CREATURES FROM MOVIES
LV-426 LIFE FORM
Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 25 STR 15 14- Lift 800 kg; 5d6 HTH Damage [2] 18 DEX 16 13- 25 CON 15 14- 8 INT -2 11- PER Roll 11-/14- 8 EGO -2 11- 25 PRE 15 14- PRE Attack: 5d6 6 OCV 15 6 DCV 15 1 OMCV -6 3 DMCV 0 3 SPD 10 Phases: 4, 8, 12 14 PD 7 Total: 14 PD (5 rPD) 14 ED 7 Total: 14 ED (5 rED) 10 REC 6 50 END 6 12 BODY 2 40 STUN 10 Total Characteristic Cost: 129 Movement: Running: 14m/28m Leaping: 10m/20m Swimming: 12m/24m Cost Powers & Skills 10 Claws: HKA ½d6 (2d6+1 w/STR), END 1 15 Teeth: HKA 1d6 (2 ½d6 w/STR), END 1 28 Acidic Blood: RKA 1d6, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+¼), Personal Immunity (+¼), Area Of Effect (1m Surface; Damage Shield; +¼), Persistent (+¼), Penetrating (+½), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Constant (+½); Only Works Against Objects Which Cause Character BODY Damage Or On Which Character's Blood Is Spilled (-1), Always On (-½), No Range (-½), 24 Recoverable by healing Charges (character can only recover Charges by healing BODY damage; -0) plus Autofire (20 shots; +1 ½) for RKA 1d6; No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; number shots depends on BODY damage taken; -1) 15 Exoskeleton: Resistant Protection (5 PD/5 ED) 3 Strong Leaper: Leaping +6m (10m forward, 5m upward), END 1 2 Frighteningly Fast: Running +2m (14m total), END 1 4 Swims Like A Fish: Swimming +8m (12m total), END 1 10 Can Climb Walls With Ease: Clinging (normal STR) 27 Apparently Sees Without Eyes: Spatial Awareness (no Sense Group), Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees) 3 Sharp Senses: +3 PER with Spatial Awareness 5 Tail: Extra Limb (1), Inherent (+¼); Limited Manipulation (-¼) 12 Xenomorphic Physiology: LS (Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum) Talents 4 Xenomorphic Physiology: Double Jointed 6 Biomechanical Nightmare: +2/+2d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all characters) Skills 16 +2 with HTH Combat 4 Extendable Jaws: +2 OCV with Teeth 3 Breakfall 13- 6 Concealment 14-; Self Only (-1/2) 3 "It Looks Like Some Sort Of Excretion": +4 with Concealment; Only In Home Environment (-1), Self Only (-1/2) 9 Xenomorphic Physiology: Contortionist 16- 7 Shadowing 13- 3 Stealth 13- 3 "They're Coming Outta The Walls!": +3 with Stealth; Only In Home Environment (-1) 1 Tactics 8- Total Powers & Skill Cost: 199 Total Cost: 328 175+ Matching Complications (50) 0 Physical Complication: Human Size 15 Physical Complication: Near-Human Intelligence (Frequently; Slightly Impairing) 20 Psychological Complication: Utterly Hostile (Common; Total) Total Complications Points: 50 Experience Points: 153
OPTIONS Cost LV-426 Life Form Powers 8 "Being Cocooned Just Like The Others": Entangle 4d6, 4 PD/4 ED; Extra Time (roughly 5 Minutes, -2), Entangle Only Has 1d6 When First Made, And Gains +1d6 per Minute Until It Reaches A Full 4d6. (-1), No Range (-½), Must Follow Grab Or Target must be Willing and/or Unable To Resist (-¼), END 4 59 Stinger: HKA ½d6 plus Drain DEX 1d6, NND (defense is appropriate LS: Immunity; +0), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1 ¾), Damage Over Time (3 increments, one per Segment for 3 Segments, defense only applies once, cannot be used again on same victim until all increment accrue, can be negated by application of proper antivenin; +2); 4 Charges (-1), Extra Time (onset time beings one Segment after victim is stung, -½), Linked (EB; -½) plus Drain CON 1d6, NND (defense is appropriate LS: Immunity; +0), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1 ¾), Damage Over Time (3 increments, one per Segment for 3 Segments, defense only applies once, cannot be used again on same victim until all increment accrue, can be negated by application of proper antivenin; +2); 4 Charges (-1), Extra Time (onset time beings one Segment after victim is stung, -½), Linked (EB; -½) plus EB 3d6, NND (defense is appropriate LS: Immunity; +0), Damage Over Time (3 increments, one per Segment for 3 Segments, defense only applies once, cannot be used again on same victim until all increment accrue, can be negated by application of proper antivenin; +2); 4 Charges (-1), Extra Time (onset time beings one Segment after victim is stung, -½), No Range (-½), HKA Must Do BODY (-½), END 1 23 Spit Acid: RKA 1d6, +1 Increased STUN Multiplier (+¼), Personal Immunity (+¼), Penetrating (+½), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Constant (+½), Uncontrolled (see text below; +½); 4 Charges (-1), Limited Range (8m; -¼), [4] 36 "Maybe They Don't Show Up On Infrared?": Invisibility to Sight Group , No Fringe, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Limited Effect (Infrared Perception; -¼) 9 Create Face-Hugger: Summon 175-point face-hugger, Devoted (+¾); Extra Time (1 Week, -4 ½), OAF Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; corpse; -1 ¼), END 6
Ecology: The LV-426 life form is an extremely hostile alien organism known only from several brief encounters on the planet Acheron (originally designated LV-426). It is apparently not native to the planet, as the first specimen was discovered (while still an egg) in the hull of a derelict alien vessel.
