Here's a cool way you can come up with some quick and original material for your game. I call it "mix and match." You take material from one RPG and translate it across into another. Most gaming systems have very similar statistics for characters and creatures, for instance. So with a little mathematical calculation and a good understanding of two different systems, you can translate the stats for a creature from one game into something you can use for another.
Example: Mind Flayer into Vampire: The Requiem
Step 1: Abilities to Attributes
We know that a rating of "10" in a D+D Ability is considered the average for an average person on the street, and that a rating of "2" means the same thing in the World of Darkness system. Therefore, all you need to do is divide the mind flayer's ability scores by 5 to get their World of Darkness equivalents (round down).
Strength 12 = Strength 2
Dexterity 14 = Dexterity 2
Constitution 12 = Stamina 2
Intelligence 19 = Intelligence 3
Wisdom 17 = Wits 3
Charisma 17 = Charisma/Manipulation 3
To get the mind flayer's Resolve and Composure scores, look at it's Will save, since that is the primary equivalent function of Resolve and Composure. The mind flayer's Will save is +9. To get a +9, it would normally need a Wisdom score of 28. Divide that by 5, round down, and you get a Resolve and Composure both at 5.
Step 2: Skills
When it comes to Skills, you can translate them across in the same fashion, using the same division forumla. Skill Dots in World of Darkness = Skill Ranks in D+D/5, round down.
So a mind flayer's skill dots would look like this:
Bluff +11 = Subterfuge 2
Diplomacy +7 = Persuasion or Socialize 1
Disguise +3 (+5 acting) = Expression (Acting) 1
Hide +10 = Stealth 2
Intimidate +9 = Intimidation 1
Knowledge (Any) +12 = Academics, Computer, Occult, Politics, Science all at 2.
Move Silently +10 = Another 2 in Stealth, for a total of 4.
Sense Motive +7 = Empathy 1
As for Concentration, Listen, and Spot, in World of Darkness those are all resolved by a Perception roll. So give the mind flayer a racial Perception roll bonus of +6 for it's ranks in those skills (It would have translated to 2 dots for each). If that seems too high - after all, even werewolves only have a +4 to their Perception in full wolf form - them halve that down to a +3. Just be sure you're consistant with other creatures you mix and match over so the stats are accurately reflected.
Step 3: Combat
Attack Bonuses: The mind flayer has a +8 to attack with its tentacles. But it only deals a d4 in damage. Since the World of Darkness doesn't seperate the attack roll from the damage roll, let's focus on how much damage the mind flayer would do with it's tentacles in the World of Darkness. A d4 is pretty much the lowest damage die in D+D, so let's translate that to a +1 attack in World of Darkness. That means that a d6 would equal a +2, a d8 would equal a +3, and so on.
Natural Armor Bonus: The mind flayer has a natural armor bonus of +3. That means it's equal to the protection provided by leather or hide armor. In the World of Darkness, leather armor provides a 1/0 armor rating. So we give our World of Darkness mind flayer an armor rating of 1/0.
Step 4: Powers and Advantages
Special Attacks, Qualities and Feats: This gets the most tricky, since these items are often the most unique to their various systems and usually require you to really break down each of these into their specific in-game effects in order to do a good job.
The mind flayer has the following items:
Combat Casting
Improved Grab
Improved Initiative
Spell Resistance 25
Telepathy 100 ft
Weapon Finesse
Since we're translating into Vampire: The Requiem, there is some precident for mental powers we can work with. Since mind flayers are supposed to be potent with their mental powers, let's give our average mind flayer the following Disciplines:
Animalism 2
Auspex 3
Dominate 5
Majesty 4
Nightmare 3
That takes care of the mental powers. Improved Initiative translates well into Fast Reflexes. The mind flayer looses Combat Casting and Improved Grab because there's no inherent penalties to using Disciplines in combat, and all the World of Darkness Merits that might cover Improved Grab require more Strength than the mind flayer would have.
Spell Resistance is an example of something unique to D+D, with little or no equivalent in the World of Darkness, or certainly not in Vampire. You might be tempted to throw it out, but you could also translate it using our handy "divide by 5" rule into a Blood Potency rating of 5. Vampires with higher Blood Potency are harder to influence with Disciplines, since most Disciplines that require a contested roll include Blood Potency in the dice pools.
So we are done. The mind flayer's new stats will give you what you need for things like its Health and Initiative.
Our final, translated mind flayer looks something like this:
Mind Flayer Creature
Attributes: (Mental): Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 5 (Physical) Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 (Social) Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Composure 5
Skills: (Mental) Academics 2, Computer 2, Occult 2, Politics 2, Science 2 (Physical) Stealth 4, (Social) Empathy 1, Expression (Acting) 1, Intimidation 1, Persuasion 1, Subterfuge 2
Merits: Fast Reflexes 1
+3 to Percpetion rolls
Tentacles: +1 Brawl (L)
Blood Potency: 5
Humanity: 3 (Mind Flayers are incredibly evil)
Virtue: Possibly Faith (Mind flayers have an inherent faith in their own eventual world domination) or Prudence (Mind flayers are notorious for fleeing from battles at the slightest hint of defeat).
Vice: Pride (For lawful evil D+D creatures. Greed also works. Try Wrath/Lust/Gluttony for chaotic evil and Envy/Sloth for neutral evil).
Health 7, Initiative 8, Speed 9, Size 5 (Translated from Medium sized creature), Willpower 10, Defense 2
Armor Rating: 1/0
Disciplines: Animalism 2, Auspex 3, Dominate 5, Majesty 4, Nightmare 3
This creature might work as a hideously deformed Nosferatu (such as a member of the Rakshasa Bloodline) or some grotesque creature created through vampiric experimentation.
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