Creating New Mutant Animal Descriptions

Creating New Mutant Animal Descriptions

INTRODUCTION
Well, after having created a bunch of mutant animal descriptions for use with After the Bomb 2^nd Edition (ATB2), I finally decided I should go ahead and develop some guidelines for doing so based on my own experiences. While this is designed for use with ATB2 (as older editions of ATB and TMNT use less developed systems for mutant animal descriptions) it is essentially the same idea behind my guidelines for Creating Martial Art Styles.

As in the guideline for Creating Martial Art Styles there are several terms which have to be identified before beginning. As most, if not all of these terms are covered in ATB2, definitions will be referred to those page(s) in the book where the definition can be found. The beginning section of Animal Descriptions (pages 76-77) cover the basic terminology you will need for the layout of a Mutant Animal Description (MAD). These terms include Size Level (see page 21, under “Growth Levels (Steps)”), Build (no real definition, but see page 22 for how to use it), BIO-E (page 21), Human Features (pages 23-24), Animal Powers (pages 68-73), and Vestigial Disadvantages (pages 73-76). Also worth noting is one missing item, “Natural Weapons” which will be defined (loosely) as ‘Mutant Animal Powers which are used as weapons.’ Now, new to the MAD usage is Erick’s Creation of Throwbacks (page 10), (Genetic) Chimeras (page 15), and Purebreds (pages 14-15). What these three mutant animal types let one do is create either a specific animal breed (in the case of Purebreds), an extinct, cryptozoological, or mythical animal (in the case of Throwbacks), or the creation of a genetically new, or mythologically based animal (in the case of Chimeras).

NOTE: Aside from this guideline, it is mandatory to keep a copy of ATB2 open and ready for use when creating a MAD. Additionally, the first edition ATB books of Road Hogs (RH), Mutants Down Under (MDU), Mutants of the Yucatan (MotY, Yucatan), Mutants in Avalon (MiA, Avalon), Transdimensional TMNT (TDTMNT, Transdimensional), and Mutants in Orbit (MiO, Orbit) will come in handy (MiO is especially useful in the creation of mutant insects and animals with insect-like features). For simplicity, I’ll refer to the books other than ATB2 that are listed here as the “first edition ATB books” (which will include TDTMNT and MiO) throughout the rest of this guide. Mutants & Animals may also be useful (along with Rifts Underseas/Coalition Navy, Rifts Spirit West (see the Totem Animals), Splicers (see the Bio-Armor creation rules) and to a lesser degree, any book with information on a monster or race (for power specifics primarily, though mythological monsters may be doable), or a super power which is similar to the animal’s available powers is also handy.

MUTANT ANIMAL DESCRIPTION BASICS

Selecting a mutant animal to cover
To be honest, there’s not much I can say about this in terms of guiding one’s selection. I can say that if there is a canon version of an animal species, the Chimera, Purebred, and Throwback variants are often the best way to go for ‘new’ coverage. Of course this does have some caveats, namely that species covered in the first edition ATB materials can easily be redone to ‘upgrade’ them to ATB2 standards (though this has already been done in many cases unofficially, it’s more of a ‘multiple versions of a species is a good thing’ point of view similar to that of the martial art styles). Then again, a species (real, historical or mythological) which hasn’t been covered (in canon or not) is always a good thing, and there are still dozens, if not hundreds of species which haven’t even been addressed. One word of warning though, Palladium Books does not condone converting other intellectual properties to their system (primarily as a form of legal protection), so while you can still do these to your heart’s content, posting them online (much less in print) is frowned upon.

Research
Once you’ve decided what you want to do, you should begin by researching information on the animal you are going to cover. While I’ve found that Wikipedia is a good starting place to gather information on animal species, it should not be the only source one uses to gather information from (of course, often, you can’t get all the information you will need there anyway). Other encyclopedias (online or not), fact books about animals (in specific or general), and many other websites can be used to gain additional information. There are a surprising number of online scientific websites concerning various animals, and Wikipedia often has links to these sites.

Things to look for in Researching a MAD
Now that we’ve covered the basics of researching an animal, let’s cover what items you should be looking for, and what items you should be ignoring, when researching the animal. Obviously the proper name should be one of the things you have to have, but you usually have this when you selected the animal in the first place, however, you should also keep an eye out for nicknames and scientific names, whether or not you will use them in your final product.

