A lot of people are looking forward to having abhumans characters in OW. So I thought I'd brainstorm a few ideas about possible abhuman types, anything that's a long term environmental adaption to alien words is good. I could just have easily put this up in the RT or DH forum but here it is. Extra nerd points if you can include the equivalent of any traditional fantasy races with appropriately sci-fi name. Here's the starter for 10:

Trogs

An number of worlds in the Imperium receive little in the way of visible light, due to atmospheric contaminants or distance form their sun. These are not the ideal place for colonisation but a valuable resource, strategic position, changing environments or just bad luck on the settlers part has mean;t many of these worlds do have human populations. The worlds may have native life adapts to the situation, plants that absorb non visible light for instance, or may have mostly died out as the enviroment changed.

The human populations of these worlds, given enough time, have been witnessed to adapt to the conditions. Their eyes become larger with wide pupils and partially reflective layers on their retina's, their night vision increases to match, but their daylight vision is reduced. Their skin is deathly white and, in most cases, due to the lack vital vitamins processed by sunlight they have no body hair. In fact they are very sensitive to the light levels on most human colonised worlds and have shade visors with them on such worlds and cover there skins completely to prevent burning. In the Imperial guard such troops stay in blacked out tents in the day but their night vision and skills are infiltration make them perfect as discrete night pickets, special forces and tunnel rats.

my local shop wants me to run iith hour for his store so he let me borrow the book to get ready, i don't want to put too much out there and ruin the supprise but some tidbits. avarge scores for the carracters is mid 20's to 30's with one score per person in the low 40's. two fate points per person, looks like it is using the BC combat system…oh and one of the pregens is a ogryn.

Face Eater said:

I'll rise to that challenge!

Hwurkies

The dividing line between mutant and abhuman is a thin one. After all, most abhuman populations began as mutants, but have been accepted by the Imperium as having some unusual attribute or skill which makes them useful to humanity as a whole. Those abhuman populations tolerated by the Imperium tend to breed true, displaying little variation or prospect of further mutation. This distinguishes them from the hordes of shuffling, disease-ridden mutants who form a despised underclass in many Imperial communities, their freakish and disturbing appearance a mute testament to the polluted and radioactive nature of most Imperial slums.

Broadly speaking, the safest definition of abhuman is "a human whose genetic template deviates from the homo sapien norm in a fashion expressly or tacitly tolerated by the Imperium."

Sometimes the degree of variation can be tiny, or purely cosmetic. On other occasions tolerated abhumans can be wildly different to a "typical" human, if such could be said to exist in the vast and diverse Imperium of Man.

The inhabitants of Hwurk, a tiny frontier moon in the Segmentum Obscuras, are an example of how a tiny genetic variation can affect the prospects of an entire world's population.

Inhabited by the descendants of a small vessel that crashed on the verdant moon at some point during the Dark age of Technology, Hwurk is a low-grav world covered in forests of vast size, with trees that soar hundreds of metres into the azure skies. The planet possess an aggressive ecosystem of large predators, though it cannot be said to be as deadly as a true death world.

When it was rediscovered by the Imperium in M37, the inhabitants had regressed to a stone-age culture who worshipped the site of their craft's first landing on the world. Genetic tests upon the population showed that the inhabitants had suffered a significant degree of genetic "bottlenecking," suggesting that the thousands of modern Hwurkans were all descendants of a very small group of initial crash survivors, perhaps as few as 100 in total.

One of the survivors carried an unusual gene: this nameless progenitor suffered from a condition known as hypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis causes unrestricted hair growth across the entire body in both sexes. Approximately 25% of the Hwurkan population bear rich, brunette hair covering every inch of their bodies. This is typically left to grow out. Combined with their stature - their low gravity world and low initial genetic diversity has led many Hwurkans to exceed 7 feet in height - this hair growth results in an unusual, inhuman appearance that many within the Imperium find disturbing. In fact, Hwurkans are entirely human beneath their long hair, and are loyal and industrious servants of the God Emperor.

As such, the Hwurkans routinely found Imperial Guard regiments, a significant number of which contain platoons of tall, hairy abhumans, derisively known as "Hwurkies" by other Guardsmen. These guardsmen are typically used as terror troops to cow rebellious human populations; their height and full body hair gives them a feral and bestial appearance, though in fact they are known for their civilised and cultured nature. Hwurkies commonly report for these duties naked (in order to enhance their terrifying appearance) apart from bandoliers of lasgun ammunitition, and are a striking and famous feature of the Segmentu Obscuras Imperial Guard.

htsmithium said:

H.B.M.C. said:

How did your local shop owner get a final version of 11th Hour? I don't have a final version of it, and I wrote part of the damned OW rulebook!

