So without further ado, perks and traits. (I am also copying the perks/traits from the background post, so they can all be in one location, and I'm adding prereqs, background limits, etc.)
Basic Training: You have had basic military training, this imparts a passive +1 to all attack and damage rolls, and all 3 defense types. This stacks with every other bonus given from skills/gear/etc. (Requires 2 marksmanship and 2 combat survival training, must be taken at level 1.)
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| (We tell them there are alligators in there... but it's really just turtles and goldfish.) |
Combat Specialty (Insert Enemy Type Here), You have exceptional experience, training, and often malice for the type of enemy chosen. Whenever facing the chosen enemy type, you gain +2 to all attack rolls, damage rolls, stealth, knowledge, intimidation, etc. Your critical threat range also increases from a natural 20 to 19-20 against that type of foe. (No prereqs, will get written into your background.)
Close Quarters Combat Training: Whether it is advanced martial arts, boxing, a lot of bar brawls, or just accumulated over a lifetime of close encounters, your character is much more effective when the enemy gets to close. You gain +2 to hit and damage with all melee attacks, and an additional +2 in grapple situations. A nice passive bonus of this skill is a +1 HP, as you're tougher than normal as well. (Requires 4 Survival Training) (Human Scale Only)
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| ("I know Kung Fu.") |
Support Specialty Slots: You gain 3 minor accessory slots, which can hold items like med-kits, grenades, communication equipment, stun guns, etc. The support specialist will have a list in the gear post that will list the options available starting. The communication equipment can call in airstrikes though, so think on that. (Background Specific)
Narcissistic Personality: You are a completely self centered rich douchebag trying to save the world. You must have things your way, you genuinely don't give a shit about bureaucracy, social etiquette, and other niceties. This stubbornness grants a +2 psychic defense, if you don't role play this properly though I will punish you in some way. (No prereqs.)
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| (Narcissism in one of its many forms...) |
Scavenged Necro-Gear Tech: Part of your Jaeger you pieced together from the remains of the 'Necro-Gear' that washed ashore after the last great battle involving Godzilla and the remains of our Jaeger fleet. This individual piece of gear is more advanced than anything available to us, but it is only 1 piece, and you can not pick the 'reactor' or 'core' pieces. It must be something like 'fist' or 'knee' or 'shoulder' or something along those lines. It will have a unique ability though whatever it is. (Background specific)
Bonus Primary/Secondary Accessories: Gaining one free for both Jaeger and human scale combat. Primary accessories are things like weapons, armor, rail gun, jaeger sword, etc. Secondary accessories would be like grappling hooks on your armor/belt/gun, or anything 2 credits or less from the various gear posts. (Background Specific)
Sixth Sense: You can sense impending danger, this grants a +2 bonus on all defense types, and a +2 on all perception rolls. (Requires psychic ability.)
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| ("I see spirits.") |
Major Psychic Ability: A very powerful offensive, defensive, or utility ability, thought up by the player, and I will make the numbers. Various options include pyrokinesis, with things like fireballs, firewalls, etc. telekinesis, which would allow you to hit with raw force, or with an object, maybe even a force cage later on, or even just raw psychic power, melting people's brains. Defensive abilities involve all manner of defense enhancing abilities, from shielding yourself or others, resisting elemental type damage, (possibly even EMP) and the like. Utility skills are things like group invisibility to a specific type of opponent, (Xenomorph, Necromorph, etc.) powerful heals, and movement abilities, like flying or super speed. (Background specific)
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| (Oh this? Not a big deal. Did you want your car back?) |
Impromptu Science: You are exceptional at quick, absurd thinking of technological applications of things that don't seem all together probable. The 'Samantha Carter' ability to figure a way out of the situation when no one else can. This grants all manner of role play options not available to others. ("Can I try to jury rig the fallen Jaeger reactor to overload the plasma cannon for a massive burst of power?" "Umm... role a d20." "16" "Yep. critical damage, go for it." for example.) As far as combat numbers go, you roll a combat intelligence check, (DC determined by the difficulty of what you are attempting) and if you succeed, you do whatever it is you're going for. Essentially a science jack of all trades catch all skill. (Requires 3 combat intelligence, 3 jaeger survival training, and 3 knowledge)
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| (I obviously think she's awesome... since I use her name in every other post...) |
Favored Enemy: A more focused, intense hatred/training in taking down a specific type of opponent. Must have a Combat Specialty, then when this perk is chosen, you pick a specific type of opponent, (Examples, Covenant Elites, Xenomorph Queens, EMP Kaiju.) and against that type of opponent you gain +2 additional to hit and damage, (for a +4 total, stacking with combat specialty) and the threat range for critical hits increases to 18-20. In addition, you ignore some damage from those opponents, gaining 2/- DR (damage reduction) against the chosen enemy. (Requires Combat Specialty.)
