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Esoomian
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Joined: 29 Oct 2003
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Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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 Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:06 pm Post subject: Alien physiology quirks and how to take advantage of them. |
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So I was thinking about characters I might like to create or run as NPCs when I should have been doing something productive with my time and I thought about creating a Vaathkree trader who was born when his parents were trading exclusively with the Hapans at the time.
| Wookieepedia wrote: | Vaathkree had a long lifespan (300 to 350 standard years) and a two-staged life cycle. They began their lives as small, shapeless non-sentients called Stonesingers. Stonesingers roamed the lava flats of Vaathkree, incorporating bits of stone and metal into their body structure. Their metabolism allowed them to absorb minerals which would be turned into tough armor scales on the outside of the skin. At about nine years of age, the Stonesingers were about one meter tall, but still had a fluid form. They also began to develop rudimentary intelligence, and were instructed by adult Vaathkree into the ways of The Deal.
As their minds developed, the young Stonesingers lost their fluidity, and had to choose a particular form. Since the Vaathkree had been active in the Galactic Republic for several millennia, this was usually a Human-sized humanoid form. Others chose variant forms suited to their chosen professions. Stonesingers became adult Vaathkree at about twenty years of age. |
As the Vaathkree start life as shapeshifters (see the Wookieepedia quote above) and eventually choose the form they will take in their adult life I thought that a Vaathkree living with Hapans would look more like a marble statue than the more typical appearance.
Then I thought what if the parents where in some afluent cult and provides their formless stonesinger with a large amout of exotic materials like Phrink or cortosis to absorb during it's formation, what would the effects of that be?
So how have you made the most of a species physiology?
Have you had a character which used his second stomach as a storage space?
Perhaps you had a multi-limbed character that customized his spaceship so it required four arms to fly safely.
I'd like to hear people's stories of using alien quirks in interesting ways.
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garhkal
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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I did have a pc Pho-phin-ian make his cockpit geared for 4 arms... made it hard as heck for regular people (+15 to the diff) to operate, so effectively made his ship hard to steal.
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CRMcNeill
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| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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I know there was mention in the X-Wing novels of a Verpine tech who rearranged a starfighter's cockpit so that it would be more efficient, forgetting that humans don't have microscopic vision and count in base 10 instead of base 6.
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garhkal
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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Just the shifting of the numbering over.. i wonder what penalty that would push for others??
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Bren
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Just the shifting of the numbering over.. i wonder what penalty that would push for others?? |
Kind of throws you off when the readout tells you there are 10 incoming TIE fighters and it is really 10 base 6 not 10 base 10 i.e. only six TIE fighters. Of course that's probably not as dangerous as when you visually count 10 TIE fighters incoming and your HUD readout tells you you have 10 concussion missiles left (one for each TIE?) when the HUD means 10 base 6 missiles left.  |
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Fallon Kell
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| Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:36 am Post subject: |
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| Bren wrote: | | garhkal wrote: | | Just the shifting of the numbering over.. i wonder what penalty that would push for others?? |
Kind of throws you off when the readout tells you there are 10 incoming TIE fighters and it is really 10 base 6 not 10 base 10 i.e. only six TIE fighters. Of course that's probably not as dangerous as when you visually count 10 TIE fighters incoming and your HUD readout tells you you have 10 concussion missiles left (one for each TIE?) when the HUD means 10 base 6 missiles left. |
It gets worse. Time and distance readouts.
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garhkal
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| Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:15 am Post subject: |
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True... though it would be funny to see the players look when they DO realize they have only say 6 torps when they think they have 10!
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Esoomian
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:01 am Post subject: |
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Im not sure changing to base six would mean that ten meant six it would just mean that ten would be expressed as the more confusing 64 (IE six and four) and twelve would be expressed as 26 (Two times six) and the like.
I recall that book and it was Wedge's X-Wing that got upgraded (fortunately just better seat padding and a more efficient engine) but he recalled stories of the microscopic vision and base six upgrade. The stories he was recalling may have just been tall tales or even a slight species prejudice as they did not actually specify who it had happened to just that he'd heard of it happening (possibly from a friend of a friend).
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Hellcat
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:24 am Post subject: Re: Alien physiology quirks and how to take advantage of the |
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| Esoomian wrote: |
Perhaps you had a multi-limbed character that customized his spaceship so it required four arms to fly safely.
