Fear and tremble my friends, I've Created another race

[Emerald MoonSilver]

My second reace, useful for a higher powered campaign, or with those run by twisted individuals such as myself .

Catian
By Emerald Moonsilver
Before his “unfortunate” death at the hands of his latest creations, the Gene Splicer and known pervert, Ataru Moroboshi, had been best known for creating a wide variety of usually cute races for sale. Some were servants, some were warriors, and some were…..just out there.

The Catians were one of his first experiments in creating a race of cat demi-humans that could be altered to fit a variety of roles. Unlike his later creations, both male and female Catians were created.

All Catians resemble humans for the most part, with the exception of a fine layer of fur covering their body, as well as small cat’s ears on top of their head, and a prehensile tail just above their rear end.

1st gens tend to be a light cream color, with the Cheetans being a light yellow with grey spots on their bodies. The Shadow Cats tend to have a dark blue color, with black highlights.

The first “batch” of Catians did not have a formal name and are referred to as, “first gens”. They were, created to be servants for “elite ladies and gentleman”, i.e. rich perverts such as Ataru himself. They are of average intelligence, easily manipulated, but possessing a charisma and beauty that could persuade a true Naruni to sell things at a discount, and then some.

The second and most produced then bred “batch” are usually referred to as “Cheetans”, showing that dear Ataru has no originality when it comes to names. This group was first created to be athletes beyond compare, until poor Ataru was informed that genetically created beings could not participate in the 3 Galaxies Olympic Games.

Instead they were altered to make them the best scouts, military and otherwise, that could be hired, usually for very high fees. The Cheetans, most impressive ability is their incredible running speed of over 250 miles per hour, triple that when astral phased. (More on that later.)

Catian NPC and optional OCC

Alignment:

1st Gen Catians: Principled (100%)

Cheetans: Principled (25%), Scrupulous (50%), Unprincipled (25%)

As a note though, even the most jaded Cheetan would never allow a 1st gen to com to harm and they have a nasty tendency to grab a solid object and run past any offender at 200+ miles per hour while slamming said object into the offender. In Short don’t pick on the 1st Gens in from of a Cheetan.


1st Gen Catian Subclass:

Attributes: I.Q. 12, M.E. 2d6, M.A. 5d6, (cute and sweet), P.S. 3d6, P.P. 4d6, P.E. 3d6 (Supernatural), P.B. 6d6, Min 25, Speed 3d6

Size: Males (6 feet), Females (4.5 to 5.5 feet)

Weight: Males (160-170 lbs.) Females (varies).

Hit Points: P.E. attribute at first level, and 1d6 at each new level.

SDC: 20 plus those gained from chosen skills

Awe Factor: 16 Due to their almost godlike sweet personalities and beauty. Many beings are quite protective of their 1st Gens, be they servants, boy / girlfriends, mistresses, or in a few cases wives or husbands.

Average Life Span: 1st Gens are quite long lived, with some reaching the ripe old age of 600 years. They reach maturity by age 16 and are biologically compatible with many human and demi-human races. The amount of half Catian 1st Gens is creating something of a “baby boom” in the 3 Galaxies as of late.

Natural Abilities: 1st Gen Catians have excellent vision equal to 2-10 in humans and have night vision out to 600 feet.

Due to working in close quarters with their employers / masters, Ataru made sure the 1st Gens could not be turned against them. This means that all 1st gens are completely immune to all forms of transformation, including vampires, like the Atlanteans are. They also have a +8 bonus to save vs. any form of mind control or possession. Their positive outlook on life and general naivety give them a +10 to save vs. horror factor. They can walk up to an “Old One” and say hello or at least close to it.

All 1st Gens produce an aura that repels all undead and up to greater demons as long as the Catian does not attack first. Most of these creatures try to avoid even coming close to the 1st gens. Their purity makes the poor demons quite ill.

Starting at 3rd level the 1st Gen gains the psi-druid ability of Enhanced animal friendship, with all the abilities mentioned in world book 12, Psyscape.

