Macross Frontiers Mecha Combat Rules
1. Macross Frontiers will be using Palladium Rules used in GSR. These are slightly modified rules from previous games or official Palladium Rules.
2. There are four basic actions: strike, parry, dodge and roll with impact. Each will use one (1) action each.
3. Strike is the attacking action in a round. The attacker or GM will roll one twenty-sided die (1d20) to resolve a strike, adding bonuses from Mecha Combat, HTH, PP and missiles. A roll of 1-4 is an automatic miss, while a 5 or higher is an automatic hit. To defend against a strike is to use a dodge (including leap dodges) or parrying the attack. Each strike, whether a single shot or missile, or burst of a gunpod or volley of missiles, costs one (1) action.
4. Critical Strikes are strike rolls on an unmodified “20” – a dice roll of 20 without any bonuses added yet – or the critical strike rolls allowed by Hand-To-Hand training. Any critical strike will do double damage to a target. (Note: Critical Strikes cannot be declared – it only happens depending on the dice roll for the strike)
5. All strikes that hit automatically strike the main body of a target, except for called shots.
6. Called shots are strikes that shoot a specific area of a target’s body. This is done be clearly announcing in a strike roll what part of the target to hit before a strike roll is made. Once a shot is “called”, a strike roll is determined normally. However, a roll of 12 or higher is needed for a called shot to be successful, and a target can defend against a called shot normally by dodging or parrying. Some parts of a target's body is so small that certain penalties to strike will be applied - see the descriptions of the various mecha for details.
7. Dodge is the primary defense against a strike. A defender must roll 1d20 to match or better the attacker’s strike roll, adding bonuses from Mecha Combat, HTH and PP. A successful dodge means the defender has avoided the attack and takes no damage. A failed roll means the defender failed to evade the attack and takes damage. Dodges uses up one (1) action per dodge.
8. Leap Dodges are a special kind of dodge available to some (not all) Variable Fighters. They are automatic actions and does not use actions per round. However, they are less effective than standard dodges and do not benefit from dodge bonuses from Mecha Combat, Hand-To-Hand or PP.
9. Parry is a special defensive move available to defenders. One can attempt to block any successful attacks targeted at him using a shield, defensive barrier or a combination of both. The defender rolls 1d20 to match or better an opponents strike – a successful parry would divert the damage of the strike to the shield, defensive barrier or combination of both. In the absence of a shield, defenders can use the arm or shoulder actuators of the Variable Fighter to absorb the damage, but any extra damage once the arm or shoulder are destroyed is transferred to the main body.
10. Rolling with a Punch, Fall or Impact is a saving throw to minimize damage from successful strikes. Roll with Impact can be resolved by rolling 1d20, and matching or doing better than an attacker’s strike roll. A successful Roll with Impact with cut by half any damage the defender takes. This is an automatic action and does not use actions per round.
11. Always remember to post automatic actions (parries, roll with impact, leap dodges) at the end of action posts. Some VFs have Pin Point Barriers (PPB - energy shields) than can be used to parry attacks up to a certain number of damage attacks. Indicate the intention to parry with PPBs in the automatic actions.
12. Variable Fighters can mechamorph into three different modes – Jet/Fighter, Gerwalk, Soldier/Battroid/Battloid. To transform between modes uses up one (1) action each. A variable fighter can switch modes in as many times as the number of actions its pilot can do in one (1) melee round.
13. Variable Fighters can carry additional missiles on their wings. A variable fighter with missiles still on their wings cannot transform from Fighter or Gerwalk to Battloid mode – only Fighter to Gerwalk and vice versa. The VF must fire all of its wing mounted missiles before it can transform to Battloid mode. Each transformation of modes cost one (1) action to complete.
14. Variable Fighters can be equipped with FAST augmentation packs, and some VFs carry missiles internally in missile bays in the legs or any torso part. These VF can transform between Fighter or Gerwalk and Battloid without restriction, but still use one (1) action per switch of modes.
15. A Variable Fighter can attack as many targets as the number of actions its pilot have in one (1) melee round.
16. Conventional Guided Missiles are the standard missiles used by Variable Fighters, be it in the short, medium or long-ranged categories. They have an additional bonus of +3 to strike, and they include standard mini-missiles.
17. High Maneuverability Missiles are the newest advancement in missile technology. They have an additional bonus of +5 to strike and +4 to dodge, and can attack a target twice (2x), giving it an extra attack should it miss the first time. HMMs include Bifors’ All-Environment High Maneuverability Mini-Missiles and Bifors’ Medium Ranged HMMs.
18. Missiles are fired in volleys of one (1) or more missiles, depending on the Variable Fighter. Each volley uses one (1) strike action per volley. A volley can only attack one (1) target per volley. To attack multiple targets a pilot must fire a separate volley and strike roll for each. A failed strike roll for a volley means all the missiles of the volley missed its target.
19. A Variable Fighter can defend against a missile volley by dodging against them, shooting them down or parrying them with a shield, defensive barrier or a combination of both. If hit, the pilot can attempt a roll with impact to minimize the damage.
20. A Variable Fighter can dodge as many missiles as the number of actions its pilot has in one (1) melee round. Any excess number should be dealt with leap dodges (if possible), parried or shot down (a counterstrike – use one (1) action per strike). For example, a pilot with ten (10) actions in a round can dodge a total of ten (10) missiles for that round.
21. A Variable Fighter can shoot down up to three (3) missiles aimed at him per round, at the cost of one (1) strike roll PER missile, not volley. However a successful strike roll with one missile will detonate 5d4 missiles in the volley, minimizing the number of missiles aimed at him, or destroying the entire volley, depending on the original number of missiles fired at the defender.
22. Any mecha whose main body is depleted of MDC is considered destroyed. However, most mecha have ejection systems to save a pilot from death. The pilot must roll another successful leap dodge roll against the strike roll that destroyed them mecha to be able to eject safely. A failed leap dodge roll means the ejection system failed and the pilot is dead. Pilots of power armor units have no ejection systems available and cannot eject.
