Overview
The starship known as the Owl Bear is formally called United Terran Republic Civilian Vessel OWL BEAR, Registration Number 220-A-422. It was first put into service 43 years ago, in the year 2217. It was built at Terra’s Reticulan-operated shipyard, intended for trained Terran crews to help support their masters in the Reticulan-Chiwak Wars. It disappeared during the revolution of 2232, had some modifications made to support the resistance, and re-appeared a few years later under Terran control.
The Owl Bear is currently operated by Zephyros Professional Services on behalf of Quasar Research, a joint partnership between Solana Trading and Chiang Robotics. It is owned by Solana Trading, but it on long term loan contract to Zephyros Professional Services.
The ship’s registered master is Mr. Malek Palfrey Windsor.
The Owl Bear is the primary test bed of an experimental artificial intelligence called The Baracus Device, which presents as an avatar named Rockford.
Quirks
Being a 43-year-old ship, the Owl Bear has its share of quirks.
| Quirk | Description |
|---|---|
| Quirk 1 | Damaged Sensors: Sensor checks have DM-1. Ship can not obtain Sensor Locks. |
| Quirk 2 | Armored: Ship counts as Unarmored, but Surface Hits and Internal Hits are at Disadvantage. Roll 3D and use the 2 lowest die results. |
| Quirk 3 | Secret Smuggling Compartment: 5 tons. Requires Formidable (12+) Recon/INT check and 1 hour to notice. |
| Quirk 4 | Damaged Structure: Damage Control checks are Difficult (10+) instead of Average (8+). |
Ship Specifications
Background note: The ship specs are originally from the Opportunity I Class Light Trader (Austere Subclass) as written in the book Opportunity-Class Light Trader by Michael Johnson. That meant it was written up using Cepheus Engine rules, for the Clement Sector game setting. Then I converted it to Cepheus Deluxe as best as I could, and the result is what you see here.
| SHIP SUMMARY | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hull Size | 100 | |
| Hull Configuration | Streamlined | |
| Stealth | No | |
| Power | 2 | power units |
| Max. Acceleration | 2 | G |
| Max. Jump Distance | 2 | parsecs |
| Fuel | 20 | tons |
| Jumps at Max Range | 1 | jumps |
| Bridge Type (Small Craft) | ||
| Acc. Couches (Small Craft) | ||
| Electronics Rating | 2 | |
| Sensor DM | DM+0 | |
| Hardpoints | 1 | |
| Weapons | Manual | |
| Meson Shield | No | |
| Nuclear Damper | No | |
| Gravitc Field | No | |
| Force Field | No | |
| Armor | Unarmored | |
| Armor Tech | ||
| Crew | Manual | |
| Passengers | Manual | |
| Staterooms (Single) | 0 | |
| Staterooms (Double) | 4 | |
| Cryotubes | 0 | |
| Emergency Cryotubes (x4) | 1 | |
| Galley | Included | |
| Medbay | Included | |
| Ship’s Locker | Included | |
| Airlock, Additional | 0 | |
| Armory (per 10 marines) | 0 | |
| Breaching Tube | 0 | |
| Fuel Processors (x5t/day) | 1 | |
| Fuel Scoops | Free | |
| Medlab (per 2 patients) | 0 | |
| Laboratory | 0 | |
| Escape Pod (per person) | 0 | |
| Mining Equipment | 0 | |
| Probe Drones (per 5 drones) | 0 | |
| Repair Drones | 0 | |
| Vehicles and small craft | Manual | |
| Obvious Cargo Space | 31 | tons |
| Secret Smuggling Compartment | 5 | tons |
| Mass-Produced | Yes | |
| Construction Time | 52 | weeks |
| Tech Level | 12 | |
| Cost | 34 | MCr |
| Maintenance Cost (Yearly) | 34000 | Cr / year |
| Maintenance Cost (Monthly) | 2833 | Cr / month |
Crew Requirements
There are 4 staterooms, all double rated. Here are the crew requirements, according to the Cepheus Deluxe rules.
- 1 Pilot with Piloting-1 (doubles as Sensor Operator)
- 1 Engineer with Engineering-1
- 1 Purser with Administration-1 (often combined with another job)
- 1 Steward with Steward-1 (required if carrying passengers)
- 1 Medic with Medicine-1 (required if carrying passengers)
- 0 Gunners (no guns currently!)
Security/marines are optional, of course.
Weapons
The Owl Bear has one empty hardpoint with no installed turrets or weapons.
Computers
Main Computer/Electronics
The main ship’s computer/electronics system is located on the bridge and has Electronics Rating 2. That means it gives DM+0 on Sensors, and can perform a maximum Jump-2.
The Baracus Device
The Baracus Device is located in the cargo hold. In game terms, Rockford, the avatar of the Baracus Device has the following skills:
- Piloting-1
- Engineering-1
- Repair-1
However, its ability to do repairs is very limited, becuase it has no physical body. No arms, no hands, etc. However, since Rockford can “see” into most areas of the ship, “he” can assist a PC’s Repair or Engineer skill checks.
Ship’s Articles
Here are the current official Ship’s Articles for the Owl Bear.
Deck Plans
