[3.5]Super Robot Wars d20-Personal Mechas powered up by your spirits!

[Prime32]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5pypE9sWsA

Alpha 3 had two Super routes (Touma, Kusuha) and two Real routes (Cobray, Selena). But Cobray's mech is... really not a Real in any way besides stats.

The Alteisen Riese was planned to beat the Thruldgemir and the Soulgain, wich easily rank on the top of originals badassery and power. What's exactly the story between the design of that BDSM mecha with laser whips?

Thrudgelmir and Soulgain are Supers. Solearas is one of the few Original Reals that doesn't go way into Super territory by endgame, and Alpha 3 is a very high-powered game (Ideon + Genesic GaoGaiGar + etc.).

[Prime32]

Give Spirit commands the [Spirit] descriptor maybe? Maybe a class feature which gives pilots a free swift action per turn to use spirits?

I figure the Spirit spirit (gah! can't we call them seishins? ) could give you Action Points or something (note that you can use AP to gain extra uses of abilities per day).

[oslecamo]

Give Spirit commands the [Spirit] descriptor maybe?

Wouldn't that be as redudant as giving spells the [spell] descriptor and maneuvers the [maneuver] descriptor?

Maybe a class feature which gives pilots a free swift action per turn to use spirits?

Why would they need them? Right now using spirits is a free action at the begginning of your turn.

[Prime32]

Maybe a class feature which gives pilots a free swift action per turn to use spirits?

Why would they need them? Right now using spirits is a free action at the begginning of your turn.

If they were to use the rules for maneuvers I mean. I'm trying to take members of other classes with Martial Study into account.

[oslecamo]

Mecha(lv)	Size	Save Bonus	Nat Armor/DR	HP/Energy	Dodge Bonus	Arsenal Space	Speed
Gespent(I)	Medium	+0	+4/5	15/10	+2	100	30 mu
Lion(I)	Small	+0	+2/1	10/20	+1	50	10 mu, Fly 30 mu  (good)
Guarlion(II)	Small	+1	+4/5	20/30	+2	100	20 mu, fly 40 mu (good)
Huckbein MK II (II)	Medium	+1	+6/10	30/20	+4	100	40 mu
Alteisen (III)	Medium	+3	+10/15	60/20	-2	120	60 mu
WeissWriter (III)	Medium	+2	+2/1	30/40	+10	120	20 mu, fly 50 mu (perfect)
Astelion (IV)	Medium	+2	+2/1	40/60	+12	80	20 mu, fly 75 mu (perfect)
Huckebein MK III Boxer (IV)	Large	+4	+10/15	80/80	+6	80	65 mu
WildWurger (V)	Medium	+5	+12/20	100/100	+6	100	50 mu, fly 50 mu (good)
Wild Falken (V)	Medium	+4	+4/5	80/120	+12	100	40 mu, fly 65 mu (good)
AshSaber (VI)	Medium	+5	+6/10	150/100	+16	140	65 mu
RapieCage (VI)	Large	+6	+12/20	200/200	+10	60	50 mu dam, fly 50 mu
Alteisen Riese(VII)	Large	+7	+30/40	400/200	+0	140	125 mu
Alegrias (VII)	Medium	+6	+12/20	200/300	+18	80	50 mu, fly 90 mu (perfect)

Reading the table:

Mecha:The name of the mecha. Refer to the lower entries for in-built weapons and other special abilities.
Size: How big the mecha is. Mechas work on their own scale. More details below.
Save Bonus: This bonus applies to all the saves from the pilot.
Nat Armor/DR: Nat armor represents the plating-quality of the mecha, making it harder to hit. DR (damage reduction) represents the bulkyness of said plating. Mecha DR is DR/- by default, altough certain mecha weapons and maneuvers can ignore it.
HP/Energy: HP is how overall tough the mecha is.

Energy is consumed for using maneuvers, special abilities, flight and certain weapons. Each mecha regenerates 1/10 it's max energy at the begginning of their turns, up to their max energy.

Dodge Bonus:Dodge bonus applied to AC. Some mechas may have negative dodge bonus, representing a machine specially hard to pilot.
Arsenal Space:How many extra systems and weapons the mecha can attach. Refer to the arsenal table.
Speed: How far the mecha can move. All mechas are equiped with thrusters of some kind that allow them to fly at their base speed on their own turns, but they must end their turn on a surface or fall when their turn ends, unless they're in space. Mechas with a flight speed can fly all the time when on a planet's surface. Either way, flight consumes 1 energy for each 5 mu moved. A mecha reduced to 0 energy falls or is rendered immobile if in space.

A note about mecha scale:

Mechas are too big to work on foots so they work on mecha units(mu). A medium mecha fills a 5 mu side square. One mu corresponds to 6 feets, so a medium mecha is the size of a norma colossal creature, filling a 30 side square.

Pilot feats, skills, class features and other effects that refer to feets are amplified to mu, in a reason of 5 mu for each 5 feet.

Mecha Combat basics

The mecha uses the pilot's base saves, Bab, skill bonus, feats and class abilities for fighting, plus the pilot's Str and Dex scores (it takes a strong pilot to handle a mecha under stress, and it takes good reflexes to make it react in time). Remember that they're amplified to the mecha's size, so for example a pilot in a mecha takes a -1 penalty on spot checks for every 10 mu of distance, instead of every 10 foot.

Despite being a machine, mechas are vulnerable to critical hits due to have complex internal structures.

Damage taken by the mecha is absorbed by the mecha's own HP, never by the pilot, unless the attack was a sucessfull critical hit. On that case the pilot takes non-critical damage from the weapon that scored the critical hit, on top of the mecha taking the critical damage. Some mechas may have extra pilot protection.