P.P.E.: 2d6

O.C.C. Skills:

Language (Native): 98%
Literacy (Native): +20%
Language (Other): +10%
Math Basic: +10%
Barter: +20%
Cooking (Professional): +30%
Housekeeping: +30%
4 domestic skills of choice: +25%
First Aid: +20%
Athletics (General)
Physical Labor
Swimming
No HTH skills at first. HTH basic (only)
May be chosen as a secondary skill.
Pilot Auto or Ground hovercraft
Appraise Goods: +20%
Recycling: +15%
W.P. blunt, W.P. Knife. Both taught in secret by the older servants.
Preserve Food: +30%
Identify Plants and Fruit: +30%

O.C.C. Related Skills: Can select 2 other skills at level 3 and 7, with 1 more skill at level 11 and 15. All new skills start at level 1.

Communications: Radio basic, Language and literacy plus sign language only.
Cowboy: None
Domestic: Any (+25%)
Electrical: None
Espionage: None
Horsemanship: General only.
Mechanical: Basic only
Medical: Holistic Medicine: (+10%)
Military: None
Physical: No boxing, wrestling, kick boxing or scuba.
Pilot: No military, robots, or juicer flight systems.
Pilot Related: Navigation only
Rogue: None
Science: None
Technical: No programming, cybernetics, or firefighting.
W.P. : No quick draw, paired weapons, heavy weapons, flamethrowers, or heavy energy.
Wilderness: Any

Secondary Skills: Can select 2 skills at level 2, and 1 more skill at level 4, 7, 10, and 12.

Standard Equipment:

Mainly personal items and gifts from their employer. Those who leave their employers / masters tend to become vagabonds or in rare cases small business owners, especially cooks.
The exception to this relates to those who marry into their employer’s family.

Money: Usually a few hundred in credits stashed away as well as a few thousand credits in small items, unless they marry into the family, then a 1st Gen can become quite wealthy, much to the annoyance of the other family members.

Cybernetics: None, no Catian will ever use bionics or cybernetics except for medical reasons.


Cheetan Catian Subclass:

Attributes: I.Q. 4d6, M.E. 4d6, M.A. 3d6+6, P.S. 3d6, P.P. 5d6, Min 20, P.E. 4d6 (Supernatural), P.B. 4d6+6, Min 18. Speed: 250 M.P.H., plus sonic speed at Level 3 (See below)

Size: Males and females are 6 feet tall.

Weight: Males: 190lbs average, Females 150lbs average, (All muscle).

Female Cheetans bear a striking resemblance to a certain 1980’s Earth cartoon character, which is pure “coincidence” I’m sure.

Hit Points: P.E. x2, plus 1d6+3 per level.

S.D.C.: 1d4x100+100
Average Life Span: Same as the 1st gens.

P.P.E. : 4d6 plus those gained from chosen O.C.C.

I.S.P. : 1d6x10 and 1d6 per level. Cheetans are major sensitive psychics with 6 chosen abilities from that section.

Natural Abilities: Amplified hearing, same as the implant, 20/10 vision, with night vision out to 1000 feet. Telescopic Vision 20x.

All Cheetans are completely immune to all forms of transformation, including vampires, like the Atlanteans are. They also have a +8 bonus to save vs. any form of mind control or possession.

Level 1: 250 M.P.H. running ability with an inertial shield. This shield allows the P.C. to make 90 degree turns without suffering from any g-force affects. The shield also causes the P.C. to only take 1/10 the amount of damage from any physical attack. This running ability is more equivalent to low level flight. The cheetan can not only run on level ground, but up and down solid and liquid surfaces at full speed and even while inverted. This shield only works while running. The character can run up to 3 hours before needing to stop to rest.

Level 2: Dust Blast. By running on loose ground the P.C. can cause a blinding cloud of dust and debris. Range 5’ radius per level of experience, up to 50’ max. Anyone in the cloud must make a save vs. dodge at -4 or suffer -10 to strike, parry, and dodge for 1 full melee round (15 seconds). Those with eye covering are unaffected.

Level 3: Character gains a +5 auto dodge ability that does not cause the character to lose an action dodging an attack.

Level 4: The Cheetan gains the ability to run while partially phased into the astral plane. This not only triples the running speed to an incredible 750 M.P.H., but allows the character to run through any object not protected by a force field. If a force field is encountered, it is treated as a solid object and the Cheetan simply runs over it.

Level 7: While phasing the character now has the choice to an astral teleport instead of increasing in speed. The character can teleport to any place within a 1 mile radius by first viewing it while astral then appearing back into his home plane without error.

