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Old 03-11-2013, 02:03 PM   #1
kayeags13
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

I've been working on a creature template for the Fenrisian Wolves from WH40k. Below is something I think is close to workable, but I would like pairs of eyes not mine to have a gander at it and see if it is in the 'Goldilocks zone.'

Any advice on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Wolf, Fenrisian, Common

The massive wolves of Fenris are fearsome predators and an enduring symbol of their frozen world. Fenrisian wolves are simple brutal beasts, loyal only to their pack and remorseless against their enemies.

These wolves are often befriended and trained (in so much as such a beast can be trained) by Space Wolf Adeptus Astartes Battle-Brothers. When befriended and trained, they will trail behind their Battle-Brother (the Pack Alpha) wherever he goes, whining if forced to stay behind, and attack his enemies with a gesture or a word. They will also stay by the side of the Battle-Brother if he falls, protecting his body and maybe even pulling him to safety.

ST: 50 HP: 22 Speed: 9.75
DX: 14 Will: 10 Move: 9
IQ: 7 Per: 16 Weight: ??
HT: 14 FP: 14 SM: +1 (3 hexes)

Dodge: 14 Parry: N/A DR: 4
Basic Lift: 500 lbs.

Bite (16): 5d+1 cut (2). Reach C.
Claw (16): 5d+4 cr. Reach C, 1.
Whirlwind Attack technique - to be filled out.

Traits: Acute Sight; Acute Smell; Acute Sound; Beserk; Chummy, Claws (Blunt Claws); Combat Reflexes; Damage Resistance (Can't Wear Armor, Tough Skin) 4; Discriminatory Hearing; Discriminatory Smell; Enhanced Dodge 2; Fur; Hard-to-Kill 2; Night Vision 2; Quadruped; Sense of Duty (The Pack Alpha and The Pack); Social Stigma (Monster); Teeth (Sharp Teeth; Armor Divisor (2)); Temperature Tolerance 2; Ultra-hearing; Very Fit; Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-16; Tracking-18; Whirlwind Attack-16.
Class: Giant Animal.
Notes: Even if a Fenrisian Wolf is "domesticated", they do no lose the Wild Animal meta-trait.
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Old 03-12-2013, 02:50 AM   #2
Gold & Appel Inc
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

I'm not that familiar with 40K, so I'm going off the wiki here, but I figured I'd take a stab at it before it drops off Page 1.

So according to the wiki, the "common" version of these things is, "larger-than-normal," the "blackmaned" type is, "as tall and muscular as an ancient medieval warhorse," and the "thunderwolf" type has, "more in common with a Terran rhinoceroid than with a Terran canine," and can be ridden by space marines. Given that 4e Campaigns p 458-460 gives wolves ST 10, heavy warhorses ST 24, and elephants (which are similar in build to rhinos but bigger) ST 45, I suspect that you may be overrating the ST severely even for a completely over-the-top setting. If your main goal is to have them biting through the setting's standard armor, I would suggest taking ST down closer to HP and making up the difference with some Striking ST, Striking ST (Bite Only -60%), and maybe replace Sharp Teeth with a Cutting Striker for even more damage and (this is huge) protection from injury when parried or biting through high DR.

Berserk is a liability for these things if you want them to be useful in warfare. They're already so tough that anybody who wants to stop one will probably have to reduce it to -5xHP without it, so actually going berserk gains them next to nothing but trouble anyway. I would personally tone the toughness down a little, too, if you want to emulate the setting fluff on the wiki that states that the baddest of the bad space marines can hunt and kill not only typical specimens but the alphas of these things, "armed with nothing but their wits," to gain their cooperation.

If they really have Speed 9.75 (suspected typo), their Dodge should be 15- with Combat Reflexes and Enhanced Dodge +2... even 13- with the Speed 7 they'd get from the base (DX+HT)/4 is, coupled with the 16- consciousness check, going to make them very, very hard to kill, to the point that fighting one is probably going to get boring if you can't bring heavy weapons with high RoF to bear and if it can't stop you from trying to whittle it down for an hour. We're looking at elephants that move like hummingbirds here. I'd personally eliminate the Enhanced Dodge entirely and let them rely more on their high Move and Stealth, plus tactics such as Pouncing on armed people, to avoid getting shot, both to keep it interesting and for wolfish verisimilitude.

As-written, these things track better than bloodhounds, and their other senses completely blow away other canines. That's cool if it's what you're going for; just sayin'.

ETA: You might enjoy Perfect Organism's Warhammer 40K Conversion Thread.

