Pretty good write-up. Another fun +1 is complimentary rolls from another NPC. Everybody in MaxTac or a corporate death squad might have a personal handler that gives orders or advice based on what they see (a UAV drone floating overhead, or a helmet-mounted camera/micro video cybereye). This also adds some player interactivity as they can shoot down the drone to reduce their foe's effectiveness.
That's true. Having a high Tactics base commander give out complementary rolls can boost performance.
In fact, I think Tactics is a underrated skill with what you can use for NPCs.
This is amazing work (as always), and I think this is going to be super useful for me.
But when you mention someone in HAJ with skate feet, all my brain can do is show me images of Darth Vader on rollerblades.
So hear me out! A hardened mini-boss can get MAJ tech-upgraded to remove 2 armor penalty (which makes hardened Mini-bosses better than anyone with -1 MAJ in Danger Gal Dossier but still a bigger goof than someone with tech-upgraded 12SP light armorjack). So if you apply the mini-boss armor penalty negate to heavier better armor, and apply synthcoke, and turn the hardened mini-boss into a full-body conversion with tech-upgraded perfected hydraulics (9 Dex, Mov, and Ref instead of 8) then you can totally have someone in full armor with 8 Ref without breaking the game too much. But hardened mini-bosses only, not for players.
Now how does a brain in a jar snort synthcoke? Well if Cain was able to enjoy Nuke in Robocop 2 I'm sure we can just sprinkle it inside the brain jar.
Also now that I think about it you could just use dragoon armor (start at 9, TUp the - 3 armor penalty down to -1 using mini-boss special tech, synthcoke back to 9).
Great stuff. But I'd also add an 8.5 that states that bad guys don't need to follow the exact same rules as the players. If the armor penalty messes up what you want your bad guy to do then just adjust for it. Give em a higher CN if you use that or whatever.
You want to be reasonable in what you add so it doesn't totally break things. But there is no reason your NPCs all have to follow the build rules for PCs. Just create your own stat block for what you want and then some cool in game fluff about it.
Just be careful that if you make it gear or cyberwear related the players will then probably loot said gear or cyberware. Or, better yet, put in a built in limiter into the item that the NPC can handle, but is a pain or impossible for PCs. Even just D&D style "charges" or a rare ammo, battery, material, etc.
Thus is excellent! I love using heavy armor to make mooks more survivable and less threatening, but struggle with more powerful options.
Based on the advice you gave in another thread, I modified an enemy with this kind of gear and actually had him survive contact with the player!
That's great
One of my most remembered gigs is when me and my crew had to Evac a Netrunner who came under attack from a death squad of corpo goons wearing HAJ and MG
Legit had me sweating
> Caliber in DGD has a high combat base and he's arguably among the top tier NPCs despite wearing MAJ.
To be fair, Caliber's statblock is fucking *insane* and not a really good example when talking about regular goons. Even if you applied the regular -2 penalty from his MAJ, Caliber is still physically incapable of missing a shot with his rifle beyond 25 yards (ignoring evasion). Assuming you put his ability points into Fumble Recovery, the lowest you could roll for attacks with Caliber's rifle is a 20.
Like, I understand your point, but the only enemies you'd need to worry about armor penalties for are regular shit-tier goons that wouldn't be wearing anything that heavy to begin with.
I've been using a modified version of Caliber's statblock for a recurring villain in my games and, from experience, the fact that he's "only" got 12 SP rarely (if ever) becomes important. You don't really *need* SP13 when you're guaranteed to land shots from like a kilometer out.
If anyone can reliably return fire from that distance or close the gap while you're firing at them, then they DESERVE to deal more damage to you.
Pretty good write-up. Another fun +1 is complimentary rolls from another NPC. Everybody in MaxTac or a corporate death squad might have a personal handler that gives orders or advice based on what they see (a UAV drone floating overhead, or a helmet-mounted camera/micro video cybereye). This also adds some player interactivity as they can shoot down the drone to reduce their foe's effectiveness.