A mecha reduced to 0 HP starts to colapse, and automatically ejects the pilot in a pod wich has 1/10 the mecha's total HP and same Nat armor/DR, but is diminutive size and counts as a mecha for attack purposes. The pod travels 1d12 x5 mu in a direction of the pilot's choice. Some mechas may have improved pods wich can move and/or fight on their own.

Combat between mechas and non-mechas.

The sheer size advantage allows a mecha to basically crush regular D&D oponents should any be foolish enough to challenge them, while shrugging off whatever they take.

Other creatures are converted to mecha scale, so colossal creatures are medium, gargantuan are small, huge are tiny, large and diminutive, and medium or smaller is treated as fine-sized.

Non-mecha non-epic creatures and objects hit by a mecha bigger than them must suceed on a Fort save 20+damage taken or be instantly destroyed. A mecha ignores size bonus to AC from non-mecha non-epic oponents. A mecha can choose to use a single-target weapon to damage all non-mecha non-epic targets smaller than himself in a single 5 mu square.

All damage from non-mechas  sources  is reduced to 1/10 (round down, minimum zero), before applying the mecha DR. Mechas ignore all non-damage effects produced by non-mecha sources unless they affect an area bigger than the mecha itself. On the other hand, neither can you buff a mecha.

Thus it is possible for normal enemies to take down a mecha, but between their superior mobility, range, and firepower, it's not very likely. Very high level character may have a chance if they can dish out enough damage with each blow.

As a conclusion, a campaign wich includes this mecha rules should focus on mecha vs mecha combat, but you can still throw regular oponents against them.

Weapon  special properties:

Brutal:This ranged weapons can always use Str for to hit rolls.

Finesse:This melee weapons can always use Dex for to hit rolls instead of Str. If the pilot has the weapon finesse feat, he can use Dex for damage rolls instead of Str.

Power: attacks ignore half the target's Natural armor and Armor bonus to AC, rounded up.

Rending: ignores half the target's DR, rounded up.

Heavy: weapon takes a fullround action to use. Can never make iteratives, but you can ready up an attack with an heavy weapon if you do nothing else in your turn. If any ability would allow you to full attack with a weapon after movement, then it can be used to perform one attack with this weapon.

Twin-linked:if you have two weapons of the same kind with this property you can fire both as a standard action.

Defensive: you can fire this weapon as an immediate action.

Area:Instead of a normal shot, you may make the weapon fire a  line with the width of your mecha and the same lenght as the first range increment of the weapon. Roll to hit against all targets inside the line. If you target an oponent bigger than you with this, the line needs to pass trough the middle of their position.

If this appears in a melee weapon, you can move in a straight line up to twice your speed, ignoring any oponents in your way for purposes of movement, but still causing attacks of oportunity as normal. Roll to hit against all oponents you passed trough. Oponents who performed attacks of oportunity are automatically hit, but you still roll to see if you got a critical hit. If an oponent's bigger than you, you need to pass trough the middle of their position to affect them with this.

Mecha special properties:

Amphibious:The mecha doesn't take any penalties for moving and fighting underwater.

Beam Coat:Weapons with beam on their names deal only half damage to you before DR is applied, but you lose 1 energy every time such a weapon hits you. If you have less than 1 energy this ability doesn't trigger. You can turn off or on this abilty on your own turn as a free action.

Jammer: Weapons with "missile" on their names suffer a 50% miss chance against you.

Hyper Jammer: You gain 50% miss chance every round you moved at least your normal speed.

Gravity Wall: All attacks against you deal only half damage before applying DR, but you lose 3 energy every time you're hit. You can turn off or on this abilty on your own turn as a free action.

Regeneration X: you recover X/10 your max HP at the begginning of your turn.

Reactor X: you recover an extra X/10 your max energy at the begginning of your turn.

Reinforced X:If you suffer a critical hit, there's a X/10 chance the extra damage and pilot damage are ignored.

Stealth:The mecha can hide whitout actualy having anything to hide behind, even in the middle of the sky or the empty space.

Transform: As a swift action the mecha can change shapes. Refer to the mecha's entry for details.

Gespent

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Punch	melee	+0	1d6	-	-	x2	defensive
Split Missiles (x2)	50 mu	+2	1d6	10	-	19-20x2	Twin-Linked
Jet Magnum	Melee	+0	1d12	-	2	x3	Power

The gespent is the basic mecha of the Earth Federation. Relatively easy to mass produce, solid and customizable, it provides an excellent all-around ground unit.

Punch: Not designed for direct combat, the gespent's fist still provide a reliable last-ditch weapon.

Split missiles: located at the gespent's back, they provide reliable long-range support.

Jet Magnum: Three plasma stakes on the gespent's left arm allow it to be a threat to much stronger units.

Lion

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Vulcan	10 mu dam	+0	1d6	-	-	x2	defensive
Homing Missiles	35 mu	+3	1d10	10	-	19-20x2	-
Railgun	45 mu	+3	1d12	10	-	x3	Rending, heavy

Designed by the Divine Crusaders, the Lion's main feature is a cheap, inovative and reliable tesla engine that allows for flight while still being easily mass produced.

Vulcan:the basic weapon of the lion is quite weak in mecha vs mecha combat, but at least ammo is cheap enough for each lion carrying enough to never risk running out.

Homing Missiles:precise, fast and powerfull, the main weapon of the lion.

Railgun:Another inovation from the Divine Crusaders, allowing the lion to challenge heavily armored targets.

