DW Monsters: Daleks

The next story is Dalek, and it’s finally time to try and cover the most iconic, and frequently-used, of all the Doctor Who “monsters”. I’ve left them this long mainly because they’re such a big topic that it’s easier to do other races first, but also because they are quite complex. Given their greater number of appearances than Cybermen, it’s notable that they’ve changed rather less than that race has, but even so, and ignoring unique and variant individuals, I’ll need to cover at least three different versions in their evolution over the 60 years of the series so far.

Appearances

The race first appeared way back in the first season in 1963, as literally the first “monster” in the series’ history. That first appearance was followed by at least fourteen further Dalek stories in the classic series (arguably more, if you count brief appearances) with at least one for every Doctor up to the Seventh. As I write this, there have been sixteen unequivocal Dalek stories in the modern series, but such is their popularity that if you are reading this even one year after I penned it, there’s a good chance that that number will have increased.

The Daleks have been much less popular in the novels, due largely to licensing issues. So far, there have only been three full-length novels featuring the race… and two of them contained excessive fanwank. There have, however, been plenty of licensed short stories and numerous appearances in the comics, so fans of the written word are by no means restricted to fanfic.

The number of audios featuring the Daleks is similarly vast, easily outweighing their TV appearances. By my count, there have been over one hundred Dalek audios to date and that number is only going to go up. This is partly due to the existence of entire mini-series featuring the race as regular opponents, mostly set during the Time War, but naturally, there have been many one-offs as well. As with the prose stories, sometimes these introduce their own variants on the race, but I am going to stick to the televised versions.

Description and Biology

The look of Daleks has changed relatively little over the 60 years of their appearance. They appear as robotic pepper-pot shapes with a skirt composed of (usually) 12 angular segments, each decorated with a vertical row of four hemispherical bumps and with a fender at the base that runs very low to the ground. The midsection is, in most versions, adorned with a series of vertical slats and has a forward surface bearing a gun and what looks suspiciously like a sink-plunger. Above this is a wraparound grill with (usually) three projecting rings around it, and then the top dome, with an eyestalk and two lights that flash in time with the creature’s speech.

Even looking at supposedly baseline Daleks there are some changes to this over the series’ history and one can really go down a rabbit hole if one delves into the fine detail. Avoiding that, we can still say that the original look, as seen in the first two Dalek serials, lacked the slats around the midsection, instead having two smooth horizontal rings. The slats first appear in The Chase, where they are explained as the means by which the Dalek obtains power from its environment – the earlier versions either obtained it from electrically charged flooring through their bases, or via dish receivers attached to their backs. 

The earliest Daleks were blue-and-silver (not that it was easy to tell in black-and-white) but various muted liveries were used down the years. In the modern series, we instead get an all-copper livery and glowing blue eyes. The slats are now riveted pieces of metal, probably decorative and/or protective so that we can assume the power source is internal by this time. In Victory of the Daleks we see a “new paradigm” version, with brightly coloured livery and a larger body that’s both chunkier and more smoothly moulded. The slats have gone, to be replaced by something closer to the original design, but thicker and more angular. This look didn’t last, and the latest baseline versions are pretty much back to the “copper” look.

But, of course, all of this refers to what we normally see and, as every fan knows, despite appearances, the Daleks aren’t really robots. Instead, the visible part is, in effect, a miniature tank being driven by an alien mutant deep inside the shell. The ancestors of these mutants were once indistinguishable from humans, but the form they now take has tentacles and a single eye, looking – at least in the modern series – like something between a starfish and an octopus. Whatever humanoid internal anatomy they may once have had has obviously mutated to the point of unrecognisability and they don’t, for example, appear to have any skeleton. 

While they are permanently ensconced within their travel machines the degree to which they are physically integrated with the electronics varies. Most do not appear to be true cyborgs, although (for example) the “Imperial Daleks” of Remembrance clearly are.

The shell provides all the life support that the mutant could need, and is sealed, allowing at least the modern series version to survive in the vacuum of space. Presumably, there are refillable air tanks or something in the casing to allow it to breathe. Since they are organic, they must also obtain food somehow – Into the Dalek states that some of this is hoovered up by “antibodies” that attack bacteria and other potential pathogens, but it seems unlikely that this would be the only source. This being supplemented by the energy that also powers the unit itself (whether it be static electricity or something else) may, however, mean that less is required than one might think.