Description
I like to have a fairly standardized approach to writing descriptions of something that mainly consists of various stat blocks. While this is somewhat uncreative and dull, it does allow the writer to provide basic, non-statistical information about the item which helps the end-user (player or GM) to role-play the item. Given the sample animal descriptions from ATB2, there are a variety of approaches one can use. Let’s start with the most basic and simple description. In this case the animal receives a short description consisting of a physical description (often including mention of the type of animal, i.e. such as amphibian, reptile, bird, mammal, carnivore, herbivore, predator, prey, etc) along with the basic behavior of the animal (predatory habits, activity cycle, diet, etc.). The next approach simply adds a minimal bit of information on the ecology or habitat of the animal (particularly setting-related information on where the animal is found geographically). Finally, the third approach can include information from the other two methods, but is mainly concerned with information on how the animal fits into the ATB2 setting (while this may include geographical information, it most often contains societal information on how and where such animals live). This setting information may also be used to further flesh out the setting (for instance the Porkopolis Flying Pigs, which note that Cincinnati, Ohio is now known as Porkopolis), provide rumors (such as the reference to Purebred Parrots creating a nation in South America), and/or provide setting ideas based on information that hasn’t been fully fleshed out (for example the Native American affiliation for Wolves, and the notation about “mystical powers”).

Size
Also of importance are the height/length and weight information on the species, either as a range, or (more commonly) the maximum limit for that species (since this information is often much easier to find that the range of weight or height/length). Whether the numbers are found in the Imperial System or Metric System is irrelevant, since you will be providing both in your final product. Which of course brings up the next point, it’s very useful to keep a calculator and either a table of conversions or a measurement conversion website handy so you can make sure that both systems are listed in your final product. Keep in mind that weight is going to be THE factor which will determine the animal’s initial Size Level, not height/length! For this information, consult the table on page 21 of ATB2. Of course the height/length in comparison to weight will also determine the creature’s build, see the appropriate table on page 22 of ATB2 for this information. Last, but not least, the Size Level will also help you determine the initial amount of Total BIO-E for the MAD. While Erick uses a fluctuating scale (I have declined to analyze it simply because I don’t believe that there should be that much variation in initial BIO-E) of initial BIO-E based remotely on Size Level, I use a more standard scale where SL 1 creatures have 80 Total BIO-E, and each additional Size Level reduces the amount of BIO-E by 5, up to SL 16 which receives 5 BIO-E (and 0 BIO-E for any animal larger than this). I may include more BIO-E if the creature is very small, essentially smaller than Size Level 1 (<3 ounces weight and/or 1 inch in height/length, common for insects and several smaller animals), depending on what I feel is appropriate. Finally, keep in mind that the term “sexual dimorphism” is simply the difference in size between males and females of that species, and unless there is an extreme sexual dimorphism (more than two effective size levels difference), it should be ignored.

Human Features
The next concern will be how the animal will mutate with regards to the standard Human Features (biped, hands, looks, and speech). We’ll start with Looks since it is (often) the most difficult of the four to generate. Basically Looks: None means the creature does not have any human features, not always the case with animals (particularly the primates which usually start with Looks: Partial). I should also note that while Erick prefers to think of Full Human Looks as near-human looks, I prefer to think of them as improvements on how the animal looks in relation to humans. Keep in mind also, that there are more than just the three basic types of Looks listed on page 24 of ATB2, there are also “Perfect” Human Looks available (see some of the Swine MADs later in ATB2, among other animals). To write up your Looks sections it’s easiest to get a physical/anatomical description of the animal in your research, then decide, using the existing ATB2 Animal Descriptions, how you want to make the animal look more human (the easiest way to do this is to take an existing Animal Description’s looks and modify it to reflect your animal’s specific looks and changes to those looks).
Aside from Looks there is Speech, probably the easiest Human Feature to do. If the animal natural has an evolved method of vocal communication (as in the case of say parrots or dolphins), then they begin with Partial Speech. Generally however, most animals will begin with Speech: None.
Biped is sometimes more difficult to handle, if the creature has less than two or more than four limbs (exclusive of a tail), but there are some basic methods available to handle those special cases, such as those for octopi (RH), insects (MiO), partially limbless (in terms of ground locomotion limbs, such as seals) (RH), completely limbless (such as snakes) (MotY), and a few other odds and ends worth looking into.
Likewise Hands have some considerations as well, particularly in the case of flying creatures such as birds and bats (see ATB2 for the notes on these creatures), but also consider multiple limbs (like insects) (MiO), and lack of limbs (like snakes) (MotY). Keep in mind that Chimeras, Purebreds, and Throwbacks most commonly have their Human Features preset to ONE option with little or no chance to change these features.

