A Mon Alone

Player Handout 4: Nalz, the Spiner

Roleplay Clarifications:  You, the hero, are still you. You simply have an awareness of someone else, and their impressions of those with whom they have been trapped (the other minions of Mon’s and the two Jedi).  Some of the bodies, and memories, are stronger than others, and may influence your behavior somewhat.  The physical description is what you look like, in the body of this “other”.  The mental impression is what remains of them.  You may use the mental impression to enhance your roleplay with the other heroes, to help you better understand Mon, or perhaps some or all of the above, but the mental impressions are not meant to force you to think or play a certain way.  Everything that says “You” under the mental impressions is meant to describe the thoughts that linger from the prior inhabitant of this body.  Thus, if you read, “You hate all Jedi,” that doesn’t mean that your hero hates all Jedi; it means that the memories of the body into which you’ve stepped are those of hating all Jedi.  The only parts of the text of this handout that bind you are the physical description, and the assets and drawbacks. You cannot escape what you look like, and the assets and drawbacks were such central parts of who this individual was, that they remain even with the Force essence stolen away. We will discuss the stat block, and how you use it, when we come to that point.

Physical Description:  You are a little under two meters tall, covered in brown fur that is permanently singed black in some places.  You have a short snout and beady black eyes, and your back is covered with rigid spines that you can raise or lower by using the muscles of your shoulder or upper back. You have a tingling in your upper back, as if you’ve experienced some recent growth.

Mental Impression: You retain the memories of who you were before you entered this body, an awareness of everything that happened to you over the course of your life.  But you also have a sense of who Nalz was, and what he valued.  Most of what you sense about Nalz is ego – ego, and anger.  The paragraphs below represent what you retain of Nalz’s memories; they are generally distinguishable from your own, and while you are aware of them, they probably will not guide your actions.

You remember history lectures about how superior your species was before your home world’s star went supernova and all but a few thousand of your kind were killed. You would have ruled the galaxy by now.  Instead, you were taught the history and fall of your kind as part of a traveling FREAK SHOW, your mother reading to you in a booth whose front wall was made of transglass while thousands of people paraded by and read whatever text was being projected on the outside of the partition.  Then they’d stop, gawk at you, point at your spines.  Sometimes they would take holorecordings.  On the day when your mother choked on a piece of meat and died in front of the partition, they took more pictures than ever.

After that, you were allowed access to a computer with all the information you could ever want about your species, your family, your background.  It was projected on your side of the partition, just as the information the tourists read about you must have been projected on the other side.  When you read something horrible – and there was plenty that was horrible to read – they saw your reactions.  You began to use the computer for more detailed information gathering, and became rather adept with it.  You also began to realize that there might be things you could do to start to regain the prominence due your kind, even if you couldn’t – for the time being – get out of the cell.

You had almost engineered a way to escape when you found yourself released.  Your freedom, you were told, had been bought by a Chevin named Phylus Mon.  You remember hearing that he declined an offer to purchase you, but that he would like to negotiate a contract with you for future services.  The offer was generous, and included the chance to train in various ways that you thought would prove advantageous.  You spent several years traveling with other of Mon’s employees, part of an elite strike force that sought out less desirables and eliminated them.  With your agility, you made yourself known in a variety of ways – though only to those who worked with you.  Those against whom you worked never knew of you until it was too late.  It was only last month that Mon asked you to come and work for him directly.  Saying “No” wasn’t an option, and you wouldn’t have done so, regardless.  Your contract specifies that you cannot refuse Mon anything. You spent all of the time since in your cabin on his ship, searching for information on this “Cularin” place he wanted to come and planning how to deal with any Jedi who got in your way.  You don’t remember anything of the system, although the image of a black spire is stuck in your mind.

You don’t think much of any Jedi.  If they were so good and righteous, they would have stopped the side-show freakery that kept you in a cage for so many years.  They’re worthless.  You find Wookiees in general to be impulsive to the point of foolishness, and knew from the moment you learned that you would be forced to work with one that he would be trouble.  The Trandoshan – she’s strange.  She doesn’t say much, and seems like she doesn’t do much, but she’s around at the most opportune times, and has a way with creatures.  She spent too much time being angry at the Wookiee, who spent too much time trying to stand behind her.  Mon had his reasons, you’re sure.  The Barabel is dangerous. He knows too much, you think.  You wouldn’t let him stand behind you in a fight, and you wouldn’t let him anywhere near your computers.  The Human is someone you hadn’t met before you reached Cularin. He’s huge and, you’re fairly certain, an utter moron.  You don’t usually waste your time with Humans, regardless.

Assets: You’re extremely cunning.  You’ve been through enough fights that when you square off against an opponent, you can virtually anticipate his or her every move.  Every round after the first when you’re in combat against a single opponent (this includes both melee combat, and combat in which another opponent is attacking you at range, so long as you can see the opponent), you can make a Sense Motive check, DC 25, to guess what your opponent’s next move will be.  You can add an insight bonus to your defense equal to the number by which you exceed the required DC for the duration of the round against this one opponent.  You can only use this ability against one opponent per round, and only prior to that opponent’s first attack against you.
Drawbacks: You believe you should be in command. This personality trait is so deeply ingrained in Nalz that it seeps through if you aren’t careful. Any time another individual gives you an order, you must make a DC 12 Will save or refuse (at least initially; if they re-try the order, you may re-roll the Will save).  Having someone ask you to do something does not constitute an “order” – it’s simply them deferring to your greater skill and expertise, as is appropriate.

Nalz, Male Spiner Scoundrel 6/Scout 6/Bounty Hunter 2; IM +4 (+4 Dex); Def 22 (+4 Dex, +8 Class); Spd 10 m; VP/WP 120/16; Attack +10/+5 (DC 15 stun baton) or +10/+5 melee (1d4, dagger) or +14/+9 ranged (3d8+2/19-20, blaster rifle) or +10/+10/+10/+5 ranged (3d8+2/19-20, blaster rifle on multifire) or +10/+5 ranged (2d4, quills); SQ Illicit Barter, Lucky (2/day), Precise Attack +1, Trailblazing, Heart +1, Uncanny Dodge (Dex to defense), Skill Mastery (Survival), Extreme Effort, Evasion, Target Bonus +1, Sneak Attack +1d6; SV Fort +9, Ref +14, Will +8; SZ M; FP 1; DSP 4; Rep 4; Str 10, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 8.
Equipment: street clothes, +2 mastercraft blaster rifle, stun baton.
Skills: Balance +11, Bluff +5, Computer Use +10, Disable Device +3, Escape Artist +8, Gather Information +12, Hide +23, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (Alien Customs) +3, Move Silently +26, Sense Motive +13, Sleight of Hand +12, Survival +18, Tumble +12; Speak Basic, Speak Huttese.
Feats: Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Quills), Heroic Surge, Multishot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Skill Emphasis: Move Silently, Stealthy, Track, Weapons (blaster pistols, blaster rifles, simple weapons).

For the duration of the event, you use your own mental ability scores and related skills and feats, but you use Nalz’s physical abilities.  This includes his attack sequence, his VP/WP, any skills based on Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution (other than Force skills), and any physical feats (this includes all the combat-related feats except exotic weapon proficiencies). You get the distinct impression, once you’re inside this body, that its essence was probably chosen specifically because of its combat-readiness.