Are there expanded Mixed Species Rules in Aliens Manual?

[T'lara]

I was looking at the Aliens Manual Threads and made me wonder if there are Expanded or More Rules on doing Mixed Species in the Aliens Manual?

[Balok]

Well, I can't say for sure, not having the book -- but I did change the mixed species rules for my campaign. I felt that, as presented, they were unbalanced.

The problem is that, while everyone else is essentially rolling nine to choose six, the hybrid is rolling eighteen to choose six. By carefully arranging his parents scores, he can ensure his character is superior in every ability, unless he simply can't roll well at all!

I made the following changes:

<ol>
<li>The player rolls nine times, and chooses six, just like any other character. His parents' attributes never enter into it.
<li>The character chooses the dominant parent race.
<li>He selects four stat bonuses from that race, and two from the other. The stat bonuses cannot sum to greater than the best sum of either parent. For example, if one parent's bonuses sum to +1, and the other sum to 0, the character could select bonuses that sum to at most +1. They can sum to less if he wishes.
<li>The character selects all but one species ability from the dominant, and one from the recessive parent. I tell him how the abilities are modified (e.g. telepathy -> empathy) based on canon, or based on what selection of abilities he takes. For example, if I feel he skipped the worst ability of the dominant parent and took the best ability of the recessive, I may blunt one or more abilities to bring the character back into balance.
</ol>

These rules wouldn't work well as official CODA rules because they depend too much on GM judgement. The CODA designers have said that they worked to make the CODA rules more like a "toolkit", so that GM judgement (or misjudgement) wasn't as great a factor. For that reason, I'd urge anyone considering them to think about it carefully. They've worked for me, so far, but I can't guarantee they'll work in every situation, and they don't eliminate the possibility of a minmaxing player (in my case, I suspected a player of selecting the hybrid rules *precisely* so that he could minmax.)

Originally, I created separate species templates for each hybrid race, with their own bonuses and species abilities. But as folks proposed different hybrids, that got onerous.

[Kronok]

Originally posted by Fesarius

<ol>
<li>The player rolls nine times, and chooses six, just like any other character. His parents' attributes never enter into it.
<li>The character chooses the dominant parent race.
<li>He selects four stat bonuses from that race, and two from the other. The stat bonuses cannot sum to greater than the best sum of either parent. For example, if one parent's bonuses sum to +1, and the other sum to 0, the character could select bonuses that sum to at most +1. They can sum to less if he wishes.
<li>The character selects all but one species ability from the dominant, and one from the recessive parent. I tell him how the abilities are modified (e.g. telepathy -> empathy) based on canon, or based on what selection of abilities he takes. For example, if I feel he skipped the worst ability of the dominant parent and took the best ability of the recessive, I may blunt one or more abilities to bring the character back into balance.
</ol>

That's what we use, only we use the point method.

[Publius]

Originally posted by Fesarius
Originally, I created separate species templates for each hybrid race, with their own bonuses and species abilities. But as folks proposed different hybrids, that got onerous.

That's exactly what I do (create new Templates), using the chart for creating balanced racial templates I mentioned in another thread. I have a passion for keeping things balanced, all that time playing games like Hero I guess... (and yes, the point system for stats is a must for me, plus unlike many games default point systems this one is pretty generous)

If it gets too much, tell them that one player gets a hybrid and all the others have to settle for something out of the game's normal rules. How many Half-Klingon/Quarter-Cardassian/Quarter-Bolians raised on Vulcan by Andorian Stepfathers do we see in Trek? I let my players know how many aliens I will accept and will either let them fight out over who gets what or take the person with the best/most useful/most plausible backstory; that seems to be an even more useful policy to adopt for Hybrids. Put the effort back on them in this case, min-maxers tend to be lazy about this sort of thing anyway.

[T'lara]

Great everyone, but I want to know if there is some more rules in the book before I accept and use house rules.

I have read the Threads and such gone over the rules but I want to know if their will be additional rules for example: X species can not mate with Y species for example.

In DS9, Worf and Jadzia could not mate without gene therapy because Klingons and Trill are not compatable.

There are others but I have waited for the Aliens Manual for over a year and I am curious about some of these things.

I am not asking for the rules just to know if there are any.

[Doug Burke]

Originally posted by T'lara
I was looking at the Aliens Manual Threads and made me wonder if there are Expanded or More Rules on doing Mixed Species in the Aliens Manual?

Nope. But there is a discussion of aliens and game balance as well as a personal development package for alien upbringing.