Last edited by Gold & Appel Inc; 03-12-2013 at 04:15 AM.
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Old 03-12-2013, 08:09 AM   #3
kayeags13
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

Thanks for the input. I thought the ST was way OTT myself but I was "converting" from fluff, the Space Wolf Codex, and the Deathwatch RPG. My eyes were going crosswise to see where I messed up. LOL

As for the Speed/Move. Oops. My bad. When looking at my books I was "seeing" (DX+ST)/4 not (DX+HT)/4. Thanks for catching that.

So something more like this would be appropriate?

Wolf, Fenrisian, Common (v.2)

[snip...]

ST: 25 HP: 22 Speed: 7.00
DX: 14 Will: 10 Move: 7
IQ: 7 Per: 16 Weight: ??
HT: 14 FP: 14 SM: +1 (3 hexes)

Dodge: 11 Parry: N/A DR: 4
Basic Lift: 125 lbs.

Bite (16): 3d-1(2) cut. Reach C.
Claw (16): 2d+3 cr. Reach C, 1.
AOA-Whirlwind Attack (16): claw and/or bite.

Traits: Acute Smell; Acute Sound; Chummy, Claws (Blunt Claws); Combat Reflexes; Damage Resistance (Can't Wear Armor, Tough Skin) 4; Fur; Night Vision 2; Quadruped; Sense of Duty (The Pack Alpha and The Pack); Social Stigma (Monster); Striking ST (Bite Only) 5; Teeth (Sharp Teeth; Armor Divisor (2)); Temperature Tolerance 2; Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-16; Tracking-16.
Class: Giant Animal.
Notes: Even if a Fenrisian Wolf is "domesticated", they do no lose the Wild Animal meta-trait.

What may not be seen is all the traits that I dropped as suggested. Quite a few went the way of the dodo though. Very good points on why to lose those.

Quote:
We're looking at elephants that move like hummingbirds here.
Indeed!

I toned down the high senses, but I think I will keep them a little higher than normal. Tracking through the howling winds and frozen cold of Fenris would be a bit more difficult than the northern tundras on Earth I think.

Thanks for pointing out Perfect Organism's WH40k thread. I quite enjoyed reading though his, and Kage2020's conversions (here and on the Dark Reign forums), but alas they converted mainly the "playable" guys and not as much attention was paid on the mean nasties.
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Old 03-12-2013, 08:24 AM   #4
Gold & Appel Inc
 
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Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

Quote:
Originally Posted by kayeags13 View Post
So something more like this would be appropriate? [snip]
That looks great for the warhorse-sized Blackmane sub-type; the other two are AFAICT much smaller and larger, respectively, but a space marine could potentially and with great difficulty choke one of these things out without his power armor on..

I'll shill for a Cutting Striker instead of Teeth one more time, though, unless you want them getting chainswords shoved down their throats every time they bite.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kayeags13 View Post
I toned down the high senses, but I think I will keep them a little higher than normal. Tracking through the howling winds and frozen cold of Fenris would be a bit more difficult than the northern tundras on Earth I think.
I'd probably keep Discriminatory Smell (which most builds give even to common dogs) and just mess with the Per and Acute Senses.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kayeags13 View Post
Thanks for pointing out Perfect Organism's WH40k thread. I quite enjoyed reading though his, and Kage2020's conversions (here and on the Dark Reign forums), but alas they converted mainly the "playable" guys and not as much attention was paid on the mean nasties.
Sounds like your work is cut out for you. ;]
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Old 03-12-2013, 09:57 AM   #5
kayeags13
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

Hmmm...

After some looking at DF2 and B456, plus all the fluff I have at hand, I think the modified version below is more "realistic" for the OTT universe. I based this newer version on a mix of the Lion, Tiger, and Wolf templates.

Wolf, Fenrisian, Common (v.3)

ST: 17 HP: 15 Speed: 6.5
DX: 12 Will: 10 Move: 6
IQ: 7 Per: 16 Weight: 500 lbs.
HT: 12 FP: 12 SM: +1 (2 hexes)

Dodge: 10 Parry: 14 DR: 4
Basic Lift: 58 lbs.

Bite (14): 2d(2) cut. Reach C.
Claw (14): 1d+2 cr. Reach C, 1.
AOA-Whirlwind Attack (14): Claw and/or bite.

Traits: Acute Smell; Acute Sound; Chummy, Claws (Blunt Claws); Combat Reflexes; Cutting Striker (Teeth; Armor Divisor 2); Damage Resistance (Can't Wear Armor, Tough Skin) 4; Discriminatory Smell; Fur; Night Vision 2; Quadruped; Sense of Duty (The Pack Alpha and The Pack); Social Stigma (Monster); Striking ST (Bite Only) 3; Temperature Tolerance 2; Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-14; Stealth-14; Tracking-16.
Class: Giant Animal.
Notes: Even if a Fenrisian Wolf is "domesticated", they do no lose the Wild Animal meta-trait.

