One of the 9 green Hell-orbs of wandering.

The precise origin of the Eyes is not known.  What is generally accepted or at least widely believed, is the apocryphal story of the trimming of the Eye Tree

A Demon Trims the Tree

In this tale, it is said a demon (most accounts agree it was Tamarah the Conquerer), having overcome many challenges came, weary, to a great cold waste under a dying sun.  In this frozen wasteland of death’s quiet, she found but a single living organism; an immense tree, more of an immense ribbed stalk actually, of exceptionally pink and alien hue, pulsing with subdued life.   Hanging, limply, from the immense stalk, were a multitude of dull blue sacs, each also of immense, though irregular size.   The shape themselves suggested tears, and it was this more than anything else that is said to have drawn the nascent demon lord’s attention.

Growing to appropriately macroscopic size (for even then she was filled with power, in those days fresh from her early wars with many rivals for her future queendom) Tamarah caressed each rotting orb gently as if to listen inside for a noise or movement.  

What she found instead was this - out of 112 of these sacs, she dallied to open 39 of them.  Of those, thirty contained …. Dross.  Cancer and worse.  Rot, in it’s most malignant and fell form.  

But nothing she had not already purged and so was not afraid.

The other 9 however still bore some trace of exotic and sequestered life; they were, though not of regular size but each otherwise identical, immense alien … eyes.   Milky yellow whites with double irises, suggesting the shape of an hourglass and a knife, overlaid, and glowing from within with some lost green hell energy.

So delighted was she in finding them, that she ….charmed the strange, taffy textured lifeform.   IN doing so she learned of it’s immense age, and it’s distinct and affected...unconcern for the affairs of souled beings or those who would use them as toys and pets.   Primordial in it’s age, itself a lost spoor of some older, more exotic thing, lost when it’s world was consumed in the death of sunlight, as is the way of the Most Ancient Worlds. .  

And having done so, continued to wander along on her way, carving her scarlet path.  She was given care over five of them, and she absconded with the other four.   There were nearly five score of those pods remaining, unopened.  She did not see the care, for she knew in knowing this creature that it would not demean itself to communicate with her in this, or indeed any other manner, ever again.   

And it was as she set about walking her road of vendetta murder and hell glory, she fed these..eyes..precious nectars, and the souls of the innocent, and especially of the sanguine sacrament of her scarlet activities.

And they grew.

Regardless of the literal truth of the above, nine of these throbbing green hell orbs now wander the many hidden pathways of the omniverse, seeing in all spectra, across all planes and dimensional barriers, seeking only the novel, the secret, and the powerful.   Forever curious and wandering, never blinking.

And always feeding back to their mistress.  Who or whatever that being may actually be.

While legend easily traces it’s origin point to a member of a now extinct species of cerebral-coral it is unknown at what point the mother organism was visited by Hell. Perhaps it is likely some arrangement was made to ensure it’s survival in the cold vacuum of space before rooting on whatever world in which the future Red Queen of Doom found it.

The Eyes’ mother “tree” was the Buddling of the Once Dread but Lost Kreb-Coral,  last of a now extinct species of cerebral coral once known to grow in large tree-like formations in the low gravity environment of Khorlath Queltyrflax, moon of Ribbosil IX, before that world’s atomization by supernova some 45,000 years ago.

Presumably hell assisted in transplanting the mother buddling to the world on which Tamarah found it, prior to (once again) turning Hell’s tools to her benefit.

Great Green EYE OF Wandering : Init +7; Atk +11 Hell Beams (9d12, 5100’); AC 30; HD 9d12+3; hp 93; MV 150’; Act 1d30; SP Lots; SV Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +7; AL Neutral.

Unblinking Hell Eyes - sees in all spectra of light and energy; with perfect clarity and precision.  Sees into the aetherial and all of the sub-ether dimensions; can (and does) peer into hyperspace and the local superspace medium.  Can see across dimensional and planar barriers.  Probably watching you like ceiling cat.

Hell Beams - if sufficiently aroused to such irritation as to do violence upon one interfering in its purposes, the eyes can unleash an infernally charged mithrylorganic pumped laser  +11 to hit inflicting 9d12 light/heat damage and creating microjets of supercharged plasma on contact with air creating a dangerous burst bubble of 40” which inflicts 6d8 (Star) damage on ...everything.   IT is noteworthy that the Eyes themselves do not take damage from this.

