D20 Future Campaign inspired by Halo

[Chaldfont]

Ablative Energy Shields

Here's what I'm thinking about for energy shields. The energy shields in D20 Future, while being light on the bookkeeping, are pretty flavorless (they provide DR 5/-). The PCs won't have access to these until the second or third session. They can't be looted (insert some plot device explaining why here).

Ablative Energy Shield Generator
When this energy shield generator is fully charged it provides 30 bonus hit points to its user. Any damage taken by the user is first removed from the generator’s total. Only when the generator’s hit point total is reduced to zero will the user take damage. The shield generator recharges at a rate of 10 points per minute. The shield will not recharge during a minute in which it takes damage. [This gimmick is to reduce the amount of bookkeeping. I don't want to have to remember to add back hit points to every shield every round.]

AES Overcharge Pack
An overcharge pack will charge an ablative energy shield generator to twice its normal hit point total. [I thought about having the extra points drain away at some rate, but that sounds like too much work to deal with.]

[I might make this next one a gadget--it could go either way]

Ammunition, AES Penetrating
This ammunition ignores ablative energy shields and deals damage directly to the protected creature or object.

[Here's a gadget using some of Argo's rules for plasma weapons. All plasma weapons, including grenades gain this gadget.]

Shield Overload
An energy weapon with this gadget deals +1 point of damage per die to ablative energy shields.
Restrictions: Energy weapons only.
Purchase DC Modifier: +X.

 

[Chaldfont]

All I know is those marines that "para jumped" through the atmosphere from space was pretty cool. Helljumpers I think they called them. Also the weapon droppods from the drop ships was a cool.

Does this happen in Halo 2? I love that concept. The first time I saw this idea was, IIRC, in one of the Traveller books. You put on this big space suit and somebody filled it with spray foam ablative heat shields. The suit/craft had thrusters and guidance computers to allow you to deorbit. Once you survived re-entry and jettisoned the heat shields, it became a HALO (High Altitude Low Open) jump.

I put an experimental one of these in the hold of a looted starship in one of my scifi campaigns and then set up a situation where it was the pretty much the only option for the PCs to move forward. Someone had to volunteer to do a personal re-entry in an experimental suit. Hehehe. I love doing stuff like that to players.

 

[Zethnar]

Red vs Blue the rpg anyone?

 

[Captain Tagon]

I want the plasma weapons to be scary to the marines until they figure out that the aliens have poor tactics due to their lack of experience in war.

But the Covenant has been on an ages wide crusade to rid the galaxy of infidels. They've been waging wars for longer than the humans knew they existed.

 

[Chaldfont]

But the Covenant has been on an ages wide crusade to rid the galaxy of infidels. They've been waging wars for longer than the humans knew they existed.

This campaign will be only loosely based on Halo--basically I'm just stealing the weapons and technology.

IMC, the aliens will be infected by nanites left over from the Forerunner. These nanites were used by the Forerunner to control their slave species. The result is that the aliens zealously pursue their agenda: the forced enlightenment of all sentient species.

Their zealous and conservative nature forces them to follow the rules of engagement laid down by the Forerunner, a species which thought nothing of wasting large numbers of lives. The aliens have far superior technology but lousy tactics.

At the start of the campaign, the aliens attack a human planet which has discovered a Forerunner site. They decide to wipe out the colony to punish the infidels.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Red vs Blue the rpg anyone?

Oooh, yeah! There must be a way to pull this off

 

[Falkus]

Plasma weapons chew up force shields like nobody's business but are less effective against armor and flesh than balistics.

Which begs the question as to why the aliens use weapons that are more effective against themselves than their enemies.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Which begs the question as to why the aliens use weapons that are more effective against themselves than their enemies.

Because they can't create their own tech and steal it from others.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Bloody brilliant stuff Chalfont! Keep up the good work.

 

[Chaldfont]

Ok, what do you Halo vets think about putting stats to the needler? How do we model the needles' ability to explode if many of them hit the target at once?

Ideas:

• Increase critical threat range
• Increase critical damage multiplier
• Add a gadget which replicates the D20 "flaming burst" enchancement (which does extra damage on a critical) but with splash damage in a small radius.
• Add a gadget which causes an explosion if a certain number of needles hit within a certain amount of time (say, in the same round).

Should the needler be just semiautomatic or capable of autofire? Should the needles' homing ability grant a +1 to attack or even a +2?