Armored Slayer

Armored Slayer

The origin of these bizarre, quasi-humanoid creatures remains a mystery. One’s first impression is that the creature is some sort of armored soldier or alien being reminiscent to the Bio-Wizard creations of the Splugorth of Atlantis. However, it quickly becomes evident that these armored juggernauts are some strange, semiintelligent monster from the Rifts.
The Armored Slayer is a barrel-chested, walking mound of organic plates, spikes and gnarled bone. A humanoid thing clad in rough and jagged armor not unlike an anthropomorphic rhinoceros wearing bulky, multifaceted plate armor. Upon closer inspection, the armor plating appears to be a composite of fragments made from metal, stone, wood and bone that has been covered and built upon with a light grey resin that is hard as rock.
The Armored Slayer typically has two thick, stumpy legs, a pair of thick arms, huge 2-3 fingered hands, broad shoulders, hunched back, and a thick, short neck with the head shoved into its shoulders. Protruding from what is assumed to be the mouth are six, prehensile tentacles. Each is roughly ten feet (3 m) long, can act in unison or independent of the others, and ends in a spear-like tip that is used for slashing and stabbing.
The fingers of the oversized hands are usually made of jagged chunks of M.D. metal or swords (including Vibro-Blades or magic swords), or the barrels of inoperative rail guns. They are connected to the hand by the resin and used to cut, stab, jab and hit rather than to use as articulated digits; that’s what the tentacles are for.
Just as the Hermit Crab of Earth finds an empty shell to use for its body, this alien being uses scrap armor and debris glued together, strengthened, built upon and molded with a secreted resin into the shapes and body plates of its artificial body.
Why a roughly humanoid shape is chosen is unknown. The genuine creature is a large, pale red mass of flesh that resembles a giant brain with two yellow eyes and a mass of six tentacles extending from underneath the front part of the body mass. The eyes are on short stalks located above the tentacles. Without its armor the creature resembles the Metztla of Atlantis, but there is no relation. This tentacled brain is the size of the upper torso of a human (roughly three feet/0.9 feet tall and 4 feet/1.2 m long; not counting tentacles). It sits in the chest of its armored body with the glowing yellow eyes peering out of the armor-plated head and the tentacles protruding from what appears to be the mouth. It controls its artificial body through a network of thread thin tendrils that extend from its own body into its artificial construct much like the network of nerves in a living animal.
It is further assisted by Telekinesis and other psionic powers.
If its armored body is destroyed, the actual flesh and blood creature is vulnerable to attack, as it is only a minor M.D.C. being, and crawls along using its tentacles at a painfully slow pace, though it often climbs up into trees (if available) where it can move faster and can disappear and hide among the branches and leaves. Without the armored shell, the creature is much less formidable, but far from helpless with its tentacles and psionics to defend itself.
Despite the massive size and weight of its artificial body, most Armored Slayers move and battle with the grace and lethal efficiency of a Juicer. They move much faster than their size and bulk would suggest, and they can perform back flips, somersaults, leaps and karate-style strikes at lightning speed and with astonishing fluidity.
Armored Slayers never eat flesh or any other type of physical food. The monsters feed by absorbing Potential Psychic Energy (P.P.E.) and psychic energy (I.S.P.) from other living beings similar to the Psi-Stalker.
Like the Psi-Stalker, the Armored Slayer must capture and incapacitate its prey, then cover them with a slimy yellow substance secreted from the tentacles and mouth area. This slime has no negative effect on its victims other than somehow allowing the monster to absorb their P.P.E./I.S.P. through it. The tentacles weave and slide through the slimy goo, painlessly sucking up the slime and at the same time, the victim’s psychic energy. When all the slime is removed/reabsorbed, the victim will have lost 1D4x10+60% of his P.P.E. and/or I.S.P., up to 100 points at a time. Of course, the victim will naturally regenerate said energy, so any loss is only temporary, and potentially dangerous only if the individual needs to defend himself with magic or psionic abilities.
As a result, the monster’s favorite prey are beings with high P.P.E. or I.S.P. such as demons, dragons, Faerie Folk, psychics and practitioners of magic. In the case of demons and opponents whom the Armored Slayer plans to fight to the death, the creature will slime that foe just before killing him. At the moment of death, the yellow substance captures all escaping P.P.E. energy, doubled at the time of death, even if the body vanishes, leaving only the goo behind, which is then devoured as usual. (When slain, demons and many other supernatural beings usually discorporate.)
The creature gets its name from the fact that it seems to hate supernatural beings (demons, vampires, Entities, Alien Intelligences, etc.) and goes out of its way to destroy them. As an armored “slayer” of demons and monsters, the creature should be accepted by other D-Bees and humans, except that it is so alien and has a great deal of trouble comprehending humanoids, their language, behavior, society, science and laws. Thus, Armored Slayers are at best the equivalent of a monstrous, mentally challenged child who understands and communicates to a limited degree. It is easily distracted and confused, does not understand technology and tends to respond to, and with, emotions and instinct.
