Movie STATS - Alien VS Predator

[Bauglir]

Makes sense. But then maybe they shouldn't be using invisibility technology and auto-targetting lasers.

I guess their honour is satisfied if the prey is able to fight or flee, it doesn't need to be a _fair_ fight. Particularly since individual predators seem to go after multiple prey.

Besides, even with all their technology, both of the predators in the movies ended up dead - so they must have been challenged.

 

[DM-Rocco]

It seems to me that the predators are basically like deer hunters. They sulk around in invisibility hunting thier foes, not targeting the weak ones, until they get one that disables the invisibility. Then they do a one on one honor fight. Yes, I realize that deer hunters are not invisible, thank god for that. Imagine a world with invisible drunk men running around with guns.


I just down loaded the pdf's, I will take a look at them later, but by all means, someone feel free to post some stats.

As for which should get the template, the alien or the host, I think it should be the host, although, if you think about it, either way gets the same result.

 

[Rel]

Imagine a world with invisible drunk men running around with guns.

This is a good sig line if ever I've seen one.

 

[Leopold]

Aside from that, I think that aliens as templates doesn't make a lot of sense. It is true that aliens inherit some of the DNA from their hosts, but that does not mean that the host becomes the alien. Instead, I think it makes the most sense to give certain modifiers based on the host creature. The host creature would actually be considered the template that would be added to the alien creature.

For example, an alien that gestates inside of a human would be the standard monster entry. One from a cougar might get quadruped (+10 feet to speed), +2 to Dex, +4 racial bonus to Balance checks. An alien from a house cat might get all f those things, but lack a racial hit dice and be one size smaller.

You remember aliens3? You remember how the host was a dog and the alien beast was hunched over traveling on all 4's?

Think of it this way: The alien creature is a reflection of the host but could not be completely like the host. IE: If it sprug from a cow it could be tougher with more horns and slower.

Your example about a house cat is valid. The alien who comes from human still is roughly the same size as a human. The one that comes from a cat would still be a small creature and thus not as fast nor as strong as one that came from a human.

The alien breeds with superior races and gets superior stats and abilities. Take one that comes from a dragon, imagine the power that it would yield from such a union?

Ovearall, as one of the people that helped dan mcallister with this project, that it was done over and over and hammered and sculpted with idea after idea until it made sense. This work took about a year to produce on the d20DM's mailing list. Dan is the inspiration and the driving force and we on the list helped mold it with all the knowledge from those that read the books to give it flavor to those that knew the rules to give it shape.

If you have a better idea, write it out and stat it up and send it to dan. He's all about compromise and will listen to any ideas but the template system works and made sense and we tweaked the living snot out of it to get it that way. Remember this is not something that we just sat around one day and done up. It took time and many people to come to make it look like that.

 

[Zephyrus]

The Aliens had a few basic types.. Drones, Runners, Queen, Alien-Predator Hyrbid and then their was a Warrior which was if I recall basically an evolved Drone.

My guess would be to make a basic 'Alien' based on humanoids. Then make small templates for different varients such as for a 'runner', queen, Predator-Hybrid, Dragon-Hybrid, etc...

 

[Leopold]

The Aliens had a few basic types.. Drones, Runners, Queen, Alien-Predator Hyrbid and then their was a Warrior which was if I recall basically an evolved Drone.

My guess would be to make a basic 'Alien' based on humanoids. Then make small templates for different varients such as for a 'runner', queen, Predator-Hybrid, Dragon-Hybrid, etc...

There are templates already for all that.

 

[dreaded_beast]

I remember reading one Alien comic book where there were aquatic versions of Aliens. Just take your standard alien and imagine it with a fish tail, and there you go. I assume these aliens came from impregnating fishes or aquatic creatures.

 

[Leopold]

I remember reading one Alien comic book where there were aquatic versions of Aliens. Just take your standard alien and imagine it with a fish tail, and there you go. I assume these aliens came from impregnating fishes or aquatic creatures.

Aliens can breed with anything as long as it can keep a host alive for a time being.

 

[Darrin Drader]

You remember aliens3? You remember how the host was a dog and the alien beast was hunched over traveling on all 4's?

Think of it this way: The alien creature is a reflection of the host but could not be completely like the host. IE: If it sprug from a cow it could be tougher with more horns and slower.

Your example about a house cat is valid. The alien who comes from human still is roughly the same size as a human. The one that comes from a cat would still be a small creature and thus not as fast nor as strong as one that came from a human.

Sorry if that came off as a dis. I've learned to take some harsh criticism and put it to use in my own work, but it is possible that its a little too easy for me to dish it out now. Like I said before, it is a good start.

As for the template issue, I agree that the two are related. However, despite the fact that the template states that the host creature is destroyed in the creation of the alien, that leaves a little too much room for interpretation. For example, how many hit dice does an alien start with? The host creature may or may not have had racial hit dice and most likely had class hit dice. Is the alien supposed to get these? Probably not, yet the template doesn't address this issue. If they are supposed to get them, why? Exactly how many hit dice should the alien get then? What about class and racial abilities? Again, the template doesn't state that these go away and leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

I agree that the alien's final form is to some extent determined by the creature that hosts it, which means that the host creature should actually be the template for the alien. You don't even have to do a separate template for each creature type. You can set up general guidelines that specify how the template works based on the host. You can say something like this - Size: the alien's size becomes the same as that of the host creature; - Special Attacks: The alien inherits any extradordinary special attacks of the host creature, and so on. The bottom line is that it isn't the host that the template is being applied to, its the alien itself.

 

[Leopold]

Sorry if that came off as a dis. I've learned to take some harsh criticism and put it to use in my own work, but it is possible that its a little too easy for me to dish it out now. Like I said before, it is a good start.

of course.

As for the template issue, I agree that the two are related. However, despite the fact that the template states that the host creature is destroyed in the creation of the alien, that leaves a little too much room for interpretation. For example, how many hit dice does an alien start with? The host creature may or may not have had racial hit dice and most likely had class hit dice. Is the alien supposed to get these? Probably not, yet the template doesn't address this issue. If they are supposed to get them, why? Exactly how many hit dice should the alien get then? What about class and racial abilities? Again, the template doesn't state that these go away and leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

again good point. I don't think that was adressed, perhaps 1/2 class HD and full racial HD? Abilities? I don't think feats are applicable that doesn't make sense. Racial feats I can see, skills? No.

Again, it's not perfect, it's a place to start and place to grow and make better. I know you know that I know that you know you know that! hooah!

I agree that the alien's final form is to some extent determined by the creature that hosts it, which means that the host creature should actually be the template for the alien. You don't even have to do a separate template for each creature type. You can set up general guidelines that specify how the template works based on the host. You can say something like this - Size: the alien's size becomes the same as that of the host creature; - Special Attacks: The alien inherits any extradordinary special attacks of the host creature, and so on. The bottom line is that it isn't the host that the template is being applied to, its the alien itself.

Possibly..reverse templating? But then you have so many permutations that it would be absolutely impossible to plan for each. you would have different ones for sizes and categories for types that it would be tough to do. I would be interested in seeing a variant of this and then submit it to dan for incorporation.