Bestiary

This section describes;

• The Name of the NPC, whether a Proper Name or a general descriptor.

• Their Rank; A creature's rank determines their skill, level of experience and the danger they might pose.

  • Novice

  • Regular

  • Veteran

  • Elite

  • Deadly

• Their Type - an NPCs types determines their progression, objectives and the sorts of interactions they can have with the player characters.

  • Humans; Pretty much all known properly sentient life.

  • Animals; Organic life of not-quite human intelligence.

  • Mechanical; Drones, Mechs, Vehicles, Turrets, Powered Armor, Cyborgs.

  • Aliens; True alien creatures in Blackout are things that defy logic and categorization, from eusocial monstruosities like the Locusts to the quaint superintelligent Grasimi and even pre-blackout entities such as Platforms and Wardens.

• Their Role - rather than a mechanical function, roles identify archetypes that can help a GM put together challenging and varied encounters.

  • Tank; Front liners focused on area control and defense.

  • Brawler; Front liner focused on offense.

  • Assassin; Fast, deadly and stealthy, but frail.

  • Specialist; Medics, datacrafters, mechanics, pilots, etc.

  • Marksman; Long ranged combatants and the sort.

  • Heavy; Heavy ranged combatants focusing on burst or area of effects.

  • Leader; Focused on empowering allies and bolstering morale.

  • Diplomat; Charismatic negotiators who shine out of combat.

Attributes are determined just as one would for a simple NPC Stat-block.

An NPC's HP is equal to three times their Endurance Attribute.

HP can be multiplied if the NPC is the Boss in a 'Boss' leveled combat encounter; up to double for Veteran NPCs, Triple for Elite NPCs and Quintuple for Deadly NPCs.

The number is parenthesis represents the NPC's total Wounds. Most NPCs will have a single Wound but Veteran NPCs may have an additional Wound, Elite NPCs may have up to two additional Wounds and Deadly NPCs may have up to four additional Wounds.

Whenever an NPC is hit by an attack, they may sacrifice a Wound to half the damage inflicted by the attack. NPCs may also lose Wounds to attacks with the Coup de Grace quality or effects that inflict Wounds directly.

If an NPC loses all of their Wounds, they are Out of the Fight. If an NPC loses their last Wound to a Coup de Grace attack, they are instantly killed.

It is recommended that no more than one in three enemies in an Encounter with three enemies or more be a multi-wound NPC.

An NPC's armor value works just as it does on a PC.

• On a human, it tends to be determined by the NPC's armor and training.

• On a Mechanical Unit, it tends to be determined by the Mods installed in the unit.

• On Aliens and Animals, AV tends to be determined by Role and Rank. Higher AV usually means lower Evasion - the four numbers below correspond to suggested maximum AV limits for no-armor/light armor/medium armor and heavy armor equivalents for Aliens and Animals. (Shields/Deflectors and similar special abilities may increase this if available)

  • Novice; 4/4/7/10

  • Regular; 4/6/9/12 AV

  • Veteran; 6/9/11/14 AV

  • Elite; 7/10/12/16 AV

  • Deadly; 10/12/14/18 AV

Damage Resistance works on NPCs just as it does on Player Characters- however, it is all considered Natural DR which comes back on a full rest.

• Human NPCs' DR is determined by their armor, gear and training.

• Mechanical NPCs DR is determined by armor, gear and mods.

• Animal and Alien DR is determined by their Endurance, usually being equal to their Endurance Attribute. This can be up to doubled for Elite NPCs and tripled for Deadly NPCs.

An NPCs passive Evasion, kept separate from their Dexterity Attribute. This represents how hard the NPC is to hit with an attack and is usually determined by Rank and armor type. Below are suggested value for no armor/light armor/medium armor/heavy armor or its equivalent.

• Novice; Evasion 3/3/2/1

• Regular; Evasion 4/3/2/1

• Veteran; Evasion 4/4/3/2

• Elite; Evasion 5/4/3/2

• Deadly; Evasion 5/5/4/3

Do keep in mind these are only recommendations- particularly fast and fragile enemies, for example, may have higher passive evasion than what is recommended.

A creatures' walking/running speed - or the amount of feet a creature moves when taking a move/run action.

• Most humans have a walking speed of 30 feet and running speed of 60 feet. NPCs wearing no armor will have +10ft running speed. NPCs wearing Medium Armor will have -5ft running speed and NPCs wearing Heavy Armor will have -10ft running speed.

• Mechanical Unit's speed depend on their frame and mods.

• Alien and Animal speed varies considerably, but seldom goes beneath 10 feet walking or above 80 feet running speed. Additionally, special forms of locomotion such as flying are usually considered Running.

Initiative determines how quickly an NPC goes each round of combat.

• Unlike PCs, NPCs have a fixed initiative in combat.

• NPCs will always lose initiative ties with PCs.

• Enemy NPCs and Allied NPCs will act intermittently if they tie for initiative.

• NPCs will always 'roll' for their Max AP. Veteran and Elite NPCs can have up to 4 AP but only if they are the Boss in a 'Boss' leveled encounter. Deadly NPCs can have up to 5 AP but only if they are the Boss in a 'Boss' leveled encounter.

• NPCs initiative is determined as such; 6 + 1(for every 3 Endurance over 3), +1 (for every 3 AV over 6), +1(for every AP over 3).

You can note any weapons, armor, accessories or expendable items an NPC has here- this can be used to mark down the expenditure of those items, to keep track of mods and the sort, or to allow the party to take those items if they defeat or disarm an NPC.

• Humans typically carry gear in the same way as PCs do.

• Mechanical Units may hold or have mounted weapons.

• Aliens and Animals typically carry no gear and rely on special abilities instead.

You can note any Shockproof, Fireproof, Coldproof, Chemproof, Stealth or Shield Projector qualities an NPC might have here- as well as immunity to certain conditions.

• For Humans, many of these qualities will come from Gear, training or gene-mods.

• For Mechanical Units, they will come from their type, gear or mods.

• For Aliens and Animals, these qualities may be innate or come from special abilities.

You can note if an NPC is proficient at anything in particular here; for example piloting, hacking, medicine or particular combat maneuvers.

Most, but not all, Animals do not have nor require Proficiencies.

The types of actions available to the NPC. Most NPCs can undertake any available action in the Actions section of the Combat Rules- but these can be specific actions to a particular NPC such as Weapon Attacks, Item use or special innate abilities in the case of Gene-Modded Humans, Mechanical Units, Animals or Aliens.

Any advantages included in an Action should be baked into the dice-roll required for it for simplicity. For attacks, the correct notation is;

• (AP Cost) Name of the Attack (Attack: (X)D / Damage: (X)D / Clip: X-X / Range: X-Xft. / Qualities)

In the case of a Melee attack, the Damage is (Strength)D - to a maximum of 7 for humans- plus any modifiers granted from training or gear.

In the case of abilities that consume a resource, such as Energy, Tech Points, Stamina or Psionic Focus - the NPC will instead be able to use each ability between 1 and 3 times per day. Higher cost abilities will have fewer per-day uses.

You can note any Special Reactions available to the NPC here. NPCs are also assumed to have access to any of the standard reactions from the Action list in the Combat Rules.

Like PCs, most NPCs have a single Reaction, however, Veteran and Elite NPCs may have up to two reactions and Deadly NPCs may have up to three reactions.

It is recommended to have no more than a single enemy with 2 or more reactions in a combat encounter.

You may note any special rules an NPC may have here, be it through a scenario, ability, gear, Gene Mod, training or any innate special abilities from their Type.