The Coalition States have been responsible for killing thousands of these “nightmarish monsters” over the decades, so Armored Slayers have learned to recognize the Death’s Head symbol representing savage destroyers and enemies to be feared and avoided.
This has also made them leery of humans in general and to avoid cities and large towns where they are likely to cause a panic and get attacked. Sadly, this makes the Armored Slayer one of the most feared and misunderstood of all alien life forms in North America.
That changes slightly as a result of the Minion War when it becomes obvious that demonic beings are the natural enemy of the creature and therefore it is an ally of humanity by default.
Note: Technically, the Armored Slayer is not actually a D-Bee and is regarded by most people to be a monster, which is why it is here among animals and monsters in the Rifts Bestiary. The term Dimensional Being is usually reserved for intelligent, bipedal humanoid aliens with at least a vaguely human body shape. The alien organism that is the Armored Slayer isn’t even remotely human, humanoid or bipedal. It is a multi-tentacled blob that creates an artificial, armored body that has a humanoid shape. An appearance it intuitively takes for its massive artificial body in a feeble attempt to fit in with the dominant life forms on our world, humanoids.
This hunter of supernatural evil from an alien world seems to act on animal instinct, but only kills those who threaten it or who are its instinctive enemies, like demonkind. At times it exhibits near human intelligence and can be surprisingly clever and cunning, especially in combat. An Armored Slayer exploits any advantage that it sees, including taking advantage of confusion or distractions, uses surprise attacks, strikes from the cover of invisibility, uses the cover of night, sets ambushes, sets simple traps by using other demons as bait (or things that they want), and even feigns injury or confusion to trick its enemies!
Despite being misunderstood and attacked by humans and DBees, Armored Slayers may join bands of humanoids, particularly those who hunt and battle supernatural evil, dragons, and dangerous creatures of magic. That includes the Minions of Hell and the Splugorth and their Minions. The problem is that the clever but simplistic monster is difficult to direct and control, and has trouble understanding such concepts as teamwork and subterfuge. Likewise, it seems to have no comprehension of human laws, regulations, politics or society. Consequently, if it recognizes a demon (perhaps metamorphed in human form) through a window in a bar or in a crowd of people in a town square, the Armored Slayer’s natural instinct is to bellow, charge and kill; knocking innocent people out of its way and smashing displays and merchandise.
It is very much a bull in a china shop. Likewise, it quickly grows bored with lengthy discussions of strategy and will suddenly turn and charge or go off to fight on its own rather than wait while the group talks. Additionally, it cannot implement elaborate plans and usually takes a direct approach to everything – a locked door, kick it in; a damsel in distress, rush in to save her; a monster threatens or challenges, attack it; and so on.
Note: Armored Slayers can learn to understand several languages, but never at better than 70% comprehension, and rituals, laws and tradition are always lost on it. They can even speak simple words and phrases in a soft, hissing voice that sounds like air escaping from a radiator or air hose.
Before the Minion War comes to Rifts Earth, the Armored Slayer is most common around the Hudson Bay, Nunavut, the northern islands, and the coast of Newfoundland where the creatures are most likely to be encountered as lone individuals, pairs or small groups of 3-6. When not hunting humanoid prey of their magic or psychic energy, they seem to be most frequently found in the ruins of cities, forests and marshlands. They have great difficulty navigating rugged land and avoid mountains as well as inhabited cities. The Armored Slayer was also occasionally encountered as a lone hunter and in pairs (rarely groups of its own kind) in the old Provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Upper Michigan, and around the Great Lakes (Wisconsin, northern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York) – rarely any farther south or west. They seemed to favor being around bodies of water, especially large rivers, lakes, bays and seas, despite the fact that they are not particularly good swimmers and seem to dislike the water.
Since the Minion War, Armored Slayers have moved west and are found fighting the Minions of Hades and Dyval everywhere.
While still rare and exotic beings, their numbers seem to have increased.
This leads some to wonder if those on Rifts Earth have somehow reached out to Armored Slayers on other worlds to come join the fight here on Earth and specifically the battle for North America. They still tend to avoid Coalition troops, but will assist them in combat against demons and monsters, leaving as soon as the battle is over. Armored Slayers seem to gravitate toward other groups, most notably the Native American warriors and Shamans, Cyber-Knights, Lynn-Srial Sky-Knights, Tundra Rangers, Atlanteans, Lemurians and warriors and mages from Lazlo.

