I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for one certain creature that was introduced into Star Wars lore from Knights of the Old Republic -the Rakghoul. You first encounter in the Taris undercity early in the game and they just struck me as so fundamentally cool a concept that I like to try to use them in my own games in new and interesting ways. There are lots of things that I think you can do with the Rakghoul Virus as a basis. They are zombies that feel and act appropriate to the Star Wars experience.
So imagine my surprise when I realized that I had not taken a stab at recreating them in Fantasy Flight Games newest iteration of the roleplaying game. And this is after planning out story beats for several adventures that include the virus quite prominently.
I’m fixing that today.
Below are two kinds of Rakghouls that you can use to put your characters in fear for their very humanity. The Feral Rakghoul is a pack hunter that can quickly overwhelm a lone opponent with sheer numbers. They are written as minions, but they are designed to be hardier than average and more difficult to take down.
Then there is the Rakghoul Fiend. These beasts are Rival class enemies that act as a kind of leader caste among the Rakghoul hordes. They are smarter, tougher, meaner, and just as dangerous.
The Rakghoul Plague as I present it is actually a multi-stage disease. If the virus begins to incubate in a character, it becomes harder and harder for his body to fight off the change, and this is represented by the escalating difficulty of the Resilience check involved. It does add some book keeping to the game, but for an ability as rare and as powerful as this, I felt it necessary. Besides, it’s a great way to ratchet up the tension at the table as a PC or a favorite NPC suffers increasingly violent reactions after contracting the plague without any added work on the part of the GM.
The Rakghoul isn’t a monster I would use very often – maybe once or twice a campaign, if that. But they can be used to bring a different kind of danger into the game, especially if your players enjoy going off into the edges of known space to delve into ancient ruins for treasures of yore, far away from civilization and modern medicine…
Feral Rakghoul [Minion]
Brawn 3
Agility 3
Intellect 1
Cunning 2
Willpower 2
Presence 1
Soak Value 5
Wound Threshold 7
M/R Defense 0|0
Skills (group only): Brawl, Coercion, Discipline, Vigilance
Talents: None
Abilities: Rakghoul Plague (see below)
Equipment: claws and teeth (Brawl; Damage 4; Critical 3; Range [Engaged]; Pierce 1, Knockdown)
Rakghoul Fiend [Rival]
Brawn 5
Agility 4
Intellect 1
Cunning 3
Willpower 2
Presence 1
Soak Value 7
Wound Threshold 16
M/R Defense 0|0
Skills: Brawl 3, Coercion 2, Cool 2, Discipline 1, Perception 2, Vigilance 2
Talents: Adversary 1 (upgrade difficulty of all combat checks against this target once), Feral Strength 1 (plus 1 damage on all Brawl and Melee attacks)*, Frenzied Attack 1 (may suffer 1 Wound to upgrade a Brawl check once), Lethal Blows 2 (+20% to any Critical Injury rolls made against opponents).
Abilities: Rakghoul Plague (see below)
Equipment: claws and teeth (Brawl; Damage 7; Critical 3; Range [Engaged]; Pierce 1, Knockdown)
*already factored into stat block
The Rakghoul Plague
This terrifying plague is spread to most every sentient species through the bite and scratch of the Rakghoul. On a successful attack, the Rakghoul may spend Triumph to infect the target with the virus. They must immediately make a Hard Resilience check in order to fight off the effects of the virus. If they are successful, they manage to avoid contracting the plague.
If they fail, the plague begins to incubate. The character has his Strain Threshold reduced by 2 for as long as the plague is incubating. 24 hours later, they must make a Daunting Resilience check. Threat and Despair on the initial roll can be spent to upgrade the difficulty of this check or add Setback Dice to the check as normal. If they succeed on this check they are successful in fighting off the plague and immediately stop suffering its effects.
If they fail the second test, they may attempt one final Resilience check 24 hours later against a Formidable difficulty. If they succeed, they fight off the plague as normal. If they fail, they immediately and irrevocably turn into a Rakghoul, changed by the power of the plague into a mindless beast.
There is no cure for the plague once a creature has been turned into a Rakghoul. The only release is death. Though legends speak of a serum that was created ages ago on the planet Taris. Whether or not this story is even true, let alone if any of it remains is unknown. However, if such a thing were to exist and a character who had contracted the plague was exposed to it, it would be enough to lower the difficulty of any Resilience checks he would need to make by one. It should also be known that some legends also speak of certain species and even Force users that are immune to the effects of the plague. Whether these are true or not remains to be seen as well.
Ben Erickson
