Make a monster for Infusion

[deanisi]

I'm late but I really want to have a changeling/skinwalker/mimic enemy, basically something which can surprise a player.

Imagine going through sewers and finding some scavenger/goon who acts normally and moves/shoots like a regular humanoid enemy but when you "kill" them some "The thing" warps/bursts out of their body and starts doing some crazy stuff.

Different scenario, you encounter a rathound or few, they act like normal rats but at som point they just stand up like humans do and transform in some kind of a weirwolf.

Or literal mimic scenario when some regular objects can be an enemy or hide an enemy within, like opening a crate but it has teeth or have some tentacle inside of it.

Or something between faceless and Callidus assasin from 40k, basically an enemy which can change/morph to get an advantage. For example having a nimble and hulking forms which have their own pros and cons, or throwing a flashbang and disguising themselves as nearby friendly NPC. Also lots of posibilites for quests.

[Vasto]

Bilo-Spider Colony
A Bilo-Spider Colony is another offshoot of the shadowborne creatures—akin to shadow crawlers, but even more unsettling in their social and psionic complexity. Each colony is composed of five to six males and a single massive matriarch, whose presence dominates both the nest and the battlefield.
Behavior and Abilities
Bilo-spiders are innately psionic and draw from the Thought Control discipline. Their signature technique is Bilocation, which they twist into creating arachnid doppelgangers—shadowy spider-forms that confuse and harass intruders.
All colony members can fire restraining web projectiles, trapping enemies in adhesive strands that limit movement and make them easy prey.
The Matriarch
The colossal matriarch is vastly more powerful than her brood. She commands an enhanced suite of psionic abilities:
Bilocation
Frighten
Neural Overload
At the start of combat, the matriarch summons two doppelganger shadows of herself. These echoes persist until she is slain or stunned, relentlessly advancing toward their chosen prey. Their movement is slow but inexorable, creating constant pressure and denying safe positions.


Gravelmaw Ambusher
The Gravelmaw Ambusher is a subterranean trap predator that inverts the hunting strategy of the classic ceiling-dwelling barnacle (Half-Life). Instead of dangling tendrils from above, the Gravelmaw lies buried beneath the ground, camouflaged as a harmless patch of rubble or compacted dust. Only the slightest irregularities—hairline cracks, a faint rhythmic tremor—betray its presence, and even these can be noticed reliably only through Trap Detection.
Behavior and Hunting Method
At rest, the creature remains motionless under a thin crust of earth and stone. When a passerby steps within reach, the Gravelmaw erupts upward with startling speed, its circular mouth ringed with keratin hooks snapping shut around the victim’s lower body. This violent ambush:
Inflicts immediate health damage from puncturing barbs and crushing pressure.
Damages armor and footwear, scraping and tearing against its abrasive bite ring.
Leaves the victim Dazed, losing movement and action points at the start of combat.
If the target is not killed outright, the Gravelmaw drags them downward by several centimeters, pinning them in place and exposing them to further danger.
Swarm Response
A Gravelmaw Ambusher rarely hunts alone. Once it has successfully snared prey, the disturbance causes nearby traplings to burst from the soil and swarm the immobilized victim. Their bites are weak individually, but in numbers they can shred unprotected flesh and overwhelm even well-equipped explorers.
The Gravelmaw’s ambush is not merely a trap, but a signal—a subterranean alarm that brings the entire brood into a feeding frenzy.

[Amannamedsquid]

1. Sentry bot MK2: A bigger, more powerful version of the standard sentry bot reflecting a different doctrine and design philosophy than the Plasma sentry. It trades the flashbang launcher for better armor and twin 44. machine guns (similarly to a machine gun turret) although it does keep the built-in taser. Also has the suppressive fire and concentrated fire feats. Mainly found in high-priority Biocorp facilities like military bases, top-secret labs and Maximum security prisons.

2. Light combat walker: A type of robot that's sort of an autonomous combat mech. Inspired by the combat bots from Project:Snowblind. Pre-dates the descent. General build has a LMG and a 25mm grenade launcher. Has several different versions that fill different niches:

- Riot suppression walker: Designed to support law enforcement. Moderately armored, standard LMG, grenade launcher fires concussion rounds, built-in taser and either has a strobe light to disorient attackers or spits out chemhaze gas.
- Standard patrol walker: The vanilla version all others are based on. Designed for long range patrol, reconnaissance and fire support. Medium armor, standard LMG, fires frag grenades, a pneumatic tungsten spike for melee and has a lesser version of the TSB-02 Designator's "Laser designation" ability which only gives a 20% boost instead of 50%.
- Prototype walker: An advanced, High-tech, limited run prototype that never reached mass production. Has a laser weapon instead of an LMG, decent armor, it's pneunatic spike deals extra energy damage and it has an energy shield instead of a grenade launcher. Also has an ability that takes 3 turns to charge but fires a very powerful energy beam that allows it to punch way above it's weight class. If the bot gets stunned while charging (such as from an EMP), the ability gets cancelled and the bot takes huge damage.

3. Heavy Combat walker: Bigger, more powerful subclass of combat walker.

- Assault Walker: Designed for sieges and heavy frontline combat. Equipped with a minigun, 40mm grenade launcher, Frag grenades, Heavy armor, Flamethrower, 30% resistance to explosive damage and can deploy a smokescreen.
- Artillery Walker: A hard hitting, long range glass cannon. Inspired by the the catapult mech from Mechwarrior. Medium armor, an LMG as a secondary weapon, and two large 84mm missile racks as it's primary weapon. Has an ability that allows it to bombard an area with 4 missiles in quick succession but takes 2 turns to charge and can be cancelled by stunning it.

4. Biohazard containment bot: Robots usually stationed at laboratories dealing with bioweapons, mutagens and viral agents that you really really don't want getting out. Comes in 2 variants: fire and acid.

- Acid containment bot: Comes with an acid blob launcher, acid rounds and can fire gas grenades. Will also leak acid puddles like acid mutants when it takes damage. More dangerous when paired with other enemies.
- Incendiary containment bot: Comes with a flamethrower, incendiary rounds and 40mm incendiary grenades. Will go off in a spectacular, fiery explosion 2 turns after it dies.