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Author Topic:   Rancor PCs or How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Cracken's Threat Dossier
Kayle Skolaris
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Posts: 779
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 19 June 2000 10:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kayle Skolaris   Click Here to Email Kayle Skolaris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Those of you who've never seen the Threat Dossier are probably wondering WTF I'm talking about. Those of you who have seen it are probably feeling the cold chill of horror running down your spines are flashbacks from the pages in question run through your head. In Dave Wolverton's book, The Courtship of Princess Leia, we are introduced to a primitive society dominated by force using "witches" on a world called Dathomir. They wield the Force in a variant manner from standard Jedi, casting spells instead of using regimented powers. This in itself is astonishing, but wilder still we are shown that this world of Dathomir is home to a species which is visually identical to the infamous beast under Jabba's throne on Tatooine which Luke killed. These Witches use their Rancors as mounts, and we find that the Rancor Jabba had was effectively a malnourished mentally retarded child. Whereas Jabba's Rancor stood about 5 meters tall a fully grown Dathomirian Rancor towers at between eight and ten meters tall! Even more mind-bending, these immense creatures are SENTIENT! In the book we are treated to a scene showing a huge battle line of Rancors wearing make-shift armor and wielding enormous halberds and maces. Many discount this book entirely for a number of reasons. Some find the notion that Han and Leia wouldn't be MARRIED by the time of this book ludicrous. Others dislike the variant force users. Still others find the idea of sentient Rancors to be only slightly less repulsive than the notion that Jar Jar is actually a canon and indisputable part of the Star Wars saga. I personally embrace the novel with open arms. It's fast-paced, action-packed, epic in scale, and WASN'T written by Kevin Jerkwad Anderson. For months after the book came out years ago I was wondering if there'd be a sourcebook for it. I despaired of ever seeing one since WEG seemed to prefer to stick to sourcebooks covering trilogies. Well, with the release of Cracken's Threat Dossier my wishes were made real. While most of that fetid abortion of a sourcebook is utter crap, the portions having to do with The Courtship of Princess Leia are quite good. One thing I found in the depths of it's pages were PC stats for Rancors. Problem is, who wants to play a PC who is nearly as tall as an A-Wing is long? In my own PERSONAL campaign there is a certain genius genetic engineer who has induced a kind of accelerated evolution in a few thousand Rancors in order to make them more intelligent and more easily integrated into Galactic Society. Below I am giving two sets of PC Race stats, one for the Rancors of Cracken's Threat Dossier and one for the Neo-Rancors which are beginning to appear in numbers in the SW galaxy of my campaign. I'd like comments and thoughts on whether the species should be open for PC use or restricted to NPCs only. Note that in my game I've only ever outright denied access to ONE species, the Noghri. Anyway, here are the stats for the two types of Rancor in my game...


Dathomirian Rancor
Attribute Dice: 14D
Dexterity: 4D/6D
Knowledge: 0D/1D
Mechanical: 0D
Perception: 1D/2D+2
Strength: 5D/8D
Technical: 0D/1D

Special Abilities:
Armor: +3D to resist physical and energy damage
Claws: Does STR+3D damage
Teeth: Does STR+5D damage

Special Skills:
Dexterity Skills:
Melee Weapons: Clubs, Trees: Time to Use: One Round. Rancors use this skill and any of the above specializations to wield large objects as melee weapons. Most of these makeshift tools will cause STR+1 Walker-scale damage.
Thrown Weapons: Boulders, Nets, Trees: Time to Use: One Round. Rancors use this skill and any of the above specializations to hurl objects generally considered too heavy for humans to lift. Rancors throw most objects with a range of 20-30/50/100 meters. Most objects will do 2D Walker-scale damage.
Knowledge Skills:
Symbolic Writing: Time to Use: Variable. Rancors use this skill to understand simple commands written by the Witches of Dathomir. A rating of 4D or higher means the rancor can write the language as well.