Guarlion

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Vulcan	10 mu	+1	1d8	-	-	x2	defensive
Sonic Breaker	Melee	+4	2d8	-	2	x3	Power, area, Finesse

An improved version of the lion, the guarlion was designed for officers and elite shock troops, leading the combat from the front.

Vulcan: an improvement from the lion version.

Sonic Breaker: the improved tesla engine of the guarlion can be used to create a short-lived force field, wich combined with the guarlion's high speed allows it to turn itself into a powerfull projectile.

Huckbein MK II

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
60 mm Vulcan	10 mu	+1	1d10	-	-	x2	defensive
G-Impact Cannon	60 mu	+0	2d12	-	10	x3	Power, heavy, area, Brutal

Not wanting to be outdone by the Divine Crusaders, the Earth Federation started designing new mechas of their own. The Huckbein MK II proved to be a reliable and inovative machine after the original Huckbein colapsed itself into a mini black hole up during combat tests.

60 mm Vulcan: An improved version of the vulcan, actualy reliable against weaker oponents.

G-Impact Cannon:A breacktrough in long range weapons, this cannon fires powerfull gravity waves that crush the targets into oblivion.

Extras: The Huckbein MK II comes with an in-built HyperJammer and Gravity Wall systems wich don't take arsenal space.

Alteisen

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Heat Horn	melee	+3	1d12	-	1	x2	defensive
Autocannon	20 mu	+3	1d10	20	-	19-20x2	-
Revolver Stake	melee	+2	2d10	6	-	19-20x2	Power, rending
Claymores	10 mu	+6	3d10	2	-	18-20x3	Heavy, Power, Rending, Brutal

First known as the Gespent MK III, the Alteisen presents a formidable amount of close-combat weaponry and was designed for ground assault missions, but it's extreme bulkyness makes it very hard to master. Regardless, once it closes in the amount of firepower it can unleash is more than enough to finish most oponents.

Heat HornCentered on the head, this weapon's temperature can be quickly risen to allow it to melt trough most alloys.

Autocannon: A basic long range weapon on the Alteisen's left arm.

Revolver Stake: A new take on the Jet Magnum. A single reinforced stake on the Alteisen's right arm punches trough armor and quickly delivers explosive charges from a barrel.

Claymores:The designer of the Alteisen's love for kinectic weapons is well represented on this weapon. Two shoulder-mounted boxes fire hundreds of adamantium balls to cause tremendous damage. She never solved the horrible acuraccy problem, making the weapon useless for anything besides close-combat, and even there it's hard to use.

Extras: The Asteilen is an amphibious mecha.

WeissWritter

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Triple Beam Cannon	15 mu dam	+3	1d10	20	-	x2	Defensive
Split Missiles+ (x2)	55 mu	+5	2d6	10	-	19-20x2	Twin-Linked
Oxtongue Rifle B	50 mu	+3	2d10	8	-	19-20x2	Heavy, rending
Oxtongue Rifle E (energy beam)	75 mu	+4	2d6	-	2	x3	Heavy, area

Also based on the gespent, the WeissWritter is a powerfull (altough fragile) long-range aerial support unit. It's main feature it's the oxtongue rifle, a gun that can shoot both solid bullets and energy beams depending on the target.

Triple Beam cannon: Mounted on the WeissWritter's left arm, they provide a basic weapon to deal with weaker enemies.

Split Missiles +: An improved version of the gespent's split missiles.

Oxtongue Rifle: A massive gun with two firing modes.

Extras:The WeissWriter comes with an in-built beam coat that doesn't take any arsenal space.

Astelion

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Machine Cannon	15 mu	+4	2d6	20	-	x2	Defensive
Homing Missiles+	50 mu	+6	2d8	10	-	19-20x2	-
Star Breaker	Melee	+8	3d10	-	10	x3	Power, Area, finesse

The last word on the lion series, the Astelion is a queen of the skies, alternating between powerfull long range weaponry and ramming trough its oponents with its two improved tesla engines.

Machine Cannon:improved version of the vulkan cannons.

Homing missiles+:improved version of the lion's missiles.

Star Breaker:The improved tesla twin tesla engines allow the Astelion to turn itself into a true comet.


Extras: the Astelion comes with in-built jammer and a beam coat that don't take any extra space.

Transform: The Astelion can turn itself into a fighter plane, gaining +2 dodge bonus to AC, increasing it's flight speed to 400 mu (perfect), but losing its land speed (cannot move whitout energy) and become unable to use any other weapons besides the ones in-built.

Huckbein MK III Boxer

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
60 mm vulkans+	10 mu	+5	2d8	20	-	x2	Defensive
Fang Slasher	15 mu	+6	3d6	-	2	19-20x2	Brutal
Graviton Cannon	40 mu	+8	3d10	8	-	x3	Rending, Power
Geist Knuckle	Melee	+8	2d12	-	4	x2	Rending
G-Sword	Melee	+2	4d10	-	40	x4	Power, Rending

Further development of the Huckbein III series led to the MK III boxer. A powerfull secondary exoskeleton allows it to both deliver powerful punches and fire heavy weapons while moving.

60mm vulkans+: improved version of the vulkan series.
Fang Slasher: a set of blades wich can be energized and thrown for for close combat.
Graviton cannon: a true prodigy of engineering, a stronger yet smaller version of the g-cannon.
Geist Knuckle: powerfull metal fist powered by several extra servo-motors allow for quick precise punches.
G-Sword: a risky gambit, this attack turns the extra exoskeleton of the Boxer into a massive sword wich can be used to deliver a devastating attack at high energy cost.

Extras: the Huckbein comes with an in-built Hyperjammer and gravity wall that don't take any arsenal space.

