Chris Goodwin

With the boy/girl gun we're talking about turning a target into a gender-swapped version of their self. A Severe Transform can turn a human being into a frog, a stone statue, a shrubbery, or thin air. Severe is overkill. A Major Transform can grant a human the ability to shoot fire blasts from their hands or fly with wings. A Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a different human. I'll stipulate that a Cosmetic Transform can turn a human into a human of the opposite gender in appearance only... Is turning a human into the same human of a different gender, qualitatively the same as granting them the ability to fly or shoot fire? (Have any of you seriously played in or run games where the ability to become pregnant and give birth amounts to a Power for which the character should pay points?) Minor Transform is enough to "work minor changes on the target's functions". How is changing someone's gender not this? Especially compared to the ability to fly or throw energy blasts?

I've set myself some challenges, basically: how far can I twist the Robot Warriors rules? Smallest Piloted Mecha Note that the pilot's seat and enclosure takes 2 Mass Units, and the pilot/gunner controls take another +3, for a minimum of 5. So… 8 Mass Units? .5 Mass Units for Chassis & Power Plant with Capacity 8, 1 Mass Unit for 10 DEF for a Size 1 mecha. .5 Mass Units for lifters with Capacity 8. We are up to 7 Mass Units. The tables for Movement Hardware and Weapons extend down into fractions of a Mass Unit. We could get movement and weaponry. No sensors though, unless we dip into Danger International. No Life Support either. One Mass Unit, Total A Chassis & Power Plant with capacity 4 is .25 Mass Units; Lifters with capacity 4 are likewise .25 Mass Units. We don't get any DEF, unless we extend the chart; .25 Mass Units is reasonable, giving us 8 DEF at Size Class 1. We're up to .75 Mass Units, leaving us .25 left for movement. Or a single weapon, but not both (unless we give it human scale weapons, which we can). Obviously not piloted. No sensors either, but see above under Smallest Piloted Mecha. Smallest Functional Self Aware If we eliminate DEF and Lifters from the One Mass Unit robot above, we're at .25 Mass Units. This is literally a Chassis & Power Plant with capacity 4, and nothing more; we could get up to .5 Mass Units with movement hardware. But, without extending any tables, we don't get Lifters, DEF, weapons, Sensors, etc. Non-mecha Mecha We have methods for building human-scale weapons and armor, which are the same as those for mecha only scaled down (RW p. 86). In particular, weapons are already considered to have the Carried (+1) Limitation built into them; body armor assumes the mecha armor table extends down to .25 Mass Units (or 25kg), which would be 8 DEF for a Size Class 1 character. Weapons are assumed to have 9-16 charges, or a 0 point modifier on the Charges chart. Note that RW p. 17 has this to say about Charges: "Each charge gives a weapon one shot, gives armor one phase of protection, or gives one phase of movement." We could therefore build movement hardware for characters, using the same guidelines, and giving them Charges! A few things to remember: characters have their own base movement modes at Ground Scale 1; robot movement modes default to Ground Scale 4; robot movement modes require power (or Charges); robot movement modes would replace character movement rather than augment it. (Here's another interesting tidbit: remember that capacity 4 Chassis & Power Plant above? That's .25 Mass Units, or 25kg. Small enough for a human scale character to carry around with them!) 32 Charges would be a -1 Advantage, which for movement hardware means the minimum buy-in would be 2 hexes worth, for 1 actual hex of movement. For a 1 mass unit "robot", that comes to 0.12 Mass Units. Probably 0.125, so we'll call it that (12.5 kilograms). Or 0.06, if we add the power plant (25kg) and eliminate the Charges. (Can we apply a +1 Limitation: Power Plant Only to the Chassis & Power Plant? GM says… sure. Drops the mass of the Chassis & Power Plant to 12.5kg. Still has capacity 4; this is the total mass that can be moved by any movement hardware attached to the Power Plant.) Our wearer is going to be STR 20, because we want him to be able to have his own capacity of 4 Mass Units, which he'll need in order to carry all of this stuff. The Power Plant is backpack mounted; the flight hardware is… handwaved. Maybe built into the backpack as well. Definitely needs boots though… We now have: Armor: 8 DEF. 25kg Chassis & Power Plant: Capacity 4, Power Plant Only (+1 Limitation), 12.5kg. Powers flight hardware and any energy weapons. Flight: 2 hexes, 12.5kg. (We wanted more speed. 16 GS1 hexes, or 2 GS4 hexes, or 32 meters per Phase, with 2x Noncombat.) Whatever weapons our guy wants to carry. Comms, sensors, and so on would be personal scale gear, which we'll draw from Danger International if we need to. Not counting any of this, and not counting weapons, he's up to 50kg. This is not a ridiculous amount for one combat oriented character to carry! (Edit to add) Out of fairness, it should probably be assumed that the above contraption acts at a maximum DEX 10 SPD 2, unless the builder spends points on it as if it were a mecha.

