V1.0 by Umbraminf
Fluff (mostly)
You aren’t ‘‘alive’’ anymore, the pain of death vanishes after a while. And the sorrow. And then nothing. Nothing surround you, yet all you need is here, all by your will comes to truth. Nobody else tells you a thing, there is nobody else, yet, you know all that you have experienced, through all the lives you have lived. Your goal. The reason you where a human before. You still seek it, for purposes only known by you. Yet again you shall return. To a world made anew. One more shall be created. And the creatures within. Not too different from the last one, this time.
-Which being will I be? Let’s go! There is no time to waste, for it is creation time again! - You say to nobody special. Just to remember the sound of language. Sometimes you practice what you let behind to honor those you met. Yourself, that is, but that doesn’t make it less important or relevant. You lay on the empty space and start sketching on paper that has suddenly appeared.
About this CYOA
This CYOA is intended as a species creator, for a kind of ‘‘universe simulator’’ setting. You will forget everything else while you live on this new planet, and only retain new memories made on your new body. After that you get your memories back. You will be an individual at top condition for your race, with a royalty aura activated at will (making others instinctively refer to you as a lider or alfa); and garanteed no overpowered beings will be born in this dimesion, meaning, and the biggest threat you could find are other races created with this CYOA, even if in a tournament situation; and any powerfull passerby will be only allowed in-universe while it intends no harm to you and your beloved. “you” beyond this introduction is plural, toward the race being created.
Scenarios
Now, we’ll talk like this new place is just good old Earth, but it don’t have to be true. By defalt this place is inhabited by different, but on slightly higher ‘‘power level’’ than the stuff on Earth, (The numbers I provide are (not always, but often) based on actual animals capabilities) but you know what? We could be at dinossaurs age! Or the place could be harsh, like lots of deserts (of sand or snow) with few safe places, instead of the opposite. And extreme conditions could make extreme inhabitants, including your race! If everbody is a giant monster, and so are you (or, on the other side, if everbody is a fluffball, and so are you) there is no problem, just make it fair, 0K? If you want all your numbers increased by 2 orders of magnitude, all adversaries will also be 100x stronger, faster, etc.
What I mean is, the numbers of your base speed, and stuff like how strong you are scale proportionally to the setting you choose for this CYOA. But, aside from that, you could want to manifest this through the ammount of capabilities, instead of though the raw strenght of each one. That’s when the Scenarios come!
Your setting can have space travel or be from before the invention of fire, for free. By defalt we are on stone age, with basic tools and weels of wood and stone. with the difference
Scenarios
Masochistic gamer mindset
Stronger, Faster, Better! (The default)
Cost: -11
You know, stuff on earth is so close-minded
Just enouth Overpowered
Cost: -15
Do you know when you just NEED your spider-wolf-velociraptor to walk on webs (it fits the theme so well!), but you just CAN’T want to get rid of it’s tentacles, extra head, fire breath or machine gun? That’s probably not the option for that yet.
I don’t care, I ship it! AMV
Cost: -100
You know what, screw all that! No rules on my watch! Whats the point of being a overpowered being, if you can’t get all you want? Just choose whenever your heart desire, after all it’s all a game isn’t it? (Or is it? [Insert X-files intro])
Perks
Armadured
Cost: 1 or 2
G1 (1CP): You resist well anything weaker than an antler attack from a below average deer.
G2 (2CP): Your is one of the best-armadured animals in the world until 2000.
Side senses
Cost: 1
Your species can detect magnetic fields, has echolocalization or see heat/infrared, something out of the ordinary. They are by defalt hard to take out of you, a backup in case you are blind or something. Can buy more than once, for a new one. Note that how you use your senses doesn’t concern me; Example: to hear by you knee or tongue cost (0).
Better Senses
Cost: 1
Can buy once for each effect, twice for the first effect. You can either: see from 1km away as if it was 7m away (buy twice extend this to 3km); or have an amazing sense of smell like a (bear or elefant); or have your sight be completely independent from light (see both in absolute dark and on the sun, you only need enough lenses to see electrons, empty space is still dark, the air is still mostly transparent). Without “Best Sight” you effectively still only see the fraction of light of a healthy human.
