Mechamorphosis

Ya know, I was digging around in my collections of gaming stuff. Books from a games gone by, maps of a different time, and character sheets I'd rather not go over again (oh the horror of our first characters!). And I found this book I had completely forgotten I'd even picked up. Made by Fantasy Flight Games - yes, the folks who are currently making the Star Wars RPG everybody loves - and it's Mechamorphosis. The name is a bit of a mouthful, but it's actually a neat game. Unfortunately, you need the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook or d20 Modern book to use it properly, but on it's own it's got plenty of rules and such you could probably get away with just the Mechamorphosis book on it's own. I haven't seen this thing in almost a decade - I'd forgotten I even owned it. And now I remember why I bought it - A) it was $5, and B) it's really just Transformers with the serial numbers filed off, and only barely did they do that. Looking at the top notch art, you do get a sense of awesome, and it does invoke feelings of the original toys box art, and that's cool. The setting they put in the book is neat and would probably come in handy, but really I think most of us would just run a Transformers game. And that is cool, but that's not why I'm here. Presently, I don't have any plans to run this game, but since I'm converting some creatures from Pathfinder to Star Wars Saga Edition, why not recreate a couple of vehicles into a transformer mechamorph? So we'll do that.

First, a few things need to be decided. I think these guys should be treated as similar to droids. Sizes match up almost as you need them, with Mechamorphosis having 1 or two additional sizes that SWSE doesn't have, and we can easily scale if we need to. I want these guys to be sentient (or is it sapient?) like many of the other species. If a crystal can be an adventurer, then so can these guys. I am going to have to use 3 sets of rules to acomplish this. A)The Starship building rules for vehicles, B) the Droid creation rules for it's robot form, and lastly C) some rules from Mechamorphosis to get it to work right. I don't want to get too heavy into kitbashing this work, though. Essentially it'll be a droid that can transform with some special rules thrown on for balancing.

What rules need to be borrowed? Well, I think the Droid and Starship rules are fine for building each mode, with a slight alteration. Where it begins to break down is gear and damage against non-trans...er, non-mechamorphs. Gear is, I think, easy.  Basically, we'll borrow a rule from Mechamorphosis in that both modes have slots for gear. This includes weapons, equipment, and the like. Call them EP or whatever, the point is we only have so much space to get gear installed. If we want to use weapons in vehicle mode, your gonna have to dedicate slots to that. I'll try to show this as we build one. Next is damage, and this is more of a hang up for me. The simplest method is simply to say that damage is damage. In vehicle mode it does vehicle scale damage, in droid mode it does character scale damage. This is the easiest, as it keeps the rules the same as for regular characters as well. I think some feats and abilities might be converted, but we'll see. Depends on how I feel after this small foray into this conversion.

For this Exercise in Conversions, I am going to attempt to make 3 seperate characters. It's a bit of a load, but it'll be worth it I think. We are going to make 3 classics - a TIE fighter, an X-Wing starfighter and an R2-series Astromech. True, I could use the stock one form the book, but this is meant to be the transforming version, so I'm going recreate it. Plus, it gives us a chance to build a companion/minion/follower/link/whatever.

Names:
Overload
Blastover
Particle
Twindrive

Overload CL 4
Gargantuan droid (4th-degree) non heroic 12
Init +8; Senses Perception + 13
Languages Basic, Binary
Defenses Ref 16 (flat-footed 14). Fort 13, Will 10
hp 40; SR 20; Threshold 18
Immune droid traits
Speed 2 squares (walking). 10 squares (wheeled)
Melee unarmed +12 (ld4+3)
Ranged 2 laser cannons + 11 (3d8) or
Ranged 2 laser cannons +9 (4d8) with Rapid Shot or
Ranged 2 laser cannons +6 (5d8) with Burst Fire
Fighting Space 2x2; Reach 1 square
Base Atk +9; Grp +17
Atk Options autofire (laser cannons). Burst Fire, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con -, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 7
Feats Armor Proficiency (light). Burst Fire, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Dual Weapon Mastery I, Dual Weapon Mastery II, Weapon Proficiency (heavy weapons, rifles, simple weapons)
Skills Perception + 13, Stealth -3
Systems walking locomotion, wheeled locomotion (exclusive). remote
receiver, 2 tool appendages, shield generator (SR 20). integrated
comlink, bronzium shell (+5 armor; treat as quadanium plating)
Possessions 2 laser cannons (treat as blaster rifles)
Availability Military; Cost 21,000 credits

Overload, Incom T-658 X-wing Starfighter CL 10
Gargantuan starfighter
Init +7; Senses Perception +6
Defense Ref 18 (flat-footed 12). Fort 26; +7 armor
hp 120; DR 10; SR 15; Threshold 46
Speed fly 16 squares, fly 4 squares (starship scale)
Ranged laser cannons +5 (see below) or
Ranged proton torpedoes +5 (see below)
Fighting Space 4x4 or 1 square (starship scale); Cover total (pilot). +5 (astromech droid)
Base Atk +2; Grp +33
Atk Options autofire (laser cannons)
Abilities Str 42, Dex 22, Con -, Int 16
Skills Initiative +7, Mechanics +6 (+ 13*). Perception +6 (+3*). Pilot +7,
Use Computer +6 (+ 13*)
Crew 1 plus astromech droid (skilled); Passengers none
Cargo 110 kg; Consumables 1 week; Carried Craft none
Payload 6 proton torpedoes
Hyperdrive x l, 10-jump memory (astromech droid)
Availability Military; Cost 150,000 (65,000 used)
* If the ship has an astromech droid, use these skill modifiers instead.