The Blackmaned Wolf. A direct copy of what has been done so far since it seems to be a perfect match for it.

Wolf, Fenrisian, Blackmaned (v.1)

ST: 25 HP: 22 Speed: 7.00
DX: 14 Will: 10 Move: 7
IQ: 7 Per: 16 Weight: 1,900 lbs.
HT: 14 FP: 14 SM: +1 (3 hexes)

Dodge: 11 Parry: 16 DR: 4
Basic Lift: 125 lbs.

Bite (16): 3d-1(2) cut. Reach C.
Claw (16): 2d+3 cr. Reach C, 1.
AOA-Whirlwind Attack (16): Claw and/or bite.

Traits: Acute Smell; Acute Sound; Chummy, Claws (Blunt Claws); Combat Reflexes; Cutting Striker (Teeth; Armor Divisor 2); Damage Resistance (Can't Wear Armor, Tough Skin) 4; Discriminatory Smell; Fur; Night Vision 2; Quadruped; Sense of Duty (The Pack Alpha and The Pack); Social Stigma (Monster); Striking ST (Bite Only) 5; Temperature Tolerance 2; Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-16; Tracking-16.
Class: Giant Animal.
Notes: Even if a Fenrisian Wolf is "domesticated", they do no lose the Wild Animal meta-trait.

And the "infamous" Thunderwolf below after looking at the Elephant entry and some Wikipedia entries on rhinos. I toned this down a little bit from the elephant sized/strength information. That particular Thunderwolf was an exception IIRC.

Wolf, Fenrisian, Thunderwolf (v.1)

ST: 30 HP: 28 Speed: 7.00
DX: 14 Will: 10 Move: 7
IQ: 7 Per: 16 Weight: 5,500 lbs.
HT: 14 FP: 14 SM: +2 (6 hexes)

Dodge: 11 Parry: 16 DR: 4
Basic Lift: 180 lbs.

Bite (16): 4d+2(2) cut. Reach C.
Claw (16): 3d+2 cr. Reach C, 1.
AOA-Whirlwind Attack (16): Claw and/or bite.

Traits: Acute Smell; Acute Sound; Chummy, Claws (Blunt Claws); Combat Reflexes; Cutting Striker (Teeth; Armor Divisor 2); Damage Resistance (Can't Wear Armor, Tough Skin) 4; Discriminatory Smell; Fur; Night Vision 2; Quadruped; Sense of Duty (The Pack Alpha and The Pack); Social Stigma (Monster); Striking ST (Bite Only) 5; Temperature Tolerance 2; Wild Animal.
Skills: Brawling-16; Stealth-16; Tracking-16.
Class: Giant Animal.
Notes: Even if a Fenrisian Wolf is "domesticated", they do no lose the Wild Animal meta-trait.

Hope this is a bit better. Maybe Perfect Organism or Kage202 will pop by and give their two cents on it tool. LOL
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Old 03-12-2013, 05:30 PM   #6
Kage2020
 
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Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

Quote:
Originally Posted by kayeags13 View Post
I quite enjoyed reading though his, and Kage2020's conversions (here and on the Dark Reign forums), but alas they converted mainly the "playable" guys and not as much attention was paid on the mean nasties...
Mea culpa. You're right, though. Most of my time has been spent on the big things like a set of custom psyker rules (that is constantly getting tweaked), and some supplements on some aspects of the setting that I find particularly interesting--which at this point is the Inquisition, the Adeptus Mechanicus and, because it couldn't be avoided, the Adeptus Astartes. (And I might yoink your build of the Fenrisian wolf for the latter. :D)

I really must get at least one of these projects finished.
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Old 03-12-2013, 06:19 PM   #7
kayeags13
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

LOL. I understand the difficulties of multiple projects at once. Never enough time to get any of them done it seems.

Yoink away on the builds if you think they are ready. I would be flattered.

With Gold's assistance, I think we got them pretty close to fluff and not too OTT rules wise.

As always suggestions are welcomed.
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Old 03-12-2013, 07:12 PM   #8
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Default Re: Assistance Requested - WH40k Fenrisian Wolves to GURPS

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Originally Posted by kayeags13 View Post
Yoink away on the builds if you think they are ready. I would be flattered.
I'll make sure that they're referenced if I actually get my act together, so thanks. :D
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