Six Clan Faction (Transformers Essence20 rpg)

In both the original G1 animated series, the character Sixshot got all of 30 seconds of screen time; never to be seen again! The classic Marvel comic series was no better, having him show up as a character in 1 panel, saying 1 line, then never being showcased at all.

Meanwhile, he was a MAJOR character in the Japanese continuity of the cartoon. He featured as the commander of the Decepticon forces on Earth, while Galvatron focused his attentions on Cybertron. The Japanese continuity also introduced another faction to the TF Universe: a secretive organization of ninja-like beings known as the "Six Clan" or "Clan of Six."

This article is my first attempt at building a Faction for the Transformers Essence20 RPG. It is very much a "work in progress" and should be considered nothing more than house rules and fan-made material.

If you enjoy this article, please help contribute to my friend Owen and his fight with cancer.

TF FACTION: SIX CLAN

The Six Clan is a clan of Six Changer ninja that rule over the shadowy regions of the cosmos. All of its members are Transformers who have six configurations, one robot and five alternate modes, and are practiced in ninjutsu. New members may be inducted regardless of origin or number of alternate forms, provided they train further to be able to have six transformations in total.

Six Clan Faction (WORK IN PROGRESS)

To access the Six Clan Faction, you must have +d6 Skill Ranks in Infiltration. You must also have access to an additional Alt-Mode. This can be obtained through various means, including the Modemaster Role with (Mimic) or (Triple Changer) Focus, or the Additional Alt-Mode General Perk.

Faction Benefits

Weapon Training: In addition to your Role’s Equipment Training and Qualifications, you are qualified to use all Silent Weapons.

Rule From the Shadows: Rumors claim that the Six Clan secretly rules the galaxy from hidden worlds. You gain ↑1 on all Streetwise Skill Tests.

Stealth Training: Patterned similar to ninja assassins, the Six Clan emphasizes stealth over brutality. You gain ↑1 on all Infiltration Skill Tests.

Surprise Attack: The Six Clan is trained to attack their enemies from hidden positions. You may use Infiltration in place of Initiative Skill Tests.

((Houserule note: Why is “immunity to carbon-based diseases by affected by electromagnetic damage and viruses that affect machines” a Faction Benefit instead of an Origin Benefit? That makes no sense. Same applies to “↑1 to Infiltration Skill Tests when in Alt-Mode or ↑2 if the Alt-Mode is appropriate to the environment.” Again, this seems like it should be an Origins benefit.))

Faction Perk

Shifting Defense: As a member of the Six Clan, you may use an Energon Point to convert into any mode as a Free Action. As you use this ability to convert from one form to another, you may force an attack to target your Evasion instead of any other Defense until the start of your next turn.

NEW INFLUENCE

Players can choose S.T.A.G. during character creation, just like any other Influence.

S.T.A.G.

The most dangerous Transformers are those who can stand on their own. They are feared as “one-robot armies,” but are more traditionally known as a S.T.A.G. or “Solo Transformer Assault Group.” These legendary warriors belong to a secretive organization of assassins known as the Six Clan that manipulate the politics of Cybertron and countless other worlds across the galaxy.

The Six Clan recruits only those individuals dedicated to the ideal that change is constant and they serve as the embodiment of this change. By accepting additional alt-modes to their form, the Six Clan expresses their dedication to the ever-changing universe around them.

Influence Perk: You begin play with access to the Six Clan faction. You can choose this faction instead of the Autobot (For the Allspark!) or Decepticon (Hail Megatron!) faction, even if you don’t meet the standard requirements.

Known Members Include: 

Deep Six

Killswitch / Hexadeathimal

Nightbird (recruit)

Fracture (student)

Road Pig (disciple)

Road Rocket (disciple)

Quickswitch

Sixknight

Sixshot / Greatshot

Deep Six

One lesser-known member of the Six Clan, whose exploits have not yet reached our universe, goes by the name of Deep Six. As their aquatic operations expert, he transforms from a robot into a submarine, a patrol boat, a shark, a sea lion, and a seaplane.

Killswitch / Hexadeathimal

“Chaos will always triumph over order; it is the way of things.”

Once, he was known as Killswitch, but that was before this vicious Decepticon mastered all five of his terrifying alternate modes. Now, the Clan of Six has blessed him with a new name fitting for a mighty Six Changer like himself. The Autobots shall tremble before the wrath of Hexadeathimal!

Or rather, they would if it wasn't impossible to take him seriously with that name.

Nightbird 

“Never be a pawn in another’s game.”

Nightbird is a former Decepticon assassin. After discovering Megatron and his forces were located on Earth, she ventured there to join them, only to be defeated by the Autobots. 

Retreating from the planet, Nightbird ventured to one of the hidden worlds of the Six Clan, where she spent years working to develop a six-form. She succeeded in adding a flying squirrel and swan form to her alt-modes. Before she was able to assume her full six-forms, Nightbird learned of the new Decepticon Emperor of Destruction: Galvatron, and left to pledge herself to his side. She was joined by her two disciples: Road Pig and Road Rocket, where all three pledged themselves to Galvatron on Chaar.

Through Galvatron – but more specifically through Scourge – Nightbird learned of the power offered by the dark god Unicron. Always one to seek an advantage, Nightbird pledged herself to the Chaos Bringer and found herself transformed into a Terrorcon. Under the guidance of Unicron, Nightbird has become the ultimate assassin, with an alarming aptitude for slaying her marks. While the other Terrorcons are brutish and intimidating in their methods, what makes Nightbird such a genuinely chilling foe is her effortless expertise.