Laser cannons (pilot)
Atk +5 (+0 autofire). Dmg 6d10x2
Proton torpedoes (pilot)
Atk +5, Dmg 9dlOx2, 4-square splash

Blastover  CL 0
Small droid (2nd-degree) non heroic 2
Init +3; Senses darkvision; Perception +3
Languages Basic, Binary, 2 unassigned
Defenses Ref 13 (flat-footed 11). Fort 8, Will 10
hp 7; Threshold 8
Immune droid traits
Speed 6 squares (wheeled). 4 squares (walking). 9 squares (flying)
Melee electroshock probe +0 (ld8 ion)
Fighting Space 1 square; Reach 1 square
Base Atk +1; Grp-4
Abilities Str 9, Dex 14, Con -, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 7
Feats Skill Focus (Mechanics, Use Computer). Skill Training (Perception).
Toughness, Weapon Proficiency (simple weapons)
Skills Mechanics + 13, Perception +3, Pilot +8, Stealth +6, Use Computer + 13
Systems wheeled locomotion, walking locomotion, flying locomotion (limited). magnetic feet, heuristic processor, 6 tool appendages, 1 claw appendage, diagnostics package, internal storage (2 kg). improved sensor package, darkvision
Possessions astrogation buffer (storage device, 10 memory units), circular saw, electroshock probe, fire extinguisher, electric arc welder, holorecorder, holoprojector
Availability Licensed; Cost 4,500 credits

Blastover, R2 Series Astromech Droid  CL 0
Small droid (2nd-degree) non heroic 2
Init +3; Senses darkvision; Perception +3
Languages Basic, Binary, 2 unassigned
Defenses Ref 13 (flat-footed 11). Fort 8, Will 10
hp 7; Threshold 8
Immune droid traits
Speed 6 squares (wheeled). 4 squares (walking). 9 squares (flying)
Melee electroshock probe +0 (ld8 ion)
Fighting Space 1 square; Reach 1 square
Base Atk +1; Grp-4
Abilities Str 9, Dex 14, Con -, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 7
Feats Skill Focus (Mechanics, Use Computer). Skill Training (Perception).
Toughness, Weapon Proficiency (simple weapons)
Skills Mechanics + 13, Perception +3, Pilot +8, Stealth +6, Use Computer + 13
Systems wheeled locomotion, walking locomotion, flying locomotion (limited). magnetic feet, heuristic processor, 6 tool appendages, 1 claw appendage, diagnostics package, internal storage (2 kg). improved sensor package, darkvision
Possessions astrogation buffer (storage device, 10 memory units), circular saw, electroshock probe, fire extinguisher, electric arc welder, holorecorder, holoprojector
Availability Licensed; Cost 4,500 credits

Twindrive CL 4
Large droid (4th-degree) non heroic 12
Init +8; Senses Perception + 13
Languages Basic, Binary
Defenses Ref 16 (flat-footed 14). Fort 13, Will 10
hp 40; SR 20; Threshold 18
Immune droid traits
Speed 2 squares (walking). 10 squares (wheeled)
Melee unarmed +12 (ld4+3)
Ranged 2 laser cannons + 11 (3d8) or
Ranged 2 laser cannons +9 (4d8) with Rapid Shot or
Ranged 2 laser cannons +6 (5d8) with Burst Fire
Fighting Space 2x2; Reach 1 square
Base Atk +9; Grp +17
Atk Options autofire (laser cannons). Burst Fire, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con -, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 7
Feats Armor Proficiency (light). Burst Fire, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Dual Weapon Mastery I, Dual Weapon Mastery II, Weapon Proficiency (heavy weapons, rifles, simple weapons)
Skills Perception + 13, Stealth -3
Systems walking locomotion, wheeled locomotion (exclusive). remote
receiver, 2 tool appendages, shield generator (SR 20). integrated
comlink, bronzium shell (+5 armor; treat as quadanium plating)
Possessions 2 laser cannons (treat as blaster rifles)
Availability Military; Cost 21,000 credits


Twindrive, TIE Fighter  CL 7
Huge starfighter
Init +8; Senses Perception +6
Defense Ref 15 (flat-footed 11), Fort 22; +3 armor
HP 60; DR 10; Threshold 32
Speed fly 16 squares, fly 5 squares (starship scale)
Ranged laser cannons +4 (see below)
Fighting Space 3x3 or 1 square (starship scale); Cover total
Base Atk +2; Grp +24
Atk Options autofire (laser cannons)
Abilities Str 34, Dex 18, Con -, Int 14
Skills Initiative +8, Mechanics +6, Perception +6, Pilot +8
Crew 1 (skilled); Passengers none
Cargo 65 kg; Consumables 2 days; Carried Craft none
Availability Military; Cost 60,000 (25,000 used)

Laser cannons (pilot)
Atk +4 H autofire). Dmg 4d10x2