So, Palladium Games are pretty infamous for being wildly unbalanced in the worst possible way. Obviously Rifts is the poster child for this having the wildest power swings in ways that are borderline unplayable.
But there is just something really wacky about playing Nightbane (originally Nightspawn). Even if every player decides to play one of the titular creatures, because the monster shape is randomized meaning your team in their "true forms" could consist of:
An almost human person with maybe some extra eyes.
A werecreature
A cyborg
And a random soulsbourne boss, massive and afflicted with wounds which will never truly heal
I have a sort of love-hate thing with Palladium Games in general. They have some of the most flavorful game settings around and 16-20 year old me found the wide-variety of character classes, the skill system, and the interesting systems of magic and martial arts quite fun. But now that I'm older, the game is unbalanced in the worst way and character creation is ruled primarily by random chance.
What do I mean by "unbalanced in the worst way"? Well MotW is also a bit unbalanced, but the of the creator philosophy there is "I don't care about balance as long as everybody is having fun." Whereas the attitude of Palladium Games tends to be more "I don't care about balance as long as it's realistic." And the games often sacrifice fun game play because something else is "realistic."
In addition, the system's originator, Kevin Siembada is... convinced of his own genius and rabid about his insistence that his system is perfect and should never be changed. So there's that.
When I was considering what games to use to make this character I considered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness as well as Heroes Unlimited. Unfortunately, TMNT's snake rules are in a supplement I don't own and Heroes Unlimited is actually one of the companies more bland products.
So I settled on Nightbane, a game about shapechanging creatures who initially think themselves normal humans... or maybe they are normal humans that are transformed. Nobody is really sure what the truth is. Each Nightbane has a unique "True Form" that may be formed of the circumstances that leads to their change, or their true personality, or something else entirely. Again, no one's really sure.
Long ago, the Nightbane used their strange powers of shadow and dimensional travel to aid the forces of Earth in resisting the power of the Lords of Night, ancient nigh-immortal sorcerers who feed on human misery. These Lords of Night were banished to a realm of shadow that exists beyond mirrors where they remained for thousands of years. The Nightbane's involvement in the defense of this world was forgotten over time save by the immortals who were there, and they were persecuted along with the mages and other occult powers that helped defend the Earth.
Now, the Lords of Night have returned, quietly, taking over the governments of the world and instituting a thousand horrors small and subtle to afflict the day to day lives of people. And the Lords of Night remember the Nightbane and how their powers were a sort of weakness for these immortal psychic vampires (Nightbane do double damage to Lords of Night and their servants).
There are three side notes to this game. The first is that this is one of the few Palladium games that gives primary writing credit to someone other than Kevin Siembada. In this case CJ Carella. In addition, it used to be titled Nightspawn... then Todd Macfarland sewed Palladium. I used to own a copy of the original title, but I sent that off to Critical Role ages ago while trying to clear space. Finally, the creation of a Nightbsne's "True Form" is usually determined by rolling on random tables. I'm instead just going to build it because otherwise making a gorgon deliberately would be nigh impossible. I'm also going to use a broad category of Nightbane form that I invented for myself as a kid called "Lycanthropic Beuaty" which uses Animal Features, Unearthly Beauty, and Nightspawn Characteristics. As a note, the options to create a gorgon aren't exactly the most powerful options on the form tables, but it's worth noting that powers of these features is wildly variable... see my comments about Palladium games being a bit unbalanced in the worst way.
Another side note, if I can find the Snake rules for TMNT I'll probably make a separate gorgon archer right up for that, since that game has unique mechanics and is primarily credited to Erick Wujik. I may also eventually pick up another Palladium game by Wujick to do an epithet gorgon archer by toying with Mystic China and Ninjas & Superspies unique and extensive martial arts mechanics. I may also make a Beyond the Supernatural character in order to dig into the psychic power rules.
Regardless, let's move on to building the character.
Step One - The Eight Attributes
To start with, we determine the eight attributes by, of course for a game that is not far removed from D&D, rolling dice. You roll 3d6 and if a 16, 17, or 18 is rolled, then a fourth die is rolled to add to that. These can be modified by forms, chosen classes, and some skills.