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Armored Slayer, Alien Demon Slayer

Also Known As: Crab Warrior, Tentacle Warrior, but will become known as the Armored Demon Slayer as the Minion War goes on for several years.
Alignment: Any, but typically the equivalent of Scrupulous (55%), Unprincipled (25%) and Anarchist (15%). Only a tiny percentage are evil.

Attributes:
I.Q. 1D4+5 (7), 
M.E. 1D6+12 (16), 
M.A. 1D6+8 (12), 
P.S. 1D6+25 (29) (Supernatural) or 17 for each tentacle (Supernatural), 
P.P. 1D6+16 (20) for tentacles and the armored body, 
P.E. 1D6+15 (19) for the organism (Supernatural), 
P.B. 2D4 (4) for both the blob and its artificial body, 
Spd 2D6+20 (27), or 15-23 mph (24-37 km) running in the armored body. Only 1-3 mph (2-5 km) for the living organism outside its armor, but an impressive speed of 50 mph (80 km) when it leaves its armor behind and goes arboreal, swinging through the branches of trees via its tentacles. That speed can be maintained for one or two hours at a time, but a move comfortable pace of 10-15 mph (16 to 24 km) can be maintained for up to six hours at a time.
Swimming speed in armor is only 5 mph (8 km), but 12 mph (19 km or 10 knots) when the tentacled creature swims without its armor. Maximum ocean depth tolerance is 2,000 feet (910 m).

M.D.C. by Location of the Armored Body:

• Hands (2) – 100 each
• Arms (2) – 150 each
• Legs (2) – 225 each
• Head – 180
• *Tentacles (6) – 20 each
• *Eyes (2) – 8 each
• Main Body – 2D6x10+300 (370) in armor

M.D.C. of the Tentacle-Creature without its Armor (a blob with two eye stalks and six tentacles): 2D6+30 M.D.C. (37) for the main body of the organism, 20 M.D.C. for each tentacle, 8 M.D.C. for each eye stalk.
* The tentacles are small targets that are constantly moving, so to hit one the attacker must make a Called Shot and even then is -5 to strike. The eyes are small, shielded, and need a “Called Shot” to strike with a penalty of -7.
Loss of limbs and damage to the main body does not hurt the organism inside the armored body. Moreover, it can replace the lost limbs of its artificial body and restore lost M.D.C. by rebuilding its body with more M.D.C. scraps. See Natural Abilities for more details. If the entire main body is destroyed, the alien organism is revealed and vulnerable to attack.

