Lunar Mecha Feature Document (v1.0)

Changelog

• v0.1: First version.
• v0.2: Easy to Use and Easily Fixed now take a long time to install. The difficult-to-install Features now cost more to add midgame.
• v0.3: The damage required to benefit from Ultimate Marksman and Ultimate Warrior has been reduced. Aerial Combatant is now difficult to install.
  New Features: Flight Support, Small Target Acquisition, Tight Squeeze
• v1.0: Tweaked the text on a lot of Features.
  New Features: Weapon Specialization

Slot Features

Extra Slot Mins: none Traits: none Your mech has an additional slot of one of the four types (Head, Body, Arms, or Legs). You can take this Feature multiple times, but can have no more than four slots of any one type. Note that if your mech is Modular or Large, you should take the Many Slots Feature before this one, since it's similar but better.

Many Slots Mins: none Traits: Modular or Large Your mech has two additional slots, each being one of the four types (Head, Body, Arms, or Legs). You can have no more than four slots of any one type. If your mech is both Modular and Large you may take this Feature twice.

Hybrid Slot Mins: none Traits: none One of your mech's gear slots is weird. In addition to equipping the Parts typical to its location, it can equip Parts typical to some other location (pick one). The reasons are left to your imagination. For an example, a snake mech might have a Legs slot that can equip Arms-based Parts, representing its ability to coil around the handles of weapons and the like. The slot is still fundamentally tied to its location, so it may be affected when that location breaks. In the example given above, the snake mech could attack using the weapon it held in its tail when suffering from Arm Break, but not when suffering from Leg Break. You can take this Feature as many times as you want, hybridizing multiple slots or hybridizing a particular slot in several different ways. Note that it doesn't actually give you a slot, though; it simply modifies one you already have.

Skill Features

Skill Channeling Mins: none Traits: none Pick a particular skill group and a location with which to associate it: Head, Body, Arms, or Legs. Anyone who pilots your mech and knows that skill group can use it while piloting, as long as the chosen location is not disabled by a [Location] Break effect. This supplants the regular Focus for the skill group, which is irrelevant in mecha combat. Note that some skills can be used even without a Channelling Feature -- these have the "Mecha" keyword and work even when the rest of the group is disabled by break effects. This Feature can be taken any number of times. Normally you'd want to pick a different skill group each time you take it, but you can also take the same group with different body parts, in which case you can continue to use it as long as at least one such part is active.

Universal Weapon Channeling Mins: Fra 10, Han 15 Traits: Generic + Fighter Functions like Skill Channeling but enables all Weapon-type skill groups (Elegant, Rounded, Fast, Brutal, Shot, Defensive, Mystic). This Feature can be taken multiple times, for a different body part each time, in which case you can continue to use it as long as at least one such part is active.

Universal Elemental Channeling Mins: Fra 5, Han 10, Enc 15 Traits: Generic + Caster Functions like Skill Channeling but enables all Element-type skill groups, as well as the general Elemental group (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Nature, Thunder, Light, Darkness, Elemental). This Feature can be taken multiple times, for a different body part each time, in which case you can continue to use it as long as at least one such part is active.

Universal Magic Channeling Mins: Enc 20 Traits: Caster Anyone who is piloting your mech can use all his Spell- or Mod-Spell-type skills, regardless of skill group, so long as he is not suffering from Ward Break. However, using those skills in that way doubles their MP cost.

Skill-Enabler Part Mins: Han 5, Enc 5 Traits: none Prereq: Skill Channeling (not a universal equivalent) Pick a skill group for which your mech already has Skill Channeling. To use the skill group while piloting, you must have an appropriately-designed Enabler Part equipped. You choose the general type of Enabler, which needn't adhere to any particular system rules. For example, Irving's Social group Enabler is a set of amplifiers, and any sound-projection Enabler would probably apply.. Skills of the chosen group only function while an appropriate Enabler is equipped and as long as the location to which the Enabler is attached isn't broken. However, they cost half as many MP as they normally would. Generally you'll want the Enabler Part to go in the same location that the skill group is tied to, since otherwise there'd be two breakage conditions that could disable it. However, you don't have to do this -- you might want two very different skill groups to use the same Enabler, for instance. This Feature can be taken as many times as the mech has Skill Channelling groups. There's no limit to the number of groups that can share the same Enabler, though there should be a thematic consistency that explains the connection.

Break Threshold Features

Armored [Location] Mins: Fra 10, Enc 5 Traits: none Pick one of the five breakage locations (Head, Body, Arms, Legs, or Wards). Your mech's Breakage Threshold for that location is increased by 1. You can buy this Feature as many times as you want for as many locations as you want. Despite the name, this Feature need not represent actual armor. A mech with lots of arms might take Armored Arms to represent the fact that it takes more damage to disable all its many limbs, for instance.

Heavily Armored [Location] Mins: none Traits: Large + Tough Pick one of the five breakage locations (Head, Body, Arms, Legs, or Wards). Your mech's Breakage Threshold for that location is increased by 2. You can buy this Feature for as many locations as you want, but only once for each location.

Tenacity Mins: none Traits: none Your mech's Wreck Threshold is increased by 1. You can buy this Feature as many times as you want.

Supreme Tenacity Mins: Fra 5 Traits: Large or Tough Your mech's Wreck Threshold is increased by 2. If your mech is both Large and Tough, you may buy this Feature twice. Otherwise you may buy it only once.

Gear Features

Weapon Specialization Mins: (Fra + Han) 10 Traits: Fighter or Gunner Choose a narrow type of weapon (as narrow as you'd choose when selecting the types your character can use -- for example, Axe or Rapier or Magic Rifle). If your mech has the Fighter trait you can take any kind of hand-to-hand weapon; if it has the Gunner trait you can take any kind of ranged weapon. Your mech is fine-tuned to be especially lethal with that sort of weapon. Weapons of the specified type get a +20% Hit bonus and a +10% Attack bonus. These do count as the weapon's innate bonuses, so they get improved by Temper, are eligible for the Sniper Scope effect, etc. You can take this Feature for as many types of weapons as you please, but only once per type.

Hot Swap Mins: none Traits: Modular The mech is designed to be altered on a moment's notice. When installing or uninstalling Parts, treat Permanent Parts as Integrated and Integrated Parts as Plug-In. Note that mech parts are huge and unwieldy, and this doesn't make it any easier to carry spares. This Feature is difficult to install since it requires that the mech be stripped down to the core and rebuilt from the inside out. It takes ten times as long and costs twice as much money as usual if added during play.

Two-Handed Style Mins: Fra 10, Han 10, (Fra + Han 35) Traits: Fighter This functions the same as the Two-Handed Style Edge, but for mecha: as long as your mech has at least one Arms slot free, any innately close-range weapons equipped to its Arms are enhanced -- they grant +30% Atk per Strong trait, rather than the usual +20%. This is a part of the weapon's bonus, so it's doubled by Temper.

Magical Weapon Use Mins: (Han + Enc) 25 Traits: Caster Normally, mecha do not benefit from the Accuracy and Wisdom enhancements on their weapons, making such things useless for them. Your mech can, however. It benefits from the best Accuracy and Wisdom bonuses on any weapon it has equipped, even if the body part holding the weapon is broken.

Sniper Scope Mins: Han 5 Traits: Gunner Your mech is equipped with an advanced targeting scope that allows it to place shots with lethal precision. When wielding an innately ranged weapon, it uses the higher of that weapon's Hit and Attack bonuses as its Attack bonus. This applies even if you are, for whatever reason, using a Close-range attack with a ranged weapon. If the Hit bonus is higher, that's the one that Temper improves. Keep in mind that only a weapon tooled to have a gigantic hit bonus will actually benefit from this Feature, since the default Attack bonus is 30% and the default hit bonus is 0%.

Autoloader Mins: none Traits: Gunner Your mech can automatically reload a single innately ranged single-shot weapon on any action in which it does not attack.

Offensive Features

Leadbody Mins: Fra 10 Traits: Heavy Your mech carries a lot of momentum. Its unarmed attacks (meaning "attacks made without a weapon") are at +50% Atk. This doesn't count as a weapon bonus, so it's not improved by Temper. If the mech is both Heavy and Large you can take this Feature twice.

Brawler Mins: none Traits: Large or Fighter Mecha with the Brawler Feature are optimized for dirty, no-holds-barred scrapping. They can make unarmed attacks using their Head or Body, allowing them to attack when their Arms and Legs are disabled. Furthermore, they receive a +25% Atk bonus to all unarmed attacks (attacks made without a weapon). This doesn't count as a weapon bonus, so it's not improved by Temper.

Crushing Force Mins: Fra 5 Traits: Fighter + Heavy When using the Melee stance, your mech receives a +2 PL bonus to its Close-range attacks, rather than the +1 that the stance usually confers.

Deadeye Mins: Han 20 Traits: none Your mech can strike with a precision that seems to contradict its enormous size. When it lands a critical hit, it does triple the normal damage, rather than double. This does not stack with any other effect that increases critical damage.

Natural Element Mins: Enc 10 Traits: Caster Your mech is strongly aligned with a particular element (one of the eight conventional ones). Any damage it deals of that element is at +1 PL, but damage it deals in the other seven conventional elements is -1 PL.

Will Features

Ultimate Warrior Mins: (Fra + Han) 30 Traits: Fighter Every time your mech deals 300 or more damage using an Attack-based Supermove or attacking with an innately close-range weapon, you gain 1 Will. It doesn't matter whether the actual attack was ranged or not, so long as the weapon it was made with lacks the Ranged property. Moreover, all Attack-based Supermoves apply, regardless of range or weapon. Doesn't stack with Ultimate Marksman.

Ultimate Marksman Mins: (Fra + Han) 30 Traits: Gunner Every time your mech deals 300 or more damage using an Attack-based Supermove or attacking with an innately ranged weapon, you gain 1 Will. It doesn't matter whether the actual attack was ranged or not, so long as the weapon it was made with possesses the Ranged property. Moreover, all Attack-based Supermoves apply, regardless of range or weapon. Doesn't stack with Ultimate Warrior.

Burning Mandala Mins: Enc 5, (Fra + Enc) 25 Traits: Caster During massive expenditures of energy, your mech's mandala flares into brilliant light, surging with power. When you spend a huge amount of MP all at once, you regain 1 Will per 100 MP expended (or per 200 MP expended if Ward Broken). Always round down. Only casting costs count, not MP transfer abilities or MP damage. The MP have to all be spent in the same instant, for example as a single huge Reply or as an action and its associated Mods.

Optimal Environment Mins: none Traits: none Pick a particular environment in which your mech excels; it should be one that it might have the chance to fight in, but not one that it will almost always fight in. For example, "air" is probably too ubiquitous, but "underwater" would be fine since relatively few fights will happen there. If the environment is common (in terms of "places you're likely to fight in mecha"), your Will requirements are reduced by -1 while in it. If the environment is uncommon, Will requirements are reduced by -2. If the environment is quite rare, Will requirements are reduced by -3. However, when you're not in that environment, Will requirements are increased by 1. The GM has the final say in what rarity a given environment counts as, but I've included some suggestions below: Common: Beastlands, Flat Terrain, During Day/At Night Unommon: Populous Regions, Non-Beastlands, Under Clouded Sky, Very Cold/Hot Rare: Underwater, Enclosed Spaces, High Up, Drakken, While Raining

Generalization Mins: Mech Level 10 Traits: none Prereq: Optimal Environment This Feature removes the drawback of Optimal Environment, allowing the mech to function without penalty in any setting while still being especially effective in its chosen environment.

Defensive Features

Endurance Mins: none Traits: none Your mech can take a beating and leap back into the fray none the worse for wear. It may be unusually large or just very hardy. Either way, it has a 10% HP bonus. Most mecha can only take this trait once, but they can take it one additional time for each of the following traits they possess: Large, Tough, Fighter. Therefore a mech that has all three traits can buy the trait four times!

Resilient Mins: Fra 20 Traits: none A Resilient mech can shrug off hits that would stop others in their tracks. It gets a +20% bonus to Toughness, which incidentally improves its Armor and natural Barrier.

Solid Shell Mins: Fra 5 Traits: none Your mech's Physical Defense is increased by 1. You may take this Feature twice if your mech has either the Tough or Heavy traits and three times if it has both.

Strong Wards Mins: Enc 15 Traits: none Divide 3 bonus points any way you choose among your mech's eight elemental defenses. You may take this Feature twice if your mech has either the Tough or Caster traits and three times if it has both.

Dragonforce Shell Mins: Fra 25 Traits: Tough Prereq: Solid Shell + Strong Wards All your mech's defenses are increased by 1.

Perfect Poise Mins: Han 10 Traits: Light Your mech is nimble and perfectly balanced. It can fight in the midst of an earthquake without losing its balance, even if the pilot is poor. Because it takes so much to knock it off-balance, it is resistant to effects that would impede or disable it. Your mech gets +100% to Fortitude and Spirit. This doesn't do much for mecha unless you also have a Bio-Frame and are therefore subject to normal Status Effects, however: Fortitude/Spirit are used mainly to resist impairment spells that cause Break Effects, but they don't protect against breakage through damage or called shots.

Improved Evasion Mins: Han 10 Traits: Mobile or Small or Light This functions the same as the Improved Evasion Edge, but for mecha: your mech's Evade is not penalized for being the target of a Line- or Party-range attack ability.

Elusive Target Mins: Han 5 Traits: Mobile or Small Your mech is difficult to hit; it gets a +25% bonus to Evade. If it has both the Mobile and Small traits this Feature can be taken twice.

Invincible Guard Mins: Fra 20 Traits: Heavy or Tough When using the Defend action, you can choose to have your mech become totally immobile (Evade 0) until your next action. If you do this, defending blocks 75% of damage rather than the usual 50%. If you're also in the Stonewall stance, 90% of damage is blocked! This only applies to the actual Defend action, not to other effects that mimic it.

Mobility Features

Small Target Acquisition Mins: (Han + Enc) 15 Traits: Small Your mech is designed to take care of small opponents as well as large ones. It may be a civil service mech or be designed for hunting; alternatively, it may simply have good sensors and be small and nimble. Small targets do not receive an evade stat bonus when dodging your mech and do not receive a hit stat bonus when aiming at it.

Extended Flight Mins: (Han + Enc) 25 Traits: Light Although most mecha can fly for a short time, yours can fly for much longer. It can fly for 10 times as long as a normal mech, can ascend higher, and is more maneuverable in the air. This confers no immediate combat benefits, but might be useful in escaping an encounter or chasing an airborne enemy. Pick one of Head, Body, Arms, Legs, and Wards. Your mech's flight is tied to this location. If the location is broken, the mech is reduced to normal flight.

Flight Support Mins: Fra 10 Traits: none Prereq: Extended Flight This Feature extends the functionality of Extended Flight. It ensures that your mech's flight capability isn't tied to a particular location and won't be compromised until it reaches its Wreck Threshold.

Aerial Combatant Mins: Han 20 Traits: Light + Mobile Prereq: Extended Flight The Aerial Combatant is a superlative dogfighter, capable of darting and hovering like a bumblebee. As long as it is not Immobile and its enhanced flight is active (as described in Extended Flight), it can't be targeted by enemies' single-target Close-range actions. This Feature is difficult to install since it requires that the mech be stripped down to the core and rebuilt from the inside out. It takes ten times as long and costs twice as much money as usual if added during play.

Rapid Start-Up Mins: none Traits: Small The mech is small and runs light, so it has a minimal startup routine. It can be activated in a hurry, and can switch to battle mode instantaneously. The mech gets a +25% Rea bonus. A pilot who is climbing into the mech does not need to spend another action powering it up, but can join battle the moment he gets inside.

Maneuverable Mins: Han 15 Traits: Mobile Prereq: Extra Slot or Many Slots taken at least once for the Legs Your mech is supremely responsive and moves with a smooth elegance. It can effortlessly change tack in the midst of a battle. Before performing an action it can reflexively change its stance, provided that it is not suffering from Leg Break or otherwise prevented from executing stance changes. Note that the stance change must come before, rather than after, the action.

Amphibious Mins: (Fra + Enc) 25 Traits: Mobile Most mecha can't dive underwater. They're not airtight, and in any event they aren't built to maneuver in that environment. Yours suffers neither of those flaws, however. It can move as freely underwater as above, it's pressurized for deep-sea diving, and as long as it does not suffer Body Break (either temporary or through accumulated breakage), it is hermetically sealed. This grants no particular combat benefit. If Body Broken it begins to take on water and the pilot must surface. This Feature is difficult to install since it requires that the mech be stripped down to the core and rebuilt from the inside out. It takes ten times as long and costs twice as much money as usual if added during play.

Life Support Mins: (Fra + Enc) 30 Traits: none Prereq: Amphibious This rare Feature allows a mech to perform long tasks in areas with no air or those where the air is unbreathable. Once it runs out of air, the mech can replenish its stocks from its MP. Furthermore, its airtight seal remains unbroken as long as the pilot remains inside, even if the mech is totally scrapped. Sadly, the oceans of the world are so incredibly dangerous that, even with this Feature, exploring them is nearly impossible. The mech can change 1 MP into two minutes' air supply (or 1 MP per minute if suffering from Ward Break). Note that, unless you have specialized recharge skills, recharging a mech's MP requires that you exit it, so it can't be done underwater.

Huge Capacity Mins: none Traits: Large Your mech is positively roomy by the usual standards. It can carry an extra person or an equivalent amount of gear, safely tucked away in the central chamber. This imposes a -10% Evade penalty, but allows you to carry a passenger safely even during battle, or to put your feet up. If you take this Feature without a Large mech (at double the cost), its chassis is likely to look enormous compared to the rest of it. Large mecha can buy this Feature repeatedly, but the Evade penalties pile up.

Tight Squeeze Mins: Han 15 Traits: Small Your mech can fit places other mecha simply can't. Mecha usually stand 20-28" and require a lot of room to move around in. For whatever reason, yours can squeeze into a place with 14" ceilings and no more leeway than is required for it to fit. Most mecha with this Trait are simply tiny by mech standards, but some are capable of folding up or contorting themselves impressively, wriggling through gaps like a snakes. When in a space too small for normal mecha, your mech is treated as having Evade 0, and it can't adopt a Stance or a Formation. However, it can travel into some areas where other pilots need to go on foot.

Recovery Features

Mystic Respirator Mins: Enc 20 Traits: none Most mecha can only regain MP if recharged by a human. Yours is equipped with a device that draws elemental energy out of thin air, allowing you to save your own MP for when it is most needed. The rate at which the mech regains HP depends on where you are. In a bountiful source of untainted magical energy it regains 1 MP every 2 minutes (or 30 MP/hr). In most untainted lands it regains 1 MP every 5 minutes (or 12 MP/hr). In the beastlands it regains 1 MP every 10 minutes (or 6 MP/hr). In all cases the respirator only functions when the mech is completely inactive.

Easily Fixed Mins: none Traits: Generic + Small This Feature's name is something of a misnomer -- your mech still isn't easy to fix, just easier. Usually this is because it is small and generic, relying on standard parts that are simple to work with. If you take the Feature without the expected mech traits, you'll have to invent some other rationale. When repairing the mech, Basic conditions are treated as Good, Good conditions are treated as Basic, and under Ideal conditions the repairs take half as long. This Feature is difficult to install since it requires that the mech be stripped down to the core and rebuilt from the inside out. It takes ten times as long and costs twice as much money as usual if added during play.

Miscellaneous Features

Easy to Use Mins: Han 10 Traits: Generic Your mech is extremely simple to operate. Even a novice can learn how to use it quickly. This confers no special advantage to a pilot experienced with the mech, but it's a big help to people who are new to it or have little experience piloting. Simplicity comes at the cost of power, since this Feature is taking up space that could be devoted to something more useful. Only generic training mecha devoted to the earliest piloting lessons are likely to have this Feature, excepting civil service mecha intended for use by non-pilots, which virtually require it. Trained pilots do not suffer the untrained penalty for piloting this mech, and even someone with no experience at all can pilot it at an effective pilot level of 0. This Feature is difficult to install since it requires that the mech be stripped down to the core and rebuilt from the inside out. It takes ten times as long and costs twice as much money as usual if added during play.

Enhanced Sense Mins: none Traits: Mobile Your mech is equipped with an extremely potent sensory array. Pick either vision or hearing. As long as it is not suffering from Head Break, the mech can use that sense out to 10x the usual range with good pinpoint precision. In addition to the non-combative benefits provided by the enhanced sense, it gives a +25% bonus to Rea. You can take this Feature twice to get both enhanced sight and hearing, but the Rea bonus is the same for both together as it is for either one alone.

Bio-Frame Mins: Fra 15 Traits: none A mech equipped with a Bio-Frame is shot through with an intricate vascular network that joins plates of fused biotic/metallic laminate. When powered up, it mimics not just the gross anatomy but also the subtle physiology of a living thing. This has several uses, but it carries serious disadvantages that make it a rare Feature. A mech with a Bio-Frame can gain HP or MP from anything that would restore a living creature (except rest), as well as from anything that would restore a machine. It is subject to the eight status effects to which mecha are usually immune, but can be cured of them in the normal way. In essence, anything that would work on a kaiju works on the mech. but anything that would work on a mech also works. Note that although Bio-Frame mecha can be healed with items, you still can't use items while piloting a mech. This Feature is difficult to install since it requires that the mech be stripped down to the core and rebuilt from the inside out. It takes ten times as long and costs twice as much money as usual if added during play.

Status Effect Resistance Mins: Fra 20 Traits: none Prereq: Bio-Frame This Feature, which modifies the Bio-Frame, grants the mech resistance to all eight of the conventional eight status effects (Poison, Blind, Stone, Bind, Taint, Stun, Sleep, and Addle). This helps to mitigate the drawback natural to the Bio-Frame.

Regeneration Mins: Enc 20 Traits: none Prereq: Bio-Frame Your mech's Bio-Frame is capable of limited regeneration. As long as some of the weave remains, it can seal cracks and regenerate plating. This capability is very limited, and components are still necessary for any serious repairs, but the ability is still miraculous. If the mech is powered down and put into a regenerative state for four hours, it can reduce the parts required for the next repair job on it by 1. This only applies to the next point of Breakage fixed. If the mech is disturbed or activated during the regeneration period you have to start all over again.