I've decided to redo this post completely, it was just too all over the place, I didn't like the pacing, order of things, etc.
So lets start this again.
Basics, what are spirins? Friendly energy based life forms that have multiple abilities, from sustaining life to taking on empowered battle forms, a unique aspect of the game inspired by the Lufia II capsule monster system, Pokemon, Monster Rancher, and other 'evolve your monster' type of ideas. (Things my inner 9 year old loves.) They are my way of being able to revive people, sustain a warrior below 0 HP, greater incorporate 'magical' style powers, and help give humanity a fighting chance against the invaders.
How does one make a Spirin?
Every player character will get a spirin, which will 'bond' with them during a unique time in their background story, covered on a player by player basis.
A player picks a primary type, and a sub type, most of which can be doubled. (If you want a full fire elemental, you can pick fire/fire, for example.) Each category has sub categories, though I'm only writing in the stats for the main form. (Each sub category will have slight alterations, maybe a point more of HP for 1 fewer energy defense, for example.) The main difference in the sub types will be how they evolve, and special abilities, rather than numbers.
When picking an animal type, you must pick a subtype, (Like for Reptile, a specific type of reptile, like snake or turtle.) and for elemental you may pick the element itself, or a subtype. The subtypes modify the elemental types significantly more than the animal subtypes do, changing around stats, attack forms, etc. Plant is counted like an animal type, meaning you must pick a subtype, but space is elemental, you can pick space or a subtype.
Animal types first...
Avian, +3 HP, +2 all defense types, +2 movement speed, weak base attack, highly maneuverable.
Subtypes: Flightless Birds, (Emu, chicken, etc.) Amphibious birds, (Ducks, penguins, etc.) Birds of Prey, (Owls, Eagles, etc.) and Flight Birds, (Hummingbirds, pigeons, pretty much everything else.)
Reptile, +4 HP, +3 physical, +2 energy, +1 psychic, moderate to strong attack, special moves dependent on subtype.
Subtypes: Lizard, (Anole, Chameleon, Komodo dragon, etc.) Turtle/tortoise, (Box turtle, leatherback, snapping, etc.) Snakes, (poisonous or constrictor) and amphibians. (I know they are their own thing, just putting here for simplicity.)
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| (Teenage mutant ninja squirtle....) |
Mammal, +4 HP, +2 all defense types, moderate attack.
Subtypes: Herbivores, (Bunny rabbits, Cows, Elephants.) Carnivores, (Little Kitties, Big Kitties, etc.) and Omnivores, (Rats up to Grizzly Bears.)
Insect, +3 HP, +2 physical, +2 energy, +1 psychic, moderate-high attack, exceptional special attacks.
Subtypes, Ants, (Leafcutter, Fire, etc.) Beetle, (Cockroach, Ladybugs, Goliath beetles, etc.) Flying, (Flies, Bees, Dragonflies, etc.) Misc insect. (praying mantis, termites, etc.)
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| (Don't you just want to squeeze it?) |
Subtypes, Spiders, (Hunting or web spinning) Scorpions, and Anthropod. (Centipedes and milipedes, just lumping here for simplicity.)
Elemental Types,
Earth: +4 HP, +4 physical, +2 energy, +2 psychic, -1 movement speed, moderate attack power, limited special attacks.
Subtypes, Soil, Gems, (Emerald, Diamond, etc.) and Metals (Gold, Copper, Steel, etc.)
Air: +2 HP, +2 physical, +3 energy, +2 psychic, +2 movement speed, weak attack power, flight.
Subtypes: Storm, (Hurricane, Tornado, etc.) Lightning, Fog/Clouds,
Water: +4 HP, +2 all defenses, moderate attack power, healing abilities.
Subtypes: Saltwater, Ice, Steam.
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| (Ice elemental spirin) |
Fire: +2 HP, +1 physical, +3 energy, +2 psychic, high attack power, DoT abilities, no subtypes.
Unique Types, The following two types have limitations with what they can mix with.
Plant: +5 HP, +1 physical, +1 energy, +2 psychic, weak attack power, support abilities, like healing and crowd control.
Subtypes: Fungus/Mold/Lichens, Flowers, (Roses, Carnations, Morning Glory, etc. Not big stuff) Fruit Trees, (Apple, Citrus, Banana. etc. 2nd largest subtype.) and Hardwood Trees. (Oak, Eucalyptus, Sequoia, etc.)
Mix limitations: Can only mix with Animals types, (primary or sub.) Plant, (Plant/Plant, though you can mix, like Flower and Hardwood.) Space, and Earth.
Space, +1 HP, +3 physical, +4 energy, +3 psychic, -1 movement speed, moderate attack power, unique and powerful abilities.
Subtypes: Radiation, Gravity, Time
Mix limitations: Can only be a subtype.