Attribute Bonuses
While the animal’s Size is fairly straight forward number crunching, and Human Features depend on some basic physical information, Attribute Bonuses are much more difficult to quantify. I’ll admit that I generally tend to semi-randomly assign these based on what makes sense and what similar animal descriptions have. However, there are some ways to get information on these in order to be truer to the animal. The easiest method is what I like to call the Thesaurus Method, where one uses a synonym of the attribute you’re looking for used as an adjective somewhere in the animal’s description. There’s a list of commonly seen descriptors to use, though no real formula for determining how much of a bonus such a descriptor would add;
I.Q.: the descriptor for this attribute is most commonly seen as a variation of “considered to be among the most intelligent of animals”, though “remarkably intelligent” or a similar variation may also be seen.
M.E. the descriptor for this is generally encountered as “solitary”
M.A.: the main descriptor I’ve seen of note for this for animals is something along the lines of “social/highly social animal,” however “playful” is somewhat less common
P.S.: powerful, strong, brawny, muscular, rugged, sinewy, stalwart, mighty, potent, puissant; able-bodied, beefy, burly, husky, strapping, tough, and toughened.
P.P.: dextrous, agile, agility, dexterity, lithe, graceful, lithesome, nimble, and spry
P.E.: athletic, fit, trim, virile energetic, energized, invigorated, lusty, red-blooded, robust, vigorous, vitalized, hale, healthy, hearty, and sound
P.B.: Okay, I’ll be honest, I don’t really use this much because I think it’s pointless, however, while there are synonyms for beautiful, what you would look for is whether or not the animal is considered cute or attractive, kept as a pet OR sought after for it’s looks (especially in the fur industry)
Spd.: generally the descriptor will be “fast” or some related word, however, if the animal has a notation about it’s speed (often listed in mph/kph) it will generally deserve a bonus to Spd.
Additionally, these descriptors will help you with the “Extra attribute” Mutant Animal Powers selection. Keep in mind for strength that Brute Strength (as in automatic Brute Strength) is an indicator of some strength in the creature, typically a creature two to four times as strong as a human (if you can find such a comparison), stronger creatures may have Beastly Strength instead (typically on the order of 10 times as strong as a human). Crushing Strength should have only one instance of occurrence, and that is in the case of a Chimera used to create a mythological animal. That’s not to say that Beastly and/or Crushing Strength shouldn’t be available as additional options for mutant animals of notable strength, just the initial automatic availability guidelines. While these guidelines help in determining what attributes could be available as Mutant Animal Powers, my guideline is to only use these when A) they’re especially justified and B) when you need filler powers to give some more options to your animal. I tend to avoid handing out Extra Attributes as typically available powers to animals because using them means I wasn’t able to dig up enough plausible or cool powers to provide the mutant animal (although as you’ll note, they do appear when they’re especially justified).

Natural Weapons
These are generally fairly simple to figure out, as Antlers & Horns, Claws (including Talons), Hooves, Teeth & Tusks (including Beaks and Fangs) are fairly well covered under the Mutant Animal Power section of ATB2. There are some missing items from those (certain types of teeth/fangs/mandibles/etc and chelipeds/pincers (for arthropods, decapods, and insects) both come to mind), but in general they provide good guidelines. Additionally there are some other, similar, natural weapons, such as Quills, Spurs, Spines, and tail weapons which are less completely covered in both ATB2, and the first edition ATB books. Additionally there are some more unique weapons with even less coverage, such as spitting attacks, poison/venom/toxins, electrically generated body attacks (as in electric eels, electric rays, and the like), sound/sonic/ultrasonic attacks, stink sprays (see the skunk, though this isn’t the only animal with such a weapon), slime or mucus, or (one of my personal favorites) digestive stomach acids/fluids which may require more research and game mechanic development (though there is some coverage available from Palladium Books’ catalog of books). Additionally, non-lethal, entangling-type attacks (such as spider webs, snake constriction, tail constriction, etc) will have to be dug out of one of the resource books.
For assigning natural weapons, predators are more likely to have a damaging bite and/or claws, whereas prey animals are more likely to have antlers/horns and/or hooves, with defensive armaments such as spines, spurs, and quills being a smaller, tertiary possibility.
The general guideline for determining the BIO-E cost of these various weapons is fairly simple, with the existing guidelines providing good costs. Keep in mind that the lower damage or effect will have lesser BIO-E cost than something more damaging or effective, and that the BIO-E cost for poisons is generally fairly high (20+ BIO-E, more if it’s a lethal poison). Predators are more likely to have venom (injected poisons) as a means of predation, which means that they will also have a generally damaging delivery method, primarily fangs or stingers, though spines and tentacles are also used for poison delivery. Prey animals on the other hand are more likely to developed a defensive toxin, sometimes a venom delivered from defensive spines, but commonly poisonous skin or secretions which do damage to those coming into contact with the prey animal.