Horror Factor: 13 for most people who think it is a monster. No Horror Factor for those who come to realize it is a force of good, unless they have to fight one for some reason. Horror Factor 15 for demonic beings who know Armored Slayers are demon slayers!
Size: 9-12 feet (2.7 to 3.7 m) tall.
Weight: 1,500-4,000 pounds (675 to 1,800 kg).
Average Life Span: Unknown, believed to live 300-600 years.
Nobody knows exactly how this creature mates or bears young, presumably outside the armor, possibly underwater.
P.P.E.: 4D6 (14)
Disposition: While Armored Slayers are direct in confrontations with the supernatural or when threatened, they can be quite child-like in their thoughts, emotions and reactions outside of combat.
Equivalent Skill Abilities: Climbing 60%/40%, Land Navigation 80%, Lore: Demons and Monsters 80%, Prowl 40% (+20% outside of its armor), Track Animals 60%, Track People 65%, Swimming 40% (+15% if the organism abandons its armor), Tailing 65%, and understands American at 70% and 1D4+1 other languages at 50% (may increase up to 70% with experience).
Natural Abilities: 

• Sharp vision and can recognize an enemy from a mile (1.6 km) away, 
• nightvision 1,000 feet (305 m), 
• see the invisible, 
• incredible strength and reflexes, 
• seems to be impervious to disease, poison and cold, 
• resistant to heat, 
• can hold breath underwater for 30 minutes, 
• can survive ocean depths up to 2,000 feet (614 m) and is probably better off walking on the bottom of a lake (if necessary) than trying to swim, but dislikes water. The living organism can also regenerate damage at the rate of 3D6 M.D.C. per 12 hours, and is able to regrow damaged or lost tentacle at the rate of one foot (0.3 m) per month and eyes within 1D6+6 weeks, half this time when recovering on a ley line.

Create Armored Body: The Armored Slayer uses M.D.C. metal, stone, ceramics, concrete, debris, machine parts, scraps of vehicle armor, etc. to build its artificial humanoid body. These scraps are used as the basic skeletal framework, weapons and armored plating of the hulking body. All of which is held together with a powerful, M.D.C. bonding resin. This gray substance is secreted from the tentacle and dries to become a hard, M.D.C. material itself. This enables the organism to constantly repair and improve itself by adding new parts and plating to its body and removing damage and replacing it with new armor and parts. The creature can also secrete a solvent to dissolve its own resin to remove or modify plates and parts as it sees fit.
The maximum amount of M.D.C. for the main Body is 420 points, with 300 being average. The main problem with maintaining its armored body is finding suitable M.D.C. materials and the time it takes to modify, improve and rebuild.
An Armored Slayer can make a complete basic appendage (arm, leg, etc.) with half its normal M.D.C. within 24 hours and a complete body with 150 M.D.C. within 72 hours.
Note: Like a Hermit Crab, the alien organism can leave its armored body at any time and occasionally does so to trick or escape an enemy.

Prehensile Tentacles (special): All Armored Slayers have six tentacles that can extend up to ten feet (3 m) in length. Each can move like an independent appendage or in unison with two or three others. They are used to attack, parry, and entangle. It has been observed that the creature can use these tentacles to grab or entangle objects, strike like a whip, and impale even Mega-Damage materials. The tentacles can use melee weapons like swords or clubs, but rarely do.
Note: If damaged or lost, a tentacle will regenerate at the rate of one foot (0.3 m) per month until it reaches its full length.

Attacks per Melee: Nine!
Mega-Damage: Varies with the built-in weapon used.

