They're back: Return of the Slivers. [Updated 24/8-2005: Beware the Overlord!]

[SliverFox9x]

OK...so what if.....

OK, a brood sliver implants an Alien Queen(AVP) who was ressurected by the FLOOD from HALO, then the newborn gets assimilated by the Zerg from Starcraft.... What now?

 

[Krishnath]

I'd say cool, but then you'd pummel me.
Why is the bite attack missing the burn ability?

No I wouldn't, and oops.

SliverFox9x: You'd get a pretty effed up indevidual.

 

[SliverFox9x]

Vulnerability to cold?

If the magma sliver gives it's allies weakness to ice-based attacks, is there going to be another sliver to counter this?
If so, would the two breeds cease to exist in each others' presence?
And why isn't there a sliver that simply kills everything within 60'?

 

[SliverFox9x]

Stackers

If just 2 or 3 of each sliver managed to be within 60' of each other, they'd be prettymuch invincible, should they come in waves like that...And I'm figuring that with the queen or overlord in their midst, the slivers would gain some sort of aggression or instinctual "defend the queen" attack mode...like a berserk mindframe that would drive them to do double or triple damage, and gain somewhat new abilities, or enhanced versions...
It would take an army of 2 or 3 hundred thousand to clean out a single fully functional hive, and it would take a long time...

 

[Solarious]

No, it would take something akin to an apocalypse to wipe out the Slivers. They reproduce way too quickly for any army to take out... I mean, the Queen can birth a proto-sliver per round as a free action! Plus whatever the Brood Slivers can bring together. Add together some of the Noble sliver's abilities, add the intelligence they truly deserve, and they're next to impossible to take out.

The first method of eliminating a hive of slivers was to use planar overlay to transpose an active volcano ontop of the hive. Of course, this didn't wipe them all out... a thousand years later, the Riptide Project brought them back to life. They were impossible to fully control and propmtly overran everything. A second apocalypse of sorts -the equivilant of a magical supernuke- wasn't quite enough to finish them off.

It just made a Sliver Overlord.

As you can see, they are quite difficult to eliminate.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Can you breed a variety of sliver whose shared ability is a weakness? Like, say, an enervated sliver; the enervated special ability gives it a -1 to all d20 rolls. And it has the shared ability special quality too, of course. So if 20 slivers were within range, they would all have -20 to all their rolls. If there are 400...

Every group that goes fighting slivers would have a few captive enervated slivers with them. The bigger the hive they encounter, they better.

Just a thought.

 

[Krishnath]

Can you breed a variety of sliver whose shared ability is a weakness? Like, say, an enervated sliver; the enervated special ability gives it a -1 to all d20 rolls. And it has the shared ability special quality too, of course. So if 20 slivers were within range, they would all have -20 to all their rolls. If there are 400...

Every group that goes fighting slivers would have a few captive enervated slivers with them. The bigger the hive they encounter, they better.

Just a thought.

Theoretically you could, but let's face it, the slivers would wipe you from the face of the plane before you had a chance to. Lucky for us, slivers aren't really all that agressive.

If the magma sliver gives it's allies weakness to ice-based attacks, is there going to be another sliver to counter this?
If so, would the two breeds cease to exist in each others' presence?
And why isn't there a sliver that simply kills everything within 60'?

Maybe. No. To powerfull, even for a sliver.

If just 2 or 3 of each sliver managed to be within 60' of each other, they'd be prettymuch invincible, should they come in waves like that...And I'm figuring that with the queen or overlord in their midst, the slivers would gain some sort of aggression or instinctual "defend the queen" attack mode...like a berserk mindframe that would drive them to do double or triple damage, and gain somewhat new abilities, or enhanced versions...
It would take an army of 2 or 3 hundred thousand to clean out a single fully functional hive, and it would take a long time...

