Sergeant Jarec Tobin, Guard Outrider, with WIP bike rules

[Koval]

Background for this guy will be a secondary concern, I'm afraid, because I'm far more interested in getting some working bike rules that are simpler than what the old Fanatic Online articles once presented. As such, focus should be on getting the bike rules to work without making them as clunky as in Fanatic Online.

NAME: Jarec Tobin

RANK / AFFILIATION: Sergeant / Pinion Cell (formerly Nova Sagittarian 14th Field Artillery)

MODEL: linky

PHYSICAL STATS:
Date of Birth: (4)015977.M41
Place Of Birth: Nova Sagittar, Segmentum Pacificus (Tempestus border zone)
Gender: Male
Height: 170cm
Weight: 60kg

BRIEF BACKGROUNDY BIT:
Private Tobin had never really fitted into an artillery regiment. His high performance in assault drills always raised eyebrows among his instructors, yet physically he was the weakest man in his battery; his eyesight and attention to detail were the envy of his crewmates, but his trajectory calculations were always off; he could put a lasbolt through a gretchin's eyeball at seventy yards from the back of a moving truck, but given a mortar and a stationary target he would hit everything except what he was supposed to be shelling. It therefore came as little surprise to his superiors that upon Tobin's eventual promotion to Lance Corporal, he signed up for special training as a recon trooper and left the battery behind for good.

Tobin's new role as an outrider proved to be a far more suitable match for his abilities, and he quickly proved to be better on top of a scout bike than behind the big guns of his old battery. On Corseul Tertius, he alerted Regimental Command to Orkish flankers about to blindside Delta Battery; in the Sevash system, Tobin's unit fed coordinates to Alpha Battery's Basilisks and brought a mine crashing down on top of an enemy supply line; during the Komnian Revolts, Tobin braved enemy fire in hostile terrain and raced through enemy-held city streets in order to bring an encrypted data-slate to command and allow Inquisitor Haines to cripple the Midnight Brotherhood.

Following a relatively routine operation on Canderous Prime, Tobin -- now a Sergeant -- received a summons, sent in the name of an Inquisitor Osmond Johm. Although the Inquisitor himself was not present upon Tobin's arrival, men claiming to be Johm's operatives informed him that the Inquisitor had become aware of his apparent talents and wanted to recruit him. Tobin had little choice but to go along with it; after all, one hardly turns down the Imperial Inquisition -- though he found, and still finds, himself wondering exactly why an Inquisitor whom he has yet to meet would single him out for no obvious reason. If it were as simple as needing a mounted scout, then Tobin might as well have been one of many, but Tobin does not believe it to be that simple and remains privately suspicious of his new employer's motives.


WS BS S  T  I  Wp Sg Nv Ld
51 64 50 52 63 59 47 58 56

Handedness: Right

Equipment: Sagittar-pattern heavy laspistol with two reloads, combat blade (as sword*), flak armour (AV 2 on head, AV 3 on all other locations), comm headset, Sagittar Mark VIa combat bike.

Skills and Talents: Quick Draw

*I'm going by what the model's holding, and he's currently holding something that's long enough to be a sword. So, it's a sword.

Sagittar-pattern heavy laspistol: As utilitarian and unassuming in design as the ordinary service model (and, in fact, distinguished outwardly from the lesser model only by the addition of a high-power setting and its mass), these weapons are issued to officers and units for whom the laspistol is expected to be a primary weapon rather than a mere sidearm. The weapon's more powerful lasing chamber and blueshift-modulated emitter afford it much greater stopping power and better armour-penetrative qualities than standard service pistols, at the cost of a greater power draw from the charge cell.
The Sagittar heavy laspistol is constructed using a military magazine, a blueshift muzzle, a mid-length barrel, a 21MT lasing chamber, a Triplex-pattern generator, a standard grip and a standard frame. It has the following profile:
Type   Range   Mode    Acc    Dam    Shots  Reload  Wt
Pistol   J    Sg/Sm(2)  -    3D6-2     20      2    17

Low Recoil (LR): This weapon has little to no recoil, making rapid fire significantly more accurate. For the purposes of firing on Semi or Full modes, there is a +10% accuracy bonus. For example, Semi (3) would only confer a -20% to hit, not -30%.
[...]
Light AP: Reduces target armour by one third (rounding the reduction down)
[...]
Low power is the option presented in the profile. Mid power is at +2 Damage, but double ammunition use.

