Alien

Description

Aliens are an incredibly adaptable and ferocious race of creatures that are believed to originate in the plane Acheron. They are at least known to exist there in large numbers, the different tribes constantly waging war. Those located in Acheron do not seem to have any kind of society, but divinations seem to suggest that there exist prime planes where they have developed a higher form of cooperation than humanly possible. They also suggested that at least one ancient Champion has attained Demigod status. (Suggested reading: Ender's Game by O.S.Card, and of course the Alien movies/books.)

Each tribe is telepathically controlled by a queen. The queen will be found in the center of a sprawling underground hive, often with a domeshaped construction made of all sorts of materials above ground. This hive consists of interconnected tunnels in a complicated labyrinth network in three dimensions that are almost impossible for a human to travel through, often dropping long distances straight down to take advantage of the drones phenomenal climbing ability. The tunnels in the outer part of the hive are small, often less than 3' in diameter, but this doesn't hamper the drones' speed at all. In the center of the hive there are larger chambers where the queen and the champions reside, and where the eggs are kept. The inner surfaces are covered by a chitinous material the aliens produce. Should a tribe of aliens be discovered on your prime plane, they must be eradicated at once or they will spread like a virulent disease over the surface until they control all land.

Their kind reproduce in a manner singularly repulsive to most other sentient beings (see below), though to them the idea of using and killing a host creature is as natural as giving a baby a bottle. They are capable of surviving in all normal climates, and can even survive for short periods of time in a perfect vacuum. They are very resistant to heat and cold, saving for half or quarter damage if exposed to such spells. They have acid for blood, which makes them extremely dangerous to fight. Only creatures immune to acid can do so, and even then at high risk. Should a tribe of aliens capture trolls, you must take action at once or expect a population explosion. Should you discover a 2' tall leathery egg in a strange old dungeon, destroy it at once from a distance. It might contain a facehugger. If it does, it will open at the top and a facehugger spring forth if you make noticeable vibrations or radiate heat within a 5' radius of it.

Facehugger

The Facehugger has a flat, approximately 1' long and 1.5' wide, pale white body, with 8 spindly legs and a 3' long tail. The tail is so strong that a successful open doors check is needed to break its grip should it get a hold. On its abdomen it has a retractable pseudopod capable of extruding acid in order to remove things blocking its access to the feeding openings in the host's body.

The facehugger will attach itself to a victim's face by twining its tail around the victim's neck and holding on with its legs. It will then force the pseudopod down the victim's throat, rendering the victim comatose in the process, and hatch the embryo of a chestburster in the victim's entrails. Obstructions like helmets, clamped jaws and the like are conveniently removed with a dash of acid that causes 1d10 points of damage. The facehugger will keep the victim comatose until the chestburster is self-sustaining, which takes approximately 72 hours, then it dies. If a facehugger is incapable of finding a victim inside of 12 days after it has hatched, it dies. Facehuggers are without intelligence, operating on instincts only, but they are superbly programmed. Since they have no mind, they are immune to mindbased spells. They are one of the most efficient organisms in existence. They are able to extend the pseudopod to a length of 6 feet. If this is insufficient to reach an area in the victim capable of sustaining the embryo of the chestburster, which is highly unlikely, it will withdraw.

To attach itself to a free, unwilling victim, it must make a successful attack where armor is counted as AC 10, but dexterity and magic works as usual. If successful, It will use its pseudopod as described above the next round unless removed by force. If the victim shuts its jaws, the facehugger will use its acid to dissolve the offending obstruction. The dissolving process takes one round if the victim makes a successful wisdom check to avoid screaming with pain. If the facehugger still have not been removed, it automatically renders its victim comatose. A comatose victim cannot be woken up as long as the facehugger is alive, and killing it releases a rather large dose of acid in the victim's entrails, causing 5d10 points of damage. If the victim has been comatose for more than 22 hours there is a 2% cumulative chance per hour beyond that time for the embryo to survive. The embryo will then develop normally, taking nourishment from the corpse of the host.

