Name: The Hoofed Thing Val Char Cost 35* STR 5 17 DEX 21 20 CON 20 20* BODY 12 25 INT 15 25 EGO 30 40 PRE 30 0 COM -5 30 PD 27 8 ED 4 3 SPD 3 6 REC 40 END 38* STUN *Bonuses for Growth Added In Characteristic Rolls: STR: 16-, DEX: 12-, CON: 13-, INT: 14-, EGO: 14-, PER: 14- Run: 14", Swim: 2", Jump: 3", Lift: 3200 kg Cost Powers END/Roll 33 Growth 20 points, +1/2 adv 0 END, +1/2 adv Persistent, -1/2 limit Always On, -4" Knockback, x8 Mass, -2 DCV, +2 vs. PER Rolls, x2 Reach 30 50 % Resistant Physical Damage Reduction 5 10 points Physical Damage Resistance 30 2D6 Physical HKA Teeth, 4D6 with STR 30 6D6 Telepathy 12 +4D6 HA with Kick 25 Life Support: All Environments, Self-Contained Breathing, Doesn't Age or Get Sick 5 IR Vision 5 UV Vision 5 Extra Limbs (Tentacle Clusters) 11 Mental Defense 25 16 +8" Running (Total 14") 19 Multiform: 288-point secondary form, -2 limit No Conscious Control Cost Skills, Talents, Perks Roll 3 Climbing 12- 3 Concealment 14- 3 Contortionist 12- 3 Interrogation 17- 3 Inventor 14- 3 Linguist 2 LS: English, fluent with accent 1 LS: Latin, fluent 1 LS: Arabic, fluent 3 Navigation 11- 3 Scholar 2 KS: The Occult 12- 2 KS: Eldritch Literature 12- 3 Scientist 1 Astronomy 11- 1 Astrophysics 11- 1 Human Anatomy and Physiology 11- 3 Shadowing 11- 3 Stealth 12- 5 Survival 12- 10 +2 with HTH Combat 3 Talent: Ambidexterity 3 Talent: Double-Jointed 3 Talent: Lightsleep 100+ Disadvantages 15 Accidental Change 14- When BODY Reaches 0, uncommon situation 20 Berserk 11- In Combat, Recover 11-, common situation 25 Extra-Dimensional Horror, not concealable, extreme reaction 15 Hunted 14-: Intrepid Paranormal Investigators, less powerful 10 Watched 11-: The Elder Gods, more powerful 20 Hungry, very common, irrational actions 5 Professional Rivalry: Wizard Who Summoned It 246 Disgusting Thing From Beyond Bonus OCV: 6(8 in HTH Combat); DCV: 4; ECV: 8; Mental Def.: 25; Phases: 4, 8, 12 PD/rPD: 30/10; ED/rED: 8/0 Costs: Char.: 162 Disad.: 110 Powers: + 294 Base: + 100 Exp.: + 246 Total: = 456 Total: = 456 Gaseous Form Val Char Cost 15 STR 5 17 DEX 21 15 CON 10 16 BODY 12 25 INT 15 25 EGO 30 40 PRE 30 0 COM -5 8 PD 5 8 ED 5 3 SPD 3 6 REC 30 END 22 STUN Characteristic Rolls: STR: 12-, DEX: 12-, CON: 12-, INT: 14-, EGO: 14-, PER: 14- Run: 6", Swim: 2", Jump: 3", Lift: 0 (It's non-corporeal) Cost Powers END/Roll 40 Desolid, +1/2 adv 0 END, +1/2 adv Persistent, -1/2 limit Always On, -1/2 limit Not Through Physical Barriers, affected by magical attacks 45 1D6 Transfer BODY to BODY, +2 adv Affects Physical World -- 4 END 25 Life Support: All Environments, Self-Contained Breathing, Doesn't Age or Get Sick 10 UV and IR Vision 11 Mental Defense 25 Cost Skills, Talents, Perks Roll 3 Climbing 12- 3 Concealment 14- 2 LS: English, fluent 7 Shadowing 13- 3 Stealth 12- 5 Survival 12- 3 Tracking 14- 100+ Disadvantages 15 Accidental Change 14- When Absorbs Equivalent Amount of BODY It Lost, uncommon situation 20 Berserk 11- In Combat, Recover 11-, common situation 25 Roiling, Oily Black Cloud with Glowing Red Eyes, not concealable, extreme reaction 15 Hunted 14-: Intrepid Paranormal Investigators, less powerful 10 Watched 11-: The Elder Gods, more powerful 25 Hungry, very common, total 5 Professional Rivalry: Wizard Who Summoned It 73 "I Knew Cthulhu When" Bonus OCV: 6; DCV: 6; ECV: 8; Mental Def.: 25; Phases: 4, 8, 12 PD/rPD: 8/0; ED/rED: 8/0 Costs: Char.: 131 Disad.: 115 Powers: + 157 Base: + 100 Exp.: + 73 Total: = 288 Total: = 288 Source: Robert E. Howard, "The Hoofed Thing," The Haunt of Horror, June 1973 Background: The Hoofed Thing was summoned to our dimension for foul but undisclosed purposes by one of those outrageously wicked and overconfident occult researchers endemic to quaint New England villages during the 1920s and '30s. The creature, kept in the researcher's attic study, was originally the size of a toad but grew rapidly on an all-meat diet. Once it had tasted human flesh it would accept nothing else. The wizard posed as a kindly wheelchair-bound scholar by day and crept out at night to seize victims to feed to the monster. Victims became harder to come by as the