A Major Transform can do things like grant or remove Powers, create objects out of thin air, or add or subtract up to 20 points worth of Complications. It would largely depend on the setting. As mentioned above, in the TFOS setting it would be cosmetic. I would say even in a Dark Champions setting, changing a character's gender -- and nothing else -- would likely be a Minor Transform. If the target was of a species with radical sexual dimorphism (such that, for instance, females had wings and males did not) then switching the target's gender might be Major, or for more extreme cases Severe.

Duke, thank you for doing all of the scanning. I've been reading through the AC's, and there's a lot of good material there. I haven't gotten through many of the others yet, but I can't imagine there not being as much good material in those.

To be honest, I don't know of any examples of play, other than the "Example:" paragraphs in the various books. I know those probably aren't drawn from actual play and are used to illustrate a single rules-piece. I've written enough both criticizing and extending the vehicle rules over the years that one might think I knew what I was talking about, but I haven't actually played with them very much. I have used the dogfighting rules (mostly haven't changed from the very first appearance in Champions II to the very last in 6th edition in the Advanced Players' Guide, p. 188) and they work very well for dogfight-style combat. They abstract away most of the movement, though, and break everything out to full 12-second combat Turns. They're essentially ongoing, opposed Piloting vs. Piloting rolls to improve one vehicle's position enough against its opponent to get that sweet, sweet "Tail chase, attack every Phase" at which point you can blow them out of the sky. Vehicles move at DEX and SPD each equal to the lower of that of their driver or themselves. They automatically have a Turn Mode when moving. For the most part, as long as a vehicle is moving within the parameters of its Turn Mode, and not trying to do anything too crazy, and not trying to attack or do things while being attacked, the driver doesn't have to make a Driving or Piloting roll. For every one of those conditions not in effect, the roll is required, with bigger penalties for the more of those that don't apply. (Generally speaking, if you've ever played with Hot Wheels cars, and made the tire screeching noises while doing so... you probably have some idea of when to require a Driving Roll. ) Aside from that, I'd recommend busting out the Hot Wheels or the Car Wars chits, and a hex map, and gaming something out! If you call a Car Wars scale map 1" = 4 meters, you can keep some semblance of HERO System movement with it, while having something of a gameable scale. Keep playing until you run into something you're not sure about; once you hit one of those, write it down, then make a GM ruling to keep the game going, and write down what the ruling was. If at any time you think to yourself, a vehicle shouldn't be able to do that, then call for a Driving Roll. Then come back here and tell us what the rulings were and the cases that brought them about. Besides The Ultimate Vehicle, The Ultimate Speedster has some bits that might be useful, including better ideas of when you might call for a Driving or Piloting roll. TUS gives some examples of character movement that might require a Control Roll (basically a DEX roll made by a fast moving character) that are certainly adaptable to vehicles, and also give some alternate ideas for movement including breaking vehicular movement out into Segments rather than Phases. I hope that helps.

I'd give him a no-range electrical attack (Blast, NND, etc.), and then a few meters of Stretching through a Focus. "Entangling" with the chain could as easily be a Grab with the Stretched "limb", and then zappo with the electricity. Simplest is best IMO. Edit to add: Also, consider AC current, which tends to cause muscles to jerk (and can increase Knockback or have other effects) versus DC current, which causes them to lock in place (paralysis-type separate Entangle or other effects).

I'm in!