• Claw/Finger Blades Strike – 4D6 M.D.
• Head Butt (blunt) – 2D6 M.D.
• Kick – 3D6 M.D.
• Punch, Restrained (blunt) – 5D6 S.D.C.
• Punch, Full Strength (blunt) – 3D6 M.D.
• Power Punch – 6D6 M.D., but counts as two attacks.
• Retractable Sword or Spike – 4D6+1 M.D.; this may be a sword that extends from its oversized forearm or removed from a sheath on its back.
• Body Block/Shoulder Ram – 3D6 M.D.
• Running Body Block/Ram – 5D6+2 M.D., but counts as two melee attacks and has a 60% chance of knocking down an opponent under 12 feet (3.7 m) tall or weighing less than a ton. Victims of knockdown lose initiative and two melee attacks.
• Tentacle Strike: 1D6 M.D. and cannot be augmented.
• Tentacle Power Strike/Impale/Stab(special): 2D6 M.D. per single tentacle (4D6 if two tentacles strike simultaneously and 6D6 if three strike; not more than three can strike the same target at the same time), and multiple tentacle simultaneous strikes counts as two attacks.

Bonuses (in addition to possible attribute bonuses):

• +3 on initiative,
• +3 to strike,
• +6 to parry (includes use of the tentacles),
• +6 to entangle,
• +6 to pull punch,
• +3 to disarm,
• +6 to save vs Horror Factor
• and +6 to save vs possession.

Vulnerabilities: The alien’s lack of understanding about people, society and the laws of civilization can get it into trouble, as can its rash actions and monstrous appearance. The latter changes to a large degree during the Minion War, in which people realize this beast should be named the Armored Demon Slayer, and is one of the good guys.
Magic: None.
Psionics: Psychic powers are limited to Death Trance (1), Detect Psionics (6), Empathy (4), Intuitive Combat (10), Impervious to Cold (2), Impervious to Fire (4), Meditation , Mind Block (4), Sense Magic (3), Telekinetic Lift (6), Telekinetic Push (6), and Telekinesis: Super (10+).
I.S.P.: 56 and is considered to be a Major Psychic requiring a 12 to save vs psionic attack.

Habitat: Before the Minion War, anywhere, but primarily Eastern Canada and USA, and all around the Hudson Bay. With the advent of the Minion War, Armored Slayers are found across the US and Canada, often joining other demon slayers and heroes, particularly Native Americans, Inuit Shamans, Cyber-Knights, Lynn-Srial Sky-Knights, Tundra Rangers, Atlanteans, Lemurians, warriors from Lazlo and heroes of renown. Few have ventured into Mexico to fight vampires, as the Minion War is seen as the most immediate and overwhelming danger.

Enemies: Demons and evil supernatural beings are enemy number one, but Faerie Folk, creatures of magic, practitioners of magic and psychics are all considered prey and often slain by these strange beings. Only those of good alignment may be spared, as well as those who are members of a group with whom the Armored Slayer joins or associates. However, if threatened, challenged or attacked by such a teammate, or if that individual is seen consorting with the enemy, the Slayer will attack and fight him to the death. CS soldiers are also considered dangerous enemies (or untrustworthy allies) best to be avoided.
Generally, takes no crap from anyone who threatens it. It should be noted that ALL evil supernatural beings are on the Armored Slayer’s hit list, including the Splugorth and their minions. Nor do they trust Shifters or Witches or anyone who enslaves and manipulates others.
Allies: Close to none prior to Minion Wars but other Armored Slayers, after: Demon Slayers, Inuit, Native Americans, Shamans, Cyber-Knights, Lynn-Srial Sky-Knights, Tundra Rangers, Atlanteans, Lemurians, warriors from Lazlo and heroes of renown. Since the advent of the Minion War, Armored Slayers are known to join groups of heroes and associate with humans and D-Bees to protect the innocent and stop the demonic invasion.

Typical Gear and Equipment: They can use simple melee weapons such as clubs, swords and spears, but rarely do so. Never use guns, technological devices or vehicles, though they will ride on vehicles or inside vehicles piloted by others. The creature has no need for any valuables or possessions other than salvage and scrap material to repair and improve its artificial armored body.
Value: A few have been captured and sold to Atlantis for arena combat, something the Slayers hate but are uniquely suited for.
The noble creatures hate Slavers almost as much as supernatural evil and will intercede to free slaves whenever they can.
Whenever enslaved, the Armored Slayer will try to work out a way to escape and free as many other slaves as it can with it, or come back with other heroes to rescue them.