Free RPG Day is just over two weeks away, so it's not hard to imagine that some stores may already have received the stuff for it.

I didn't get an early copy of Broken Chains until it was released on the website (my local store hasn't participated in Free RPG Day for a couple of years, unfortunately… it isn't free for the stores to run, and depending on store demographics it can be difficult to make that money back), so I wouldn't expect to see Eleventh Hour before it becomes publically available either.

Ah! I didn't realise it was that close.

BYE

“I believe that humanity is master of its own fate. We must question the assumptions of what it means to be human and replace them with the evidence revealed now to our eyes. Humanity can change, and diversity is essential to our survival.”
~ Inquisitor Caelis Darvus at the Conclave Diviticus

Near the end of the Age of Exploration, the Imperium had already colonized most of the worlds with conditions and climates similar to those of Holy Terra, but the simple lack of suitable worlds did not stem the Diaspora. Humans continued to flow outward into the galaxy, using technology to settle more marginal planets as time passed.

As they were settled late in the era of expansion and had little chance to establish themselves, the Age of Strife was a disaster for these fledgling worlds that could not yet survive without assistance. The populations on many of these worlds simply died out during the first few centuries of isolation. On some, however, the seed of humanity adapted to its harsh new conditions, though the cessation of trade caused technological regression that plunged many worlds back into a stone age.

Over the millennia, the harsh conditions on these unforgiving planets forced evolution, the physical and mental characteristics of their populations adapting over generations to their new environment. Ogryn became larger, stronger, but simple in mind. Ratlings became smaller, more nimble, but not as resilient. Afriel Strain , originally soldiers genetically engineered from heroes of the Imperium for service in the Imperial Guard, but now some have filtered into the civilian population. Nightlings adapted to worlds of complete darkness by developing other senses though they react poorly to intense stimuli. Gland Warriors technically qualify as Abhumans even though their “evolution” had significant help from the Mechanicus Magi Genetor. High gravity shrank the stature of the ill-fortuned Squats , but made them more robust before Hive Fleet Leviathan destroyed their homeworlds…

htsmithium said:

What sort ofstats does he Ogryn have? Particularly Str, Toughness, and any 'unnaturals' to go along with them?

first off i apologize if this goes against forum rules…mods feel free to delete if i am in error

as to the above question…………..WS 36 BS 26 S(6)43 T(6)46 AG 33 INT 12 PER 29 WP 25 FEL 22

size hulking, skills: athletics(s) +10, intimidate(s) +20, survival: trained

17 wounds, 2 fate points, scrap armour and orgryn proof ripper gun ( ranged and melee) and no im not giving out the stats for those

Wow, that seems really wimpy for an Ogryn… Especially the wounds and the rest. Must be a runt.

Looks like they'll only get one level of unnaturals from the numbers too.

@Dulahan

The Unnaturals seem to be +2 by BC system. Not exactly impressive, but then again, Ogryns aren't Space Marines. They're naturally evolved, not warpspawned mutations or the pinnacle of genetic manipulation. As for the wounds, remember that OW starts at a lower level than BC and DW. I imagine they will have a suitable number of Sound Constitutions available to them in their advancement.

Cifer said:

Obviously on the unnatural. But remember in the TT War Game, Ogryns ARE stronger than any but the Hero level space marines. And tougher (5 or 6 Str and toughness, and 2+ wounds to a base of 4 STR and T and 1 wound IIRC. I believe they have multiple attacks as well, again to a Marine's one). They have more wounds and everything. There are many novels where an Ogryn bests a Marine (usually nameless) in contests of Strength. And the protagonist Marines even admit this thing is stronger than they are. The Marine protagonist eventually wins because of skill, but has a tough time matching the strength….

I fully reiterate I'm not happy with Ogryns being included at all. But seriously, if you're going to do it, at least make them live up to the fluff. The way that one sounds, it may as well just be a Gene Modded human, not an Ogryn.

Out of curiosity. Do stats for an Ogryn or three show up in any of the other gamelines as enemies or NPCs? I'm curious what level of 'unnatural' they have in those.