Nosy and Desperately sEeking Interesting - The Eyes are drawn to things that have not been seen before and their memory is the memory of a dead race, millions of years old at ti’s demise. They are, by nature, drawn to multiversal intersections of novelty and complexity (most often occurring in primary material universes in the present age).

This often brings them into conflict with the sentinels of the Clockwork Hell, however many centuries ago, Cognition changed the order to Watch, Follow, Observe, before the standard Obey All Protocols that the sentinels are punched with on departing the Outer Gearsprings.

Buddling of the Dread Lost Kreb-Coral Stalk the creature at heart is, much like it’s parent colony, made of tightly packed, super interactive memory cells.   Even though it is constantly bleeding the excess back to its Mistress, the Eye at any given time knows...tremendous things.   Not that it is talking.  Functionally this gives it a +4 init. (simply because it can anticipate so much) and the ability to absorb spell energy 1/day (up to 5 levels worth) if the caster fails to overcome a Will save. DC 30 (the spell will likely still take effect but the Eye will ‘memorize’ it, frozen in a single moment of time.  It may repeat that spell, precisely as rolled, a second time without fail, though not at the original caster.

LotFP

Great Green EYE OF Wandering  Armour 32  Move 150’, 14 HD 93 hp, many abilities, Morale 12

Unblinking Hell Eyes - sees in all spectra of light and energy; with perfect clarity and precision.  Sees into the aetherial and all of the sub-ether dimensions; can (and does) peer into hyperspace and the local superspace medium.  Can see across dimensional and planar barriers.  Probably watching you like ceiling cat.

Hell Beams - if sufficiently aroused to such irritation as to do violence upon one interfering in its purposes, the eyes can unleash an infernally charged mithrylorganic pumped laser  +11 to hit inflicting 9d12 light/heat damage and creating microjets of supercharged plasma on contact with air creating a dangerous burst bubble of 40” which inflicts 6d8 (Star) damage on ...everything.   IT is noteworthy that the Eyes themselves do not take damage from this.

Nosy and Desperately sEeking Interesting - The Eyes are drawn to things that have not been seen before and their memory is the memory of a dead race, millions of years old at ti’s demise. They are, by nature, drawn to multiversal intersections of novelty and complexity (most often occurring in primary material universes in the present age).

This often brings them into conflict with the sentinels of the Clockwork Hell, however many centuries ago, Cognition changed the order to Watch, Follow, Observe, before the standard Obey All Protocols that the sentinels are punched with on departing the Outer Gearsprings.

Buddling of the Dread Lost Kreb-Coral Stalk the creature at heart is, much like it’s parent colony, made of tightly packed, super interactive memory cells.   Even though it is constantly bleeding the excess back to its Mistress, the Eye at any given time knows...tremendous things.   Not that it is talking.  Functionally this gives it a +4 init. (simply because it can anticipate so much) and the ability to absorb spell energy 1/day (up to 10 levels worth) if the caster fails to overcome a saving throw v. Magic the spell will likely still take effect but the Eye will ‘memorize’ it, frozen in a single moment of time.  It may repeat that spell, precisely as rolled, a second time without fail, though not at the original caster.

“This article is reproduced in Apocrypha Obscura – Transmissions from the Dreaming Gynoid, available  (drive thru link)  

  and (itch.io link) 

Armies of Order - the Clockwork Syndicate

Known only amongst the rabble of the higher worlds, The Clockwork Syndicate is a transmissible conformeme from the Realm of Order that transforms lesser creatures of order into members of the syndicate - a multi planar, multi world organization dedicated to removing possibility and replacing it with predetermination.  They largely accomplish these tasks by subversion of the dominant life form of an area through subtle alteration of fate, probability, and deep dream mind control and manipulation.  

In worlds without an abundance of or presence of magic, such creatures move unchecked in great numbers, able to shape and mold society without recourse to being discovered.   

Picture of one of Niven's Pak.  It gets the proprtions about perfect.  Just add a touch of this guy. 

