This series follows the trials, tribulations, successes, and failures of a fairly inexperienced GM who has recently picked up the hobby after a long time away. It aims to assist new GM’s by examining what worked, didn’t work, and what failed miserably as he spins up new campaigns, modules, encounters, and adventures for his friends and family in Fantasy Flight Games’ Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny system.
To help round out the great week of Halloween-themed articles, I thought it best to go back to one of the best Halloween staples… monsters! Not just monsters, but Star Wars monsters. And not only that, by my favorite monster in the Star Wars lore: the Zillo Beast! Since seeing this gigantic, original creature on the Dug homeworld rampage through The Clone Wars and the Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars video game, I’ve thought about what this enormous beast would be like in the Star Wars RPG. Yeah, I know as you read below that there’s not many, if any, of them running around. But hey, they’re our games and we can do what we want, right? So… here’s a Zillo Beast for your games!
Background
The Zillo Beast is a sentient reptilian-insectoid creature that comes from the planet Malastare. These creatures used to prey on the native Dug species on the planet long ago. By the time the Clone Wars began, it was believed that all of them were gone, the species extinct. However, the Clone Wars’ violence proved that wasnt the case. During the Battle of Malastare, in order to destroy and shut down an entire droid army in one shot, the Galactic Republic forces dropped an electro-proton bomb on the planet. It succeeded in destroying the droid army, but then created a giant hole in the crust of the planet, freeing a sleeping Zillo Beast underneath the surface of the planet. There was only one, but they still existed.
Being responsible for freeing and awakening the Zillo Beast, the Republic was charged with destroying it. However, under orders from Chancellor Palpatine, Anakin Skywaker used stun tanks to make it appear the beast was killed, in order to keep it alive and get it off-world. The plates on the back of the Zillo Beast were impervious to Lightsaber blades, making Palpatine believe he could make armor out of it. The Zillo Beast eventually reached Coruscant, but escaped upon arrival, eventually forcing the Jedi and Republic forces to kill the creature.
Characteristics
The Zillo Beast is almost 100 meters long, bigger than most starships and many freighters. Its hide was comprised of plate-like armor that was immune to blaster fire and lightsabers. A trademark third arm protruded right out of the creature’s back, making him able to climb most anything and be quite nimble. Between the extra arm and its extra long tail out the back, the Zillo Beast takes up a lot of space for sure!
During the escape on Coruscant, the Zillo Beast appeared to go after Emperor Palpatine consciously, suggesting that the creature is extremely intelligent, on top of being huge and lethal.
Stats For Your Games
So making stats for a creature like this for your SWRPG games is somewhat of a crap shoot. They represent one person’s interpretation of the NPC and how best to put it into a game. But please note, if something in this write-up doesn’t sit well with your interpretation, please don’t hesitate to tweak things.
First, let’s talk size. This thing is huge. I mean, really huge. In choosing a silhouette, I re-watched the Clone Wars episodes in which it appeared. First instinct was to go for silhouette 4, but looking again, the thing was much bigger than a freighter, a common silhouette 4 vehicle. So, I went for silhouette 5. It makes sense. The thing to remember with silhouette sizes is that they represent a range and get exponentially larger as you go up.
I also looked at its tail with the spikes on it, the hands/claws, and it’s large bite. One thing to note is the arms, tail, and legs are long! In fact they’re so long, I gave the tail and arms medium range in personal scale, and the bite short range. The reason is that for it, medium range is simply how long its arm is.
I also looked at the third arm and considered a talent that the Xexto have: due to the multiple arms, they get two free maneuvers each each round without taking strain. Also, almost all normal weapons couldn’t penetrate it, meaning its soak has got to be through the roof, as well as having the cortosis quality, so as not to be penetrated by lightsabers.
So let’s take a look at the stat block for a Zillo Beast for immediate use in your games!
Zillo Beast (Nemesis)
Brawn: 5, Agility: 1, Intellect: 3, Cunning 2, Willpower: 2, Presence: 1
Silhouette: 5
Soak: 12, Wound Threshold: 80, Strain Threshold: 65, Melee/Raged Defense: 0/0
Skills
Brawl: 3, Perception: 2, Resilience: 4, Survival: 2, Vigilance: 2
Talents
Adversary: 3
Abilities
Extra Free Maneuver: Each round, the Zillo Beast may take two free maneuvers, not taking voluntary strain for the second.
Cortosis Quality: The Zillo Beast’s hide has the Cortosis quality and is immune to Breach and Pierce qualities from weapons.
Multiple Initiative Slots: You can consider, if you wish, to allow the Zillo Beast to have two initiative slots in your games. The multiples arms, long reach, and multiple sources of attacks could allow you to narrative explain two attacks per round. This would be up to the GM.
Equipment
Massive Bite: (Brawl; Damage: 16; Critical: 2; Range [Short]; Breach: 1; Vicious: 4)
Large Claws: (Brawl; Damage: 10; Critical: 3; Range [Medium]; Pierce: 4; Vicious: 1)
Tail Spikes (Swipe): (Brawl; Damage: 12; Critical: 2; Range [Medium]; Breach: 1; Vicious: 5)
Scott Alden
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