Lightning Reflexes: You're fast on your feet, this translates to a +2 bonus to both initiative rolls, +2 defense against attacks of opportunity, and a +2 bonus on saves vs. AOE damage, Traps, and Burns. (No prereqs.)
Improved Initiative: You're great at getting the jump on your opponents. +4 initiative rolls. (No prereqs.)
Toughness: You're tougher than normal, you gain +3 HP. This also transfers through the neural link to your Jaeger, strengthening it by +10 HP. (No prereqs, can take multiple times.)
Weapon Specialization: You have special training with a chosen weapon type. When using that type of weapon, you have a +1 to hit and damage. (Type, like old school pistol, shotguns, bladed weapons, etc.)
Unique Starting Point, Africa: (Background Specific, 'The Survivor') You begin the game differently than the other backgrounds, and because of that you have a unique ally, a powerful, alien unique ally.
J.A.R.V.I.S.: You have a highly advanced, very helpful, integrated AI that assists in the management of your entire business network, your power armor, bank accounts, Jaeger targeting and the like. While yours might not be named JARVIS and sound like an English butler, it will still be polite, friendly, and incredibly helpful. Provides a +1 targeting assist bonus on all attacks made while in Power Armor or a Jaeger, (stacks with targeting bonus from head piece.) increases the knowledge bonus of infinite resources made in combat from +2 to +4, and empowers multiple other 'billionaire' perks. (Requires Infinite Resources)
Predator Drone Fleet: Purchasing an enormous amount of old Predator Drones (And airstrip rights) from the U.S. government has given you a worldwide network able to strike anywhere, with the proper target painting. This grants a 2 use per mission ability to call in an airstrike, which deals 4d6 to a large area, or that number to a single kaiju. The ability requires 2 rounds for the drones to re-position for another attack on the same area, but a rapid fire dual use on two areas in a line/arc is allowed. JARVIS grants another use per mission, and a +2 on all attack rolls associated with the predator drones. (Requires infinite resources, this ability can be upgraded with research and investment.)
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| (You own a few hundred of these around the globe...) |
Jaeger Battle Support Navy: (Requires Infinite Resources) By purchasing decommissioned warships off of financially strapped nations like Russia, you've put together for yourself a 4 ship support fleet, independent of X-Com.
This fleet contains one actual WWII Era battle ship, with 2 weapon options, Anti-Air guns, which deal 2d4 damage, (This is Jaeger Scale damage, more about that in the rules later.) This is meant for closer combat situations, having a range of 6. The primary weapon however, is a very large Rail Gun, with a limited aiming capability, a pretty long charge time, and good damage. This weapon deals 5d8+5 damage, and has a range of about 50 miles. It is not effective in closer combat (where I would use spaces to measure). The Ship has 40 HP, 14 physical and 13 energy defense, and 4 movement speed. Jarvis increases all the attack rolls of the battle ship by +2.
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| (One of these, with a Rail Gun taking up the entire front area.) |
The 2nd ship is a turn of the century Russian nuclear submarine, it does have torpedoes that deal 2d8+2 damage, and sea to land rockets that deal the same damage, but it is more important for its undersea stealth abilities and advanced sensors. The Submarine has 20 HP, 13 physical and 12 energy defense, 4 movement speed. (+5 base perception checks, +5 stealth) Jarvis increases the attack rolls, stealth and perception rolls by +2.