I'd like to hear people's stories of using alien quirks in interesting ways. |
Could it be possible for a bonus to be granted for a species with multiple arms without modding? I mean I've been looking at this and thinking about the various controls in a starfighter that a pilot has to deal with with just two arms. Like how about an X-wing for example. You got the control stick/yoke, throttle, shield controls, targeting system controls, weapons systems controls, sensors, S-foil control lever, hyperdrive controls, etc. Granted not all the controls are used all the time, but it does seem like someone with multiple arms could have a slight advantage in a combat situation with one hand on the stick, on on the throttle, one manipulating the shields, and one being used to scroll through target selection. Even if it were two on the stick you'd still have two used for say throttle ans shields.
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Esoomian
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:45 am Post subject: |
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Yes that's possible especially if we assume that a species with more than two arms may well have a brain that is designed to multi-task better so perhaps things like flying the ship and firing a gun wouldn't give such a being a MAP or something like that.
What I'm really looking for though is the really creative ways in which a player (or GM) has thought to take advantage of a different physiology. A four armed being weilding four weapons may well be an advantage but it's not particularly creative. Has anyone seen anything that made them stop and think for a moment?
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Bren
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:46 am Post subject: |
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| Esoomian wrote: | | Im not sure changing to base six would mean that ten meant six it would just mean that ten would be expressed as the more confusing 64 (IE six and four) and twelve would be expressed as 26 (Two times six) and the like. |
I'm sure. The number 10 in base ten means 1 ten and 0 ones, similarly the number 10 in base two means 1 two and 0 ones. The number 10 in octal is 1 eight and 0 ones, and the number 10 in hexadecimal (base 16) is 1 sixteen and 0 ones i.e. sixteen. So yeah, the number 10 in base six means 1 six and 0 ones. |
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:40 am Post subject: |
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Related to the topic of this thread, Hutts have 8 fingers instead of 10 so use their base 8 arithmetic system to confuse and rip-off people who think they are getting paid more for something then they are. A Hutt tells you he will pay you 10 of something? He is really paying you 8. 8)
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Bren
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | Related to the topic of this thread, Hutts have 8 fingers instead of 10 so use their base 8 arithmetic system to confuse and rip-off people who think they are getting paid more for something then they are. A Hutt tells you he will pay you 10 of something? He is really paying you 8. 8) |
I like that. 
And really, is base 8 Hutt pricing any wackier than the way in US stores the price is generally 3.99 or 3.95 not 4.00 and it almost never includes the tax. When making comparison purchasing decisions, I don't care that which part of my total cost goes to the merchant and which part goes to the government, I want to know what is the total cost to buy product X and what is the total cost to buy product Y. Why can't US retail merchants include the tax in the price the way movie theaters do and the way all of Europe does for retail goods? Sorry for the random ranting tangent. |
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Esoomian
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | Related to the topic of this thread, Hutts have 8 fingers instead of 10 so use their base 8 arithmetic system to confuse and rip-off people who think they are getting paid more for something then they are. A Hutt tells you he will pay you 10 of something? He is really paying you 8. 8) |
Yes I did read that when Jabba is counting out money for Leah (As Boush) in payment for Chewie he isn't counting in Huttese because people don't trust Huttese numbers for that reason.
Also I stand corrected about base six.
| Bren wrote: | | And really, is base 8 Hutt pricing any wackier than the way in US stores the price is generally 3.99 or 3.95 not 4.00 and it almost never includes the tax. When making comparison purchasing decisions, I don't care that which part of my total cost goes to the merchant and which part goes to the government, I want to know what is the total cost to buy product X and what is the total cost to buy product Y. Why can't US retail merchants include the tax in the price the way movie theaters do and the way all of Europe does for retail goods? Sorry for the random ranting tangent. |
Yes I found that confusing on my (so far) only visit to the States I usually try to pay for something with exact change if I can but in the states this meant I needed a calculator to do so.
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Bren
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| Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Esoomian wrote: | | Yes I found that confusing on my (so far) only visit to the States I usually try to pay for something with exact change if I can but in the states this meant I needed a calculator to do so. |
Oh you were using actual coins and folding money. That has become somewhat unusual in the US for anything over $10. It makes for a sometimes uncomfortable contrast when traveling to parts of Europe e.g. Germany where restaurants etc. expected cash for a 90+ euro bill/rechnung.
Yes, travel is quite broadening. |
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