Generic Space Opera Bestiary: the Space Tiger

We’ve already covered the cat, and what is a tiger but a scaled-up cat? Well, the biggest difference is that, unless you’re a mouse, a cat isn’t terrifying. The tiger is the posterchild for apex predator in the sense that we, as humans, have a primal fear of them. In many ways, the tiger is the template from which many space monsters are drawn: they are stealthy and fade into the shadows to watch with glittering eyes. Their growls reverberate through the area, spooking its target without giving away its location. When it strikes, it does so suddenly, with a roar that freezes the target in place out of sheer terror. It strikes with claws and fangs, ripping and tearing. And it’s done in an instant, after which it drags the target away to its den, to devour it and leave its bones behind. If the bear is the “ogre” then the tiger is the “xenomorph.”

This gives us an excellent reason to revisit the feline template on a larger scale, to get a better sense of what these space monsters can and cannot do, and where they might come from.

 

Space Tiger in GURPS Space

Predatory cats seem to range across a great variety of terrains, from the jungles of India or South America to the plains of Africa to the mountains of the Americas. They are, however, the prime example of Pouncing Carnivores. Obviously, they are walkers, though they often have some elements of Climbing as well.

When it comes to Size, most stats I can find on great cats puts them at SM +1, which space judges at 600 lbs and about ST 17 (which is dead-on for tiger stats).

Unsurprisingly, when it comes to a Body Plan, great cats are bilateral, with four limbs, featureless tails, no manipulators and an internal skeleton. I can’t find any examples of great cats with any form of manipulator, which might not be surprising from a realism perspective, but even the more cinematic “magical” tigers from DF 5: Allies lack them. I find that interesting, given their great ability to grip trees and climb.

When it comes to Skin, we expect tigers to have Fur. Interestingly, all the stats I can find gives DR 1 on tigers, which implies “hide” but perhaps just a robust construction of the animal. I see no particular reason, other than perhaps coloration, that alien “great cats” couldn’t have another covering. Scales seem especially likely, and the xenomorph of alien is a good example of what a “great cat” with an exoskeleton might look like. Skin seems probably too, but “hide” seems even easier to justify with skin than with fur. How much covering they have seems to vary, but “high DR for their covering” seems a bit of a running theme.

When it comes to Sex, tigers are, like most mammals, live-bearing creatures with two sexes. They seem to give birth to small litters of relatively helpless young, so we expect a Moderate-K strategy.

When it comes to Senses, we expect tigers to have rather exceptional senses. GURPS Space expects tigers to have Normal to Telescopic vision, and actual tigers seem to have vision close to human normal with exceptional nightvision. Their sense of hearing would probably edge towards “superior hearing” per GURPS Space, and this matches reality, as tigers edge towards Ultrahearing (and may have some degree of parabolic hearing). GURPS Space doesn’t expect them to have a superior sense of touch, but Acute Touch (Face/Muzzle only) might not be implausible, though Vibration Sense might be pushing it. We might expect perfect balance, especially if they’re Climbers. Finally, tigers seem to have less sensitive sense of smell than most other mammalian predators I can find, and a fairly weak sense of taste even compared to humans. We can abstract that away as “Normal smell/taste.” They do use smell and touch as a communication channel, however: rubbing against one another, or smelling the rubbings of others against trees etc.

When it comes to Alien Minds, we might expect a predator like this one to be Low Intelligence. However, most of their stats put them on a mammalian IQ 4. For breeding, I would expect temporary pairing for breeding and solitary creatures. This isn’t necessarily true of all Great Cats: lions, of course, are famously have harem mating and a reasonably large social organization, which is fairly unique for such a large predator.

This gives them a generic Psychological Profile of Chauvinism -1 (Broad-Minded), Concentration +1 (Attentive), Curiosity +0, Egoism +1 (Proud), Empathy -1 (Oblivious), Gregariousness -1 (Ucongenial), Imagination +1 (Versatile) and Suspicion +0.

Generic Alien Tiger Stats

There are Tigers on B456, DF5 Allies page 8, or Pizard’s Cats (Yes, including the House Cat)

Variations

Chameleon Tiger

Tigers and most ambush predators are known for their ability to fade into the background to better attack their prey. They use their stripes to break up their outline. If the tiger had the actual chameleon trait, they would better be able to vanish into the background. Interestingly, the actual chameleon is, itself, an ambush predator, though it seems to use its tongue for the final ambush, rather than its ability to change colors.

I can, alas, find no stats on the actual chameleon, but GURPS Biotech seems to suggest Chameleon 2 is the highest we can expect with a modest chameleon creature (though I expect an octopus exceeds this). The more cinematic versions of tigers and other cats have a Silence of 4. Combined, this makes an excellent “ninja predator.”

