Revision as of 12:37, 25 February 2015

L O L, just kidding for nao.

Vehicles

This section will outline, in general terms, how vehicles work. Notable sections will be vehicle construction, vehicle classes, and rules specific to vehicles regarding their function.

Vehicle Overview

Vehicles function similarly to characters: they have hit points, an AC, ability scores, and so forth. However, vehicles are not creatures, but are objects, and so their interactions with other rules are a bit unusual.

All vehicles have a base AC of 5, rather than 10.

Ability Scores

Vehicles have Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Perception scores. In a vehicle's class, its Strength represents the raw force the vehicle can apply; its Dexterity represents its agility and maneuverability; its Constitution represents how well-constructed and sturdy it is; and its Perception represents the quality of its sensors and the ability of occupants to see outside the vehicle.

When created, the greasemonkey chooses what the vehicle's stats are, using the point buy system; the greasemonkey has 18 points to distribute to his vehicle's stats. Alternatively, the greasemonkey may opt to roll his vehicle's ability scores, in a manner similar to how a character is created.

A vehicle's ability scores are modified by its size.

Vehicle Level

Vehicles have levels independent of the greasemonkey that built them. Many stock vehicles, such as those that are available for purchase, have levels of their own, and come with modules already installed, with the intent that an end-user not have to tinker with the vehicle to make it function.

When a greasemonkey constructs a vehicle, he can make a vehicle with a vehicle level no higher than his student level. He can also modify previously-existing vehicles, adding levels to them provided that their total vehicle level is no higher than his student level. A greasemonkey can have any number of vehicles built at a time.

Vehicle Configuration

Once a vehicle's ability scores are determined, the greasemonkey must now design the configuration of the vehicle. In order, the greasemonkey will determine the following:

• Slot Layout and Progression
• Base Speed, Cargo, and Power
• Size
• Initial Hardpoint Configuration
• Power Plant(s)
• Locomotion Type

Slot Layout

Vehicles use slots, into which the greasemonkey places devices. Unlike other students, the greasemonkey's devices are intended to be "plugged into" a vehicle - that is, a greasemonkey's devices are useless on their own. In essence, a vehicle becomes a device platform, capable of quite a bit of versatility in its own right. Mechanically, all greasemonkey vehicles have the [module] descriptor, which indicates that the device must be slotted into a vehicle in order to function.

Slots come in three grades: high, mid, and low. These slots are vaguely indicative of how much power from the vehicle's power plant the device must draw, though this is not represented directly mechanically. In general, high slots are used for weapons, shield generators, and similar "high-power" devices; mid slots are used for armor, shield modifications, significant weapon enhancements, engine and capacitor enhancements, or "electronic warfare" modules that have a variety of effects, such as making targets easier to hit; and low slots are for minor weapon and shield enhancements, small but persistent speed boosts, mild modifications of the power plant, or changing the configuration of the vehicle in a variety of ways.

When constructing a vehicle, the greasemonkey has a pool of 5 points to spend on their slot layout. Some greasemonkey abilities, or some feats, can modify this initial value. For each type of slot - high, mid, and low - the greasemonkey spends a number of points, which grants the vehicle some number of initial slots (at first level), and allows the greasemonkey to improve the vehicle over time to accommodate a higher number of slots over time (these additional slots are gained when the greasemonkey has at least eight hours of downtime to modify the vehicle, and does not require a workshop or facility to do so).

Slot layout has a significant impact on a vehicle's function. In addition, later decisions - specifically, the configuration for turret, shield, and engine hardpoints - relate to this decision, as hardpoints effectively act as modifiers to previously-existing slots and do not exist by themselves (for instance, if you have a vehicle that has 1 turret hardpoint but no high slots, there are no available high slots to attach the turret hardpoint to, and thus the turret hardpoint is useless).

Regardless of slot layout, talents, or feats that grant additional slots, a vehicle cannot have any more slots of a given type than its vehicle level.

Design Layout

Independent of slot layout is the design layout. At this step, the greasemonkey makes structural decisions about the vehicle, determining the vehicle's base values for its speed, cargo capacity, and available power.

Similar to slot layout, the greasemonkey has 5 points to spend on each category, which results in a base value; this base value will then be modified, later, based upon the vehicle's size.

A vehicle with a speed of 0 feet cannot move, and is essentially an immobile platform. A vehicle with a capacitor of 0 cannot use devices of any kind, even those that do not require capacitor to use. A vehicle with a cargo capacity of 0 lbs. can fit nothing other than its pilot carrying at most a light load, but vehicles always have room for a pilot of at least the vehicle's size.

Carrying capacity within a vehicle can also be used to fit passengers: in essence, the notion that a vehicle has to have specified additional slots for passengers - or even crew - is pretty much dead.

A passenger takes up 100 lbs' worth of cargo, for a Medium-size passenger. Every size category smaller halves the amount (so Small take up 50 lbs, Tiny take up 25, and so forth), while every category larger doubles it (so Large is 200 lbs, Huge is 400 lbs, and so forth).

Size

At this point, the greasemonkey can decide on the size of the vehicle being constructed.

A vehicle's size impacts the vehicle in a number of significant ways. Larger vehicles are slower, but have more cargo capacity and can hold significantly larger capacitor reserves. In addition, larger vehicles suffer all the standard penalties that characters do for being larger: a lower AC, penalties to attack rolls, and penalties to Hide checks. On the other hand, larger vehicles gain bonuses to grapple checks (if they are capable of doing so), overrun attacks, and can mount larger, more powerful weapons on their hardpoints.

In addition, larger vehicles are also considerably harder to control. Characters attempting to make Pilot checks to control a vehicle suffer a penalty to that check equal to the PCP (Pilot Check Penalty) of the vehicle, as per the table.

Larger vehicles, however, tend to be more complex, and require more skill to build and maintain. The minimum greasemonkey level necessary to construct a vehicle of a given size is listed on the table. That said, greasemonkeys can maintain previously-existing vehicles of sizes larger than they can handle, but usually require larger crews (see below).

Note that vehicles of unusually large size are more common than the requisite greasemonkey level would indicate. The level indicated is the level at which the greasemonkey can reasonably construct a vehicle of such size on her own, and also operate on her own, without a copilot or crew.

In terms of larger vehicles, the number of greasemonkeys required to maintain its operation is dependent upon its size; in essence, each greasemonkey on a larger vehicle can take a "chunk" of the vehicle equal to the size of the largest vehicle she herself could pilot. So a vehicle that is 400 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 100 feet tall would consist of 2,000,000 cubic feet; a 24th-level greasemonkey can singly control and maintain a vehicle of 1,000,000 cubic feet, and a 400x50x100 vehicle would require two 24th-level greasemonkeys.

Design Notes

Might as well put this section here, because there's going to be notes.