Wyvern
Explorer
Since the thread on Chapter 4 is so long, I'm starting a new thread to give my feedback. I know barsoomcore is planning to edit the chapter himself, but the comments I have to make are mostly pretty broad and not likely to be affected by whatever changes he makes. In fact, some of them are things he may need or want to take into consideration when he does his editing.
Overall, I really like this chapter. I'm especially impressed that you managed to fit all the rules into only five pages.
I already brought this up once, but just in case it hasn't been addressed yet, I'll mention it again: Hardness should not be size-dependent.
In Step 2, there's no explanation of the Lift column on table 2.
I think that instead of taking maximum hit points at first level and rolling the rest normally, vehicles should have average hit points for their hit dice just like any monster. Otherwise you end up having to roll and add up hundreds of dice for the larger ones, which is no fun at all. Also, you can end up with otherwise identical vehicles having wildly different hit points, which doesn't make sense. To find the average hit points, take half the hit die size and add 0.5, then multiply by the number of hit dice (rounding down) and adjust for Con.
In step 4, paragraph 2, you wrote: "It's a good guideline to try for a number of movement points and speed points equal to the lowest number of hit dice a vehicle of that size can have." Did you mean to say "maneuverability points" instead of "movement points"?
I wasn't sure what the difference was between Engine and Drive components until I looked through the component list for defintions. I think you should try to find a different name for the Drive components to avoid confusion. Also, in the component list Engine components are called Engineering components. I think the first term is more accurate.
In step 5, under AC, you wrote that "The total Armor Class modifier for a vehicle is essentially the armor modifier for the vehicle." I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. It seems to be saying that only armor bonuses apply to the vehicle's AC, which is not true (there's also the size modifier, for one).
Under Crew, you say "Add up all crew scores for the vehicle's components," which is somewhat misleading since later you say that not all components count towards the crew score.
I love the idea of design foci; it's a nice touch and something I would never have thought of myself.
At some point it would be good to add rules for modifying existing vehicles.
I haven't read the component list yet, but I'll get around to that eventually, and I'll fill in the tech and magic levels when I do.
Wyvern
Overall, I really like this chapter. I'm especially impressed that you managed to fit all the rules into only five pages.
I already brought this up once, but just in case it hasn't been addressed yet, I'll mention it again: Hardness should not be size-dependent.
In Step 2, there's no explanation of the Lift column on table 2.
I think that instead of taking maximum hit points at first level and rolling the rest normally, vehicles should have average hit points for their hit dice just like any monster. Otherwise you end up having to roll and add up hundreds of dice for the larger ones, which is no fun at all. Also, you can end up with otherwise identical vehicles having wildly different hit points, which doesn't make sense. To find the average hit points, take half the hit die size and add 0.5, then multiply by the number of hit dice (rounding down) and adjust for Con.
In step 4, paragraph 2, you wrote: "It's a good guideline to try for a number of movement points and speed points equal to the lowest number of hit dice a vehicle of that size can have." Did you mean to say "maneuverability points" instead of "movement points"?
I wasn't sure what the difference was between Engine and Drive components until I looked through the component list for defintions. I think you should try to find a different name for the Drive components to avoid confusion. Also, in the component list Engine components are called Engineering components. I think the first term is more accurate.
In step 5, under AC, you wrote that "The total Armor Class modifier for a vehicle is essentially the armor modifier for the vehicle." I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. It seems to be saying that only armor bonuses apply to the vehicle's AC, which is not true (there's also the size modifier, for one).
Under Crew, you say "Add up all crew scores for the vehicle's components," which is somewhat misleading since later you say that not all components count towards the crew score.
I love the idea of design foci; it's a nice touch and something I would never have thought of myself.
At some point it would be good to add rules for modifying existing vehicles.
I haven't read the component list yet, but I'll get around to that eventually, and I'll fill in the tech and magic levels when I do.
Wyvern
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