Daleks are generally described as if they are all male. Certainly, they sound male, and since they were originally built by a humanoid race, that’s surely intentional. Having said which, they probably aren’t biologically male in the sense of having functional gonads, since they no longer breed. Instead, they appear to reproduce using some form of cloning technology, which likely helps to explain their remarkable uniformity of personality and their obsession with racial purity.

Game Attributes

Trying to provide statistics for Daleks is not as straightforward as doing so for more humanoid species. Strictly speaking, they should be described using the rules for vehicles, not those for characters or monsters. But this is at odds with the way that they are normally used and encountered, so “monsters” it is. There’s also the question of variation, and for these purposes, I am going to consider four different things to provide statistics for:

• Original Daleks – Those that appeared in the First Doctor stories The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth
• Classic Daleks – All others that appeared in the classic series, from The Chase to Remembrance of the Daleks
• Modern Daleks – Including both the baseline copper version and the “new paradigm” Daleks, since, in game terms, there is probably little difference.
• Kaled Mutants – the actual living creature, out of its shell

It’s also worth remembering that, because they are mass-produced, without even the variation in body size that Cybermen have, in systems that normally describe attributes as a range of values these won’t apply to the physical ones in the case of Daleks.

The strength of a Dalek is not going to refer to their athletic prowess or their ability to use melee weapons, since neither of these is really applicable and the sucker-arm (even in versions where it's deadly) likely has little physical strength of its own. Instead, it makes more sense to consider the Dalek’s ability to resist being pushed around, which the evidence suggests still isn’t great, especially in the earlier versions. The Kaled mutant does have strength that can be used for more conventional purposes, and we know that it’s strong enough to strangle someone – but so are most humans, so again, this isn’t necessarily that impressive.

Dexterity has a similar issue in that, whatever else a Dalek may be, it’s hardly what you’d call flexible and acrobatic. Nor does it have high manual dexterity, since it doesn’t have any fingers. However, in most systems, dexterity (or its equivalent) is primarily useful for attacking with ranged weapons, which Daleks certainly can do, and, usually to a lesser extent, for determining initiative. This would be guided by the accuracy and reflex speed of the mutant inside, which is probably decent, but nothing too remarkable; given how deadly the Daleks’ main weapon is, we don’t want to make them hit every target.

The physical resilience of Daleks is, however, impressive. Being machines, they don’t tire easily and they don’t bleed. The early versions aren’t especially well armoured, and can, for example, be killed by being run over by a bus. Later versions in the classic series are, however, at least resistant to firearms and, while the actual frame of the modern ones may be no better than that, they have a forcefield that’s almost totally impervious to anything early 21st-century military hardware can throw at it.

The mutant is physically quite pathetic (barring the one inside the exceptional “reconnaissance Dalek” in Revolution of the Daleks) being slow-moving and lacking much in the way of obvious defences. It is, however, this that provides the mental attributes and skills of all regular Daleks so that these shouldn’t vary except insofar as the physical attributes might affect them in the relevant game system. Here, we can say that the average Dalek is probably as intelligent as the average human but that, except for intimidation, its charisma is pretty awful. In some systems, the jarring voice won’t help with that. Their willpower does not seem to be great, since they often start to panic if they are, say, blinded or otherwise inconvenienced, and they follow the orders of their superiors without question.

In terms of skills, Daleks are good at shooting and at controlling larger vehicles and spaceships. Even the regular Dalek grunt also has some technical expertise although it’s probably only the officers that can be said to have any tactical skill – again, we don’t want to make them too effective. In D&D terms, they’re about as good an example of “lawful evil” as one could wish for, being regimented, blindly obedient, and driven by a raging hatred of anything different from themselves – this is easily sufficient to be reflected by negative mental traits in systems that quantify such things.

Special Abilities

Modern series Daleks can survive for at least some time in the vacuum of space, and presumably underwater as well – although there’s no evidence this is true of the earlier versions. Notably, they can fly, although they don’t seem to be especially fast; this is first seen, as an even more limited hovering ability, in the last two Dalek stories of the classic series. Otherwise, classic Daleks are landbound, with the original versions being further limited by their need for an external power source. Famously, they cannot climb stairs, which is a bit of a limitation – indeed, with their ground clearance, even rough terrain is going to be a problem.

One of the novels gives Daleks the ability to see in the infrared, which seems a logical enough extrapolation given that their eyestalks are (in most versions) electronic sensors, but I’ll pass on this as not explicitly supported by canon.