Wild Wurger

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Triple vulkans	10 mu	+6	3d6	20	-	x2	Defensive
Metal Sword	melee	+7	3d8	-	-	19-20x2	Rending
Beetle Crusher	melee	+10	4d12	-	10	x4	Rending, Power
Raptor Wings	Melee	+12	3d12	-	20	17-20x2	Power, area

Aiming to fix the Alteisen's shortcomings, the Wild Wurger fixes the mobility problems and still sports several reliable close combat weapons on top of solid armor and flight capacity for assaulting enemy formations, but at high production expense.

Triple Vulkans:three linked normal vulkans provide a suprisingly good support weapon.

Metal Sword:A high density alloy blade attached to the Wild Wurger's arm, it easily slices trough most other metals whitout need of special fields or anything.

Beetle Crusher:A massive pincer designed for crushing other mechas with sheer strenght.

Raptor Wings:the Wild Wurger reveals two extra energized wings from it's back, wich slice nearby oponents before going back inside.

Wild Falken

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Twin vulkans	10 mu	+6	2d6	20	-	x2	Defensive
Split Missiles H(x2)	40 dam	+7	3d6	8	-	19-20x2	Area, twin-linked
Ochstan Rifle B	70 mu	+10	6d10	6	-	x4	Rending, Power, Heavy
Ochstan Rifle E (energy beam)	90 mu	+8	3d12	-	30	19-20x2	Heavy, rending, area

An improvement of the WeissWriter, the Wild Falken is better in almost every way, except for the massive production costs.

Twin Vulkans:Two vulkan cannons on the head.

Split missiles H:Clusters of missiles on the knees for dealing with groups of small enemies.

Ochstan Rifle:Improved version of the oxtongue rifle, with two firing modes as well.

Extras: The Wild Falken comes with anin-built jammer and beam coat that don't take arsenal space.

AshSaber

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Burning Dagger missiles(x2)	75 mu	+10	6d6	20	-	19-20x2	twin-linked
Sword Breakers	100 mu	+12	6d8	8	-	19-20x3	Rending

Designed from scratch by the mysterious Lemon Browning, the AshSaber is an elegant machine wich can be customized for several roles, altough it excels in ranged warfare.

Burning Dagger missiles:clusters of small homing missiles with impressive range.

Sword Breakers:Smart drones detatch themselves from the AshSaber and fly towards the enemy, attacking from every angle with piercing lazers before ramming into the target.

Extras: the AshSaber comes with an in-built beam coat and jammer that don't take arsenal space.

RapieCage

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Penta Chaingun	15 mu	+10	5d6	20	-	x2	defensive
Magnum Beak	melee	+10	4d8	-	10	x3	Power, Rending
Split missiles W	70 mu	+8	4d6	8	-	19-20x2	Area
Over Oxtongue Rifle B	75 dam	+10	10d8	6	-	19-20x3	Rending, Power, Heavy
Over Oxtongue Rifle E(energy beam)	95 mu	+12	8d8	-	20	19-20x3	Rending, Area, Heavy

Reflecting the horrors of mecha war, the RapieCage was created by the Divine Crusaders engineers combining several sucessfull elements from the Earth Federation new machines into a single metal monster. Towering over most other real robots, the Rapiecage sports impressive weaponry for both close and ranged combat, wich fortunately has an obscene construction cost.

Penta Chaingun:Five chainguns linked togheter on the left arm provide a mighty support weapon.

Magnum Beak:Energized extendable claws on the right arm provide a devastating close combat weapon.

Split missiles W:powerfull shoulder-mounted missile battery allow the RapieCage to quickly deal with swarms of enemies.

Over Oxtongue Rifle: Even bulikier than the regular oxtongue rifle, this devastating weapon can wipe out whole armies from afar.

Extras:The rapiecage comes with an in-built beam coat.

Alteisen Riese

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Gatling Gun	20 mu	+10	6d6	20	-	x2	-
Plasma Horn	melee	+10	5d8	-	10	x3	Power, Rending, Defensive
Revolving Bunker	melee	+12	6d6	6	-	19-20x3	Power, Rending
Claymore Avalanche	20 mu	+20	20d8	4	-	19-20x3	Rending, Power, Heavy, Brutal, Area

Developed trough close colaboration between a veteran Alteisen pilot and the original designer, the Alteisen Riese surpassed all expectations, providing the ultimate ground assault machine for the Earth Federation. Massively tick armor allows it to shrugg off pretty much anything, and the new loadout of weapons would make most battleship captains envious. Production and maintenance costs are enough to bankrupt a small country however.

Gatling gun:For dealing with lesser enemies that aren't worth the precious bunker rounds or claymores.

Plasma Horn:A magnetic field allows the new horn to channel extremely hot plasma to easily cut trough anything.

Revolving Bunker: A bigger, and definetely better revolver stake.

Claymore Avalanche:Bigger shoulder pads allow to hold even more ammo, allowing them to literally burrow the enemy in titanium.

Extras: The Alteisen Riese comes with an in-built beam coat and is an amphibious unit.

Alegrias

Built-in Weaponry

Weapon	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Special
Storm Cannon	10 mu	+12	6d4	20	-	x2	Defensive
Plasma whips (x2)	melee	+12	6d6	-	10	19-20x2	Power, twin-linked, finesse
Star breakers	115 mu	+14	6d6	6	-	19-20x2	Rending
Comet Railguns	20 mu	+16	8d8	4	-	x3	Rending, Power, Area

Few things are known about the latest air/space superiority mecha from the Earth Federation, besides that it rarely leaves survivors.

Storm Cannon: The latest improvement on the classic autocannon, for laying down supressive fire.

Plasma whips:A revolution on the plasma sword technology, this weapons flexibility make them almost impossible to defend.

