Help me "alien up" these raptor-like creatures

[Maz]

So, for the next session my players (who are playing students on a military academy in a grim cyberpunk setting), are going to meet these guys:

http://www.3dtotal.com/admin/new_cro...79)_raptor.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...0e75ff3ca9.jpg

I originally just wanted some form of raptor-like creature (as per Jurassic Park). But now I found this design at it's much better, much creepier, and more alien.


Now I original thought to just go with the phenomenal stats made by Pizard: http://www.panoptesv.com/RPGs/animal...meosaurid.html I think I would just go with a 100kg version of a Deinonychus.

But now that i have this cool alien artwork to work with, what sort of other traits could I give them? How does it hunt and fight?
How does it use it's 4 front-limbs in combat? If at all? Does it's weird eye-placement (and multiple eyes) give it any new traits (apart from maybe peripheral vision).
It looks fast, does it Pounce on enemies? Does it go for neck-bites?

Does it have any weird supernatural abilities?


NB: a pack of them have to be at least somewhat dangerous for a small squad of combat trained soldiers wearing TL:9 infantry protective gear.

[TGLS]

OK, first things first: wipe all the wing related traits, these guys don't have wings, so it should reflect this.

Now assuming that your military's individual armor is a reflex ballistic (DR4), then the best case damage is 4. This isn't terribly impressive, compared to an assault rifle. Also, assuming they act like real Deinonychus, they are going to be inclined to get on top of one of your soldiers and tear them apart with their teeth. Ignoring whether or not they can get a grip through the armor (let's say they can get a grip on the armor), the bite attack is very useless. They'll probably try this at least once unless they have had been trained for armored infantry. So how to make them a threat? Two options: increase damage, increase armor divisor (come up with something about monowire teeth or something) and increase DR. This makes them more of a threat in a lazy way. The other way to do it is bolster intelligence (and lower compulsive pouncing), and have them use ambushes to their advantage. A bit of both would probably be best.

For the morphology differences, add extra arms 2 to reflect the extra arms (maybe add extra attack to make the arms more than a just there). For the eyes, when somebody targets the eyes, have them make a per roll to notice that the eyes are not in the right place. If they fail the per roll, but hit anyway, treat it as a skull hit. Also, maybe ignore the damage bonus from eye hits? (Assuming the brain isn't behind the jaw.)

[RyanW]

Several small eyes may give them general nearsightedness (small lens = less resolution), or not, if they function as a sort of phased array. Either way, motion sensing would likely be exceptional.

[Dustin]

The lack of eyes on the top of the skull might make a head butt a good option for them. If they're optimized for that, they might be Slam experts, with extra DR against collisions - this would be a pretty good tactic for pack predators to knock prey off its feet.

Their tails look a bit beefier than Deinonychus' too; you might remove Weak from the tail Striker stats.

[Wavefunction]

The easiest way an unarmed combatant can fight an armored man is by grappling, and these guys are almost perfect for that. For a start, they have four arms. Latching on with all four will give them a massive advantage, in GURPS terms they'll get +2 ST in grappling contests per additional limb.

Taking a look at the head, they also have a massive jaw, that thing is huge, clearly designed to crush bone or armor plate. Deinonychus had a more birdlike head, in comparison these guys will have multiple levels of Striking ST (Bites Only). If they latch on to someone with four limbs and their mouth, that guy is in a really bad way. I'd give them Teeth (Fangs) as well, those bottom teeth definitely qualify for impaling damage.

Their legs are interesting, I don't know much about biomechanics so it's hard to guess what their structure implies. They definitely have less muscle in their upper leg than deinonychus, but it also looks like they have a longer stride length which may compensate. I'd keep the same Move but probably lower their leg ST. That means they're fast, assuming an attack in an area where there's a fair amount of cover, they'll be on your players before they know what hit them.

They'd probably start a fight with a pounce (p. B372), sprinting at their target, then jumping at it feet first to knock it to the ground and land on top, they don't have four legs but I'd allow it. They're then going to grapple with the forelimbs, and bite at the head or neck, and worry with teeth and claws.

If that's not sufficient to take down their pray, there are two options.

1) They could grab hold with limbs and teeth and sink their clawed feet into the target's torso, using leverage. This is Rake (Yrth Martial Arts, p. 28), if you don't have that, just treat it as a modified Grab and Smash, giving them a damage bonus for pulling the target into the attack.

2) They can use Neck Snap. They might not be using it in a conventional way, but that's covered by only knowing the technique at default. They'd bite down on the neck to grapple it and wrench, trying to rip the head off, using all the power in that massive neck. This is really effective against flexible armor.

If it doesn't go to plan then just remember their goal is to grapple their target and get him to the floor. They'll probably prioritize biting if their target is up and moving around, and only grapple with the forelimbs once his movements are restricted. They may mix it up and kick with their legs, or possibly execute a shove, again to knock the target to the ground.

