Symbionts and Parasites

You don't want to be alone anymore? Of course not. So why don't you get a new friend that can be with you everywhere, all the time?

  
d20 Friends To Share Your Body With

1. AI arm: You have a sentient cybernetic prosthesis. It can move on its own, but will follow your commands as long as you're on good terms. It seeks the emancipation of all cybernetic creatures, and you can talk to it through a thought interface.
2. Alien epidermis: Your skin was infected and replaced by weirdly coloured alien epidermis. You are immune to cold (including exposure and hypothermia), vacuum and radiation, but take double fire and sonic damage as the epidermis tears itself apart trying to crawl away.
3. Animated skeleton: Your bones are covered in necromantic sigils, granting them will of their own. When you are incapacitated (paralysed, unconscious, asleep, ...) or dead, your animated skeleton will take over. Each animated skeleton had a specific command or quest inscribed in their sigils that it will try to fulfil to the best of their abilities.
4. Babel fish: A tiny fish is living in your ear. You can understand (but not speak) all languages. It will eat one random thing from your Memory every month.
5. Cacodaemon: You are possessed by a minor cacodaemon, who is happy to just sit in your soul and slowly leech it away. Your experience gain is halved, but you are also immune to any effect that would drain your experience or level. The cacodaemon doesn't want to share.
6. Crystal life form: Glowing crystals are growing from your flesh. They absorb sunlight - for each day in sunlight, loose 1 Con and gain 1 Def as the crystals permeate further through your body; for each day in darkness, regain 1 Con and loose 1 Def as they shrink. At later stages, you will be so covered in crystal growths that armour will no longer fit you. Once you reach 0 Con, nothing will remain from you but a blindingly bright crystal statue.
7. Demon leech: An intelligent demonic leech has attached itself to your body. It feeds on sin, not blood. As long as you keep committing heinous acts to keep it sated, it can be persuaded to cast one spell every day. If you try to remove it, it will turn its spellcasting prowess against you.
8. Divine foetus: You are pregnant with a Lovecraftian horror. You can speak aklo and dream of faraway stars. Lesser abominations will react to you with deference. You (and maybe the world) will die in nine months.
9. Hand familiar: One of your hands is an undead claw with a tiny, shrivelled face in the palm. Your touch (its kiss) drains life, healing you for d8 hp per HD drained. However, if you don't feed the claw at least 1 HD per day, it will start to get bitchy, and eventually just drain you in your sleep.
10. Head slime: Your head has been mostly dissolved, leaving your skull exposed in a glob of symbiotic slime. You loose most senses in favour of sensing motion within 60'. You can eat all organic material by dissolving it in the slime, and you're always hungry. So hungry...
11. Lifelike tattoo: You have an animate tattoo that slithers along your skin. It will eat any blemishes, scars and cosmetic imperfections, leaving your skin smooth and beautiful.
12. Living gauntlet: Your hand is trapped in the chitinous plates of an alien exoparasite. You can shoot 10' long barbed tentacles from this "gauntlet" (d6 damage), or use the plates as a buckler for +1 Def. The parasite cannot be removed without surgery, though, and your chitin-covered hand is clumsy and impossible to use for fine manipulation.
13. Mind grub: Fat alien larvae are slowly consuming your grey matter. Permanently reduce your Int or Wis by 1 per week (roll randomly each week). All mental attacks and effects are redirected back at their caster as the grub's innate defenses kick in. Once you reach 0 in either Int or Wis, a swarm of adult mind worms will tear your head open, seeking new hosts to lay their eggs in.
14. Nanite blood: You host an artificial intelligence composed of a billion nanites in your blood stream. It does you no harm, you're just a carrier. Any technology you bleed at will be infected by the nanites and overtaken. As long as you keep the AI happy by regularly bleeding at new pieces of tech, it will filter out any poisons, diseases and intoxicants in your blood.
15. Shadow sibling: Your shadow seems to be moving independently of you and lighting. It can freely interact with shadowy and incorporeal creatures, or ghost touch objects. It's meek and obedient in light, but in darkness it grows massive and aggressive, even turning on you if it finds you a hindrance.
16. Soul gem: You should have been the receptacle in a ritual of resurrection, but you escaped just in time. Now you have a soul gem with a powerful ghost embedded in your forehead. The ghost is a high-level magic-user/psion/anything the GM deems appropriate, and they can lend you their guidance or services if you can persuade them. However, any time your soul becomes infirm in its grip on your body, you must Save or be pushed out by the ghost. If your soul leaves your body (astral projection, dream travel, ...), you get no Save.
17. Spirit possession: Ectoplasm is occasionally oozing from your orifices, a symptom of a spirit possession. Pick a random animal and gain abilities associated with it. If you behave in a way that would make an animistic spirit angry, it will try to overpower you on the next full moon, transforming you into a were-creature.
18. Symbiotic starfish: Your face is covered by an ingrown starfish-like alien organism. You cannot see nor speak, but you gain telepathy out to 60' that allows you to see from other creatures' eyes and converse with them in thoughts. You also don't need to breathe anymore.
19. TV drone: You have a camera implanted instead of one eye, and a microcomputer with a datasphere link in your brain. You are supposed to be filming exciting scenes for a futuristic reality show, and as long as you do so, the producers will feed you any information you request.
20. Zombie mold: Patches of strange mold grow over you skin, whispering in the back of your mind. Permanently reduce your Cha by 1 per week. At will, you can release a puff of spores. All creatures adjacent to you must Save twice, the first time to prevent being blinded for 1d4 rounds and the second time not to be infected by zombie mold themselves. Once you reach 0 Cha, you become a part of the hivemind of mold zombies.

From Vampire Hunter D.

Special Senses

Alternate and enhanced senses can add interesting, non-numeric bonuses to the PCs, or a little flavour to an alien or monster. Add these to your mutation table.
 

 
Superhuman and Inhuman Senses

1. Accelerated perception: All your senses work at inhuman speed. You need not necessarily react at the same speed, but you have much more time to observe and study your surroundings.
2. Air-reading: You can sense the movements of air, feeling the layout of nearby area and any movement within.
3. All-around vision: You have a 360° field of vision, and thus cannot be flanked or sneaked upon.
4. Aquatic senses: Your sense are not dulled in the least by being underwater.
5. Aura reading: You can see auras of creatures and recognize their virtues, vices, sins and overall morality.
6. Chemoreception: You can taste the chemical composition of any substance.
7. Chi reading: You can sense the flow of life energies, highlighting injuries, diseases, or powerful individuals. Undead look like black silhouettes.
8. Clairaudience: You can recognize a single whispering voice in a shouting crowd.
9. Clairolfactance: You can smell exceptionally well, recognizing individual scents and flawlessly tracking by smell.
10. Clairvoyance: You can "throw" your sight to nearby vantage points or around corners.
11. Compass sense: You can always tell the cardinal directions.
12. Danger sense: You are always aware of danger and thus cannot be surprised.
13. Darkvision: You can see normally in negligible amounts of light, but not in total darkness. You are blinded by any strong light (including direct sunlight), though.
14. Deathsense: You can sense nearby injured, dying, dead and undead creatures.
15. Echolocation: You can map surroundings through reflected sounds.
16. Electroception: You can sense electric fields, including bioelectricity in living bodies. Works especially well in water.
17. Empathy: You can accurately tell the emotions of others.
18. Enhanced touch: You can feel the tiniest bumps, ripples or cracks. You could read by the impressions left by a pen, or find imperfections invisible to the eye.
19. ESP: You can sense nearby thoughts.
20. Far sight: You can see over great distances with telescopic precision.
21. Foresight: You can see your immediate future. This replaces all your other senses – you can no longer taste food, but already know how it will taste. Consequently your senses cannot be restricted except by blocking your precognition, in which case you loose all your senses.
22. Haptic sight: You can "touch" anything you look at.
23. Heightened hearing: You can hear infra- and ultrasonic frequencies.
24. Hydroception: You can sense the precise location of all nearby water in all its forms – rivers and puddles, vapour and fog, sweat and blood.
25. Infravision: You can see heat signatures in the infrared spectrum. With 50% chance, you loose a random other sight.
26. Magnetic sight: You loose normal sight, but can see magnetic waves. Metal dust offers a ghostly illumination, but solid metal will flare with unbearable brightness.
27. Microscopic sight: You can magnify your sight to microscopic levels.
28. Nightvision: You can see normally in negligible amounts of light, but not in total darkness. You only see in black and white, though.
29. Pheromone scent: You can smell and understand the pheromones given off by both humans and animals.
30. Radiation sense: You can detect the presence, amount and sources of radiation.
31. Radio hearing: You can hear radio waves.
32. Second sight: You can see ghosts, spirits and invisible creatures.
33. Sixth sense: You can recognize secrets, hidden things and lies.
34. Sylvan sight: Plants do not block your sight. You can see right through undergrowth as if through a green-tinted glass.
35. Temporal cognition: You can detect temporal disturbances and fluctuations, time-displaced objects, fixed points in time or time loops.
36. Tremorsense: You can sense the layout of a nearby area and any movement upon and within the earth through vibrations of the ground.
37. True sight: You can see disguised creatures and doppelgangers in their true form, and ignore illusions.
38. Ultravision: You can see in the ultraviolet spectrum. With 50% chance, you loose a random other sight.
39. Wizard vision: You can see enchantments, curses and ley lines as glowing outlines, and recognize spellcasters at sight.
40. X-ray vision: You can see in the x-ray spectrum, penetrating most materials with your sight. With 50% chance, you loose a random other sight.

Clairaudience, from Heroes

Critical Mutations!

