Trying to recreate the Tanctanese from the movie/series Alien Nation...

[Storyteller01]

Any ideas?

Faster, stonger, smarter than humans...
extreme rection to saltwater...
Unique anatomy (two hearts, different pressure points) etc

ANy suggestions?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Sounds like you pretty much have it all. They eat weird stuff, of course. (Weasel donuts... eww....)

 

[Khorod]

+2 Str, -2 Cha
+2 bonus to Initiative
+1 bonus to Knowledge checks.
Great Fortitude feat
Saltwater is a poison dealing 1 Con/1d4 Con, DC 13

 

[JPL]

I'd do them as a level adjustment race.

+2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int
Maybe a -4 penalty on Charisma-based checks vs. humans [which can be bought off with a feat], to represent difficulty understanding humans
They have some kind of inner eyelid, as I recall, protecting them from bright lights.
+2 to Listen, Spot [keen alien senses]
Salt water vulnerability
I'd say Endurance as the bonus feat, rather than Great Fortitude.
The weird internal organs could be modelled in a few different ways...maybe they get a bonus to saves vs. massive damage and to stabilize when reduced below zero HP?

+1 LA or +2?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'd do them as a level adjustment race.

+2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int
Maybe a -4 penalty on Charisma-based checks vs. humans [which can be bought off with a feat], to represent difficulty understanding humans
They have some kind of inner eyelid, as I recall, protecting them from bright lights.
+2 to Listen, Spot [keen alien senses]
Salt water vulnerability
I'd say Endurance as the bonus feat, rather than Great Fortitude.
The weird internal organs could be modelled in a few different ways...maybe they get a bonus to saves vs. massive damage and to stabilize when reduced below zero HP?

+1 LA or +2?

Endurance definitely makes more sense, IMO

I don't think they need any kind of save/stabilization bonuses. I didn't see those organs as being superior to humans. However, a human who knew little about Newcomers, and vice versa, might have a hard time getting in a killing blow (eg give them the equivalent of 50% concealment).

Newcomers have a weak spot in their underarm. [sblock]In one of the novels, a Supervisor came to Earth in order to scout it out, only to find some evil humans had created a virus to wipe the Newcomers out. His first encounter with a human involved him grabbing said human by the arm and hitting him repeatedly under it, to no effect. He had to kill the human by snapping his neck. (Yet humans don't have those kinds of bonuses.) Simply put, the Supervisor knew virtually nothing about humans, so it cost him.[/sblock]

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

A few other things.

Sour milk gets them drunk and IIRC they don't mind eating severely rotten food.

Saltwater isn't a poison but worked like acid on them. One was burned alive by the incoming tide (the mob killing) while Sam "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin) severely burnt his arm reaching for Sykes (the human cop played by James Caan).

Remember why Sykes hated Newcomers. Rounds apparently meant to keep Newcomer cops down went completely through the car and the body armor his partner was wearing. So either they've got damage resistance (lower calibers don't really affect them much) or some 'partial' immunity to criticals (maybe they had backup organs). Not trying to offend Eric's Grandma but the Newcomer stripper also made a comment about not minding a little pain (from being whipped) during sex either so again with the damage resistance argument. But if the Massive Damage Threshold is used, they've got a higher one then humans.

 

[Storyteller01]

DR definitely seems to fit, as well as salt water doing burn (acid) damage.


I was also thinking that unless a non-Tanct has a set number of ranks in biology (they've been on earth long enough to be studied thuroughly), you can't sneak attack them. You wouldn't know where to hit, or how.

Love these suggestions! Keep them coming...

 

[kenobi65]

Acc. to the scifi.com Alien Nation site, it's "Tenctonese."

 

[Storyteller01]

Acc. to the scifi.com Alien Nation site, it's "Tenctonese."

Thanks! Never witnessed the spelling. Had to wing it...

 

[JamesDJarvis]

i'd tack on a -2 charisma because of thier history of domination at the hands of others. thier egos are frailer or less dominant then a humans ego and that is goverend by CHA.

I'd tack on a +2 CHA for Overseers becasue of thier history of dominating others.