The eight attributes are:
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Mental Endurance (willpower)
Mental Affinity (charm and charisma)
Physical Strength (strength)
Physical Prowess (agility and dexterity)
Physical Endurance (stamina and constitution)
Physical Beauty (yep... this is a thing)
Speed (running speed is this x20 yards, maybe modified by other powers)
So... I'm going to modify things a bit. I'm rolling 4d6 and keep the highest. If that is a 16-18, then I will add the fourth die. I normally don't do homebrews unless the system encourages it, but purely rolled stats aren't very fun for me. So I'm using this method.
Rolled a 17 + 4 = 21 - good start
12
13
9
9
Rolled a 16 + 1 = 17
8
15
All right, ordering these as follows:
IQ: 12
ME: 13
MA: 9
PS: 9
PP: 21
PE: 8
PB: 17
Spd: 15
So, that's where we start. What does that translate into?
It's also important to note that supernatural creatures use strength to determine unarmed damage and also have higher multiples when determining how much they can lift as compared to normal humans.
I won't put down the final bonuses, because these stats are going to go up.
(and yes, I'm again doing a pretty gorgon)
Step Two - SDC and Hit Points
Palladium games use two types of health:
Structural Damage Capacity, aka SDC, represent flesh-wounds and minor bumps and bruises. You have to get through SDC in order to reach Hit Points
Hit Points,representing severe injuries.
Note that some games have a third type called "Mega Damage Capacity" for impossibly tough entities. 1 MDC is roughly equivalent to 100 SDC or HP, but also, usually weapons or powers that deal SDC or HP damage can't even scratch MDC. (Supernatural creatures usually bypass this).
Hit Points are based on your PE plus a d6 for each level including the first. Also note that while this will apply to our Nightbane gorgon's human form, their inhuman "True Form" will have more than this and we'll determine that later.
For now, we've rolled a 3 plus the 8 PE, and we get 11 HP. Her human form is a bit weak. But that'll go up a bit as we add bonuses.
For SDC, characters with police, military, athletic, or detective backgrounds have 1d4x10 SDC. All others have 3d6. Again, this will be modified by the fact we're a supernatural shapeshifter whose True Form will be tougher. Also, several skills and powers will improve it.
I'm going to say she has an athletic background due to the archery thing. Honestly, this doesn't have to be the case, she could have picked up archery after the fact, but we're going to say she was already an archer before discovering her world was invaded and she'd become a monster.
I rolled a 4, so that's 40 SDC.
Combined her human form has:
11 HP
40 SDC
Step Three - Choosing a Class
Palladium games breaks down classes into:
Occupational Character Classes - where your skills are based on a character's training and background.
Psychic Character Classes - a typical human character with a certain category of psychic powers.
Racial Character Classes - a character whose powers and skills are roughly based on their nature as an inhuman creature
The Nightbane game has the following classes in the base book:
A generic Psychic PCC
Nightbane, Doppleganger, Wampyr, Guardian, and Secondary Vampire RCCs
Sorcerer, Mystic, Nightbane Sorcerer, and Nightbane Mystic OCCs
It also encourages you to consider using PCCs and OCCs from other games. Which is likely why there's no OCC for human soldiers or spies and such.
Guardians are entities with light powers. They seem to be transformed humans but no one is sure if they're aliens, angels, or something else.
Wampyr are what happens when something goes wrong with a vampire transformation. They're not connected to the Vampire Intelligence that started the line of the vampire that tried to kill them and they know every vampire weakness. This makes Wampyr natural vampire killers.
