The Resident Alien

A submission to the Cairn 2e sci-fantasy background jam.

You are an alien, from another dimension or a far away galaxy, hiding in plain sight.

Names

Bigbootay, Cold, Gazu, Indrid, Jeltz, Lizardo, Marvin, Spock, Worfin, Zaphod 

Starting Gear

• 3d6 credits
• a crystal that glows when you whisper to it (3 charges)
• a keepsake from home that thrums when touched (petty)
• Nutritional energy pellets (3 uses)
• a blaze-pistol (d6 damage, 6 shots)

What is your alien giveaway? Roll 1d6:

1. Your blood runs green. You are highly resistant to poisons and disease but your alien physiology makes being healed more difficult.
2. You’ve got pointy ears. They’re great for hearing things (advantage on any listening actions) but your resemblance to certain evil mythical creatures that appear across cultures makes people who see them anxious (disadvantage on reactions).
3. You’ve got a glowing fingertip. You can interface with computers, machines, and other technology remotely. Sometimes it works wonderfully, other times… (WIL save to avoid things going haywire). 
4. You have two heads. The second one grants you the power to Befuddle (as the spell) but each time you use it, it makes you Deprived. You can usually hide the second head but, at the worst times, it wriggles free and starts singing, yelling, or generally carrying on.
5. You’ve got sparky skin. You can work up a charge and zap with a touch (d6 damage) but the effort gives you Fatigue. Due to an interaction that you don’t understand, any zapped creature can sense you intuitively when close by.
6. You are horrifying to behold. Your keepsake projects a disguising screen that keeps your real form hidden. By grasping and squeezing it, you can drop the screen. Anyone seeing you must make a WIL save with disadvantage or become panicked. Once dropped, you must spend 1d3 turns hidden completely from view to reactivate the disguise.

How did you get here? Roll 1d6:

1. Space Tourism. You saw the brochure, booked the trip, and then decided to stay. You’ve got a hacked Ident-E-Card that forges your choice of identities (3 charges). Recharge: plug it into a directory mainframe to refresh its data.
2. Kidnapped by space-scientists. You escaped from a cabal of corporate xeno-biologists. You grabbed a laser-scalpel (d6 damage) on your way out. The scientists still hunt you.
3. Escape. You ran away from something back home and this is as far as you got before you crashed your ship. You managed to salvage a Force-Disc Emitter (3 charges, creates a faintly luminescent disc, +4 slots & bulky, lasts 1 hour) before your craft was destroyed. Recharge: refuel it with 3 fresh energy cubes.
4. Scientific expedition. You came to study the creatures of this region of space. You have collected a significant amount of information on your PADD tablet (1 charge, ask it a question, WIL to answer correctly) but you’ve lost your pick-up beacon. Recharge: spend a day lovingly dictating new data into it.
5. Espionage. The invasion is coming. You were sent as a sleeper agent to pave the way. You were genetically engineered to body-snatch: you envelope an incapacitated living target for 1 Turn to take on its form. The subject is absorbed into you and you become Deprived.
6. Mishap. You were testing teleportation technology too advanced and complicated to explain to lesser lifeforms but something went horribly wrong and here you are. As a side-effect, you can alter phase for one Round and pass through solid walls or objects. Doing so makes you Deprived.