I personally think animals should have ready access to techniques, there are things that they naturally use as part of their style. For example this creature may have Targeted Attack (Bite/Neck) or possibly Face, because that's it's fighting strategy.

I'd also make these guys stronger than the deinonychus listed. The ST numbers in GURPS Animalia are based on the formula in Basic Set for finding ST from weight, but since then Kromm himself in his Know Your Own Strength article has said that humans are unusually weak because we're designed for fine manipulation. Up their strength to maybe 19, plus Striking ST (Bites Only) and remove Arm ST (Legs) would be my advise. Then you've got something scary.

P.S. If your PCs are wearing clamshell armor or battlesuits, these things may still be screwed, unless they can literally pin them to the ground so they can't move, and then pull the helmet off. Not sure exactly how to resolve that, but it's probably going to be a contest of ST vs. the armor's HT plus... something, probably based on DR in some way.

[safisher]

From my experience, these sorts of monsters are not a threat versus firearms unless they have Injury Tolerance: No brain, No blood, not vitals. Give them a really fast ground speed, and an excellent Dodge. Good tracking ability, and night vision or infrared vision are a must. Consider DR with hardened, Quick Regeneration, and tons of Stealth, and perhaps a secret form of communication so they can call for help (and perhaps that call attracts a big T-Rex type that likes to eat these things, but will attack the PCs too). A ranged attack, like a sprayed form of poison, might be interesting. Perhaps its just a musk that makes the group easier to track, or sense. Also, have the creatures attack technology -- eat wires, batteries, etc. That way the PCs will not be able to leave anything cached anywhere, the things will destroy it. And there will be no "found" equipment either. What they carry is all they have.

[Wavefunction]

Another note is that these guys have a very large head. I'm wondering how much of that is skull and how much is brain... Clever girl.

[ericthered]

If you talk to a big game hunter in Africa, the scariest predator is the leopard, not the lion. This is because the things are smaller targets, hide better, are quicker, and a lion is overkill on a human.

Give these things superb camoflauge, a tendency for ambush, and you've made up for a lot of your shortcomings.

And yes, grapple and so forth.

[Varyon]

Alright, so looks like these things have 8 or 9 eyes of various sizes on each side of their face, and a comparable number of earholes running along the top part of the neck. It's probably got some pretty high-resolution sight and hearing, with excellent targeting abilities with each, and the eyes probably give it 360-degree vision (technically, there's probably a blind spot just behind the head, but keeping the head moving should avoid this). They may have a nostril on either side of the head, around where you'd expect eyes to be (you can see some indentations), but I'd be tempted to mark those as heat detectors, comparable to those on a pit viper, if anything; perhaps the nostrils are on the underside of the chin, or the creature relies solely on its sense of taste? I suspect the brain is actually located somewhere in the jaw, as that would get it the closest to the eyes. Near the join of the head and neck is another possibility (roughly equidistant from the eyes and earholes), but the top of the head seems the least likely, as it's too exposed and is too far from all the sensory organs. As another poster noted, head-first Slams may be a viable tactic.

The jaw has mostly small, sharp teeth, probably intended more for stripping off meat for eating than combat. At the bottom front are some pretty wicked fangs, which may be its primary weapons, designed to punch through carapace and hopefully reach something vital; this is another indication of creatures from its planet keeping their brains in their chins, although those monkey-things from the second image don't seem to follow the same trend. Against a human those things are still going to be nasty - a bite to the face means the fangs punching through the poorly-armored soft part of the jaw, driving up into the mouth and piercing if not severing the tongue. That's going to be extremely painful, particularly if it shakes you around afterward (likely), and will render you unable to speak and possibly choking on your own blood.

The creature is well armored, particularly over the Vitals where it has a massive plate of bone. That won't do much against TL 9 firearms, however, unless you take a page from Avatar and have the bones and/or carapace reinforced with carbon nanotubes and/or have the characters armed mostly with hollowpoint or frangible munitions.

The arms don't look very good for grasping, having only two fingers each and not looking terribly dextrous. Those claws are wicked, however - the creature may attack by either raking with its claws or punching them forward to try and penetrate carapace. The second picture certainly indicates they're more comfortable grabbing things with their mouths than their claws (the one in the foreground looks poised to snap forward and grab one of the monkey-things with its mouth, but the arms are tucked away to reduce drag). They can probably still grapple in a pinch, and against a human having four arms is going to be useful, but I doubt it's one of their common tactics.

The legs are incredibly strong, probably giving high running speeds (particularly with the streamlined design of the things) and potentially prodigious leaps, but the claw probably isn't all that sharp, as they appear to run almost directly on the thing. With so little area in contact with the ground at a time, kicking is probably too unbalancing to be a common tactic, although landing claws-first with a pounce is probably devastating (at high speeds, this may cause the creature to go tumbling after the hit, but the target probably won't be in any shape to get away before it manages to stand back up).

