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    The Ephemeris Creature Compendium
    The Ephemeris Creature Compendium
    The Ephemeris Creature Compendium
    Ebook176 pages1 hour

    The Ephemeris Creature Compendium

    By J Alan Erwine

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    About this ebook

    Every game needs creatures to challenge the characters, and Ephemeris 2.0 is no different. Step inside this tome and learn about new species that are on the edge of space travel, other creatures that can threaten the characters on a variety of worlds, and learn about creatures that live amongst the stars…and even creatures that live in hyperspace.

    Discover the celestial wyrm, the mosicans, asteroid mites, and so much more!

     

    LanguageEnglish
    Publishernomadicdelirium
    Release dateNov 27, 2024
    ISBN9798224930791
    The Ephemeris Creature Compendium
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    Author

    J Alan Erwine

    J Erwine was born Oct. 15, 1969 in Akron, Ohio. Early in his life he was exposed to science, and specifically astronomy. From there on, J's passion turned to science fiction, a passion that's never died. Due to family issues, J eventually found himself in Denver, Colorado, where he still lives (well, right outside now.) From the time he could put subject and predicate together on paper, J has been writing stories. None of those early stories exist anymore (thankfully), but that passion for writing has never waned. After several years of rejection, the story Trek for Life was eventually sold to ProMart Writing Lab editor James Baker. It wasn't Asimov's, but it was a start. Since that time J has sold more than forty short stories to various small press publishers. In addition ProMart also published a short story collection of J's entitled Lowering One's Self Before Fate, and other stories, which is still available. ProMart also published a novel from J entitled The Opium of the People, which sold a few copies before going out of print. The relevance of the novel after the events of September 11th caused J to self-publish the novel, as he felt the story had a lot to say in the new reality we now find ourselves living in. Now, this same book has been re-released by Nomadic Delirium Press. Eventually J would become an editor with ProMart. Then, after the untimely death of ProMart editor James Baker, J would move on to ProMart's successor Sam's Dot Publishing. J also spends most of his time working as a freelance writer and editor. J's novel was voted a top ten finisher in the 2003 annual Preditors & Editors contest, and his short story The Galton Principle won a ProMart contest for best story over 5,000 words. In addition, a number of his stories have been voted "best of" in various issue of The Martian Wave and The Fifth DI… and have been included in Wondrous Web Worlds Vols. 2, 3, 4, and 6. In 2009, the Ephemeris Role Playing Game was released. J is the co-creator of this game, and has written numerous supplements for the game. J has now sold three novels and four short story collections, all of which are still available from various sources, including Smashwords. J currently lives with his amazing wife, three wonderful children, three cats, and a very quiet turtle.

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      Book preview

      The Ephemeris Creature Compendium - J Alan Erwine

      Introduction

      In the core rulebook, you were given just the slightest taste of what you might encounter in the universe of Ephemeris 2.0. In this book, we give you even more options. Those few creatures that were listed in the core rulebook are here, with some modifications, but we’re also giving you many, many more. As far as the modifications to the original creatures, what appears in this book should be viewed as the official version of the creature.

      You’ll find that many of the creatures in this book have been listed with their human names. This is because it is our assumption that you would understand the human language better than any of the alien languages, so you can safely assume that other species will not be using terms like lizard or dragon.

      You’ll notice that some of the creatures list a specific planet that they inhabit. This is your game, and you are certainly welcome to place these creatures wherever they will fit in your specific game. If you want to change the stats for the creatures, you should certainly do it. Again, this is your game, and we’re just trying to give you an idea of what you can include. What you actually do with these creatures is entirely up to you.

      Enjoy!

      Explanation of Terms

      Within each creature listing there are several abbreviations. This section gives you an explanation of those terms. Many are similar to the attributes that a character might possess, so complete explanations are not given.

      INT: Intelligence

      CS: Common Sense

      CHA: Charisma

      SAN: Sanity

      STR: Strength

      AGIL: Agility

      END: Endurance

      AB: Attack bonus

      DB: Defense bonus

      Health: The amount of damage a creature can take before it dies.

      Type of Att: The preferred method of attack a creature will use in combat. Sometimes there will be several listings in this category, as creatures might have a variety of methods of attack.

      DF: Just as with a character’s weapon, the damage factor of a creature’s attack form or weapon is multiplied by the difference between their attack roll and the defense roll of their opponent. For creatures with multiple types of attack, the DF for each type of attack will be listed.

      Experience: This is the amount of experience characters receive for defeating one of these creatures. This number is divided among all of the characters, and is not the total that is given to each character.

      Special Abilities: This section will list any special abilities, or special attack or defense forms that a creature might have.

