Crowdsourcing an Alien Species Advantage table

[Arkbrik]

Ok, so I'm working on this sci-fi pen and paper RPG. And I want alien species, lots of them. And you're going to help me.

The idea is that you roll 1D100 to get an advantage for your species, and then 1D100 again to get a disadvantage. We'll start by doing an advantage table. Just post your advantages in the thread (numbered), and try to keep them about as powerful as the rest of the list. Interesting things are better than things which just fiddle around with numbers. This also lets the list be used for any type of system. Oh and list only things that are biologically innate to the species, not something that is a result of their culture/society/etc.

Imagine the world as not very hard sci-fi, plenty of mystery and weird stuff. Think Star Wars before the prequels.

All right let's go.

1D100

1: Tough. Your species can endure more than most. You start with 1D3 extra hit points.
2: Amphibious. You can breathe both in air and in water.
3: Telepathic. You can talk telepathically to any intelligent creature you can see. They can't answer unless they also possess telepathy.
4: Two extra arms. You can hold twice as much stuff in your hands as normal.
5: Two extra legs. You can move twice as fast as normal.
6: Luminiscent. Your skin emits light, enough for you to find your way in complete darkness.
7: Powerful digestive system. You can eat any organic matter and gain sustenance from it. Poisons etc. affect you as normal.
8: Claws. You can make unarmed attacks as if you were using a dagger.
9: Suction cup fingers and toes. You can climb on any surface, at any angle.
10: Parasite. You are actually a tiny creature nested in, and controlling, the brain of a larger creature. Don't roll for a disadvantage, but roll an advantage and a disadvantage for your current host. If your host is killed, you survive (unless your host's body was totally annihilated or something). While without a host, anyone can kill you as a free action by stepping on you. You can take over a new host by climbing into their head while they sleep.

Your turn!

[Tzan]

This is crowdsourcing not funding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing

Parasite looks cool.

[Arkbrik]

D'oh

[Falk]

Some ideas: Wings, large brain/two heads/two brains in one head (two actions), anti poison

[Arkbrik]

Gonna number those for you.

11: Wings. You can fly as fast as your normal move speed.
12: Multitasking. You can perform two simultaneous actions every turn. Note that you can only use any one limb once. Roll 1D6 to see what form this advantage takes.
_1-2: Large brain
_3-4: Two heads
_5-6: Two brains in one head
13: Anti poison. You are immune to all kinds of poisons.

[Silverdream]

Acid for blood.
Shell plated (as in having a giant turtle shell).
Green (ability to regenerate limbs)
Ridiculous strength

Frailty (Takes more damage when hit)
Inflammable
Fringeborn (language is harder to understand)
Ugly (NPCs don't want to interact with you)

[Arkbrik]

14: Acid for blood. Anyone who deals damage to you in close combat has a 1 in 4 chance of getting splattered with your blood and take 1D4 damage.
15: Shell plated. You have a giant, turtle-like shell. This counts as heavy armor*. You can retract your head, arms and legs into your shell as an action. This will double the armor you get from it, but carries obvious limitations.
16: Green/Regeneration. You can regenerate lost limbs, or lost parts of them. A finger or toe takes 1D6 hours to regenerate. A hand or foot takes 1D6 days. An arm or leg takes 1D6 weeks.
17: Ridiculous strength. You get +2 strength (or whatever stat seems appropriate).

*gonna specify this later

Might as well start the disadvantage table. That #1 is so humans get the #1 results on both tables.