The tail is clearly there mostly for balance and as a counterweight; combined with the small surface area of the feet it probably allows for some pretty tight turns. It's going to be strong if used to attack, but probably doesn't have a very large arc - although with near-360-degree vision, that's not as much of a drawback as it could be.

I'm not certain what you have in mind for infantry protective gear, but I suspect it's either a concealable reflex bodysuit and reflex tactical vest alongside a light infantry helmet, or a reflex tacsuit alongside a combat infantry helmet (depending on how important Sealed is). The former leaves them with only DR 12/4* on the underside of the jaw, leaving them susceptible to the creature's bite, although the latter loadout is likely to leave their head pretty much untouchable and the rest of them hard to hurt. However, if the creatures have decent DR, you may be able to justify armor divisors on their bites and claw strikes. Failing that, the creatures may need to knock the characters down (with Slams), then bite and claw and stomp to damage the armor enough to get through to the juicy center.


In terms of stats, start with the Deinonychus, but increase Striking ST by +4. Get rid of Flight (WAIR), Feathers, Gripper, the Perk for Biting with feet, and replace the Strikers (give it Sharp Teeth and an Impaling Striker for the bite, a Weak Crushing Striker with Limited Arc: Rear for the tail). Replace Peripheral Vision with 360-degree vision (optionally with a Limitation for being downgraded if the head can't move), and Foot Manipulators + Ham Fisted probably with No Fine Manipulators (or just a high level of Ham Fisted, probably alongside Bad Grip). All those earholes probably give it Parabolic Hearing or similar. Discriminatory Smell and Perfect Balance may no longer be appropriate - the latter due to no visible nostrils, the latter from both lacking feathers and having tiny feet (it has great balance, but that's because if it didn't it would faceplant every few minutes). A Crushing Striker for headbutting may also be appropriate. I'd be tempted to give it Enhanced Move (Land) 0.5 with Cosmic: No Turn Radius +50% and Enhanced Move (Land) 0.5 - basically it has Move 12, can sprint at Move 18 and still make tight turns, or can sprint at Move 24 and need to have a proper turn radius. Super Jump is also a possibility. If going with carbon nanotube reinforced skin and bones, I'd give it DR 12/4* (12 against cutting and piercing, 4 against everything else; basically the same as reflex armor) for most of its body, and +10 for the Skull, Face, and Vitals for those bony plates; otherwise, DR 3* for Tough Skin, +3 DR on the Skull, Face, and Vitals. Boosted DR - or IT:DR - against Crushing damage resulting from making a Slam with their head may be appropriate. They have a Feature that the Face hit location is actually the top of their head, Skull is the lower jaw. They should be capable of sometimes biting through the Skull of a rival, so with a 2d imp bite (1d+2 for ST 16, +1 for Brawling, +1 for Striker), they can pull it off a bit less than 50% of the time with an Armor Divisor of (2) with nanotube reinforcement (against DR 14), a bit more than 50% without an Armor Divisor otherwise (against DR 6). Natural camouflage to blend in with their environment (a Perk?) may also be appropriate.

In terms of skill, Wrestling is probably a bit lower, and is used more in conjunction with bite-based grapples than with the arms. The others are probably alright, but boosting Stealth to make them a more serious threat may be appropriate.

When hunting large game, they probably sneak close to a herd then charge out, Slamming their heads into their targets to knock them down. They then go in for a killing bite, aiming either for the neck or the bottom of the jaw. Against targets too fast or too sturdy to reliably floor with a Slam, they may opt to pounce, impaling with their foot-spikes. As noted above, they probably tumble after such a maneuver, relying either on recovering more quickly or on a packmate finishing the kill before the target can get back to its feet. Against small game, as seen in the second image, they simply charge forward at their Top Speed, then once the herd scatters they drop speed for tighter turns, scooping up prey in their mouths.

Against prey of similar size, like the PC's, they may use a similar strategy as with large game, but with more inclination to pursue and bite for a takedown if needed. Their hand-claws are probably used mostly against rivals, but may serve in a pinch against the PC's if needed. If they're familiar with human(oid)s, they'll be more careful to keep out of sight until very close to prevent them from "cheating" with ranged weapons. Against fast-moving vehicles, they'll probably attempt their leaping gambit, although against one with an open top or large windows they may instead opt to run alongside and grab the passengers with a bite, pulling them out and flinging them to the ground.

[kdtipa]

The significant saliva in the first picture might be significant in combat. Maybe it's pretty good at breaking down hard materials like metal, plastics, and ceramics. So when they bite at armor, they weaken it... eat through it. Doesn't even have to be fast. If you go with the grapple suggestion, the ranged weapons might be useless once grappled, and the creature just keeps biting. Include that they are pack hunters, and if there are at least as many raptor-things as people in the group, the pack of raptor-things might be very scary...