As to vampires. In Palladium's multiverse, Vampire Intelligences are eldritch abominations like great blobs with a host of tentacles and eyes. They make deals with people for power, transforming them into Master Vampires. (truthfully, the person who made the deal is destroyed utterly and replaced with a piece of the intelligence in that person's shape and hints of that person's memories and skills). Master Vampires can turn people into Secondary Vampires, again, a piece of the vampire intelligence, but one on which the personality of the victim has imprinted itself. As such, Secondary Vampires sometimes turn against the bulk of the other pieces of the Vampire Intelligence. When Secondary Vampires transform someone, there's a chance it's another Secondary Vampire, but it may also be a Wild Vampire, feral beasts with only shreds of the victim's mind and and lacking the intelligence of a Master. The goal of the Master is to create enough vampires to reach a critical mass which will allow the Vampire Intelligence to physically enter into the world.
Yes, Palladium vampires are a Cthulhian eldritch nonsense.
There are also some RCCs meant only for NPC villains: Nightlords, Nightprinces, Master Vampires, etc.
In any case, we're choosing a Nightbane class.
Nightbane RCC - the basic package of a shapeshifting person that used to be human.
Nightbane Sorcerer OCC -learned and studied wizards who mix their natural powers with magic.
Nightbane Mystics OCC - nightbane who mix their powers with innate magic.
Note: Palladium equates sorcerers to educated wizard style casters and mystics to more "primitive" magic traditions mixing psychic powers with magic... and yes "primitive" means the examples they have of mystics are drawn from a lot of marginalized or colonized cultures.
We're going to go with the basic Nightbane RCC. No magic for this character, just their innate powers and skills.
Step 3.1 - Basic Nightbane traits
The following are aspects of the Nightbane RCC.
Natural Powers
The Becoming, shapechanging, 1 melee round (15 seconds) unless you succeed an ME save of 12 or higher. +1 at first level, and an additional +1 per two levels. On success takes less than one attack (about 3 seconds). Every nightbane's transformation process is unique.
Nightvision in both forms, further in Nightbane form
Sense other Nightbane
Supernatural Attributes as per other creatures of magic
Mirror Walk - use mirrors to cross into the Nightlands
Immune to all forms of mind control
Immune to all forms of transformation outside their own powers including petrification, vampire transformation, curses, turning to mist, etc
Various traits associated with their unique physical form.
Talents - Nightbane powers, start with one free, can permanently spend PPE to gain more. Gain additional "free" talents at levels 4, 7, 10, and 12
Nightbane Attributes and Traits
Facade (human form) Attributes: rolled as normal
Morphus (true form) Attributes: +10 to PS, PE, and Spd, +6 to PP, particular traits may add other bonuses.
Facade SDC: 30 + skill bonuses (meaning we'll lose 10 from the 40 I rolled)
Heal 10 SDC/HP per melee round (game doesn't specify which form)
Morphus Horror Factor: Base 6, max 18, modified by traits
Facade Combat: As human
Morphus Combat: +1 attack per turn, use supernatural strength for unarmed damage, some forms have other attack types/
Facade Bonuses: +2 to save vs magic, +1 to save vs horror factor, +1 to save vs disease, all on top of attribute and skill bonuses
Morphus Bonuses: +1 on initiative, +2 to strike, parry and dodge, +3 to roll/pull punch, +4 save vs magic, +3 to save vs psionics, +3 to save vs disease, and to +3 to save vs horror factor; all in addition to attribute and skill bonuses.
Personal Psychic Energy: PPE - Facade's PE + 3d6x10 +20. Rolled 14.
RCC Skill Package
6 Secondary Skills from the list of "Other Skills" but without bonus percentages
Part 3.2 - Skill Packages
The Nightbane RCC also asks us to pick a skill package based on their training and upbringing. This is unusual, since usually each class has a specific package rather than a set of options.
Basic skill package - High schooler or college freshman new to adventuring.
Resistance/Spook Squad trained - A nightbane from a military, law enforcement, or espionage background, or else who joined one of the guerilla resistance groups named soon after changing.
Nocturne/Lightbringer/Seeker trained - A nightbane that was trained by one of the various arcanist organizations.
Warlords trained - A nightbane part of the nightbane led Warlords gang or who comes from a gang background.