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| (Something along these lines.) |
The 3rd ship is a small destroyer, from the 2050's, it is significantly more maneuverable than the other ships, and contains mainly Gauss based weaponry, anti-air craft guns and some larger caliber 'anti-kaiju' weaponry. The Anti-air guns deal 3d4 damage, with a range of 8, and the rail cannons deal 3d8+3, with a range of 30 spaces, with 1 round charge up. They are also lighter and easier to adjust then the large model on the battle ship, having a full 180 degree range of motion. The ship has 30 HP, 16 physical and 14 energy defense. It moves 6 squares a round. Jarvis gives this ship +2 on all attack rolls.
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| (Like this, slightly better armed and faster.) |
The final ship has no weaponry of its own, but is the most important ship, a decommissioned American Aircraft Carrier. (Nimitz Class, a little over 1000 feet long.) Currently it houses a Jaeger, 3 Pelican transport craft to carry the Jaeger, and several older US fighter craft. (F-14's, F-16's, etc.) The ship has 50 HP, 14 physical and 13 energy defense, with a movement speed of 4, and is 2x3 'squares' in size on the combat map. Jarvis increases the movement speed by 1. The Fighter craft can perform 2 'strikes' with their explosives, and can attempt to fight kaiju and ships with their guns after. The missile strike has a 'deploy range' of 100 miles, double the railgun, and can deal 3d6 to a large area, or single kaiju. The fighter jets automatic weapons deal 1d4 damage to ships and kaiju. If used in an AOE attack on human scale opponents it deals 4d4+4 damage, save vs AOE damage. Jarvis increases the attack rolls of the fighter planes by 2, and the defense scores by 2 as well. The planes have 5 HP individually.
_transits_up_the_Elizabeth_River_as_it_passes_the_downtown_Norfolk_waterfront.jpg){kind=spacer} |
| (Exactly like this.) |
All the ships and abilities of this trait are able to be upgraded, with the proper amount of credits/research tech. However, these abilities, as awesome as they are, are limited use. If your fleet is stationed in San Diego and you're getting deployed to Washington DC they can't make it through the Panama Canal and around the country in time. The Jaeger is just taken by the 3 pelicans to the combat location. If the same situation was occurring and the enemy was in San Francisco or maybe even Seattle, your ships could make it to help. So that is the downside to this as opposed to the predator drone strike. You will have the drone strike every mission, that might not be the case with the ship fleet.
EMP Shielding: Experimental alloys and insulated wiring helps ward of EMP shock waves. This reworks not only the Jaeger and Power armor, but all associated support structure. If you have a ship fleet, or a predator drone fleet, those also have the insulated electronics. This grants +4 EMP resistance. (Requires Infinite Resources)
For the moment, that shall conclude perks and traits, I'll add more later.
Let us begin on playing the game, Combat Rules!
We're starting with human scale combat, which is easier than Jaeger combat.
(So, I know I'm going to make some assumptions and probably assume a 'base knowledge' level, that you've played some d20 games, it isn't a big deal if you haven't, I'll help you out.)
This is d20 based, so like DnD, you roll a d20 to determine if you hit, make a save, etc. adding the various modifiers. (If your guy has a +6 to hit with his assault rifle, you would roll 1d20+6, trying to get higher than the target number.)
Every player has 3 defense types, and each attack has an attack type. It is really easy to figure out, a gun, claws, knife, etc. is a physical attack, and is rolled against physical defense, and if it is something like a plasma grenade, beam sword or perhaps a pyrokinetic fireball, it would roll against energy or psychic respectively.
As combat goes along, you will be asked to make a save vs. some sort of effect. Every save works the exact same way, you roll a 1d20, (+ or - any modifiers) and get higher than a 10. Kill a xenomorph with a knife? Make a save against Burn to see if the acid burns the knife away. (Or rather if you fling the acid off in time.) This will occur against EMP, AOE damage, and all kinds of other special attacks.
So we've established the basics, you got attack rolls and saves, you add modifiers, and you try to beat a target number, either a 10 in the case of a save, or whatever the defense you attacking is. (A xenomorph with 16 physical defense would take 16 to hit with a gun, baseball bat, etc.)
From there, you have a few combat options that we will cover.
First off, when starting a battle, and at the start of EVERY round, initiative is rolled. In one on one fights, this can allow for sometimes two actions in a row. The two init. perks are very important, as this is a difficult skill to boost. We roll a 1d20, and add init. modifier, if any, to determine combat order.