Star Breakers:twin smart drones come from the Alegrais back, homing towards a target with deadly effeciency.

Comet Railguns:the Alegrias reveals four cannons from it's chest that release a massive hail of bullets at hypersonic speed that shred it's oponents.

Arsenal to come sometime in the future.

[Prime32]

Decameters are a rather odd choice of unit, given that D&D uses Imperial measurements. If you're going that way, wouldn't hectometers (100m) be easier?
EDIT: Actually, this seems kind of overkill. Take a look at this chart. Also:

Medium (1x1): 4ft-8ft
Large (2x2): 8ft-16ft (Knightmare Frames)
Huge (3x3): 16ft-32ft (Arm Slaves)
Gargantuan (4x4): 32ft-64ft (Mobile Suits)
Colossal (5x5): 64ft+ (Grungusts)

Your mecha (13x13): ? (Gunbuster maybe?) - even xixecals are only 10x10

A feat to allow people to count as mecha perhaps? Or is Fighter Roa using a Diminutive mecha with a "summonable" special quality?

Does a Lion really have such a massive advantage against a tarrasque?


Also, you can use tags of the format [img width=200]URL[/img] here.

[oslecamo]

Decameters are a rather odd choice of unit, given that D&D uses Imperial measurements.

All the super robot wars wiki have measures in meters. Considering I'm ditching basic D&D stats I may as well discard their unit choice.

If you're going that way, wouldn't hectometers (100m) be easier?

Most real robots seem to be roughly 20 meters tall. Hectometer is too big, unless we wanted TTGL.

A feat to allow people to count as mecha perhaps? Or is Fighter Roa using a Diminutive mecha with a "summonable" special quality?

Wait, what (head explodes)

I'm afraid you'll have to enlighten me to what exactly that dude was. Is he an human using super kung fu? Power armor? Cyborg?

But well, a feat to allow people to count as mecha for defending against mechas would be possible. Then a Prc to make you fully count as a mecha. One feat alone to fully count as mecha would be kinda too good, an auto-take in this kind of enviroment. Then everybody would be like Lord Genome, when their mecha is taken down they jump from the cockpit and finish the oponent with their fists.

Does a Lion really have such a massive advantage against a tarrasque?

Make the math. Even a puny Lion is bigger than the Tarrasque (roughly 19 x 15 meters), and the railgun's almost as the Lion itself. I wouldn't want to stand on it's way.

On the other hand the Tarrasque has +38 fort, so it should be auto-passing the saves against death from mecha damage. The Lion will run out of ammo before the tarrasque runs out of life, or rolls a nat 1.

Also, an average human is 5-6 feet tall fills a 5 by 5 foot square. I don't see how how you can fit a 64 foot personal trooper in a 20 by 20 foot square.

[Prime32]

If you're going that way, wouldn't hectometers (100m) be easier?

Most real robots seem to be roughly 20 meters tall. Hectometer is too big, unless we wanted TTGL.

I meant use 2hm rather than 20dam. (yeah, deca- is da-. Who knew?)

A feat to allow people to count as mecha perhaps? Or is Fighter Roa using a Diminutive mecha with a "summonable" special quality?

Wait, what (head explodes)

I'm afraid you'll have to enlighten me to what exactly that dude was. Is he an human using super kung fu? Power armor? Cyborg?

Henshin Hero. In his first appearance he fought alongside Kamen Riders and inexplicably-powered-armour-now Gundams.

Does a Lion really have such a massive advantage against a tarrasque?

Make the math. Even a puny Lion is bigger than the Tarrasque (roughly 19 x 15 meters), and the railgun's almost as the Lion itself. I wouldn't want to stand on it's way.

On the other hand the Tarrasque has +38 fort, so it should be auto-passing the saves against death from mecha damage. The Lion will run out of ammo before the tarrasque runs out of life, or rolls a nat 1.

Also, an average human is 5-6 feet tall fills a 5 by 5 foot square. I don't see how how you can fit a 64 foot personal trooper in a 20 by 20 foot square.

Hmm... *converts*

Medium (1x1): 4ft-8ft = 1.2m - 2.4m
Large (2x2): 8ft-16ft = 2.4m - 4.9m
Huge (3x3): 16ft-32ft = 4.9m - 9.8m
Gargantuan (4x4): 32ft-64ft = 9.8m - 19.5m
Colossal (5x5): 64ft+ = 19.5m+

You are mostly correct - I was going off mobile suits, which are a little smaller. However, the tarrasque actually takes up a 6x6 (30ft) space, so it would be larger than a Lion.

Plus you get weird situations where an iron colossus (another 6x6) has a 5% chance of being one-shotted by an lv1 character in power armour, despite it being as close to a mecha as exists in D&D. Dr. Hell is crying right now.

[oslecamo]

Most real robots seem to be roughly 20 meters tall. Hectometer is too big, unless we wanted TTGL.

I meant use 2hm rather than 20dam. (yeah, deca- is da-. Who knew?)
[/quote]
I did. I learned it in school and everything. I epic fail at basic maths here.

20 METERS IS 2 DAM, NOT 20 DAM! All the movements were ten times as big as they're suposed to be! Corrected it now, I knew something was fishy....

Henshin Hero. In his first appearance he fought alongside Kamen Riders and inexplicably-powered-armour-now Gundams.

I believe that's the kind of thing that it's worth it's own class/Prc.

