We’re here today with a fun crossover species for your campaign. A pair of Star Trek Adventures fans have created Kryptonians for you to mix in. This might seem best suited for a wild and lighthearted game, but read on for some thoughtful reflection on how Kryptonians might actually fit with serious Trek canon!
This submission was sent in by Jay Davis who reports that he was a big fan of a lot of different fandoms. “Basically, I grew up on Star Trek, Superman, Lord Of The Rings (and everything else Tolkien, long before the Jackson films) and have been gaming almost as long, starting with Star Fleet Battles (Task Force Games) and War Of The Ring (SPI) up through high school with Dungeons And Dragons, GURPS and so many more.” Jay can be found online as Tal-Rho on deviantart and (appropriately) SonofKrypton on the Modiphius Discord server.
Jay also gives his brother Sean Davis (found online as Captain Sumek) “nearly all the credit.” Sean “is a thousand times better than I at making my crazy ideas work,” Jay says, which is just really sweet. The sources that the Davis brothers used for this little homebrew are DC Adventures by Green Ronin, Outsiders, numerous Superman titles, Supergirl, Teen Titans and the Eradicator miniseries (all published by DC Comics between 1986 and 2011, which Jay considers “their best era of writing and art”).
Hundreds of years ago, Krypton was lost. The planet shattered and a very few survivors made it away, the most notable having been Kal-El (generally known as: Superman). He was not considered “First Contact” because, as he said, he grew up on Earth. Whether any of the other “superbeings” existed or not has become an occasional, academic debate. The official story on them, from back in the day, says that most were urban legends or PR stunts. Of course, that was said by companies and governments that couldn’t own them, or use them. So, who knows? As Captain Kirk of the Enterprise once noted about the late Twentieth and early Twenty-First Centuries, we don’t have much information on this period.
From the desk of Lieutenant Commander Jack B. Allen, Starfleet Academy, Founding Worlds Historical Department
Kryptonian is, normally, a species Trait. It covers many aspects like:
- Enhanced Strength: Fitness checks are automatic sucesses on anything but a 20, up to a point. Their strength is not infinite. Lifting strength is limitted to 200,000 tons (for ones along the Superman/Eradicator end of the sectrum, for such as Superboy (Connor Kent) or Supergirl (new to Earth, so around 16 or 17 years old) It’d be more along the lines of 6 or 8000 tons. Raw “Punching” strength is less, but still considerable (about 1/8)
- Super Senses: Includes Hearing, which has extended Range that covers many miles/kilometers and can distinguish between background noises, if one knows what the are listening for. Their vision can see through anything but lead and other highly dense metals, as well as detect in the infrared, at will. Basically, it’s like having the scanning functions of a tricorder built-in.
- Speed and Flight are both at 64,000 mph.
- Invulnerability is covered in the Core Rulebooks.
- Heat Vision: 3 Damage plus Security. Precise.
- Solar Powered: A Kryptonian’s cells are like living solar batteries. They hold and contain the energies absorbed for a prolonged time. Unless cancelled out by one of the following.
- Weaknesses include Kryptonite and red solar radiation. Other types of star might fuel them a bit less (orange) or hyper charge them (blue). But those will be slow, build-ups and likely only a consideration for more prolonged adventures.
An alternate take, of which only one is known, would also include the Trait: Bio-Energetic Organism. This describes the Eradicator, whose body is a near-duplicate of Kal-El’s, but was formed via an exotic matter/energy flux. There are no vision powers, but instead an ability to manipulate energy and fire it as blasts through the hands, or (with a use of Determination or 2 Momentum) use it as a quick defense or muti-attack. For this version, use the stats below.
- Energy Bast: 3 Damage plus Security. Ranged. Vicious. Intense.
Jay reports that Eradicator, in their campaign, stands as a sort-of civilian advisor after the Essex found him out by Balduk and New Giza, near the Shackleton Expanse. He was encased in a large Kryptonian crystal just outside the gravity well of a black hole. He uses the title he was given, centuries earlier, of “Ambassador.” Kryptonians are powerful but given the technology and philosophy seen in Star Trek they shouldn’t be “overpowered” in the traditional sense.
Very cool adaptation.