Powered Armor: Small Gets Even

[Maerok]

Powered Armor
Powered Armor is a fusion of dwarven metallurgy and gnomish ingenuity, resulting in a rather sturdy piece of machinery capable of empowering its wearer. This armor has only been created for Small creatures, as a suit any size larger would be nigh immovable.

Powered Armor
50,000 gp
10 AC
Maximum Dexterity Bonus: 0
Armor Check Penalty: -10
Arcane Spell Failure: 100% (cannot cast while worn)
Speed: Halved
Weight: 250 pounds, but not factored in when worn; cannot be held in anything but a Bag of Holding IV or better

While worn, the following benefits are bestowed upon the user:

• +4 Strength, -4 Dexterity
• +2 to charge and bullrush attempts
• DR 5/-
• Treated as a creature of Medium size, must use Medium sized or larger weapons
• Can carry an additional 75 pounds
• Cannot swim or jump, and isn't airtight if submerged
• Ranged attacks target the suit rather than the user (AC 15)
• Can be flanked from behind and cannot look backwards
• DC to detect a Powered Armor in use is reduced by 4

The actual suit is made of adamantine, and has 120 Hit Points and hardness 20. If destroyed while worn, the wearer receives 6d8 damage.

Two lanterns, oil not included, are mounted onto the front of the chassis to provide light.

[LordOfNarf]

looks fun, just needs to have a price defined, and also, i would suggest that the carrying caoacity is calaulated as a medium creature, indtead of just +75lbs

[Jack_Simth]

I once did something vaguely similar; took a different route, though; essentially treated the powered armor as a mostly seperate critter, with the pilot being the brain:

Mech
Large Object (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 24d10+30 (162 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), Fly 120 (poor)
Armor Class: 30 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +22 natural) touch 8, flat-footed 30
Base Attack/Grapple: +16/+32
Attack: Slam +27 melee (2d10+11) or Thunder Pellets +15 10d6 (ranged touch)
Full Attack: 2 slams +27 melee (2d10+11) Or Thunder Pellets +15/+15 10d6(ranged touch)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Thunder Pellets
Special Qualities: Construct traits, damage reduction 15/adamantine, darkvision 60 feet, blindsight 120 feet, blindsense 240 feet, immunity to magic, low-light vision, Door, Flat-Footed
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +8
Abilities: Str 33, Dex 9, Con -, Int 10 (pilot), Wis 10(pilot), Cha 10(pilot)
Skills: Spot +20, Listen +20 (Mech), Pilot Mech +9 (pilot)
Feats: Improved Initiative and Skill Focus (Pilot Mech) (from pilot)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, gang (2-4), battalion (5-50), or invasion(51-200)
Challenge Rating: 16
Treasure: Just the body of the mech itself; the scrap metal usually runs about 40k gp; 60k or more, to someone interested in how it ticks. A mech captured intact is priceless to the right buyer.
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 25-54 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: -

This "creature" is treated as an attended object that blocks line of effect to the attender for most things.

Door: A mech is partially suceptable to critical hits, sneak attack, and the like; damage from such sources damage doesn't apply to the Mech itself; instead, they go to a separate damage pool for the Door (150 HP) which, if breached, causes the pilot to fall out, leaving the mech functional but unable to act due to a total lack of direction. The pilot is usually a level-3 Gnome Warrior (with Pilot Mech as a class skill), easily disposed of. Once the pilot is out, any small character can climb in, after which, the mech seals itself back up and the door's HP are fully repaired. The door can also be opened from the outside with a special DC 40 Open Lock skill check that requires two full rounds.

Thunder Pellets (Ex): Thunder Pellets are treated as a ranged touch attack, with a range increment of 200 feet and a critical threat range of 20/x2. They leave little holes in armor and shields that would otherwise have gotten in their way, but this has no mechanical effect.