Hmm... *converts*

Medium (1x1): 4ft-8ft = 1.2m - 2.4m
Large (2x2): 8ft-16ft = 2.4m - 4.9m
Huge (3x3): 16ft-32ft = 4.9m - 9.8m
Gargantuan (4x4): 32ft-64ft = 9.8m - 19.5m
Colossal (5x5): 64ft+ = 19.5m+

You are mostly correct - I was going off mobile suits, which are a little smaller. However, the tarrasque actually takes up a 6x6 (30ft) space, so it would be larger than a Lion.

Actualy, been checking the MM, and guess what I found out?

There's no colossal (5x5 squares) creatures. They are all 6x6. D&D jumps straight from 4x4 to 6x6.

Plus you get weird situations where an iron colossus (another 6x6) has a 5% chance of being one-shotted by an lv1 character in power armour, despite it being as close to a mecha as exists in D&D. Dr. Hell is crying right now.

Edited so that mecha-death only happens against non-epic non-mecha oponents smaller than yourself.

[Prime32]

Actualy, been checking the MM, and guess what I found out?

There's no colossal (5x5 squares) creatures. They are all 6x6. D&D jumps straight from 4x4 to 6x6.

Huh, you're right. Also, colossal monstrous vermin (other than centipedes) are 8x8. Devastation vermin from the epic level handbook are 10x10.

Mecha "can't be buffed", but what if the buffer is larger than the mecha? A Fine creature can buff a Colossal one under the normal rules. Eh... there are a lot of oddities in D&D's size system as it is - why do only dragons get larger breath weapons when they increase in size, for instance, and how can a Fine creature and a Colossal one use the same motions to cast fireball when it always creates a "pea-sized bead"? (for the latter it would end up like Frieza's Death Ball) I tried a similar system of scaling areas before, where your attacks affect a cube with a size equal to your space - creatures take damage if they are entirely inside the cube or the cube is entirely inside them.

[oslecamo]

Huh, you're right. Also, colossal monstrous vermin (other than centipedes) are 8x8. Devastation vermin from the epic level handbook are 10x10.

So, you still think it's worth using the standard D&D sizes?

Mecha "can't be buffed", but what if the buffer is larger than the mecha? A Fine creature can buff a Colossal one under the normal rules. Eh... there are a lot of oddities in D&D's size system as it is - why do only dragons get larger breath weapons when they increase in size, for instance, and how can a Fine creature and a Colossal one use the same motions to cast fireball when it always creates a "pea-sized bead"? (for the latter it would end up like Frieza's Death Ball) I tried a similar system of scaling areas before, where your attacks affect a cube with a size equal to your space - creatures take damage if they are entirely inside the cube or the cube is entirely inside them.

I wanted to make sure that there's no obscure spell that would allow you to easily one-shot mechas, and at the same time prevent mecha combat from degenerating into who has more buffs like happens now in regular D&D.

Anyway for now we don't have spellcasting mechas (for now) and I don't see the tarrasque or colossal vermins casting spells whitout being deity-level, so kinda of a moot point.

But if we do end up with spellcasting mechas (or some kind of wand-weapon), how do you sugest we keep magic under control while keeping swords and guns awesome?

EDIT: Also, nerfed power and rending properties, now they only ignore half the target's armor and DR.

[Prime32]

Huh, you're right. Also, colossal monstrous vermin (other than centipedes) are 8x8. Devastation vermin from the epic level handbook are 10x10.

So, you still think it's worth using the standard D&D sizes?

I'd say something like:

Mecha use the same size categories as normal creatures, but with a four category offset. In other words, a Medium mecha is equivalent to a Colossal creature. In combat between a Medium creature and a Medium mecha, treat the creature as Fine and the mecha as Medium, or the creature as Medium and the mecha as Colossal.

Distances for mecha are measured in mecha units (mu), one of which is equivalent to 6ft. In other words, a Medium mecha's space is 5mu rather than 5ft.

Certain abilities which affect an area are scaled up to use mecha units rather than feet. For instance, a draconic aura that affects allies within 20ft would instead affect allies within 20mu as long as the user is in a functional mecha.

See also this stuff I did for the Successor project.

But if we do end up with spellcasting mechas (or some kind of wand-weapon), how do you sugest we keep magic under control while keeping swords and guns awesome?

A lot of D&D players have been looking for the answer to that question. But seriously, I'd provide each mecha with a limited spell list (a la warmage/beguiler/dread necro) separate from the pilot. Maybe you need to know the spell or have it on your class list in order to cast it through the mech.

[oslecamo]

Mecha use the same size categories as normal creatures, but with a four category offset. In other words, a Medium mecha is equivalent to a Colossal creature. In combat between a Medium creature and a Medium mecha, treat the creature as Fine and the mecha as Medium, or the creature as Medium and the mecha as Colossal.

The problem here it's the map. If you're counting the creatures as fine how many you can fit on a mecha square? Can they flank the mecha? If you're counting the mecha as colossal then he fills a good chunk of the map by himself, and it's kinda hard to have high-mobility battles.

And a large mecha is what exactly to a normal creature? And a battleship? Because I'll be damned if I don't make a captain class that flies around in a big badass ship to support the rest of the party!

Distances for mecha are measured in mecha units (mu), one of which is equivalent to 6ft. In other words, a Medium mecha's space is 5mu rather than 5ft.

Certain abilities which affect an area are scaled up to use mecha units rather than feet. For instance, a draconic aura that affects allies within 20ft would instead affect allies within 20mu as long as the user is in a functional mecha.

[/quote]
How is that exactly diferent from my dam system right now?

See also this stuff I did for the Successor project.

Check the "Area" weapon property.

A lot of D&D players have been looking for the answer to that question. But seriously, I'd provide each mecha with a limited spell list (a la warmage/beguiler/dread necro) separate from the pilot. Maybe you need to know the spell or have it on your class list in order to cast it through the mech.