EDIT: I didn't see them in any of the books I own during a skim through, but I'm missing a few of the non-Adventure books, and I never bother to buy adventures so could easily have missed them in those.

And seriously, again, if you're going to do them. At least do them right. Or just don't allow them instead of deliberately nerfing them BIG TIME just to make them balanced.

EDIT: I didn't see them in any of the books I own during a skim through, but I'm missing a few of the non-Adventure books, and I never bother to buy adventures so could easily have missed them in those.

Disciples of the Dark Gods has one among the enemies (IIRC working for the Beast House). If memory serves, he had US and UT *2.

And the Ogryn will probably be able to buy additional levels of UT and US in his advances, though I assume you won't be happy with that either…

Theres also Stigmartus Ogryns in DW, with US and UT 2 i believe. They also have DW matching Wounds (60 or something).

Keep in mind that the Ogryn stats published are NPCs with no advancement, and are from different games. What has been presented looks fine for somewhere to start. It looks like it will be able to pull the arms and legs off an ordinary guardsman with ease.

New strategy: Let the Ogryn win!

I think that they made a wise decission to make the Ogrynn stronger and better then a human but not as strong as the rules would need to make them to make them up to par with the wargame. As they are, they look strong enough to make an impression without overshadowing all the other pc's to much with raw strength. Then of course, this is a beginning Ogrynn, not a grizzled veteran of many campaigns.

Again Lightbringer, you have raised the bar.

Mers, (also Nauts, Aquas, Hydros) Homo Sapiens Maritimus

The planet Triton is located near the rimward edge of the Segmentum Obscuras that is has 100% surface water coverage. When it was re-discovered by the Explorator fleets some 4 thousand years ago they were surprised to discover a native Abhuman population that had adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. Why the planet would have been settled in the first place is a mystery but it is believed that for some reason the planet has warmed over the millennia, there seems to be some shallow area of the sea that may have been land were this the case.

It is believed that the human population has adapted to this slow change in environment, the current Tritonian is completely bald with a thicker layer of subcutaneous fat or blubber. Their torso is elongated and powerfully muscled while their legs and arms are shortened. Their fingers and toes are webbed and their feet in particular have long widespread toes. The Mers, as they are know by local the local void travellers, have very distinct facial features. Their eyes are large and insensitive and their nose is nearly completely gone, existing as a small bulge directly between their eyes with two closable slit nostrils. The heads of the Mers somewhat flattened and their neck connects at about a 45 degree angle which gives them a noticeable stoop when standing up but a much more comfortable position when swimming.

The Mers are supreme swimmers able to travel far in excess of the speeds of normally human swimming and with far more manoeuvrability. They mostly swim with their powerful legs and back flicking their feet vertically, their arms usually held at their sides for streamlining and their webbed hands only being deployed to stop, manoeuver or an initial push from floating. They are far more comfortable with depths than other humans and are able to hold their breaths for much longer. The seas of Triton are at least 50m deep and this is where much of their food and construction materials are gathered and they frequently spend half an hour down their between coming up for breaths and they have been known to regularly go to depths of over 250m with no protection and strong swimmers able to go to twice that depth. They are also able to sleep while floating on their face in even rough waters.

Triton is known for it's luxury foodstuff, Industrial Oils, fats, nutritional supplements and it's Abhuman Imperial guard regiments. A large fortified rig acts as their base and they train with a dizzying number of submersible, sea surface and aquatic capable aircraft. The regiments are used extensively as divers, vehicle crew and beach assault companies on many worlds with significant surface water coverage. They are known as savage and tribal society and the Imperial guard commanders prefer to encourage this in the troops allowing them to wear grisly sea creature trophies on their weapons and armour. The regiments armour and weapons has to be especially made to be neutrally boyant and able to work in conditions. As a tribal society their main weapons are spears, made from fish bones, or types of sea plant stalks with jagged bone, corral or toothed heads. They also have sharp daggers made from single teeth of giant sea creatures or the bony saw protrusions from the heads of strangely shaped fish. They often use these alongside their flack vests and Lasguns in the Imperial guard.

I am terrible with fluff so here's gist of it: -

One of the forbidden knowledge of the Adeptus Mechanicus is the existance of a group of disputable "abhumans" prized for their void born minds.

To be blunt they have big heads, as their minds are complex and rapid even before birth (a painful and drainning process only possible with C-Section but utimately leading to the death of the mother as it's drains her vitality).