No, they wouldn't be invincible, even a lowly fireball could kill dozens of slivers at a time, and when you start getting more powerful area affect spells such as cloud kill, and fire storm, well...
Anyway, the sliver queen doesn't bestow any bonuses upon the slivers, it's more like the other way around. Additionally, the sliver queen rarely, if ever, leaves her lair. Of course, the walls of the lair, and the sliver queen herself, is adorned with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of various worker and specialist slivers, granting her massive bonuses. Additionally, you can often find various other noble slivers in her lair, particularly Essence and Synapse slivers. And even if you should manage to wipe out the slivers guarding her, she is quite capable of holding her own. Even though she is more likely to flee if seriously threatened. And as Solarious said, it would take a major apocalypse to wipe out the slivers, like a tactical nuke going of in the center of the hive. And even then, all it takes is for one protosliver to survive for the hive to regrow.

 

[Krishnath]

Want to know how utterly badass a sliver swarm is? Here are two sample swarms using the mob template from the DMG2.

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Bonus: Sample Sliver Swarms!

Swarm I consists of 10 winged slivers, 10 muscle slivers, 10 clot slivers, and 10 talon slivers.
Swarm II consists of 10 armor slivers, 10 crystalline slivers, 10 plated slivers, and 10 quick slivers,

Swarm I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CR 8
N Gargantuan Aberration (extraplanar, mob of medium aberrations, sliver)
Init: +1; Senses: Darkvision 120’, low-light vision 60’, blind sense 60’, Listen +3, Spot +3,
AC: 10 (-4 size +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 7, flat-footed 9,
Hp: 465 (30 HD); fast healing 30;
Resist: +4 on saves against mind-influencing effects.
Fort: +20; Ref: +10; Will: +17;
Speed: 20’ (4 squares); climb 20’; fly 20’ (average)
Melee: Mob (5d6)
Space: 20’; Reach: 0’
Base Atk: +22: Grp: +49. (+4 racial)
Atk Options: Expert grappler, trample 2d6+16
Abilities: Str 33, Dex 13, Con 33, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 8,
SQ: Mob anatomy, shared abilities, sliver traits,
Feats: Alertness, Bull Rush (b), Combat Reflexes, Dodge (b), Flyby Attack (b), Improved Overrun (b), Mobility (b),
Skills: Balance +2, Climb +21, Jump +13, Listen +3, Spot +3, Swim +13,

Swarm II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CR 8
N Gargantuan Aberration (extraplanar, mob of medium aberrations, sliver)
Init: +12; Senses: Darkvision 120’, low-light vision 60’, blind sense 60’, Listen +5, Spot +5,
AC: 40 (-4 size +12 Dex, +23 natural), touch 17, flat-footed 29, blur,
Hp: 225 (30 HD);
Resist: +4 on saves against mind-influencing effects, SR 31,
Fort: +11; Ref: +22; Will: +17;
Speed: 20’ (4 squares); climb 20’;
Melee: Mob (5d6)
Space: 20’; Reach: 0’
Base Atk: +22: Grp: +40. (+4 racial)
Atk Options: Expert grappler, trample 2d6+3
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 35, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10,
SQ: Mob anatomy, shared abilities, sliver traits,
Feats: Agile, Alertness, Bull Rush (b), Combat Reflexes, Improved Overrun (b), Run (b), Toughness (b) (x10),
Skills: Balance +15, Climb +11, Escape Artist +15, Jump +3, Listen +5, Move Silently +13, Spot +5, Swim +3, Tumble +13,

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In short, a pair of really though CR 8 encounters. Now, try adding them together.

 

[MetaruSonikku]

Magnificent work! The sample swarms are very helpful, and indeed are pretty much the "nail in the coffin" to any party of would-be heroes. Goodie Two Shoes heroes... bah. It's their own fault for picking on the poor innocent little slivers, now isn't it?

Eagerly and patiently awaiting the Sliver Overlord.

 

[Krishnath]

Magnificent work! The sample swarms are very helpful, and indeed are pretty much the "nail in the coffin" to any party of would-be heroes. Goodie Two Shoes heroes... bah. It's their own fault for picking on the poor innocent little slivers, now isn't it?

Eagerly and patiently awaiting the Sliver Overlord.

That one comes the week after the queen. (I haven't started on the stats yet, but I know what it will do).