Coming up over the horizon in the wilderness in the Borderlands. Our party came across several very large 'meteors' that had just fallen from the sky. The players were concerned when we came across three Martian manta walker ships. One of our fighting men got discriminated!
Integrating the sleek, terrifying aesthetic of George Pal’s 1953 War of the Worlds into a Barrows & Borderlands (or similar OSR/fantasy) campaign creates a brilliant "Science Fantasy" aesthetic.
In this setting, the Martian Manta is not a sleek flying machine, but a "walker" supported by invisible, crackling beams of force—making it a literal "all-terrain" nightmare.
The Martian Manta (Walker Variant)
Classification: Arcane Construct / Extra-Planar War Machine
The Manta is a copper-hued, wing-shaped vessel that hums with a low, vibrating frequency. Instead of mechanical legs, it stands on three shimmering "Crystalline Struts"—columns of solidified light and magnetic force that hiss when they touch the ground, scorching the earth beneath them.
Stat Block (B&B Rules)
Armor Class: 19 (Polished Martian Alloy)
Hit Points: 85 (Threshold: Attacks dealing <5 damage are ignored)
Movement: 40 ft. (Hover-walk)
Senses: Heat-Sensing Eye (360° Vision), See Invisibility
| Ability | Score | Modifier |
| STR | 18 | +4 |
| DEX | 10 | +0 |
| CON | 16 | +3 |
| INT | 14 | +2 |
Actions & Weaponry
The Manta focuses on total disintegration rather than physical bludgeoning.
The Cobra Heat Ray: A flexible, neck-like turret atop the craft.
Effect: Fires a beam of focused red light. Target takes $6d6$ fire damage (Save for half). Objects ignited by this ray burn with an unnatural green flame that cannot be doused by water.
Wing-Tip Skeletonization Beams: Twin green pulses fired from the "wing" edges.
Effect: Targets a 10ft radius. Creatures must make a Constitution Save or have their physical form disrupted, taking $3d8$ necrotic damage. If killed, only a white, chalky skeleton remains.
Magnetic Pulse (Recharge 5-6):
Effect: A ripple of force emanates from the walker's base. All creatures within 20ft are knocked prone, and any metal armor worn becomes searing hot ($1d10$ damage).
Tactical Weaknesses
While the Manta seems invincible, it reflects the hubris of its creators:
The "Eye" is the Window: The heat-sensing lens is the only "soft" point. A critical hit or a precision shot to the eye forces the Manta to lose its "lock," granting attackers Advantage for one round.
Grounding the Beams: If the walker is forced into deep water or a magical field of Silence, the magnetic struts become unstable, reducing its movement by half and lowering its AC to 15.
Biological Vulnerability: The pilot inside has no immunity to terrestrial diseases. A Cloudkill spell or even a well-placed vial of concentrated filth (if the hull is breached) can end the threat instantly.
GM Note: Use the Manta as a "dread" encounter. Describe the sound first—that iconic, rhythmic thrum-thrum-thrum—and the smell of ozone and burnt hair before they ever see the copper glint on the horizon. A downed Martian Manta is a goldmine of "impossible" technology, but extracting it is dangerous. Martian alloys are often radioactive or biologically contaminated.
When the players pick through the wreckage, have them roll a d100.
D100 Martian Salvage Table
Roll Item Name Effect / Description 01-10 Twisted Martian Copper Worthless as tech, but worth 500gp to a jeweler or smith. 11-20 Vial of Martian "Blood" A thick, pulsating red fluid. If consumed, heal $2d10$ HP but contract The Red Weed Plague. 21-30 Heat Ray Lens (Cracked) Can be used once to cast Burning Hands ($3d6$) before it shatters. 31-40 Magnetic Strut Fragment A heavy rod that floats 1 inch above any solid surface. Useful for trap-making. 41-50 Oscillating Pilot Mask A leather-like membrane. Allows the wearer to see in the infrared spectrum (60ft). 51-60 Cobra-Neck Joint A hyper-flexible segment of strange metal. Can be forged into a +1 Whip that deals fire damage. 61-70 Sonic Humming-Box A small cube that emits the Manta's thrum. Keeps mundane insects away in a 30ft radius. 71-80 Skeletonization Battery Unstable energy cell. Can power a wizard's tower for a year or be used as a 10d6 Force Grenade. 81-90 The "Electronic Eye" A large, three-colored lens. If mounted on a shield, it grants +2 AC against projectiles. 91-99 Martian Logic Core A crystalline brain. A character can "commune" with it to gain a +5 bonus to an INT check, once. 100 Intact Miniaturized Manta A "scout" drone the size of a shield. It is dormant but can be repaired to act as a Construct Familiar. Hazard: The Unseen Death
Martian technology is not meant for the "primitive" inhabitants of the Borderlands. Any player spending more than an hour harvesting a downed Manta must make a Constitution Save (DC 14).
Failure: The player's skin turns a pale, translucent blue. They lose 1 point of Constitution every 24 hours until they receive a Dispel Magic or Remove Curse cast by a level 5+ cleric.
Using the Salvage
Most local blacksmiths won't know what to do with these items. To properly forge or "attune" Martian salvage, the players might need to seek out:
A Mad Alchemist living in a lead-lined cellar.
The College of Artifice, who will likely try to confiscate the items "for public safety."
A blind Dwarf who claims he can "hear" the metal's vibration.
We fled across the wilderness as soon as we soon the strange hum of the Manta walker. This puts us a week out of game time for our explorers and travelers. The adventurers mean to extract some artifacts when they came across a downed manta ship and the others began to close in our party. Looting wasn't on the table yet.
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