It's body is pathetic - after generations of muscle atrophe sitting on a desk within a zero gravity environment researching, observing and spilling uncomprehensible theorm - they require bionics to keep them alive and when necessary mobile. (indirectly like Augmentists, mixed with Tech-Priest and to a much larger degree Adepts).

Did I say their minds are prized? Because of their low survival rate and difficulty socialising they are sometimes perfect specimen as expedition servitors, MIUing with a ship and maybe servo-skulls. Each mind has a fasination of a particular area of science and it can be harrowing to witness it spill out copious amounts of information once it witnesses anything that catches it's interest.

Inspired from Eclipse Phase - Mentons.

Welp, seems it's official. Ogryns and Ratlings are in.

It also seems like, looking at the Ogryn reprint online, the example Ogryn does NOT have Unnatural Strength or Toughness, as these are listed as being aspects of his size. Now, whether or not this is a simplification of the rules remains to be seen.

It's a simplification. Remember that these rules can't include a full Talent/Trait listing, so simplifications like this are necessary.

BYE

does anyone know why they changed the ogryn character? i actually liked the first one better. thou if there are enough players i might just run both for giggles.

What are the differences, out of interest?

And what are the other characters?

BYE

On the subject of Abhumans, it's nice to see the Squats getting a shout out in the 6th Edition of 40k. It appears that GW is finally ending its ridiculous policy of pretending that they never existed. It's like GW is coming out of the closet as Squatphiles.

Furthermore, they have elaborated upon various other strands of abhuman out there…these include:-

7 sub categories of Ogryn (Homo sapians gigantus)
Ratlings (Homo sapians minimus)
Squats (Homo sapians rotundus) -yaaaaay!
Beastmen (Homo sapians variatus)
Troths (Homo sapians verdantus
Longshanks (Homo sapians elongontus)
Pelagers (Homo sapians oceanus)
Felanids (Homo sapians hirsutus)
Neanders (Homo sapians hyannothus)

The latter five are new. It occurs to me that a combination of the name and the latin scientific name can give us a clue as to what we're dealing with here:-

Troths - well according to Google Translate, there's no direct translation of "Verdantus." I'm a little lost as to what concept the writers were aiming at here - if "verdant" is the word they're aiming at, are we looking here at green skinned humans? Think the Mekon/Star Trek aliens perhaps?

Longshanks - again, there isn't a latin word for "Elongatus." However, it's not hard to see what they're up to here - Longshanks is an old English nickname for someone with long legs. So we're looking at tall abhumans - perhaps stilt like legs? Low gravity abhumans?

Pelagers - Again, not hard to see what they're trying for here. Ocean adapted abhumans - think the thing from the black lagoon, Aquaman, Namor, or Kevin Costner in Waterworld. Interestingly, Face Eater's concept of Mers from earlier in this thread matches this precisely, an example of how great minds think alike!

Felanids - Well " Hirstute" means hairy, so again it's not hard to see what the writers are doing here. Again, in an example of how tropes/concepts draw from a relatively narrow pool, one imagines that these guys aren't too dissimiliar from my "Hrukies" from earlier in this thread - even though I wrote them up as a bit of a joke! Just from the title, we can imagine these are hairy, furred abhumans.

Finally, we have the Neanders. I've no idea what hyannothus means, (again, the internet cannot help me with that) but the title "neanders" hints they're aiming at cavemen. Interestingly, this again closely matches a concept I came up with independently last week for abhuman cavemen - the write up is here. (The Kromagnan infantry) I hadn't seen 6th ed when I saw this, and obviously the writers wouldn;t have seen my concept either - it's just a weird example of how people approaching the same concept from different ends can come up with remarkably similar ideas! It's almost like convergent evolution…

I like all this new Abhuman stuff, but I do have a couple of reservations…firstly, the list of abhuman species currently active appears to be exhaustive, ie the writers are saying you ONLY have these abhumans. OK, there may be some scope for one of the many extinct subtypes to not be extinct at all, but I would have preferred a more open-ended writeup. I don't like options for creativity being closed down.

Secondly, what about the poor old Afreilis? They were originally classed as abhumans in the WD article which mentioned them for the first time, but they don;t appear on this list. Are they now deemed one of the extinct abhuman types? Does the same apply to the nightworlders? Or are Afrielis no longer classed as Abhumans? This actually is a reasonable assumption, as Afreilis didn't evolve into their current form, they were created, so they are technically different to "normal" abhumans…

Anyway, just a few thoughts!