1: Tropical. You prefer temperatures of 25 C to 40 C. In colder climates you will need to wear clothes to feel comfortable.
2: Frailty. Any attack that damages you (after any damage reductions) does 1 extra damage.
3: Inflammable. You have a 1 in 2 chance of catching on fire from any exposure to fire or sparks. Any fire that is enough to do damage to you sets you on fire automatically.
4: Fringeborn. You have difficulty speaking languages other than your own. You have -2 to any checks involving speaking (unless you are speaking your own language).
5: Ugly. Your species has particularly repulsive looks. You have -2 to any social checks where the person you are interacting with can see your face (unless you are interacting with a member of your own species).
6: Fast metabolism. You need twice as much food as normal.
7: Bizarre morphology. Your body does not resemble the humanoid shape that evolution seems to prefer. At all. You cannot use armor, clothes, guns, or a lot of other equipment (GM's discretion) that is not made specifically for your species. Likewise, members of other species cannot use equipment made for your species.
8: No taste (or smell). You lack the senses of taste and smell.
9: Slimy. Your entire body constantly oozes slime.
10: Dependance. You must eat a meal of one particular material at least once per week, or lose 1D4 HP that cannot be healed until you have satisfied your dependance. Roll 1D6 to see what you depend upon.
_1: Alcohol
_2: Insect chitin
_3: Petroleum oil
_4: Ice, snow or hail (water won't do)
_5: Arsenic
_6: Flesh from a supernatural creature

Feel free yo flesh out your ideas yourselves if you want to.

[Silverdream]

Trunk: Gets a prehensile nose
I have no mouth so I can't eat: Doesn't need to eat and can speak telepathically.

[Zupponn]

Zombie: Can come back from the dead.

[Quantumsurfer]

Off the top of my head.

Amorphous: ability to shapechange, possibly into simple shapes or into fully realized replicas of objects or people.
Animal: having the particular qualities of an animal or literally being anthropomorphic
Plant: same as animal
Enhanced Sense: touch, sight, taste, smell, hearing, 6th sense, time sense
Vampiric: gain boost to [skill, attribute, ability] upon consuming [blood, life force, other bodily fluids]. This could also be a disability in dependence.
Redundant Systems: Extra heart, third lung, two stomachs, etc.
Pheremones: causing attraction or repulsion.
Biomechanical: merges well with cybernetics/bionics. Could also represent a species like the Yuuzhan Vong or Tyrranids.
Hive Mind: belonging to a hive or merely connected with one, could be strong like bees or more of a collective thing like the Thoughtweft of the Kithkin from Magic.
Add on to Multitasking: Two bodies. There was a D&D race like that.
Natural Camo: Like a geckos.
Sonic: ability to produce sonic effects like super scream, also think Ithorians and their four throats.
Healing Property: Phoenix tears, unicorn blood, so on.
Poisonous: fangs, claws, spit.
Size: very large or very small. Could also be disadvantages.
Elemental Attunement: unaffected by an element (could be fire, air, water, earth or you could expand to include subelements like smoke and metal) or gains small boost or bonus from elemental presence.


That's all I have for now.

[Arkbrik]