Mutant Animal Powers
While attribute-related powers and natural weapons (which are essentially a sub-class of the Mutant Animal Powers) have been covered, there is still a huge range of powers to discuss. Senses will be covered after the Vestigial Disadvantages, since the guidelines for them affect both areas. Beyond that there are some basic things to look for when researching the animal. First is the creature’s activity cycle. There are three basic activity cycles (though an animal doesn’t necessarily have to have an activity cycle). First there’s diurnal, which means the animal is active during the day and is less likely to have night-related powers (such as nightvision). Second is nocturnal, where the animal is active at night (which means more night-related powers like nightvision). Third is crepuscular, which means the animal functions primarily at dawn and dusk, leading to some night-related powers. Keep in mind that an animal which is primarily subterranean or lives deep in the ocean’s depths may exhibit night-related powers unrelated to it’s activity cycle, simply because of the increased darkness in these places.
Our next area of concern is the animal’s eating habits, though this is related more to Vestigial Disadvantages than Animal Powers. However, predators will be more likely to have powers like Predator Burst than prey animals, especially if they’re ambush hunters or speed hunters. Subterranean animals are also more likely to have digging or tunneling powers as well as their sensory adaptation to living underground. Flying creatures will need to take note of the Flight powers. Gliding on the other hand will also apply to those generally non-flying animals who have adapted to do so. Arboreal animals generally tend to have powers related to climbing and living in trees, such as climbing claws, prehensile tails, brachiation (that is, locomotion by swinging from object to object using only arms (and/or possibly a prehensile tail)), and they will be more likely to have evolved gliding.
Aquatic creatures will generally receive Hold Breath (if air breathing creatures) and Swimming abilities, though I have to admit that I’m not satisfied with how these are handled in ATB2, to the point where I’ve had to create expansions on both Mutant Animal Powers. Generally mammals, amphibians, reptiles, water birds, and other similar land- or air-based animals will have essentially minimal levels of these powers while primarily aquatic creatures such as fish, cetaceans, and other water-dwelling animals will have expanded abilities with regards to swimming and may have the ability to hold their breath in the air (if they haven’t purchased lungs or dual-breathing, again, my additions). Additionally, aquatic and amphibious animals may also have some form of water or cold protection powers as well.
Leaping is another area where I have had to add additional power levels, since the three basic leaping abilities (standard, rodent, and feline) don’t completely cover the options, however, these are generally used as guidelines to leaping ability rather than species-specific leaping ability. Hibernation (and Winter Torpor) are powers which generally apply to those animals which have a survival adaptation to winter.
Extra Limbs are generally powers brought into consideration during the Human Looks section, as these will play a role in the Biped/Hands section (though not always) in addition to being powers in their own right. For the Extra Limbs guidelines I can only recommend consulting the various books listed in the introductory note for guidance. Then there are the more minor animal powers, such as Internal Compass, and Righting Reflex, which are fairly rare.
Lastly there is Natural Body Armor. The basic guidelines available in ATB2 go a long way toward determining this, but the key things to keep in mind is that armor is dependent on the exterior/skin of the animal. For instance insects and related animals will have a hard exoskeleton to act as armor, while other creatures will have thick skin which acts as armor, or, in many cases the animal will have plates, scales, or other hard exterior covering to act as armor, of course many creatures can grow or inhabit an external hard shell which acts as armor, lastly some animals have a thick covering of fur, wool, or hair which can act as a light armor. Finally, some animals will have armor limited to particularly vital spots, especially the eyes.
Many animals, both predator and prey have evolved several varieties of camouflage to make them more difficult to see. This can range from a simple countershading scheme where an animal has light-colored external covering in areas where they animal would normally be shadowed and dark-colored in areas where they would normally be lit (aquatic creatures such as sharks, and several species of birds), to the standard camouflage pattern of skin, fur, or scales. Some animals have even developed controllable pigmentation which can be actively changed to match the background, commonly referred to as Chameleon Camouflage. In other animals, this ability is not controllable by the animal, and works much slower, typically manifesting as a seasonal camouflage pattern change. Then there are some species who develop non-functioning appendages which help them blend with background vegetation. Additionally, some animals take this to an additional extreme and are either natural, or can physically adopt the physical look of another organism, this is called mimicry. Obviously the BIO-E costs for such protective powers is going to be scaled with the more passive forms of camouflage being cheaper than active forms of camouflage, with the possible exception of mimicry, where a natural mimicry ability (i.e. the animal always looks like something else) would cost more than an active mimicry ability (where the animal has to change it’s posture or body shape to look like something else) due to the difference in camouflage ability provided.
Bioluminescence, or the ability of an animal to generate a form of cold light can also be used as a method of camouflage (it is generally used similar to countershading or mimicry, either changing the apparent shape of the animal when viewed from one direction, or changing the visual shape of the animal to appear as something else). However, bioluminescence also has many other uses, such as acting as a lure for predators, being used to distract predators with a visible distraction, communication through altering light patterns, and, more rarely, as a form of illumination in order to see prey which would normally be hidden (such as the case of the Black Dragonfish, which uses infrared illumination in order to detect red-pigmented prey which would normally be hidden due to the lack of red wavelength light at ocean depths).
Another area of consideration is environmental adaptation. Many animals will develop resistance to or a biology which makes them essentially immune to certain environmental conditions, such as extremes of heat or cold, radiation (in a few species), high altitudes, aquatic living conditions (depth, pressure, and the most obvious, breathing with gills instead of lungs), as well as the lack of water (desert conditions) and/or food. While some of these abilities have been developed as usable game mechanics, others may need to be created based on the animal.