Where they do excel, of course, is in their built-in weapons. The “plunger” is capable of manipulating the controls of their vehicles and other equipment but is otherwise useless in the classic version. The modern Daleks can use it as a weapon, although it’s short-range and of limited utility. The gun is a different matter, almost always killing anything it hits, barring any high-tech armour or force fields. If the game system has mechanisms to allow targets to dodge or otherwise evade being hit, the staggeringly high damage this implies may not be an overwhelming issue, but in those that don’t it may make sense to argue that it’s not very accurate – or to find a way of giving Daleks a low initiative so that escape is always an option. How it works is, perhaps unsurprisingly, not really detailed; it’s simply an “energy weapon”. Some indications in the TV series (for example, in the 9th Doctor episode Dalek) imply that it’s at least partially electrical, so that may be as good a description as any in game systems where it matters.

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5E - Original Dalek

Medium construct, lawful evil

Armour Class: 16 (light metal casing)

Hit Points: 43 (5d8+20)

Speed: 20 ft. (only when able to receive energy)

STR 10 (+0)	DEX 12 (+1)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 8 (-1)

Saving Throws: Strength +2, Constitution +6

Skills: Intimidation +1, Technology +2

Combat Skills: Missile Attack +3

Damage Resistances: Piercing, Necrotic, Poison

Condition Immunities: Paralysed

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Gun-stick: Ranged weapon attack: +3 to hit, range 50/200 ft. one target. Hit: 3d6 lightning damage.

Challenge: 1 (200 XP)

5E - Classic Dalek

Medium construct, lawful evil

Armour Class: 20 (dalekanium casing)

Hit Points: 76 (8d8+40)

Speed: 20 ft. (6^th and 7^th Doctor versions add Fly 10 ft.)

STR 12 (+1)	DEX 12 (+1)	CON 20 (+5)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 6 (-2)

Saving Throws: Strength +3, Constitution +7

Skills: Intimidation +0, Technology +2

Combat Skills: Missile Attack +3

Damage Resistances: Piercing, Slashing, Fire, Necrotic, Poison

Condition Immunities: Paralysed

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Exterminate!: Ranged weapon attack: +3 to hit, range 50/200 ft. one target. Hit: 6d6 lightning damage.

Challenge: 4 (1,100 XP)

5E - Modern Dalek

Medium construct, lawful evil

Armour Class: 24 (force field)

Hit Points: 95 (10d8+50)

Speed: 20 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR 14 (+2)	DEX 12 (+1)	CON 20 (+5)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 6 (-2)

Saving Throws: Strength +5, Constitution +8

Skills: Intimidation +1, Technology +3

Combat Skills: Melee Attack +1, Missile Attack +4

Damage Resistances: Piercing, Slashing, Fire, Necrotic, Poison

Condition Immunities: Paralysed, Prone

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Sucker to Death: Melee attack: +1 to hit, 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d10 force damage.

Exterminate!: Ranged weapon attack: +4 to hit, range 100/400 ft. one target. Hit: 6d6 lightning damage.

Challenge: 6 (2,300 XP)

5E - Kaled Mutant

Small monstrosity, lawful evil

Armour Class: 11 (natural)

Hit Points: 10 (4d6-4)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 10 (+0)	DEX 12 (+1)	CON 8 (-1)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 6 (-2)

Saving Throws: Constitution +1

Skills: Intimidation +0, Technology +3

Combat Skills: Melee Attack +1

Damage Resistances: Necrotic

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Tentacle: Melee weapon attack: +1 to hit, 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6 bludgeoning damage.

Challenge: 0 (10 XP)

BRP - Original Dalek

STR 10	CON 18	SIZ 11
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 3D6 (10-11)	CHA 2D6+1 (8)
Hit Points: 15	Move: 8
Base SR: 5	Damage Bonus: 0

Armour: 4-point light metal casing

Skills: Repair 40%

Combat Skills: Gun-Stick 60% (range 20 metres, 2D8 damage)

Limitation: Can only move when there is access to power, normally static electricity through the floor, but including transmitted power if fitted with a receiving dish.

BRP - Classic Dalek

STR 12	CON 21	SIZ 11
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 3D6 (10-11)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 16	Move: 8
Base SR: 5	Damage Bonus: 0

Armour: 10-point dalekanium casing

Skills: Pilot 40%, Repair 40%

Combat Skills: Exterminate 60% (range 80 metres, 4D8 damage)

Flight: 6^th and 7^th Doctor versions can fly at a Move of 5 and with Flight skill at the base value of DEX x ½  (5%).

