Tagard

Description

Appearing as a large cat with eight legs, this creature is covered in a coat of pale gray hair. Ripples of color flash through the fur as it advances with a lithe, agile gait.

This alien carnivore has the general form of a great predatory cat, except that it has eight legs and an unusual form of optical camouflage. Each hair on its body is hollow and can transmit light like as optical fiber. Glands just below its flesh can rapidly adjust the hue passed along these hairs, giving it the tagard the ability to blend almost seamlessly into the surroundings.

Like a predatory cat, a tagard stalks its prey through open wilderness, using its stealthy movement and concealment ability to hide until the last moment. Once a prey is close enough, it springs forward with a sudden burst of speed. It is powerful enough to tackle creatures larger than itself, and after consuming a large meal it does not need to each again for several days.

A tagard is 10 to 15 feet long and weighs 600 to 900 pounds. Its home world has an oxygen-rich environment, and it usually fares poorly on worlds with atmospheric mixes similar to earth.

Combat

A tagard attacks from concealment, springing forward with great speed and agility. Once it gains a hold, it drags the victim to the earth and shreds it with powerful claws and a fanged bite.

Pounce (Ex): If a tagard charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including four rake attacks.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a tagard must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can rake.

Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +12 melee, damage 1d6+3.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): This works like the Ranger's special ability, allowing the tagard to attempt to hide while being observed.

Skills: Tagards have a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Climb, and Move Silently checks. They also have a +12 racial bonus on Hide checks.

Also in this section of the source

Tanker

Author: Robert J. Hall.

A tanker is an engineered creature designed to excel at a particular task, such as combat. It is created by carefully selecting advantageous genetic traits from a number of different organisms, and fixing or removing disadvantageous flaws. The creature is then grown within a tank filled with a special cocktail of liquids designed to optimize growth and guard against hazards that may cripple a life form at an early age. A tanker grows to maturity within such a tank, and is fully educated and trained through sophisticated neural implants.

Once a tanker is ready to emerge from its tank, a batch of custom-designed nanotech robots are introduced into the body. Nanotechnology is engineering at the nanometer scale: small enough to perform manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. Typically this technology is used to produce a multitude of robots on the nanometer scale that are then used to perform specific tasks.

The introduced nanotechnology robots draw energy directly from the body, then perform such tasks as healing wounds, disabling dangerous biological agents, increasing the resiliency of critical organs, and defending the body from hostile nanotech.

This nanotech enhancement is specially designed to require no external power sources, and to function as a complex, coordinated system. It actively adapts to changing conditions and produces specialized robots to perform unusual tasks. The system can also maintain itself by replicating new robots when the older devices become non-functional. The system will only cease to operate once it runs out of energy, such as when the organism dies of starvation.

As this enhancement is designed to function symbiotically with the body, it must be custom designed for the individual. As a result the same enhancement can not be directly transferred to another individual, unless it is a biological twin or a clone. In addition, this enhancement requires no external power source, so it operates at a low level and at a fairly leisurely pace. As a result this technology is less effective than a self-powered system. The benefit, however, is that it will continue to operate as long as the host remains functional.

Sample Tanker

This example uses a 3rd-level human rogue as the base creature.