Character Races: More than Human

Races converted to GURPS from the Blue Planet rulebook; inspired also in part by GURPS Uplift and GURPS Bestiary as well as suggestions from Jason Kucherawy. Since I have some house rules on attributes for use in my own campaigns, I have here listed racial packages both for GURPS Classic (which is to say standard, by-the-book GURPS) as well as for GURPS My Version (which is to say GURPS modified by my house rules). Help yourselves to use whichever version you like.

Dolphins

Uplifted to near-human sentience by genetic engineering, neo-dolphins have taken to Poseidon like fish to water.

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
20
12
9
12

Cost
(+66)
(+20)
(-10)
(+20)
+96
The ST attribute has been purchased with a -40% discount, due to the No Manipulators disadvantage.

Racial Advantages:

Absolute Direction (+5 pts)
Acute Hearing +4 (+8 pts)
Breath-Holding +4 (+8 pts)
Enhanced Move (Swimming) 2 (+20 pts)
Extra Hit Points +4 (+20 pts)
Injury Tolerance: No Neck (+5 pts)
Sharp Teeth (+5 pts)
Sonar Vision (+25 pts)
Ultrasonic Speech (+25 pts)

Racial Disadvantages:

Aquatic (-40 pts)
Bad Sight (-10 pts)
Chummy (-5 pts)
Curious (-5 pts)
Inconvenient Size (-10 pts)
No Manipulators (-50 pts)
Short Lifespan 2 (-20 pts)

Total Race Cost: -19 points. This does not include cost of attributes (I use the They Cost What They Cost variation).

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
12
12
10
8

Cost
(+20)
(+20)
(0)
(-15)
+25
Also, dolphins have much higher levels of the ST and HP aspects of their BD attributes; average 20 ST and 16 HP, which costs an extra 30 pts on average.

Racial Advantages:

Same as in the GURPS Classic version, except remove "Extra Hit Points".

Racial Disadvantages:

Same as in the GURPS Classic version. Average racial point cost: 16 points above "equivalent" human.

Aquaforms: Divers and Squids

Descendants of the original colonists sent to Poseidon over a century ago, as well as newcomers having undergone radical genetic and surgical treatment, these parahumans are adapted to life in and under water. Divers are able to hold their breath for about an hour and can withstand even the pressures of the deepest ocean trenches but rely on air to breathe; Squids have fully functional gills as well as lungs, so they can stay submerged indefinitely with no artificial aids, but they are not quite as pressure-resistant as the Divers; the deeper parts of the ocean are denied them. Their average attributes are the same; their racial advantage and disadvantage packages differ and are detailed below.

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
12
10
10
12

Cost
(+20)
(0)
(0)
(+20)
+40

Divers: Racial Advantages

Amphibious (+10 pts)
Nictating Membrane (+10 pts)
Breath-Holding, 6 levels (+12 pts)
Pressure Support, Total (+15 pts)
Temperature Tolerance vs. Cold (+2 pts)

Squids: Racial Advantages

Amphibious (+10 pts)
Gills (+10 pts)
Nictating Membrane (+10 pts)
Pressure Support, 50 atmospheres (+8 pts)
Temperature Tolerance vs. Cold (+2 pts)

Neither race has any racial disadvantages.
Total Race Cost: 49 points for a Diver, 40 points for a Squid. (This does not include the 40 points for racial-average attributes.)

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
12
10
10
10

Cost
(+20)
(0)
(0)
(0)
+20
Racial advantages are identical to the GURPS Classic version.

Average Race Cost: 69 points for a Diver, 60 points for a Squid.


Silvas

The result of genetic engineering, Silvas are parahumans or hybrids who incorporate more "simian" characteristics than humans do. Originally planned as "super-soldiers", they have long since rejected servitude and gone into business for themselves on Poseidon; some actually do work as mercenaries or security personnel among the "normals", but many prefer to live quietly in their own remote little communities where they farm and fish just like anyone else.

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
15
10
10
13

Cost
(+60)
(0)
(0)
(+30)
+90

Racial Advantages:

Fur (+4 pts) High Pain Threshold (+10 pts) Rapid Healing (+5 pts) Sharp Teeth (+5 pts)

Racial Disadvantages"

Reduced Manual Dexterity -1 (-3 pts)
Social Stigma: Minority/Unnatural Freaks (-10 pts)
Speech Impediment (-5 pts)

Total Race Cost: 6 points, not including the 90 points for average attributes.

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
13
10
10
10

Cost
(+30)
(0)
(0)
(0)
+30
Also, the ST aspect of BD is higher, average 15 (for an extra 5 points).

Racial advantages and disadvantages are the same as for the GURPS Classic version.

Racial Average Cost: 41 points more than an "equivalent" human.


Cats

Like the Silvas, Cats are hybrid parahumans incorporating animal as well as synthetic DNA. Their appearance is that of a cross between a human and a leopard-like big cat; their history is similar to that of the Silvas (created to be "superhuman" commando soldiers, fated to be a feared & reviled minority, emigrated to Poseidon as soon as possible to get away from most of the rest of humanity). They are furry, but their fur is not thick enough to be an advantage (except in the eyes of "furry" fans, that is).