BRP - Modern Dalek

STR 14	CON 21	SIZ 11
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 3D6+6 (10-11)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 16	Move: 8
Base SR: 5	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armour: 16-point force field

Skills: Flight 40%, Pilot 40%, Repair 40%

Combat Skills: Exterminate 60% (range 80 metres, 4D8 damage), Sucker 25% (1D8+1D4 damage)

New Paradigm: SIZ is 13, giving a total of 17 Hit Points.

BRP - Kaled Mutant

STR 2D6+3 (10)	CON 2D6 (7)	SIZ 3
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 3D6 (10-11)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 5	Move: 6
Base SR: 6	Damage Bonus: -1D4

Armour: None

Skills: Repair 40%

Combat Skills: Brawl 40%, Drive (Dalek) 90%

Radiation Resistance: The mutant takes only half damage from radiation attacks.

GURPS - Original Dalek

ST 10	DX 12	IQ 10	HT 18
Speed: 7.5		Move: 4

Advantages: Damage Resistance +5, Doesn’t Sleep, Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Neck, Unliving), Radiation Tolerance-5

Disadvantages: Bad Temper, Cannot Float, Dependency (energy supply, constant), Disturbing Voice, Electrical, Intolerance (total), No Legs (glides), One Arm

Skills: Armoury/TL9-10, Beam Weapons (gunstick, 3d burn damage)/TL9-13, Electronic Ops (Comms)/TL9-11, Electronic Ops (Sensors)/TL9-11, Intimidation-11

GURPS - Classic Dalek

ST 12	DX 12	IQ 10	HT 18
Speed: 7.5		Move: 4

Advantages: Damage Resistance +30, Doesn’t Sleep, Filter Lungs, Flight (6^th & 7^th Doctor versions only), Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Neck, Unliving), Radiation Tolerance-5

Disadvantages: Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Cannot Float, Disturbing Voice, Intolerance (total), No Legs (glides), One Arm

Skills: Armoury/TL10-10, Beam Weapons (exterminate!, 5d (2) burn damage)/TL10-13, Computer Ops/TL10-11, Electronic Ops (Comms)/TL10-11, Electronic Ops (Sensors)/TL10-11, Intimidation-12, Piloting (Low Performance Spacecraft)-11

GURPS - Modern Dalek

ST 14	DX 12	IQ 10	HT 18
Speed: 7.5		Move: 4

Advantages: Damage Resistance +50, Doesn’t Sleep, Filter Lungs, Space Flight, Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Neck, Unliving), Innate Attack-2 (Melee Weapon), Pressure Support-1, Radiation Tolerance-5, Sealed

Disadvantages: Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Cannot Float, Disturbing Voice, Intolerance (total), No Legs (glides), One Arm

Skills: Armoury/TL11-10, Beam Weapons (exterminate!, 6d (5) burn damage)/TL11-13, Computer Ops/TL11-11, Electronic Ops (Comms)/TL11-11, Electronic Ops (Sensors)/TL11-11, Intimidation-12, Piloting (Low Performance Spacecraft)-11

GURPS - Kaled Mutant

ST 10	DX 12	IQ 10	HT 8
Thrust: 1d-2		Swing: 1d
Speed: 5		Move: 5
Size: -3

Advantages: Injury Tolerance (No Neck), Radiation Tolerance-5, Reduced Consumption-1

Disadvantages: Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Cannot Speak, Intolerance (total), No Legs (slithers), One Eye

Skills: Battlesuit-14, Brawling-13 (n.b.: excludes skills it is functionally unable to use outside of the casing)

Savage Worlds - Original Dalek

Agility: d6	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d6
Strength: d6	Vigour: d12

Skills: Electronics d6, Intimidation d4, Repair d4, Shooting d8

Edges: Hard to Kill

Hindrances: One Arm, Ruthless (Minor)

Abilities: Armour, Construct

Gear: Gun-Stick (equivalent to a laser rifle)

Pace: 4                  Parry: 2                 Toughness: 11 (3)                     Size: 0

Savage Worlds - Classic Dalek

Agility: d6	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d6
Strength: d8	Vigour: d12

Skills: Electronics d6, Intimidation d4, Repair d4, Shooting d8

Edges: Hard to Kill

Hindrances: One Arm, Ruthless (Major)

Abilities: Armour, Construct, (6th and 7th Doctor versions add Flight at Pace 2)

Gear: Exterminate! (range 30/60/120, damage 3d6+4, RoF 3)

Pace: 4                  Parry: 2                 Toughness: 14 (6)                     Size: 0

Savage Worlds - Modern Dalek

Agility: d6	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d6
Strength: d8	Vigour: d12

Skills: Electronics d6, Intimidation d4, Piloting d6, Repair d4, Shooting d8

Edges: Hard to Kill

Hindrances: One Arm, Ruthless (Major)

Abilities: Armour, Construct, Flight (Pace 4)

Gear: Exterminate! (range 30/60/120, damage 3d6+4, RoF 3)

Pace: 4 4                  Parry: 2                 Toughness: 18 (10)                     Size: 0

Savage Worlds - Kaled Mutant

Agility: d6	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d6
Strength: d4	Vigour: d4

Skills: Electronics d6, Fighting d4, Piloting d6, Repair d4,

Hindrances: One Arm, Ruthless (Major)

Abilities: Tentacles

Pace: 4                  Parry: 3                 Toughness: 2                    Size: -2

STA - Original Dalek

Control: 9	Fitness: 12	Presence: 8
Daring: 8	Insight: 6	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 2	Medicine: 0
Stress: 14	Resistance: 1

Weaponry: Built-in phaser Type-2

STA - Classic Dalek

Control: 9	Fitness: 13	Presence: 8
Daring: 8	Insight: 6	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 1	Engineering: 2	Medicine: 0
Stress: 14	Resistance: 1

Weaponry: Built-in disruptor rifle

Menacing

STA - Modern Dalek

Control: 10	Fitness: 13	Presence: 8
Daring: 8	Insight: 6	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 1	Engineering: 2	Medicine: 0
Stress: 15	Resistance: 4

Weaponry: Built-in disruptor rifle, sucker (1^ deadly)

Menacing

STA - Kaled Mutant

Control: 8	Fitness: 6	Presence: 6
Daring: 7	Insight: 6	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 2	Medicine: 0
Stress: 8	Resistance: 0

DW Monsters: Slitheen

Next, we reach Aliens of London, which introduces us to the Slitheen. These turned out to be memorable, often being referenced in later stories, although only being the focus of one other, Boom Town, later on in the same season. They (or members of their species) have, however, also had major roles in three episodes of the Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as two original novels, and four audio releases to date – the latter including one Torchwood release and one other not featuring the Doctor. 

It may also be worth noting that the alien race the Foamasi, from the Fourth Doctor TV story The Leisure Hive, are essentially the same concept as the Slitheen, although they look quite different out of their skin suits and lack the biological peculiarities. They’ve proved less popular, only re-appearing in one of the ‘90s novels.

Description and Biology

The Slitheen are, of course, an organised crime family, not an alien race per se. The species they belong to are called the Raxacoricofallapatorians, which rather explains why the family name gets used more often. The Raxacoricofallapatorians are large hairless humanoids with long claws, large eyes, and arms much longer in proportion to their bodies than is true of humans. 

Despite their roughly humanoid form, Raxacoricofallapatorians are biologically quite different from humans and, in many respects even from, say, Silurians or Sontarans. They are said to be largely made of “calcium phosphate”. This is a rather vague term, referring to a number of different chemicals – one of which, hydroxyapatite, is the primary mineral component of human bone and tooth enamel. It’s not at all obvious how an apparently organic being could be made out of what is essentially a mineral salt and still less why they would react explosively with vinegar if they were (calcium phosphates do dissolve in acetic acid if left for long enough, but you may have noticed that your teeth do not explode when you eat a pickled onion). But we’ll let that pass.

The large, dark eyes would imply strong night vision, although an official webcast suggested that they were for vision in blizzard conditions rather than a product of a nocturnal lifestyle (not that I'm sure why that would work). They are also said to have a remarkably keen sense of smell.

Since they don’t wear clothing when out of their skin suits, we can also make some speculations about their biology. For instance, males and females look much the same, so it seems unlikely that they are mammalian. They also appear to lack any external genitalia. One possibility here is that they use external fertilisation in a pool of water, as some amphibians do, but another is that the male’s intromittent organ is retracted into a protective pouch when not in use. We know that they lay eggs although it’s interesting that they also possess what looks like a navel. Although it’s not impossible, depending on the structure of the egg, this is not what we’d expect in an oviparous animal – but it could be that it is an orifice of some kind and not a navel at all.

Game Attributes

Given their greater-than-human size and disproportionately long and muscular arms, we can safely say that Raxaocoricofallapatorians are significantly stronger than humans – likely even an “average” member of the species would be around the maximum unmodified human strength. They are also physically resilient, although perhaps not exceptionally so for their size. The long claws on their fingers make it unlikely that they are highly dextrous when it comes to fine manipulation, but they move quickly and are more agile than they might appear. Presumably, their mental attributes are similar to those of humans since there seems little to indicate otherwise.

