Hive

Height: Same As Assimilated Creature

Weight: 90% Of Assimilated Creature

Environment: Wild Space

Population: Low

Role: Invasive Biohazard

Base Features (0 FP)

Warrior Drone (4 FP): Hive have their Kick Ass increased by 1. This cannot raise Kick Ass over 12.

Perfect Organism (1 FP): When making a Bad Ass Check (1d12 + Bad Ass) to resist the effects of toxins, pathogens, hostile environments, starvation or thirst, a Hive may roll twice and use the higher result.

Animalistic (0 FP): Hive have their Kick Ass increased by 1 and their Smart Ass reduced by 1. If their Kick Ass would be raised over 12 or their Smart Ass reduced below 1, this Feature has no effect.

Hive Apotheosis (0 FP): When a creature would gain the Hive clan, but cannot gain the Hive Instinct Feature, it does not gain the Warrior Drone Feature.

Symbiotic Assimilation (0 FP): If a creature without the Hive clan comes within 10 ft. of an immature hive egg, a hive worm emerges from the egg, destroying the egg in the process. A creature may make a Check to sneak past immature eggs without being detected, at Game Master discretion.

A hive worm has a Speed of 1 ft., Kick Ass of 10, Bad Ass of 1 and Smart Ass of 1 and increases the results of Checks to move or remain undetected by 3d4.

Hive worms ignore creatures with the Hive clan, but will unrelentingly attempt to burrow into the flesh of any creature without the Hive clan. To do so, the hive worm makes a Kick Ass Check (1d12 + Kick Ass), and the creature may attempt to resist with a Bad Ass Check (1d12 + Bad Ass).

If the hive worm’s Check is higher, it burrows under the skin before it can be removed or killed, leaving a powerful coagulant that seals the wound. Once successfully implanted, the hive worm releases a neurotoxin.

A creature affected by the neurotoxin enters a calm fugue state for 10 minutes, after which it loses all memories formed during or shortly before the hive worm’s implantation. The creature may attempt a Bad Ass Check to resist the neurotoxin, a result of 14 or more allowing it to be unaffected and recall the event.

The implanted worm begins growing filaments through the creature’s body, becoming impossible to remove safely after 20 + 2d3 hours. The assimilation of a creature takes 4d3 days + 1 day per Bad Ass of the creature.

Once assimilated, the creature is compelled to gorge itself before seeking a secluded location unobserved by creatures without the Hive clan (the compulsion functioning as the Hive Instinct Feature). The creature secretes a gel that hardens to form a chrysalis.

It emerges from the chrysalis 2d3 days later with all base Features of the Hive clan. Creatures immune to mental tampering can be affected by this Feature, but do not gain the Hive Instinct Feature and are not forced to find a secluded location for their final transformation.

Timeless (0 FP): Hive do not age no matter how much time passes.

Monstrosity (-1 FP): Hive possess the approximate form of the organism they were assimilated from or queen whose egg they emerged from. But this semblance is only approximate.

When they make a Check to socialize with a creature without the Hive clan, usually meaning Checks to convince or comfort, they reduce the result by 1d4. If the check is intimidation based, they add 1d4 to the result.

Hive Instinct (-4 FP): Hive are innately subservient to the queen who produced the egg they or the hive worm that assimilated them emerged from. They seek to obey or act towards the goals of their queen, even at the risk of their own life.

If the Game Master rules that the player is failing to follow this behavior, the Game Master takes control of the character until this has been corrected. Creatures immune to mental tampering cannot gain this Feature.

For 2 additional FP, they will no longer obey orders from or take actions on the behalf of their queen if doing so would threaten their own wellbeing. They still obey and serve if no harm is caused to themselves.

Optional Features

Predatory (6 FP): Hive are natural weapons that can be honed to deadly hunters. They increase the results of Kick Ass and Bad Ass Checks to contribute to the Combat Kick Ass and Bad Ass of their side by 1. This Feature can be purchased repeatedly, increasing the results by 1 each time it is taken.

Warrior Queen (5 FP): A Hive that remains in constant combat or a similar level of stress during their metamorphosis into a new queen may deviate into a warrior queen. They lose the effects of the Hive Instinct Weakness, the bond with their queen severed.

