Power Armor and Riding Mechs
Power Armor
While obvious, and in most cases illegal, Power-armor can provide the ultimate level of combat utility. Linked with its user through a trode-ring or cyberjack, power-armor allows its wearer to interface with a VI and become a battle machine.
Power armor is constructed like a mech but worn by a human user. When worn, it augments the user's physical stats and skills with its own, by adding one-half of it's own values to the total used . Thus, a human with 6 strength, and 6 brawling skill, wearing power armor with the same, would be treated as having 9 strength and 9 brawling. Power armor is incompatible with magical augmentations to skills. Power Armor has it's own armor rating and damage condition monitor, as per a mech. When the armor's condition reaches a D (stun or physical) it becomes nonfunctional, and as a lot of bulky deadweight, ceases to provide augmentation, adds 1/3rd of it's rating to the user's physical TN's, and penalizes it's wearer's strength and quickness by 1/3rd of it's rating.
Getting into a suit of power armor takes a base time of 5 minutes, this time may be reduced by making a Knowledge (Power Armor) check at TN 4 and dividing the time by the number of successes.
Removing Power Armor takes 1 minute, although this time may be similarly shortened with a TN 4 Knowledge (Power Armor) check.
Power armor can be outfitted with shields, as per a mech, but due to the armor being armor, the wearer must choose to use either their personal, shields or the armor's, one unit must be deactivated.
Power armor cannot be worn over armor with a concealability of less than 12.
Power Armor costs 1.5 times the cost of an equivalent Mech, and has an availability of (Armor's rating x2)+3/ 2xRating days
Power Armor has no concealability
Power-armor Addons
Power armor can receive upgrades available to mechs or armor, as well as the following:
Quick Release
This allows the wearer to shed the armor as a simple action
Price: ¥5,000
Lightweight
This removes the suits hardened-armor characteristics, but also halves the penalties for wearing a disabled suit.
Price: ¥1,000
Unenclosed
Suits with this feature have no Hardened-armor characteristics or, in most cases,separate condition monitor from their users, they are treated as having an armor value equal to their rating for the purposes of stacking armor. Unenclosed suits impose only flat +1 or -1 penalties if worn unpowered, they can be attacked with called shots, in which case their condition monitor may become relevant.
Price: negative ¥5,000 or half the armor's cost, whichever is less.
Cyberjack Hookup
This add-on provides Cyberjack users with additional combat pool dice equal to ½ their computers skill.
Price: ¥1,000
Riding Mechs
Riding Mechs are treated as Vehicles, and their equipped VIs can operate them independently of their pilots. A Riding Mech is simply a Mech with a cockpit, or a vehicle with a VI. The VI can operate on its own initiative, using its own skills, or the pilot can operate the vehicle manually, on his initiative, using his own skills; there is also a third option, operating in Tandem mode. When operating in tandem, the VI an Pilot synchronize to the lower of their 2 initiatives, but ½ of the weaker user's skill ranks are added to the stronger user's for the purposes of skill rolls, and either operator's perks may be used.
Initiating manual or automatic mode requires a simple action on the part of the pilot. In most designs, the VI can be emergency disengaged, this can be done as a simple action, or out of turn as a TN 6 computers or quickness test. Emergency disengagement of a VI does not initiate manual mode.
Vehicle Shields do not interfere with personal shields.
Mechs with enclosed cockpits continue to provide full cover and/or concealment to their pilots even after the mech has been disabled, unless a called shot to the cockpit has inflicted the disabling physical, wound in which case they provide only a +2 cover modifier.
Adding VIs to vehicles is covered in the Mechs and VIs section. Adding an open cockpit to a mech costs ¥5,000. Adding an Enclosed cockpit costs ¥10,000, and requires that the mech be at least one
size category larger than the intended occupant.
