traits
Vision: Low-light
Speed: Normal
Ability Modifiers: +1 Melee, -1 Ranged
Skills: Deception (Disguise) R1,
Language (Galactic) Ranks = ½ Int, Perception (Smell, Spot) R0, Weapon Skill (Natural) R1
Natural Armor: A veridun has a +1♣
Natural armor bonus. For every 15 XP, you can upgrade the armor bonus by +1, to a max of +3. (Minimal Hide à Light Hide à Hide).
Natural Attack: A veridun has a natural Claw attack of Att +4
♦/Dam +1
♦ and Maw attack of Att +2
♦/Dam +3
♦ (+draw card for additional wound).
Shapeshift: Once per scene, a veridun can change its appearance between that of a great wolf, a humanoid or a humanoid-wolf hybrid with a successful Deception (Disguise) check (
Diff 10). If the veridun wishes to make an additional change in a scene (including shifting its humanoid appearance), it takes a cumalative wound.
Great wolf form: +1 Dexterity, –1 Presence.
Hybrid form: +1 Strength, -1 Intelligence.
Humanoid form: No change.
Secondary and Tertiary abilities are not modified when a veredun shapeshifts.
Traitor: Up to once per scene, when another non-enemy individual fails a skill check, the game master may require the Veredun to make a Presence check. On a failure, you may not take an action to assist the individual and must instead attempt to thwart any action taken by the individual until you succeed the check or the scene ends.
Psionics Prohibition: A veredun cannot take ranks in Discipline (Psionics).
