Weird West Archetypes & Monsters

  • Originally by Jim Parkin, reproduced with permission.

Archetypes

Gunslinger

Not big enough for the both of us

Bonus Gear:

  • Dueling pistols (d6+d6) or sawed-off (d8, blast, short-range, bulky)
  • Half-stocked bandoleer
  • Impressive hat

BASE

Quick Draw: Whenever you face a ranged attacker at range, your attacks are enhanced.

What vendetta can’t you forget?

  1. What they made you do in the war
  2. That one who swept away your lover
  3. Those monsters who killed your dog
  4. How you traded your soul for skill
  5. When they humiliated you in public
  6. How you’ve been extorted in dire debt

PRESTIGE

Begin with one. Gain another when you recover a Treasure or best a rival.

  • Rambler: You can take two points of fatigue per inventory slot.
  • Teetotaler: You don’t drink a sip, but any intoxicated attacker is impaired against you.
  • Prospector: You can sniff out natural resources at all times, especially those buried.
  • Charlatan: Deals made with strangers are always favorable, but you gain a reputation…
  • Officer: Your ties to the military command respect and favors from other soldiers.

Time Traveler

Strange things are afoot…

Bonus Gear:

  • A curious, time-lost garment (1 armor)
  • Mysterious, useful tool from a different era (save against corruption to use)
  • A journal filled with eccentric insights across the years

BASE

Temporal Dissonance: Save against corruption to shift 1d4 minutes forward or backward.

How did you get here?

  1. Arcane incantation
  2. Souped-up time vehicle
  3. Lost a bet with a demigod
  4. I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens
  5. Wish made by someone else
  6. Unfortunate accident

PRESTIGE

Begin with one. Gain another when you recover a Treasure or solve a paradox.

  • Tourist: Your HP is always doubled if you’re awkwardly out of place to bystanders.
  • Layabout: You always know where to find rest, relaxation, and kind folks in the know.
  • Memorist: You can recall facts from the future. Lose 1d4 WIL permanently for each memory.
  • Doomer: It always goes downhill. You’re unaffected by madness, confusion, and hope.
  • Savant: You choose (rather than rolling) when you gain an aspect of any kind.

Talking Animal

Some animals are more equal than others

Bonus Gear:

  • Comfortable barding (1 armor)
  • Cross-back satchel (+2 inventory slots)
  • Basket of root vegetables

BASE

Natural Knack: You speak with animals, sense weather changes, and desire shinies.

How are you able to think and speak?

  1. Uplifted deliberately by magic
  2. Uplifted deliberately by technology
  3. Spiritual possession, willing or otherwise
  4. Forged a pact with a greater power
  5. The Stars Were Right
  6. Sheer primal willpower

PRESTIGE

Begin with one. Gain another when you recover a Treasure or make an unconditional friend.

  • Moontouched: You can conjure bright moonlight around your body and share dreams.
  • Thoroughbred: You’re a prime specimen. All reactions or social roll results are +2 for you.
  • Wildhide: If you’re forced to make a STR save in melee combat, your attacker loses 1d4 STR.
  • Huckleberry: Other animals are amenable to harmless small favors for you. It’s requited.
  • Truffler: Your sense of smell is unparalleled and can pick up even deliberately masked odors.

Sawbones

Here, bite down on this…

Bonus Gear:

  • An honest-to-goodness bonesaw (d6)
  • A conspicuous bag filled with vials and knives (bulky)
  • A stained, padded smock covered in pockets

BASE

Field Medicine: You can heal d4 attribute damage under duress, then the target is deprived.

What is your area of expertise?

  1. Infection
  2. Anesthesia
  3. Dentistry
  4. Amputation
  5. Narcotics
  6. Poison

PRESTIGE

Begin with one. Gain another when you recover a Treasure or stabilize a VIP at death’s door.

  • Ossophile: You can animate bones into rickety, but useful, minor constructs. It’s very creepy.
  • Collector: Medical billing is sticky business. You know if anyone owes a debt to anyone else.
  • Tincturer: You can identify and mix herbs and natural reagents into useful tonics and balms.
  • Ironbelly: Years of hard living and study have conditioned you with immunity to all poison.
  • Anatomist: Your keen insight of the body allows you to add d6 DEX damage to your attacks.

Creatures

Kurask

10 HP, 2 Armor, 18 STR, 6 WIL, trample and horns (d6, blast)

  • Hulking green-scaled quadruped with wide horns and long, hooved front legs
  • Can only be harmed with silvered weapons, especially weak to projectiles
  • Critical damage: Gore with horns, causing internal bleeding, target is deprived

Dire Jackalope

3 HP, 4 STR, 16 DEX, flying rake (d6+d6)

  • Unassuming and docile tawny rabbit with 2-8 point racks
  • Can leap 20+ feet and land on a target with fangs and antlers

Ashwing

13 HP, 1 Armor, 14 STR, beak (d10)

  • Huge, intelligent, six-limbed human-pterodactyl hybrid with secretive society and fell rites
  • Rumored to be the offspring of heinous godlings from the Cold Dark
  • Critical damage: save against corruption

Skullweed

3 HP, 18 WIL, doom gaze (d8)

  • Tumbling foliage resembling and sounding like clanking, dry bones
  • Forms into skull shapes and focuses eldritch light from eyes when provoked
  • Critical damage: d8 WIL loss, 0 WIL transforms target into more Skullweed

Corrupted Sentry

6 HP, 2 armor, 14 STR, 14 DEX, energy rifle (d8)

  • Metallic humanoid with broad shoulders and one large, red optical sensor
  • Connected to other sentries by Tarodyne network, can quickly summon backup

Slickman

? HP, 20 DEX, slippery suffocation (d6 to STR)

  • Animated pools of oil which can assume vaguely corporeal shape
  • Can only be harmed by environmental effects like freezing or fire

Cassandra Hoss

8 HP, 3 armor, 16 STR, 16 DEX, sharpshootin’ blunderbuss (d10+d10) and bowie knife (d8)

  • Bounty hunter with salvaged titanium plating under her poncho
  • Arguably the best shot in the wilderness, acclaimed hired gun and trophy shooter
  • Crippling alcoholism, cannot function without easy access to strong liquor

Hoop Snake

3 HP, 14 DEX, bite (d6) or whipping impact (d6)

  • Tough, leathery serpents which roll up on themselves like bicycle wheels
  • Can slither, side-wind, and rocket forward with enough rolling momentum

Sourdough Animus

10 HP, 3 armor, 12 STR, 2 WIL, gluten hammer (d8)

  • Carnivorous, roughly humanoid shambling mounds of lactic bread dough
  • Born out of weird forces in population centers, a scourge on isolated homesteads
  • Weak to fire, but able to spread and propagate quickly in water or grain storage

Smiling One

3 HP, 1 armor, bony fingers (d8, blast)

  • Groups of 2d6 appear like inert, folded-up child skeletons with elongated heads
  • Can move alarmingly fast, attacking with long hands and over-extended jaws
  • Critical damage: WIL save or become corrupted (impaired)