Creature - Violation enforcer (clockwork syndicate)

Violation Enforcer : Init +0; Atk +4 Possibility drain melee touch attack (1d6 special); AC 14; HD 4d8; hp 25; MV 25; Act 1d20; SP Drain Tomorrows; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4; AL L.

Drain Tomorrows - the primary form of damage that the creature inflicts is not expressed in hit points. Literally it is an attack on all of the character’s inherent possibilities as they exist at that precise moment in time. (“Stealing tomorrows.”)  to the ultimate effect of dooming the target to one, singular future, and eventually that future will be ignoble death.  

On a successful attack  damage is taken from  an attribute called “Possible Tomorrows” which begins identical to the target’s luck score.  Having this score reduced to zero without injury may well render the target a 0 level character until such a time as the ‘stat’ can be regenerated.   

Perhaps most cruelly, this attack on a zero level character functionally dooms them to never gaining experience points no matter their acts.     

Appearing in a parody form of the target’s species as it appears at old age (a human would be attacked by the Enforcer in the guise of a wizened old caricature with knobby knees, bad posture, and bad or missing teeth and hair etc.  frex) often clad in a black or grey coat/cloak/cape that seems to act as its badge of office and only real identifier as to what it is.  Otherwise the being is apparently sexless, genderless, and otherwise incapable of imitating human life.

Creature - Drone Spider (Oneiric Sentinel)

(clockwork syndicate)

Dream Police (1-4): Init +2; Atk weapon +5 doom bite melee (2d6); AC 15; HD 5d8; hp 30, 25, 23, 15; MV 20; Act 1d20; SP Doom bite, ; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4; AL L.

Doom bite  - The bite attack itself does 2d6, is savage, and almost certainly will leave a scar where the mandibles attempted to rip away chunks of flesh.  Each of the four palps however is studded with microinjectors;  the Doom bite’s extra kick comes from this, the Ichor of Oneiric Control (see below) which they have a number of distinct uses for.  Do note that without a store of the ichor, the drones are unable to use the secondary abilities at all.  

He’s getting better can’t you tell - the ichor can also be used to punish ‘rogue thought’ in which case it stays within the victim’s system until three successive saving throws v. poison (DC 14) have been completed. Until that time they are -4 to spellcraft, attack, and thief ability rolls.   The character will be listless, lethargic, and confused much of the time.  

We told you what to dream -  dream police can use this power to plant deep hypnotic suggestions to later influence behavior or create spies.  

In desperation, they can overwrite their victims completely (DC 16 Will save, once a round to resist as it is ongoing), substantially but crudely altering their personality.  Most often used to selectively alter a target’s cosmological affiliation (congratulations you’re lawful now).   Can also be used to induce or remove (not cure) madness.  

Plant seed of coded suggestion - the drone can create and implant a time delayed perception alteration (read: hallucination) or effect.   Example - the best swordsman in the party can be implanted with the hallucination of a gunfighter directly lifted from a John Ford movie.  The warrior will be startled (tis only there but a moment), sufficient to incur a -3 penalty but only until the end of the following round.   Can also be used to aid but this selom occurs.

Appearing less like a spider and more like someone built a robot from an artist’s impression of a spider.  The drone is a vaguely arachnoid  brass and steel construct of pneumatic hoses and fluid filled tendrils;  Multi injectors line the pedipalps like teeth, waiting to program your sleeping mind and prevent Unacceptable Thought.

Drone spiders preferentially will wait to attack when the victim is sleeping if at all possible but they can do the attack even 12 hours ahead of time - it will still affect them later…..esp their bite. Quite literally they can induce one of these effects on a time delay.  

(Judge’s are advised not to abuse this for obvious reasons.  Don’t be that person. )

Yup about like that. 

Creature - Classification Drone XZ-C7/41180 aka  

dataindexfilenumberplease (clockwork syndicate)

Class Drone XZ-C7/41180: Init -1; Atk weapon +8 laser drill attack (8d4, range 600’); AC 16; HD 8d8; hp 42; MV 15; Act 2d20; SP Deresolution attack; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6; AL L.