We're going to assume a raw new Nightbane, so going with the basic skill package. The weakest of the four. But I will briefly describe the factions here:
The Underground Railroad - oldest known Nightbane organization focused on securing safe places for the Nightbane.
The Resistance - splinter group of the Underground Railroad that is focused on resisting the darklords.
The Nocturnes - an ancient order of mystics and creatures that cooperate to study and fight the Nightlords. They failed to stop the invasion and now seek ways to repulse it.
The Seekers - an ancient order of mages and arcanists. The largest such order in the world (especially after the smaller orders were pretty much destroyed by the Nightlords)
Lightbringers - a group of humans, nightbane, and guardians that try to protect people from evil.
Warlords - a large gang operation commanded by Nightbane.
Spook Squad - when the invasion came, the intelligence and military organizations of the world were taken over were possible, destroyed where necessary. The spook squad is the collective of the survivors and their attempt to start a resistance. They have nightbane and other supernaturals in their number, but are a largely human dominated organization that tends not to trust their psychic, magical, or inhuman members.
I'm not sure which group if any our gorgon yet belongs to.
The basic skill package looks like this:
The following automatic skills.
Basic Math - Base Skill: 45% + 5% per level
English - Base Skill: 50% + 5% per level
English Literacy - Base Skill: 30% + 5% per level
Computer Operation - Base Skill: 40% + 5% per level
I'm going to give her the following skill two choices:
Cooking - Base Skill: 35% + 5% per level
Technical: Computer Programming - Base Skill: 30% + 5% per level
And the following "other" skills
Hand to Hand Expert = combat bonuses
WP: Archery and Targeting - combat bonuses
Photography - Base Skill 35% + 5% per level
First Aid - Base Skill: 45% + 5% per level
Athletics (general) - no percentage, attribute bonuses
Running - no percentage, attribute bonuses
Automobile - Base Skill: 60% + 2% per level
Lore - Demons and Monsters - Base Skill: 35% + 5% per level
Wilderness Survival - Base Skill: 30% + 5% per level
And then secondary skills:
Korean - Base Skill 50% + 5% per level
Korean Literacy - Base Skill 30% + 5% per level
Japanese - Base Skill 50% + 5% per level
Japanese Literacy - Base Skill 30% + 5% per level
Automotive Repair - Base Skill 25% + 5% per level
Gymnastics - various sub-skills and attribute bonuses
Which brings to the following skill percentages. Note that her IQ is not high enough to add any bonus proficiency. Skills that provide bonuses rather than have percentages will have their own section.
Automobile 60%
Automotive Repair 25%
Basic Math 55%
Computer Operation 50%
Computer Programming 30%
Cooking 50%
English 70%
English Literacy 50%
First Aid 45%
Japanese 50%
Japanese Literacy 30%
Korean 50%
Korean Literacy 30%
Lore - Demons and Monsters 35%
Photography
Wilderness Survival 30%
Athletics
+1 parry and dodge
+1 roll with punch or fall
+1 PS
+1d6 Spd (2)
+1d8 SDC (8)
Running
+1 PE
+4d4 Speed (12)
+1d6 SDC (2)
Gymnastics
Kick attack at first level: 2d4 damage
Sense of Balance - 50% + 5% per level
Parallel Bars and Rings - 60% + 3% per level
Climb Rope - 70% + 2% per level
Back Flip - 70% + 5% per level
Base Climb 25% (or adds 7% to Climb skill)
Base Prowl 30% (or adds 5% to Prowl skill)
+2 to roll with punch or fall
+2 PS
+1 PP
+2 PE
+2d6 SDC. Rolled 8.