Although details are unclear, the LV-426 life form is definitely a parasitic species, and requires a living host in order to gestate its young. The organism's life cycle seems to be as follows:
- The life form starts its life cycle as an egg. Inside the egg is a creature known as a "face-hugger." This egg remains viable for extremely long periods and responds (i.e. opens) to outside stimulus, such as being touched.
- Once released from its egg, the face-hugger will attach itself to the nearest living being, using its multiple legs to grip the target's face, while its tail is wrapped around the target's neck. A tube is then thrust down the target's throat, allowing the target to breathe, but also allowing the face-hugger to implant an embryo.
- After a period of only a few hours to perhaps a day or so, the face-hugger will drop off and crawl away to die. Meanwhile the embryo continues its gestation period. This period is remarkably short, lasting only for several hours, at which point the appropriately named "chest-burster" will emerge from its host, with fatal results for said host.
- The chest-burster will crawl away to molt, doing so rapidly, and growing to great size in only a short period of time, eventually assuming what is known as a "warrior" form.
- The warrior will then seek out living hosts for two purposes. The first is to create new eggs (and thus new face-huggers). The second is to find new hosts for the mature face-hugger. Thus, a warrior needs two victims to create a new warrior. However, evidence shows that it is possible for a warrior to undergo a further metamorphosis, transforming into a gigantic "queen" form, which lays eggs directly. On the other hand, a "queen" may come from a specific egg, created by a warrior in order to speed up the process of reproduction.
Naturally, this life cycle is based heavily on guesswork and may not be fully complete. There are many unanswered questions about the species, such as "Does it eat?," "Does it breathe?," and "How does it get so big so fast?" Evidence points to the LV-426 life form as being a bioengineered being, possibly created as a living bio-weapon. The derelict in which the first egg was found is known to contain thousands (possibly millions) of eggs and may have been a freighter hauling the eggs for purposes one can only guess at.
Personality/Motivation: The LV-426 life form is incredibly hostile. It cannot be reasoned or negotiated with, and will seek to kill and/or capture anyone it comes across, seeing them only as a possible reproductive source. The continuation of the species seems to be the organism's sole motivation, and since it requires a living host in order to do so, it will prey on any living thing it comes across. A queen form seems to have a greater degree of intelligence than a warrior, or, at least, is less driven by instinct. It may be possible to "reason" with the queen, although this would be purely through applications of force and not diplomacy. It is possible the race is far more intelligent than presumed. The first encounter with an warrior showed it to have a great deal of cunning. A second encounter showed the warriors to be far more drone-like and less capable of independent action. On the other hand, there is a known case of three captive warriors selecting one of their number as a sacrifice in order to use the creature's acidic blood to break out of confinement.
Powers/Tactics: An LV-426 warrior is extremely well-equipped to accomplish its mission, which in most cases is to defend the nest and to find new hosts for the face-huggers. First of all, a warrior is incredibly strong, and is capable of lifting an adult human male, dressed in full combat gear, a foot (or more) off of the floor. They can also punch through armored glass and can dent armored bulkhead doors. Warriors are also quite agile and are capable of crawling through surprisingly small spaces. They can cling to a ceiling with ease, and can curl up in a fairly small space to hide and/or hibernate. Offensively, a warrior has a fearsome set of teeth with an even nastier set of teeth behind the first! It will often use its teeth to disable a struggling foe before taking the body back to its lair. Defensively, its body is well armored and capable of resisting most small arms fire. Worse yet, its blood is a highly corrosive molecular acid, and can dissolve most substances with ease (The acidic blood uses the rules for acid powers on page 10 of Champions Powers. Simply put, each drop of acid lasts for either 1d6 Phases or until the acid rolls 12 BODY worth of damage.)