For our purposes, the typical member of the race we’re going to stat out here is a low-ranking member of the Slitheen family. Doubtless, this is not typical of Raxacoricofallapatorians as a whole, since they must have numerous shopkeepers, accountants, mechanics, and all the various other jobs that keep an advanced civilisation ticking over but it’s the Slitheen we’re primarily interested in here, and they (or some of their close relatives) are likely to be how the race is most often encountered.

Taking that approach then, we’re looking at somebody who is basically a low-level scavenger/hoodlum. Their combat skills are likely to be reasonable, although we don’t really see them using guns (difficult with their hands, perhaps) so it’s most likely hand-to-hand combat, albeit aided by claws that are basically swords. Their other skills will be based on intimidation, dealing with the criminal underworld, and technology with a particular emphasis on anything that lets them get past security. Despite this “rogue”-like part of their skill set they don’t seem especially stealthy and they certainly aren’t going to be able to pick pockets in their regular form. Given their modus operandi, we can also say that they must have good social and acting skills to fool members of other species into thinking they are something they are not.

Special Abilities

In addition to their purely physical traits, the Slitheen are notable for a couple of particularly useful features. Firstly, there’s the ability to disguise themselves as humans. This uses advanced technology, rather than anything innately biological, but it’s notable that, while inside the skin suit, they can move no faster than regular humans and we’d expect their strength to scale down accordingly as well. There’s no real reason to suppose that their statistics would otherwise change, however.

The second feature is that females of the species can create poison darts in their fingers that they can fire at threats. From what we see, these don’t have an especially long range and would be best used close-up. We don’t know how effective the poison is, but there seems little point in it if it isn’t at least debilitating to a human-sized target, perhaps similar to snake venom.

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5E - Slitheen

Large humanoid, neutral evil

Armour Class: 12 (natural)

Hit Points: 45 (6d10+12)

Speed: 40 ft.

STR 18 (+4)	DEX 12 (+1)	CON 14 (+2)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 12 (+1)

Skills: Deception +2, Intimidation +2

Damage Vulnerabilties: acid

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Actions:

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 +4) slashing damage.

            Dart (females only, once per long rest). Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage, and the target must make a DC15 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.

Challenge: 1/2 (100 XP)

BRP - Slitheen

STR 2D6+12 (19)	CON 2D6+6 (13)	SIZ 2D6+12 (19)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 2D6+6 (13)	CHA 3D6 (10-11)
Hit Points: 16	Move: 15
Base SR: 4	Damage Bonus: +1D6

Armour: 1-point leathery hide

Skills: Appraise 40%, Disguise 80%, Fast Talk 40%, Jump 40%, Repair 40%

Combat Skills: Brawling 60%, damage: 1D8+1D6

Dart (females only): Missile weapon attack, range 10, 1 point damage plus POT 10 poison.

GURPS - Slitheen

ST 18	DX 12	IQ 10	HT 12
Thrust: 1d+2		Swing: 3d
Speed: 6		Move: 8
Size: 1

Advantages: Alternate Form, Alternate Identity, Claws (Long Talons), Damage Resistance 1, Discriminatory Smell, Innate Attack 2 (females only, toxic, reduced range/2, resistible)

Disadvantages: Enemies (rivals), Greed, Reputation (criminal), Vulnerability (acid)

Skills: Acting-14, Brawling-14, Computer Operations/TL10-11, Electronic Operations-10, Fast Talk-12, Innate Attack-13, Intimidation-13, Streetwise-11

Savage Worlds - Slitheen

Agility: d10	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d8
Strength: d12	Vigour: d10

Skills: Electronics d4, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6

Edges: Fleet Footed, Streetwise

Hindrances: Wanted (minor)

Powers (females only): Bolt

Special Abilities: Claws, Environmental Weakness (acid)

Pace: 8                  Parry: 5                 Toughness: 9                      Size: 2

STA - Slitheen

Control: 8	Fitness: 12	Presence: 9
Daring: 9	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 1
Conn: 0	Engineering: 1	Medicine: 0
Stress: 14	Resistance: 0

Claws: Melee, 2^, Vicious 1

Dart (females only): Ranged, 1^, Deadly

DW Monsters: Gelth

The third story in the revised series is The Unquiet Dead, for which the alien menace are the Gelth. They are a one-off monster in the TV series, and, apart from a few minor mentions here and there, have only appeared once since, and that in a short story, rather than anything more substantial.