WP: Archery and Targeting
+20 ft per level of character
+1 to parry with weapon
+1 to strike at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, and 14
Rate of Fire: 2 at 1st level, +2 at 3rd, +1 at 5. 7. 9, and 12
Hand to Hand Expert has the following table:
This brings the attributes to:
IQ: 12
ME: 13
MA: 9
PS: 12/22
PP: 22/28
PE: 12/22
PB: 17
Spd: 29/39
Facade HP: 15 (3 rolled + 12 PE)
Facade SDC: 48 (30 + 8 + 2 + 8)
Morphus HP: 52 (8 rolled + (22x2 PE))
Morphus SDC: 148
PPE: 172 (160 + 12 Facade PE)
Morphus Horror Factor: 6
I'll total combat bonuses later
Step 3.3 Building the Morphus
Okay, normally, you'd roll on the Morphus tables to determine what traits your character has and various traits have vastly different levels of power so the game doesn't want to let people just choose. Probably because they don't trust people to choose for flavor and instead just choose whatever they think is most powerful.
Because of this, when I made Nightbane in the past, I would usually start with rolling the Morphus before choosing skills and then move on to the rest of the game. So for this I'm assuming an Animalistic Beauty (homebrewed category I made as a kid. Resulting in the following:
Unearthly Beauty - Physical Perfection: +1d4 PB (1), PE (4), and PS (3), and 4d6 SDC (14)
Nightbane Characteristics - Unusual Facial Features - Facial Tentacles (Medusa style of course): +1d6 SDC (5) and +1d4 Horror Factor (1)
Between skills, rolls, and nightbane characteristics, we come to the following:
This brings the attributes to:
IQ: 12
ME: 13
MA: 9
PS: 12/25
PP: 22/28
PE: 12/26
PB: 17/18
Spd: 29/39
Facade HP: 15 (3 rolled + 12 PE)
Facade SDC: 48 (30 + 8 + 2 + 8)
Morphus HP: 60 (8 rolled + (26x2 PE))
Morphus SDC: 227 (48 + 100 + 60 + 14 + 5)
PPE: 172 (160 + 12 PE)
Morphus Horror Factor: 9
Horror Factor
For reference, a Horror Factor save requires rolling a 1d20 versus the creature's Horror Factor. A failed roll means:
Lose initiative, don't even roll
Lose one attack/action the first melee round
Last person to act.
Cannot defend against the first attack that melee (no parry or dodge)
The character shakes this off after the first melee round.
What this means is that when people see Diana, if they roll an 8 or lower on 1d20 (possibly with bonuses), then they get shocked and horrified.
Step 3.4 Talents
Now we choose the initial Talent and decide if we want to buy more Talents by permanently spending PPE. However, PPE is also spent temporarily to fuel the powers.
Only one of the many talents really stands out and it is an "Elite" Talent, meaning it's only available to Nightbane with the right sort of Morphus traits. In this case an Animal Form.
The talent I'm taking is Lady of the Wild, which lets her control snakes, the creature they have an animal form of.
That said, it does talk briefly about making your own Talents, so I'm going to adapt the Shadow Blast talent.
I'm going to call it "Shadow Arrow".
Creates an arrow made from black energy which can be fired from a bow. The arrow deals 1d6 damage per PPE spent. So a 10 PPE arrow would deal 1d6x10 (10d6) SDC/HP.
Limitations: Requires a bow. Only usable by the Morphus form. The Nightbane can only spend 3 PPE per level of experience. Range per the bow used.
This means that with her short bow, she has somewhat less range (though that will change as she goes up in level and her WP Archery gets better) and she can do somewhat more max damage but not too much. (max 3d6 per level vs max 4d4 per level).
That'll cost 5 permanent PPE to acquire on top of Lady of the Wild.
Some Combat Terms
I copied this over from the TMNT and Other Strangeness gorgon archer build
AR: Armor Rating, the roll must be higher than the AR in order to damage the character at all. The language is vague meaning it's unsure whether it means the natural on the die result or the result with bonuses applied. My cautious reading is that it means on the die roll because otherwise AR of 5 doesn't make any mechanical sense... but, then, it is Palladium and oversights like this exist.
Worn Armor: AR from worn armor will block damage from hitting the player, but an attack that hits (5+) but doesn't get higher than the AR will damage the armor rather than the character. If the worn armor's SDC gets 0, it stops protecting the character.
Natural Armor: Failing to match the AR means no damage is done at all, either to the natural armor or the player. If the SDC from the natural armor is lost, the AR remains.