Appearance: A full-grown LV-426 warrior stands well over six feet in height and may be as tall as eight feet from head to toe. The body is humanoid, with a black exoskeleton covered in assorted armored plates, tubes, and protrusions. It has a distinctive skeletal look to it, especially the long tail, which is quite articulate and tipped with a sharp blade. The head is long and pale, with a translucent "skull." Reports describe the teeth as looking like steel, with a second set of jaws inside the main mouth.
Designer's Notes: The Alien, first introduced in the 1979 film of the same name, is possibly one of the best movie monsters ever made. This character sheet uses the films Alien and Aliens as a basis. Portions of Alien 3 seem at odd with the first two films, but also presents the idea that the warrior form will depend on the nature of the host. Alien: Resurrection on the other hand, confirms some ideas from Alien and Aliens (and gives us the high swimming score). I included everything I felt was fairly documentable in the main character sheet, and then added a few "director's cut" powers under Options. The Entangle could be a main power, although it doesn't have an direct combat use, so I left it off. The Stinger is described in the script for Aliens, and (I think) in the novelization. Not showing up on IR is a guess on my part based on the initial encounter scene in Aliens. The Summon Face-hugger power is taken from a deleted scene in Alien and the novelization of Alien. This scene has been restored in the recent Director's Cut of the film. Personally, I have long felt the alien is a bioengineered life form, and was used as a combat "machine" by some alien race. My guess is the ship seen in the first film was transporting the eggs when an accident happened. I also feel the warriors probably have a very short life-span, and the one Ripley kills at the end of Alien was dying anyway (look at how slow it was moving). Of course, this doesn't explain Aliens (the warriors were around for much longer than just a day or so), so they may simply go into hibernation after a while (which also explains the final scene of Alien).
Vampire Scion (vampire_scion@netzero.net), sent the following information after reviewing an initial draft of the character sheet (edited for clarity):
The Aliens RPG by Leading Edge has a number of notes on aliens. Let's see if I can remember them... (though they are not "movie cannon" as far as I know.)
- The Aliens are an engineered species. The species that engineered them were the Pilot race (the corpse of which was found in the cockpit of the derelict). The eggs were stored in an egg silo specifically made for such a purpose.
- Supposedly, the aliens didn't have eyes. They sensed electromagnetic fields.
- They were, in part, a silicon based life form, so they didn't show up on IR. Their acidic blood (in concert with their physiology) acts in a manner similar to that of a battery. The molecular structure of the alien carapace is immune to acid of itself and other Aliens.
- In order for the Chestburster to reach it's stage III lifecycle, it needs to devour metals and silicates. The Chestburster does this using it's internal acidic nature. I also believe the Chestburster can tunnel in a similar manner.
- They can survive for a long time in a hibernation without the need of air (I'm not sure if they breathe) and food.
MJ and/or Pablo Sanchez (mj16309@yahoo.com) sent the following comments as well:
I should also add that the LV-426 Life Form takes on some of the physical attributes of whatever host creature the face hugger implants with an embryo. This helps them adapt to terrestrial norms for whichever planet they are on. Hence, the Alien is bipedal and relatively humanoid in appearance in the first 2 movies since their hosts were human. In Alien 3 (granted, not a great movie) a face hugger implants an embryo in a dog. The Alien that evolved from that ran on all fours and had the basic physical abilities of a canine, although still looked like an alien for all intents and purposes. Maybe a 25 point race-specific package would be in order to reflect this (I would guess if the LV-426 Life Form landed on a planet with mostly avian type creatures it would reproduce aliens able to fly, etc). The Aliens comics that came out in the late 80's/early 90's also mentioned this. It's a cosmetic thing mostly, but in Alien 3 the dog-alien ran hella faster than the human-bred aliens and was much smaller too. In Alien Vs. Predator the chestburster that came out of the Predator species also had facial features similar to the predator. I would guess this is an evolutionary adaptation to allow the alien to survive in any environment they end up in. They can't live long in atmospheres that their host species can't survive in, so I take issue with the L.S. Vacuum. The face hugger is the real iron horse of the species and can survive in ANY environment (as exlained by the android doctor in the first movie). So that's how the species survives; the face hugger implants an embryo in a host that is native to the planet they are on. The chestburster absorbs DNA from the host (the walls of the stomach are ideal for this) as it grows and developes. By the time it bursts out of the host it is fully adapted to the environment of the planet.
LV-426 Life Form Hero Designer File
(The LV-426 Life Form created by Dan O'Bannon, H.R. Giger, Ron Cobb, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook. Concept for the film Alien apparently based off of a scene in A. E. van Vogt's novel The Voyage Of The Space Beagle)
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