Vestigial Disadvantages
Two of the areas discussed under Mutant Animal Powers also play a role in Vestigial Disadvantages, primarily activity cycle and diet. The activity cycle will determine disadvantages (such as Nocturnal) which offset the powers they may have available due to their activity cycle. I should note that for myself, I added Crepuscular as a lesser version of the Nocturnal Vestigial Disadvantage. Diet will determine two things, whether or not the animal can select a Vestigial Diet (again, an area where I’ve added a LOT more options), and the Reptile Brain (if the animal can be considered to have one) loosely based on whether the creature is a predator or prey. I say loosely based simply because not all predators react in game terms as predators, especially since the majority of predatory species are NOT apex predators, which means that while their diet is primarily predatory (carnivore, insectivore, or something similar), they themselves are preyed on by other species, which leads them to react more like Prey in stressful situations than Predators. A further note on diets; just because the animal is a carnivore, doesn't necessarily mean it only eats meat, many carnivores can eat plant or other matter, often detrimentally to their health.
Next in consideration are what I like to consider Vestigial Appendages, including Cervid/Seasonal Antlers, Vestigial Ears, Vestigial Hooves, Vestigial Horns, Vestigial Tail, Vestigial Wings, and Webbed Hands and Feet (though again I should note I’ve expanded the options available under this classification), basically these are all based on the animal’s anatomy, with wings leading to the option of Vestigial Wings, Webbed Hands and Feet occurring in aquatic and amphibious animals, and so on and so forth for other appendages.
Aquatic animals also need to consider some additional areas of concern. The first is the presence or lack of buoyancy control method, especially the commonly appearing (or vestigial) swim bladder in fish. The second is whether or not the animal dehydrates when removed from water. The last non-sensory area of consideration would be Musk Glands, primarily found in certain mammals of the Mustelid family.

Sensory Powers and Disadvantages
As noted above, the senses get their own selection, since they often fall under both Powers and Disadvantages. The first area to cover will be sight, again determined by the two key factors of activity cycle and diet (though in this case, it would be more accurate to say “biological interaction” since we’re looking more at the predator/prey dichotomy than what specifically the creature eats) with nocturnal and crepuscular animals more likely to have Nightvision, and prey animals more likely to suffer from prey eyes (not too mention Nearsightedness, since many predators (though not all) use their vision to hunt). Ultraviolet Vision is fairly rare in animals, found primarily among insects, though birds (especially birds of prey, chickens, and penguins), mice, lizards, and some other animals are known for being able to see into the ultraviolet. The Advanced Vision/Color Blindness determination is one thing where you really have to research the animal in depth, as it may not be easy to find this information (and you may even be forced to ‘wing it’). Additionally there are other types of eye organs (and physical growths affecting eye formation/placement) which should be taken into consideration. Compound Insect Eyes (see MiO), and Spider Eyes (ATB2, page 116) have already had coverage, but there are two, less developed, types of eyes which provide poor vision, such as ocelli (which only allow the differentiation between light & dark) and simple eyes (slightly more developed ocelli which add the ability to vaguely make out shape).
The same problem of Advanced Vision/Color Blindness applies to all the other senses as well, though many animals are noted for having a good/bad sense of smell and/or hearing. Touch and Taste are much harder to get information on, though of the two, touch is more likely to be discussed in an animal’s description. As for taste, the only recommendation I can give is that if the animal has a general diet, but specific liking of a particular food (for instance the Panda’s liking of bamboo, not the best example) it may have more advanced tastebuds.
Additional senses, such as sonar, vibratory/motion senses, thermal/heat senses, electrical/magnetic senses (particularly the lateral line sensory organ commonly found in fish), temperature senses, and directional senses will also be present, and fairly easy to discover in research on the animal. I’ll take this time to also note the existence of chemoreceptors. On one hand they provide enhanced smell capability, on the level of pheromone detection, on the other hand though, they provide enhanced taste capability useful for detecting things like changes in chemical composition (such as pH, salinity, toxins, the presence of blood, etc) which can provide some decent tracking ability.
On the Vestigial Disadvantage side though, I have to express some disappointment in the lack of coverage of poor or lacking senses (such as bad senses of smell/taste/touch, but mostly the lack of these senses, such as total blindness, lack of a sense of smell, hearing, or touch), and while I understand basically where Erick was coming from in not including these (losing one of the five primary senses means much more in the way of work for game mechanics than assuming that they’re basically available) I’ve had to add such Vestigial Disadvantages due to their occurrence in such creatures as minimally developed, subterranean and deep-sea dwelling animals (not to mention other animals).

