Anyone playing Mechamorphosis?

[Shawn Carman]

Also, does anyone have any good ideas for a Controller? One of the players is considering running one, but doesn't have any ideas. He doesn't want to do a CD player or otherwise copy Soundwave from the old TF cartoon.

The only idea I could come up with was, well, rather silly; a moving van alt form, with the companion alt forms being various pieces of furniture. ("Couch Potato! La-Z-Boy! Idiot Box! Attack!" )

In the game I ran, our only Controller had an alt form of a laptop. So naturally he was a pretty small mechamorph to begin with. His companions were all peripherals, like a zip drive, and were even smaller. They were like a tiny black-ops infiltration squad, breaking into places and haxxoring their Internets to pieces. It was pretty cool.

 

[Impeesa]

Or if you want something big and burly, maybe a big semi with a car-transport trailer. The more companions he has, the more cars he's carrying.

 

[DnDChick]

I figured I needed to learn how to do Animechs, since one of the players wants one.

SPINN
“The best web is one of deceit.”

Spinn is an Arachnon, a tribe of mercenary Animechs with loyalty only to one another. Unlike most of his tribe, however, Spinn has actually chosen sides in the battle for Earth: he has cast his lot with the Exiles. Although not trusted at first thanks to the reputation of other Arachnons, Spinn has proven himself to be loyal to the Exile cause and an enemy of the Tyrants. Some of the more honorable and forthright Exiles often disagree with his methods.

Scout 1
Hit Points: 9 (29 using my bonus hp house rule)
Armor Class: 14 (-2 size, +4 class, +2 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack: +0
Grapple: +9
Attack: -1 melee (-2 size, +1 Str), +1 ranged (-1 size, +2 Dex)
Damage: 2d6+1 (unarmed), 2d6 (blaster rifle), or 3d6 (shell launcher) (4d6 and 5d6 respectively, using my weapon size house rule)
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 8
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+6), Athletics 4 (+5), Build/Repair (Simple) 4 (+5), Computer Use 4 (+5), Disguise 4 (+3), Interaction 4 (+3), Pilot 4 (+5), Senses 4 (+5), Stealth 4 (-2)
Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative
Form Feats: Armor Boost, High Performance
Class Ability: Sneak Attack (+1d6)
Priorities: Abilities (2, 24 pts.), Alt Form (3, AH-64 Apache Helicopter*/Huge Spider), Form Feats (1, up to 2), Special Power (5, Multi-Form), Gear (4, 12pts, Infrared Sensors, Low-Light Sensors, Radar 2, Blaster Rifle [linked to primary and helicopter form], 2 Shell Launchers [linked to helicopter form only])

Spider Form
Hit Points: 10 (30 using my bonus hp house rule)
Armor Class: 15 (-2 size, +4 class, +3 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack: +0
Grapple: +9
Attack: +2 melee (-2 size, +4 Str), +1 ranged (-2 size, +3 Dex)
Damage: 2d6+4 (bite), plus poison (DC 13 to resist, 1d8 Strength damage)
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 8
Special Abilities: Darkvision 60 ft., poison, tremorsense 60 ft., web
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+8), Athletics 4 (+11), Build/Repair (Simple) 4 (+5), Computer Use 4 (+5), Disguise 4 (+3), Interaction 4 (+3), Pilot 4 (+7), Senses 4 (+9), Stealth 4 (+3)
Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative

Web: In spider form Spinn can throw a web eight times per day. This is similar to an attack with a net but has a maximum range of 50 feet, with a range increment of 10 feet, and is effective against targets up to one size category larger than Spinn. An entangled creature can escape with a successful DC 12 Escape Artist check or burst it with a DC 16 Strength check. Both are standard actions. The check DCs are Constitution-based, and the Strength check DC includes a +4 racial bonus.
Spinn often creates sheets of sticky webbing 30 feet square. He can position these sheets to snare flying creatures but can also try to trap prey on the ground. Approaching creatures must succeed on a DC 20 Spot check to notice a web; otherwise they stumble into it and become trapped as though by a successful web attack. Attempts to escape or burst the webbing gain a +5 bonus if the trapped creature has something to walk on or grab while pulling free. Each 5-foot section has 14 hit points, and sheet webs have damage reduction 5/—.
Spinn can move across his own web at his climb speed and can pinpoint the location of any creature touching its web.
Tremorsense: In spider form Spinn can detect and pinpoint any creature or object within 60 feet in contact with the ground, or within any range in contact with the his webs.
Skills: In spider form Spinn has a +4 racial bonus on Stealth and Senses checks and a +8 racial bonus on Athletics checks. He can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.


Morph Sequence (Helicopter to Humanoid): Main rotors rotate to the back, head rises up tail splits to form legs as the tail rotor folds into the right leg, sides of helicopter cockpit extend sideways to form the arms and hands, radar dome at the nose of the helicopter splits to reveal the head.

Morph Sequence (Helicopter to Spider): Main rotors split in half and bend at concealed joints to form eight spider-like legs, helicopter flips upside down as the tail folds back on itself to form the spider head, tail rotor forms into fangs, radar dome becomes spinnerets.

*By length an Apache would be Gargantuan but by weight it’s only Huge. I went with Huge. Otherwise, I used the data from the Attack Chopper line.