Magic Immunity (Ex): The mech and pilot are immune to any Spell, Spell-Like, or Supernatural effect that requires line of effect to the target; thus the pairing is immune to Charm Person, Disintigrate, Banishment, Otto's Irresistiable dance and a great many other things, while a Demand directed at the pilot has a chance of succeeding. There is an exception for the Knock spell, which opens the door and ejects the pilot unless the Mech (not the pilot) succeeds on a Will save with a save DC as a spell of Knock's level would normally have.

Flat-Footed: The mech is always considered to be flat footed, due to it's clumsy nature, and so usually cannot make attacks of oportunity (unless the pilot has Combat Reflexes or some such)

These Mechs are 12 feet tall, and weigh about 5,000 lbs

Piloting a mech: Controlling a mech, for someone trained to do so, is a simple matter; someone with six or more ranks in Pilot Mech and Skill Focus (Pilot Mech), who reads the language built into the mech's interface needs no roll for piloting the mech itself, as it has become second-nature. Anyone else must make a Pilot Mech (Int based, useable untrained) check to do anything - fireing the Thunder Pellets is DC 15; using the slam attack is DC 10. Making use of it's Spot and Listen skills is DC 17 per check. Making use of it's fly speed or alternate vision modes is DC 20 per round. It is generally humanoid in shape, and can do other tasks, such as climb ladders, manuever beams, dig tunnels, and the like with Pilot Mech checks in the DC 10-20 range (depending on complexity of the task) and any skill checks appropriet to the task itself. A failure on a Pilot Mech roll usually means that it effectively does nothing that round; the Thunder Pellets don't fire, you can't make sense of the sensory display, you swing the wrong arm when attempting to attack, et cetera. The DM is perfectly welcome to change failure results to dangerous things as required by the plot (e.g., shooting someone when you intended to make a reassuring gesture at them)

The on-board computer, while not permitted to actually designate targets and choose when to fire, will do it's best to guide the pilot's actions, so the pairing uses the mech's abilities for attack rolls. It does, however, use it's pilot's feats and class abilities (most pilots take improved initiative, reflected in the stat block, above), so long as the mech can make any physical stat requirements and the pilot can make any mental stat requirements. The pairing uses the mech's or it's pilots dexterity, whichever is worse, for anything Dex based, such as initiative, AC, and reflex saves. The pairing always uses the Mech's spot and listen checks modifiers, as the electronic threat recognition software will distract from anything too subtle for the program, and make certain the pilot is looking at or listening to what it percieves to be threat. The pairing uses the mech's saves for anything targetting the mech that bypasses the magic immunity, and the pilot's saves for anything targetting the pilot that can bypass the magic immunity. Otherwise, the pairing uses the pilot's statisitics for all mental activities, and the mech's statistics for all physical activities.

A mech without a pilot is an odd looking statue, and just as dangerous as a mundane lump of rock.

[Triaxx]

What's the DC to recognize that the other version is armor, and not a statue?

[Jack_Simth]

What's the DC to recognize that the other version is armor, and not a statue?

The spot DC to see that one is occupied? Easy, the door's closed.

[Triaxx]

No, I mean If my gnome pilot jumps out, and closes the door after him, what's the DC to recognize that it's not actually a statue, but something else.

So my evil gnome hides his monstrous contraption in a room full of statues to keep nosy adventurers from casually discovering it.

[Jack_Simth]

No, I mean If my gnome pilot jumps out, and closes the door after him, what's the DC to recognize that it's not actually a statue, but something else.

So my evil gnome hides his monstrous contraption in a room full of statues to keep nosy adventurers from casually discovering it.

More like an appropriet Knoweledge check (based on the DC to recognize the a beast of the object's HD), or the Spot check of his craft DC if he's making statues specifically to fool people. Think a mecha from the Robotech series....

[Triaxx]

So DC 24 to recognize what it is, and then a spot check to figure out which is the real one. Got it.

Would an Elf's search to look for a hidden door apply to the door of a mech suit?