Strike a roll of 1d20 plus your bonuses to attack. You need to roll a 5 or higher with bonuses to hit an opponent. They may then choose to parry, dodge, or roll with the impact. Doing so costs one of your next attacks or actions. Some attacks cannot be parried, some cannot be dodged, and some can't be rolled with.
Automatic moves. An automatic parry or automatic dodge can be used without costing the character an attack. Most people with any sort of HTH training have Automatic Parry. Automatic Dodge is a lot more rare.
Initiative is rolled every melee-round, not just at the start of a fight.
Step 4 - Equipment and Money
At step four, we determine how much money the character starts with, which we use to buy gear. Nightbane start with 3d6x100 worth of gear and cash. I rolled a 17 for a $1,700.
I'm giving her a short bow ($130) and 48 Arrows ($80). Nothing else stands out as necessary for the purposes of this blog.
Step 5 - Round Out Your Character
This is the point where you add details and check out the experience table you're using. The table for the Nightbane basic RCC is here:
As for rounding out the story.
I'm going to say Diana Park was a normal college student up until Dark Day happened. Like many other people, the advent of Dark Day caused her to have her first Becoming, revealing herself as a nightbane, something which she had no understanding of at all. She fortunately managed to survive the initial, hidden assault of the Lords of Night and has since found herself floating from faction to faction trying to find some sort of stability and common footing. Up until that happened, she was hoping to become a game designer.
And that brings us to the following:
Diana Park - 1st Level Nightbane
IQ: 12
ME: 13
MA: 9
PS: 12/25
PP: 22/28
PE: 12/26
PB: 17/18
Spd: 29/39
Facade HP: 15
Facade SDC: 48
Morphus HP: 60
Morphus SDC: 227
PPE: 167
Morphus Horror Factor: 9
Facade Run Speed: 580 yds(m)/minute
Morphus Run Speed: 780 yds(m)/minute
Talents
Lady of the Wild (Snakes)
Shadow Arrow
Skills
Athletics
Automobile 60%
Automotive Repair 25%
Basic Math 55%
Computer Operation 50%
Computer Programming 30%
Cooking 50%
English 70%
English Literacy 50%
First Aid 45%
Gymnastics: Back Flip 70%
Gymnastics: Basic Climb 25%
Gymnastics: Basic Prowl 30%
Gymnastics: Climb Rope 70%
Gymnastics: Parallel Bars and Rings 60%
Gymnastics: Sense of Balance 50%
Gymnastics
Hand to Hand: Expert
Japanese 50%
Japanese Literacy 30%
Korean 50%
Korean Literacy 30%
Lore - Demons and Monsters 35%
Photography 35%
Running
Wilderness Survival 30%
WP: Archery and Targeting
Facade (human form) Bonuses/Combat
Two hand-to-hand attacks per melee round
Two bow shots per melee round
Carry 120 lbs
Lift 240 lbs
Nightvision 200 ft
Sense Nightbane 300ft
Fist - 1d4
Gymnastic Kick - 2d4
+4 Strike
+5 Parry (+6 with bow)
+5 Dodge
+3 Roll with Punch, Fall, or Impact
+2 to save vs Magic
+1 to save vs Disease
+1 to save vs Horror Factor
35% Charm/Impress
Short Bow Range 340ft/104 meters
Short Bow Damage 1d6
Morphus (true form) Bonuses/Combat - there was no guidance on how the gymnastic kick would change but the game does say that if the Morphus uses a sword then they should add the supernatural melee damage to the sword's damage, so that's what I did with the gymnastic kick.
Nightbane Characteristics - 86 - Two Characteristics (ignore results 81% or higher)
Nightbane Characteristic 1 - 27 - Biomechanical
Biomechanical - 42 - Mechanical Limbs. The body and head are organic, but the legs, pincers and tail are mechanical. +4 PS, +1d4x10 SDC (20), +4d6 speed (17), +1d4 Horror Factor (3)
Nightbane Characteristic 2 - 61 - Unnatural Limbs
Unnatural Limbs - 41 - 2d4 (7) Pairs of Tiny Arms and Hands along shoulders. Physical Strength of 4 each. Deal 1 damage in combat if foe gets close enough or 1d4 if wielding small objects. +1d4 (1) Horror Factor.