Charging Melee Attack: By performing a full round action, you may move at double your movement speed placing your momentum into a melee attack. This grants a +2 to hit and damage, but grants you a -2 to energy and physical defense for a round after. (There are several items that make this bonus and distance greater.) Doing a full movement action you can also cover double your movement speed, just without attack. This is different then Jaeger rules, stating that here and now.
Grappling: Many of the invaders are at their most deadly when they have you pinned. Xenomorphs can use that horrid second jaw, necromorphs will try to infest you, and Kaiju of course love to grapple. Most of these creatures are stronger and tougher than a normal human, so it takes special training to be able to go toe to toe with these creatures.
Grappling works like a physical attack, only you add your 'grapple bonus' to all offensive and defensive d20 rolls. If you have a +6 physical attack in melee, and you have a +1 grapple bonus, all your grapple checks would be made at +7, for example.
The way a grapple works is like so:
A person says 'I'm grappling' and makes an attack roll. Most alien grappling attacks do not provoke attacks of opportunity, but most made by human players will. (An attack of opportunity is as it sounds, a free attack.) When first initiating a grapple, a creature must first hit your standard defense, and then both creatures involved roll a d20, adding their grapple scores, whoever gets the higher score wins.
If the defensive player wins, the grapple never happens, and most of the time there will be no damage, even if the initial attack 'hit.'
If the offensive player wins, the target is 'grappled' and they suffer normal physical damage. (There are some accessories that add to grapple damage specifically, you would add that damage now.) And the target is grappled.
The next turn, the offensive player can now perform any special attack that it may have, (Example, xenomorph secondary jaw.) but first another grapple check is made, and if the offensive player wins, the attack hits. If the attack misses at this phase, the player is still grappled, but he is no longer pinned, and the attack doesn't occur. (Grapples can last many many rounds of back and forth.)
Critical hits (and critical failures) are universal in all combat forms. If you roll a 20 or a 1, you roll again to 'confirm' the critical success or failure. This means that you would roll again, trying to beat the same number you just rolled against, to confirm. Should you confirm a critical hit, you deal x2 damage. (some weapons deal more, like x3) If you confirm a critical failure, meaning you fail again on that roll, something really bad happens. (Examples: You're shooting your shotgun at a covenant elite. You roll a natural 20, and you have to roll again to 'confirm.' The Elite has 19 physical defense, so on your 2nd d20 roll, you would have to beat a 19, if you do, you confirm. If you don't, you still hit, it just deals normal damage. On the flip side of that, same scenario, only you roll a 1. You would roll again, trying to 'confirm.' If you rolled below the 19 mark, you critically fail, and something bad happens, like the Elite grabbing your shotgun from you and smashing you in the face with it. If you beat that hypothetical mark, in this case a 19, you just miss, nothing bad happens.)
Critical Surges (and negative surges): A house rule spanning over a decade now in all my games. When you roll either a 20 or a 1, you must confirm, like above. If on the followup roll, you roll either another 20 in the case of a critical hit, or a 1 in the case of a critical miss, you 'surge' having an exceptional effect happen. Each time you roll a 20 or a 1 on the follow up rolls, the 'incredibleness' of your success/failure is amplified. This stacks each time you roll a 20 or a 1. (The house record is 4 20's in a row, which gave the player a massive critical bonus, permanent fire resistance, and permanent on hit fire damage, the critical failures disabled all the players internal weapons, shield generators, and the like. These were a DnD game and home made Fallout d20 game respectively.)
The final human scale combat rule we're covering is cover and concealment. When covenant are firing plasma that will kill you in a hit or two, sticking to cover is a requirement. Getting behind cover adds a flat bonus to your defenses, energy and physical only. (Psychic damage doesn't care about the wall you're hiding behind.)
25% cover, +2 defenses, 50% cover, +4 defenses, 75% cover, +7 defenses, 90% cover, +10 defenses.
Concealment is different than cover. Cover is something physically there to block an attack, concealment is smoke, fog, darkness, visibly obscuring things that affect hit chance. If a person has say, 30% concealment, and they are hit by a normal plasma rifle, the attacker would then roll a d10, and if they rolled a 1-3, the attack misses. Concealment goes from 20% up to 90%.
Attacks of opportunity: This occurs whenever a player/creature leaves themselves open, and is a free attack by an opponent. Common occurrences for this are: initiating grappling, leaving melee range, (like in the melee with a xenomorph and running away, it might take a tail swipe at you.) performing special attacks in melee range, (like trying to snipe a far away opponent with a covenant grunt next to you.) or trying to run across a heavily covered area. (Like running across a city intersection under siege by overseer forces, they might get a shot or two at you while running across the road.) Every player, and opponent except for a select few, (like Xenomorphs) get 1 attack of opportunity per round.
That about covers special instances and basics of human combat, now we move onto Jaeger scale combat.
First off, Jaeger scale combat is the exact same as human in style, dice rolls, and the like. The numbers are a little higher obviously, but all the terminology and attack types, like grappling, stays the same.
'Jaeger Spaces' when I describe distance, are not comparable. 1 Jaeger 'square' equals roughly 5 human squares. (Give or take, that isn't solid.) So that 20 square sniper rifle is a few strides for a Jaeger. Also, Jaeger HP and human HP are different.
Jaegers have obviously significantly higher armor factors, hit points, etc. (Gypsy Danger survives a somewhat nearby 240 megaton nuke at the bottom of the ocean. These things are tough.) This has certain effects on game play. First off, if a human scale soldier is shooting at a Jaeger or Kaiju, it is possible to hurt them, only there are some rather sizable obstacles to that.
Every large scale creature has a flat Damage Reduction Value, based on whether they have light armor, medium armor, or heavy armor.
All light armor creatures have 15/- DR, Medium have 20/- and Heavy armor has 30/- DR. This is only for human to kaiju scale, like shooting a kaiju with your laser rifle, or a tank cannon, helicopter rockets, etc. Certain attacks, like many of those in the ship support or predator drone category, have separate numbers for a kaiju strike, those supersede these DR numbers. (This is why it is feasible to slowly take down a category 1 kaiju with conventional weapons.)
As far as armor types go, all Jaegers are Medium armor, period. Category 1-3 Kaiju tend to be in the light to medium armor range, and category 4 and 5 are mostly heavy armor. The majority of Comet Kaiju are also heavy armored.
Thus, while it is possible for smaller forces to support/assist against large scale foes, a jaeger is required. Even a full modern day (2100 modern) Gauss weaponry equipped naval fleet would be unable to go toe to toe with anything beyond a category 2 without Jaeger assistance.
Now that we've covered small things attacking big things, lets go the other way.
Your jaeger sees a group of xenomorphs scaling the side of a building, and you want to burn them with your plasma scorcher. You simply say you want to attack them, and then all the enemies affected must make a save Area of Effect damage. If they fail the save, all affected take max damage of the weapon. (Let's say the plasma scorcher deals 2d8+4, those failing automatically take 20 damage. Dying pretty much.) If they succeed in the save, the jaeger rolls damage, like normal, and those affected take that damage. (This would hypothetically give those xenomorphs a chance to survive, if the roll was lower.) If a target makes the save exceptionally well, (8+ or critical success) they take no damage.
This makes Jaegers very effective as support weapons in large scale city sieges, if the Jaeger gets a break from fighting kaiju for a few rounds, his allies can call in a 'Jaeger Strike' allowing the jaeger to stomp, burn, rail gun, etc. conventional targets, causing massive damage.
While this isn't really in either category, attacking a space ship, like a covenant banshee or overseer battlecruiser, is just like attacking a Kaiju, the numbers are the exact same 'scale.' roll damage normally. (A Banshee only has 10 HP for example, so chances are a stray fist can kill one from a decent warrior.) Those small ships just have a higher on average defense number, dodging damage more than absorbing it.
Now lets move into the brunt of it, Jaeger vs. Kaiju fighting.
This battle is ran exactly like a standard human on xenomorph or other style fight, rolling your d20's to hit, damage dice, and the like. All the DR numbers and such above are ignored for Kaiju on Jaeger battles, though the armor type affects many weapons. (Buzzsaws, swords, etc.)
The following is different in large scale combat however.
Movement is different than human scale. Your charge/full movement range is dependent on your base movement speed, not just double, like for human scale.
Movement speed: 3 or below, MS +1 (MS = movement speed.)
Movement speed 4-6, MS +2
Movement speed 7+. MS +3.
Thus movement rates are more important in Jaeger battles, since you can't make drastic moves (like a charge or double move.) at the range you can in human form. Certain accessories allow for double move speed charge options, but not every Jaeger will have that.
Charging works at the max speed of the leg type above, and numerically works like normal charges. (Starts at +2 to hit and damage)
Many Jaegers have ranged weapons that have a charge time. If a Jaeger only moves its base movement speed while charging, and the enemy doesn't move more than 5 spaces per turn of charge, the targeting computer will target locking, granting a +2 per round of charge. This may be done by choice with other non-charging ranged weapons, that are being fired in tandem with the weapon. (Example, you have a Rail gun and 2 mounted shoulder rocket launchers. The railgun has a 1 round charge time, the +2 lock on bonus will also go to the shoulder rockets as long as they are fired simultaneously with the rail gun.) This will help those powerful charge up abilities to have greater effectiveness against slower opponents. (Rule effect: +2 to hit per round of charge, opponent can't move more than 5 spaces per turn in that charging time frame to gain this bonus.)
Cover rules and concealment rules are the exact same, it's just going to be situationally much more difficult to find large cover/concealment bonuses, since Jaegers are sometimes 300 feet tall.
Grappling rules are also the same.
I imagine more rules will need to be covered as time goes on, so this post will probably be updated from time to time with more perks/traits, and rules as we need them, but I think I got the basics covered enough to actually run a campaign.
*Added Rules, Jaeger Infiltration*
There will be times when an enemy will try to break into your jaeger and fight you. In times like these, you have a few options.
First, if your Jaeger has an internal defense accessories, you can use those, making Jaeger Combat Survival checks to try and take care of the threat, but if you don't have those installed, this is how it works.
When the creature first makes 'entry' whether it is through a weak point in the armor, or actually tearing off the hatch on the head itself, the pilot makes a Perception check. If the check passes, the pilot is aware of the intruder, and has a few options.
If the player's spirin is in the cockpit with the character, the spirin may take on combat form, and try to fight off the intruder.
If the player wants to attack the intruder himself, he can either have the spirin take over primary piloting, with the AI, which makes the Jaeger still able to fight, but with a -2 on all combat numbers. If the player either doesn't have a spirin, or both need to fight off the threat, the Jaeger can continue functioning on limited neural link and AI assistance, with a -4 on all combat rolls. The Jaeger can function this way for 4 rounds before it shuts itself down.
Of course, if you fail the perception check, you will get maybe another chance or two to notice, situationally, but the last thing your character might remember is looking at a xenomorph tail sticking out through its chest.
Let us begin on playing the game, Combat Rules!
We're starting with human scale combat, which is easier than Jaeger combat.
(So, I know I'm going to make some assumptions and probably assume a 'base knowledge' level, that you've played some d20 games, it isn't a big deal if you haven't, I'll help you out.)
This is d20 based, so like DnD, you roll a d20 to determine if you hit, make a save, etc. adding the various modifiers. (If your guy has a +6 to hit with his assault rifle, you would roll 1d20+6, trying to get higher than the target number.)
Every player has 3 defense types, and each attack has an attack type. It is really easy to figure out, a gun, claws, knife, etc. is a physical attack, and is rolled against physical defense, and if it is something like a plasma grenade, beam sword or perhaps a pyrokinetic fireball, it would roll against energy or psychic respectively.
As combat goes along, you will be asked to make a save vs. some sort of effect. Every save works the exact same way, you roll a 1d20, (+ or - any modifiers) and get higher than a 10. Kill a xenomorph with a knife? Make a save against Burn to see if the acid burns the knife away. (Or rather if you fling the acid off in time.) This will occur against EMP, AOE damage, and all kinds of other special attacks.
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| (A Kaiju charging an EMP shockwave.) |
From there, you have a few combat options that we will cover.