The way I see how you've described this, it would allow you to cast before you can move. If we assume your base DEX was 15, then you'd cast at DEX 21, but move at DEX 20. So if you wanted to half-move and cast, you'd do that at DEX 20. You wouldn't be able to half-move and cast on DEX 21. You would be able to cast any 0 Phase spells at DEX 21, and then half-move and attack with an attack spell on 20, but if you were attacking with a non-spell, you'd half-move on 20, then attack with your non-spell at 15. Even more esoterically, activating a Power, including a Movement Power, is a 0 Phase Action, but the movement itself takes time. So you could theoretically cast some sort of Running hastening spell at DEX 21, but you still wouldn't be able to use it for movement until DEX 20, though on DEX 20 you'd be able to move at the increased rate. Does Lightning Reflexes for spells allow you to attack at the alternate DEX? Is it LR for casting, or LR for casting and attacking with spells? Also note that if it does include attacking, this combination wouldn't let you move at DEX 20 after casting and attacking with a spell at DEX 21. And if it doesn't include attacking, you could cast at 21, move at 20, then attack with your cast spell at 15.

Edition purity is a myth. When playing any edition, if there's something from some other edition that does what you want it to, why wouldn't you use it? There's three major rules changes between 3rd edition and 4th, and one between 5th and 6th -- note I'm not talking about the host of minor differences from one to the next in terms of changing point costs for some power or skill. I don't understand the notion that if "we're playing 4th edition" that something from a later or earlier book is off limits. At least if I'm the GM. If you want a concept, ask me, and I'll try to come up with a point cost or something; what's the difference whether I pull something from a different "edition" or make it up myself? More tools for the toolkit!

Sure, that would work. 5th edition conversions will come a lot closer points wise than 6th edition I'm noticing.

The partial characters rules were a separate bit written by James Jandebeur, who I haven't seen around here in quite some time. You can find the article by Google searching, I'm pretty sure.

Agreed with Thia about deciding how the ethereal plane and similar function within the setting, and on the easiest and most straightforward way being Desolid with APW on whatever physical stats, Telekinesis, etc. Some other ways: Build the character with physical stats and so on, and have him live on the ethereal plane, with Transdimensional on his Telekinesis and Clairsentience or normal senses. Build it as an AI, treating the ethereal plane as the place where he "lives". The AI could have Telekinesis to affect the real world. Probably the most out there, is to bring back the Spirits rules from 4e Almanac/Horror Hero.

It seems to me like the heart of the question is muddied somewhat by the reference to Characteristics in the text from the book. If we set an example like this: if the target had let's say 35 Active Points in a 7d6 Flurmle, and Drainzor had Drained 20 Active Points worth, then Dispellzor caused the Flurmle to deactivate by Dispelling the last 15 Active Points, then Flurmlator would not be able to reactivate the Flurmle until at least 15 Active Points worth of the Drain had faded. Even though yes, Dispel is an Instant Power and normally doesn't on its own prevent a Power from reactivating. That seems like it's intended to be a very niche, very corner case interaction between Dispel and Drain, and was entirely muddied by referring to Characteristics. (I'm using "Flurmle" as a sort of lorem-ipsum to stand in for some Power that we don't care what it is or does, so that we're not trying to pick it apart. It can be anything; Blast, Life Support, Desolidification, STR bought as a Power, whatever.) I can't say with any authority that this is what was intended, but this is my best guess at it from my own read on it.

There are two previous rules questions regarding Dispel and Characteristics here and here where Steve answered, essentially reiterating the "Dispel can't affect Characteristics" part; the first one covers a Dispel against a partially Drained Instant Power, while the second covers a Dispel against a partially Drained Persistent Power. Both of those taken together might give you the information you're looking for on how a Dispel might affect ongoing abilities that are partially Drained. There doesn't seem to be any errata about it in the last published errata file dated February 9, 2020.