Advantages

17: Trunk. You have a prehensile nose which can hold and manipulate simple objects. It cannot be used for tasks which require greater precision, such as firing a gun or typing on a computer.
18: No mouth. You do not need to eat. You can speak telepathically; all intelligent creatures within a range of your choice (max 100m) can hear you. They cannot answer unless they also possess telepathy.
19: Zombie. Your soul stays attached to your body after you die. If you die (and your body is not totally annihilated), lower one randomly chosen physical attribute by 1D3. From now on you do not need to eat, breathe etc. but cannot increase your physical attributes anymore. Repeat this process every time you die. If any physical attribute reaches 0, your body is useless and you will have to move on.
20: Amorphous. You can change the shape (but not the size) of your body. You can take any simple blob-like shape using one action. You can transform into a perfect replica of someone or something by concentrating for 1D6 minutes.
21: Animal. You resemble an animal of your choice. Increase two appropriate attributes by +1.
22: Plant. See Animal (#21), above.
23: Enhanced sense. One or more of your senses is highly sensitive. If it is one of the common five senses you gain +2 to perception rolls when using it. Roll 1D6 to see what sense is enhanced.
_1: Touch.
_2: Sight.
_3: Taste and smell.
_4: Hearing.
_5: Time sense. You can keep track of the passage of time with an internal "clock". It stays functional while you sleep, but will be disrupted if you are made unconscious through other means.
_6: Sixth sense. You can see souls and spirits, and tell whether any being you see has a soul or not.
24: Vampiric. If you feed off a particular bodily fluid from a living creature for a number of turns doing nothing else, you gain a particular bonus for the same number of days. Further feedings are not cumulative. Instead of rolling for a disadvantage, you can choose Dependance (#10) as your disadvantage and be dependant on the bodily fluid you feed on. Roll 1D6 to see what bodily fluid you must consume.
_1: Blood. The creature takes 1 damage for each turn you feed. If you feed for 5 turns in the same day the creature dies (and you must stop feeding).
_2: Saliva. You can feed for a maximum of 3 turns.
_3: Tears. You can feed for a maximum of 3 turns, assuming the creature keeps crying.
_4: Sweat. You can feed for a maximum of 4 turns.
_5: Brains. The creature will die as soon as you start feeding, but your bonus will last for 5 days.
_6: Life force. The creature takes 1 damage for each turn you feed. This damage can only be recovered through supernatural healing.
Roll 1D6 to see what bonus you get.
_1: Speed. You move twice as fast as normal. You will always have the highest initiative in combat.
_2: Insubstantial. You can move through solid matter. In one minute you can move as far as your normal move speed. If your bonus ends while you are inside solid matter, you are screwed.
_3: Healing. At the start of every day you regain 1D6 HP.
_4: Transformation. Choose one animal of bat size or smaller at character creation. You can transform into this animal at will.
_5: Life detection. You can feel the presence of any living creatures within 100m.
_6: Wild magic. Once per day you can force one creature you can see to roll on the Magical Accident table.
25: Redundant systems. You have some extra internal organs such as an extra heart, third lung, two stomachs, etc. If you die (and your body is not totally annihilated), you have a 5 in 6 chance of surviving. But the next time you die, this chance is lowered to 4 in 6, and so on.
26: Pheromones. You can attract or repulse other creatures at will. +2 to any social checks when interacting with creatures that are physically nearby.
27: Biomechanical. You can implant cybernetics without penalties.
28: Hive mind. You belong to a hive mind encompassing thousands of members of your race. You know everything that they know, and they know everything that you know.
29: Magic. You are inherently magical. You start the game with one randomly chosen 1st level spell.
30: Two bodies. You consist of two separate bodies. Make two characters with identical stats. Thye gain experience as a single character. Each character advances physical attributes separately, but advances to mental attributes apply to both characters. If one character dies, the other halves all mental attributes.
31: Natural camo. You can spend an entire turn to blend in with your surroundings and gain +4 to all stealth checks. This bonus is reduced to +2 if you move, and lost if you move to different surroundings.
32: Sonic. You can scream extremely loudly, enough to be heard for 10km, and also stun all creatures not of your race within 100m.
33: Healing fluid. One bodily fluid of yours can heal others. Roll 1D6 to see which.
_1-3: Tears. You can heal a maximum of 3 HP per day.
_4-6: Blood. For every HP you heal you take 1 damage.
34: Poisonous. You possess a poison. Anyone exposed to it must save against poison or take 1D3 damage immediately, and at the start of the next 1D6 days. Roll 1D6 to see how you deliver your poison.
_1: Bite. Unarmed attacks.
_2: Claws. Unarmed attacks.
_3-4: Spit. An unarmed attack with a range of 5m. To have effect, it must hit the head, or the target must have lost at least half its HP already.
_5-6: Blood. Same way of delivery as Acid for blood (#14).
35: Small. You have -2 HP but everyone has -3 to hit you. Roll for another advantage.
36: Large. You have +2 HP but everyone has +3 to hit you. Roll for another advantage.
37: Elemental attunement. You are never damaged by one material (water, iron, arsenic etc.) or a chemical reaction (fire, electricity etc.) of your choice. The GM must approve of your choice.

Disadvantages

11: Elemental weakness. You are extremely vulnerable to one material (water, iron, arsenic etc.) or a chemical reaction (fire, electricity etc.) of your choice. You take 1 damage every turn you are within 1m of this element, and 1D6 damage every turn you have direct contact with it. The GM must approve of your choice.

Keep them coming!

[knolli]

Some of the listed advantages come with no immanent bonus or with a built in disadvantage. E.g. having a hive mind can be an advantage as well as a disadvantages depending on the situation, luminescent characters will never be able to hide. Maybe you could include a third table for such neutral characteristics? They are a good way to give shape to your character.