Mark VIa combat bike: See bike rules below.
The Mark VIa has Toughness 65, AV 7 on the body, and AV 2 on the wheels. It is equipped with a bio-scanner, a vid-recorder, a headlamp, and a modified Sagittar-pattern service lasgun (military magazine, mid-length barrel, standard muzzle, 18MT lasing chamber, Mars-pattern generator, standard frame, no need for stock) with the following profile:
Type   Range     Mode     Acc    Dam     Shots  Reload  Wt
Basic    J    Sg/Sm(2/3)  +5    2D6+2     100      X    X
The profile already accounts for the weapon being mounted.


---

The Bike
Many Rough Riders within the Imperial Guard ride bikes rather than horses into battle, either for reasons of logistics, upkeep, or simply because their homeworld does not have horses or analogous creatures. Some regiments adopt bike-mounted soldiers as forward reconnaissance units or outriders, better equipped to scout ahead of their unit and report back to their command section on enemy movements and numbers. Bikes also see use among the Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Arbites, and civilian markets, as they are valued for their speed and mobility compared with larger ground vehicles.

The following rules assume that the rider is male for the sake of simplicity (and to tie in with Sergeant Tobin), though there is no reason why the rider cannot be female or of another sex.

Bike Movement
-Basic Movement: Bikes have three movement rates: Combat Speed (up to 8 yards), Cruising Speed (up to 16 yards), and Flat Out (up to 24 yards).
-Unless the rider spends an action stopping the bike, or stopped the bike in a previous turn, he must spend at least one of his actions moving.
-It takes one action to stop the bike. Bikes that last moved at Combat Speed may stop immediately; if the bike was moving at Cruising Speed, it moves D6 yards forwards before coming to a halt. Bikes that last moved Flat Out must spend a further action slowing to Combat Speed before stopping.
-Turning: Bikes moving at Combat Speed may turn up to 90 degrees per action. Bikes moving at Cruising Speed may turn up to 45 degrees per action; the rider may test Initiative to raise this to a 90 degree turn. Bikes moving Flat Out may turn up to 45 degrees if the rider passes an Initiative test. Failing a turning test means that the bike swerves, scattering D3 yards (at the end of the move) and forfeiting the rider's next action as he fights to regain his balance.
-Difficult Terrain: Moving at Cruising Speed or Flat Out over difficult terrain is considered a Risky Action; if failed, the rider must pass an Initiative test (at -20 if moving Flat Out) or forfeit his next action in order to maintain his balance.
-Dismounting: Getting off the bike takes one action. If the bike is moving, this requires an Initiative test, with a negative modifier equal to the bike's current movement rate. Assume the bike crashes if the rider attempts to dismount while it is still in motion. Keep in mind that if the rider passes his Initiative test, he himself ignores the effects of crashing; if he fails, then the bike crashes as normal (with him still on it).
-Obstacles: If the bike collides with a solid object such as a tree or a wall, or a sufficiently large body of water (not puddles or shallow streams, though a pond would be acceptable), it crashes immediately, but neither moves nor scatters as the obstacle has arrested its movement. At the GM's discretion the rider may be flung through the air in addition to taking crash damage.
-As a corollary to the above rule, bikes can neither climb nor swim.

Bikes and Shooting
-Personal weapons: Riders may shoot their own weapons as if on foot, but must keep one hand on the handlebars. Note that if the bike last moved at Cruising Speed, there is a -10 penalty to the rider's To-Hit roll; if the bike was moving Flat Out instead, this becomes a -30 penalty.
-Mounted Weapons: Any weapons mounted on the bike itself are assumed to be operated by a handlebar trigger (unless otherwise specified), using the rider's BS. Unlike with the rider's own weapons, there is no to-hit penalty for the bike's speed, and in fact the weapons count as rested; however, mounted weapons may benefit from only one level of aiming, and may fire only forwards.
-Mounted weapons double their Shots value (it is assumed that the built-in magazines are simply larger than more portable magazines) but may not be reloaded during the course of the game.
-Off-hand penalties do not apply when firing a mounted weapon. (Designer's note: The weapon is fixed onto the front and doesn't much care how you work the trigger, although it is advised that the rider does not try to operate the trigger with his head.)