[Jack_Simth]

The door isn't hidden, it's secured. The elven search bonus might grant a bonus to your spot if you get close (statues don't have proper doors, usually) but little else.

Not that I ever had my players encounter one that wasn't occupied, mind....

Oh, and the check to recognize a critter is DC 10+HD; so 34. Although, to be fair, that also grants one useful piece of information about it. So that DC 34 maybe lets you know that it's a vehicle rather than a monster.....

[Triaxx]

Ah. Be interesting to have them battle through a factory that constructs them.

Huh, I thought it would have been designed to blend into the suit as much as possible, making it concealed for the purposes of being noticable.

[Jack_Simth]

Can be - it's not like it particularly impacts the CR all that much. Fun thing about homebrew critters.... they aren't set.

[Triaxx]

Very true. However I'd think it's got a big impact, because it allows for the potential of a pilot hitting critical. If I can use magic to hit, and potentially kill, or otherwise disable the pilot, that significantly lowers the challenge of defeating the Armor. Or increase it, if it's nigh impossible to detect the closed door.

[Jack_Simth]

It takes a very skilled rogue a good length of time to get the door open; and when it's opened, the pilot is ejected, not simply exposed. If the gnome survives long enough to get a round in, he's back in the thing, and you have to deal with the full 150 HP or two-round DC 40 Open Lock all over again (assuming you didn't slip your own small character in there in the meanwhile....). Basically, the Door occasionally costs the pairing an action, and permits one to be captured on the battlefield. Mostly, though, it's there so the rogue in the party isn't useless.

Consider a rogue getting in four attacks a turn each with 8d6 sneak attack damage. To get through the door's HP, he'll need an average of five successful attacks - which is probably two rounds of full attacking (AC 30 can be tricky to hit on the last couple iterative attacks). Or a very difficult Open Lock check that takes two rounds. Meanwhile, this thing is playing around with two 10d6 touch attacks at +15, and is driven by an intelligent opponent with flight capability. It's unlikely to stand in place for the two rounds with someone who knows how to extract the squishy pilot. If you encounter one alone in an area where it's manueverability is hampered, then yeah, the door is going to be a significant limitation; outside? Not so much.

The beast uses the feats of the pilot - improved Initiative can be swapped out for, say, Power Attack for the melee-minded. Or Flyby attack. Or you could upgrade the pilot into a gnomish Fighter. I have no idea what that would do to the challenge rating, however; it would mostly just add feats.

Oh, and they are considerably more dangerous in sets than they are alone; concentrated fire will take a lot of characters out very quickly, and they've got enough HP to last a round or two (10d6 damage each with four +15 Touch Attacks in one round averages 140 points of damage; that will kill most characters at 16th that don't have a really good Con bonus - the Wizard and Rogue are liable to be pretty much doomed - everyone knows you go for the guy in robes first, and a Rogue poses a particularly immediate threat to these things; the Cleric may have a bit, and the Fighter will, as always, soak a lot of HP damage). With three, you may find you're denied spellcasting once a round (readied action to disrupt - have fun making a DC 45 concentration check - to be fair, though, the Cleric of the party did once deliberately soak it so the Wizard could cast Teleport.... it's fun when they work as a team).

[Triaxx]

I mean attacking clean through the door. Unless it's rather thick, I'll have my rouge slip up behind it, either stealthed, or invisible, and drive my sword into the door, attempting a critical hit to kill, or disable the pilot. On the other hand, I could unleash multiple Lightning Bolts, or even Chain Lightning, which wouldn't damage the metal mech, but would do damage to the pilot, and potentially kill him.

[Jack_Simth]

It's sealed. In order to hurt someone inside, you have to find something that doesn't require line of effect (e.g., Demand, Nightmare, a spell that will work through a Scrying sensor coupled with Scrying, Remote Viewing and something else, a Dimension Door on your familiar to get him inside too (there's not much extra room in there, but the gnome's face is clear... and that would just hurt....), the "from anywhere to anywhere" clause of Wish, et cetera), or get the door open first.