The J3Zu5-99 gold laser brain drill can be used offensively an actual weapon (“funduscopic examination tool”) once every three rounds (for this is not it’s actual purpose).  Primarily it is used for two other purposes.

Inspection & analysis (‘seven laser scan’)- as a full round action the Drone can produce seven beams of light with which it will spend the round probing, scanning, and in basically all ways recording a given target.  There is very little game effect at this stage save that the Drone can be presumed to detect weaknesses or flaws which it files away for possible use later.   It is also a required precursor to it’s C&S attack (below) but otherwise is not an attack.  It almost certainly WILL flip the PCs out while they try to figure out WTF it is doing

Categorization & Storage (aka the DeRez attack) - Drone XZ can most efficiently study a phenomenon by reducing it to data and playing with that data in a conceptual realm.   This is the only thing XZ can do during a given round regardless of circumstance.   It begins at the top of the round and ends at the top of the following.  The target is permitted a DC 22 REF save to avoid being in the scan grid but failure means they are immobilized as they are loaded into a bizarre supernal realm made of data.  

Quite likely, most such who are “uploaded” are studied in a kind of stasis and later returned. Sometimes altered or “programmed” but many times not.   Those who are captured and returned, are returned 2d20 days later at a place associated with that character, and will appear free of injury or recollection of anything past the failed reflex save.

Once just a cog in a vast information processing think-machine thank, a chance encounter with existential chaos led to this cog becoming a singular entity and gaining massive power.

However even bloated with the power of the eggs of a dead god, all this being cares about is … filing, indexing, and categorization.  Unless new elements exist it will not persist, moving immediately to an area of the local omniverse in the direction of greater unexpressed novelty.

Some rumor suggests that this is a rogue chaos creature that has not so much infected as infested a filing drone and so now is subverting its basic purpose

Among those duties include a supervisory relationship with a cell of the above forms.   When it encounters something strange and new (like a player character) it’s most likely form of ‘attack’ will be to scan, then to storage, then to copy, and then (maybe) to remove the original from storage, often having edited the memory of the experience from their consciousness.

Tactics

Likely on any operation they take part in, XZ-C7/ will coordinate from a secure but reasonably close location

For a variety of reasons however, not clear to human philosophers, there are certain restrictions to these behaviors.

• They will always work actively to keep individuals or groups they have manipulated separate.  To the point of introducing mind traits that bring down the target’s Personality score and thus reducing any chance their victims might have to coordinate their efforts.  The Syndicate prefers to keep their pawns isolated and fearful.

While the Violation Enforcers in theory lead in the field, the drone spiders function as a single unit and do their thing independently until told otherwise.  Their general M.O. is to reduce all mortal meat beings to their most basic, less dynamic (o level or less) forms to maintain the stasis quo.

The drone spiders largely act as one, and on their own until/unless directed otherwise by either of the others.

XZ-C7 will always spend a round analyzing a target before taking action; there will be whirring, lights, and sound but there is no game effect, it is not an attack.  (See Inspection & Analysis above)   Further XZ-C7 will very seldom use it’s laser for direct attack unless it most directly serves its goals.  Remember, the drones are expendable.

Scenario use

A close acquaintance of one or more PCs (friend, lover, extended family member, etc.)  is, for some indecipherable reason of pure logic and order, being slowly transformed.  They have not been themselves of late and now they are clearly acting with what you think is someone else’s control.  Investigation will likely lead to some push back by the drone spiders ‘working’ their friend/ally.

The PCs are approached by a grinning elvish madman claiming to represent “an autonomous collective” called the Gatecrashers Guild;  an organization of thieves and sorcerers that opposes the syndicate. They seek the groups aid in ambushing a large (12 or more) group of Syndicate members believed to be gravid with Ichor.  Is he lying?  Perhaps they are merely seeking additional meatbags so that his people aren’t in any danger?  Possibly this is a trap?   Maybe he’s been reprogrammed by the Drone spiders to draw the characters out….

A magus known to the PCs is on an ethereal galavant, harvesting tiny doses of the Ichor or Oneiric Control from those dying in their sleep.   The Syndicate does not appreciate competition from chaos tainted meat bags with delusions of significance so they are now ….….Coming after the PCs.  Rather than act directly, the Syndicate will slowly begin messing with the party in their sleep, creating  dreams and urges to visit that section of the etherea / visit the magus in question.  This will continue across many nights until one or more PCs express intention to do so.