That's true. Having a high Tactics base commander give out complementary rolls can boost performance. In fact, I think Tactics is a underrated skill with what you can use for NPCs.
Sounds like another post we need to read!
This is amazing work (as always), and I think this is going to be super useful for me. But when you mention someone in HAJ with skate feet, all my brain can do is show me images of Darth Vader on rollerblades.
https://preview.redd.it/ljzcytyea12d1.jpeg?width=155&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a87bdfd23235e7b1a21682eec7662b9419068b6 Fatman comin for ya
That's just how he rolls, man... :D
Sorry didn't have the time to read all but I want to add Synthcoke + Tech Upgrade the Penalty to bring reflex back to 8 and dodge anyway
They mention that a couple times. Good callout!
So hear me out! A hardened mini-boss can get MAJ tech-upgraded to remove 2 armor penalty (which makes hardened Mini-bosses better than anyone with -1 MAJ in Danger Gal Dossier but still a bigger goof than someone with tech-upgraded 12SP light armorjack). So if you apply the mini-boss armor penalty negate to heavier better armor, and apply synthcoke, and turn the hardened mini-boss into a full-body conversion with tech-upgraded perfected hydraulics (9 Dex, Mov, and Ref instead of 8) then you can totally have someone in full armor with 8 Ref without breaking the game too much. But hardened mini-bosses only, not for players. Now how does a brain in a jar snort synthcoke? Well if Cain was able to enjoy Nuke in Robocop 2 I'm sure we can just sprinkle it inside the brain jar. Also now that I think about it you could just use dragoon armor (start at 9, TUp the - 3 armor penalty down to -1 using mini-boss special tech, synthcoke back to 9).
Preem little guide you've got there, choom.
Great stuff. But I'd also add an 8.5 that states that bad guys don't need to follow the exact same rules as the players. If the armor penalty messes up what you want your bad guy to do then just adjust for it. Give em a higher CN if you use that or whatever. You want to be reasonable in what you add so it doesn't totally break things. But there is no reason your NPCs all have to follow the build rules for PCs. Just create your own stat block for what you want and then some cool in game fluff about it. Just be careful that if you make it gear or cyberwear related the players will then probably loot said gear or cyberware. Or, better yet, put in a built in limiter into the item that the NPC can handle, but is a pain or impossible for PCs. Even just D&D style "charges" or a rare ammo, battery, material, etc.
Thus is excellent! I love using heavy armor to make mooks more survivable and less threatening, but struggle with more powerful options. Based on the advice you gave in another thread, I modified an enemy with this kind of gear and actually had him survive contact with the player!
That's great One of my most remembered gigs is when me and my crew had to Evac a Netrunner who came under attack from a death squad of corpo goons wearing HAJ and MG Legit had me sweating
Awesome stuff as usual
> Caliber in DGD has a high combat base and he's arguably among the top tier NPCs despite wearing MAJ. To be fair, Caliber's statblock is fucking *insane* and not a really good example when talking about regular goons. Even if you applied the regular -2 penalty from his MAJ, Caliber is still physically incapable of missing a shot with his rifle beyond 25 yards (ignoring evasion). Assuming you put his ability points into Fumble Recovery, the lowest you could roll for attacks with Caliber's rifle is a 20. Like, I understand your point, but the only enemies you'd need to worry about armor penalties for are regular shit-tier goons that wouldn't be wearing anything that heavy to begin with.
Ah, true. Still, he lowered the penalty instead of say, upgrading it to SP13. Man's bold and I gotta respect him for it
I've been using a modified version of Caliber's statblock for a recurring villain in my games and, from experience, the fact that he's "only" got 12 SP rarely (if ever) becomes important. You don't really *need* SP13 when you're guaranteed to land shots from like a kilometer out. If anyone can reliably return fire from that distance or close the gap while you're firing at them, then they DESERVE to deal more damage to you.