Mass Effect Volus

**Name**: Volus
**Dice**: 12D
**Dexterity**: 1D / 4D
**Knowledge**: 1D / 4D+1
**Mechanical**: 1D / 4D+1
**Perception**: 1D / 4D+1
**Strength**: 1D / 3D+1
**Technical**: 1D / 4D+2

**Move**: 8 / 10
**Size**: 0.96 - 1.35 m
**Weight**: 33 - 63 kg

**Special Abilities**:

* **Low-light vision**.
* **Shrewd Negotiator**: Volus add their Knowledge as a bonus to their Perception-based skills whenever money is involved. In addition they always treat the Business skill as a Specialization, and gain a +1D racial bonus to their rolls.
* **High Pressure Suit**: Whenever the volus is damaged by a critical hit, while not protected by Shields or Plating, his suit is ruptured causing it to decompress (multiple critical hits do not stack). The Volus must then make an Armor Repair or Poweruit Repair Difficulty 15, spending 1 action in the process, as well as one Repair Kit. For each action (including the ones spent repairing the suit) the volus takes 1D damage from decompression, done directly to his HP. Other characters can repair the suit instead of the Volus, but they must make the same check, spend the actions normally, spend one Repair Kit, and must be adjacent to the volus.
If this damage sends the Volus to 0 or lower HP, he falls unconscious and is forced to make a Strength check, difficulty 10. Failure indicates the Volus did not managed to resist the continuous effects of decompression and dies. Success means he is able to resist the decompression and does not die that round. Each additional round while the suit is ruptured forces the Volus to make one new Strength check. The Difficulty increases +1 for each round, and this increase is cumulative.
Although the suit weighs 15 lbs, the Volus have had thousands of years of getting used to move around in mechanized pressure suits so they ignore the effects of the suit's weight, not counting it for carrying capacity purposes.
* **Small arms**: Due to their size, volus cannot use weapons designed for Medium or larger creatures. They can only use weapon designed for Small creatures.

**Description**: The volus are an associate race on the Citadel with their own embassy, but are also a client race of the turians. They hail from Irune, which possesses a high-pressure greenhouse atmosphere able to support an ammonia-based biochemistry. As a result, the volus must wear pressure suits and breathers when dealing with other species. Because they are not physically adept compared to most species, Volus mostly make their influence felt through trade and commerce, and they have a long history on the Citadel. However, they have never been invited to join the Council, which is a sore point for many volus individuals. The volus home world Irune features an ammonia-based ecology and a gravitational field 1.5 times that of Earth, as well as a high pressure atmosphere. This is reflected in the physiology of the volus themselves. The volus are unable to survive unprotected in an atmosphere more suitable to humans and other carbon-based life forms, and as such require protective suits capable of providing the proper atmosphere, as well as being pressurized to support the volus. Traditional nitrogen/oxygen air mixtures are poisonous to them, and in the low pressure atmospheres tolerable to most species, their flesh will actually split open. Volus culture is dominated by trade, whether it be of land, resources, or even other tribe members. The volus have a reputation as traders and merchants, and many, such as Barla Von, work as some of the best financial advisers in Citadel space. Because the volus are not physically adept, they tend not to be very violent, and can even seem overly-pacifistic and cowardly to other, more militant species. Their inability to provide adequate soldiers for themselves and the Citadel is a primary reason for not yet being inducted into the Council. Volus have two names but no family names. According to Volus sensibilities you cannot own a person, so using a family name would essentially be laying claim to their offspring. Possibly because of their tribal origins, volus tend to refer to members of other races by their source world rather than species name (i.e. 'Earth-clan' instead of 'human'). The volus government is known as the Vol Protectorate. Rather than being a fully sovereign government in its own right, the Protectorate is a client state of the Turian Hierarchy. In return for falling under the protective umbrella of the turian military, the volus pay a tax to the Hierarchy, as well as deferring to the turians in all foreign policy matters and providing auxiliary troops to the turian armed forces. They still maintain an embassy on the Citadel, making them an associate species of the Council, though they currently share their embassy with the rlcor. The volus are not physically cut out for combat, be it a full-scale war or even a bar room scuffle. As such, they are highly dependent on the Turians for defense, although the volus themselves do provide some auxiliary troops to the Hierarchy. The volus will support the turians in any war they might pursue, and the turians will support the volus in any war they might pursue. Possibly for this reason, volus weaponry tends to be utilitarian rather than high-grade. Some volus manufacturers specialize in cheaper, lower-grade copies of expensive turian equipment.

**Personality**: What they lack in personal bravery, they more than make up for with their cunning and tenacity, often using their expert negotiating skills to get them out of scrapes.

**Physical Description**: Their home planet's gravity is 1.5 times that of Earth's, with a high-pressure ammonia-based atmosphere, making their bodies short and almost spherical, and requiring them to wear protective suits in order to function in environments conducive to other species.

**Homeworld**: Irune
**Religion**: Good Business!
**Biotics**: No mention of the biotic abilities.
**Example Names**: Doran, Jahleed, Barla Von

**Source**:

* Mass Effect Wiki: Volus
* Mass Effect d20 RPG (pages 36-38)
* thedemonapostle