Random Creature Generation

The number of different kinds of creatures in the universe is almost infinite. When you need another creature to fill out your adventure use this system to generate some random creatures.

You can either pick selections you want for your creature, or you can roll them randomly. Record your decisions and leave some space for writing down on any additional details for the new species.

This system is designed for making creatures of animal intelligence, and not terribly balanced ones at that. Game Masters can also use it to make sentient races, but they will have to translate scale (if not zero), Move (if not 10), and natural abilities into Disadvantages, Advantages, and Special Abilities.

When you’ re asked to roll to determine a die code, roll the indicated number of dice and perform any math on the number that turns up. The final result is number of dice that the creatures has in the characteristic in question. Example: To determine the Perception attribute, roll 1D and divide by 2 (round up). Thus, if the result is 5, the creature has a Perception of 3D.

The rules offer some guidelines and questions for creating new species. When you don’t have the time to go through that process, but you need a creature immediately, use these tables to generate one in a few minutes.

Do not include the Wild Die when making rolls on these tables, unless otherwise specified.

Home Environment

This is general type of terrain in which the species evolved in. This will always be their preferred habitat and the one members of the species are best suited for, but it’s possible that through equipment or chemicals, they can survive in other conditions. Roll 2D on this table.

Result – Environment

2 – Aerial- the strata of a gas giant or a light gravity world where nothing is rooted to the ground.

3 – Desert/ tundra

4 – Volcanic

5 – Mountainous

6 – Forest

7 – Plains

8 – Jungle

9 – Wetlands

10 – Ocean

11 – Glacier

12 – Exotic: Roll 2D on this table again, ignoring and rerolling the 12 result. The environment indicated is the basic style of the home terrain, but there’s something unusual about it: between the stars, a forest of metal “trees” or an airless “desert” moon.

Basic Body Type

This is the basic physiological form that the new species has. The type and thickness of the outer covering (skin/far, shell, chitin, hair, etc.) depends on the environment. The colder it is, the more heavily protected the internal organs are. Roll 2D on this table.

Result – Body Type

2 – Plant

3 – Soft invertebrate (worms, octopi, etc.)

4-5 – Mammal

6 – Insect

7 – Reptile, amphibian

8 – Fish or fishlike

9 – Shelled invertebrate (snails, clams, crabs, shrimp, etc.)

10 – Avian or pseudo-avian (pseudo-avians appear as if they once had the ability to fly, but they now do not).

11 – Artificial or inorganic (crystal, silicon, energy, gaseous, etc.)

12 – Exotic: Roll twice on this table, rerolling if this result comes up again. The first result is how the creature appears on the outside. The second result is the actual physiology of the creature.

Feeding Habits

What a creature eats can have an effect on the being’s outlook. Herbivores are generally more skittish, less aggressive, and have more defenses than rhe oi:her types. Scavengers may look tough, but since they rely on others for the kill (whether animal or vegetable), they can be cowardly. Carnivores are often aggressive, because i:hey have to work hard to get their food. Omnivores are the most adaptive of the four kinds of feeding habits, since they eat just about anything. Roll 1D on this table.

Result – Feeding Habits

1-2 Carnivore

3 Herbivore

4-5 Omnivore

6 Scavenger

Attributes

You can either assign values for each attribute, or you can decide them randomly. For each attribute, perform the action indicated to get the number of dice in that characteristic. If you’d like to include pips, roll 1D and divide by 3, rounding down, to figure out how many to include. The results will be 0, +1, or +2.

For sentient beings, instead of using this chart, roll 1D and subtract 1 for results of 2 or more to determine the number of dice in the attribute.

Agility: 1D

Mechanical: 1D/3, round down (a value of 0D is possible).

Strength: 1D

Knowledge: 1D/2, round up

Perception: 1D/2, round up

Technical: 0D (most non-sentient creatures do not have this attribute)

To figure out the Strength Damage, divide the number in front of the “D” in Strength and round up. This is the die code in Strength Damage.

Skills

Instead of randomly generating skills, go through the list and select ones that are most appropriate for the creature and at the level that seems best. If you’d like to randomly add dice, roll 1D. Add this number to the base attribute value to get the skill die code.