      Following each creature’s listing is a brief description of the creature, including its physical attributes, its way of thinking, where it might be found, how it might fight, and anything else that is especially important for that particular creature.

      #

      29 G. Sagittarian Protectors

      INT: 12+

      CS: 12+

      CHA: 4

      SAN: 20

      STR: 16+

      AGIL: 16+

      END: 16+

      AB: +1

      DB: +1

      Health: 2d8

      Type of Att:

      1 Laser

      DF: 3

      Experience: 200+

      Special Abilities:

      Stealth

      Description:

      The third planet orbiting the star 29 G Sagittarii was once home to a civilization. Nobody is sure if it belonged to one of the current species, or if it dates back to a more ancient species. The main reason nobody knows is because nobody has ever been able to do enough research on the planet because of the 29 G. Sagittarian Protectors that make the planet home.

      When a group arrives on the planet, they will have about 15 minutes to start conducting their research before the first wave of these robots attacks, and they will always attack!

      These robot protectors may not seem like they’re all that difficult of a challenge at first, but the stats listed above are for the first wave of robots. Every hour after the first wave is released, a new wave will attack the ships and the individuals on the planet. Each new wave will see an increase of two points in any all of their attributes except charisma until they reach a maximum score of 30. In addition, each new wave will have an additional +2 bonus on their attack and defense rolls, and an additional 1d8 health, which will need to be modified based on their increased endurance. The experience given out to the characters also increase by 100 for each wave.

      Each attack wave will have ten protectors that attack the ship, and for every three members of the group on the surface, there will be one protector, with fractions rounded up. Keep in mind that the DF of three is for both the land based and the space based protectors. The lasers of the space based protectors are stronger than their land based kin. The space-based protectors also take damage as if they were a ship, so the weapons of the character’s ship will not do ten times as much damage against these creatures.

      The new waves will just continue to come, and there is no maximum for how high their attack and defense and health dice can go.

      The stealth ability of the robot protectors gives them a +5 bonus on their first initiative roll. This is true for each wave. Even though any intelligent group might figure out that they’re going to be attacked again and again, the robots adapt, and they use different techniques to stealth themselves before each new wave of attack.

      32 Persei Grave Protectors

      INT: 18

      CS: 18

      CHA: 6

      SAN: 20

      STR: 14

      AGIL: 28

      END: 24

      AB: +10

      DB: +11

      Health: 8d8+32

      Type of Att:

      2 lasers

      DF: 5 vs. ships, 50 vs. individuals

      Experience: 1,000

      Special Abilities:

      Camouflage

      Description:

      An ancient civilization once inhabited the 32 Persei system, but they are long gone, but their protectors are still there. Part organic, part machine these protectors lay dormant somewhere on the surface of the planet until a ship comes within one AU of the planet. At that point, one of the protectors will become active.

      They will launch themselves into orbit and attack the ship unless the proper code is sent, and none of the current species could possibly know the code, so there’s no chance of stopping the protectors. If the code is not sent within one minute of contact, or if the grave protectors are attacked, they will immediately attack, and there is no chance for negotiation, no chance for surrender, and almost no chance for victory. Every hour that a ship is in this system, another grave protector will come after them. It would really take a fleet for anyone to have any chance of landing on the planet, and even then, the odds would still be in the favor of the grave protectors.

      When they attack, they’re able to blend into their surroundings, appearing as dark as deep space when attacking a ship, or appearing like their surrounding environment if they’re attacking anyone that has managed to make it to the surface. Without a successful spot check against a CS of 35, no one will ever see them until the first two laser blasts are heading their way.

      The protectors are relentless, and they will not stop until the ship leaves or until it’s destroyed, and there’s not much chance of individuals surviving attacks from these creatures if they’re on the surface.

      A

      ANDREEZI

      INT: 6

      CS: 8

      CHA: 8

      SAN: 16

      STR: 18

      AGIL: 20

      END: 28

      AB: +7

      DB: +8

      Health 14d8+84

      Type of Att:

      2 appendage swats

      DF: 4 vs. ships, 40 vs. individuals

      Experience: 1,600

      Special Abilities:

      Receives a +2 attack and defense bonus when attacking non-hyperspace objects (such as ships.)

      2 in 6 chance that a passing ship won’t be able to detect them in hyperspace.

      Description:

      The andreezi are a hyperspace creature. They cannot exist in normal space, and they have no way of getting to normal space. They’re large bulbous creatures that look something like a hot air ballon with three appendages that extend from the middle of the creature. Each appendage is 120° away from the other appendages. The bodies of these creatures are nearly one kilometer in diameter, and the appendages are each two kilometers long.

      Although these

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