Andorians are a militaristic race....and military rank greatly influenced social reputation. Deploring dishonesty -- and never fighting without reason -- Andorians are nonetheless capable of duplicity. They considered themselves deeply emotional, passionate, even violent; not known for their charity or sympathy, they placed a high value on family. -- Andorian - Memory Alpha
Andorian Antennae
There are three different types of Andorian antennae, listed below. Each type provides different perceptual advantages.
In order to provide their full benefit, an Andorian's antennae must be exposed to the environment. E.g. an Andorian in an environmental suit might not be able to make use of their antennae.
Andorian antennae are -6 to target with a swing, -9 to target with a thrust, with a miss by 1 hitting the torso instead. Injury to Andorian antennae results in double shock penalties (to a maximum of -8) and a Knockdown and Stunning HT roll (B420). Any single injury over HP/5 is a major wound, -5 to the Knockdown and Stunning HT roll, and may cripple the antenna. A crippled antenna will result in the Klutz [-5] disadvantage for a full day. The antennae will regrow in about 9 months, or as soon as 4.5 months under the care of a physician. Andorians find the loss of an antennae to be quite an embarrassment.
Movable Antennae
This type of antennae can be moved by voluntary muscles; they significantly augment an Andorian's sense of hearing. In addition to facilitating a keen sense of hearing, their antennae can also betray their emotions to those who know what to look for.
Movable Antennae (8 pts)
| Advantages |
|---|
| 6 | | Acute Hearing 3 | level 7 is species max |
| 4 | | Parabolic Hearing 1 | must point antennae |
| -20% | | Easy to Hit | antennae are -6 to target, miss by 1 hits torso (B34: see Easy to Hit limitation) |
| 0 | | Feature | shock x2, major wound knockdown -5 |
| 8 | | total | 10 - 10x0.2 = 10 - 2 = 8 |
|
Fixed Antennae
This type of antenna is fixed. In addition to adding subsonic frequencies to an Andorian's perception, these antennae are sensitive to chemical, temperature, and pressure changes in the air and have some light sensitivity.
Fixed Antennae (8 pts)
| Advantages |
|---|
| 5 | | Perception +1 | level 5 is species max |
| 5 | | Subsonic Hearing 1 | |
| -20% | | Easy to Hit | antennae are -6 to target, miss by 1 hits torso (B34: see Easy to Hit limitation) |
| 0 | | Feature | shock x2, major wound knockdown -5 |
| 8 | | total | 10 - 10x0.2 = 10 - 2 = 8 |
|
The Andorian ability to hear down into subsonic frequencies is common to many non-canon sources.
Tapering Antennae
This type of antennae come out of the Andorian's forehead and taper to a point; they cannot be targeted from behind. These antennae give some ability to detect objects even in total darkness.
Tapering Antennae (8 pts)
| Advantages |
|---|
| 10 | | Vibration Sense | |
| -20% | | Easy to Hit | antennae are -6 to target, miss by 1 hits torso (B34: see Easy to Hit limitation) |
| 0 | | Feature | shock x2, major wound knockdown -5 |
| 8 | | total | 10 - 10x0.2 = 10 - 2 = 8 |
|
Species Specialties and Skill Penalties
Because of the common genetic ancestry of most of the races of the Milky Way Galaxy...--Hybrid - Memory Alpha
Many behavior/cultural and medical/physiological skills and techniques require you to specialize by species. There is a penalty when using these skills with culture [B23] or physiology [B181] you aren't specialized in. It is assumed you will specialize in your own species, but you don't have to. (Being specialized in other species but not your own requires a plausible background story—a 1 character point Unusual Background Perk).
Behavioral/Cultural Off-Culture Penalties
The penalties for using the behavioral/cultural-type skills – Anthropology, Body Language, Carousing, Connoisseur, Criminology, Dancing, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Games, Gesture, Heraldry, Hypnotism, Interrogation, Intimidation, Leadership, Merchant, Poetry, Politics, Propaganda/TL, Psychology, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, Streetwise, and Teaching [B23] – on a species outside your specialty are given in the table below. The Expert Skill (Xenology) skill suffers from the same penalties when used to identify or answer general questions about a species' culture.
Off-Culture Default Penalties for Behavioral/Cultural-Type Skills
| Prevalence | Penalty | Culture |
|---|
| Common | -1 | Human, Andorian, Tellarite, Vulcan |
| Uncommon | -2 | Alpha Centauran, Caitian, Deltan, Denobulan, Klingon, Orion, Rigelian, Saurian |
| Rare | -3 | Arcturian, Argelian, Betazoid, Bolian, Brecon, Coridan, Cygnan, Cygnian, Edosian, Jidarian, Kaferian, Kzinti, Medusan, Mynieni, Nausicaan, Prellarian, Romulan, Suliban, Trill |
| Very Rare | -4 | Bajoran, Benzite |
| Unknown* | -5 | Ferengi, Gorn |
| Enigmatic† | -6 | Tholian |
* Cultural Familiarity for unknown species costs 1 character point, plus a 1 character point Unusual Background.