I've got level 1, I guess. 1980's Battletech, Citytech, and Aerotech books? If you want to, sure! The initial range increment is based on the Size Class of the target, and is always four hexes at a Ground Scale equal to the target's Size Class, regardless of the size of the attacker or the actual scale being used in play. In practice, it comes to -2 to Range Mod per Size Class smaller, or +2 per Size Class larger. Humans are Size Class 1, therefore Ground Scale 1 (2m hexes), therefore the initial range increment when attacking one is 8 meters. 6th edition effectively plays on Ground Scale 0 (one "hex" = 1m) but against human targets, the initial increment is still 8 meters. Against a Size Class 4 mech, the first range increment is (4 x 16m) 64 meters. If a size 4 mech is attacking a size 1 human, it's attacking at a range increment smaller than one of its hexes, which is ok! In practice, if the mech is attacking the human in the next scale 4 hex (16m away), it's at a Range Modifier of -2; at two hexes it's -4, at four hexes it's -6, at 5-8 hexes it's -8, and so on. If the SC 1 human is attacking the SC4 mech, the attack is at no penalty out to 64 meters, then -2 for 65 to 125, -4 for 126 to 250, and so on. For two SC4 mechs on 16 meter hexes, it's -0 at 0-4 hexes, -2 at 5-8 hexes, -4 at 9-16 hexes, -6 at 17-32 hexes, etc. For two SC1 humans, it's -0 at 0-8 meters, -2 at 9-16 meters, -4 at 17-32 meters, and so on. To me, this seriously makes everything so ridiculously easy that I wish they'd kept Size Classes and Ground Scales throughout the later editions. It would have been useful for Size Class -4(?) mice, Size Class 9 super dreadnoughts, Size Class 30 planets, etc. For vehicles (4e and on), three increments of the SIZ stat equals one Size Class. For Growth, from 1-5e, three levels of Growth equal one Size Class; in 6th edition, one level of Growth is one Size Class.

I'd probably either go with a Physical Complication or handwave it, as they prefer hot, dry climates. Drinking from the firehose, it was. I went in to find out what sensors and comms the Locust had, and a couple of clicks took me to a long list of in-universe manufacturers. Mechs are assumed to have radio, right? Do they have anything else? Are there in-game options to add sensor/comm gear?

To be honest, I just did the conversions and saw where they came in at. They were almost all about dead on at 150.

Oh yeah! Some of the Americanized anime that made it over in the early 80's more or less was giant robots as superheroes.

For years I've been trying to figure out Construction Points as they relate to the Escape Pod (as opposed to the ejection seat which is part of Life Support). I just today realized that instead of a small robot that ejects from a bigger robot, it's a big robot that sheds most of its broken mass. That means that Combine, Leap (which is a System but relies on the robot's Lifters), and Transform (Multiform) don't come along, but all of the robot's other Systems do.

Since I haven't played Battletech in many years, and don't have any books with me at the moment: under what circumstances does a Battletech pilot need to make a Piloting roll?

