BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Systems => A Time of War => Topic started by: Col Toda on 23 April 2013, 08:12:01
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As an enhanced Trait ? Would require quite a few prerequisites ? How many XP ? How many
Pre- Requisites ? I Think it should cost 600XP after at least 900XP in other combat traits .
and some yet to be defined ability levels . How should it function ? How should it be
included . The idea of it being near impossible to achieve. Should a criteria be the
character must be a minimum of 7500 pts to begin with ?
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You'd have to first answer for your campaign what is the 'truth' behind the PMA.
Is it a 'magical'/metaphysical ability that literally makes the mech vanish?
Is it actually some lostech sensor jammer of epic capability?
Is it nothing more than a battlefield rumor?
Canonically, it's not clear which of these it is.
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I thought TPTB had declared it to be battlefield rumour? Then again whatever one prefers for one's own table. I personally prefer it to be some sort of "Magic" but that's probably just my inner Sith talking. O:-)
More seriously when I've used it as a GM it has been to "retire in a blaze of glory" those characters who have survived long enough and have gained sufficient XP that they really ought to be Successor Lords or Khans. So I've never really considered putting points or prerequisites on a one way trip.
Will be interested to see what numbers people come up with.
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IIRC the Phantom Mech ability is crazily powerful. It's not really balanced by anything else, so I don't know how you could even go about assigning it a point value. I don't believe it's ever been assigned a BV modifier, it should at least double a mech's BV, maybe even triple it. I don't think 2000xp would be too much, but then again I probably wouldn't want it at my game.
I think a better way to work it in would be if your character has a nemesis. The character and their nemesis both get the ability when they fight, but only from other units so they can have a grandiose duel in the middle of a pitched battle. It's still dramatic but it doesn't allow your character to dominate every other battle they are in.
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Temporal fuge.
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As an enhanced Trait ? Would require quite a few prerequisites ? How many XP ? How many
Pre- Requisites ? I Think it should cost 600XP after at least 900XP in other combat traits .
and some yet to be defined ability levels . How should it function ? How should it be
included . The idea of it being near impossible to achieve. Should a criteria be the
character must be a minimum of 7500 pts to begin with ?
Just invest in Edge Points?
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I think a better way to work it in would be if your character has a nemesis. The character and their nemesis both get the ability when they fight, but only from other units so they can have a grandiose duel in the middle of a pitched battle. It's still dramatic but it doesn't allow your character to dominate every other battle they are in.
Much as I hate Phantom Mech ability, this particular approach I like. It's a good RPG rules mechanic and kinda-sorta keeps PMA out of the universe by making it a game narrative rule more than an in-universe factoid.
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Also, immediately retire the character. MacAttack had rules for it on his old site that worked fairly well. If a character ends up using it and surviving, after that session, he's gone from the game.
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Doesn't need to be removed from the game, just don't have mech combat be the primary activity of that character any more.