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

How about a large screen television with the usual attachments - sound system, vcr / dvd player, at least 1 game system? Just to be unexpected, the actual controller is the remote.

A decked out minivan? The minions are the fancy stuff inside like a tv or um...

 

[DnDChick]

Hm. The way I'm reading the Gear Slot feat (I am assuming that's the one you're referring to), it doesn't grant you more priority points to spend. I think it just allows you to increase your limit for how much gear/weapons can be linked to your alt form

I do believe you are correct. My bad!

 

[DnDChick]

I did a little playtest combat with a friend on Saturday, and my changes seemed to work well. It was Punchbug vs. Rundown (Tyrant supercharged Dodge Viper police interceptor).

For some reason, the guy running Rundown never bothered to come out of vehicle form. During the fight Rundown tried the PIT maneuver (a Slam, using the vehicle combat rules) and managed to dent my fender and spin me out of control. I regained control as he sped by, so I turned and drove off in the opposite direction. Punchbug was too slow to even try to outrun Rundon, so I had her pop up into robot form, climb onto an Interstate overpass and open fire.

I missed a lot thanks to Rundown's high AC and the fact that he has the Combat Pilot feat (Rundown's AC was 18 and we forgot to add the AC bonus for speed-- otherwise I'd have never hit him).

I did mange to hit him twice, though. One of the houserules I came up with is that the firearms damage is sized for a Medium wielder and increases with the size of the 'bot, so Punchbug was doing 3d6 with her carbine. With the bonus HP houserule Rundown took the two hits fairly well. He was damaged, however, and sped away to find a good mechanic.

The houserules for damage and HP worked well, but we didn't get a chance to use the "Strength bonus for size" rule.

 

[DnDChick]

... and now that I've had a chance to do a thorough read-through of the rules, I realize that I have to rework all of the characters I've made. Tech gear is linked only to the alt form, which limits what one should put for the Gear priority since vehicle alt forms have built-in limitations on such things.

Edit: I've updated Punchbug, Roadtrip, Gravesite, and Spinn to correct their Tech Gear.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Played this briefly with a few buddies when it came out, but aside from the initial session never really did much with it.

Re-read it a short while ago after seeing the TF movie, and these days the book feels more like it was tossed together and pushed out the door just to get it out the door.

Personally I'd like to see something like this get a full-work up instead of the patch-job book that got published.

Like you've shown DnDChick, there's quite a bit of work to be done to really make this playable. I was toying with the idea of scrapping the D&D d20 rules and implementing SW Saga d20 rules, but sadly I lack the time for such an endeavor.

 

[DnDChick]

Well, as I mentioned earlier, it's just a matter of divorcing Strength from attack and damage rolls. Mutans and Masterminds does the same thing, although that game takes it a step further and does the same with Dexterity.

That was the biggest hole that needed plugging, IMO, to make it more compatible with the rest of d20, but technically it didn't need to be plugged at all. The game as written is scaled for giant robots, not humans, and says as much on the first page. The problem is that it didn't scale well, and didn't account for relative size differences between the giant robots. It also limited what else from d20 you could use with it.

 

[DnDChick]

Heehee... these character ideas come fast and easy once one gets inspired.

STREETWISE
“You can ‘morph, but you can’t hide.”

Streetwise is a sly investigator highly trained in tracking down rogue mechamorphs. She operates in the city, searching for concealed Tyrants among the crowded streets and back alleys using her advanced Nexus sensor suite. Soon after her arrival on Earth Streetwise saved the life of cab-driver Dana Rawlings who was intrigued by the alien robot rather than terrified of it. After hearing the strange tale of MechaTerra and war between the Exiles and the Tyrants, Dana agreed to help Streetwise track down her enemies on Earth. Streetwise took on the alt form of Dana’s taxi cab — perfect camouflage in the big city — and the two have since formed a close partnership.

Mechamorph Scout 1
Hit Points: 9 (19 using my bonus hp house rule)
Armor Class: 14 (-1 size, +3 class, +2 Dex), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack: +0
Grapple: +4
Attack: -1 melee (-1 size, +0 Str), +1 ranged (-1 size, +2 Dex)
Damage: 1d8 (unarmed), or 3d6 (blaster rifle) (4d6 using my weapon size house rule)
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +3
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 12
Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+6), Athletics 4 (+4), Computer Use 4 (+6), Disguise 4 (+5), Interaction 4 (+5), Knowledge (Earth Culture, Earth Geography) 4 (+6), Pilot 4 (+6), Senses 4 (+7), Stealth 4 (+2)
Feats: Combat Pilot, Dodge
Form Feats: Gear Slots 4 (total of 5)
Class Ability: Sensors (double sensor range)
Priorities: Abilities (4, 32 pts), Alt Form (1, Four-Door, NYC Taxi Cab), Form Feats (2, up to 4), Special Power (5, Warp [as dimension door), Gear (3, 8 points, Nexus Sensors, Blaster Rifle)

Morph Sequence: Front fenders and wheels slide forwards and rotate down to form the arms and hands with the front wheels near the wrists, rear half of the cab unfolds so that the rear bumper is at the “knees” and the feet are formed by the angle of the rear window, body swivels at the waist to orient the feet in the right direction, head rises out of the front grille.

I might eventually make up Dana Rawlings as a d20 Modern character as well, if for no other reason than to see how such a character would stack up to a 1st level Mechamorph.