Combining/Transforming Mecha

[Ratix]

It seems a lot of builds I'm interested in call for heroes with super vehicles (or vehicular super modes) that combine or transform in some way. I started this thread to discuss the possibilities to make this possible.

The simplest scenario is a single hero mecha (basically the vehicle as a super mode) that combines with other vehicles to access various powers. For my Grendizer and GaoGaiGar conversions, I simply used a multi-power, with each power gained from combining with a different vehicle/character, with a Limitation: Combine with "X" vehicle/character. These other vehicles would then be other super vehicles or characters; while combined, they're effectively out of play, becoming a part of the main vehicle, until they split up again.

For a singular transforming mecha, it's still simple enough; just have one or more multi-powers with each power used in a different form. The act of transforming becomes flavor text for switching between the different powers.

Where things get tricky is when you introduce two or more lesser vehicles that combine to form a single, super robot. Think Power Rangers, Voltron, and Getter Robo; it would be simple enough if they had one pilot, but these mecha typically have a crew consisting of all the main characters, meaning it'd suck to have just one person pilot it while the rest have to sit out the battle.

How would people handle the powers and actions of such an arrangement? Using Super Vehicle complicates this even more, but even if all the vehicles are the characters' super modes, there doesn't seem to be any precedent for combining characters into one.

Do you just treat it as a teamwork action, taking the best ratings of everyone involved when performing attacks, and forgo the hero die reward since it's a standard action for the team? How is damage against the heroes handled?

[AslanC]

Hmmmm.... this is a good question.

BASHMAN?

[BASHMAN]

BASH! Sci-Fi has rules for combining mecha (and an entire section on the Mecha pilots genre). I'll look up some of that stuff and post it on here later today.

[BASHMAN]

This is a genre of gigantic robots known as Mecha and the people
who pilot them, most commonly seen in Japanese Anime. Often,
with big eyes and wild hair, these Mecha-pilots tend to be struggling
in some galactic war with another power also using Mecha. A
group of Heroes who pilot Mecha make 2 characters. The first
character is their Hero, the Mecha pilot. The second character they
get to design is the Mecha itself. In this genre, Mecha tend to be 119 119
Science Fiction Genres
highly individualized, seldom are any two the same—at least those
piloted by Heroes and Villains. The mass-produced Mecha tend
to be piloted by minions—and in fact, act as minions, even though
they may be 100’ tall!

Mecha & Vehicles do work differently in BASH! Sci-Fi than they do in BASH! UE- so there are special rules for how characters fighting at personal scale interact with vehicle scale giant robots, ships, etc.

Here's something from the "Mecha Advantages" section:

Ultra-Mecha: One interesting aspect in the Mecha-Pilot genre
is the team of Mecha that can combine to form some super-Me-
cha. The television shows Voltron and Power Rangers are both
examples of this. This advantage must be taken by all the Mecha
that form components of the larger Mecha to be created. When
this advantage is taken, it enables the Mecha in question to form
into a specific Ultra-Mecha—it cannot combine with just any Mecha
that has this advantage.
When designing the Mecha, the full-sized “ultra-Mecha” will have
all of the powers of its combined components! As it uses these
powers, it expends energy from the component that supplied the
power, essentially giving it a separate energy pool per component
Mecha. It will also have the benefit of added size. To figure the
final size of an Ultra-Mecha, Add 1 to its largest component part.
This makes it possible to have Mecha that are larger than normally
possible.
An Ultra-Mecha’s stats are determined in the following way. The component with the best Brawn is used as the Brawn of the entire
Ultra-Mecha. The component with the worst Agility is used as the
Agility of the entire Ultra-Mecha. The component with the best
Mind is used as the Mind of the entire Ultra-Mecha (“and I’ll form
the head”). In addition to all this, An Ultra-Mecha also has 5 extra
power points, and can buy extra Advantages/Disadvantages that
only manifest while in Ultra-Mecha mode.
When an Ultra-Mecha performs a task that requires a dice roll, the
player controlling the Hero who is piloting that part of the Ultra-
Mecha makes the roll. So if the Ultra-Mecha attacks with its blazing
sword, the Hero piloting the sword-arm would make the attack and
damage rolls.
Ultra-Mecha defense rolls are made by whoever is piloting the legs.
If more than one person is piloting the legs, both people roll, and
the worse result is taken (it is difficult to coordinate motion in this
way).
Ultra-Mecha do not have Hits on their own—they are the sum of
their parts. Thus, an Ultra-Mecha with 5 size 1 parts would have
100 Hits per part. Enemies fighting an Ultra-Mecha can target any
one of the component parts they choose with an attack with no
penalties to the roll. However, all the parts of the Ultra-Mecha gain
the benefit of the Ultra-Mecha’s size increase (somehow, forming
into one big Mecha makes all the parts more effective).