I like the deus ex machina "and they dragged him away before I could stop them; who knows if he's alive or not?!" version.
The following is all suggestions, to be scrutinized by other players.Oh, and I just had a notion regarding the process of actually killing stuff (and our characters):
We set up a "hit points" system for anything that can't reasonably be killed by a single attack at 100% success (like a human throws a punch... it's a perfect punch, but it's not deadly by any means, even if it hits in just the right place to knock the wind out of the enemy).
You know those two dice rolls?
If the attacking roll is higher than defense, then the difference of the two (example: 10 attack, 9 defend = 1 hit point of damage) is counted against the 'life' or 'health' of the person attacked. The HP from successive hits are added up against the total HP possible for that opponent or player, and reset by morphing or hospitalization.
Suppose the GM or sub-GM announces the presence of a group of monsters, and he only has to decide one stat for them: hit points necessary for a kill.
If he says the monster needs to be hit for 5 points damage, then it would take five 1-point attacks, or a 2- and a 3- points attack combined, or one 5-points-or-higher attack... 4+1, 2+2+1, 2+1+1+1... and so on.
Suppose that any monster killable by a bare-handed human only needs 1 HP to die, the number of points necessary for the human to land a hit in the first place...
...and things killable by blades need... I dunno', 3 HP, so either a higher difference between atk and def rolls... or a concentrated group of low-point attacks.
Things not killable by a single being would require 10 HP or greater, DEMANDING a group participation attack...
...and things only killable in a very lucky long shot would be 9 HP, REQUIRING either a group attack or a 10-atk, 1-def roll combination.
These stats could be set as a finite single number for our characters, too... when it's our "turn" to be on the defending side of a dice roll, we have a set number of hit points. When we morph, those automatically reset to their maximum.
So... humans are easily killed in one shot by everything except barehanded Pemalites and Leerans... let's say 3 HP when out of morph and not wearing armor? There is the slight chance, after all, that an attack might slightly miss a vital organ, giving time to demorph. Another human can't just kill them by punching, for instance, but blades can kill very easily.
Pemalites and Leerans have a respective advantage of agility+morphing and mind-reading+ability to lose lots of brain but still survive...
...so let's say 5 HP, requiring either at least two shots, or a perfect roll of 10 atk, 5 def, (or 6-1, 7-2, 8-3, 9-4) from a single enemy.
Hork-Bajir and Andalites have massive advantages of speed, greater nonvital body mass, defensive blades, and for the Hork-Bajir tougher skin.
How about 8 HP?
It's possible in a perfect 10-2 or 9-1 roll (in which case they completely fail to defend, anyway) to kill them with one shot, but otherwise a considerable amount of co-operation is necessary to kill them.
Let's set either 8 or 9 for Kelbrid, and 6 or 7 for Kel-hounds? I'd guess that the Kel-hounds, not being sentient, are slightly easier to kill than Andalites/Hork-Bajir, and the Kelbrid are slightly harder to kill, but can still be killed by a single perfect roll.
As for animal morphs... we'd make it a sliding scale, perhaps, with bear having the highest max HP, lion and tiger next, followed by gorilla, then wolf and leopard?
Remember that we're talking not in terms of how EASY they are to hit, since the dice determine if they get hit in the first place... we're talking how many hits they take before dying. Larger body mass tends to mean it's harder to locate and strike vital organs, and the bear has both largest mass and densest fur. I'd rate a bear as 9 HP, the lion and tiger as the same as Andalites and Hork-Bajir (fast, lots of teeth, moderately tough skin = 8 HP), Gorilla the same as Kel-hound (thinner skin, slower moving = 7 HP), and Wolf and Leopard as either 6 or 7 (smaller, but damn fast, and still harder to kill than bipeds in general, so more resilient than Pemalites).
The only animals I'd put as 10 would be elephant, rhino, and gator/croc, at least on land... gators and crocs are notoriously difficult to kill, and elephants and rhinos are very large nonvital body masses with tough hides.
In theory, all of us and our morphs can be killed with a single perfect attack and dice roll, since all of us are 9 HP or less, even in morph... but this way, it's scaled so that probability will favour those species who are naturally more difficult to kill and less likely to die by a single lucky shot.
We would obviously only tally hit points for attacks that land successfully (atk roll > def roll).
Let me know what you think, please.
