• The Time Warrior – The first appearance of the Sontarans.
• Invasion of the Dinosaurs – Dinosaurs are real-world creatures and often already statted up in RPGs
The story that follows is Death to the Daleks, which has exactly the main foes that you would expect it to have. It does, however, also feature the Exxilons. While there’s no reason to suppose Exxilons are dramatically different from other humanoids, they can serve as an example of a primitive race and do at least have some minor differences from regular humans. They appeared only once in the TV series, but have appeared twice in audio stories and, because of their history as an advanced space-faring power, have occasionally been mentioned in tie-in novels and elsewhere.
Description and Biology
The Exxilons are hairless humanoids with rough skin, flat noses, and large eyes. Since they are alien and not even as visibly similar to humans as Time Lords are, we can’t conclude too much about their biology and internal anatomy. The humanoid shape has some implications for this – the presence of a rib cage implies that that is where the lungs are, for example – but there are limitations. One thing that might be worth noting is that we never see any evident females. This could be due to a patriarchal society that hides their women away, but it’s also possible that they just aren’t mammalian, and the sexes aren’t that easy for we humans to tell apart.
Another difference is the large, dark, eyes which fit with the idea that the Exxilons are naturally nocturnal (or subterranean, as stated in the novelisation). This, of course, does not imply anything like the magical ‘darkvision’ of D&D, but they should be able to see in much fainter light than humans can and be more affected by bright glare than we are.
Game Attributes
The living Exxilons that we see are all warriors and their society appears to be one of hunter-gatherers, so it may be that this is true of the bulk of their population. They seem to be reasonably well-built, as one would expect for someone trained as a warrior, but the average individual is unlikely to be remarkable by human standards. The harsh environment in which they live also implies a reasonable degree of physical fitness.
While they are primitive by the time period seen in the story, in the past they were a highly advanced spacefaring race. This indicates at least human-level intelligence and, although one could argue that their current ‘degenerate’ state has lowered this somewhat, it’s perhaps more likely that it remains the same as it always was. Their limitations are in their skill and knowledge, not their basic brainpower.
Speaking of which, their skills are likely to be the same as any other hunter-gatherer. We know that they can use bows and other simple weapons are surely in their repertoire. Survival skills are also a must and they probably have abilities relating to hunting and the local vegetation (such as it is) even if there’s nothing in the TV story to indicate what their prey might be. Religion is central to their society, so that may be relevant, too, depending on the game system.
They don’t have any particularly exciting special abilities, but their skin looks tough and resilient, so there’s probably some minimal armour, equivalent to leather. And, of course, there’s the night vision.
5E - Exxilon
Medium humanoid, neutral
Armour Class: 11 (natural)
Hit Points: 17 (3d8+3)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 12 (+1) | DEX 10 (+0) | CON 12 (+1) |
INT 10 (+0) | WIS 10 (+0) | CHA 8 (-1) |
Skills: Athletics +3, Religion +2, Survival +2
Combat Skills: Ranged Attack +2, Melee Attack +3
Senses: Passive Perception 10, Night Vision (the Exxilon treats dim light as if it were bright light and regular nighttime darkness as if it were dim light, but cannot see in pitch blackness).
Challenge: ¼ (50 XP)
BRP - Exxilon
STR 3D6 (10-11) | CON 3D6+3 (13-14) | SIZ 2D6+6 (13) |
INT 2D6+6 (13) | POW 3D6 (10-11) | |
DEX 3D6 (10-11) | CHA 2D6 (7) | |
Hit Points: 13 | Move: 10 | |
Base SR: 5 | Damage Bonus: 0 |
Armour: 1-point leathery skin
Skills: Hide 40%
Combat Skills: Bow 50%, Brawl 50%
Night Vision: An Exxilon’s combat skills do
not become Difficult in conditions of near-total darkness, but suffer the usual
penalties in pitch-black darkness.
GURPS - Exxilon
ST 12 | DX 10 | IQ 10 | HT 12 |
Thrust: 1d-1 | Swing: 1d+2 | ||
Speed: 5.5 | Move: 5 |
Advantages: Fit, Night Vision-4
Disadvantages: Fanaticism (worship the City)
Skills: Bow-12, Brawling-13, Climbing-12, Stealth-10,
Survival (quarry-like planets)-13, Theology-9
Savage Worlds - Exxilon
Agility: d6 | Smarts: d6 | Spirit: d6 |
Strength: d8 | Vigour: d8 |
Skills: Athletics d4, Fighting d8, Shooting d6, Survival d8
Hindrances: Vow (Minor, worship the City)
Special Abilities: Low Light Vision
Pace: 6 Parry: 6 Toughness: 7 (1) Size: 0
STA - Exxilon
Control: 8 | Fitness: 10 | Presence: 8 |
Daring: 9 | Insight: 8 | Reason: 8 |
Command: 0 | Security: 2 | Science: 0 |
Conn: 0 | Engineering: 0 | Medicine: 0 |
Stress: 12 | Resistance: 1 |
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