Lens (Chameleon Cat): Chameleon 2; Silence 4

Giant Tiger

So what about a giant, primeval sabertooth tiger?! Well, from my research, they’re actually smaller than today’s tigers. Turns out the ice age wasn’t an era when everything was bigger and cooler! In practice, they were “just” more robustly built with heavier forearms, which might justify greater ST, posssibly.

Of course, we could just ignore that and go with SM +2, which makes our tiger the size of a horse. This disrupts one of the iconic images of a tiger, which is the image of a hero wrestling it down, but you can still fight with a giant tiger in an arena, so I suppose it’s fine. A larger question is “Why does such a tiger need to be so massive?” It cannot hide as well, it faces greater risks when running, and it needs that much more food. On the other hand, we’ve had predators even bigger than SM+2, so it’s probably not that hard to justify: perhaps a longer stride means for a faster cat, which can reach its prey more quickly, and thus ambush from farther away (which might be necessary, if its greater size moves it from the thickest parts of the jungle) and it might be on a world with taller grasses and larger prey, justifying a larger size.

Lens (Muscle Tiger): Add +5 to ST; replace Sharp Teeth with Fangs.

Lens (Giant Tiger): Add +10 to ST and increase SM to +2; add Enhanced Move 0.5 (Ground).

The Talking Tiger

“Want some candy?” – Predator 2

This is, perhaps, a bit of a stretch, but I’m quite a fan of the idea of a manticore, a man-faced tiger. The Manticore, of course, does not speak but roars, but we could explore the idea of a talking predator. In particular, this would be an ambush strategy called aggressive mimicry. The idea is normally that the predator bears a striking resemblance to prey, but on a world with a greater focus on hearing than sight, one might mimic the cries of wounded prey to draw other predators close, and then strike and defeat the predator, or the mating cries of a prey animal and then kill the interested prey when it shows up for a fun time. This would likely imply a reduced scent or other profile elements to further hide who they actually are from their targets.

Tigers don’t necessarily have especially extremely flexible vocal chords. They’re more expressive than other animals, but not more expressive than many mammals, though the “roar” is a distinct evolutionary trait: it’s not something that any sufficiently large animal can do (Sorry, T-Rex). But this sort of mimicry is possible in the animal kingdom, and is frequently found among birds. We might imagine it as less of a mammalian tiger, and more some sort of tiger-like feathered-dinosaurid with a highly evolved set of vocal cords.

Tigers also verge on rather high intelligence. If we had a Strong-K rather than Medium-K species, that would justify high levels of intelligence, and pouncers tend to be highly imaginative. The net effect could be a plausibly cunning creature that can imitate the vocalizations of humans. Sufficiently smart ones might even master language itself, though likely would lack the real intelligence to carry on a conversation.

Lens (Talking Tiger): Improve IQ to 5; add Acute Hearing 2, Mimicry and Sanitized Metabolism.

Tree Tiger

I’d heard the government was using cloned warbeasts against the insurgents, but I’d never seen one until the general brought his bodyguard to the cease-fire talks. It was like a 7-foot-tall gorilla, but with a jaguar’s pelt, a canine muzzle and long, pointed ears. – Jagrilla Hound, GURPS Biotech, page 89

Many great cats have a close relationship with trees. Jaguars and leopards in particular will carry their kill into trees, so they can eat them without being bothered by scavengers. But they also make excellent points to ambush a target from above. Those broad paws and long claws offer excellent grip to trees.

But we could go better. Why not a brachiating tiger adapted to the trees? This is actually a surprisingly common concept, not just in sci-fi (see the Biotech quote above), but also the Ngojama of Africa has a similar vibe (though more Lion-Gorilla). I expect these tigers would retain their claws, but might have an opposable claw for proper grip. They need updated wrists so they can turn their hands, but the wrists still need to be quite robust for bearing the weight of the beast while it swings through trees and strike its prey. These claws might grant it some improved climbing, but I note that no great cat template I can find has that improved climbing, so perhaps we can skip it. As an explicitly tree-based predator, we might restore the perfect balance and catfall of the more cinematic DF5 templates as well as the limited camouflage. The result should be a creature that is extremely at home in a dense jungle canopy and has some level of ability to grip and grasp with its paws, both to more directly seize and wrestle with its target, but also to better climb and swing from trees.

ST: 17/19	Basic Speed: 6.00	SM: +1
DX: 13	Basic Move: 9
IQ: 4	Perception: 12
HT: 11	Will: 10	DR: 2

Traits: Arm ST 2; Brachiator; Catfall; Combat Reflexes; Flexibility; Ham-Fisted 2; Limited Camouflage (Dense Vegetation); Night Vision 5; Perfect Balance; Striking ST 2 (Bite Only); Semi-Upright; Sharp Claws; Sharp Teeth; Silence 2; Super Jump 1;

Insectoid Tiger

The xenomorph from Alien is perhaps the best “space monster” take on a tiger I’ve ever seen. It is a consummate ambush predator and an obligate carnivore. It is a death machine that would dominate its environment, much like a great cat does. If so, what might a more generic “exoskeleton great cat” look like? The limits of an exoskeleton seem to be SM+1 at most (perhaps smaller, more like SM +0), but that’s within the reach of a tiger, which already sits at about this mass at most, thus a chitin tiger sits at the edge of plausibility.