Animal Form - 14 - Amphibian (Amphibian options are missing from the game - rerolling)
Animal Form Reroll 1 - 8 - Bear (guess what, this also isn't in the book despite being on the table)
Animal Form Reroll 2 - Arachnid
Arachnid - 10 - Full Arachnid - Giant scorpion, +4 PS, +2 PP, +2 PE, +1d4x10 Speed (10), Leap 20 ft/6.1 m), +3d6x10 SDC (90), +2 Initiative, +1 Perception rolls, +6 Horror Factor. Pincers add +1 attack per melee round, do 3d6 hand to hand damage, Stinger 3d6 damage + poison 4d6 damage / 2d6 on successful save vs poison) - could have been a spider, went with scorpion
Stigmata - 48 - Eternal Wounds - Horrible wounds that never heal. +3d6 SDC (10), +1d4 (3) Horror Factor
Okay, so Kylie goes from normal human woman into a giant scorpion with robot legs, massive bleeding wounds, and a cluster of tiny human arms and hands about its shoulders.
Bonuses from these traits all told:
+1 PB - it's a perfect specimen of giant eternally bleeding cyborg scorpion
+5 PE (Physical Perfection and Full Arachnid)
+11 PS ( Physical Perfection, Mechanical Limbs, and Full Arachnid)
+27 Spd (Mechanical Limbs and Full Arachnid)
+138 SDC (Physical Perfection, Mechanical Limbs, Full Arachnid, and Eternal Wounds)
+13 Horror Factor, which would be 19 save the maximum is 18
Leap 20 ft
+2 Initiative (on top of the +1 all Nightbane in Morphus get)
+1 Perception rolls
+1 attack per melee (on top of the +1 all Nightbane in Morphus get)
Pincers 3d6 hand to hand damage
Stinger 3d6 + 4d6 poison (2d6 on successful save)
Second Character - Sawa Aoki
Basic Appearance - 29 - Inhuman but Beautiful - Unearthly Beauty and Nightbane Characteristics
Alien Creature - 57 - Unusual Skin Color - Roll or pick one. +1 Horror Factor
So, this morphus is a pretty elfin woman with, let's say silver skin. And she gets the following benefits:
+7 PB
+6 inches height
+1 Horror Factor (7)
Third Character - Lola Callazo
Basic Appearance - Lycanthrope - Animal Form
Animal Form - 37 - Bat
Bat - 66 - Bat Wings - Fly Speed of 30, +1 dodge when flying, +4d6 (17), +2 Horror Factor.
So, Lola basically just grows some bat-wings and that's it. Which gives her:
Fly Speed 30 (600 yd(m)/minute)
+1 dodge when flying
+17 SDC
+2 Horror Factor (8)
I really did not expect to get "Bizarre" on the first sample. So this group has:
a gorgon
a silver-skinned elf
a bat-winged woman
and a giant cyborg, eternally bleeding scorpion with tiny human arms and hands along its shoulders which is perfectly proportioned
And all four are the same species.
Leveling Up Diana
A lot of Palladium classes and skills provide a chart showing exactly what benefits they get at each level. Nightbane does not really do that (though the HTH skill does). Leveling benefits provide:
+1d6 HP to the Facade
+2d6 HP to the Morphus
+3d6 PPE
Skill percentages increase
Most Weapon Proficiencies improve (guns apparently don't level)
For specific benefits, Diana gets the following:
Level 2
+3 Parry/Dodge
Level 3
+2 Strike
Level 4
Free Talent - Premonitions
Two Secondary Skills: Boxing, Prowl
+1 Attack per Melee
Boxing Bonuses
+1 Attack per melee
+2 Parry/Dodge
+1 Roll with Punch/Fall
+2 PS
+3d6 (7)
Level 5
Kick Attack does 1d6 (plus supernatural in morphus)
Level 6
Critical Strike on natural 18-20=
Level 7
Free Talent - Anti-Arcane
Paired Weapons
Level 8
Two Secondary Skills: Climbing, Body Building
Judo-style Body Throw/Flip does 1d6, victim loses initiative and one attack.