Advantages
Hypermobile: Your joints are very flexible. You can squeeze through openings just big enough for your head and are very hard to restrain.
Empathy: You can read the feelings of other sentient beeings, but not their thoughts. This gives automatic bonuses while interacting with NPCs that are physically within your reach and may warn you about imminent ambushes. It also enables you to tell how many beeings are nearby, but not to pinpoint their exact locations.
Prehensile tail: much like trunk.
Jumper: You have strong legs (or something corresponding) that enable you to jump very high and/or very far.
Prehensile feet: You can use your feet much like others use their hands. Makes climbing very easy.
Night vision: See Strange Vision.

neutral modifiers
Strange Vision: Your eyes use a different light spectrum to see, shifting it to either ultra violet or infra red (or something completely different). As a result you have a completely different sense for color. Depending on the light available and the nature of the eyes you might be able to see in total darkness but be blind in daylight or in a less extreme case red is black to you, but yellow is red, blue is yellow and ultraviolet is blue. This Ability can be a pure Advantage if your field of vision just widens (Night Vision) or a pure Disadvanate is it shrinks (Colorblind)
Bodyless: You have no physical body. You can't be killed by usual means, but also you have no physical attributes (strength,...), can't interact with matter (e.g. equipment, walls, air,..). Usually implements "No Mouth".

Disadvantages
Color Blind: See Strange Vision.
Handless: You have arms, but no dexterous fingers. Some tasks that require dexterity are difficult while others are impossible. Often in combination with Claws or Wings.
One armed: You only possess one arm while most species have two of them. Some physical tasks are difficult while others are impossible.
Armless: You have no arms. You can't use most equipment by yourself or anything that requires hands or dexterous fingers. Many physical tasks are difficult while others are impossible.(Usually comes with "Wings" or "Two Extra Legs")
Legless: You have no legs. Instead you use your tail (like a snake), walk on your hands or fly.
One eyed: You lack the ability of 3d vision. It is hard to estimate distances at close range.

[Zupponn]

Blob: You are a living blob of goo that can absorb living thins to become stronger.

[knolli]

Who says aliens are similar to humans. Why not make us the exotic ones? Imagine a setting, where the most of the races are about 1 foot tall and need an athmosphere mostly composed of carbondioxide and other highly toxic gases and a pressure that would rip your eardrum apart. And since the majority needs these specifications, why bother to make everything 5 times larger just to meet the requirements of one single race?

Or let's say that there are several standards of about the same distribution. So most races have the advantage on their own turf but a disadvantage nearly everywhere else.

You must choose one of the following Modifiers:
1: No Lungs: You don't need to breath. Thus you can survive in any of the standard type and most of the non-standard type athmospheres.
2: Amphibious: You can breath in one kind of air and one kind of water or two kinds of either air or water as if you had the trait Lungs or Gills two times or one of both. You have to specify which ones.
3: Lungs: You need a steady supply of a specific athmosphere at all times or die within minutes. The atmosphere of most planets or alien spacecrafts is toxic to you. Common are oxigen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.
_1: Oxigen Athmosphere: You need a specific athmosphere with about 20% oxigen to life. About 1/8-th of all species share this trait with you.
_2: Carbon Athmosphere: You need a specific athmosphere with about 30% carbon dioxide to life. About 1/8-th of all species share this trait with you.
_3: Sulfor Athmosphere: You need a specific athmosphere with about 30% hydrogen sulfide to life. About 1/8-th of all species share this trait with you.
_4: non-standard athmosphere: You need very specific athmosphere that is toxic to all other races.
4: Gills. You need very specific liqud environment (doesn't neccessarily be water). You need a steady supply of it all the time or die within minutes. The atmosphere of most planets or alien spacecrafts is toxic to you. Again there are the three standart types and the highly specific version.
_1-4 like above.


PS: The game will surely be different from most RPGs if most of it takes place underwater. And combat will be fast if all you have to do is rapture the opponent's biosuit or life support.

[Zupponn]

Slimy: Has a coat of slime that covers the body.
Shady: Has the ability to virtually disappear in the dark.