The abilities mentioned above can be used when the character reaches the mentioned level in whatever O.C.C. he chooses to take.

Additional Skills:

Regardless of their chosen class, all Cheetans have these base skills:
Language (Native): 98%
Literacy (Native): +40%
Math Basic: +30%
General Athletics
Swimming
Prowl: +30%
W.P. Staff / Pole arms

Attacks per Melee: 3 plus those gained from any HTH and other physical skills.

Bonuses: +3 initiative, +4 to dodge, additional +3 dodge when running, +4 to roll with punch.

Psionics: Abilities mentioned earlier plus those from a possible chosen Psychic class.

Magic: None unless a magic O.C.C. is chosen.

Standard Equipment: Varies depending on chosen character class. Cheetans though, prefer to wear light non-restrictive armor such as NG Riding armor, often with a Naruni force field built into it. The force field can be used when the inertial field is active. The inertial field is outside of the force field.

Money: Varies depending on what character class is chosen.

Cybernetics: None, no Catian will ever use bionics or cybernetics except for medical reasons.


As A side note the Catians, especially the Cheetans are designed to be a higher power race, not as tough as the mutant cats in South America, but not weak earlier. They and the earlier Vixen race I posted are heavily influenced by our group’s love of anime so they may seem a bit off kilter. This race is not for everyone. But this race is based mainly in the 3 Galaxies, with some, used in our group’s California Campaign. (A “little” OP, you don’t want to know.) :>

As another note, I recently came across a copy of Rifter #55 and found the modified NGR classes within, these could be modified to be used in NG or MercTown Campaigns using the Vixens or Cheetans, or any other race for that matter.

I hope you enjoy this race and let me know what you think when I post this to Palladium’s website.

Warning: Threads viewtopic.php?f=8&t=159321 and viewtopic.php?f=8&t=159326 are a violation of No Conversions rule of the Palladium forums.

[Hotrod]

I have similar thoughts to what I shared about your Vixen Fox Girls.

The first generation Catian has the super power of cuteness/adorableness/sweetness and demon/undead-repelling purity aura and also gets the super power of animal friendship. They're all 100% principled (more virtuous than angels!). I note that you made them have a fixed intelligence that is merely above average. Otherwise, you went a little lighter on the super-stats and cut the direct combat super-powers, but you dialed up the cuteness and moral purity to the point where it is an actual super-power, and they can still select any O.C.C. (including their own non-violent optional O.C.C., which I actually kind of liked). Thus, they again have nearly all the versatility of humans and a lot of potent abilities to boot. In terms of their background, I see nothing of significance here. They have no personality, no drawbacks, no quirks, no foibles, no enemies (and lots of allies who will leap to defend them because cuteness), and no history. They're idyllic creatures in a setting that is generally grim and dark, and you seem to have an expectation that the grim and dark setting will accommodate them, because cuteness. I don't see any way to use their background to spark adventure or campaign ideas, interesting gameplay, or compelling interactive storytelling/roleplay.

Even if you did write up something interesting, I wouldn't be interested. My personal feelings on the first gen Catians are similar to those I had about your Vixen Fox Girls. Genetically engineered anthropomorphized animals who want to mate with men (and genetically can) gross me out. The fact that you didn't specify that these look like underage teenagers makes this creation somewhat less creepy, but I still find it icky.

Your creation's write up includes the implicit assumption that all sentient creatures would find anthropomorphized anime-style animal-people attractive, hence the cuteness/awe factor. This is a bad assumption, and I suspect you know it (you state that these aren't for everyone). When I read that everyone who sees this species has to roll a 16 or higher or stand entranced by the adorable cuteness of the 1st gen Catian, the visceral reaction I have is something along the lines of "No! Kill it! Kill the abomination! Kill it with fire! Launch the charred remains into the nearest sun!"

*Ahem*

On to the Cheetians (I like these names better than the redundant way you named the Vixen Fox Girls).

Here, you seem to dial the power of your anthropomorphic animal creations way up. The purity and cuteness are somewhat dialed down. Though they're still more beautiful than elves, at least they don't get an awe/cuteness factor. Instead, they get a truckload of extra bonuses, skills, and special abilities. The speed super-powers gained are game-breaking, especially at high levels, and the array of super-powers they get in addition to getting any O.C.C. they like make this race on par with godlings/demigods.

