Double Trouble

By JD Wiker and Steve Miller

The New Jedi Order is a big topic to cover, so it's no wonder that the designers of The New Jedi Order Sourcebook couldn't cram everything they wanted to say between the covers. But we're proud to bring you some of that extra material right here, along with previews of what you will find in the book. Our first installment looked at the ExGal Society of researchers, who perch on the rim of the known galaxy, waiting for signs of life from beyond. In this second installment, learn the disturbing details of the grutchin (a Yuuzhan Vong bio-organic weapon) and the Kor Chokk (the Yuuzhan Vong's gigantic capital ship).

JD Wilker		Steve Miller

The Grutchin

The Yuuzhan Vong use grutchins as a type of organic torpedo, launching them at enemy ships that are trying to escape to hyperspace. Grutchins are especially effective in this capacity. Once released, they move from ship to ship at missilelike speeds, devouring every scrap of metal they can reach. They're particularly fond of "soft" metals, such as those used in the internal parts of droids, ion engines, and starfighter cockpits. They also happily eat even softer materials -- such as flesh. Their acid-edged mandibles make short work of most metals.

Mature grutchins are notoriously difficult to control. Once Yuuzhan Vong have launched grutchins at a target, they consider the beasts expendable. They frequently have to kill any grutchins that survive their intended use, since the grutchins just as readily devour Yuuzhan Vong vessels and personnel, and they're all but impossible to recapture. Fortunately for the Yuuzhan Vong, grutchins reproduce and mature quickly, so there's no real shortage of the monsters.

Grutchin: Vacuum predator 12; Init +1; Def 22 (+16 natural, -3 Dex, -1 size); Spd 8 m, 1,000 m fly (good); VP/WP 153/26; Atk +20 melee (2d8+13, bite) or +8 ranged; SQ Able to exist in zero-atmosphere and hyperspace, ignore damage reduction and hardness, self-guiding, darkvision 20 m, blindsight 2,000 m, DR 5; SV Fort +18, Ref +5, Will +4; SZ L; FP 0; Rep 5; Str 28, Dex 5, Con 26, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 2. Challenge Code: F.

Skills: Climb +20, Jump +16, Spot +8, Survival +4.

Feats: Cleave, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Power Attack.

SQ -- Ignore Damage Reduction and Hardness: Because of their acid-edged mandibles, grutchins ignore the damage reduction and hardness of materials they bite.

SQ -- Self-Guiding: When used as a missile weapon, a grutchin is self-guiding and does not require a "missile lock." The creature simply flies toward the nearest target it sees. The GM should roll initiative for the grutchin, then automatically reduce the range between the grutchin and its intended target by two categories in each round after the grutchin acts.

The target of the grutchin attack can attempt to evade the beast, as described for missiles in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game core rulebook. (Treat grutchins as though they have a Pilot skill modifier of +15.) Note that the grutchin tracks its target for as long as both it and the target are still functional; it doesn't lose "target lock" no matter how much time passes. The best bet for a pilot pursued by grutchins is to attempt to put a more enticing (that is, slower) target between his own ship and the creature.

If the grutchin and its target are ever at point-blank range to each other, the grutchin launches a touch attack against its target (bypassing the ship's armor bonus). A grutchin can't launch this attack against a target with functioning shields. If the attack is successful, the grutchin grapples the ship and will begin inflicting bite damage on the ship on each of its actions thereafter, until it or the target is destroyed.

The Kor Chokk Grand Cruiser

A Kor Chokk is more of a mobile space station than a ship. In combat, it maneuvers little, preferring instead to let the enemy come to it and be destroyed by its own formidable weapons arrays or by the swarms of coralskippers it can unleash from its multiple docking arms. Most of a Kor Chokk's bulk is taken up by these spindly extremities, and most of the ship's "cargo space" is devoted to the arms.

A Yuuzhan Vong Kor Chokk grand cruiser carries 216 coralskippers and up to 30 yorik-trema landing craft. Grand cruisers can generate interdiction fields out to long starship range.

Craft: Yuuzhan Vong Kor Chokk Grand Cruiser; Class: Space Station; Cost: Unknown; Size: Colossal (Huge space station, 8,180 m); Initiative: +2 (-8 size, +10 crew*); Crew: 2,140 (Skilled +10*); Passengers: 4,640; Cargo Capacity: 26,880 metric tons; Consumables: 1 year; Hyperdrive: [x]3; Maximum Speed: Cruising; Maneuver: -2 (-8 size, +10 crew*, -4 engine quality); Defense: 12 (-8 size, +10 armor); Shield Points: 650; Hull Points: 1,150; DR: 35.

Weapon: Plasma projectors (120); Fire Arc: 40 front, 30 left, 30 right, 20 rear; Attack Bonus: +4 (-8 size, +10 crew*, +2 fire control); Damage: 7d10[x]5; Range Modifiers: PB +2, S +0, M -2, L -4.

Weapon: Dovin basal "tractor"; Fire Arc: Any; Attack Bonus: +4 (-8 size, +10 crew*, +2 fire control); Damage: Special; Range Modifiers: PB -4, S/M/L n/a.

*Includes +4 competence bonus from yammosk.

Legacy of Torment
Shedao Shai's personal command ship, Legacy of Torment, is an example of an especially powerful and old Yuuzhan Vong Kor Chokk grand cruiser. Legacy of Torment first appeared at the Battle of Ithor. After Shedao Shai's death in his duel with the Jedi Knight Corran Horn, the Yuuzhan Vong warrior Deign Lian seized command of Legacy of Torment, using it to deliver lethal bioweapons that destroyed the jungles of Ithor.

Craft: Yuuzhan Vong Kor Chokk Grand Cruiser; Class: Space Station; Cost: Unknown; Size: Colossal (Huge space station, 8,180 m); Initiative: +4 (-8 size, +12 crew*); Crew: 2,140 (Expert +12*); Passengers: 4,640; Cargo Capacity: 26,880 metric tons; Consumables: 1 year; Hyperdrive: [x]3; Maximum Speed: Cruising; Maneuver: +0 (-8 size, +12 crew*, -4 engine quality); Defense: 12 (-8 size, +10 armor); Shield Points: 650; Hull Points: 1,150; DR: 35.

Weapon: Plasma projectors (120); Fire Arc: 40 front, 30 left, 30 right, 20 rear; Attack Bonus: +6 (-8 size, +12 crew*, +2 fire control); Damage: 7d10[x]5; Range Modifiers: PB +2, S +0, M -2, L -4.

Weapon: Dovin basal "tractor"; Fire Arc: Any; Attack Bonus: +6 (-8 size, +12 crew*, +2 fire control); Damage: Special; Range Modifiers: PB -4, S/M/L n/a.

*Includes +4 competence bonus from yammosk.

Order The New Jedi Order Sourcebook now!

Read an interview with The New Jedi Order Sourcebook co-designer JD Wiker and check out our web enhancement, a Yuuzhan Vong mini-adventure also by JD!