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| (Plant and Space... acid no longer required.) |
To determine your spirins starting stats, you add stats from type 1 with stats from type 2, and I will make the attacks according to the type and style appropriate for a level 1 spirin. Say you want a bad ass thunderbird, something like this...
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| (A spirin thunderbird) |
You can't start with something like this, but selecting 'Avian,' (Bird of Prey) and 'Elemental Air,' (Lightning) can set you along that path. At level 1, you might have something like a pygmy owl that can cutely squeek out little lightning bolts, growing as you feed the spirin into perhaps a Falcon with some lightning claws, before eventually becoming the storm bird above.
Continuing with our example, the spirin above would have Avian and Lightning as starting stats.
Avian granting +3 to HP, and +2 to all defenses, air adding +2 HP, +2 physical and psychic defense, and +3 energy defense. Avian adds +2 movement, and Lightning actually doesn't add Air's +2 movement speed. (Penalty for increased damage potential) To determine the starting stats, we just add it all up.
3 and 2 HP is 5, and the defense numbers add up to +4 physical and psychic, and +5 energy. This would make the totals 14 physical and psychic, 15 energy, (10 is the base, just like DnD) and 7 movement speed, (5 is the base.) The Avian has weaker attack ability, so it uses 1d4 for damage, and lightning adds long range energy attacks. Thus I would give the level 1 thunderbird a melee attack that did 1d4, with a chance for extra energy damage, and a long range 1d6 electrical burst, that has a cool down.
The spirins to hit rolls are often the same, or nearly the same, as whatever the bonus to physical or energy is. The example above would have a +4 attack on the melee attack, and a +5 on the ranged lightning bolt.
Now that you have your stats, you can pick a trait/perk. Unless you picked 'The Earth Spirit,' you only get 1 of these.
The spirins to hit rolls are often the same, or nearly the same, as whatever the bonus to physical or energy is. The example above would have a +4 attack on the melee attack, and a +5 on the ranged lightning bolt.
Now that you have your stats, you can pick a trait/perk. Unless you picked 'The Earth Spirit,' you only get 1 of these.
(A perk is a weaker bonus, a trait is a larger bonus with a negative effect.)
Perk options:
Adrenaline Rush: If your Spirin, in any morphed form, loses 50% of its health, the creature gains +2 to hit and damage, +2 to movement speed, and 2/- DR (Damage reduction). This transfers into Giant Kaiju Merge mode, the numbers increasing to 4 each.
Psychic Mind: Whenever your spirin is merged with your human mind, you can perform a weak, but very accurate, psychic assault. This also grants a +1 passive bonus to the human's psychic defense, this bonus becomes +4 during melding. 1d4 damage base, must be used in spirin merge, gains in strength each time the spirin level increases.
Psychic Mind: Whenever your spirin is merged with your human mind, you can perform a weak, but very accurate, psychic assault. This also grants a +1 passive bonus to the human's psychic defense, this bonus becomes +4 during melding. 1d4 damage base, must be used in spirin merge, gains in strength each time the spirin level increases.
Enhanced Human Synergy: If a Spirin chooses to meld with a human to enhance the humans combat ability, the bonus increases from +2 to +3.
Hardened Carapace: Whenever the Spirin takes on its physical form, it gains a bonus to Physical defense and HP. It gains a +2 physical defense, and +2 hit points. In Kaiju form it gains +2 defense and 10 HP. The physical appearance also takes on a more rugged, armored appearance.
Trait Options:
Tri-form: You get to pick an additional sub type, making a 3 elemental/type spirin. This translates into more attacks, and greater defenses (AC and damage essentially). The form itself is unstable though, which causes a penalty of at least -3 to HP in small sized form and at least -15 in Kaiju form.
Mind Meld: Your spirin has a much greater connection to the human mind and body than the animal or elemental. Whenever your spirin is merged with you personally, whether it is for Jaeger piloting or human scale combat, the bonus doubles from +2 to +4, and in addition, you gain 4 additional hit points, becoming super human for short sustained times. However, if the Spirin is in any of its physical forms, (Kaiju included) it suffers a -2 on all attacks and damage, and a -1 to all defense types. It even weakens Kaiju mode by 10 hit points.
Feral Spirit: The opposite of the above, the spirin's physical form is stronger in every way, including HP, (+2 physical and energy defense, +4 hit points, damage dice increase 1 size, +2 hit and damage bonus.) However, the spirin may only meld with a human to stabilize them, or slow a xenomorph parasite, no stat increasing.
Psychic Spirit: Your spirin is different than any other, it can not take animal form, and it's merging ability is weakened, granting only a +1 bonus when merging. When in its natural form it can psychically assault its foes, something most creatures can not defend against. In Giant Kaiju Merges, it causes the form to lose 20 hit points and 2 physical defense and 1 energy defense, but gives the form at least 1 psychic based attack. This form grants the spirin +4 to psychic defense in all combat forms.