When I say game-breaking, I don't mean over-powered per se. I mean that, Mechanics-wise, it's hard to conceptualize, let alone model, how combat would work with someone who can ignore laws of inertia, run at 250-750 MPH on solids and liquids, can auto-dodge (setting aside the difficulty of hitting someone running that fast), can run through any object, teleport flawlessly anywhere within 1 mile, and also gets to select an O.C.C. that may come with its own physics-breaking abilities (especially in a setting like the Three Galaxies). Interactive roleplaying sessions require some kind of shared understanding of what's going on, and trying to grasp and communicate how someone with these abilities fights in the context of a 15-second melee round is going to be challenging, to say the least.

Again, we have the same issue that this race has no draw-backs and nothing in its background to spur adventure ideas. There's nothing interesting to build on in terms of character traits, history, culture, et cetera.

In terms of how I feel about this creation, I like that the Cheetians are your first creation that isn't an animal anthropomorphized and engineered to be sex slaves or mate with humanoids. If you could fix the mechanics issues, give it an interesting background, and find a way for it to fit better into existing canon, I might even consider including a speedy-mutant-cat character in an adventure.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Catian NPC and optional OCC

This should read "Catian NPC or as an optional character race"
That is unless you want players to be restricted to just the racial character class presented. Then it would be a "or as an optional RCC"


In the same vein...

O.C.C. Skills:...

O.C.C. Related Skills:...

Ether way if you meant a mandatory Racial Char Class or 'here is a RCC you char could have', the use of the OCC tagline is not the way to go.

Note this conflicts with how you defined their magic abilities.

Magic: None unless a magic O.C.C. is chosen.

1st Gen Catian Subclass:

Sub-species is the correct descriptor.

Awe Factor: 16 Due to their almost godlike sweet personalities and beauty. Many beings are quite protective of their 1st Gens, be they servants, boy / girlfriends, mistresses, or in a few cases wives or husbands.

Throw this out and just give them a high MA score. That is unless you intended them to have superpowers. If the super power route rewrite and put this under a superpowers section.

Avg. Life Span comments....rewrite and Just say that it is unknown, but that none of the 1st gen have died of natural causes yet.

Native language: your text indicates they are a young species so they would not of lost their original milk young. define their native milk tongue.

I would also get away from using the phrase "Demi-Human" it does not fit the PB setting and it implies that the race is 'less then a whole person'.

[13eowulf]

Cheetah based cat people, with super speed, and explicitly WP Staff, regardless of their chosen class?

I think perhaps you may wish to review the No Conversion policy.

I also like Thundercats, but one really needs to file off the serial numbers better.

Spoiler:

My second reace, useful for a higher powered campaign, or with those run by twisted individuals such as myself .

Catian
By Emerald Moonsilver
Before his “unfortunate” death at the hands of his latest creations, the Gene Splicer and known pervert, Ataru Moroboshi, had been best known for creating a wide variety of usually cute races for sale. Some were servants, some were warriors, and some were…..just out there.

The Catians were one of his first experiments in creating a race of cat demi-humans that could be altered to fit a variety of roles. Unlike his later creations, both male and female Catians were created.

All Catians resemble humans for the most part, with the exception of a fine layer of fur covering their body, as well as small cat’s ears on top of their head, and a prehensile tail just above their rear end.

1st gens tend to be a light cream color, with the Cheetans being a light yellow with grey spots on their bodies. The Shadow Cats tend to have a dark blue color, with black highlights.

The first “batch” of Catians did not have a formal name and are referred to as, “first gens”. They were, created to be servants for “elite ladies and gentleman”, i.e. rich perverts such as Ataru himself. They are of average intelligence, easily manipulated, but possessing a charisma and beauty that could persuade a true Naruni to sell things at a discount, and then some.

The second and most produced then bred “batch” are usually referred to as “Cheetans”, showing that dear Ataru has no originality when it comes to names. This group was first created to be athletes beyond compare, until poor Ataru was informed that genetically created beings could not participate in the 3 Galaxies Olympic Games.

Instead they were altered to make them the best scouts, military and otherwise, that could be hired, usually for very high fees. The Cheetans, most impressive ability is their incredible running speed of over 250 miles per hour, triple that when astral phased. (More on that later.)

