Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog
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The Gorlocks: A New Monster For GURPS Dungeon Fantasy
Gorlocks are large, extremely hairy humanoids with a dozen tentacles protruding out of their back. No one knows how they communicate, though some sages conjecture that their language may be entirely telepathic. Gorlocks tend to live in caves, but often go on hunting expeditions deep into the surrounding forests. Their voracious appetites force them range quite far.
ST 18 HP 21 Speed 6.0
DX 12 Will 13 Move 5
IQ 11 Per 12
HT 12 FP 12 SM +1
Dodge 10 Parry 13 DR 2
Spear (18) 1d+5 impaling (Reach 1, 2* or Range 18/27)
Grappling with all twelve tentacles defaults to DX+20.
Mental Blast twice a day (Affliction 4)
Mental Assault
Traits: 12 Extra Arms (Extra-flexible, Long, and Weak: Reach 1, ST 9), Hard to Subdue +2, High Pain Threshold, Combat Reflexes, Increased Consumption 2, Telepathy Talent 2, Telesend (other Gorlocks only and only for the purposes of creating a psionic gestalt.)
Skills: Brawling-14; Tracking-16
Class: Mundane
Notes: If hit points drop below zero, the Gorlock becomes enraged and will all-out-attack (strong) for as long as it is in melee range.
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The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.
Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog 
What skill do they use for the Mental Blast? As written, they should be making a default Innate Attack that is resisted by HT-3 (armor DR protects somewhat). I don’t think that’s what you intended, though.
Ack. Yes, that is the weakest part of the monster write-up. I’ll reread the Affliction rules tonight, but I think it will take more than a few minutes to pin down exactly what I want for that ability. See you next Thursday for “N variations of Mental Blast.”
Thanks for the feedback!
I’d recommend turning it into a Speed/Range Malediction resisted by Will: the Gorlock rolls Will minus the range penalty to the target, the target resists with Will -3. If the target wins the Quick Contest, there’s no effect; otherwise, the target is stunned and rolls Will-3 each round to recover. Maledictions ignore DR, helpful for making this feel like a mental blast.
You might also want to note that they have effective HT17 to resist knockdown and that they can grapple with skill-32 (!!) by using their tentacles, and effective ST41 when resisting the victim’s attempt to break free. Yikes, that’s scary bad for the delvers. You should probably include their punching damage, since it seems like a good tactic for a Gorlock would be to poke you with a spear until you get close, then grab and punch you for a while. Choking is another good option with that many arms available.
I might give them some Wrestling as well, with all those tentacles.
Do you have a picture of these beasts?
I have a local artist in mind that I’m considering commissioning for that task. (He’s 9 years old, though.)
I really enjoyed the Gorlocks. Why the IQ 11? Is it to make them more savvy at finding food sources?
Do they need a spear skill?
What role do their tentacles play in combat? If they eat so much, they might have a bite attack, which would come in handy when they grapple foes with their extra limbs bonus.
How large are they? What color are they?
Will they be my friends?
I am considering making the face a shriveled blankness… giving them Nazgul-like senses… and making the mouth a gaping maw in the chest area. Maybe that’s all too cliché, I dunno.
Spear is at skill-18, so watch out. They won’t be your friend if they are too hungry.
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