What does the cat give up for having its chitin shell? Well, not explosive power, as there are many chitinous animals that store and release mechanical energy in their chitin: fleas and grasshoppers, for example, or wolf-spiders. They might lose some of their flexiblity, of course, and they might lose some of their senses. We might give them an array of eyes, like a huntsman spider, and we can get around the numbness of the thick shell with whisker-like structures. Most of great cat’s sensitivity is in its whiskers already, and these suit a chitinous cat well, as it can focus all of its sensitivity to some whiskers/antennae directly around its mouth, for when it makes its strike. We might imagine compound eyes rather than lensed eyes which suggests weak vision, but huntsmen spiders and wolf spiders actually have what might be on par with human vision, along with (weaker) peripheral vision and night vision. Not a bad sensory suit!

As for the attack itself, we can replace fangs with mandibles without too much trouble, and we can replace the tiger claws with something like mantis claws. We can’t walk on mantis claws, so we’ll need extra legs, but that’s hardly difficult to justify with an insectoid.

ST: 17	Basic Speed: 6.0	SM: +1
DX: 12	Basic Move: 6
IQ: 1	Perception: 10
HT: 11	Will: 10	DR: 4

Traits: Bad Grip 1; Cold Blooded; Combat Reflexes; Ham Fisted 2; Extra Legs (4); Peripheral Vision; Night Vision 5; Numb (Not on feelers); Sharp Claws; Sharp Teeth; Super Jump 2; Wild animal

Murder Tiger

The tiger is often the template for many space monsters. In many ways, it exemplifies the apex predator! We might imagine a truly horrifying and monstrous alien to resemble a tiger: something that hides itself well, moves in the shadows, roars ferociously, and then strikes all at once with claws and fang, and destroying their target quickly with its large, imposing size.

So just how dangerous can we make a tiger? Well, Space doesn’t really tell us, other than nothing what is and isn’t possible in the broadest outlines. But we might look at GURPS Biotech for upper limits on what biology might allow. Of course, we could do this with any creature (the bear, in particular), but I wanted to showcase the process at least once, and the tiger seems a good place to do that. The result might push the bounds of plausibility, but we can also argue that these tigers are genetically engineered warbeasts. That said, I think we’ll find that the best that nature can provide will pale in comparison to the best of what technology can provide. Even the biological perfection of a super-tiger can’t compare to a tank, or a soldier in power-armor, but let’s at least look at what’s possible!

I will be starting with the DF 5 Allies Tiger as a base.

When it comes to Intelligence, it’s pretty easy to justify improving it to 5. We might even go further and give it presapient traits, but let’s leave it as a clever animal for now. Improved perception and will is also quite plausible, as is a Single-Minded predator.

Cardiovascular improvements as well as improvements in digestion could make for a more robust creature. There are lots of little, samll ways this could improve it, but we could abstract them into a +2 to HT.

Glandular improvements, like with the bear, might give us better reaction times, and justify sudden, explosive strength, which definitely fits with the hunting strategies of a cat. Metabolism control might also help the cat weather down seasons.

Musculo-Skeletal modifications might justify up to +4 more ST, though I think we start pushing the bounds of what’s possible with a living creature (an unliving creature at 600 lbs would cap out at around ST 33, which means this has pretty extreme levels of efficiency).

Nerve tweaks can push our DX even higher, though I think more than a 15 is pushing things, and higher Basic Speed, and grant an Extra-Attack.

The result is fairly nasty. We could go even further: we could give it hands, poisoned fangs, chameleon, intelligence, the ability to breath water, etc. But I wanted to get a sense of how far we could push something that was still “tiger like.” Note that there’s no option for something like armor divisors on the claws, so the best damage we can reach is something like 3d imp, which is horrifying, able to kill a target with a single bite or slash, but only if that target is unarmored. The cat can attack multiple times per second, moves at frightening speed and has astonishing reflexes (giving it a dodge of 13!). It’s nasty, but mostly to cheerleaders and tourists, rather than nanoweave-clad soldiers.

ST: 30	Basic Speed: 9.0	SM: +1
DX: 15	Basic Move: 12/18
IQ: 5	Perception: 15
HT: 14	Will: 12	DR: 4

Traits: Catfall; Claws (Talons); Combat Reflexes; Discriminatory Smell; Enhanced Move 0.5 (Ground); Extra-Attack 1; Flexibility; Fur; Limited Camouflage (Dense Vegetation); Metabolism Control 2; Night Vision 9; Perfect Balance; Quadruped; Striking ST 2 (Bite Only); Silence 4; Single-Minded; Super Jump 2; Teeth (Fangs); Vibration Sense(Air); Wild Animal