STARFISH
Original Animal Characteristics
Description: Also known as sea stars, these creatures are essentially five arms radiating from an central indistinct disc with radial symmetry. Unlike most of the mutant animals which have been developed, starfish are very primitive, requiring
much more mutation to approach humanoid levels. The majority of sensory organs also have to be developed, in addition to developing a true brain from the
Size Level: 3
Height: up to 4.5 feet (1.4 m) across.
Weight: up to 13 pounds (6 kg).
Build: Medium
Mutant Changes & Costs
Total BIO-E: 70
Attribute Bonuses:-2 to I.Q., +6 to P.E., +4 to P.S.
Human Features
Hands: None; Crawls along with arms.
10 BIO-E for Partial; The arms have developed three branches at the end of each which serve as two fingers and a thumb.
20 BIO-E for Full; The arms have developed five branches at the end of each which serve as four fingers and a thumb.
Biped: None; Crawls along with arms.
10 BIO-E for Partial; Two arms have developed into rudimentary legs and feet.
20 BIO-E for Full; Two arms have developed into legs and feet.
Speech: None, because the mouth isn't designed for communication and no vocal apparatus is present.
10 BIO-E for Partial; Primitive vocal cords develop in the creature.
20 BIO-E for Full; The vocal cords have evolved to a humanoid level.
Looks: None; Looks like an amorphous body with five limbs.
15 BIO-E for Partial; Only possibly if partial hands and biped are purchased. The creature appears to be some form of poorly developed humanoid, with short, thick arms and legs. The fifth arm of the starfish may develop into a head or a tail.
30 BIO-E for Mostly Full; Only possibly if full hands and biped are purchased. The creature appears to be basically humanoid, with thick legs and arms, hands and feet.
Natural Weapons:
5 BIO-E for 1D4 damage Defensive Spines
10 BIO-E for Balooning Cardiac Mouth (Technically not a mouth, but an external stomach, this attack allows the creature to expand their mouth, allowing them to digest prey much larger than normally possible. A target (1/4, 1/5, 1/6, or 1/10th)
of the attacker's size can be swallowed on a successful strike. Targets who are swallowed take damage as per Digestive Fluid.)
20 BIO-E for Proboscoid Cardiac Mouth (This special version of the cardiac mouth allows the creature to inject their mouth into another creature in order to feed. Because of the hydraulic nature of the attack, it can be used to penetrate hard
shells or exoskeletons. On a successful roll above the creature's A.R., their shell or exoskeleton has been pierced, causing 1D4 damage. Unfortunately for that creature, the character can now feed on their soft internal flesh and organs, doing
1D6 damage per melee attack used to feed.)
Mutant Animal Powers:
Automatically gets Breathing: Gills and Simple Eyes (normally a Vestigial Disadvantage)
5 BIO-E for Advanced Touch
5 BIO-E for Hold Breath (in the air)
5 BIO-E for Brute Strength
5 BIO-E for Basic Head and Simple Eyes (Part of the central body develops into a basic head-like structure, with no neck, containing a pair of simple eyes and the mouth.)
10 BIO-E for Beastly Strength
10 BIO-E for Swimming: Basic
10 BIO-E for Breathing: Lungs
10 BIO-E for Camouflage Pattern
10 BIO-E for Olfactory Sense (This is the basic sense of smell.)
10 BIO-E for Simple Head and Prey Eyes (The head becomes more developed along with the eyes, though no neck is present.)
20 BIO-E for Breathing: Dual Breathing
20 BIO-E for Crushing Strength
20 BIO-E for Humanoid Head and Prey Eyes (While the starfish has developed a humanoid head and neck, the eyes are still at the sides of the head.)
30 BIO-E for Autotomising limbs
30 BIO-E for Humanoid Head and Predator Eyes (This head and neck are quite developed, with forward facing eyes instead of eyes at the side of the head. While no hair is generated, the tube feet of the water vascular system do appear on the
head in the place of hair, giving the starfish a punk-style haircut appearance similar to extremely short dreadlocks.)
Vestigial Disadvantages:
-5 BIO-E for Water Vascular System (This represents the starfish's normal system of "muscles" used for locomotion (in fact, any movement of the limbs), respiration, digestion, and excretion. Without water to use in the system the character
will be incapable of moving, breathing, eating, and just about every other activity, making them completely helpless and liable to die in 1D4x10 minutes.)
-5 BIO-E for Webbed Hands and Feet
-5 BIO-E for Vestigial Tail (actually the fifth arm of the starfish)
-10 BIO-E for Diet: Carnivore
-10 BIO-E for Reptile Brain: Predator
-10 BIO-E for No Sense of Smell
-10 BIO-E for Dehydration: Mild
-15 BIO-E for Diet: Detritivore
-15 BIO-E for Deafness
-15 BIO-E for Total Blindness
Notes: Technically, starfish don't have gills per se, instead they have a water vascular system for locomotion and other functions. It is treated here as gills for simplicity, as they need water to function properly, unless the equivalent of air-breathing lungs or a dual system is purchased.