Chain Lighting requires Line of Effect. Neither's bothered in the slightest (part of the reason it has it's own CR, rather than being a CR modifier). It's a different take on how Magic Immunity might work - a Stone Golem has infinite SR vs. everything not on the penetration list. This denies line of effect. If there's a wall in the way that a dragon's breath doesn't penetrate, the dragon's breath doesn't touch the person behind the wall. If fullplate is attended, it's not harmed by a dragon's breath weapon (with the exception of the nat-1 clause), which is why there aren't a lot of naked fighters running around crying about their lost fullplate. RAW, if you're holding a scroll in your hand, while paralized, and someone drops a Fireball on you, the scroll is fine (although you may not be). This thing combines the two - the metal is attended, so it's protected from basically everything. The metal denies line of effect, so the gnome is protected from basically everything.

[Triaxx]

So mech and pilot are treated as a single creature, instead of two creatures occupying the same space? Elsewise Chainlightning should 'bounce' and hit the pilot anyway.

See when penetrating the door, I meant treating the door itself as part of the Gnomes armor.

Could I use the Wish spell to take the gnome and pull him out of the suit? I also thought that Dimension Door required line of sight as well. What about Farsight?

[Jack_Simth]

So mech and pilot are treated as a single creature, instead of two creatures occupying the same space? Elsewise Chainlightning should 'bounce' and hit the pilot anyway.

Essentially. Elsewise, in no way could such a thing be considered CR 16. In fact, without that aspect, it is a flat-out broken critter as written - if you can one-shot the pilot inside the mech (gnome warrior 3 - not overly hard, even as low as 8th or so) without particularly touching the mech, suddenly the intelligent halfing rogue who's okay with cross-class skills is getting sneak attack touch attacks, carrying everything, and doing a surprising amount of out-performing the Fighter at Fighting very easily by 10th (as could the human wizard making use of Reduce Person). With capturing something that was supposed to be CR 16 or so.

Am I making sense as to my reasoning? However you want to flavor it, you need to use something in the defined game mechanics of the critter to get to the gnome.

See when penetrating the door, I meant treating the door itself as part of the Gnomes armor.

Ah, treating the mech as an AC to be gotten around, or a particular DR to be overcome? Such a thing would be basically broken, as listed above.

Could I use the Wish spell to take the gnome and pull him out of the suit? I also thought that Dimension Door required line of sight as well. What about Farsight?

It's even listed on the "safe" list of things to do with wish:
"Transport travelers. A wish can lift one creature per caster level from anywhere on any plane and place those creatures anywhere else on any plane regardless of local conditions. An unwilling target gets a Will save to negate the effect, and spell resistance (if any) applies."

So the Gnome makes it's will save (at +1 - if you're casting Wish, he's in nat-20 territory, as the minimum DC on a Wish from a wizard is 23). and basically ends up right where you put him, suit empty. Of course, a Wish costs 5,000 xp. If you're working completly alone at 17th, one of these things only gives you 3,400 xp.

Dimension Door only requires Line of Sight to be *safe*: "You always arrive at exactly the spot desired—whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction." and

If you arrive in a place that is already occupied by a solid body, you and each creature traveling with you take 1d6 points of damage and are shunted to a random open space on a suitable surface within 100 feet of the intended location.

If there is no free space within 100 feet, you and each creature traveling with you take an additional 2d6 points of damage and are shunted to a free space within 1,000 feet. If there is no free space within 1,000 feet, you and each creature travelling with you take an additional 4d6 points of damage and the spell simply fails.

Dimension Door needs line of sight no more than Teleport does (although you do get a benefit from having line of sight when you teleport....).

I'm not familiar with Farsight, so can't comment.

[Triaxx]

That all makes sense.

Farsight might have been 2nd Ed only, but it gave the caster the ability to see an area, say in another room. Basically an extension of the casters line of sight. It wasn't terrifically useful, but it was across the board, so every one who could cast spells could use it.