Re: Aboleth in Space

In our last episode, LapuLapu@???.com said:
[Snip]
>>I like
>the "water globules with boarding parties" idea.  The biggest problem I
>forsee with the tactic though is that once the party arrives, the water
>goes away.<
>Picture a huge ball of murky water hurtling toward a ship.  With tidal force
>the ship creaks and shudders from the impact, the crew stunned, as the water
>and slime washes away to the gravity plane.  From the receding flood emerges
>a horrifying site; dark, gibbering things with fiendish maws and emotionless
>eyes of blood. 

	Oh!  I thought that their slaves would suffocate without water.
I see now... :)

>>Maybe they coudl try to displace an air-breathers atmosphere 
>with water?  That would make the ship habitable, *and* kill the enemies.<
>  Become a slave or die?  Even more diabolical.

	:)  I've used aboleths before...

>> I don't remember reading about a "water envelope" in any of the TSR
>material.  It would seem that the water would escape the envelope along
>the gravity plane, unless it was kept in by the hull.  That's why I like
>the dreadnought idea -- it *looks* waterproof... :)<
>  Maybe there's a way to occupy the entire ship's envelope with dark, oily
>water that didn't leak off the plane and served as an extra buffer against
>weapons.  It would look cooler to see an oncoming planetoid of water, but
>also a mind flayer vessel crewed by something unexpected could be a surprise.

	Hmm...  The problem with a water envelope seems to be binary
gravity.  What if the ship had *spherical* gravity, like a planet?  The 
ship would be pretty big to handle curvature and stuff, but wouldn't
have a leakage problem.  Maybe something like a goblin porcupine ship, 
except bigger and with point gravity.  This would help it keep that 
"globule" look.

	The water *would* act as armor (wish I'd thought of that... (: ),
but I don't think an AC bonus would be a good treatment of it.  I'd suggest
dividing any external (from heavy weapons fire) damage by 10 (or more).
Also, any of the missle fire in water rules from either the Dungeoneer's
or Wilderness Survival Guides would be cool.

[Snip]
>  Also, to those more experienced with psionic play, what are appropriate
>sciences and disciplines to the above stuff?

	It was a long time ago, and I havn't use psionics in a while, so
these may be incorrect:  Invincible Foe, Phobia, Domination.  The effect
can be devastating.  In one of my aboleth encounters, the PCs took almost
no damage, but spent most of their time trying to rescue drowning allies
and fending off NPCs who were their friends.  When anyone got near, it
used Invincible Foe to make them more "managable".  My players still
cringe when I bring up aboleths.

-Static

--
                         "Read more, kill less."

       --==<< http://k2.CWRU.edu/~static (Stories and Games) >>==--