As multiplanar pandimensional beings they can pretty much appear anywhere they have work to do (as defined by them..or the Judge).   Many of their more elaborate schemes involve manipulating groups of humans and other ‘lesser creatures’ into doing their bidding, often criminal organizations that have access to their targets for greater flexibility.  Concerns of morality are not theirs to contemplate.

Magic item: the Ichor of Oneiric Control - the ichor can be harvested from the dying under the right circumstances. In microdoses the ichor will both last for a good long time as well as provide actual aid, especially to spell casters.  A single small dab of the substance is sufficient to grant a +1 circumstance bonus on any checks involving concentration (useful for Thieves, Magic Users, Elves, and Clerics) In any actual quantity however, it allows one experienced in it’s use an unprecedented ability to change, control, and direct the thoughts of the dreamer.  Behavioral alterations, idea binding and excision, memory alteration and ‘enhancement’ and the creation of spies and sleeper agents - all of these are common uses for the Ichor in the right (wrong) hands/pods/manipulators. Illusionists of the Oneiric school frequently fight for and over the ichor, sometimes gathering into bands of arch-illusionists to raid Syndicate holdings for the Ichor.

Parting Blather

There is a lot of potential for abuse in these encounters; the point (such as it is) is to provide a novel kind of combat, not to flay the players egos and frustration.

But if you need a gentle mindfrag for a session, here you go.

They are also GREAT as red herrings.

This fan work is an unofficial aid for the DCC RPG; the words and ideas are mine, the art and pictures are not. I am always happy to get feedback or especially to hear how you used it. Enjoy!

The Necronauts

Necronauts

- they came from Undead Space!

From a universe within the negative material plane where the dominant life form is undead, comes an (early) technology adopter, and it has breached the dimensional plane!  

Inspired by equal parts the Micronauts, a few bad TOS Star Trek episodes, and  Judge Death and the Dark Judges, come negative material explorers here to explore, to conquer, and to feast!

Rising up through the Lifewall, these technologically advanced explorers from the Negative Zone, a parallel universe beyond the Negative Material Plane, come here to explore, to conquer, and to feast!

Appearing as semi humanoid transparent armored shells, often manifesting a multicoloured halo or aura (of the kind shown in kirlian photography but in normal sight) up to three feet distant from them.  

Being negative material creatures, they are both undead and, ultimately, made of antimatter.  Their suits allow safe non-corporeal projection with limited interaction in the “mysterious positive material universe.”

Note - as they do originate from the Negative Zone, YES they  can be turned as though undead.  

Necronaut traits

Made of antimatter

Any kind of flesh to flesh or normal campaign matter to necrotic anti-flesh will set this off.   Add both party’s total hit points together.  Roll that many 12 sided dice and inflict that damage on everything in about a kilometer radius.

The Necronauts will not get out of their suits for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.

Any character destroyed thus should be allowed a DC 20 will save; if successful that character has a 50% of being spontaneously reassembled but now made of antimatter and on THEIR side of the Lifewall.  If the entire or most of the party translates across you have your work cut out for you.

Removing one of these creatures from their suits would be a catastrophically bad idea.  But it will. end the threat (and several player characters likely) and possibly stop any more from coming (maybe.  It might guarantee a larger, heavily armed, squad in future.

Beyond the lifewall

The reality raiders come from a place where evolution works in reverse;  ancient complex forms rot and decay giving rise to lesser ones;  on their homeworld, evolution is based on decomposition.  Functionally, they are undead.   They can be turned like undead, and attempting to heal them will inflict damage.   Conversely, their healing arts inflict damage on all things in the campaign world.  

Turning will simply end the encounter; after the turned immediately depart back to their origin point, the rest of the team will also depart in an organized manner.   This return to base however will almost certainly lead to a larger more actively hostile force returning in 12d100 days.  

They will not understand the turning or any of that; they do not have gods where they come from and certainly no clerics so the entire class will be alien to them.

