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<blockquote data-quote="doctorbadwolf" data-source="post: 8398740" data-attributes="member: 6704184"><p>aaaanyhoobastank...</p><p></p><p>I've used custom mechanics a <em>lot</em> in my 5e games. IMO, the loosely defined nature of the system, with a lot of very simple resolution mechanics present to draw from for inspiration and extrapolation, lends itself very strongly to doing so. </p><p></p><p>Recently the Eberron team was chasing a sky coach through Upper Tavick's Landing in Sharn, toward the water. They were on experimental 2-person "Sky Slicers" (name stolen from Star Wars RPGs) that had a pilot, limited co-pilot piloting, a forward pilot gun, a co-pilot swivel gun, and a big gun that runs the length of the skiff under their seats, simply called The Big Gun.</p><p></p><p>The Skycoach was faster, with 150ft speed instead of 120ft, but the skiffs could be boosted with 5x the check result in feet, and the skycoach could only be boosted for 2x the check result, and required a dedicated engineer to do so.</p><p></p><p>The co-pilot can overcharge a system on their turn as a bonus action, either increasing speed by 2x check result, regeneration the force shield, adding damage to a weapon, or attempting to reduce Heat. </p><p></p><p>The Pilot can increase speed 3x check result, try to gain an advantageous firing position, or take a defensive posture, or throttle back to reduce Heat, but lose speed, with their bonus action. </p><p></p><p>Heat starts at 1 when you start the engine, which they haven't explored the workings of yet. Every time you do one of the following, you roll a the vehicle's Heat Die. If it lands on the Heat value for the system, Heat increases by 1. If at the start of the pilot's turn, the vehicle is at the maximum value on your systems Heat Die, the system suffers a mishap, which can include catastrophic failure. Any attempt to overcharge part of the system causes an additional mishap, until Heat is decreased. </p><p></p><p>The skiffs had a d6 Heat Die, while the Skycoach had a d8. I've already designed single pilot interceptors with d4, and I've got ideas for what vehicles and constructs might have higher die values. I also have an idea for an Aeronaut's Gauntlet that uses the Heat system and allows you to recharge magic items as well as doing some unique stuff, and Heat naturally decreases pretty slowly.</p><p></p><p>The chase also featured Lair Actions at the top of the round, which represented the hazards of traversing the city that quickly. (I told them to imagine that every foot of movement is being divided by 10 in order to use values they're used to. They were going terrifyingly fast.) These included options like all vehicles having to save against smashing into a bridge, having the Griffon Knights who patrol the upper city catch sight of the chase and mistake it for illegal racing of unlicensed vehicles, having the bad guys' allies show up on soarsleds and shoot at them, and even a storm rolling in, which they got lucky and that never happened. Oh, and a couple magical actions that would have increased or reduced all vehicles' Heat on a failed or successful check from the co-pilot or engineer. </p><p></p><p>The chase took up the entire 4 hour session, and it was an absolute blast! At one point the shadar-kai monk used ancient spells from a custom feat to summon a Quetzlcoatlus reflavored into an enormous corvid, and the nature bard/cleric's Dryads rode on it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="doctorbadwolf, post: 8398740, member: 6704184"] aaaanyhoobastank... I've used custom mechanics a [I]lot[/I] in my 5e games. IMO, the loosely defined nature of the system, with a lot of very simple resolution mechanics present to draw from for inspiration and extrapolation, lends itself very strongly to doing so. Recently the Eberron team was chasing a sky coach through Upper Tavick's Landing in Sharn, toward the water. They were on experimental 2-person "Sky Slicers" (name stolen from Star Wars RPGs) that had a pilot, limited co-pilot piloting, a forward pilot gun, a co-pilot swivel gun, and a big gun that runs the length of the skiff under their seats, simply called The Big Gun. The Skycoach was faster, with 150ft speed instead of 120ft, but the skiffs could be boosted with 5x the check result in feet, and the skycoach could only be boosted for 2x the check result, and required a dedicated engineer to do so. The co-pilot can overcharge a system on their turn as a bonus action, either increasing speed by 2x check result, regeneration the force shield, adding damage to a weapon, or attempting to reduce Heat. The Pilot can increase speed 3x check result, try to gain an advantageous firing position, or take a defensive posture, or throttle back to reduce Heat, but lose speed, with their bonus action. Heat starts at 1 when you start the engine, which they haven't explored the workings of yet. Every time you do one of the following, you roll a the vehicle's Heat Die. If it lands on the Heat value for the system, Heat increases by 1. If at the start of the pilot's turn, the vehicle is at the maximum value on your systems Heat Die, the system suffers a mishap, which can include catastrophic failure. Any attempt to overcharge part of the system causes an additional mishap, until Heat is decreased. The skiffs had a d6 Heat Die, while the Skycoach had a d8. I've already designed single pilot interceptors with d4, and I've got ideas for what vehicles and constructs might have higher die values. I also have an idea for an Aeronaut's Gauntlet that uses the Heat system and allows you to recharge magic items as well as doing some unique stuff, and Heat naturally decreases pretty slowly. The chase also featured Lair Actions at the top of the round, which represented the hazards of traversing the city that quickly. (I told them to imagine that every foot of movement is being divided by 10 in order to use values they're used to. They were going terrifyingly fast.) These included options like all vehicles having to save against smashing into a bridge, having the Griffon Knights who patrol the upper city catch sight of the chase and mistake it for illegal racing of unlicensed vehicles, having the bad guys' allies show up on soarsleds and shoot at them, and even a storm rolling in, which they got lucky and that never happened. Oh, and a couple magical actions that would have increased or reduced all vehicles' Heat on a failed or successful check from the co-pilot or engineer. The chase took up the entire 4 hour session, and it was an absolute blast! At one point the shadar-kai monk used ancient spells from a custom feat to summon a Quetzlcoatlus reflavored into an enormous corvid, and the nature bard/cleric's Dryads rode on it. [/QUOTE]
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