Move

How quickly the creature travels on or through its favorite medium is dictated by its Move value. Roll two dice, but don’t add together their results. Instead, multiply one value by the other to get the final Move (in meters per round, if a planetary creature, or space units per round., if a star-faring creature).

Scale

To determine the size of your creature, first roll 1D and compare the result on the table. If the scale indicated is Small or Large, roll one Wild Die, treating the 1 result simply as a 1, to get the number. This allows the scale value to be open ended.

Result – Scale

1-2 – Small (scale value is below zero)

3-4 – Human-size (0)

5-6 – Large (scale value is above zero)

Natural Abilities

All creatures have at least one ability that sets them apart from an unmoving lump of goo. First, roll one regular die or one Wild Die (if you want the possibility of a creature with lots of natural abilities). This result is the number of times that you use on the “Natural Abilities” tables.

Some of these abilities help the creature, and some do not. To make this creature generation system more compatible with designing species packages, all natural abilities are based on character option mechanics. Game Masters may feel free to adjust the values as desired.

If you generate a result that’s incompatible with the species’ home environment, either reroll or say the natural ability is currently dormant.

Roll 10 and compare the result to the first table to determine which of the secondary tables to roll on. On the second table, roll the number of dice indicated in the first table.

Result – Go to …

1-3 Beneficial Natural Ability: roll 2D

4-6 – Hindering Natural Ability: roll 1D

Result – Beneficial Natural Ability

2 – Environmental resistance: +6D to Strength or stamina in extreme environments and can breath in water or thin atmosphere (as appropriate for home environment).

3 – Alternate movement: instead of moving on land limbs, the creature flies, swims, or crawls/ burrows.

4 – Fearsome: +3 to intimidation totals.

5 – Ranged weapon (spit, radiation blast, energy projection, gas spray, etc.): roll 10 and add 2 to determine die code of damage; multiply this number by 2, 5, and 10 to get Short, Medium, and Long range values.

6 – Natural camouflage: has an uncanny aptitude for stealth in its natural environment; + 2 to dodge, hide, and sneak totals and +6 to difficulties to find it when in its natural environment only.

7 – Armor (plates, rough skin, layers of fat, special feathers, scales, etc.): roll 1D to determine Armor Value die code.

8 – Hand-to-hand weapon (bite, claw, poison touch, tail, spikes, etc.): roll 1D to determine die code of damage modifier

9 – Infravision: can see heat signatures, negating up to 4 points of modifiers for dim or dark conditions

10 – Enhanced vision: +3 to sight-based totals

11 – Climbing claws: +9 to climb/jump totals when using to climb

12 – Powerful limbs: +9 to climb/jump totals when jumping or +3 to swim totals or +3 to running totals

Result – Hindering Natural Ability

1 – Delicate build: -2 to damage resistance totals

2 – Light gravity: + 1 t0 all Agility difficulties in gravities of 1 g or more

3 – Heavy gravity: + 1 to all Agility difficulties in gravities of 1g or less

4 – Vulnerability: damage from one common substance (water, fire, metal, etc.) increased by +3D

5 – Poor vision: + 1 to all sight-based difficulties

6 – Poor hearing: +2 to all to all hearing-based difficulties

Disposition

This chart provides a general idea of how most members of the species will react when they come into contact with someone new. Of course, not every member will act this way – sickness, physical or mental defects, and other factors can affect the way specific members react. Roll 1D on this table.

Result – Disposition

1 – Friendly and happily approaches anyone or anything new in the area

2 – Aggressive or angry; attacks immediately

3 – Curious but cautious; will only attack if harmed or startled

4 – Defensive, either running away, hiding, or curling into its protective covering (if it has one)

5 – Protective. remaining wary until whatever it’s protecting is threatened

6 – Listless, sluggish, or drowsy

Description

Once you’ve finished with this system, you’ll have an unusual collection of game characteristics. Use the description section to bring all of these seemingly disparate elements together into something that, at least on the surface, makes sense.

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