† Cultural Familiarity for enigmatic species costs 2 character points.
Counseling officers have access to Cultural Adaptability (10 pt) (or Xeno-Adaptability (20 pt)) which allow them to ignore these cultural unfamiliarity penalties for Common and Uncommon species (or all species). The Counseling! wildcard relative skill level bonus reduces these penalties for those skills above that aren't covered by Counseling! E.g. If you had Counseling! at Attribute+1 (36 pt), you would have only a -1 penalty when Carousing with an Alpha Centauran and no penalty when Interrogating one.
Medical/Physiological Off-Species Penalties
The off-species penalties for medical/physiological-type skills are based on the Zorsky Interspecies Compatibility Table [from GURPS: MODULE PRIME ALPHA, pp. 28-29] given below. These penalties can be waived if you can make a Physiology (species) roll for that species first. You may roll against Physiology (species) at defaut; such a roll suffers from the same penalties given below.
Physiology (species)/TL
IQ/Hard
IQ-6, Diagnosis-5, Physician-5, Physiology-off species penalty, or Surgery-5
This skill is covered on p. B213. A successful roll against your species specialty of Physiology temporarily removes the off-species penalty for physiology-esque skills [B181]: Diagnosis, First Aid, Physician, Pressure Points, Pressure Secrets, or Surgery. If you fail this Physiology roll, you feel the full effects of any off-species penalty. While a high Physiology skill with several species specializations can be an efficient way to go for high-IQ individuals and/or those with a wide range of medical/physiological skills, purchasing additional species specialties for particular skills removes their off-species penalty permanently.
Off-Species Default Penalties for Medical/Physiological-Type Skills
| Zorski Group | Description | Default Penalties | Example Species |
|---|
| I | Humans and all species moderately compatible in terms of blood and biochemistry. (Alpha- Centaurians are genetically human.) |
- -1 within a subgroup
- -2 with other Group I subgroups
- -3 with Groups II-IV
- -4 with Group V
- -5 Groups VI-IX
- -6 Groups X
|
- Subgroup a: Humans/Alpha- Centaurans (same species), Rigellians
- Subgroup b: Brecon, Cygnans, Prellarians
|
| II | Species dissimilar to Group I in biochemistry and/or have significant internal organ differences including extra or unique internal organs. |
- -2 within Group II
- -3 with Groups I, III, and IV
- -4 with Group V
- -5 Groups VI-IX
- -6 Groups X
|
Arcturians, Klingons, Tellarites |
| III |
Species dissimilar to Groups I and II in that their blood chemistries are not based on iron, e.g. copper (a) or cobalt (b) based. |
- -1 within a subgroup
- -2 with other Group III subgroups
- -3 with Groups I, II, IV
- -4 with Group V
- -5 Groups VI-IX
- -6 Groups X
|
- Subgroup a: Vulcans
- Subgroup b: Andorians, Orions
|
| IV | Mammalian species with biochemistries moderately compatible with Group I, but which have significant internal and external differences. |
- -3 with Groups I-III
- -4 with Group V
- -5 Groups VI-IX
- -6 Groups X
|
Kzintis |
| V | Reptilian species with biochemistries and internal/ external differences that are significant when compared to Group I. |
- -1 within a subgroup
- -2 with other Group V subgroups
- -4 with Group I-IV
- -5 Groups VI-IX
- -6 Groups X
|
Subgroup c (warm-blooded): Edosians |
| VI | Exoskeletal species that are significantly different to Groups I-V and each other. |
- -5 with any other species, including other Group VI species
- -6 Groups X
|
Jindarians, Mynieni |
| VII | Species that do not have individual internal organs or their equivalents, and include plantlike species. |
- -5 with any other species, including other Group VII species
- -6 Groups X
| |
| VIII | Species that do not breath oxygen and come from subzero (though not cryogenic, see Group IX) climates. |
- -5 with any other species, including other Group VIII species
- -6 Groups X
| |
| IX | Species that do not breath oxygen and come from cryogenic climates. |
- -5 with any other species, including other Group IX species
- -6 Groups X
| |
| X | Species that are highly unique and defy classification. |
- -6 with any other species, including other Group X species
|
Tholians |
The above table is a modified version of Zorsky Interspecies Compatibility Table that appears in GURPS Module Prime Alpha.
These penalties can be waived if you can make a Physiology Skill roll for that species first, which will of course suffer from the same penalty. If you don't have the Physiology Skill for that species, you can roll against a default: IQ-6, Diagnosis-5, Physician-5, or Surgery-5.