The Negative Zone - From whence they came; a parallel universe located on the far side of the Negative Material Plane, presumably made of antimatter.  AT least one of the equivalent worlds in that universe is advanced enough to attempt to send voyagers “up” through the soft space area for various purposes.  It is of note that the rules of magic are very different in that universe and so certain things that are impossible here are not there.

It is possible that the entire plane is inhabited by the forces of undeath.  Living beings seem offensive to them.   A peculiar form of necrotic evolution is common to beings from this area of their universe.

Attempts to voyage into their universe, breaching the barrier of negative energy (the “lifewall” as the natives call it, the “death-wall” from Jaldipoor’s perspective)  that prevents such transit magically, invariably bring back bizarre necrotic parasites, and possibly diseases.

Role playing these bleak explorers and very Judge Death-like Conquistadors
In  a way you are lawful - you act per a particular hierarchy of orders in a milito-scientific manner.  BUT natural law to you means necrotic evolution resulting in a form of undeath, likely animated by the soul fragments of those living beings in our universe killed via energy drain.   LIfe and all it’s forms to them are terrible alien monsters;  tho samples should be taken back to their universe for analysis.  

The Encounter  will likely begin fairly abruptly as the two types materialize in a flash of blue and indigo translocation energy, some 2d100 feet distant at the closest. They will appear in a tight organized grouping all within 20’ of one another.

Anyone who is actively seeing the etheric plane (or any other type of multi-spectral seeing the unseen seeing into the other worlds ability really, at the Ref’s option) may first see the scout or scouts seemingly rise out of the ground semi translucently and take position before the remainder seem to do so, as if rising out of some great hidden pit.  Once they are all in position the rest of the party will be able to perceive them as they complete their voyage.  

Type One Necronaut - scout

Necronaut Scout  (1-3): Init +;  Atk +5 Waveform blaster fire (2d8+2, 300 ‘); AC 15; HD 3d12 ;hp 33, 28, 23; MV 25’; Act 1d20; SP Analyzer, necronaut traits; SV Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +3; AL  Lawful - functionally Chaotic.

Description - a transparent humanoid figure, perhaps five feet in height, apparently glowing from within with a rosy-golden light that makes it difficult to concentrate on.  Nonetheless, waves of chill radiate out from the figure, which seems to float or levitate, rather than walk upon the ground.   Two golden eyes BURN as they look upon you….

The figure floats in a slight envelope of apparent antigravity;  looking into the light it’s eyes shed will inflict a one time -2 penalty on immediately subsequent action.

Analyzer - a handheld advanced sensory device; it maps and attempts to categorize all of these strange alien forms of matter.  It has a variety of functions

• Inert Materials Analysis - Scans up to 60 cubic feet of inanimate non living matter / round, disintegrating it in the process.  May later be reintegrated or stored as a data pattern for later analysis.   Simply does not work on “bizarre alien life” i.e. the player characters and the living.
• In the unlikely event that a character is made of nonliving material (an Imperishable Body for example) they will find their consciousness lives on for a time in a place of utter nothingness they will eventually perceive as darkness until reintegrated or the analyzer or it’s are destroyed
• Energy Field Analysis - The primary tool for exploring “this strange new universe of living things made of strange positive energy.”  Will identify advanced technology, magical items, and active clerics, elves, and wizards immediately though indiscriminately.  May also be used to analyze one of the energy fields (spells) so created; well enough that subsequently, the Analyzer may be able to functionally create a dispel magic for purposes of Spelldueling. Attempting to neutralize such a spell operates as a normal spellduel save for the following

• The Scout’s turn tracker begins at 8 not 10.  The scout can only counter with a dispel magic like effect.   Their action dice for this purpose is a d16.    (Subsequent encounters with the necronauts will move the tracker’s starting position to 9 and move the action die to a d20.)

The Scout’ spellduel ability is Intended as more of an interesting annoyance than existential threat; needless to say do not expect scouts who engage in this behavior to survive long.   In play, scouts tend to annoy the party wizard or whomever for a round before most die rolls lead to the scout getting mysteriously (to the players) vorped out of existence.

Neutral Waveform blaster - an energy weapon firing directed beams of short lived ‘neutral’ (protomatter) jacketed particles that work equally  well on all forms of being - living and unliving alike.   

