As promised, I’m back with another installment of monsters for the Fifth Edition Fallout bestiary! In addition, this update includes expanded and new rules which are described later in this post.
All the creatures and other updates listed below have now been added to the Fifth Edition Fallout sourcebook which you can download from my dedicated Fifth Edition Fallout hub. With this update, Fifth Edition Fallout now has 68 pages of game content!
Please also note that the 1st level adventure A Date With the Queen has also received a minor update making small changes to raider, dog, and mole rat statblocks. You can also download the most recent version of the adventure from the Fifth Edition Fallout hub.
New Monstrous Additions to Fifth Edition Fallout
I ran a poll on twitter and as a result of the votes created stats for the various types of Feral Ghoul. As a bonus, I’ve also added a couple new power armour wearing raider bosses as well as the mysterious Ghost People (the creepy hazmat suit-wearing mutants that chase you around in the New Vegas add-on Dead Money)!
Feral Ghouls
- Feral Ghoul (CR 1/2)
- Feral Ghoul Roamer (CR 1)
- Feral Ghoul Reaver (CR 2, also includes a variant sidebar for the Fallout 3 Feral Ghoul Reaver with ranged gore attack)
- Feral Ghoul Stalker (CR 1)
- Withered Feral Ghoul (CR 3)
- Gangrenous Feral Ghoul (CR 5)
- Rotting Feral Ghoul (CR 7)
- Charred Feral Ghoul (CR 10)
- Glowing One (CR 12)
- Putrid Glowing One (CR 17)
- Bloated Glowing One (CR 18)
Ghost People
- Ghost Harvester (CR 4)
- Ghost Trapper (CR 9)
- Ghost Seeker (CR 9)
Raiders
- Elite Raider Boss (CR 10)
- Raider Overboss (CR 13)
Also in this Update
- Expanded rules for radiation damage (see Revisiting Radiation below for a summary)
- Advice on using tokens for radiation damage exposure, starvation, dehydration, and Luck.
- Counter packs to use with the systems described above.
- A new feat, Rad Resistance, which interacts with the radiation damage/geiger counter system.
- Updated monster statblocks (a few fixes, also details on exactly what armour creatures are wearing to help DMs deal with player looting and the piecemeal armour system).
- Update of power armour rules to clarify intent.
Revisiting Radiation
While thinking about feral ghouls and how to handle constant attacks by radioactive creatures, I realised two things:
- Firstly, every time a PC is exposed to radiation they should have a chance of suffering the radiation sickness condition.
- Secondly, forcing a PC to roll a Constitution saving throw every time they take radiation damage is far too dangerous.
The question I had to ask was how to reconcile these two seemingly contrary statements? I think I have the answer. Have a read of this and tell me what you think!
Exposure to Radiation Damage
As well as risking radiation sickness from exposure to atmospheric or environmental radiation, levels in the radiation sickness condition can also be the result of losing hit points due to an attack that deals radiation damage.
All creatures have a Rad Resist score, which is equal to 5 + their Constitution saving throw bonus. A creature’s Rad Resist score increases by +1 every time their level increases.
Each time a creature suffers one or more points of radiation damage, its player is given a token known as a geiger counter (you can also keep a tally if you prefer not to use tokens). If the damage exceeds the creature’s Rad Resist, they are given two geiger counters.
When a creature with one or more geiger counters takes a short rest, they make a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + the total geiger counters they’ve collected. On a failed saving throw, they gain a level of radiation sickness.
Geiger Counters and RadAway
RadAway reduces radiation sickness by 2 levels and halves the character’s current pool of geiger counters.
Geiger Counters at the Table
Geiger counters can be represented by poker chips, spare dice, homemade tokens, or anything that stands out at the table and can be handed out to players in quantities. Consider printing the awesome setting-appropriate tokens I’ve created and provided (see below)!
Fifth Edition Fallout Counters!
I’ve created a sheet of example geiger counters that you can print out on card stock, along with similar tokens you could use to keep track of a Fifth Edition Fallout PC’s other fluctuating statistics, including Dehydration and Starvation as well as Luck (or Bad Luck).
Download the Counter Pack in either US Letter or International A4 format from my dedicated Fifth Edition Fallout hub.
Why not glue them to some pressed bottlecaps to create some very handsome and setting-appropriate accessories for your game table?
| Dehydration Counters | Geiger Counters | Luck Counters |
Bad Luck Counters |
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| Starvation Counters |
Using These Counters
Guidance on how to use these counters has been added to the Fifth Edition Fallout sourcebook. A summary is also provided here.
Dehydration and Starvation Counters
Instead of tallying Starvation and Dehydration scores on paper, give a player between 0-2 Starvation counters and 0-2 Dehydration counters when they take a long rest, depending on how many meals and drinks they were able to consume that day. The pool of Starvation tokens in the player’s possession physically represents their character’s Starvation score. Similarly, the player’s Dehydration pool is a tangible representation of their Dehydration score.
As the PC manages to reduce their Starvation and Dehydration scores, they give back the appropriate amount of counters from each pool.
Geiger Counters
Use these counters to track a character’s continued exposure to radiation damage and translate it into possible radiation poisoning at each short rest, as described in Revisiting Radiation above.
Luck Counters
These counters can help track fluctuating Luck if this optional ability score is used in your game. A player starts with as many Luck counters as their character’s Luck Score ability bonus (their “Luck Points”. As a player spends their character’s Luck Points, they discard counters from their pool. However many counters are left in the pool equals the character’s new ability bonus, and the player can calculate from this what their present Luck Score must be given that each Point spent reduces their ability by 2 (to a minimum of 10 or 11). The player’s spent Luck is returned to their pool after their character has a long rest.
Bad Luck Counters
Similarly, the player of a character with a negative Luck modifier is given that many Bad Luck counters instead. As the GM spends these, the player discards them. However many counters are left in the pool equals the character’s new ability bonus, and the player can calculate from this what their present Luck Score must be given that each Point spent increases their ability by 2 (to a maximum of 10 or 11). The player’s spent Bad Luck is returned to their pool after their character has a long rest.
If a GM has only one player character with Bad Luck or has a way to keep track of the separate pools of multiple PCs they may prefer to keep Bad Luck pools themselves so they are constantly reminded of available Bad Luck they can spend.
Your Thoughts
As usual I’d love to hear your thoughts about any aspect of Fifth Edition Fallout. Please also reach out if you catch any errors so I can fix it asap! And please note that I’ll be starting another twitter poll about which creatures to do next later tonight, so if you’ve got a particular type of monster in mind keep an eye out for that!
