BLOODBOWL:
The Mongrelmen

A number of years ago, a friend of mine was looking for alternate races to play in 2nd edition Blood Bowl.

Well, it occured to me the other week that I could mess around with the rules a bit and try to come up with something a little similar, however warped. I know people have often complained that several skills never get picked (particularly among the Physical Abilities), so I gave the matter some thought and came up with the "Mongrelmen."

Please note that there is nothing official about this; furthermore, these rules haven't even been playtested. Anyone who wishes to do so is encouraged to, and I'd be more than interested in hearing the results. A number of "potential/possible" benefits and penalties for the race were toyed with, and I have decided to include all of them. Whether this makes for a playable race or not - I don't know. That's what you people (who I know love new races, Star Players, etc., etc., etc.) are going to tell me!

Any section marked with an asterisk (*) indicates an optional rule that needs serious playtesting to see how it affects the race as a whole. I'm not sure the whole thing is completely balanced, but I'd caution against throwing out all the penalties to test the race.

Anyway, without further ado - here they are...

History

Ages ago, the great primal force that is Chaos swept out of the North, corrupting the souls of all it encountered.

All, that is, except for the strange race now known as the Mongrelmen. By some strange twist of fate, these humans were not completely corrupted by the Invasion of Chaos.

However, a mark was left upon the people who survived "intact." Strange mutations began to develop with alarming frequency. Children were often born with strange abnormalities - dog-faced, lobster- clawed, even rat-tailed.

The people survived, however, and have since devoted their lives to battling Chaos and all its forces (they've also developed a lot of even stranger mutations!).

Player List

QTY	0-16
Title	Mongrelman
Cost	70,000
MA	6
ST	3
AG	3
AV	8
Skills	Special
Rerolls	60,000 GP

Every Mongrelman starts with one randomly selected mutation (see below).

Special Rules

Mongrelmen often develop strange mutations, as has been noted. However, due to their (ironically) chaotic metabolism, such mutations are exceedingly random.

To represent these two facts, any Mongrelman who rolls doubles for a skill is allowed to roll on the Mutations Table below.

1	Big Hand
2	Claw
3	Extra Arms
4	Foul Appearance
5	Horns
6	Hypnotic Gaze
7	Prehensile Tail
8	Razor Sharp Fangs
9	Regeneration
10	Spikes
11	Stunty
12	Tentacles
13	Thick Skull
14	Two Heads
15	Very Long Legs
16	Choose

For the second (and any successive) mutations, a roll of 16 (Choose) or a mutation already possessed by the player allows the coach to choose any mutation.

Skill Rolls*

Mongrelmen may normally choose General Skills only. Due to their highly warped nature, a player who rolls doubles for a skill may not automatically choose a skill. Instead, he must roll a d6 and consult the following table:

1-3	May choose a Skill from any category
4-6	Must roll a Mutation

Mongrelmen who roll stat increases (MA+1, ST+1) may keep these without rolling, as these increases are physical mutations of a different nature. Thus, a Coach who rolls (6,6) for a skill may take ST+1 or a Mutation (randomly rolled). If the Coach rolls (6,6) or (2,2) and wishes to choose Dodge, for example, he must roll 3 or less on the chart above to do so.

Apothecaries*

Due to their highly irregular physical nature (and penchants for misplaced hearts and the like), Mongrelmen are more difficult to heal than most races. To reflect this, any Apothecary trying to heal a Mongrel player succeeds on a roll of 3+ rather than 2+.

Wizards*

Mongrelmen cannot hire normal Wizards. Rather, they have their own practitioners of magic, called Warpers (or "Channelers," as they are know to the Mongrelmen themselves). These truly odd specimens are capable of warping (or, more accurately, "channeling") the Taint of Chaos out of the Warper and into the world.

Mongrelmen may hire a Warper at any time during team creation or the season, and he costs 150,000 gold crowns. A Mongrelman team with a Warper on it is allowed to choose 1 extra Magic Item card per game to reflect the Warper's control of the Taint of Chaos.

Choose the team's Special Play cards normally, and then set aside the Warper's Magic Item card (note, then, that Mongrel teams with a Warper are allowed to circumvent the usual limit of 1 Magic Item card per game). If the Warper is injured in any way or otherwise made unavailable for the game (a "Better Offer" card, for example), the Magic Item card is returned to the deck if it has not been used already (thus, it is very important to set aside the Warper's card - preferably, under the Warper's model).

The Fans*

Because Mongrelmen are so - well, ugly - and few in number, they rely largely on fan support from other races. However, because these fans are so fickle, Mongrelmen must subtract an additional -1 from their Fan Factor roll after every match, in addition to any other modifiers which may apply.

Mixed Race Teams

Mongrelmen, due to their ugly and bizarre nature, must fight a lot of prejudice on the Blood Bowl field. A Mongrel team may hire Human players, but must first roll a 6 to do so (using the Mixed Race rules from Citadel Journal No. 7). Humans may hire Mongrel players, but must similarly roll a 6 to do so (this is because the players will often not want the Mongrel player on the team).

Last Updates
21 June 1996	reorganized
22 April 1996	reformatted
22 May 1995	first published
Original text by Chet Zeshonski (v073pzuy@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu)
Converted to HTML format by FastJack (fastjack@mi.net)
Comments or corrections?

BLOODBOWL:The Mongrelmen