Saturday, 21 May 2022

DW Monsters: Primords

While the story Inferno is best remembered for the alternate-history sections, it does also include monsters. Never named on-screen, they are referred to as "Primords" in the credits and are bestial transformed humans, rather than aliens. Beyond their one appearance on TV, their only significant story to feature them is the Third Doctor audio play Primord which is a sort of sequel to Inferno and shows a few exceptional individuals in addition to the regular sort I will be concentrating on here.

Description and Biology

Primords are created when a human comes into skin contact with Stahlman’s Ooze, a viscous green fluid extracted from deep beneath the Earth. (Some of the tie-in novels have tried to explain how it got there, but it’s not relevant for our purposes and isn’t mentioned in either of the two main stories to actually feature the race). The transformation can take a few hours, during which time the victim develops green skin and eventually undergoes the more drastic physical changes to reach the final form.

A fully transformed Primord has green skin and long hair across much of the body and face, giving them a ‘werewolf’ look. Also like some interpretations of werewolves, their teeth become heavy and elongated and the nose bulbous. They develop a stooped posture giving them a shambling gait and, of course, there are significant mental changes as well, leaving them with no drives beyond creating more of their kind.

Presumably, in other respects, they are anatomically human. What effect Stahlman’s Ooze would have on other creatures is not explored in the TV story although there’s no obvious reason why it wouldn’t affect at least other warm-blooded animals, and this is actually mentioned in one of the novels. Cold-blooded creatures, and especially those with extra-terrestrial physiology, might be a different matter.

Game Attributes

Primords have remarkable physical strength and are sufficiently resilient to shrug off small arms fire. On the other hand, they do not seem especially agile and may even be clumsier than regular humans, as indicated by the stooped posture. All of this may be due to a denser body structure, which perhaps the human skeleton isn’t quite so good at supporting as it might be. While they are difficult to injure with most weapons, they don’t seem particularly hard to kill once you can find something that hurts them, with falls from a height being an obvious means of dispatching them used in the TV story.

It’s very notable that Primords lose essentially all of their human intelligence, although they may retain some animal cunning. They cannot speak and have only a limited grasp of tool use, being driven largely by instinct. Even so, they’re probably just above the level of the typical animal, and systems that normally don’t give intelligence stats to animals may still give very low ones to Primords. Other mental statistics, such as those related to perception, may be at more typical human levels, although their willpower seems relatively weak since they can easily be driven off by anything that might injure them.

Primords are inherently drawn to heat, which also accelerates their transformation, if it isn’t yet complete. As a result, they seem to tolerate intense heat that might injure other beings, although it’s unlikely that they’re entirely resistant to fire. On the other hand, they are very definitely vulnerable to cold so that, for example, a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher can seriously injure them.

Special Abilities

Because they are themselves suffused with Stahlman’s Ooze, Primords transform their victims into new Primords by touching them. How long a contact this has to be isn’t clear, although for game purposes, it’s probably best if there’s some duration involved, and a saving throw or equivalent to throw it off. Having said that, it still works even if the Primord is dead – although not through clothing or other material – and there’s no indication of a cure in the original TV story nor of any chance of recovery once the transformation has started. The audio story Primord does, however, see the Doctor devise a cure that transforms living Primords back into their original selves so such a thing should at least be possible.



5E - Primord

Medium humanoid, chaotic neutral

Armour Class: 17 (natural)

Hit Points: 26 (4d8+8)

Speed: 30 ft.

STR 18 (+4)

DEX 8 (-1)

CON 15 (+2)

INT 5 (-3)

WIS 10 (+0)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat Skills: Melee Attack +5

Damage Resistances: Fire, piercing

Damage Vulnerabilities: Cold

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Heat Sense: The Primord has advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks to sense heat or cold.

Brawling: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. one creature. Hit: 5 bludgeoning damage. The Primord can either grapple or brawl in any given combat round, but not both.

Grappling:  Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: The creature is grappled. If it is grappled at both the beginning and end of a combat round, unless it is entirely enclosed in protective material, it may be affected by Stahlman’s Ooze (see below). The Primord can either grapple or brawl in any given combat round, but not both.

Stahlman’s Ooze: If a living creature is in skin contact with the Primord (living or dead) for a full round, it must make a DC12 constitution saving throw or be infected with Stahlman’s Ooze and transform into a new Primord over the next three hours. Creatures that are immune to Poison are unaffected.

Challenge: ½ (100 XP)


BRP - Primord


STR 3D6+6 (16-17)

CON 3D6 (10-11)

SIZ 2D6+6 (13)

INT 1D6+3 (6-7)

POW 2D6 (7)

 

DEX 3D6 (10-11)

CHA 2D6 (7)

 

Hit Points: 12

Move: 10

 

Base SR: 5

Damage Bonus: +1D4

 

Armour: 8-point resilient flesh

Combat Skills: Brawl 60%, Grapple 40%

Vulnerability to Cold: The Primord takes double damage from all cold-based attacks.

Stahlman’s Ooze: If a character or animal is in skin contact with a Primord, living or dead, for a full round or more, for example, as the result of a successful Grapple attack, they may be affected by Stahlman’s Ooze. The Ooze has a Potency of 12, resisted by the victim’s CON; if this roll fails, the victim transforms into a Primord over the following three hours.


GURPS - Primord

ST 18

DX 8

IQ 5

HT 12

Thrust: 1d+2

 

Swing: 3d

 

Speed: 5

 

Move: 5

 

Advantages: Damage Resistance-10 (limited to physical attacks), Dominance, Fit, Infravision, Temperature Tolerance-8 (60 to 156°)

Disadvantages: Bestial, Cannot Speak, Hunchback, Vulnerability to Cold

Skills: Brawling-14


Savage Worlds - Primord

Agility: d6

Smarts: d4

Spirit: d6

Strength: d12

Vigour: d10

 

Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6

Edges: Armour +2, Brute, Fearless, Resilient

Hindrances: Environmental Weakness (cold), Mute

Stahlman’s Ooze: If a living creature becomes Bound as the result of a Grappling attack from the Primord, they must make a Vigour roll. On a failure, they transform into a Primord over the following three hours.

Pace: 6                  Parry: 5                Toughness: 9 (2)                   Size: 0


STA - Primord

Control: 7

Fitness: 12

Presence: 8

Daring: 10

Insight: 6

Reason: 6

Command: 0

Security: 2

Science: 0

Conn: 0

Engineering: 0

Medicine: 0

Stress: 14

Resistance: 2

 

Vulnerable to Cold: Any attack against the Primord that involves freezing temperatures is treated as having one extra Challenge Die and ignores the Primord’s Resistance.

Stahlman’s Ooze: If the Primord inflicts a Grappled Complication against a character and the character does not break free on their next Turn, they must make a Fitness + Security roll against a Difficulty of 3 or transform into a Primord over the following three hours.


No comments: