Skilled Technicians (part 2)

After doing a fair bit of math, it looks like the chances of a BattleTech character getting a regular technician instead of a green one basically amounts to rolling 2d6 against a Target Number (hereafter TN) equal to the pilot's base gunnery plus their base piloting. And MW1e technicians almost always work faster than technicians in later editions- an average "Green" technician uses only 70% of the time listed for a repair, and an average "Regular" technician needs only 30%.

You're never going to roll a veteran (MW1e skill level 6 or 7) technician.

For most skills in MW1e, each level of skill reduces the TN by one. But repair rolls work differently. Each kind of repair has a fixed TN (and requires a set amount of time), which you modify per the charts below.

Comparing how your Learn score modifies repair rolls with how Attributes usually modify skill rolls, the author seems to be using base target number of 6. (When MW2e converted the repair difficulty chart from TNs to TN modifiers, it also assumed a base TN of 6.)

Technicians need to buy two levels of skill to improve their TN by one, which I think is meant to balance their progression against MechWarriors, who need to buy levels for two skills (piloting and gunnery). (MW3e tackled that issue from a different direction, by fragmenting the MechWarrior MOS and Technician MOS into similar numbers of sub-skills.)

Skill Level	Target Number	Total Cost
1	7	free
2	6	10
3	5	30
4	4	60
5	3	110
6	2	190
7	1	310
8	0	470

MW1e gives each character type a free level (the first level) in their core skills, and attributes don't affect a skilled repair roll, so a technician character can be "Green" for free, or "Regular" for only 60 points. "Veteran" skill would require 190 points, just about the maximum a new character would squeeze in. In contrast, MechWarriors spend 35 points on attributes, plus another 40 for "Green" level skills; or another 90 to rate "Regular;" or another 170 to rate "Veteran."

Repair rolls accrue XP more slowly than combat does, however, so technicians advance more slowly during actual play. That may be one reason skilled technicians are less common than skilled MechWarriors.

Techs have shorter careers than MechWarriors, too--maybe ten years vs. twenty-five. A technician attached to a 'Mech unit encounters a wide variety of technology and swaps knowledge with colleagues from other backgrounds; at some point, this experience may become valuable enough for the technician to get lured away into the civilian sector. Workplace injury no doubt plays a role too--although MechWarriors and technicians both face radiation hazards, live ordinance, and the threat of being crushed by multi-ton objects, MechWarriors do so for only minutes at a time from behind a half-ton of armor and strapped into a harness and neckbrace; technicians do so for hours at a time with few of the same protections.


To Be Continued: repair yards, Solaris VII, and the march of technology

Skilled Technicians & Mech Customization

tl;dr? almost half of all field technicians can make short-term modifications (but short-term only). Will talk about player characters, tech progression, repair facilities, Solaris VII, and redoing the skill chart in a following post.

In MW1e:

• A tech with skill 4+ can attempt a temporary repair with improvised parts by adding +3 to the repair difficulty (reroll each time the hit location takes damage). This can "involve grafting an arm or leg from a different 'Mech type onto the afflicted unit."
• A tech with skill 6+ can research 'Mech design. 

In BattleTechnology #4 (aka #202):

• Stuart Bell, the mercenary who created the CGR-SB Challenger by modifying a Charger to use a smaller engine, had a skill of 8 and stupendous amounts of documentation (and recommends at least a skill of 6 for anyone trying to follow his modifications).

How easy is it to find an NPC at these various levels of skill?

quick aside: pathfinder chargen (kvetching only)

I'm making a Level 14 Sorcerer, and there are too many spells to choose from.

I made an Oracle at Level 7 (sidekick to my fighter) and played him to Level 9, but he has a lot fewer spells, and I didn't even use half of them.

I picked a Sorcerer this time because I knew it would be hard and different and I want to see what changes I should make to my character sheet layout. 

But the spells aren't listed in a way that makes comparison and selection easy, anywhere - not in the corebook, not the PFSRD. [sentence edited for clarity]

Heck, I'd play a pregen list if I could find one.

If I gin up a superior spell listing, I'll post it. 

Pathfinder Character Sheet, Revised

The World of Darkness campaign died. The same group's been running a concurrent Pathfinder campaign, though, so they adopted me into that.

I made my own character sheet because I find the official one difficult to use.

Apparently I'm the only who uses an actual character sheet. One guy writes his out on loose leaf, another reads his from excel, and the rest are using tablet apps.

If or when I play a spellcaster, I'm going to print spells out (because I don't know what they do) on the back.


[March 20 Update:  fixed the "Flat-Footed" AC calculation, and made a number of other, smaller changes.]

[April 6 Non-Update: I realized about a week ago that "CMD" should include dodge and deflection bonuses. I'll fix that when I change characters in a few months. (Luckily I left enough room there to just pen them in for now.)]

Character generation for MechWarrior, Transformers, or Star Trek (part 2)

As a rule of thumb, characters should be as likely to lose their Individual Resource ('Mech, informant network, etc) as they are to lose their own arm, and as likely to have it replaced as they are to have their arm replaced.

When a resource is lost, roll to see how long it will take to replace (or if it will be replaced at all). Then reduce the resource score by 1 and, if necessary, reroll the specific item, rank, etc.

Items or resources gained via shared skills (such as Driver or Small Arms) indicate shared resources (such as a shared truck or common armory) which can be lost and replaced more easily.

The following skills, when allocated as an Individual Field, have a particular effect on resources:

Streetwise: ability to navigate the bottom of a social pyramid (common merchants and laborers, low-level military personnel, common criminals, whatever). The Individual Streetwise Field indicates cooperative relationships with spies or information brokers. The breadth & usefulness of this network is proportionate to Resources; how quickly the character can connect with a local network depends on skill. Expands rarity of this individual's Field items and shared items.

Bureaucracy: ability to take advantage of local laws and regulations, and efficacy when requisitioning supplies. The Individual Bureaucracy Field indicates a trusted place in the local bureaucracy or on-planet garrison. Resource points indicate how much intelligence and non-hazardous assistance (licenses and facility access vs. restricted information and rescue from legal or administrative difficulties) the character can get without risk; the speed and cost (in bribes or favors) of the assistance depends on skill. Expands legality of this individual's Field items and shared items.

Protocol: ability to navigate the top of a social pyramid, and to negotiate contracts. The Individual Protocol Field indicates a place in the interplanetary House hierarchy. Ability to improve the party's status or future assignments is proportional to Resources. Improves selectivity of this individual's Field items and shared items.

Leadership: ability to command NPCs, keep NPCs loyal, and expand the amount of situational bonuses party members can give each other. The Individual Leadership Field indicates higher rank, or a more prestigious lateral assignment, with authority proportional to Resources.

Administration: ability to keep an operation running smoothly. The Individual Administration Field indicates a land grant, business or other interest which generates surplus revenue in proportion to Resources. Elevates this individual's Field items and shared items into a pricier tier.

BattleMech [or Tank/Starfighter/Spaceship/Etc] Operations: ability to pilot the vehicle and operate its sensors, weapons and other systems. (Note that the "driver" common skill applies to ubiquitous everyman transportation, though [Vehicle Type] Operations may be a common skill as well in some settings.) Resource points indicates how much regular support the character's vehicle receives from a larger military. This may be a little high or low for the vehicle actually assigned.



Transform [Vehicle]: Transformers gain their "resource" bonus only when transformed. The bonus applies not only to Individual Field tasks, but also to any tasks which are dependent on (or characteristic of) their vehicle type.

Transform [Gestalt]: All characters on the sheet combine into a single larger robot, which receives the "gestalt" bonus to strength-based tasks and to firepower.

[The way that these Individual Fields affect the character's supply situation is inspired by the way that a user called Monbvol uses the Vehicle Trait in the 3rd edition MechWarrior RPG.]

Character generation for MechWarrior, Transformers, or Star Trek (part 1)

Multiple characters per player. The player has 10 points to divide between the Individual Fields of his characters; another 10 points to divide between the Shared Skills of his characters; another 10 for Background; another 10 for Resources. The points each character spreads across Individual Fields, Shared Skills, Background and Resources must combine to the same total as each other character. If four characters, then each character must total 10 points; if five characters, then each must total 8 points; if six characters, then four must total 7 points and the others must total 6 points.


Using "Falco" as an example:

Individual Fields describe a broad area of expertise. Central tasks (e.g., Gunnery, Piloting, Sensor Operation) are made as trained rolls with full skill bonus. Fringe tasks normally associated with other skills (paperwork, repairs) are made as trained rolls but without any skill bonus. Field tasks which somehow relate to the character's Shared Skill (e.g., firing a 'Mech weapon carried like a giant pistol) receive the Shared Skill bonus as an additional bonus.

Shared Skills are basic training common to every character on the sheet (e.g., all four characters "Drive" as a 2-point trained roll). They also indicate the strongest attributes of each individual character. Any untrained roll which relies on the same attributes as one of that individual's Shared Skills receives the Shared Skill's points as a bonus (e.g., Small Arms requires steady hands and good eyes, so "Falco" gets a 2-point bonus when catching a thrown object, which also relies on steady hands and good eyes).

Background skills represent the characters' upbringing, affiliations, hobbies, or other specialized fields of knowledge. Social class or geography/climate indicate familiarity with associated culture and survival skills; affiliation skills represent knowledge of culture, language, and specific social hierarchy. Ridiculous future sports, future pop media genres, and specialized careers (gastroenterology, archaeology) are background too.

Resources indicate the quality of equipment all characters receive for any Shared Skill any character has, and the quality of equipment individual characters receive for their own Individual Fields. (E.g., all four characters receive a 1 point medkit and 1 point survival kit; "Falco" alone receives a 4 point 'Mech.)

2 points of skill is equivalent to "Green" MechWarrior skill.
4 points of skill is equivalent to "Regular" MechWarrior skill.
6 points of skill is equivalent to "Veteran" MechWarrior skill.
8 points of skill is equivalent to "Elite" MechWarrior skill.

[Edit: "Advanced Field" and "Basic Skills" renamed to "Individual Fields" and "Shared Skills," respectively.]