Best Sight
Cost: 2
On order Stomatopoda, A.K.A. Mantis Shrimps, some species can see ultraviolet(s), they have between 12 and 16 photoreceptor cells, independent eye movement with deepth perception on each one and can choose witch range of wavelengths to see (like from infrared to orange or indigo to ultraviolet). You have all that. Discount to 1
Field of View
Cost: --
Humans have about 120° the defalt here is about 180°, if you spent 1CP on any vision related perk you got ~230° OR to see with/move each eye independently; unless you bought 2CP or more, what gives you 360° AND independentl eye coordination. Usualy bigger fields are peripheral vision, and not at the same time as long ranged sight. As usual, you decide if the reason for that is poition, ammount or quality of eyes.
High speed
You can by defalt choose how much stamina you want to spend on each situation. G1 and G2 affects: the max speed you can reach, the ammount of stamina you can spend at a time, some stamina boost, acceleration and maneurability.
High speed G1
Cost: 1
You can reach your max speed in your second step, avoid at least major injuries by loss of control, and can easily run with the fastest horses.
High speed G2
Cost: 2
Your species’ max speed is outrageou, the cheetah is a formidable opponent at max, but only to the slower of you, or in very weird conditions. Can make you need a stop to breath after a bunch of seconds on top speed, and reach that imediatly. You have full control of direction and speed.
Usual flight
Cost: 1
You fly as well as any bird, for as much time as your stamina can take you on land. don’t expect to win best flyer competition.
Backup vital organs
You have an extra head OR heart, or the parallel to that on your biology, something that make so a vital blow in some other species is not-so-vital on you (still, to lose a head is no fun, you’ll still bleed A LOT)
Strong in the real way
Cost: 1
(I can show you how to be strong…) Wow buddy, have you been pulling weight? You could probably trow a (small, like a Honda Accord at max) car with all your strength! Like, neither lifting it over your head nor holding it there, just send it rolling in a direction at max. (By the way that’s 1295 Kg or 2854 lbs)
Cantrip
Cost: 1
You know eels? Remember that eletric stun thing they do? You can do that. What, you could do that with the poison option? What are you talking about! Okay, forget it, this option is for those who whant a little something extra, something maybe unnatural, like producing/controlling small ammounts of eletricity, cold, shadows, illusions, magic but always minnor stuf (This is the BUT AUTHOR, XYZ IS MISSING!). Or usualy you would buy this as a modifier/upgrade to something else, like using this on camouflage would give you true invisibility, or on strength to make it supernatural level. If your setting stuff is already supernatural, this improves stuff even further. Can be bought multiple times.
Magi? Mahou? Tech? PSY? Ki? PP? Mana?
Cost: 2
You know, this kinda not fit so well in here, but we need to be complete! Again I remember, if you want to create robots with this CYOA just change the fluff, this option is for the "Dude! My dragon can’t spit fire! " situation, but stronger than the Cantrip option before. Another ‘Custom’ option or an super upgrade to other stuff here. Can be bought multiple times.
Poison
Poison gas or (stuff like the spitting cobras or snakes do) need a ranged modifier(1) to take effect.
Drawbacks
Bestial
Cost: -3
As if accomited by a disease or syndrome, through this life you will be ‘‘less smart’’. Your species have the rational capability of something between a chimpanzee and a young child. Linking cause and effect might be harder, depending on how obvious. It’s harder not to follow instincts, but easier for them to keep you alive. You’re conscient you are you, but don’t think about it frequently (or about most things). Keeping long term goals is very hard, and at max a couple weeks. At math you could probably multiply 2 algarism by 2 algarism, if teached, with paper, but it might come wrong. And you could divide something like 121 by 11 or 275 by 25 (it’s 11) if your life depended on it, and possibly die.
Specials
Choose one blessing to affect your species:
Half-Breed
Wow, that’s realy weird it appears you and your race are basically a replacement for humans. No, an Upgrade! You are well compatible with all, and I mean it, including alien, mutations, paralel universes and lovecraftian stuff, incomprehencible to you, but still interactible with. By compatible, I mostly mean you can have a child with it. And it will have a chance to be from your race, theirs or a mixture, but will be fertile, and healthy (natural disease still happens, but no negative effects caused by being an hybrid). Usualy it would look like every part of the child is a middle way between both parents, what might look like a living abortion, but as a bonus some parts of it’s body might strongly remember only one parent, in the best atempt to make it’s biology actually work.
Bio Luck
Your species is quite lucky, isn’t it? At least when it’s about mutations, or accepting something like a organ/tissue transplant or a mechanical substitutes/aid like a pacemaker or a prosthesis of any kind. In a random interaction with you (two effects mixing, radiation, untested medicine…) situation you have a chance for it to be beneficial, it will, we just don’t know how much. You can’t get cancer by the way.
That’s tough buddy
It is tough, but not rough.