Faction NPCs and minor rule clarification

Hi everyone. We hope you’re all doing well.  We’ve been quite busy and things here have been quite so I figured I’d quickly go over a little of what has been worked on recently. It’s nothing too drastic. I’ve added some clarification to make it clear that when using a barehanded attack while grappling, your attack is Vulnerable (The person you are grappling’s AC is also Vulnerable so it cancels out anyway). Otherwise the weapon bonus of daggers would be obsolete, poor daggers. I’ve also been working on some descriptions for NPC’s attached to some of the main factions on the core rulebook. I plan to do more for the other factions, and I will add their stat blocks along with the rule adjustment in one go once they’re all done. For now, here’s a lil peek.

CONFLUENCE HIVEKEEPER

Hivekeepers. Definitely some of the more devoted members of the Confluence. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it’s hard to know how common they are among their ranks, their appearance isn’t exactly subtle enough to be a public presence. I don’t know what possesses a person to make them jam a giant moth into their spinal column, maybe you can ask for me if you run into one. If the name doesn’t give it away, Hivekeepers often reside within Confluence laboratories and strongholds. It’s hard to go grocery shopping and have no one notice a giant growth out of your back so I’d assume they live very secluded lives, or just keep to wherever they’re stationed. A good indicator of their devotion to the cause. Their wings make them a formidable threat within the, less traditionally confined, architecture of Confluence strongholds, and if they’re ever assigned to hunt someone in the outside world the open air makes them even more dangerous. So if you see a Hivekeeper, you’ve either taken a terribly wrong turn or you’re in deep shit. Good luck.

CONFLUENCE BASILISK

Well, would they really be a crazed animal-obsessed cult if they didn’t push the limits to mythological creatures? Apparently not. If you’re familiar with the idea of basilisks then you’ve already got a good idea what you’re up against here. Where other members of the Confluence have more physically focused augmentation. The appearance of Basilisks is purely aesthetic, making them all the more dangerous, since their capabilities are not readily apparent unless they want them to be. Their abilities are based entirely through Connection-based advancements. If you don’t know how basilisks work in myth, often times meeting their gaze will result in the victim becoming paralysed or even turned to stone. In practice, these basilisks are not so different. Their augmentations allow them to force a person into a temporary state of paralysis through the Connection, seizing up your muscles to make moving difficult to near impossible. Not the kind of state you want to find yourself in, in the middle of a firefight.

IRONCLAD DEVOTEE

It’s bad enough that the Faith makes a habit of turning other people into Rejected. In my opinion it’s even worse that they happily do it to themselves. If you’re looking to give out a ‘most devoted team member’ award, look no further. These guys are what you might consider fodder amongst the ranks of the Faith. The higher ups of the Faith paint them as heroes, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they really just saw them as fodder too. These ‘Devotees’ are lightweights, no impressive technology or weaponry. Just the insane delusion, shared by the rest of the Faith, that drives them to turn themselves into Recs in their final moments. I love the potential and opportunity the Metal grants humanity, don’t get me wrong, but willingly having my body torn apart and restructured by it in what’s already my likely painful, final moments? Hard pass.

IRONCLAD GRAFTER

You ever been carrying armfuls of groceries and you turn to look at that one last bag that you just can’t carry, meaning you’ll have to make another trip back and forth to grab it, so you thought to yourself: ‘Man I wish I had an extra arm for that.’ No? Well that’s okay, these dudes have you covered. Grafters are some seriously Metal obsessed peeps who love to sport the latest and fashion trends. Extra arms, sporadic growths and lumps of Metal, the good stuff. In all seriousness, having a spare arm can make Grafters a menace in a fight. Two arms for the grabbing and a whole extra one for the stabbing is particularly effective. To top it off, they’ve made their bodies especially effective at the grafting part, they can strip metal from others, living or dead, and attach it to their own bodies to reconstitute or even grow themselves. Kinda nasty.

FLESH PURIFIER

Meet the FLESH’s disco inferno, without the disco and a with an extra dangerous obsession with the inferno part. If you ask me, the FLESH are happy to take in anyone who’ll say that they’re happy to join the cause, who cares if they really are or not, so long as they have an egregious appetite for violence. If you ask the FLESH, these Purifiers are invaluable to their cause, willing to do anything necessary to purge Ventrum of the accursed Metal. ‘May their flames cleanse humanity of The Watcher’s filth’ or some crap like that. Bottom line, these dudes are major threat to any opposition and even to their allies at times. Some of them display an amount of discipline, but I’ve definitely see some of their allies get torched or blown to bits in the crossfire before. So keep in mind that if they’ll let that happen to their allies. You are not one of their allies.

FLESH SABOTEUR

If going toe to toe with a Leech-class isn’t bad enough. Fear not, the FLESH have their own troops armed specifically to menace augmented individuals too! Aptly named Saboteurs, these close-quarters combatants are always armed with some form of shock-equipped weapon alongside a FLESH trade secret piece of tech. Impulse Gloves (not always gloves, doesn’t that just make it as straightforward as possible) can force the activation of the victim’s augments. When the victim is, for example, a Titan with Thunderclap, it becomes all the more of a threat. Saboteurs show little care as to any consequences of using the gloves, they will go to great lengths to harm and hinder Augs, regardless of if it’s to their own detriment. So if you’re packing some heavy augments, maybe give your allies some space if a saboteur is baring down on you. But, at the same time, maybe that’s what they want you to do.