Does absolutely nothing v. conventional inert matter (if the analyzer can break it down, then the Waveform blaster can’t affect it)   

Dmg 2d8 +2 to living or undead matter. (Even medieval armor is proof against it under the circumstance)

Type two - commander

Necronaut commander  (1 or 1-6 number): Init +3; Atk Field projection blade  +3 melee (2d8) and/or lasersonic rifle +6 missile fire (1d12+2, 1000’); AC 18; HD 5d12+/-x; hp 53 or  hp  46, 45, 44, 40, 39, 37;  MV 35 (hover); Act 1d24; SP necronaut traits; wave field nullifier  SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +5 ; AL Lawful (chaotic).

Larger, bulkier versions of the other units, these seem to be made of nested shells of semi transparent material with the faint outline of a skeleton located deep within;  in fact a thin veneer of bright red flesh exists but tightly over those bones.  More detail is difficult to ascertain due to a small box carried in both hands that is sending out waves of alternating black and white light that distorts everything around it.

The military end of the operation; essentially shock troops here to assess and protect the scouts during initial recon.  Subsequent expeditions will see more of them operating on their own, establishing a secure base of scientific operations.

Wave Field Nullifier

Allows them to create negative energy fields heal their injured and, in theory, to resist the effects of channelled positive material energy but they as yet have not had to figure that out yet.

Can also inflict damage on the living of course.

Device functionally has 5 stored charges that each inflict 3

Lasersonic Rifle

A strange and apparently foreign technology to that carried by the rest of them, this is a “conventional” energy weapon made out of a magical protomatter matrix; allowing it’s use by the Necronauts; presumably they have secured control of its manufacture from some third party…..

A dual focused sonic attack using a super pumped targeting laser to deliver the attack and with precision.  

Rifle setting one is an overwhelming stun force sonic attack.  One target at a time must succeed a DC 20 Fort save or be rendered unconscious after taking 1d4 points of damage.

Setting two (provided it hits the target’s ac) inflicts 2d6 heat and light damage, as well as 2d4 sonic damage.  Characters may save Fort DC 18) for half in both cases.

Some will carry a Field projection blade - a blade shaped projected force field that allows for melee combat and will not cause a matter antimatter explosion. Good things to have.   The force field is not radiant but instead seems to be made of the absence or warp of light around it.  It does 2d8+1 on it’s own to living things and can safely be assumed to be able to chop through most things of light density and tensile strength.

Type three - Conquistador of Unlife

Monster Name (xx number, if applicable): Init +3; Atk weapon +6 touch (2d8 xp drain) or TriGun +5 (varies see below, 450’); AC 20; HD 7d12 ; hp 63  MV 30; Act 2d20; SP Touch of death; Effect Fields, necronaut traits; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +8; AL Chaotic..

The most easily mistaken for undead, these green glowing spectres seem semitransparent and only semi material at all times, though anything they touch or pass through seems affected.   Once they become engaged in some manner of interaction however they change colour, from white, to red, to black. Sometimes appearing to be two or three different beings at once. (All of which comes from the various distortion effect fields)

The Type Threes wear much more advanced “Effect Field suits” that allow them to interact with almost any material thing safely - but on contact with the living the effect creates a life energy drain.  

Type threes only manifest when violence has repeatedly been visited upon the explorers, especially once most of a team has been killed.   They pursue with single minded purpose the destruction of that which caused that, and is quite thorough in assessing and cleansing ‘secondary threats’ as well (it considers most life inimical however so….)

Tri-Gun - has three settings’

1. Negative blaster +5 to hit, does 2d8 necrotic damage
2. High explosive +6 to hit, fires 1d4+1 mini missiles each doing 1d5, target is on (chemical) fire for three subsequent rounds taking 1d3 each round, fort save dc 14 negates damage.
3. Deathgun a single target must make a DC 20 fort save or drop, possible survival subject to later rolling the body results.

Also has Target seeking - the Type III can name a single target which the weapon will strike at for +7 inflicting an additional 2d5 damage above and beyond the above.

Effect Field Generation

Death Field - drops everything in a 50’ radius unconscious and with but 1-4 hp remaining.