New Powers and Disadvantages
Okay, I’ve pointed out in several places that there are many power/disadvantage classifications where I’ve been dissatisfied with either the quality, quantity, or existence of certain items. Additionally, I’ve mentioned several additional areas of consideration which just don’t receive the amount of coverage they should in ATB2 (though there are some useful notes in the first edition ATB books). So now I thought I’d speak about creating new powers and disadvantages. The first thing to keep in mind is that the list on pages 68-76 of ATB2 are not the only Powers, Weapons, or Advantages which one can use when creating a mutant animal, there are also several of each scattered throughout the individual Animal Descriptions in the book, many of which are more common that just applying to that specific species or animal. Additionally, the other first edition ATB books have powers and weapons which will also be of use, though many of these aren’t as fully detailed as the ones in ATB2. A reference list of these powers including their page location in the appropriate book will be included at the end of this guideline.
However, as I well know from creating tons of new powers and disadvantages myself (they will all eventually be added to the site in their own LARGE file), you may come across something in researching your animal which makes for a cool ability as a mutant animal power, natural weapon, or vestigial disadvantage. This means you will need to come up with a description and game mechanics for how it works. While there are no hard and fast guidelines for this, I can recommend some rough guidelines. First, see if there are rules for a similar power in a race or monster description, or a super power from another Palladium book. Secondly, reference the existing Weapons, Powers, and Disadvantages for guidelines on how to make the new power work.
Determining the BIO-E cost of such powers may cause some problems as well, however, the guidelines provided by the existing books should give you a good idea of what price the power rates. Finally there are special considerations for Chimeras, Purebreds, and Throwbacks, where they may have special skills or powers available, such as superpowers, which need to be worked into the system (see ATB2, page 121 for how to determine the price of super powers in BIO-E).

Notes
While this section of the format isn’t generally used, there are several cool or key things which can be included here. My personal favorite thing to include in this section is breed variants of a species, as exemplified in ATB2 by the Mutant Dog’s Genetic Background table or Mutant Cat Breed Appearance Table. Key notes which can/should be included are the Bird note about wings (page 81) or the Giant Animal Notation (for example, page 80). Setting-based information, such as the Wolf’s “Optional Native American Affiliation” would also go in this section. Additionally, I recommend detailing any new Natural Weapon (if information beyond the basic damage is needed), Mutant Animal Power, and/or Vestigial Disadvantages in this section to keep the final product easily readable (though this is not done in ATB2 itself).

FORMAT
Here is the basic Mutant Animal Description Format, with applicable text formatting (note that the standard costs for Human Features are included, although your animal may vary);

ANIMAL
Original Animal Characteristics
Description:
Size Level:
Height:
Weight:
Build:
Mutant Changes & Costs
Total BIO-E:
Attribute Bonuses:
Human Features
Hands: 5 BIO-E for Partial or 10 BIO-E for Full.
Biped: 5 BIO-E for Partial or 10 BIO-E for Full.
Speech: 5 BIO-E for Partial or 10 BIO-E for Full.
Looks: None;
5 BIO-E for Partial;
10 BIO-E for Full;
Natural Weapons:

Mutant Animal Powers:

Vestigial Disadvantages:

Notes:

INDEX OF MUTANT ANIMAL POWERS, NATURAL WEAPONS, AND VESTIGIAL DISADVANTAGES NOT FOUND ON PAGES 68-76 OF ATB2

ATB2 ADVANTAGES
Alligator Quick Run (77)
Snake Venom Resistance (78)
Ultrasonic Contents Detection (79)
Winter Torpor (80)
Natural Instinct for Building & Construction (81)
Advanced Nightvision (83)
Flexible Neck (83)
Vocal Effects (85)
Natural Singing Aptitude (88)
Salt Water Survival (90)
Float (90)
Insulating Water Repellent Feathers (90)
Spit (92)
Advanced Immune System (92)
Water Storage (92)
Advanced Camel Sense of Smell (92)
Extra Limb: Slashing Tail (104)
Extra Limb: Prehensile Trunk (106)
Extra Limb: Advanced Prehensile Trunk (106)
Padded Feet (106)
Low Frequency Wave Detection (106)
Master Swimming (113)
Web Spinnerets (114)
Web Shooters (115)
Web Hooks (115)
Spider Adhesive Pads (116)
Extra Limb: Set of Spider Eyes (116)
Extra Limb: Set of Arms (116)
Extra Limb: Set of Legs (116)
Ability to Play Dead (124)
Extra Limb: Prehensile Tail (124)
Sensor Whiskers (125)
Quill Defense (125)
Sex Pheremone Production (127)
Weight & Body Fat & Muscle Control (128)
Generate Light (130)
Light Pulse (130)
Chameleon Skin (130)
Transparancy (131)
Silent Prowl (131)
Gene-Shift (131)
Perfect Balance (133)
High Disease Resistance (133)
Corded Wool (133)
Extra Limb: Fluffy Spray Tail (134)
Extra Limb: Fluffy Tail (135)
Radiation Immunity (135)
Throwback Natural Body Armor (137)
Swimming (138)
Increased Metabolic Rate (139)

ATB2 DISADVANTAGES
Subservience (95)
Predatory Bloodlust (104)
Catnip Additction (111)
Reptile Brain: Dead Prey (124)
Vestigial Quills (125)
Cotton Tail (128)
Masked Face (129)
Vestigial Skin (136)
Vestigial Shell (138)

Road Hogs Notations
Terrain Awareness (6)
Advanced Flight (Hummingbird) (7)
Heightened Speed (7, 10)
Sonar (8)
Thick Blubber (8, 13)
Accelerated Dodge (8)
Advanced Vision (Chameleon) (9)
Chameleon Camouflage Power (9, 10)
Paralytic Poison Bite (9)
Black Ink Spray (10)
Multi-Limb Coordination (10)
Powerful Suction Cups (10)
Natural Thieving Bonus (12)
Extra Thick Skin (13)

Mutants Down Under Notations
Horn Casque (14)
Heightened Speed (14, 16)
Prehensile Feet (15, 21)
Advanced Hopping Ability (18, 20, 22, 25)
Advanced Toxin Resistance (18)
Increased Metabolic Rate (19, 24)*
Recycling Kidneys (19)
Prehensile Tongue (20)
Poison Spurs (21, 23)
Electrical Field Sensitivity (21)
Non-skid Palms (22, 25)
Paralytic Poison Venom (23)
Deadly Poison Venom (23)
Infrared Vision (23)
Advanced Tongue Touch (23)
Quill Defense (23)
Spine Defense (24)
Capillary Skin (24)

Mutants of the Yucatan Notations
Large Suction Cups (9)
Small Suction Cups (9)
Advanced Sonar (10)
Thermo Imaging Vision (11)
Natural Acrobatics (12, 17)
Prehensile Tongue (13)
Thick Flesh (15)
Natural Swimming (15)
Constrictive Body Muscles (17)
Advanced Tongue Touch (18, 19)
Camouflage Scale Pattern (18, 19)
Death-Like Stance (18)
Paralytic Poison Venom (19)
Deadly Poison Venom (19)
Heat Location Pit Organs (19)
Accelerated Strike (19)
Prehensile Trunk (19)
Quill Defense (21)
Sensor Whiskers (21)