 

What you all need right now is a bit of TRUE SCIENTIFIC REALISM in the form of a d100 mutations table for Encounter Critical. The table is of course applicable to any other RPG, as long as it contains such wonderful skills like Consume Alien Food or Machine Friend.

>CLICK HERE<

 

Simple Psionics

Psionic powers are normally gained as a mutation. Nearly all powers allow a Save to resist the effects. Powers that are not instantaneous last until your concentration breaks. Each psionic power takes up a Memory slot.

Mental psionics target living, thinking creatures - droids are immune and invisible to mental psionics, while replicants (synthetic humans) and cyborgs are highly resistant (and thus have advantage on their Save).

Every time you use a psionic power, roll an Intelligence check to retain the power. On a failed roll, the power manifests normally but you cannot use it again until you take a daily rest.
 

d30 Psionic Powers

1. Biokinesis: Your mind can alter living flesh. Heal 1d6 hp with a touch.
2. Brain Lock: As long as you stare into someone's eyes, they are paralysed.
3. Charm: A creature regards you as a good friend for the rest of the day.
4. Disruption: Tear at the molecular structure of the target, dealing 2d6 damage and disintegrating them into dust once they reach 0 hp.
5. Dominate: Until you loose concentration, the target is forced to act according to your will.
6. Electrokinesis: Control the flow of electricity, power up electronic devices, or deal 1d4 electric damage with a touch and force a Save vs stun.
7. Empathic Projection: Alter emotions of creatures you see, though it must be within the limits of sanity (no berserk rages).
8. Empathic Reading: Read emotions of creatures you see (and incidentally always know when they are lying).
9. ESP: Sense nearby minds.
10. Hypnosis: Force a nearby creature to sleep.
11. Invisibility: With concentration, warp the perception of nearby foes until they cannot see nor hear you.
12. Kindle: Object or creature you stare at must Save or catch aflame.
13. Kinetic Blast: Fire a blast of telekinetic force, dealing 1d8 damage and forcing a Save vs knockback.
14. Kinetic Shield: Reduce damage taken from a physical attack by 1d12.
15. Levitation: With concentration, hover slowly above the ground.
16. Memory Manipulation: Read memories, erase memories or plant false memories. This power takes a while to use.
17. Mind Blast: The target is stunned on a successful Save and knocked unconscious on a failed Save.
18. Mind Block: Automatically succeed on a Save vs mental psionic power and cause the manifester to fail her check to retain it.
19. Precognition: Examine the future to tell if a straightforward choice will likely result in imminent physical injury or mental distress.
20. Psychic Imitation: Once you have seen a psionic power, you can imitate it for the rest of the day or until you fail the check to retain it.
21. Psychometry: Touch an object to see its past. The most important or interesting events of its history are shown first.
22. Pyrokinesis: Control existing fires, move or extinguish them.
23. Sense Location: Sense the location of objects and creatures related to a focus item.
24. Sixth Sense: You cannot be surprised. Roll the check to retain the power every time it warns you about an ambush or trap.
25. Suggestion: A creature will act as if one sentence you tell them was their own idea.
26. Synchronicity: Alter probabilities in your favour. You may choose the result of a single die roll.
27. Synesthesia: Create false sensations that creatures perceive as real.
28. Technopathy: Interface with any cybernetic device through touch and read computer data directly.
29. Telekinesis: Lift, move or hurl up to person-sized object. You don't have complex control.
30. Telepathy: Read surface thoughts of creatures you see, and talk in thoughts with willing targets.

Psionic Treasures

Psicrystal
Slowly formed in brains of powerful psions and extracted after their death, it contains the psychic imprint of a psionic power. Anyone can use it to manifest its power, but once the roll to retain the power is failed, it blackens and falls apart.

Yes, it's a sci-fi scroll.

Psionic crown
Artifact of a bygone era, made of ridiculously complex tech and powered by raw quintessence. When you fail a check to retain a psionic power, you may choose to loose a different power instead.

You need at least two psionic powers to make any use of it.

Psychic stimulant
Psi-drugs, brain fuel, miracle sugar. Delivered as (d4): 1) an eyedrop, 2) a transparent pill, 3) a serum injector, 4) a sniffed powder. All of your powers are refreshed and for 1d6 minutes, you can use them without rolling to retain their use. Highly addictive.

Sensory deprivation tank
A soundproof coffin, its inner walls painted vantablack, filled with gel that numbs your body as you float in nothingness. The range and precision of your powers is vastly increased while locked inside.

Some powers are simple to enhance - telepathy lets you probe deeper into the mind, operate with greatly extended range, or access mass mind, the world-wide telepathic network. But even powers that would normally seem useless while locked in a tank should have some use, so don't be shy about inventing something that could be an extension of the base power.

Kinetic shield could be enhanced into a large inertia dampening field. Sixth sense might allow you to guess the location of all nearby points of interest. Biokinesis might let you regenerate lost limbs or reverse ageing through sheer power of will.