I hope you are all well and had a great weekend. I got some writing time in this weekend and wanted to keep the creative train flowing with races/classes and decided to bang out the Aqualorian class for the new Barbarians USA setting book. This race is inspired by the Amazons race in Thundarr the Barbarian episode, “Attack of the Amazons”… which by the by was the first episode I saw of Thundarr as an adult and spawned all this madness in the first place AND is still probably my favorite episode. Now it’s back to finish up another territory for the book and then I’ll write another mini-adventure. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between all these to keep shit fresh and sexy in my brain.
Be well!
Here’s a new Barbarians of the Ruined Earth class/race
AQUALORIAN
Aqualorians are an all-female amphibious species found in many of the lakes and rivers in the Ruined Earth and the ocean itself. Aqualorians are known, not only, for their strength and prowess in battle (especially under the waters) but their ability to remain cool and collected, even in the most dire circumstances. They are proud and protective of what they consider their, including friends and allies.
“On land it is all chaos and violence; lasers blasts and the bleating of crazed Sorcerers… I prefer the world under the waves, filled with mysteries of the old world washed away in an instant during the Calamity where a serenity suffuses everything. I may not understand many of the ways of land walkers, but I understand tyranny and I will everything in my power to rise against it.”
Starting HP: 1d10+4
Hit Points Per Level/Resting: 1d10 HP/lvl
Weapon and Armor: Light and Medium Armor (cannot swim in medium), Daggers, Tridents, Spears/Harpoon, Swords, Nets, Bolas, and Laser Weaponry
Weapon Damage: 1d8/1d6 Unarmed or Improvised
SPECIAL FEATURES
Underwater Life: Can swim up to Not-so-Nearby per round and breathe underwater. Can see in low-light underwater as if daylight up to Not-so-Nearby. Can see underwater just as above water normally. Fighting targets that are not water dweller in the water grants Advantage to attacks and defense for the Aqualorian.
Strength: Has Advantage on feats of strength for lifting stuff, breaking things, and being intimidating, etc. (not attack rolls).
Battle Prowess: Aqualorians can make two attacks per round.
Telepathic Communication: Aqualorians can speak to water-based animals telepathically by succeeding on a WIS test. The creature can only answer within the limitations of their kind and perception. Once per hour an Aqualorian may attempt to communicate with non-water-based creatures including humans, Vek, Beastmen, etc. They cannot communicate with any machine in this way or target that has a cybernetic brain.
Leveling Up:
Roll all Attributes to see if they increase, roll twice for STR or WIS
STARTING EQUIPMENT
CHOOSE TWO*: Short sword, spear/harpoon, dagger, or trident
ARMOR: Light armor
ADDITIONAL ITEMS: Rations (d6), waterskin (d6), bedroll, torches x6 (d6), and healing salve (1 HD of HP restored).
*All starting weapons are made of wood, bone, or stone. For each weapon, there is a 15% chance it is made of metal (i.e., the arrowheads, the sword blade, etc.).
INTERESTING TRINKET (roll 1d6): 1) A conch shell given to you by your mother; 2) A glowing chunk of rock you found in a falling star; 3) A necklace made of shark’s teeth; 4) An apparatus that lets a human breath underwater (1d6 UD); 5) The petrified egg of a huge sea turtle; 6) A harpoon gun (1d6 UD mini-harpoons).
LIFE EVENT (roll 1d8): 1) You were a slave and escaped; 2) Your mother was captured by pirates and you never saw her again; 3) Your enclave was attacked by a Sorcerer riding a robotic shark, many of your kin died; 4) You bravely fought off a Shark Beastman as a young teenager; 5) You discovered ancient ruins in the depths of the water. Your gut tells you there is treasure to be found; 6) You were attacked by a giant squid looking for an easy meal. Several of your family rescued you. You still have the scars on your arm from the attack; 7) You were honored for your kill of a Crocosaurs; 8) You served as a scout for a human trading ship for a time.
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Hey Mike,
Been reading through Barbarians and Starrunner. Trying to brainstorm my ideal sci-fi game hack that ticks all the boxes . Not much time to play right now with a 1 year old ewok at my house.
When you put together your classes, what sort of guidelines do you try to follow for attribute progression? It seems the more combat focused classes are attribute 1 AND attribute 2. Others are typically attribute 1 OR attribute 2.
At its face value, I can’t see if there is any reasoning for this in the black hack. Maybe in practice it is obvious. As a mechanic it seems like there are lots of ways you could pay with this. Such as the mutant in the Rad Hack.
Best, Jonathan
On Wed, Dec 9, 2020, 8:08 AM DIY RPG Productions wrote:
> Mike Evans posted: ” I hope you are all well and had a great weekend. I > got some writing time in this weekend and wanted to keep the creative train > flowing with races/classes and decided to bang out the Aqualorian class for > the new Barbarians USA setting book. Th” >
I think it’s to give physical characters an edge over the boosts that mages and clerics give.
I just rule of thumb it. I look at the abilities a class gets vs another. Maybe they are slightly less powerful than another class or they have two attributes they really need to use- that’ll determine the and/or factor for me.