Description and Biology

We are told that the Gelth were originally regular organic beings. They somehow lost their physical bodies during the Time War, becoming gaseous instead. How this would work is obviously unclear, but, in fairness, we have little idea from the TV series of how exactly the Time War was fought or what the weapons brought to bear in it were capable of.

Either way, the Gelth as they are now are gaseous wraiths, capable of creating partially humanoid shapes, but generally not bothering to do so. The evidence suggests that are composed of organic gases; they can survive without difficulty in natural gas, which is mostly methane, so it’s unlikely they contain much of that or they’d diffuse away, but ethane, propane, butane, and more complex hydrocarbons may all be involved. Biologically, it’s hard to see how this could possibly work, at least in Earth-like conditions, so a more likely explanation is that the body is somehow held together by force of psychic will.

Which is basically saying “it’s magic”, rather like the air elementals of fantasy games, but it’s what we’ve got.

The Gelth can control and move their gaseous substance around which, in the context of the story, means that they can inhabit the putrefying gases inside a human corpse and make it move around. Their preference for humans here, since any other animal would surely also work, is likely a simple matter of availability, given where they happened to appear. Assuming that they were originally humanoid, as the briefly-seen blue form implies, there’s probably also an improved degree of familiarity with the form that makes it easier (and arguably more useful) for them to animate a human cadaver than, say, a dead rat.

We know essentially nothing of Gelth society and culture, beyond the fact that it was destroyed in the Time War. We don’t know whether they breathe or how they obtain energy although whatever they do it’s likely not obvious – obtaining energy from the air molecules around them, say. Lacking any actual sense organs, we’re again left with psychic powers to explain how they navigate the world around them; perhaps the ‘real’ Gelth are purely psychic constructs that find it easiest to interact with the environment by controlling gas molecules. Although, if so, the molecules must act as a necessary tether, since destroying them (by combustion) kills the Gelth and prevents it from reforming.

How, and even if, Gelth reproduce is equally mysterious. Potentially, it could be an ability that they lost when they lost their bodies, although with “billions” of them supposedly still in existence at the time of the TV story, that must have been a recent event for them – for whatever that means in the Time War.

Game Attributes

While inhabiting human bodies, the Gelth are essentially zombies, a concept familiar in many fantasy games and echoed a few other times in Doctor Who itself. We can see that they move slowly and clumsily, doubtless due to the difficulty of the Gelth controlling the host body, and there’s no evidence to suggest that they are any physically stronger than they were in life. They likely are physically resilient, however, being unable to bleed to death and having no vital organs since they are animated purely by the putrefying gases inside them. Similarly, they won’t feel pain, since even if their nerve endings are still functional (which seems unlikely) the Gelth isn’t actually inhabiting their nervous system and wouldn’t receive any signals from it. Destroying the zombies is instead a matter of somehow getting the gas to leave the body or destroying enough of it that it’s no longer functional.

Depending on the game system, this could be quite difficult or just a case of knocking a few hit points off.

The Zombies seem unintelligent, partly because the Gelth don’t seem to have enough control of their vocal cords to be able to speak. Logically, this is something they could get the hang of with time, since gas moving about is rather how speech works, but gaining the necessary fine control evidently isn’t a simple process. Nonetheless, while it may appear stupid, the zombie is directly controlled by a Gelth, and these are presumably no less intelligent than the average human – and their leaders likely more so. Some remnant of the original soul apparently remains, but the Gelth seem to be able to force it down with a little effort.

There’s also the question of the Gelth in their natural form. Here, they appear agile but have a physical strength no more powerful than a breeze, likely at the very minimum that a given system will allow. How difficult they are to destroy depends on how strongly the animating force can hold the molecules together and, from everything we see, that’s pretty tough. Physical attacks aren’t going to do anything to them, so we’re left with psychic assaults and effects that might change their chemical composition. The obvious example here is combustion, since we know they are flammable, and this seems a particularly high vulnerability. (When it comes to D&D, it’s worth noting that lightning attacks would probably also ignite them).

They probably can’t be poisoned, even with other gases – unless, perhaps the ’poison’ reacts with their hydrocarbon molecules to make something they can’t control. But this isn’t necessarily an issue in plausible conditions. For example, while hydrocarbons react with chlorine, the result is usually still a gas, which the Gelth may not have any problem animating… although they’re likely to smell worse as a result.