Ok, I may as well create a pilot-caster class and fix spellcasters since I'm at this.

[Prime32]

How is that exactly diferent from my dam system right now?

The numbers are the same on both scales.

[oslecamo]

How is that exactly diferent from my dam system right now?

The numbers are the same on both scales.

Good enough, converted the tables to mecha units.

[oslecamo]

Arsenal


How many weapons a mecha needs? How many it can fit on its body and still move of course!

Combat Weapons

Name (level)	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Space taken	(Special)
Plasma Sword(I)	melee	+1	1d8	-	1	19-20x2	25	(Power, finesse)
Roche Saber(II)	melee	+2	2d6	-	1	19-20x2	30	(Power, finesse)
Beam Sword(III)	melee	+3	2d8	-	1	19-20x2	20	(Power, finesse)
Steel Knive(I)	melee	+1	1d8	-	-	19-20x2	15	(defensive)
Divine Blade(IV)	melee	+4	3d6	-	-	18-20x3	30	(finesse)
Assault Blade(I)	melee	+2	1d8	-	-	x3	25	(rending)
Incision Knive(III)	melee	+3	2d6	-	-	19-20x2	20	(defensive, rending)
Laser Blade(VI)	melee	+6	4d6	-	5	19-20x2	30	(Power, finesse)
Mega beam Rifle(III)	40 mu	+3	2d6	12	-	x3	25	(power)
M95 Machine Gun(I)	30 mu	+2	1d10	20	-	19-20x2	15
M13 Shotgun (I)	20 mu	+1	1d10	-	-	x2	25	(area)
Photon Rifle(II)	60 mu	+2	2d6	12	-	x3	30	(rending, heavy)
G-Revolver (II)	10 mu	+3	2d6	6	-	x2	15	(defensive)
Boosted Rifle(IV)	70 mu	+4	4d12	7	-	x4	35	(rending, heavy)
Magna Beam Rifle(III)	40 mu	+3	3d6	8	-	x3	35	(power)
Double Beam Rifle(IV)	40 mu	+4	4d6	6	-	19-20x3	35	(power)
Magna Beam Cannon(V)	40 mu	+5	4d8	-	2	19-20x3	35	(power)
Burst Railgun(II)	60 mu	+5	2d12	10	-	19-20x2	30	(heavy, rending)
Rectangular Launcher(III)	60 mu	+7	4d10	6	-	19-20x3	40	(heavy, brutal)
G-Railgun(IV)	70 mu	+7	6d10	12	-	19-20x2	30	(heavy, rending)
M90 Assault Rifle(V)	40 mu	+8	4d10	10	-	19-20x2	35	-
Gun Rapier(VI)	20 mu	+6	6d10	10	-	19-20x2	40	(rending)
Linear Missile Launcher(VI)	60 mu	+8	4d10	10	-	x2	35	(defensive)
Remote Slasher(IV)	60 mu	+6	6d12	6	-	18-20x4	40	(heavy, area, rending)
Chakram Caster(III)	40 mu	+5	3d6	-	2	x3	30	(brutal)
Slash Ripper(IV)	20 mu	+8	4d8	6	-	x3	30	(brutal, area)
Shisioh Blade(VII)	melee	+20	10d10	-	-	16-20x3	60	(finesse)
Boost Hammer(VI)	melee	+10	8d8	-	5	19-20x2	60	(rending)
G-Impact Stake(VII)	20 mu	+10	8d8	6	-	x3	50	(defensive, rending, brutal)
Neo-Chakram Caster(VII)	100 mu	+12	12d12	-	40	x5	60	(heavy, brutal, rending)
Graviton Cannon(VII)	100 mu	+7	12d12	-	70	18-20x4	60	(heavy, power, rending, area)

Mecha weapons can come in a variety and shapes and styles depending on their faction, builder and pilot.

Special Weapons

Name (level)	Range	Attack Bonus	Damage	Ammo	Energy Cost	Critical	Space taken (Special)
Energy Taker (IV)	60 mu	+8	2d6	2	-	x2	15(defensive,see description)
Energy Taker+(V)	60 mu	+10	2d8	2	-	x2	15(defensive,see description)
Energy Drain(VI)	60 mu	+12	3d6	2	-	x2	15d(defensive,see description)
Energy Drain+(VII)	60 mu	+14	3d8	2	-	x2	30(defensive,see description)
Spirit Taker(V)	60 mu	+10	2d8	2	-	x2	35 (defensive,see description)
Spirit Taker+(VI)	60 mu	+12	3d6	2	-	x2	30 (defensive,see description)
Spirit Drain(VII)	60 mu	+14	3d8	2	-	x2	30(defensive,see description)
Mind Blast(IV)	60 mu	+12	2d6	2	-	x2	35(defensive, see description)
Spider Net(III)	60 mu	+6	1d8	2	-	x2	30 (defensive, see description)
Chaff Grenade(I)	60 mu	+2	1d6	2	-	x2	30 (defensive, see description)
Armor Breaker(II)	60 mu	+4	1d8	2	-	x2	40 (defensive, see description)
Weapon Breaker(I)	60 mu	+2	1d6	2	-	x2	20 (defensive, see description)

Special Weapons descriptions:

Note: The following effects trigger on an hit oponent regardless of they actualy taking damage. All save DCs are equal to your total attack bonus when using the special weapon.

Energy Taker (IV): Fortitude save or lose 8d6 energy, your mecha recovers the same amount of energy.

Energy Taker+(V):Fortitude save or lose 10d6 energy, your mecha recovers the same amount of energy.

Energy Drain(VI): Fortitude save or lose 12d6 energy, your mecha recovers the same amount of energy.