Mutants in Avalon Notations
Prehensile Toes (12)
Float (12, 13, 16, 18)
Insulating Water Repellent Feathers (12, 13, 18)
Absolute Navigation (13, 18)
Reduced Weight (13)
Light Spine Armor (14)
Medium Spine Armor (14)
Heavy Spine Armor (14)
Booming (14)
Advanced Vision (Heron/Puffin) (14, 16)
Climb (15)
Swim (15)
+5 to S.D.C. (16)
+15 to S.D.C. (17)
+25 to S.D.C. (17)
Rigidity (18)
Swallow Flight (18)
Run Across Water (18)
Jackhammer Beak (19)
---Snail/Slug/Insect Powers---
Slime (20)
Thermo Vision (20)
Natural Homing Instinct (20)
Snail climbing (20)
Snail Shell (20)
Snail Retreat (20)
Shell (20)
Thicker Armor (21)
Paralytic Poison (22)
Special Vision (22, 23)
Sticky Suction Pad Feet (22)
Terrible Vision & Smell (22)
Limited Diet (22)
Silk Web Generation (23)
Poison Venom (23)
Flight (23)

TDTMNT Notations
Thick Skin (19, 28)
Stiffened Tail (21, 22, 24)
Heightened Speed (21, 22, 24, 26)
Temperature Control Plates (24)
Added Speed, +5 (27)
Prehensile Trunk (28)
Thick, Matted Fur (28)
Heavy, Matted Fur (28)

MIO Notations
Insect Feature: Wings (42)
Insect Feature: Four legs for walking (42)
Insect Feature: Four legs for running (42)
Insect Feature: Four legs for jumping (42)
Insect Feature: Four legs for climbing & clinging (42)
Insect Feature: Two-legged Biped (42)
Insect Feature: Two-legged Biped with a second pair of partial limbs used as both arms and legs (42)
Insect Feature: Humanoid arms & hands (42)
Insect Feature: Clawed hands & feet (42)
Insect Feature: Insect Strength* (42)
Insect Feature: Insect Endurance (42)
Insect Mouth: Superior Taste (42)
Insect Mouth: Large Mandibles (42)
Insect Mouth: Small Mandibles (42)
Compound Eye: 180 degree area of sight (42)
Compound Eye: 360 degree area of sight (42)
Compound Eye: Ultraviolet Vision (42)
Compound Eye: Polarized Sight (43)
Compound Eye: Hard Eye (43)
Compound Eye: Optics Bonus (43)
Compound Eye: Advanced Eye (43)
Antennae: Smelling Power (Track & maneuver by smell alone) (43)
Antennae: Smelling Power (Identify common, known smells & insect chemical smells) (43)
Antennae: Smelling Power (Remember & identify a specific unusual scent) (43)
Antennae: Smelling Power (Smell the coming of rain & large fires) (43)
Antennae: Touch Power (Accurately identify common, known objects/substances) (43)
Antennae: Touch Power (Identify temperature) (43)
Antennae: Touch Power (Accurately identify wind direction) (43)
Antennae: Motion Sensing/Hearing Power (Track by sound alone) (43)
Antennae: Motion Sensing/Hearing Power (Motion detection & track by motion detection alone) (43)
Antennae: Motion Sensing/Hearing Power (Feel the vibrations) (43)
Antennae: Motion Sensing/Hearing Power (Hear ultrasonic sounds, super keen hearing) (43)
Antennae: Motion Sensing/Hearing Power (Communicate with ultrasonic sound) (43)
Antennae: Motion Sensing/Hearing Power (Antennae combat bonus) (43)
Insect Flight: Slow (43)
Insect Flight: Medium (43)
Insect Flight: Fast (43)
Insect Flight: Hyper Fast (43)
Insect Exoskeleton Body Armor: Light Armor (43)
Insect Exoskeleton Body Armor: Medium Armor (43)
Insect Exoskeleton Body Armor: Heavy Armor (43)
Insect Chemicals: Chemical Alarm (43)
Insect Chemicals: Chemical Trail (43)
Insect Chemicals: Chemical Attack (43)
Insect Chemicals: Chemical Death (43)
Insect Chemicals: Chemical Love (43)
Insect Chemicals: Chemical Stench (48)
Insect Chemicals: Stench Chemical Spray (50)
Leg Sacs (46)
Wax Glands (46)
Natural Weapon: Stinger (46)
Natural Weapon: Needle Mouth (46)
Natural Weapon: Combat Damage Bonus (46)
Natural Weapon: Pinning Pincers (51)
Natural Weapon: Stabbing Needle Mouth (53)
Natural Weapon: Grasping, serrated arms (55)
Note: Insect Strength gives a lift value equivalent to Beastly Strength, but is considered "Supernatural Strength." Which means that some problems occur in basic execution. I solve this problem by solving the gap in ATB2's existing strength breakdown, by placing Insect Strength between Beastly & Crushing Strength, making it equivalent to Superhuman Strength.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws