Anyone playing Mechamorphosis?

[Arrgh! Mark!]

We played a one-shot some time back. My missus is a huge trans-geek and ran it for us, but is no rules junky so just ran as is, which had it's problems.

I believe I had much the same problem as you did before you fixed it so nicely.

Basically, I had a decepticon tank named Shock Tactic. ("Victory through strategic use of resources.") At one point my gargantuan tank is fighting with a bumble-bee sized jet. I was trying to crush him with my foot and he basically had the same strength as me due to alteration sizes; and threw me off.

It was a fun moment and very transformers, but did make me raise an eyebrow. (and shrug)

Still, as far as I can tell your 'bots are going great guns. Have fun with it!

Oh, read the nexus energy damage; pretty much all transformers weapons bypass it if I remember correctly. Only missiles and the like (or paltry human weapons) suffer from it. One of those "Transformers are able to bypass their own damage reduction' things.

 

[DnDChick]

It's the same issue that one runs into in any "superpowered" game. How does one balance out ultra-high strength with everyone else?

The way I see it, my idea of using the size change rules has some merits.

*It lets you use d20 Modern rules for human characters and so on without the need for special rules, since the authors of Mechamorphosis were kind enough to include a level adjustment.

*Characters of the same size category will be balanced against each other, since all the characters will get the same benefit. The problem arises when characters of vastly different sizes do battle.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

While true, remember two things that have a further effect -

Really big guys will have high strength - but might not have as many attributes or abilities as other characters. A suggested addendum may be to not give them the bonus AC. (Though that might weaken them immensely.)

Big guys won't have that many extra hit points, but will have a few - giving them that extra bit of oomph to not fold under a single shot, but not breaking the game.

Yes, they'll crush things in personal combat. But in ranged combat, where most transformers begin their fights they'll be weak. (Not a lot can give them cover like smaller things can.) A little fellow with a blaster carbine could waste a bigger one with a few good shots. He'll also likely have the abilities/speed/special tricks to be able to do so.

That is, smaller transformers vs. bigger ones anyway. Humans are mashed red things by either; and so it should be. A human shouldn't stand much of a chance against a giant mechanical war machine unless he is pretty smart, after all.

 

[Impeesa]

After watching the Transformers movie a few times, I started taking a good look at running a bit of Mechamorphosis too. Aside from the size/strength issue already mentioned, the other thing I wasn't sure about was gear scaling. I may have missed some crucial passage in the text, but it seems like you have to prioritize gear very highly just to get a decent gun and maybe some sensors. Having a couple backup weapons and maybe some other specialized equipment is basically out of the question. Also, while scientists can create new tech gear, no suggestions are made for pacing such gear acquisitions as the characters gain levels. It seems to encourage players to can their gear priority and then stack up on it through roleplay means once the game begins. Has anyone else noticed this?

--Impeesa--

 

[DnDChick]

Tinkering with a slightly more complex build. This time a controller.

GRAVESITE
“Your death? My pleasure!”

Gravesite is a Tyrant assassin who takes great pleasure in the appearance of his alt form — that of a big, black hearse. This is a ‘bot without mercy, and perhaps even without emotion. The only thing that seems to bring him any glee at all is viewing the dismembered and smoking remains of his enemies. His companion, Tombstone, is just as depraved and wicked as he is.

Mechamorph Controller 1
Hit Points: 11
Armor Class: 15 (-1 size, +3 class, +2 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack: +0
Grapple: +6
Attack: +1 melee (-1 size, +2 Str), +1 ranged (-1 size, +2 Dex)
Damage: 1d8+2 (unarmed), 2d6+2 (scythe)
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +4
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills: Computer Use 4 (+5), Concentration 4 (+6), Interaction 4 (+5)
Feats: Exotic Archaic Weapons Proficiency (Scythe), Improved Initiative
Form Feats: Armor Boost, Gear Slot, Linked Mind (3 more unslected)
Class Ability: Advance Humanoid (Scout 1)
Priorities: Alt Form: 1 (Hearse [as Large Car], Size Large), Form Feats: 3 (Up to 6), Ability Scores: 5 (36 pts.), Special Power: 4 (Nexus Strike, Nexus Drain), Gear: 2 (4 points; scythe [2, but he can only use one at a time, the other is a 'spare' in case he is disarmed], infrared dampers)

Morph Sequence: Rear half splits in two to form the legs and feet with the classic "S"-shaped ornaments along the side of each calf, driver/passenger cabin forms the torso, sides up to the front wheels slide out and rotate down to form the arms and hands, hood slides up and down the back like a cape, revealing a skull-like head in the engine compartment, scythe extends from the right hand.

Tombstone is a humanoid mechamorph companion with 1 level of Scout and the Sneak Attack class ability (working with Gravesite to flank opponents in combat). His alt form is, of course, a casket that sits in the back of the hearse when Gravesite is in his alt form.

Here is Gravesite's companion, Tombstone.

TOMBSTONE
“Don’t fear death. Fear me.”

Mechamorph Scout 1
Hit Points: 8
Armor Class: 16 (+1 size, +3 class, +2 Dex), touch 13, flat-footed 14
Base Attack: +0
Grapple: -4
Attack: +1 melee (+1 size), +3 ranged (+1 size, +2 Dex)
Damage: 1d6 (unarmed), or 1d8 (morningstar)
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +0
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+6), Athletics 4 (+4), Build/Repair (Simple) 4 (+4), Fine Manipulation 4 (+10), Interaction 4 (+4), Knowledge (Human Culture) 4 (+4), Stealth 4 (+10), Senses 4 (+4)
Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative
Class Ability: Sneak Attack (+1d6 damage)

Morph Sequence: Arms slide out from the side of the casket, lower half of the casket splits to become the legs, casket lid flips up and over top to slide down the back of the body like a cape (similar to Gravesite’s “cape”) to reveal a ghostly white face as if a body is peering out from inside the casket.

*When making up Tombstone, I made the discovery that Scouts don't get Stealth as a class skill. I've houseruled that in.

 

[Arkhandus]

I'm pretty sure the Soldier advanced class in d20 modern doesn't.

I think she means the Soldier class in Mechamorphosis does. And yeah, the D20 Modern advanced class for Soldiers also has a 3/4 base attack bonus. It has good HP though and the best class features/bonus feats (among the D20M AdCs) for direct damage. Weapon Focus, Specialization, Improved Critical, and a capstone ability at 10th to auto-confirm crits with the weapon he or she specialized in (any time he/she threatens a crit, like on a natural 20, or a 19 too given their Improved Critical feature).

Most classes in D20M, both basic classes and advanced classes, have a 3/4 base attack bonus. The assumption is that, without magic around to beef up Defense (AC) a ton, or with only a little bit of it (when using the Campaign Models that integrate low magic), you don't really need full BAB to hit things, and a full BAB would be excessive sometimes in D20M as a result. So only a very few D20M classes have full BAB (like Strong Heroes and Martial Artists, which are both heavily melee-focused).

Also, it's probably to give PCs a better chance of surviving since hardly anything they face will have a high Base Attack Bonus to shoot/pummel them with. Given the lower Massive Damage Threshold in D20 Modern, PCs will die easily if they get hit too often by gunfire.

Of course this is less relevant in Mechamorphosis since it's dealing with Transformers-esque robots, not so much soft little fleshies.......

 

[DnDChick]

After watching the Transformers movie a few times, I started taking a good look at running a bit of Mechamorphosis too. Aside from the size/strength issue already mentioned, the other thing I wasn't sure about was gear scaling. I may have missed some crucial passage in the text, but it seems like you have to prioritize gear very highly just to get a decent gun and maybe some sensors. Having a couple backup weapons and maybe some other specialized equipment is basically out of the question. Also, while scientists can create new tech gear, no suggestions are made for pacing such gear acquisitions as the characters gain levels. It seems to encourage players to can their gear priority and then stack up on it through roleplay means once the game begins. Has anyone else noticed this?

--Impeesa--

Form feats can be used to buy extra gear slots. If someone finds themselves short on gear points to spend on weapons or tech gear they can drop a few form feats into Gear Slots.

It's also a good way to beef up a sagging Armor Class brough about by increased size with the Armor Boost form feat.

Edit: I just fully comprehended how form feats are acquired and used. I thought you had to buy form feats with your level-based feat selections and class bonus feats and that the number you chose with your Form Feat priority simpy set the maximum. Instead, you get them all at 1st level unless you want to hold some back until you meet the prereqs. That certainly changes things!

I've gone back and updated all my previously posted 'bots to give them their form feats.

 

[Hjorimir]

BTW, I recognize your username at the True20 Boards. I'm True20Chick over there. This game is simple enough that it could probably be fairly easily converted to True20. I don't plan to do that for the one-shot game I'm running, but if someone was more interested in a campaign and liked True20, it wouldn't take much work at all.

Yeah, whenever I read your posts I just think of you as 'GameChick' as I noted a while back you had a presence on both sets of forums.

 

[DnDChick]

if you feel like taking a look over our discussions or our characters or the game itself.

Thanks! These were a great read. Sounds like you had fun while it lasted.

 

[DnDChick]

I might swipe some of Vendetta's changes for my own game, if it ever happens.

As for how fragile the characters can be, what about importing the bonus HP rules for the Construct type.

Construct Size  Bonus Hit Points     Construct Size Bonus Hit Points
Fine                   —             Large                30
Diminutive             —             Huge                 40
Tiny                   —             Gargantuan           60
Small                 10             Colossal             80
Medium                20             Immense             100

Granted those totals are a bit high, but they could be scaled to fit the system. Given that the big guys are going to have a very low AC already, the extra hp might balance out.