Story Factors:
Evolved: Dathomirian Rancors have evolved over thousands of years. Rancors encountered off Dathomir will most likely not be identical, though it is possible that a similar evolution has taken place elsewhere in the galaxy.
Domesticated: Most of Dathomir's Rancors have been domesticated by the human clans of the world. These Rancors are treated as loved pets, even friends, by their human comrades.
Scale: Creature
Move: 25/40
Height: 8-10 meters

Keltarrin Neo-Rancors
Attribute Dice: 14D
Dexterity: 4D/6D
Knowledge: 1D/3D
Mechanical: 1D/2D
Perception: 1D/3D
Strength: 4D/7D

Special Abilities:
Armor: +2D to resist physical and energy damage
Claws: does STR+2D damage
Teeth: does STR+4D damage

Special Skills:
Dexterity Skills:
Melee Weapons: Normal-Sized Weapons: Time to Use: One round. Neo-Rancors may attempt to wield normal sized melee weapons, but they risk breaking them whenever they do. When a Neo-Rancor uses a normal-sized melee weapon the extra damage dice of the weapon (Vibroblades inflict STR+3D for 3 extra damage dice) are noted seperately from the strength dice. If any of the extra dice OR the Wild Die rolls a one, the weapon shatters. If one of the extra dice AND the Wild Die rolls a one, the wielder takes damage equal to the number of extra damage dice normally rolled for the attack and the weapon shatters. If ALL the extra dice AND the Wild Die come up as one, then the wielder takes damage as though he'd hit himself with his own weapon AND the weapon shatters.
Melee Weapons: Giant-Sized Weapons: Time to Use: One round. Neo-Rancors use this skill to wield any and all melee weapons sized specifically for them. These giant weapons will do their listed damage (example: Vibroblade: STR+3D) but the damage is SPEEDER scale rather than normal Character scale. Giant-sized weapons will cost 2-10 times as much as normal sized weapons or not be available at all, depending on the specific type of weapon.
Thrown Weapons: Normal-Sized Weapons: Time to Use: One Round. Neo-Rancors use this skill to utilize normal-sized thrown weapons. In the hands of a Neo-Rancor there isn't a chance of breakage as with normal-sized melee weapons but difficulty to use the weapon is increased by +15 in all cases. On the plus side the extra damage dice for the weapon is doubled with no damage ceiling. The damage that is inflicted by these normal-sized weapons remains character-scale, however.
Thrown Weapons: Giant-Sized Weapons: Time to Use: One Round. Neo-Rancors use this skill to throw weapons sized for them. When throwing these immense weapons damage is rolled normally as per the specific weapon but damage is treated as Speeder-scale. Such huge weapons will cost 2-10 times as much as normal sized weapons or not be available at all, depending on the weapon.

Story Factors:
Genetically Modified: Neo-Rancors are genetically modified versions of their Dathomirian cousins. They were created from purchased genetic material, including cryogenically frozen sperm and eggs. While smarter than their Dathomirian relatives, they are also smaller and weaker.
Rare: There are at present only a few thousand Neo-Rancors in existence. With time their numbers will almost certainly increase drastically, but at present there are less than 1,000 Neo-Rancors and only about 400 of these are adults.

Scale: Creature
Move: 15/20
Height: 3-4 meters

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Moridin
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posted 19 June 2000 11:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Moridin   Click Here to Email Moridin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
All I can say is...yikes.

Seriously, it's an interesting concept. Original and all. But the possibiities are frightening. Reminds me of the guy who played a half-giant gladiator in our last D&D campaign. It was messy.

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Moridin
The Star Wars RPG Database
Evil is as evil does.

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Kayle Skolaris
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posted 20 June 2000 12:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kayle Skolaris   Click Here to Email Kayle Skolaris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I prefer Thri-Kreen gladiators personally. Though the one Half-Giant I did play got THE most amusing psionic wild talent... He could reduce his height!!!

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Moridin
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posted 20 June 2000 12:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Moridin   Click Here to Email Moridin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Wow Kayle, at the time of your above post you have 777 posts. That's the next-door-neighbor of the Beast. Scary.

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Moridin
The Star Wars RPG Database
Evil is as evil does.

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Evil Steve
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posted 20 June 2000 02:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Evil Steve   Click Here to Email Evil Steve     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Kayle Skolaris postulated:"Still others find the idea of sentient Rancors to be only slightly less repulsive than the notion that Jar Jar is actually a canon and indisputable part of the Star Wars saga."
LOLROF

Neat idea. A bit much for my current campaign tastes, but still good. I may borrow that for another campaign. One question;Since they can do speeder scale damage, why not just reduce thier stat dice a notch and make them speeder scale?

On a slightly different note:Rancor Jedi! Can you imagine a Rancor in the classic brown robes with a lightsaber the size of a telephone pole!?!? Why do I think of these things? And why do I share them? My sincerest apologies to any GM who now must endure requests to play Rancor Jedi.

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Moridin
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posted 20 June 2000 02:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Moridin   Click Here to Email Moridin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The only thing I can think of that would be worse:

Rancor Dark Jedi.

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Moridin
The Star Wars RPG Database
Evil is as evil does.

