The tyranids are constantly adapting and mutating, right?

So come on, GMs. Throw some HF Dagon-specific critters at me. Make my players tremble in fear.

Alex

instead of huge combat beasties what about tiny nids that crawl into the power armour once its integrity is breached (a marine takes more than armour value in damage and doesnt use the repair cement ) think the scarab beetles from The Mummy

Hardrainfalling said:

Yuk! That's a splendid idea. But how to get rid of them once they are inside?

Alex

I would imagine that such creatures could easily be represented using the toxic rule. Maybe with the ability to cause some toughness damage or even inflict insanity points if they managed to burrow into the hosts brain.

Not a creature I've thought up myself, but I'm in the process of statting up most of the creatures, biomorphs, weapons and psychic powers from the tyranid codex and here's the Harpy. Sort of a middleground between a Gargoyle and a Harridan.

It's only in the planning/concept stage so far, but I'm thinking of creating a snow tyranid beast. Imagine something, almost the size of a trygon, that burrows throught the snow and ice and uses bad weather and storms to its advantage as a silent deadly hunter. I Imagine it should freak my players out a bit

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my take on the tyranid Harpy.

Harpy

Ws: 35 Bs: 35 S: 55 (15) T: 52 (15) Ag: 44 Int: 23 Per: 44 Wp: 38 Fel: -

Move: 4/8/12/24
Flight movement: 10/20/30/60

Wounds: 75

Skills: Awareness +10, Swim, Dodge
Talents: Fearless, Hard target
Traits: Flyer (10), Dark Sight, Fear 3, Natural Armour (Hardened Carapace), Unnatural Strength (x3), Unnatural Toughness (x3), Improved Natural Weapons (Scything Talons), Multiple Arms, Size (Massive), Tyranid.
Special rules: Sonic shriek*, Living Bomb**.
Armour: Hardened Carapace (all 7)
Weapons: Scything Talons (1d10+17; Pen 3), Stinger Salvo (40m; 1d10+6; -/-/10; Pen 4; Storm, Tearing, Living Ammunition) or Cluster Spines (40m; 1d10+6; S/-/-; Pen -; Tearing, Living Ammunition, Blast 10), Twin-linked Stranglethorn Cannon (80m; 2d10+8; S/-/-; Pen 3; Living Ammunition, Tearing, Blast (10), Deadly Snare, Twin-linked) or Twin-linked Heavy Venom Cannon (100m; 4d10+10; S/-/-; Pen 6; Blast (6), Living Ammunition,
Twin-linked, Toxic (1d10).

*Sonic Shriek: The high pitched shriek of a Harpy is so piercing it causes the creature's victims to clutch their ruptured ears in agony. On any turn in which the Harpy charges into melee, every living creature in a 30 degree arc up to 30m in front of the Harpy must make a hard (-10) toughness test or count as stunned for 1d5 rounds.

**Living Bomb: As a free action, the harpy may a cluster of Spore Mines at anytime during its movement. The harpy chooses one enemy directly beneath it and makes a challenging (+/- 0) Ballistic skill test. If the test is passed, the target is hit by one Spore Mine and 1d5 extra Spore Mines are placed using the scatter diagram om page 248 in the Deathwatch rulebook.
If the test is failed, place the first Spore Mine using the Scatter diagram on page 248 of the Deathwatch rule book, but roll 2d10 for distance. The rest of the Spore Mines in the cluster is placed as described under a successful hit, relative to the first one.

Unlike other Tyranid creatures, like the Biovore for example, a Harpy can only spawn a limited number of Spore Mines. A Harpy must wait a minimum of 12 hours after each of a Spore Mine cluster before another can be dropped.

Biomorphs: A Harpy may be given any of the following Biomorphs:

Adrenal Glands: The creature gains the brutal charge trait.
Regeneration: The creature gains the regeneration (3) trait.
Toxin Sacs: The creatures melee attacks gains the Toxic (1d10) quality.

And Since the Harpy has the ability to Spore Mines...

Spore Mine

Ws: - Bs: - S: 15 T: 15 Ag: 10 Int: - Per: 33 Wp: - Fel: -

Move: Special

Wounds: 3

Skills: Awareness
Talents:
Traits: Unnatural senses (15), Hoverer (5), Size (Puny), Tyranid, Strange Physiology
Special rules: Living Bomb*
Armour: None
Weapons: None... except it's own volatile body chemistry.

*Living Bomb: A Spore Mine is barely a sentient creature, but it possesses a predatory nature that causes it to drift slowly towards its prey. The Spore Mine's senses are incapable of processing information like larger Tyranid creatures and is consequently prone to confusion.

A Spore Mine doesn't move like normal creatures, but hover a random distance each turn. The direction and distance of a Spore Mines movement is determined by using the scatter diagram on page 248 of the Deathwatch rulebook, but add its hovering movement (5) to the distance rolled.
The Spore Mine moves towards the nearest enemy however, if it succeeds in a challenging (+/- 0) Awareness test. This test is automatically passed if an enemy (anything the Spore Mine perceives to be a threat to itself or the Tyranid swarm) is within 15m of the Spore Mine at the start of the Spore Mines turn.

The Spore Mine immediately explodes if its movement brings it into contact with a solid object, an enemy or other hazardous conditions (such as fire, acid etc). It also explodes if it starts it turn within 3m of an enemy or is killed by any means (such as shooting at it, striking it or anything else that would cause it to burst or tear open).

An exploding Spore Mine explodes with the following profile: 1d10+6; Pen 6; Blast 10; Tearing, Toxic (1d10).

Other creatures I have statted up til now are Raveners and Zoanthropes, but I forgot to bring a copy of them with me on holyday vacation, so they'll have to wait until I get home to my other computer.