First off, when starting a battle, and at the start of EVERY round, initiative is rolled. In one on one fights, this can allow for sometimes two actions in a row. The two init. perks are very important, as this is a difficult skill to boost. We roll a 1d20, and add init. modifier, if any, to determine combat order.
Charging Melee Attack: By performing a full round action, you may move at double your movement speed placing your momentum into a melee attack. This grants a +2 to hit and damage, but grants you a -2 to energy and physical defense for a round after. (There are several items that make this bonus and distance greater.) Doing a full movement action you can also cover double your movement speed, just without attack. This is different then Jaeger rules, stating that here and now.
Grappling: Many of the invaders are at their most deadly when they have you pinned. Xenomorphs can use that horrid second jaw, necromorphs will try to infest you, and Kaiju of course love to grapple. Most of these creatures are stronger and tougher than a normal human, so it takes special training to be able to go toe to toe with these creatures.
Grappling works like a physical attack, only you add your 'grapple bonus' to all offensive and defensive d20 rolls. If you have a +6 physical attack in melee, and you have a +1 grapple bonus, all your grapple checks would be made at +7, for example.
The way a grapple works is like so:
A person says 'I'm grappling' and makes an attack roll. Most alien grappling attacks do not provoke attacks of opportunity, but most made by human players will. (An attack of opportunity is as it sounds, a free attack.) When first initiating a grapple, a creature must first hit your standard defense, and then both creatures involved roll a d20, adding their grapple scores, whoever gets the higher score wins.
If the defensive player wins, the grapple never happens, and most of the time there will be no damage, even if the initial attack 'hit.'
If the offensive player wins, the target is 'grappled' and they suffer normal physical damage. (There are some accessories that add to grapple damage specifically, you would add that damage now.) And the target is grappled.
The next turn, the offensive player can now perform any special attack that it may have, (Example, xenomorph secondary jaw.) but first another grapple check is made, and if the offensive player wins, the attack hits. If the attack misses at this phase, the player is still grappled, but he is no longer pinned, and the attack doesn't occur. (Grapples can last many many rounds of back and forth.)
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| (You can guess who won that grapple check...) |
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| (Yep.) |
The final human scale combat rule we're covering is cover and concealment. When covenant are firing plasma that will kill you in a hit or two, sticking to cover is a requirement. Getting behind cover adds a flat bonus to your defenses, energy and physical only. (Psychic damage doesn't care about the wall you're hiding behind.)
25% cover, +2 defenses, 50% cover, +4 defenses, 75% cover, +7 defenses, 90% cover, +10 defenses.
Concealment is different than cover. Cover is something physically there to block an attack, concealment is smoke, fog, darkness, visibly obscuring things that affect hit chance. If a person has say, 30% concealment, and they are hit by a normal plasma rifle, the attacker would then roll a d10, and if they rolled a 1-3, the attack misses. Concealment goes from 20% up to 90%.
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| (Taking cover is required for survival.) |
That about covers special instances and basics of human combat, now we move onto Jaeger scale combat.
First off, Jaeger scale combat is the exact same as human in style, dice rolls, and the like. The numbers are a little higher obviously, but all the terminology and attack types, like grappling, stays the same.
'Jaeger Spaces' when I describe distance, are not comparable. 1 Jaeger 'square' equals roughly 5 human squares. (Give or take, that isn't solid.) So that 20 square sniper rifle is a few strides for a Jaeger. Also, Jaeger HP and human HP are different.
Jaegers have obviously significantly higher armor factors, hit points, etc. (Gypsy Danger survives a somewhat nearby 240 megaton nuke at the bottom of the ocean. These things are tough.) This has certain effects on game play. First off, if a human scale soldier is shooting at a Jaeger or Kaiju, it is possible to hurt them, only there are some rather sizable obstacles to that.
 |
| (Putting some scale to this.) |
All light armor creatures have 15/- DR, Medium have 20/- and Heavy armor has 30/- DR. This is only for human to kaiju scale, like shooting a kaiju with your laser rifle, or a tank cannon, helicopter rockets, etc. Certain attacks, like many of those in the ship support or predator drone category, have separate numbers for a kaiju strike, those supersede these DR numbers. (This is why it is feasible to slowly take down a category 1 kaiju with conventional weapons.)