Roger "Scotty" MacDermott VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes 18 STR 8 18 13- HTH Damage 3 1/2d6 END [2] 15 DEX 10 15 12- 13 CON 3 13 12- 13 INT 3 13 12- PER Roll 12- 10 EGO 0 10 11- 13 PRE 3 13 12- PRE Attack: 2 1/2d6 5 OCV 10 5 5 DCV 10 5 3 OMCV 0 3 3 DMCV 0 3 5 PD 3 5 5 PD (0 rPD) 3 ED 1 3 3 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 10 3 Phases: 4, 8, 12 7 REC 3 7 26 END 2 26 12 BODY 2 12 28 STUN 4 28 Movement Combat NCmbat Notes Running 12m 24m END [1] Swimming 4m 8m END [1] Leaping 4m 8m 4m forward, 2m upward Cost SKILLS 5 +1 with mecha weapons 5 KS: Tech Underground 14- 7 AK: American Southwest 16- 5 CuK: Alien Culture and Notables 14- 4 PS: Video Games 13- 4 WF: Small Arms, Earth Force Mecha Weapons 3 Climbing 12- 9 Combat Driving 15- 9 Combat Piloting 15- 5 Computer Programming 13- 3 Electronics 12- 3 Inventor 12- 3 Robotics: Mechanics 12- COMPLICATIONS Value Hunted: Sirians Infrequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish) 15 Hunted: Tech Underground Infrequently (Mo Pow; Watching) 5 Social Complication: Subject to Orders: Tech Underground Frequently, Major 15 Psychological Complication: Intensely Curious (Common; Strong) 15 BACKGROUND/HISTORY "Scotty" MacDermott was a video game designer on a rock climbing holiday, when the aliens landed. His curiousity about the alien technology, along with his clever abilities with computers and electronics, made him a useful mechanic for the Tech Underground. Happily, he also showed great promise as a pilot, and now alternates between examining alien technology and blowing aliens away. CAMPAIGN_USE Roger "Scotty" MacDermott is a sample player character from Robot Warriors, and can also be used as an NPC robot pilot. PERSONALITY Scotty loves figuring out how things work. He also loves piloting a giant robot! Base Pts: 150Exp Required: 0Total Exp Available: 0Exp Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 137 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roberta "Magic" Baker VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes 13 STR 3 13 12- HTH Damage 2 1/2d6 END [1] 20 DEX 20 20 13- 10 CON 0 10 11- 13 INT 3 13 12- PER Roll 12- 10 EGO 0 10 11- 10 PRE 0 10 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 7 OCV 20 7 7 DCV 20 7 3 OMCV 0 3 3 DMCV 0 3 3 PD 1 3 3 PD (0 rPD) 2 ED 0 2 2 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 10 3 Phases: 4, 8, 12 5 REC 1 5 20 END 0 20 10 BODY 0 10 24 STUN 2 24 Movement Combat NCmbat Notes Running 12m 24m END [1] Swimming 4m 8m END [1] Leaping 4m 8m 4m forward, 2m upward Cost SKILLS 5 +1 with mecha weapons 7 AK: American Southwest 16- 7 Combat Driving 15- 7 Combat Piloting 15- 3 Computer Programming 12- 3 Concealment 12- 5 CuK: Alien Culture and Notables 14- 3 Disguise 12- 3 Electronics 12- 3 KS: Camouflage 12- 5 KS: Tech Underground 14- 2 KS: Trick Tactics 11- 3 PS: Stage Magician 12- 3 Paramedics 12- 3 Sleight Of Hand 13- 3 Stealth 13- 4 WF: Small Arms, Earth Force Mecha Weapons COMPLICATIONS Value Hunted: Sirians Infrequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish) 15 Hunted: Tech Underground Infrequently (Mo Pow; Watching) 5 Social Complication: Subject to Orders: Tech Underground Frequently, Major 15 Psychological Complication: Will always try to outmaneuver rather than outfight opponents (Common; Strong) 15 BACKGROUND/HISTORY "Magic" Baker was on tour as the assistant of a second rate magician when the aliens attacked. She was picked up by the Tech Underground as a refuge. Her amazing reflexes made her a natural robot pilot, and she had a knack for pulling nasty tricks and tactical misdirections. CAMPAIGN_USE Roberta "Magic" Baker is a sample player character for Robot Warriors, and can also be used as an NPC robot pilot. PERSONALITY Magic is a good tactician and pilot, and enjoys proving it to the Slissii. Base Pts: 150Exp Required: 0Total Exp Available: 0Exp Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 149 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew "Tex" Carlton VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes 15 STR 5 15 12- HTH Damage 3d6 END [1] 17 DEX 14 17 12- 13 CON 3 13 12- 13 INT 3 13 12- PER Roll 12- 10 EGO 0 10 11- 10 PRE 0 10 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 6 OCV 15 6 6 DCV 15 6 3 OMCV 0 3 3 DMCV 0 3 4 PD 2 4 4 PD (0 rPD) 3 ED 1 3 3 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 10 3 Phases: 4, 8, 12 6 REC 2 6 26 END 2 26 10 BODY 0 10 25 STUN 3 25 Movement Combat NCmbat Notes Running 12m 24m END [1] Swimming 4m 8m END [1] Leaping 4m 8m 4m forward, 2m upward Cost POWERS END 4 Brawling: Hand-To-Hand Attack +1d6 (5 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4) 1 Cost SKILLS 10 +1 with All Attacks 7 AK: American Southwest 16- 9 Combat Driving 15- 9 Combat Piloting 15- 5 CuK: Alien Culture and Notables 14- 3 Demolitions 12- 3 Electronics 12- 5 KS: Tech Underground 14- 3 Mechanics 12- 4 PS: Wildcatting (oil drilling) 13- 3 Paramedics 12- 2 Survival (Desert) 12- 2 TF: Mecha, Agricultural & Construction Vehicles, Small Planes 4 WF: Small Arms, Earth Force Mecha COMPLICATIONS Value Hunted: Sirians Infrequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish) 15 Hunted: Tech Underground Infrequently (Mo Pow; Watching) 5 Psychological Complication: Devoted to Personal Freedom (Common; Strong) 15 Social Complication: Subject to Orders: Tech Underground Frequently, Major 15 BACKGROUND/HISTORY "Tex" Carlton was a young man learning to be an independent oil driller, or wild cat, when the Slissii landed. His knowledge of the desert, his ability to take care of himself, his ability to drive and fly, and his love of the freedom of the desert made him an early member of the Tech Underground. CAMPAIGN_USE Andrew "Tex" Carlton is a sample player character for Robot Warriors, and can also be used as an NPC robot pilot. PERSONALITY Tex is strongly devoted to personal freedom. Base Pts: 150Exp Required: 0Total Exp Available: 0Exp Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 147

