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While doing research for this series, I realized that the original Halo trilogy has fewer enemies than I thought. This week, I keep the series going with another set of iconic aliens from the series, the Flood. These creatures come into the game about halfway through and provide a perfect tonal shift for the game. Many hours have been lost with fighting the seemingly endless hordes of the Flood and I can’t forget to provide their stats. So, without further ado, let’s check out the Flood!
Flood Swarm CR 4
XP 1,200
N Tiny aberration (swarm)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15
DEFENSE
hp 50
EAC 16; KAC 18
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +5
Defensive Abilities swarm defense; Immunities swarm immunities
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee swarm attack (1d4+7 P)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Offensive Abilities reanimation
STATISTICS
Str +3, Dex +5, Con +2, Int –4, Wis +0, Cha +0
Skills Perception +15
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or hive (3–6)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Reanimation (Ex) A living creature slain by a flood swarm rises as a flood combatant in 1d4 rounds.
The Flood swarm overwhelm their targets, taking control of their bodies.
Flood Carrier CR 3
XP 800
N Medium aberration
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13
DEFENSE
hp 40
EAC 14; KAC 16
Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +4
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam +11 (1d6+7)
Offensive Abilities reanimation, rupture
STATISTICS
Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int –4, Wis +0, Cha +0
Skills Perception +13
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or collective (3–5)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Reanimation (Ex) A living creature slain by a flood combatant rises as a flood combatant in 1d4 rounds.
Rupture (Ex) A slain flood carrier explodes upon death, releasing a flood swarm. This flood swarm has only half of its maximum hit points and is sickened. A flood carrier can intentionally explode as a full-round action, destroying the flood carrier in the process.
Flood carriers are older Flood combatants no longer suitable for combat. They house growing Flood swarms to release on potential hosts.
Flood Combatant CR 5
XP 1,600
N Medium aberration
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16
DEFENSE
hp 70
EAC 17; KAC 19
Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +6
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee slam +14 (1d6+11)
Ranged pistol +14 (1d8+5)
STATISTICS
Str +5, Dex +3, Con +2, Int –4, Wis +0, Cha +0
Skills Perception +16
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or troop (3–10)
Flood combatants are creatures taken over by Flood swarms and subjected to rapid mutation. They sever as the basic combatants to defend the Flood.
The Flood are a unique species of virulent, parasitic organisms. They can consume sentient life forms and use their biomass to reproduce and grow at alarming rates, allowing the Flood to overwhelm entire species in a short amount of time. The Flood is incapable of reproducing independently and requires a host to infest and use as a means of replication. The Flood’s reproductive process resembles that of an accelerated evolution, taking the Flood’s hosts through several stages of mutation. These various stages all serve the Flood in their quest for propagation, either by acting as transmitters of Flood to other creatures or defending the Flood against attacks that would destroy the species. Due to their unique nature, many believe that the Flood originate from a distant galaxy with unique forms of life. Many fear that the Flood is capable of overtaking entire star systems if left unchecked.
New Advanced Melee Weapon
|
Name |
Level | Price | Damage | Critical | Bulk |
Special |
| Energy Sword |
10 |
23,000 | 5d6 E & F | — |
L |
Powered (capacity 20, usage 1), lunge |
Energy Sword
The Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword, also known as the energy sword, is a close-quarters Covenant weapon. This one-handed weapon is common among the ranks of the Covenant elites.
New Weapon Property
Lunge
A lunge weapon can use the full potential of the wielder’s power in the attack at the risk of leaving the wielder open for a counterattack. The wielder of a lunge weapon add twice her Strength modifier to damage when attacking as part of a charge. If the wielder of the lunge weapon charges, she is staggered for 1 round afterward.
Monstrous Origins
The Flood are interesting. Their big thing is their overwhelming numbers. This is easy enough to handle in a video game where you can give the main character several powerful weapons and the ability to move around with ease. This is a bit more difficult to replicate in a tabletop RPG with turns and rounds. The overwhelming nature doesn’t set in as quickly. It’s definitely possible to become overwhelmed, but it’s a process. You watch as the grid fills with enemies and they slowly encroach all over the area. It’s not fast paced like in a game. If you were to want to replicate that, you would probably have to use a large number of enemies, which can either be a slog or extremely deadly. As such, I’ve tried to grant the Flood some means of replicating on the battlefield. Unfortunately, there’s not much else to the Flood beyond their large numbers, so there’s not much to write home about with these enemies. To make up for this, I decided to also stat up the iconic energy blade! There’s no way I could properly replicate the way the sword works in the game without making it too powerful. Instead, I tried to replicate its powerful damage with a new weapon property. The reason it staggers after use is to try to emulate the “wind-down” of the sword in the Halo games. Let me know what you think!
That’s it for this week! This series will wrap up next week with a few more enemies and several pieces of equipment from the series, including some from Halo 3. If you end up introducing this content into your game or you have any request for a future Monstrous Physique, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com.
