Tellarites

Tellarites possess a stubborn pride and arguing is practically a sport on their homeworld.... Among their strengths is a talent for engineering. -- Tellarite - Star Trek Online Wiki

Tellarites are short, stout, fur covered humanoids with a pig-like snout. Tellarite females are a less stout and hairy (they don’t grow beards), but there is no point cost.

Tellarites are known for their engineering aptitude.

Tellarite Template (-5/-5 pts)
Social Background
0	Cultural Familiarity (Tellarite)
0	Language (Tellarite--native)
0	total

Attributes
3	ST +1	ST is ±3 points/level; ST 11 is Tellarite average
3	total

Advantages
3	Damage Resistance 1	Tough Skin: Tellarite hide and fur [B46]
3	Hooves	+1/die kicking damage, +1 DR to feet
5	Telescopic Vision 1	ignore -1 to range Vision penalties (-2 if concentrate), +1 Accuracy to ranged attack if Aim
1	Fur
12	total

Disadvantages
-5	Ham Fisted	hoof-like hands, -3 to do fine work
-15	Restricted Vision (No Peripheral Vision)	deep-set eye sockets, left and right hexes are treated as back hexes
0	Taboo Trait	All Tellarite Swimming rolls are at -3 due to higher body density and hooves.
-20	total

POINT SUMMARY
0	Social Background
3	Attributes
12	Advantages/Perks
-20	Disadvantages/Quirks
-5	TOTAL

Reaction Modifiers
-2	if Bully
-1	if Stubborn
-1	if Argumentative

Common Traits

While not part of the Tellarite Template, there are traits that are associated with Tellarites, more so than other species. An exception is Cultural Familiarity (Human) and Language (English—accented), which are common to most spacefaring non-Human Federation species. Those in red are exclusive to Tellarites.

Common Traits
Advantages
1		Cultural Familiarity (Human)	Cultural Familiarity (Human) is ubiquitous within the Federation.
6		Language (English—native)	4 points if you have a Tellarite accent and reading/writing penalties. (B24)
2		Acute Hearing 1	up to Per+5
2		Acute Taste/Smell 1	up to Per+4
1		G-Experience (1.00G)	no penalties for Earth gravity
+2		Hands	some Tellarite have more human-like hands and feet: remove Hooves (3 pts) and Ham Fisted (-5 pts) from the Tellarite template. Swimming roles only at -2.
5		Improved G-tolerance	0.95 - 1.53G comfort zone
1		Sure Footed (Slippery)	may ignore -2 to attack or -1 to defend [PU2, p8]
1		Sure Footed (Uneven)	may ignore -2 to attack or -1 to defend [PU2, p8]
1		Sure Footed (Water)	may ignore -2 to attack or -1 to defend [PU2, p8]
5		Tellarite Tenacity Talent	Armoury, Diplomacy, Electrician, Fast-Talk, Mechanic. Alternative Benefit: -1/level less-severe penalties from Damage Control Party Size Modifier or Damage Control Time Modifier [Spaceships p64] when engaged in damage control.
Disadvantages
-10	*	Bully (≤12)	≤6 -20, ≤9 -15, ≤12 -10, ≤15 -5
-5		Odious Personal Habit (Argumentative)
-5		Stubbornness

* This disadvantage's cost depends on its self-control number.

Features

Height	Use the row two ST levels lower on the build table [B18].
Male Weight	Use the row two ST levels higher on the build table [B18].
Female Weight	Use the row one ST level higher on the build table [B18].
Comfort Zone	45° - 100°F (preferred temperature: 82°F, Tellar average: 67°F)
G Comfort	1.05 - 1.43G (Tellar: 1.24G (GURPS Federation, p. 88))
Zorkski Group	II
Psionic Ability	Requires 5-point Unusual Background (Psionic)

GURPS Character Sheet Program Downloads

Download the GCS file: Tellarite-5.gct. Last modified: 2024 January 16 13:14.

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, Edosian, Klingon, Orion, Rigelian, Saurian
Rare	-3	Arcturian, Argelian, Betazoid, Bolian, Brecon, Coridan, Cygnan, Cygnian, 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 Va subgroup -2 with other Group V subgroups -4 with Group I-IV -5 Groups VI-IX -6 Groups X
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.

SAPIENT SPECIES