The Strange Bestiary
These bizarre mutants are composite creatures of magic fungi and fishlike animals working together to create a single commensal organism. Frenetic hobs gather discarded objects and clothing from the ruins of Cataclyst for themselves. Hobs are about half the size of humans.
A variety of different hob "species" exist in Cataclyst, and all seem to be nasty bastards that regard other living creatures as potential nutrition sources to infect with their spores. Infected creatures eventually burst, and from the ruins of their flesh emerge new hobs.
Motive: Defense, reproduction
Environment (Magic or Weird Science): Anywhere in the ruins, in groups of three to seven
Health: 18
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Armor: 1
Movement: Short; long when swimming
Modifications: Resists poisons and radiation of all kinds as level 9.
Combat: A frenetic hob attacks by scooping a ball of radioactive fungus from its body and hurling it at a foe. A hob can either target a single foe within long range or blanket a cone-shaped area in front of it within short range, attacking every target in that area but inflicting only 1 point of damage on each failed Speed defense roll. A frenetic hob can make this blanketing attack only once every other round.
Regardless of which kind of attack a frenetic hob makes, a target damaged by the radioactive fungus must succeed on a Might defense roll or cough, choke, and struggle for breath for one round. She cannot act, and the difficulty of any defense rolls she makes is increased by two steps. Also, she has been infected with hob spores that give her a level 5 disease. Every twenty-four hours after the spores take root, the victim must succeed on a Might defense roll or take 8 points of ambient damage. If a victim dies while infected, her body bursts, and from the shreds wiggle forth several fungus-coated, fishlike creatures— juvenile frenetic hobs.
Some frenetic hobs carry cyphers that prove useful in combat.
A character infected with hob spores might not realize it right away, though after the first failed Might defense roll, she begins to show signs of radiation sickness, including boils, blisters, and hair loss.
Interaction: Frenetic hobs have a crude language, but they generally don’t talk with their spore food.
Use: An important contact the PCs meet in Cataclyst suddenly bursts, and several juvenile frenetic hobs swim out of the corpse. If the PCs want to find out what heir contact wanted, they’ll have to follow the bloodspattered juveniles back into the ruins, where adult hobs wait.
Loot: Some hobs carry a cypher or two, as well as a variety of odds and ends collected from the ruins.
Juvenile frenetic hob: level 1; no attacks
GM Intrusion: One of the characters' NPC allies suddenly bursts, and juvenile frenetic hobs pour out of his corpse. Apparently the ally had been infected with hob spores.