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Templar
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Registered: Oct 1999

posted 20 June 2000 03:27 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Templar   Click Here to Email Templar     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Congrats Moridin, you've found something scarier than my idea of Noghri dark Jedi.

All I can say about this is it brings back memories of playing (and GMing) full sized Zentradi in Robotech (just with less missiles).

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Oh Lord, grant that we may always be right, for Thou knowest we shall never change our minds.

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Grimace
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posted 20 June 2000 05:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Grimace   Click Here to Email Grimace     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hmmmm...I don't know. That Speeder scale damage kinda makes me cringe. Besides that, everything seems okay...though I don't know why you'd allow these as you have disallowed Noghri. These are basically nastier than Noghri are.

My final thoughts: Keep these as NPCs

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Kayle Skolaris
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posted 20 June 2000 01:33 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Kayle Skolaris   Click Here to Email Kayle Skolaris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Worse still... A Dark Jedi with a PhD. in Genetic Engineering. Who do you think MADE the Neo-Rancors?

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Nathan
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posted 20 June 2000 01:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Nathan   Click Here to Email Nathan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Talking about Zentreadi, I'm converting them to Star Wars system. How do you think these stats look? Note that the stats are for "micronized" Zentreadi.

Zentreadi Male Soldier:
Attribute Dice: 12D
Dexterity: 2D/4D
Knowledge: 1D/3D
Mechanical: 2D/4D
Perception: 2D/4D
Strength: 2D+1/4D+2
Technical: 1D/2D
Move: 10/12
Size: 1.9-2.5 meters tall

Zentreadi Male Officer
Attribute Dice: 13D
Dexterity: 2D/4D+1
Knowledge: 1D/3D
Mechanical: 2D/4D+1
Perception: 2D/4D+1
Strength: 2D+2/5D
Technical: 1D/2D+1
Move: 10/12
Size: 1.9-2.5 meters tall

Zentreadi Female Officer
Attribute Dice: 13D
Dexterity: 2D+1/5D
Knowledge: 1D/3D
Mechanical: 2D/4D+1
Perception: 2D/4D+1
Strength: 2D/4D
Technical: 1D/2D+1
Move: 10/12
Size: 1.9-2.5 meters tall

When you convert them to full-size Zentreadi, just multiply their height and Move by ten. (so a 2.3 meter tall Zentreadi with a Move of 10 would now be 23 meters tall, and hab=ve a Move of 100) Also make them 'Starfighter scale.' This scale change doesn't mean much for Knowledge, Technical, or Mechanical skills, but it obviously changes things for Strength and Dexterity. It also changes a little for Perception; Sneaking is hard when you're over 20 meters tall. Also, when searching for small things, 'small' is a relative term.
So waddya think? I know there should be restrictions on their skill selections, but that's determined by the GM.
Oh, as for your Neo-rancors. I think they should probably be allowed as a PC, but watch out for Munchkins. Also, there are going to be some nasty problems when you're a Rancor. Where do you get all the meat you need each day? What if you accidentally knock over a house? Or accidentally stomp on an Imperial officer? Where do you go to the bathroom? What kind of starship is big enough to transport you?
But still, it's a good idea.

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Corr Terek
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posted 20 June 2000 02:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Corr Terek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Those Rancors really sound neat. I wish I had a copy of Courtship of Princess Leia. BTW, about a Rancor Jedi's lightsaber. Like somebody said, it'd be pretty big. Also, it would be able to parry shots from starships lasers and maybe even turbolasers. And just try making that lightsaber damage speeder scale...

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Azrael Turrne
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posted 20 June 2000 03:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Azrael Turrne   Click Here to Email Azrael Turrne     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I would definitley consider Noghri and Rancor/neo-rancor to be Non FS.

BTW: I wanna see a Rancor diplomat. Now that would be good...

"The chair recognises the delegate from the Rancor Republic..."

"RRREEEAAARRDDGGRRKKK!!!"

"OH F-" *crunch*

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Scheming Religious Zealot and piano player to the Order of the Spork

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wolverine
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posted 20 June 2000 05:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wolverine   Click Here to Email wolverine     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Na, the scariest one any of my players came up with was a Dark jedi JAWA!!!!

I have also toyed around with jedi ewoks, jedi tusken raiders, and even thought of a jedi bothan........

As for the rancor stuff, like it i do. But i also agree with one of the other posters.... Where the h*** are they gonna get all that food. What ship will carry one, and they will always be on the run from hutts who want them as playthings.........

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Doty
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posted 22 June 2000 04:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Doty   Click Here to Email Doty     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I play a noghri jedi, it is interesting, especially when you wield a saber baton . . .

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