Chestburster

Approximately 72 hours after the facehugger starts the incubation, the chestburster is self-sustaining. At that point the facehugger dies and the victim wakes up, normally ravenous with hunger. After 1d12+3 hours the chestburster is fullgrown. The chestbursters "birth" is an ordeal of pain and violence. It will bite and claw its way out of the host creature, inflicting from 6d6 to 6d12 points of damage depending on the way it decides to go on the way out. The Dungeon Master should make a ruling as to the extent and effect of internal damage. If the chestburster rips all of the character's intestines apart on the way out, a Cure Light Wounds spell is not likely to do much good. If no dangers threaten, the queen has the chestburster eat the host to gain sufficient nutriments to complete its rapid growth, else she tries to hide it. The queen is in telepathic control of the chestburster from the moment it emerges from the host, and will not let it be killed without reason. The chestburster is the young form of the drone, and grows to full size in 20 hours if there is food available. It is usually sufficient to eat the creature it hatched from.

Drone

The drone is an 8' tall, black, bipedal monster somewhat resembling a cross between a giant spider and a giant scorpion, yet vaguely humanoid. It has a long, backwards-sloping head without visible eyes. One variant of the species have some kind of pipes sticking out of their backs, unknown to what purpose. The Drone has a dense exoskeleton that hints of an insectoid origin. It has a skeletal, ridged tail with a poison stinger at the end. The drone injects a paralytic poison that immobilizes the victim for 1d4 turns unless a Neutralize Poison spell is used at a successful hit with the tail. It's hide is sleek and glistening, usually in shades of black, grey or brown.

The drone is telepathically controlled by the queen, and functions approximately like a worker/warrior ant. Because of this outside control they are immune to mindbased spells. They do not normally reproduce, but if the queen should be killed, all drones have the capacity to produce a new queen. They function somewhat like the facehugger in this respect, inserting the embryo of a queen into a host creature. How this is done is not known. The drones do not have much of a brain, but they have superb instincts, and a relentless drive to survive. Should the queen die the drones will be confused for a while, but they will thereafter operate independently, each trying to secure the survival of the race by breeding a new queen. Drones operating independently are still immune to mindbased spells. Should your players try to eradicate a tribe of aliens, keep in mind that the job is not finished until the last drone is dead. The eggs can survive for centuries unless they are destroyed. Due to high "blood"-pressure, acid spurts out of any wound they receive, and the queen takes advantage of this. Opponent must save vs Breath Wwapons (+4 modifier) to avoid the spray of acid she directs their way. Such a spray inflicts 3d6 points of damage to bare flesh the first round, 2d6 the next and 1d6 the third. The acid dissolves normal armor and weapons in seconds. Each magical "+" dissolves in one round. When a Drone is killed, it releases all the acid it contains (the veins partially dissolves) in a puddle of acid 10' in diameter. Anyone caught standing within this area must save vs Breath Weapons or receive 5d6 points of damage the first round, 4d6 the next and so forth. The acid will dissolve even rock, and makes a 1' deep hole in the ground, deepening to 2' in the center if the ground is flat. What remains of the drone (very little beyond skin and sceleton) can be found in the center of this hole. Drones have a lifespan of approximately 200 years.

Combat

The drone (completely remote controlled by the queen) has a claw, claw, bite and tail sting attack form, but (the queen) will generally attempt to paralyze the victim if possible, to use it as a host. If the victim is paralyzed, the drone will carry it to one of the incubation chambers and glue it to the wall with its web within the detection radius of an egg. The web takes 14 strength to break and lasts for approximately 5 days before it dissolves. The jaw of the drone can be extended 1' forwards with explosive force. This attack has a THAC0 of 12. The tail is approximately 6' long and very supple. Using the tail, the drone (queen) can attack both to the front, back and the sides with a THAC0 score of 9. The drones can climb very well, and often attack from the walls or the ceiling, thus gaining a +1 to surprise. The queen can access all sensory input the drones experience, and will employ clever tactics in battle.