NPC & Threat Rules

The following rules apply to NPCs and other threats the GM uses.

Threat Types

Each threat is given a classification:

• AI: Infolife and other digital entities primarily found in infomorph form (not including TITAN constructs). These follow the rules for infomorphs.
• Alien: Sapient biological alien life. These have the Non-Human Biochemistry (Level 2) trait. Psi sleights might not work against these creatures or may be more difficult.
• Exhuman: Transhumans that have modified themselves via dangerous methods into something different. Some have the Non-Human Biochemistry trait.
• Exsurgent: Manifestations of exsurgent virus transformations. The specific strain of the exovirus is noted. These have the Non-Human Biochemistry trait.
• Neogenetic: New life forms created from scratch. Some have the Non-Human Biochemistry trait.
• Tech: Autonomous robots, nanoswarms, and nanoplagues — sometimes of alien origin. These follow the rules for synthmorphs and bots.
• Transhuman: NPCs that follow normal character rules.
• TITAN: Machines, AIs, and biological entities controlled by the TITANs. Digital entities are treated as infomorphs, machines are treated as synthmorphs and bots.
• Xenofauna: Non-sapient biological alien life. These have the Non-Human Biochemistry trait.

Niche

This lists the environments in which the NPC/threat is likely to be found. Use this to identify the threats most fitting for your scenario’s environment. Creatures may often be found outside of their niche, but there may need to be an explanation for how this came to be.

Numbers

This indicates how many of each threat are likely to be encountered. These numbers can and should be adjusted according to the strengths and weaknesses of the PCs.

Threat Level

Each NPC/monster/machine is listed with a Threat Level that provides a rough baseline for the type of challenge it would present to a standard squad of PCs.

Yellow threats represent mooks and minions — creatures that are usually only a threat in large numbers. Yellow threats can be a more serious danger to a smaller group of PCs or individuals, especially if they lack combat skills. Because yellow-level creatures are so weak, one solid hit will usually remove them from a fight. For quicker combat, we recommend treating yellow enemies as one-shot, one-kill opponents. Encounters with yellow threats serve to instill a brief bit of action, to complicate a scene where the characters are facing other skill, environmental, or technical challenges, or to include a bit of dark comedy. Yellow threats typically have skills of 40, Durability in the 10–25 range, and a Threat pool of 0 or 1.

Orange threats are individually about as capable as a PC. They make good one-on-one challenges or as a unit can present a threat to a full team of PCs. Scenes with orange-level threats are ideal for mid-scenario challenges, tense unexpected encounters, or to keep the PCs busy while an important NPC escapes. Orange threats usually have skills between 40–60, Durability of 30–50, and a Threat pool of 1–3.

Red threats are more dangerous. A few red-level threats, or even an individual, poses a serious challenge to an entire group of PCs. Casualties — or at least serious injuries — are a real possibility. Red-level encounters should be used sparingly, as they may deplete the group’s resources. Red threats typically have skills from 40–80, Durability of 50–100, decent armor, and a Threat pool of 3–6. Alternatively, give them full pools as a PC.

Ultraviolet threats are boss-level antagonists. A well-equipped PC team will find them difficult to take down and character death is a real possibility, if not a likelihood. They are best reserved for the climax of a scenario or even a full campaign. If they make an earlier appearance, they should only engage the team quickly before moving on. Ultraviolet threats have primary skills of 80+, Durability scores exceeding 80, good armor (10+), and full pools.

Threat Pool

To simplify pool use, NPCs and threats use a Threat pool. This pool serves as an amalgamation of all the pool types — Flex, Insight, Moxie, and Vigor. GMs can spend this for any of the pool effects, such as flip-flopping dice or going first in an action turn. However, GMs should take care to make the use of Threat pool fit according to the NPC/threat. For example, it makes sense for a group of thugs who are heavily augmented for combat to spend their Threat pool the same as Vigor pool, but it would not fit for them to repeatedly use it the same as Insight pool. For transhuman threats, the GM should look at the morphs they are sleeved in when deciding how best to allocate Threat pool.

When handling groups of NPCs/threats, Threat pool applies to the entire group, not individuals. If the GM raises or lowers the numbers in the group, Threat pool should be adjusted accordingly. In some cases, exceptional individuals (such as a leader) may be given their own Threat pool distinct from a group they are with, either because they stand out in different ways or simply to make them distinct.

Note that Threat pools are often substantially lower than the pools held by PCs. This is to reflect the fact that most threats interact with PCs only briefly, whereas PCs must spread out their use of pools over the course of a day and multiple encounters. GMs should always feel free to raise or lower Threat pools as they feel appropriate; the NPCs may be fresh and desperate to stop the players (increased pool) or may be spent or uncommitted to their agenda (lowered pool).

For major NPCs and boss-level threats, we recommend giving them full pools as normal, rather than Threat pools, given the prominent role they play in the story.