Armed with twin swords and an ability to attack her victims in deadly silent strikes, Nightbird is an enemy one doesn’t see coming until it’s too late. She fights and moves with perfect efficiency. This Terrorcon believes that once the objective has been achieved, the battle is won. For her, everything else is just wasted effort.

At some point, Nightbird tutored the bounty hunter Fracture (Transformers: Robots In Disguise) in the art of stealth and tracking.

Influences

Hunter, Martial Artist: Despite her allegiance to the Decepticons, Nightbird is a mercenary through and through. She will make alliances and just as easily break them to acquire skill and ability via the “next best thing.” Nightbird has found breaking ties with Unicron is not as easily done.

Origin

Champion: Nightbird assumes the alt-mode of a 1995 Nissan Skyline GTR R33. Through her Alt-Mode Mimicry, she can also convert into a flying squirrel and a swan.

Role and Focus

Commando (Infiltrator): Nightbird uses this Role and Focus from the GIJoe rpg, rather than being a Scout (Prowler) from the Transformers rpg. I think her having the additional damage from the Commando’s Sneak Attack Perk works to represent her deadly attacks more accurately. This Role is modified with the “Cross-Training” General Perk, allowing Nightbird to acquire the Alt-Mode Mimicry Perk from the Modemaster (Mimic) Focus found in the Decepticon Directive (**Houseruled)

Essence Scores and Skills

Strength 6: Athletics +d4, Might (Sharp) +d6

Speed 8: Driving +d4, Infiltration (Stealth) +d8, Targeting +d2

Smarts 9: Alertness +d6, Culture +d8, Technology +d4

Social 5: Deception +d6, Streetwise +d4

Quickswitch

"Chaotic" and "unpredictable" are the best words to describe Quickswitch. His rapidly alternating form is echoed by his moods changing just as wildly. Whether you find him happy or sad, angry or upset depends mostly on the occasion you happen to run into him. If you find Quickswitch during a bad mood, the best advice is to simply suffer a moment longer.

He is the son of Sixshot. Sometimes he is partnered with the Titan Master Dynamus.

Sixknight

Sixknight is dedicated to being the best. A member of the enigmatic ninja Six Clan, he has voyaged across the universe increasing his strength and skill, mastering the elusive art of six-changing and learning to manipulate Tenchōkon Power (“magic”). The problem with this boastful ninja, though, is that he really needs people to know how good he is, and if there's someone out there who claims to be more powerful, then there's no other course of action for Sixknight than to take them on and show them who's boss. Sixknight really only understands force, believing that one's own power is all that matters — the subtleties of fighting for something or someone are lost upon him. As a Six Changer, however, he is a mercurial, impressionable sort, and the nobility of the Autobots intrigues this wandering warrior…

Sixshot / Greatshot

“Life is worth living only as long as there are enemies worth destroying.”

Few Decepticons are as feared as Sixshot, either by the Autobots or by their own comrades. As the first known Transformer Six Changer, able to assume six different modes, he is officially designated as a "Solo Transformer Assault Group" (or "S.T.A.G."), but is more colloquially known among those who know and fear him as a "one-robot army". Sixshot's destructive ability is the stuff of legend, a gleeful murderousness that is matched in ferocity only by the intensity with which he sets to the bloody tasks given him. He is not to be mistaken for a mindless weapon, however — he is highly intelligent, and not without honor of a warped sort. He grants due respect to any opponent he deems worthy, and always speaks well of them after he has inevitably dispatched them to, as he puts it, "the great junkyard in the sky".

These attitudes are reflective of Sixshot's understanding of the inevitable end that waits for a warrior such as he, and the hope that when his own end eventually arrives he will be remembered in the same way. But that end will be long in coming, for although Sixshot believes that life is only worth living for as long as there are opponents who can challenge him, his mantra does not preclude his own allegiance changing in order to make new enemies and challenges where none existed before.

As the Decepticons renewed his hostilities towards the Autobots of Cybertron, with the aid of the Mini-Con Lord Zarak and his Headmasters, Galvatron acquired the aid of Sixshot to act as his personal representative and commander of the Decepticon forces on Earth.

Following the end of the Cybertronian Wars, Sixshot faked his own death during the Battle of the Bay and assumed the guise of the Autobot “Greatshot” to fool the Six Clan into thinking he was destroyed.

Influences

S.T.A.G., Titanspark, War Veteran: Sixshot was recruited to the Decepticon cause early in the War. He was eventually sent off by Megatron to seek out and learn the secrets of the enigmatic Six Clan, with plans to return to the Cons and share their knowledge.

Origin

Rainmaker: Most of Sixshot’s many forms are those of heavily-armed military vehicles.

Role and Focus

Modemaster (Mimic): This Role and Focus from the Decepticon Directive was created specifically with characters like Sixshot in mind.

Essence Scores and Skills

Strength 10: Athletics +d4, Brawn +d6, Intimidation +d6, Might +d4

Speed 4: Driving +d4, Targeting +d4

Smarts 9: Alertness +d4, Culture +d4, Survival +d4, Technology +d6

Social 7: Deception +d6, Persuasion +d2, Streetwise +d6

x

'Til All Are One!