Since we don't have a general Robot Warriors discussion thread, I thought I'd start one. It's here because RW is under Star Hero in the store. Rules questions, questions about how the build system works, mecha builds, weapon builds, character builds, anything Robot Warriors is welcome here. And for any edition. I'll post some stuff shortly! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike "Blazer" Machido VAL CHA Cost Total Roll Notes 15 STR 5 15 12- HTH Damage 3d6 END [1] 18 DEX 16 18 13- 10 CON 0 10 11- 13 INT 3 13 12- PER Roll 12- 10 EGO 0 10 11- 10 PRE 0 10 11- PRE Attack: 2d6 6 OCV 15 6 6 DCV 15 6 3 OMCV 0 3 3 DMCV 0 3 3 PD 1 3 3 PD (0 rPD) 2 ED 0 2 2 ED (0 rED) 3 SPD 10 3 Phases: 4, 8, 12 5 REC 1 5 20 END 0 20 11 BODY 1 11 23 STUN 2 23 Movement Combat NCmbat Notes Running 14m 28m END [1] Swimming 4m 8m END [1] Leaping 4m 8m 4m forward, 2m upward Cost MARTIAL ARTS Basic Martial Arts 4 1) Martial Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort 4 2) Martial Strike: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 5d6 Strike 3 3) Martial Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 3d6 +v/10, Target Falls Cost SKILLS 10 +1 with All Attacks 7 AK: American Southwest 16- 7 Combat Driving 15- 7 Combat Piloting 15- 3 Concealment 12- 5 CuK: Alien Culture and Notables 14- 5 KS: Tech Underground 14- 2 Language: Spanish (fluent conversation) 3 Mechanics 12- 3 Paramedics 12- 3 Streetwise 11- 3 TF: Mecha, Helicopters, Small Planes 6 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Small Arms, Earth Force Mecha Weapons Cost TALENTS 4 +2/+2d6 Striking Appearance (vs. anyone attracted to men) COMPLICATIONS Value Hunted: Sirians Infrequently (Mo Pow; Harshly Punish) 15 Hunted: Tech Underground Infrequently (Mo Pow; Watching) 5 Social Complication: Subject to Orders: Tech Underground Frequently, Major 15 Psychological Complication: Needs to prove his manhood (Very Common; Strong) 20 BACKGROUND/HISTORY "Blazer" Machido was a young punk running around the southwest in a jeep when the Slissii came. He was trying to get away from the city where he had grown up. The kids had always treated him as a "pretty boy" and he was always fighting to try to get respect. When the aliens landed he went right on fighting and found his way into the Tech Underground. CAMPAIGN_USE Mike "Blazer" Machido is a sample player character for Robot Warriors, and can also be used as an NPC robot pilot. PERSONALITY Mike feels like he has a lot to prove. Base Pts: 150Exp Required: 0Total Exp Available: 0Exp Unspent: 0Total Character Cost: 150

I'm sort of low on time to complete and post the Locust conversion I'm working on, and I'm thinking that the best way to convert is to do it the way you'd convert anything else to Hero. Convert the spirit of the original. The converted Locust should be a small, fast, lightly armed and armored mech with no hands that only crazy people pilot more than once.

I went to see what else I could spend mass on. I was thinking sensors and comms. Started looking at some of the Battletech fluff... and got a little overwhelmed. There's a... lot... of Battletech since 1986.

It should be. It's a little more work if you want to add incidental stuff like heat buildup, but not that much more. Easier to design mechs with similar feel and run it with the Battletech background. Thank you!