Combat options: What exactly can spirins do?
As far as human sized conflicts go, Spirins have the following abilities.
Physical combat form, based on the type and subtype explained above, when HP reaches 0, the spirin simply casts off the physical form and takes some time to rejuvenate.
Combat Merge, the spirins can meld with the physical body, enhancing stats like defense, strength and perception. This translates to a +1 to +4 to combat stats depending on perks, traits, and ranks of Nature Empathy. (Adds only to Melee damage, the spirin can't make your bullets hit harder.)
Healing merge, the spirin can meld with a human body to slow the progress of a xenomorph, or stabilize a dying soldier. If any character falls in battle, the allied spirin will automatically go into the human and keep the body alive until you can get them medical attention. (In other words, even if you drop below 0 HP, the spirin will keep you alive as long as the mission itself is victorious.) The spirin can slow the effects of all kinds of radiation, poisons, cold damage, etc. When the Spirin is focusing its energy to prevent that damage, it can't assist in battle in any other way though.
In giant robot combat, the spirins can merge with the pilot to enhance their combat ability, since we no longer require 2 minds to pilot a Jaeger. They can also separate and take on their physical form, to try and fight off invaders that break into the Jaeger, like a xenomorph or predaton. The final option they have requires at least 3 spirins to merge together into a large form, capable of fighting Kaiju. The stats are determined by the spirins involved in the merge.
Level 1 spirins add 20 HP base to a Kaiju Merge, (Modified by traits of course, a feral spirit or harden carapace adds 40, tri-form adds 5.) and the defenses are adding the total numbers from the spirin types and dividing by 2. Taking our Thunder Bird from above, he has 14 in two defenses, and 15 in energy. Dividing those bonuses, +4 and +5, by 2 gives +2 and +2.5. If the spirin merged with 2 similarly set up spirins, each would add +2 to physical and psychic, and 2.5 to Energy, giving the kaiju merged form a total of 16 physical and psychic defense, and 17(17.5, but always round down) energy defense. The attack rolls are determined in much the same way, the physical attack would be +6, and the energy attack would be +7.
Attacks are determined by the relative strengths of the merges. Keeping with the example above, the Avian/Thunderbird mix has weak to moderate attack power, if it merged with two other weak-moderate attack forms, the overall damage is just weak-moderate. (Which means 1d6-2d6 for damage dice.) If one or more of the Spirins have a higher attack value, say one of the above was Avian/Fire, it might have a single high damage attack to show that heritage.
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| (An enormous spirin, showing earth, plant, reptile and amphibian aspects.) |
The final aspect of Spirins is the evolution aspect. Spirins can feed on many types of alien materials, from Kaiju to xenomorphs to plasma rifles. Depending on what the spirins are fed, they will grow into more and more advanced 'forms' taking on some aspects of what was fed to them. For example, the level 1 thunderbird from earlier gets enough evolution points to become a stronger form, if the bulk of those evolution points came from eating alien plasma weaponry, it might develop a plasma breath weapon in the next form. Careful though, whatever you feed to your spirins can not be used to research, which might slow development of more advances for the X-com planetary defense project.
At level 1, a Spirin takes 10 'evolution points' to level a spirin up to form 2, it then takes 20 points to go to 3, 30 to 4, etc. The spirins don't have knowledge of their kind that have evolved past level 4, they say most of their strongest sacrificed themselves trying to save the Artherians back in their home galaxy. Each time a Spirin levels will be a unique growth, depending on how the player wants the creature to form, and what they've been fed. (Say you took lizard and want to become a crocodile, and not a komodo dragon, those will be different) All stats will increase however, and there will typically be 1 additional 'power' unlocked each spirin level.
That covers Spirins numerically, the Nature Empathy skill adds to Spirin power as well, granting bonuses to merging, and the spirins' attack and damage, and spirins don't gain 'character levels' like players do, so they'll be stuck 'in forms' for larger periods of time, but doing things like melding for combat bonuses is always useful, even if the Covenant Elites are just too buff for your level 1 spirin.
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| (Artist's rendition of the spirin energy collective.) |
The Spirintcusarans, as they call themselves, are from a unique world that formed in a binary dwarf star system, with a white dwarf and a blue dwarf, which bombarded the worlds of that system with unique radioactive energies, causing life to form along a radically different path.
The Spirins called their twin stars Artheria and Numeria, calling their system either the Artherian, Numerian, or some mix of the two. The stars are apparently not visible from Earth at all, being multiple galaxies away. They explain that their evolution was rather dramatic, the humanoids of their world, (which they describe as 'Like us, only different.' Whatever that means.) would sometimes give birth to an irradiated hybrid/energy/flesh thing. The flesh part would die, but the energy would be cast off, and start to form a strange cloud in the atmosphere, that over thousands of years grew very very thick, and started to grow sentient.