Catian NPC and optional OCC

Alignment:

1st Gen Catians: Principled (100%)

Cheetans: Principled (25%), Scrupulous (50%), Unprincipled (25%)

As a note though, even the most jaded Cheetan would never allow a 1st gen to com to harm and they have a nasty tendency to grab a solid object and run past any offender at 200+ miles per hour while slamming said object into the offender. In Short don’t pick on the 1st Gens in from of a Cheetan.


1st Gen Catian Subclass:

Attributes: I.Q. 12, M.E. 2d6, M.A. 5d6, (cute and sweet), P.S. 3d6, P.P. 4d6, P.E. 3d6 (Supernatural), P.B. 6d6, Min 25, Speed 3d6

Size: Males (6 feet), Females (4.5 to 5.5 feet)

Weight: Males (160-170 lbs.) Females (varies).

Hit Points: P.E. attribute at first level, and 1d6 at each new level.

SDC: 20 plus those gained from chosen skills

Awe Factor: 16 Due to their almost godlike sweet personalities and beauty. Many beings are quite protective of their 1st Gens, be they servants, boy / girlfriends, mistresses, or in a few cases wives or husbands.

Average Life Span: 1st Gens are quite long lived, with some reaching the ripe old age of 600 years. They reach maturity by age 16 and are biologically compatible with many human and demi-human races. The amount of half Catian 1st Gens is creating something of a “baby boom” in the 3 Galaxies as of late.

Natural Abilities: 1st Gen Catians have excellent vision equal to 2-10 in humans and have night vision out to 600 feet.

Due to working in close quarters with their employers / masters, Ataru made sure the 1st Gens could not be turned against them. This means that all 1st gens are completely immune to all forms of transformation, including vampires, like the Atlanteans are. They also have a +8 bonus to save vs. any form of mind control or possession. Their positive outlook on life and general naivety give them a +10 to save vs. horror factor. They can walk up to an “Old One” and say hello or at least close to it.

All 1st Gens produce an aura that repels all undead and up to greater demons as long as the Catian does not attack first. Most of these creatures try to avoid even coming close to the 1st gens. Their purity makes the poor demons quite ill.

Starting at 3rd level the 1st Gen gains the psi-druid ability of Enhanced animal friendship, with all the abilities mentioned in world book 12, Psyscape.

P.P.E.: 2d6

O.C.C. Skills:

Language (Native): 98%
Literacy (Native): +20%
Language (Other): +10%
Math Basic: +10%
Barter: +20%
Cooking (Professional): +30%
Housekeeping: +30%
4 domestic skills of choice: +25%
First Aid: +20%
Athletics (General)
Physical Labor
Swimming
No HTH skills at first. HTH basic (only)
May be chosen as a secondary skill.
Pilot Auto or Ground hovercraft
Appraise Goods: +20%
Recycling: +15%
W.P. blunt, W.P. Knife. Both taught in secret by the older servants.
Preserve Food: +30%
Identify Plants and Fruit: +30%

O.C.C. Related Skills: Can select 2 other skills at level 3 and 7, with 1 more skill at level 11 and 15. All new skills start at level 1.

Communications: Radio basic, Language and literacy plus sign language only.
Cowboy: None
Domestic: Any (+25%)
Electrical: None
Espionage: None
Horsemanship: General only.
Mechanical: Basic only
Medical: Holistic Medicine: (+10%)
Military: None
Physical: No boxing, wrestling, kick boxing or scuba.
Pilot: No military, robots, or juicer flight systems.
Pilot Related: Navigation only
Rogue: None
Science: None
Technical: No programming, cybernetics, or firefighting.
W.P. : No quick draw, paired weapons, heavy weapons, flamethrowers, or heavy energy.
Wilderness: Any

Secondary Skills: Can select 2 skills at level 2, and 1 more skill at level 4, 7, 10, and 12.

Standard Equipment:

Mainly personal items and gifts from their employer. Those who leave their employers / masters tend to become vagabonds or in rare cases small business owners, especially cooks.
The exception to this relates to those who marry into their employer’s family.

Money: Usually a few hundred in credits stashed away as well as a few thousand credits in small items, unless they marry into the family, then a 1st Gen can become quite wealthy, much to the annoyance of the other family members.

Cybernetics: None, no Catian will ever use bionics or cybernetics except for medical reasons.