They gain a limited ability to produce hive eggs, producing one egg every day, provided sufficient nutrients are available. Any creature given the Hive Instinct Feature by a hive worm that emerged from one of their eggs or a Hive with the Hive Instinct Feature that emerges from their eggs obeys them as its queen. This includes both direct orders and acting on their interests as it understands them.

Eggs take a decade to mature, after which warrior drones emerge with all base Features of the Hive clan. If the environment is inhospitable to a creature with the Hive clan (such as lacking an atmosphere or possessing extreme temperatures), the eggs go into dormancy until the environment is hospitable again. If not outright destroyed, hive eggs can remain in dormancy indefinitely.

This Feature negates Hive Instinct. A creature cannot have this Feature and the Queen Feature.

Wings (4 FP): The Hive can move in three dimensions, flying 10 feet faster than their ground speed. If they have the Infiltrator Feature, their wings are covered when forming a false appearance, and using them requires damaging the disguise.

Nascent Queen (2 FP): The metamorphosis into a queen can be gradual or rapid, sometimes halting entirely when the Hive is exposed to their queen’s presence again. The long tail tipped with a sinister stinger is the sign they will soon begin the true metamorphosis.

They may make a Kick Ass Check (1d12 + Kick Ass) to sting a creature, the hidden ovipositor implanting a small egg in its flesh. The creature may make a Bad Ass Check (1d12 + Bad Ass) to resist being stung.

If their Check is higher, the egg is implanted and a hive worm emerges to burrow deeper. Much like a normal hive worm implantation, the wound is sealed and the creature is affected by the worm’s neurotoxin.

The creature is affected as per the Symbiotic Assimilation Feature, except it obeys them as its queen. A creature cannot have this Feature and the Queen or Warrior Queen Feature. If they have the Infiltrator Feature, their tail retracts when forming a false appearance, and extending it requires damaging the disguise.

Hive Nexus (1 FP): Hive do not innately have a joint consciousness, even if their devotion to their queen approaches a unified ego. But a hive fortunate enough to create a hive nexus can transmit their queen’s will across vast distances.

They can communicate with any creature with the Hive clan within 10 miles per Smart Ass. Other creatures with the Hive clan in range can communicate with each other directly (not needing them to relay information), but they can choose to exclude specific creatures.

Infiltrator (1 FP): Assimilated Hive do not lose the knowledge or skills they possessed prior to assimilation, but their monstrous visage makes using any social acumen against creatures outside the hive difficult. Over a full rest after consuming their own body weight in meat (or an equivalent protein rich food), they can grow a layer of biomass that solidifies into a visually perfect imitation of non-hive flesh.

If they were assimilated, their false appearance matches their appearance prior to gaining the Hive clan. If they emerged from an egg, they appear as a member of the species their queen was prior to assimilation (or whatever ancestor was most recently assimilated). When disguised, they are not affected by the Monstrosity Feature.

The biomass is alive and supported by their metabolism, but damage to the disguising flesh does not harm their true body and significant injuries will reveal what lies beneath. As twelve actions, they may voluntarily destroy the biomass, revealing their true appearance. This partially negates Monstrosity.

Queen (0 FP): If a Hive survives long enough or spends a prolonged period outside of the territory of their queen, their biology undergoes the metamorphosis required to become the center of a new hive. They lose the effects of the Hive Instinct Weakness, the bond with their queen severed.

They gain the ability to produce hive eggs, producing one egg every ten minutes, provided sufficient nutrients are available. The required change in anatomy reduces their Speed to 1 ft. and decreases their Kick Ass by 1. This cannot reduce Kick Ass below 1.

Any creature given the Hive Instinct Feature by a hive worm that emerged from one of their eggs or a Hive with the Hive Instinct Feature that emerges from their eggs obeys them as its queen. This includes both direct orders and acting on their interests as it understands them.

Eggs take a decade to mature, after which warrior drones emerge with all base Features of the Hive clan. If the environment is inhospitable to a creature with the Hive clan (such as lacking an atmosphere or possessing extreme temperatures), the eggs go into dormancy until the environment is hospitable again. If not outright destroyed, hive eggs can remain in dormancy indefinitely.

This Feature negates Hive Instinct. A creature cannot have this Feature and the Infiltrator or Warrior Queen Feature.