The Unshucked
[With all due respect to Penny Arcade]
Race: Plant-based undead monstrosities
Attributes [26]: ST 12 [12], DX 12 [24], IQ 6 [-80], HT 13 [30], HP 17 [10], Will 9 [15], Per 6, FP 13
Basic Lift 29
Damage 1d-1/1d+2
Basic Speed 7 [15], Basic Move 7
Advantages [217]: Acute Hearing (10) [20], Affliction (Host for the Unshucked) (1) (Always On (effects are dangerous); Contact Agent; Emanation; Extended Duration (Permanent with dispelling conditions); Cannot Parry; Melee Attack: Reach C; No Signature) [15], Damage Resistance (10) (Can’t Wear Armor; Force Field; Hardened (+1)) [50], Doesn’t Breathe (Oxygen Absorption) [15], Doesn’t Sleep [20], Indomitable [15], Injury Tolerance (Homogenous) [40], Parabolic Hearing (2) [8], Piercing Attack (2) [10], Single-Minded [5], Temperature Tolerance (4) [4], Unfazeable [15]
Disadvantages [-315]: Appearance (Monstrous) (Universal) [-25], Bloodlust (12 or less) [-10], Cannot Speak [-15], Dependency (Blacksoil) (Rare) (Monthly) [-30], Dread (Fire) (1 yard) (Very Common) [-30], Hidebound [-5], Incurious (6 or less; 12 or less) [-10], Low Empathy [-20], No Fine Manipulators [-30], No Sense of Humor [-10], Non-Iconographic [-10], Slave Mentality [-40], Social Stigma (Abomination) (-3) [-15], Vulnerability (Fire) (Very Common) (x2) [-40], Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]
Skills [12]: Brawling DX/E – DX+0 12 [1], Forced Entry DX/E – DX+0 12 [1], Innate Attack (Projectile) DX/E – DX+3 15 [8], Wrestling DX/A – DX+0 12 [2]
Stats [26] Ads [217] Disads [-315] Quirks [0] Skills [12] = Total [-60]
Description: a vaguely-humanoid corn-themed Undead with one yellow eye, no mouth, and two stalks of corn for hands. It smells of rotted compost and stagnant water, and its skin is slick and mud-daubed; and yet it rustles, even in the rain. Unshucked can survive underwater indefinitely, but are otherwise not amphibious.
The Unshucked were first created by a rogue military soilomancer known only as “The Colonel.” Depending on your definitions, they are either a fairly vile but extremely weak form of golem, or a fairly vile and worryingly powerful form of Undead; Unshucked are created using either Golem (130 energy points to cast to create a completely new Unshucked), or Zombie (13 energy points cast on a corpse that had been previously ‘seeded’ with the Unshucked’s Affliction attack). Unshucked can be raised en masse using Mass Zombie, using a base cost of 12. Unshucked infestations thus tend to start small, but can ramp up rather unpleasantly if allowed to remain unchecked. The process can be sped up by the use of ‘blacksoil,’ which is regular soil that’s been treated with human blood and necromantic energy. In fact, Unshucked require regular doses of blacksoil in order to keep functioning, as a safety precaution.
Unshucked are used mostly as guards; while they are extremely unintelligent, their hearing is more or less supernatural, and usually extends out to the malignantly twisted cornfields that inevitably surround any Unshucked infestation. In combat, they prefer to shoot out deadly accurate kernels of deadly corn (2d6 piercing, 1/2D 10, Max 100, Acc 3, RoF 1, Shots N/A, Recoil 1), then strike powerfully but clumsily with their ‘arms.’ Unshuck prefer to grapple, using their arms as vines to choke their prey. They are also surprisingly tough to hack apart; Unshucked do ‘bleed,’ but they do not have any vitals to strike.
Their primary weakness is fire — Unshucked instinctively retreat from it, as they ignite remarkably easily — but these particular Undead are also limited by their golem-like mentality. While they will defend themselves if attacked, they will not attack unless given orders to do so (this can include the standard ‘kill every human that isn’t me’ command beloved by necromancer lords). But once they do attack, Unshucked do not stop until they are destroyed or their opponents are.
Unshucked are typically banned on sight in anything resembling a civilized realm, given their fairly unique method of creation.
The material presented here is my original creation [inspired by a strip from Penny Arcade] and intended for use with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.
GURPS is a registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games, and the art here is copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy.
“If I live through this Paul Newman’s gonna have my legs broke.”