As far as armor types go, all Jaegers are Medium armor, period. Category 1-3 Kaiju tend to be in the light to medium armor range, and category 4 and 5 are mostly heavy armor. The majority of Comet Kaiju are also heavy armored.
Thus, while it is possible for smaller forces to support/assist against large scale foes, a jaeger is required. Even a full modern day (2100 modern) Gauss weaponry equipped naval fleet would be unable to go toe to toe with anything beyond a category 2 without Jaeger assistance.
Now that we've covered small things attacking big things, lets go the other way.
Your jaeger sees a group of xenomorphs scaling the side of a building, and you want to burn them with your plasma scorcher. You simply say you want to attack them, and then all the enemies affected must make a save Area of Effect damage. If they fail the save, all affected take max damage of the weapon. (Let's say the plasma scorcher deals 2d8+4, those failing automatically take 20 damage. Dying pretty much.) If they succeed in the save, the jaeger rolls damage, like normal, and those affected take that damage. (This would hypothetically give those xenomorphs a chance to survive, if the roll was lower.) If a target makes the save exceptionally well, (8+ or critical success) they take no damage.
This makes Jaegers very effective as support weapons in large scale city sieges, if the Jaeger gets a break from fighting kaiju for a few rounds, his allies can call in a 'Jaeger Strike' allowing the jaeger to stomp, burn, rail gun, etc. conventional targets, causing massive damage.
While this isn't really in either category, attacking a space ship, like a covenant banshee or overseer battlecruiser, is just like attacking a Kaiju, the numbers are the exact same 'scale.' roll damage normally. (A Banshee only has 10 HP for example, so chances are a stray fist can kill one from a decent warrior.) Those small ships just have a higher on average defense number, dodging damage more than absorbing it.
Now lets move into the brunt of it, Jaeger vs. Kaiju fighting.
This battle is ran exactly like a standard human on xenomorph or other style fight, rolling your d20's to hit, damage dice, and the like. All the DR numbers and such above are ignored for Kaiju on Jaeger battles, though the armor type affects many weapons. (Buzzsaws, swords, etc.)
The following is different in large scale combat however.
Movement is different than human scale. Your charge/full movement range is dependent on your base movement speed, not just double, like for human scale.
Movement speed: 3 or below, MS +1 (MS = movement speed.)
Movement speed 4-6, MS +2
Movement speed 7+. MS +3.
Thus movement rates are more important in Jaeger battles, since you can't make drastic moves (like a charge or double move.) at the range you can in human form. Certain accessories allow for double move speed charge options, but not every Jaeger will have that.
Charging works at the max speed of the leg type above, and numerically works like normal charges. (Starts at +2 to hit and damage)
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| (Booster rocket punch go!) |
Cover rules and concealment rules are the exact same, it's just going to be situationally much more difficult to find large cover/concealment bonuses, since Jaegers are sometimes 300 feet tall.
Grappling rules are also the same.
I imagine more rules will need to be covered as time goes on, so this post will probably be updated from time to time with more perks/traits, and rules as we need them, but I think I got the basics covered enough to actually run a campaign.
*Added Rules, Jaeger Infiltration*
There will be times when an enemy will try to break into your jaeger and fight you. In times like these, you have a few options.
First, if your Jaeger has an internal defense accessories, you can use those, making Jaeger Combat Survival checks to try and take care of the threat, but if you don't have those installed, this is how it works.
When the creature first makes 'entry' whether it is through a weak point in the armor, or actually tearing off the hatch on the head itself, the pilot makes a Perception check. If the check passes, the pilot is aware of the intruder, and has a few options.
If the player's spirin is in the cockpit with the character, the spirin may take on combat form, and try to fight off the intruder.
If the player wants to attack the intruder himself, he can either have the spirin take over primary piloting, with the AI, which makes the Jaeger still able to fight, but with a -2 on all combat numbers. If the player either doesn't have a spirin, or both need to fight off the threat, the Jaeger can continue functioning on limited neural link and AI assistance, with a -4 on all combat rolls. The Jaeger can function this way for 4 rounds before it shuts itself down.
Of course, if you fail the perception check, you will get maybe another chance or two to notice, situationally, but the last thing your character might remember is looking at a xenomorph tail sticking out through its chest.
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