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
13
12
10
11

Cost
(+30)
(+20)
(0)
(+10)
+60

Racial Advantages:

Acute Hearing +4 (+8 pts)
Night Vision (+10 pts)
Sharp Teeth (+5 pts)
Small Claws (+15 pts)

Racial Disadvantages:

Colour Blindness (-10 pts)
Reduced Manual Dexterity -2 (-6 pts)
Social Stigma: Minority/Unnatural Freaks (-10 pts)
Speech Impediment (-5 pts)

Total Race Cost: 7 points, not including the 60 points for average attributes.

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
12
12
10
10

Cost
(+20)
(+20)
(0)
(0)
+40
Also, the ST aspect of BD averages one level higher, for an extra +5 points.

Racial advantages and disadvantages are the same as for the GURPS Classic version.

Average Racial Cost: 52 points more than an "equivalent" human.


Spacers

Spacers are genetically modified humans, tailor-made for living in free fall. Their feet are fully-functional hands, and they are more resistant to extremes of temperature than ordinary humans (as well as being somewhat less susceptible to damage from ionizing radiation). Most of them never travel "dirtside", preferring to stay out of encumbering gravity wells, but any society has its misfits....

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
8
12
10
12

Cost
(-15)
(+20)
(0)
(+20)
+25

Racial Advantages:

2 Extra Arms (+20 pts)
Radiation-Resistant (+5 pts)
Temperature Tolerance, both ways (+4 pts)

The "Radiation-Resistant" advantage is like Disease-Resistant, except it adds +8 to effective BD against radiation (which is a common hazard in outer space), not diseases.

Spacers have no racial disadvantages; their average lifespans are considerably shorter than normal humans simply because many of them spend a lot of time in insufficiently-shielded spacecraft traversing interplanetary space, where they receive higher radiation doses than what is good for them (even with their beefed-up biology); this does not qualify as a racial disadvantage since it does not affect all Spacers (indeed, a Spacer who rarely leaves the interior of some well-shielded asteroid colony can expect to live quite a long span).

Total Race Cost: 29 points, not including the 25 points for average attributes.

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
12
12
10
10

Cost
(+20)
(+20)
(0)
(0)
+40
Also, the ST aspect of a spacer's BD attribute is usually quite a bit lower than the rest of BD, averaging at 8; this reduces cost by 8.5 points.

Racial advantages are the same as for the GURPS Classic version. Average Racial Cost: 60.5 points more than an "equivalent" human.


Transhumans

These are your general-purpose "superhumans"; originally the offspring of parents who could afford to upgrade the genes of their next generation, by now they comprise a significant fraction of "normal" humanity (from which they are not distinguishable except by medical examination). Since the discovery of Long John, it has become possible to transform already living humans into Transhumans (or other types of parahuman, for that matter, but this is less common), and the division between haves and have-nots has indeed become a biological as well as a financial one.

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
12
10
10
12

Cost
(+20)
(0)
(0)
(+20)
+40

Racial Advantages:

Breath-Holding, 2 levels (+4 pts)
Extended Lifespan, 1 level (+5 pts)
Fit (+5 pts)
Immune to Disease (+10 pts)
Less Sleep, 3 levels (+9 pts)
Rapid Healing (+5 pts)

Racial Disadvantages:

Are you kidding?

Total Race Cost: 38 points, not counting the 40 points for average attributes.

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
12
10
10
10

Cost
(+20)
(0)
(0)
(0)
+20
Racial advantages are the same as for the GURPS Classic version.

Racial Average Cost: 58 points more than an "equivalent" human.


Orcas

Uplifted to near-human sentience much like the dolphins; more physically powerful and perhaps less mentally sophisticated, they are a force to be reckoned with even though they are relatively few in number.

GURPS Classic:

Attribute
ST
DX
IQ
HT

Total

Level
45/60
12
8
12

Cost
(+109.5/+114)
(+20)
(-15)
(+20)
+134.5/+139
Numbers separated by a slash are for females/males, in that order; males are considerably larger and more powerful, on the other hand, females live longer.

Racial Advantages:

Absolute Direction (+5 pts)
Acute Hearing +3 (+6 pts)
Breath-Holding, 3 levels (+6 pts)
Enhanced Move, Swimming, 2.5 levels (+25 pts)
Extra Hit Points, 18 for females / 28 for males (+90 or +140 pts)
Injury Tolerance: No Neck (+5 pts)
Sharp Teeth (+5 pts)
Sonar Vision (+25 pts)
Ultrasonic Speech (+25 pts)

Racial Disadvantages:

Aquatic (-40 pts)
Bad Sight (-10 pts)
Inconvenient Size (-10 pts)
No Manipulators (-50 pts)
Stress Atavism, mild/common (-12 pts)
Short Lifespan, 1 level for females / 2 levels for males (-10 pts or -20 pts)

Total Race Cost: 100 points for males and 60 points for females; this does not include the cost for attributes.

GURPS My Version:

Attribute
BD
DX
IN
RE

Total

Level
12
12
9
7

Cost
(+20)
(+20)
(-10)
(-20)
+10
Also, the ST and HP aspects of their BD attributes are much higher than the rest of BD; average levels for males are ST 60 and HP 40, average levels for females are ST 45 and HP 30. This adds 90 points to cost for males, but "only" 77.5 points for females.

Advantages and disadvantages are the same as for the GURPS Classic version, except that the Extra Hit Points are dropped.

Racial Average Cost: Males cost 60 points more and females cost 57.5 points more than an "equivalent" human.


Last modified: Fri Mar 27 15:43:52 NFT 1998