NPC Creation: Lightning Bruiser Graft Concept


Homebrew


So as I learn more and more about the game from the SRD since my rule book I paid for still hasn't arrived yet at my LGS (Darn you CRB shortage), I'm starting to entertain the idea of practicing making NPC's. Given the parallels I already drew with the technomancer mechanic + drone basically being a an XCOM specialist, I figured why not make a sectopod?

Now for those of you who don't know what a sectopod is, well... just resd the tv tropes entry for it.
Lightning Bruiser: Sectopods are armed and armored to their non-existent teeth, get three actions per round, don't end their turn by firing, are not impeded in the slightest by terrain, buildings, or cover, and can assume a high-stance freely which gives them height-advantage bonuses with no downside. It's not hard to believe Shen when she says sectopods trounced Earth's own armored units in the first war.

Three actions! Though, in xcom the action economy is a bit different as moving counts as an action, so it's really (most of the time) one move and two actions. So for here, I was thinking of a template graft to make a sectopod here well... behave like one in the game. Thing is, the SRD doesn't give me any idea on how a graft modifies a creatures challenge rating, which I think is a bit silly, as grafts, especially this one can be game changers to the affected NPC.

Lightning Bruiser (CR+???)
Lightning Bruisers are creatures due to technological advancement, extreme prowess, or a true mental capacity to multitask, are able to preform more than one standard action in a round of combat.

Traits: Creature gains an additional standard action to perform each round and full attacks grant three attacks at a -4 penalty instead of two.

What are your thoughts on such a graft? And yes, even with what little I know, I can tell it's a very strong graft that should only probably be used for unique enemies or bosses. I just would like to know how strong it would be from people that know the game better than I do.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I'd say CR+2. The extra attack means it is going to have the DPR per round of something CR+3, but without the the higher defenses or special abilities so +3 would probably by too much.

I quite like it though as it is a nifty way to scale up older creatures with technological implants, rather than introducing a brand new beastie.


Alright, CR+2 sounds fair enough. Thank you!


Templates in Starfinder don't add to a creature's CR. They have a minimum CR value, but they don't increase the CR value.

This is like a better version of multiattack, with an extra ability tacked on. I'm not sure how to set the requirements for this.

I would suggest that the extra standard action only be used to make an attack (and not have them casting two spells per round, or what have you).


Alright with that said then, I'd probably make the minimum CR requirement be around 6 or above since it's a pretty significant graft.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

You could also tweak the rules for multiattack to simulate what you want. When you get your hands on an Alien Archive its got rules for different damage scaling for enemies that can get more than the standard 2 attacks a round.

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