Body Building Bonuses
+2 PS
+10 SDC
Level 9
+1 Attack per Melee
Level 10
Free Talent - Soul Shield
+3 Damage
Level 11
Knock-Out/Stun on natural 18-20
Level 12
Free Talent - See Truth
+2 Parry/Dodge
Level 13
Critical Strike or knock-out from behind (triple damage)
Level 14
+1 Attack per Melee
Level 15
Death blow on a natural 20
Diana Park - 15th Level Nightbane
IQ: 12
ME: 13
MA: 9
PS: 16/29
PP: 22/28
PE: 12/26
PB: 17/18
Spd: 29/39
Facade HP: 73
Facade SDC: 65
Morphus HP: 60
Morphus SDC: 350
PPE: 167
Morphus Horror Factor: 9
Facade Run Speed: 580 yds(m)/minute
Morphus Run Speed: 780 yds(m)/minute
Talents
Lady of the Wild (Snakes)
Shadow Arrow
Premonition
Soul-Shield
Anti-Arcane
See Truth
Skills
Athletics
Automobile 88%
Automotive Repair 95%
Basic Math 98%
Climbing 82%
Computer Operation 98%
Computer Programming 98%
Cooking 98%
English 98%
English Literacy 98%
First Aid 98%
Gymnastics: Back Flip 98%
Gymnastics: Climb Rope 98%
Gymnastics: Parallel Bars and Rings 98%
Gymnastics: Sense of Balance 98%
Gymnastics
Hand to Hand: Expert
Japanese 98%
Japanese Literacy 98%
Korean 98%
Korean Literacy 98%
Lore - Demons and Monsters 98%
Photography 98%
Prowl 85%
Running
Wilderness Survival 98%
WP: Archery and Targeting
Facade (human form) Bonuses/Combat
6 Attacks per Melee (8 with Bow)
Carry 120 lbs
Lift 240 lbs
Nightvision 200 ft
Sense Nightbane 300ft
Fist - 1d4
Gymnastic Kick - 2d4
+6 Strike (+12 with Bow)
+10 Parry (+11 with Bow)
+10 Dodge
+2 Damage
+3 Roll with Punch, Fall, or Impact
+2 to save vs Magic
+1 to save vs Disease
+1 to save vs Horror Factor
35% Charm/Impress
Short Bow Range 340ft/104 meters
Short Bow Damage 1d6
Morphus (true form) Bonuses/Combat - there was no guidance on how the gymnastic kick would change but the game does say that if the Morphus uses a sword then they should add the supernatural melee damage to the sword's damage, so that's what I did with the gymnastic kick.
Joining a Heroes Unlimited game with Derrick, it took me way too long to come back and finish this token art for him. Normally, you only get like 2-3 superpowers, but this campaign's not a normal one either, so he's gonna have a whole bunch of things at his disposal.
The Coalition States is a genocidal human supremacist power of North America in the the dystopian post-apocalyptic future of Palladium's Rifts roleplaying game.
I just got mansplained on Reddit. I know traditionally this would involve me being a woman but here we are.
Me: "Hey, Film Reroll just did TMNT 2: Secret of the Ooze. Shame they couldn't realistically use the actual TMNT role playing game (but they always use GURPS and anyway Palladium Games are kinda garbage)" and I posted a photo of my more than thirty year old copy of said game.
Random Redditor: "Oh you sweet summer child. The game is based off the comics. The comics came first and were a parody of Daredevil, then the cartoon show and live action movie made the turtles get different color headbands and..."
Uh.
What's the "oh you sweet summer child" bit for? Like I knew all that shit already, I even own some of the original comics, but even if I hadn't... nothing in my post in any way had me saying something naive or whatever. So strange.