Energy Drain+(VII):Fortitude save or lose 14d6 energy, your mecha recovers the same amount of energy.

Spirit Taker(V): Will save or lose 5d6 spirit points.

Spirit Taker+(VI): Will save or lose 6d6 spirit points.

Spirit Drain(VII) :  Will save or lose 7d8 spirit points.

Mind Blast(IV):Will save or become unable to use spirits for 1 round.

Spider Net(III): Reflex save or lose Dex and Dodge bonus to AC for 1 round and unable to move, then become entangled untill you get rid of the net by spending a move action and suceeding on the save.

Chaff Grenade(I): Fort save or become blinded for 1 round.

Armor Breaker(II): no save, mecha's  DR is reduced by half for 1 round.

Weapon Breaker(I): Reflex save or all attacks deal half damage for 1 round.

Special weapons were designed for those rare situations where simply shooting more isn't the answer.

Acessories

Unless otherwise noticed, all acessories take 25 arsenal space. Multiples of the same acessory don't stack

Booster (I): +10 mu to all the mecha movement modes.

Mega Booster (III): +20 to all the mecha movement modes.

TROMBE! (VI):+30 to all the mecha movements.

Nacht system(I): the mecha gains the stealth property.

Chokabam Armor(I):+4 Armor bonus, +2 DR, +2 Fort Saves.

Hybrid Armor(III): +6 Armor bonus, +4 DR, +2 Fort Saves.

Orichalcum (V): +8 Armor bonus, +8 DR, +2 Fort Saves.

Z.O Armor(VII): +10 Armor bonus, +16 DR, +2 Fort Saves.

Emblem(II):+10 to the max spirit points of the pilot.

Medal (III):+20 to the max spirit points of the pilot.

Servo Motor(II):+2 Dodge bonus and reflex saves

Cape(I): +1 to all saves.

Bio sensor(IV):+4 Dodge Bonus and reflex saves.

Thruster(VI):+6 Dodge Bonus and reflex saves.

Tesla Drive (III): gain a fly speed equal to the land speed, good maneuverability.

Tesla Drive S (VI):  gain a fly speed equal to the land speed, perfect maneuverability, or increase current flight speed to perfect.

Water Jet(I): grants the amphibious ability.

Mirror-Image Projector(V): grants the Hyper Jammer ability.

S-Adaptator(VI): grants the amphibious ability, ignores dificult terrain, +2 to all saves.

Radar (III):+10 mu to all ranged weapon's range.

Dual Sensor(I):+1 to all attack rolls.

Multi-Sensor(III):+2 to all attack rolls

Custom HUD(V):+3 to all attack rolls.

T-Link sensor(VII):+4 to all attack rolls.

Enancher (IV): All mecha weapons critical threat increases by 1.

Generator(II):+10 max energy

Large Generator(IV):+50 max energy

Hyper Generator(VI): +250 max energy

Solar Panel (I): grants Reactor I.

Fission System (III): grants reactor II.

Tronium engine (V): grants reactor III.

AB Field(II): grants the beam coat ability.

G-Territorry(VI): grants the G-Wall ability.

Mark of the Hero(V): +2 Dodge bonus, +4 Armor, +2 DR, + 2 to all attack rolls, +2 to all saves.

Advanced AI(VII):+8 Dodge Bonus and reflex saves, +10 mu to all speeds, +10 mu to all ranged weapons reach, +4 to all attack rolls.

Steel Soul(VII):+4 Dodge Bonus, +6 Armor, +4 DR, +4 to all attack rolls, +4 to all saves.

Equiped with an Assault Blade, Chokabam Armor, Cape and a Bio Sensor, this Gespent is ready for war!

[oslecamo]

Altough I still have to make the super robot stuff, do you think it would be worth it to stat mass-produced/mook mechas, aka very low or perhaps no customization at all, piloted by faceless NPC class whitout spirit or fancy stuff, designed to be sent in groups against the players?

Other things to think about:
-How to handle multiple pilots on the same mecha.
-Magic... Do we make it as Prc, base class, alternate class feature, template, new arsenal options or what?

[SiggyDevil]

Magic should be in the form of Psionics, but powered by the mysterious "Gar" energy that accumulates by shouting bravado.

[oslecamo]

Good point, psionic dudes are indeed prevalent on a lot of mecha shows and should also be covered by this project. Something like an EVA for example should probably be the mecha equivalent of a psionic warrior. But there's still room for classic magic for stuff like the Elemental Lords and whatnot.

However BURNING SPIRIT! is already handled by spirits granted by the base classes.

[Prime32]

Magic should be in the form of Psionics, but powered by the mysterious "Gar" energy that accumulates by shouting bravado.

There are plenty of calm magic users though, and Real pilots frequently have some measure of psychic ability. (though this mostly amounts to Jedi-type stuff)
EDIT: Could any SW:Saga material be translated over?
Still probably better to use psionics for magic, but the trading of fluff could confuse some people.

I would say that mecha can cast spells from items like normal characters, but only if both the mecha and the pilot are suitable. Some of these items could be "embedded components".

As for EVAs...

Resistance (Su): Elans can use psionic energy to increase their resistance to various forms of attack. As an immediate action, an elan can spend 1 power point to gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws until the beginning of her next action.

Resilience (Su): When an elan takes damage, she can spend power points to reduce its severity. As an immediate action, she can reduce the damage she is about to take by 2 hit points for every 1 power point she spends.

http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Elan_Resilience^_Enhanced
http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Elan_Resistance^_Enhanced

EDIT2: Thinking of Cybuster reminded me. There needs to be some mechanic for "funnels".