The spirins tell us that a few of their 'kind' went and made contact with the carbon based life, and while it took sometime, eventually the spirins discovered that their energy forms allowed them to integrate with all manner of life, experiencing life from a multitude of existences. This, and the spirin collective consciousness, led to a very early global existence between the humanoids on that world, which stopped tribal warfare and ushered in eons of peace.
The spirins tell us that they advanced technologically, in every way except warfare, far beyond our current levels. They began to explore the stars and discovered a great ring on the edge of their star system. They studied the ring for a time, and integrated part of the command net into their ships. (We later use technology based off this for our Galactic Net, spoken of in the history post.) They could then activate the rings from their own ships, and dial in different space addresses, their advanced mathematics adjusting for the ever expanding nature of the universe.
They began exploring the universe, and discovered that they were not alone. They met the Covenant, and initially had a peaceful relationship with that faction. The Covenant was interested in the Artherians understanding of the 'Halos' as they called them, and the Artherians were interested in their advanced ship technology.
This relative peace, and limited trade, lasted until the Spirins actually discovered our world, in 1561 our time. (about 100 years after first contact with the Covenant.) They found ancient ruins on Saturn's moon Titan, and set up a listening post. They discovered that a group called 'The Overseers' was subtly controlling the evolution of our world, and not letting us get past a certain evolutionary point. The spirins, who by trading with the Covenant had actual effective space weapons, appeared over Nuremberg, Germany in 1561 our time, and fought off The Overseers. They then returned to Titan, leaving a small team to protect Earth from the Overseers, the most recent of that groups activity being in the 1950's, during multiple sightings around nuclear test sites at that time.
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| (A woodcut from 1561 of a supposed alien invasion in 1561) |
The Artherians were initially defending themselves with space based weaponry, but it was causing too much damage to the planets themselves. Then, in the 1980's our time, the Spirins discovered their ability to merge, forming battle creatures to combat the Kaiju. The Artherians were winning for a time, until they began sending category 4's and 5's, which the Spirins could not stop.
The Artherians were losing ground, then we had our victory in 2025, knocking out the entire rift network for 10 years.
This gave the Artherians a much needed respite, and the war turned to more conventional methods of war. The Artherians and Spirins even reclaimed a few of their worlds...
2035 our time, The Overseers launch an all out assault on both Artheria and our own star system, launching many powerful kaiju against Artherian worlds, 3 Category 1's against us, and sending infiltration teams of Predatons with Xenomorph eggs to many outposts around the universe, the one on Saturn's moon Titan included.... causing the Spirins, without their Artherian hosts, to hibernate until we found them 11 years later.
2040, The Artherians are losing... badly. When on their most remote colony, one we would eventually colonize for a short time, appeared a mystical, highly advanced energy life form, called an 'Ascendant Being.'
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| (An ascendant being.) |
So in 2045, the Overseers launched their most devastating, and unpredictable weapon. An ancient device that the Spirins say wasn't built by the overseers, but probably the same race that built the space ring system. This weapon contained Necromorphs... something even Spirins can't protect from.
The civilian population was getting completely consumed, so in desperation many spirins sacrificed themselves, tearing apart their own psionic consciousness in massive explosions, while what few Artherians could escape fled to the farthest reaches of space...
The Spirins of our world have been completely severed from whatever remains of the home collective. The great distance, and the psionic disruptions are too great for them to bridge, but when we do find new spirins, like those on the colony, they gladly join our own spirins collective, adding new knowledge to our own.
When we discovered the abandoned, lifeless spirin colony in 2069, we learned the fate of the Artherians. They were completely consumed by the Necromorphs, and in the year 2066, a team of Predatons was sent to that particular world, they made their way to the artifact, activated its secondary function, eradicating all the necromorphs on the planet, breaking them down into nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and other fundamental building blocks of life... a deadly, efficient terraforming...
The Spirins have placed their full confidence in us for their continued survival, and while they don't entirely understand technology in general, they have been invaluable both for their mystical powers, but also their 3rd party knowledge of Artherian technology. They don't know it fully themselves, but they've been able to point our own engineers in a general direction, leading to advances in all kinds of technology, most recently single pilot Jaegers...
Thus concludes our redone Spirin post. Much happier with it overall. As of this posting, we have an NPC with Tri-Form Avian, Ice, and Radiation, a Reptile(Alligator Lizard)/Earth(Soil), and a pure Earth/Earth, with Feral Spirit and enhanced human synergy added on. (The Earth Spirit there, completely negated the Feral Spirit debuff with it essentially.) I'm excited to see what the other 4 backgrounds will decide.
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