Cheetan Catian Subclass:

Attributes: I.Q. 4d6, M.E. 4d6, M.A. 3d6+6, P.S. 3d6, P.P. 5d6, Min 20, P.E. 4d6 (Supernatural), P.B. 4d6+6, Min 18. Speed: 250 M.P.H., plus sonic speed at Level 3 (See below)

Size: Males and females are 6 feet tall.

Weight: Males: 190lbs average, Females 150lbs average, (All muscle).

Female Cheetans bear a striking resemblance to a certain 1980’s Earth cartoon character, which is pure “coincidence” I’m sure.

Hit Points: P.E. x2, plus 1d6+3 per level.

S.D.C.: 1d4x100+100
Average Life Span: Same as the 1st gens.

P.P.E. : 4d6 plus those gained from chosen O.C.C.

I.S.P. : 1d6x10 and 1d6 per level. Cheetans are major sensitive psychics with 6 chosen abilities from that section.

Natural Abilities: Amplified hearing, same as the implant, 20/10 vision, with night vision out to 1000 feet. Telescopic Vision 20x.

All Cheetans are completely immune to all forms of transformation, including vampires, like the Atlanteans are. They also have a +8 bonus to save vs. any form of mind control or possession.

Level 1: 250 M.P.H. running ability with an inertial shield. This shield allows the P.C. to make 90 degree turns without suffering from any g-force affects. The shield also causes the P.C. to only take 1/10 the amount of damage from any physical attack. This running ability is more equivalent to low level flight. The cheetan can not only run on level ground, but up and down solid and liquid surfaces at full speed and even while inverted. This shield only works while running. The character can run up to 3 hours before needing to stop to rest.

Level 2: Dust Blast. By running on loose ground the P.C. can cause a blinding cloud of dust and debris. Range 5’ radius per level of experience, up to 50’ max. Anyone in the cloud must make a save vs. dodge at -4 or suffer -10 to strike, parry, and dodge for 1 full melee round (15 seconds). Those with eye covering are unaffected.

Level 3: Character gains a +5 auto dodge ability that does not cause the character to lose an action dodging an attack.

Level 4: The Cheetan gains the ability to run while partially phased into the astral plane. This not only triples the running speed to an incredible 750 M.P.H., but allows the character to run through any object not protected by a force field. If a force field is encountered, it is treated as a solid object and the Cheetan simply runs over it.

Level 7: While phasing the character now has the choice to an astral teleport instead of increasing in speed. The character can teleport to any place within a 1 mile radius by first viewing it while astral then appearing back into his home plane without error.

The abilities mentioned above can be used when the character reaches the mentioned level in whatever O.C.C. he chooses to take.

Additional Skills:

Regardless of their chosen class, all Cheetans have these base skills:
Language (Native): 98%
Literacy (Native): +40%
Math Basic: +30%
General Athletics
Swimming
Prowl: +30%
W.P. Staff / Pole arms

Attacks per Melee: 3 plus those gained from any HTH and other physical skills.

Bonuses: +3 initiative, +4 to dodge, additional +3 dodge when running, +4 to roll with punch.

Psionics: Abilities mentioned earlier plus those from a possible chosen Psychic class.

Magic: None unless a magic O.C.C. is chosen.

Standard Equipment: Varies depending on chosen character class. Cheetans though, prefer to wear light non-restrictive armor such as NG Riding armor, often with a Naruni force field built into it. The force field can be used when the inertial field is active. The inertial field is outside of the force field.

Money: Varies depending on what character class is chosen.

Cybernetics: None, no Catian will ever use bionics or cybernetics except for medical reasons.


As A side note the Catians, especially the Cheetans are designed to be a higher power race, not as tough as the mutant cats in South America, but not weak earlier. They and the earlier Vixen race I posted are heavily influenced by our group’s love of anime so they may seem a bit off kilter. This race is not for everyone. But this race is based mainly in the 3 Galaxies, with some, used in our group’s California Campaign. (A “little” OP, you don’t want to know.) :>

As another note, I recently came across a copy of Rifter #55 and found the modified NGR classes within, these could be modified to be used in NG or MercTown Campaigns using the Vixens or Cheetans, or any other race for that matter.

I hope you enjoy this race and let me know what you think when I post this to Palladium’s website.