townspeople, alarmed by the growing number of disappearances, stayed home after dark. Desperate because the Hoofed Thing was becoming dangerously irritable, the wizard tricked a pretty neighbor into coming over. Unfortunately for the villain, the woman's fiance' wasn't the anemic professor usual in such tales but the campus jock. While the wizard enjoined the creature to put off its next snack, the athlete freed his girlfriend then snatched a (presumably decorative) bastard sword off the wall and went upstairs to confront the bad guy. He arrived in time to witness the Hoofed Thing devour the wizard -- an emphatic rebuttal of the latter's arguments. The brawny hero severely wounded the creature with his sword, and it dissolved into a malevolent cloudy mass that continued to pursue him and his fiancee. In the confusion, a lantern got knocked over. The wizard's ancient house was engulfed in flames almost as soon the lovers could scramble outside, and the hero presumed that the Hooved Thing was destroyed in the fire. Or perhaps not. No one actually saw the creature die; who could distinguish it from all the smoke? Besides, its a shame to have a monster this eerie dispatched so quickly and easily. The GM should give his intrepid band of pulp or fantasy adventurers a crack at it. The Hoofed Thing would be delighted to have the player characters over for lunch. Powers and Abilities: It's big, strong, scary and fast. It's hard to hurt, at least with physical weapons, because much of its mass isn't quite in our dimension. The only truly solid portions of its anatomy are its teeth and hooves. Its Double-Jointed and Contortionist skills represent its rubbery flexibility. The Hoofed Thing can see in the dark, and can endure conditions that would quickly kill a human being. In addtion, it is smarter and stronger willed than most humans -- bad news for any magician foolish enough to attempt to control it. It's skill set includes astronomical knowledge that it would naturally have coming from Out There as well as languages and knowledges from the occult studies the wizard would have assisted it with. It has several skill enablers because it learns so quickly. In combat the Hoofed Thing's strategy is simple: grab and bite. Its Hand-to-Hand combat skill levels represent the advantage of having dozens of grasping tentacles. Although its bulk prevents it from leaping as nimbly as a goat, it can deliver powerful kicks with its hooves. Disadvantages: Despite its great intellect, the Hoofed Thing's horrifying appearance and craving for human flesh preclude effective cross-species communication. In combat it tends to get lost in the joy of killing, even when the victims are its supposed allies. Its defenses against energy attacks, particularly killing energy such as fire, are merely average. When critically injured it loses its ability to maintain a corporeal form until it can drain enough energy from prey to reform. And it can't resist trying to one-up the magician who summoned it. How dare a potential prey try to give it orders! Height: cm (10' 7"), Weight: 1600 kg ( lbs), Sex: ?, Race: Cthuloid Horror Appearance: The Hoofed Thing is a dark, rubbery biped almost 11 feet tall that combines traits of insect, mammal, reptile and mollusk. Its bulbous head is dominated by a huge compound eye and a mouthful of sharp teeth. Instead of arms, it has a cluster of long tentacles on either side of its torso. Its muscular legs end in huge goat-like hooves. Although it is capable of speaking English, it tends to express itself in ear-splitting roars. When injured, the Hoofed Thing dissolves into a dense, oily black cloud with a pair of red sparks (eyes?) gleaming from within. It oozes ominously along the ground with malevolent intent. The creature described in Howard's story was a baby, less than a year old. Like some species of reptile or fish, Cthuloid entities never stop growing as long as they have a steady food supply and a congenial habitat. A more mature Hoofed Thing would be larger, tougher, smarter, and would probably have learned a few magic spells. ============== Hero System write-up by Kevin Scrivner