Lack of any knowledge of their culture makes it harder to say what skills the typical Gelth might have. Being so silent, they’re going to be stealthy and they can evidently sense their environment and communicate with anyone who is psychic, but otherwise we don’t see them doing anything that’s indicative of what they get up to. Possibly not much, lacking bodies as they do.

Other than psychic communication, their only special power is the ability to possess corpses.

---

5E - Gelth Zombie

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armour Class: 8 (natural)

Hit Points: 34 (4d8+16)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 10 (+0)	DEX 6 (-2)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 6 (-2)

Damage Resistances: piercing, bludgeoning

Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: poisoned

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Actions:

Unarmed. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage.

Challenge: 1/8 (25 XP)

5E - Gelth

Medium elemental, neutral evil

Armour Class: 18 (partially insubstantial)

Hit Points: 26 (4d8+8)

Speed: fly 60 ft.

STR 1 (-4)	DEX 16 (+3)	CON 14 (+2)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 10 (+0)

Skills: Deception +2, Stealth +5

Damage Resistances: cold, poison, thunder

Damage Immunities: acid, bludgeoning, piercing, slashing

Damage Vulnerabilities: fire, lightning

Condition Immunities: grappled, paralysed, prone, restrained

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Actions:

Possession. As an action, a Gelth can possess a recently deceased corpse, creating a Gelth Zombie, which becomes active at the beginning of the next round. If the zombie falls to 0 hit points, the Gelth is released unharmed, but then becomes vulnerable to external attacks.

Challenge: 1/4 (50 XP)

BRP - Gelth Zombie

STR 3D6 (10-11)	CON 2D6+9 (16)	SIZ 2D6+6 (13)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 2D6 (7)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 15	Move: 8
Base SR: 6	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armour: None

Skills: Grapple 50%, Stealth 30%

Combat Skills: Brawling 50%, damage: 1D3+1D4

BRP - Gelth

STR 0	CON 2D6+9 (16)	SIZ 1D6+6 (9-10)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 2D6+9 (16)	CHA 3D6 (10-11)
Hit Points: 13	Move: 15
Base SR: 7

Armour: None

Skills: Dodge 80%, Fly 70%, Persuade 50%

Possession: A Gelth can possess a recently deceased corpse, taking one round to enter and animate the body. This creates a Gelth Zombie, which becomes active at the beginning of the next round. If the zombie is destroyed, the Gelth is released unharmed, but then becomes vulnerable to external attacks.

GURPS - Gelth Zombie

ST 10	DX 6	IQ 10	HT 14
Thrust: 1d-2		Swing: 1d
Speed: 5		Move: 3

Advantages: Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, High Pain Threshold, Injury Tolerance (Unliving)

Disadvantages: Appearance (ugly), Bad Smell, Cannot Speak, Compulsive Behaviour, Unhealing

Skills: Brawling-10, Stealth-8, Wrestling-10

GURPS - Gelth

ST 0	DX 16	IQ 10	HT 14
Thrust: 0		Swing: 0
Speed: 7.5		Move: 7
Size: -2		HP: 10

Advantages: Body of Air, Doesn't Eat of Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Enhanced Move-1 (Air), Possession (parasitic, dead bodies only), Telecommunication

Skills: Acting-12, Persuade-12, Stealth-18

Savage Worlds - Gelth Zombie

Agility: d6	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d8
Strength: d8	Vigour: d10

Skills: Fighting d4, Stealth d6

Hindrances: Mute, Slow (major), Ugly

Special Abilities: Undead

Pace: 4                  Parry: 4                 Toughness: 7                      Size: 0

Savage Worlds - Gelth

Agility: d12	Smarts: d8	Spirit: d8
Strength: 1	Vigour: d10

Skills: Persuasion d6, Stealth d8

Edges: Dodge

Powers: Possession (can possess a recently deceased corpse, taking one round to enter and animate the body. This creates a Gelth Zombie, which becomes active at the beginning of the next round. If the zombie is destroyed, the Gelth is released unharmed, but then becomes vulnerable to external attacks.)

Special Abilities: Elemental, Flight, Gaseous Form

Pace: 8                  Parry: 2                Toughness: 6                      Size: -2

STA - Gelth Zombie

Control: 6	Fitness: 12	Presence: 7
Daring: 10	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 1	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 13	Resistance: 0

STA - Gelth

Control: 11	Fitness: 9	Presence: 10
Daring: 10	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 1	Security: 1	Science: 1
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 10	Resistance: 0

Gaseous: Cannot be injured by physical attacks; can enter a recently deceased body and possess it, creating a Gelth Zombie