Vampirism Channel  - drains 6 hd/round from one target at a time;  stored life energy is used to power abilities, recharge weapons, and stored in anti-energon vac tubes for later analysis.

Touch of Death - the field is set to “spectral” and the touch of the type III inflicts a bizarre form of necrotic cancer on contact with living flesh, tumoring the afflicted character with rotting sores for 2d6 hp damage, a point each of Stamina and Strength damage,  and a DC 16 Fort save or be struck dead.   These sores will likely require the work of a great cleric or an even greater quest to heal if one survives the attack.

Hope they aren’t contagious.

Should the / a type III be defeated or if for any reason at that point additional forces are mounted, at that point you are looking at something akin to an actual invasion.   At that point the fragging lifesies will be sent Patient Company.

Patient Company, should you want stats for it, would likely consist of

at least several “type IVs” - the Death Marines,

and at least one Type V - an Agent of the Necro-Singularity, the last of which should be a match for a very high level party on their own.)

And scads of the above.  

Comments:

The Type III is, even though statted wildly inconsistently (like the rest) is a party killer.  Pure and simple.   I should pro’lly have dialed back a bit but as it is….it doesn’t really feel butch enough to me.   Add or subtract those fields all you like. I was going to give it an advanced form of the Scout’s analyze (aka disintegrate) power but that seemed just...excessive.

Not something I’d throw at a party less than six honestly. Note: have yet to run a game that got higher than third level so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Also the Type III is actually based more off of Judge Death than Barzon Karza but I couldn’t find a suitable image - the colors in the Karza one are spot on tho.

I include the idea of Patient Company for completeness but that sounds like a game ender to me.  Maybe a good one?

If you have the  2015  gong farmer's almanac (and...why don’t you?), consider also using the Anti-matternaut from Volume 2 (which also inspired this encounter!) .  I might suggest having the anti-matternaut appear a few rounds prior to the rest of them, in anticipation of colossal energies being released.    If they have been seen in proximity to the anti-matternaut any consulted sage or loremaster may suggest they may be the same thing from different ‘avenues of spacetime’ - different timelines from the same weird universe perhaps.  

Loremasters.  *snort*

And because this hasn’t gone on long enough……..an Optional extra

Qualzarius Rann - Explorer and adventurer

Qualzari Rann, Quantum Scout  Init +5; Atk weapon +2 vibroblade (3d6) or lasersonic blaster +5 (variable, 130’);  AC 16; HD 5d10+3; hp 51;  MV 90 flightpack, running speed ⅓); Act 1d20 + 1d16; SP whatever the Ref wants; SV Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +4; AL Lawful.

Vibroblade does 3d6 per hit/ 60 minutes run time before recharging

Lasersonic blaster - identical to the lasersonic rifle above but stage the damage dice one one step each.

Flight pack - cool flying device; partly antigrav, partly reactionless thrust, part jetpack.  Likely cooler than you.

Enigma field generator - aka fistfuls of plootwavium;  at the least it’s likely what they used to pursue the necronauts to the character’s homeworld and plane.  Go wild with it tho, make him the champion of his people…..

Rann hails from one of the seven nested Microscopic universes known to sages; his is presently being invaded by the same anti-matter universe that has sent the Necronauts to the campaign world.

His initial appearance is diminutive (likely he may be mistaken for a tough talking heavily armored pixie or such at first) no more than a few inches high, but as he spent centuries exploring various quantum realities prior to the invasion, he is used to strange environments and thinking on his feet.  

At the Referee’s option he may, in subsequent encounters, be joined by:

Martwinette Vau, dual plasma pistol wielding valkyrie princess of her Necronite occupied homeworld,  

Kublau Kinse’ the Farseeker heir to his Grom/earth elemental worshiping warrior race, wielding a mighty sword of his ancestors, and  

Zzz’kkkk’llip (Called Cricket by her companions) - an exotic but jocular insectevroid who has fled her homeworld under an assumed identity to dodge out on her obligation to birth millions of offspring - instead serving as the Farseeker’s  spear maiden against the Necrothantic Invasion (and she fights and flies with the rocket lance of her people).