When designing your own NPCs/threats, you will need to determine how much Threat pool to assign them. The honest answer is: as much as they need to keep the fight interesting. The primary use of Threat pool is to represent the threat’s transhuman capabilities, counter unfortunate strings of bad dice rolls, nullify critical failures that would bring about an abrupt, anticlimactic resolution, or otherwise make the encounter challenging and rewarding to PCs. Avoid using Threat pool simply to take PCs out of the fight, but don’t be afraid to use it against PCs who are exceptionally tough or armored or otherwise too bad-ass. You also don’t necessarily need to determine Threat pool in advance. To keep your options open, you may want to pick a limit just to avoid going overboard. A good rule of thumb is to assign no more Threat pool than any single PC has in total pools.

Tailoring Challenges

The Threat Levels provided assume a PC team of 4 characters with a mix of skills, abilities, and gear; some characters are combat-oriented, while others are less so. It’s important to design your scenarios so that the challenges are suitable for the PCs.

If the group of PCs is smaller, less combat-ready, or simply poorly equipped, you should tone down the challenge level. Aside from simply picking a lower-level threat, you could reduce the number of creatures that appear with a higher-level threat or reduce their skills by about −20. You could also remove some of their more dangerous abilities, reduce their armor, or saddle them with impediments appropriate to the situation (such as being caught without cover in a firefight).

If the PCs are more numerous, more combat-capable, or are toting around loads of armor and heavy weaponry, you’ll probably need to up the ante. Your options include using higher-level threats, increasing the skills of lower-level threats by around +20, equipping creatures with extra armor or more potent weaponry, increasing the DV they inflict, or buffing their Durability stats.

Beyond tweaking stats, the GM always has the option of changing a creature’s behavior. Have the threat attack the toughest character who can soak up the damage rather than tearing apart easier targets. If the PCs are getting trounced, have their opponents get cocky and make some tactically unwise decisions, such as leaving cover or switching to flashier but less lethal attacks. If the PCs are mopping up the bad guys without breaking a sweat, have the NPCs take cover, break out the big guns, call in reinforcements, or try and disable a few PCs with shock weapons. Don’t forget the usefulness of hacking the PCs to limit their capabilities. To bump up a challenge, include one creature from a higher threat level in a group of lower-threat opponents.

Not all of critters and machines have ranged attacks — particularly some xenofauna. This means that a well-armed team could theoretically cut them down from a distance. To overcome this, use surprise, trick the PCs into a close-quarters situation, obscure the environment with fog or smoke, or give the critters extra numbers to use as cannon fodder while the rest close in for melee.

Note that some ultraviolet threats — such as creepers, fractals, and self-replicating nanoswarms — are very difficult to completely destroy. These baddies can be introduced earlier, because the PCs might very well temporarily take them out, or at least drive them off. They will be back, however, and will relentlessly adapt to the PC’s capabilities. The second or even third encounter should be much more difficult. The final boss fight should be all but impossible to win — but the PCs should be given options for escaping — or at least completing their mission.

Minimum Damage

Some threats, such as Factors, jellies, and fractals, take the minimum damage possible from certain types of attacks. You must still roll damage and subtract armor, as normal. In this case, however, the maximum damage that may be inflicted after armor is calculated as if each die roll was a 1. For example, an attack inflicting DV 2d10 + 3 would inflict no more than 5 (2 + 3) damage after armor is applied (and possibly less or nothing if the armor takes the brunt).

NPCs/Threats and Stress

Some NPCs and threats — particularly aliens, exhumans, exsurgents, and TITANs — do not include Lucidity, Trauma Threshold, or Insanity Ratings. Due to their nature, they are exempt from suffering stress and trauma. They may be non-sapient, already insane or mentally broken, or simply so alien or neurodivergent that the rules do not apply.

Stress Value

Some threats list a Stress Value entry in their stats: this is the stress that PCs face simply for encountering the threat Stress Tests.

What PCs Know About Threats

Some threats are previously known to Firewall and equivalent groups. However, transhumanity often lacks the full details; they generally only know what they have gathered from direct observation and forensic evidence after encounters with these dangers.

Burnt wreckage and charred corpses only reveal so much.

PCs may attempt to use appropriate Know skills or Rep Tests with an appropriate rep network (usually i-rep or r-rep) to ascertain information about a danger they have encountered. For example, Know:

Astrobiology might reveal the capabilities of an alien critter the character is observing, Know: TITAN Machines might provide some trivia regarding the uses of headhunter drones, or Know: Genetics could be helpful in identifying a neogenetic creation.

For each successful test, the GM should answer one question posed by the player, plus one per superior success. These questions could be general — type of creature, likely motivation, etc. — or they could be specific to the character’s game statistics: primary attack, Armor Value, Movement Rate, primary traits, etc. The GM should provide benchmarks rather than specific numbers (“faster than you” or “less protective than body armor”) and should only provide answers that may be reasonably ascertained or are within the realm of knowledge held by transhumanity.

Other skills may also prove useful, at the GM’s discretion. For example, a Hardware: Robotics Test could identify an unknown robot as being of non-transhuman origin, or a Guns Test might confirm what model of firearm a group of exhumans are sporting.