Bikes and Close Combat
-Riders wishing to enter close combat may either slow to Combat Speed and attack normally, or make a Hit-and-Run attack (once per turn) if moving at Cruising Speed or Flat Out.
-When making a Hit-and-Run attack, the bike needs to be able to trace a line through the rider's target, in effect moving straight through the target character.
-To resolve a Hit-and-Run attack, first move the bike into contact with the rider's target. The rider may use either his own close combat weapons, or the bike itself, to deliver the Hit-and-Run attack, rolling to hit and rolling for damage as normal (note that although this is technically a combined action, there is no combined-action penalty). After delivering the attack, the bike completes the remainder of its move. The defender may make an Initiative test (at -20 if the bike is moving Flat Out) to dodge the Hit-and-Run attack.
-If using the bike itself to deliver the Hit-and-Run attack, the bike deals 3 points of damage, plus 1D6 for every three points of the bike's BIV, or part thereof, if moving at Cruising Speed. This becomes every two points or part thereof instead if moving Flat Out (Designer's note: Having a couple of hundred kilograms of bike slamming into you at high velocity is going to hurt...)
-Bikes have a 20% chance of crashing on contact with the target if using themselves as a Hit and Run weapon.
-Characters using spears or similar blade-on-stick type weapons (not axes) deal automatic Critical Hits on a Hit-and-Run. (Designer's note: Bike jousting!)

Bikes and Damage
-Bikes have Toughness and Armour just like their riders. They therefore have a BIV and a Consciousness value as well. However, bikes ignore System Shock and Knockback.
-If a bike takes enough damage to bring it above its Consciousness value, the bike is taken out of action and crashes immediately. If the bike ever takes enough damage to bring its Injury total above its Toughness, it catches fire, crashes, and is destroyed.
-Bikes are large targets. Characters attacking a bike add +30 to their To-Hit roll. However, if the bike moved at Cruising Speed or Flat Out, the rider gains the Dodge skill for as long as the bike is moving at that speed.
-Attacks against the rider have a 60% chance of hitting the bike instead. If a shot hits the bike, there is a further 25% chance of hitting the closest wheel; other shots hit the bike's body. Bike locations have four Injury levels: Light, Heavy, Serious, and Wrecking.
-The body has the following Injury chart:
--Light: No effect, although the rider may have to spend time after the game redoing the bike's paintwork.
--Heavy: Reduce the bike's body armour by 2 points.
--Serious: Resolve a single hand flamer hit against the rider's leg (randomise which) as something overheats. The bike may no longer move Flat Out, and any attempts to move at Cruising Speed have a 25% chance of adding D6 to the bike's Injury total through overheating.
--Wrecking: Resolve a frag grenade explosion directly underneath the character as the bike bursts into flames; the first location hit will always be the character's groin (Designer's note: the bike is exploding beneath him...). If he survives, he has a 50% chance of catching fire (dealing 2D6+4 damage). The bike then crashes and is destroyed.
-The wheels have the following Injury chart:
--Light: Reduce the wheel's armour by 1 point.
--Heavy: Reduce movement by a quarter (Combat 6, Cruising 12, Flat Out 18)
--Serious: Moving Flat Out, and moving across difficult terrain at any speed, become Risky Actions; if failed, the rider must forfeit his next action.
--Wrecking: The wheel blows out and the bike crashes immediately.

Crashing
-Obviously, bikes cannot crash if they are stationary -- they fall over instead.
-If the bike was moving at Combat Speed when it crashed, the rider falls off. Move the bike forward D6 yards without the rider. The rider takes D6 points of damage to a random location, and furthermore, is prone.
-If the bike was moving at Cruising Speed when it crashed, move bike and rider forwards by D10 yards each; both bike and rider then scatter D6 yards (separately). The rider takes 2D6 points of damage to D3-1 locations (to a minimum of one), and the bike adds D6 to its own Injury total. The rider is now prone and stunned for D3 turns.
-If the bike was moving Flat Out when it crashed, move bike and rider forwards by 2D10 yards each; both bike and rider then scatter 2D6 yards (separately). The rider takes 3D6 points of damage to D3 locations, and the bike adds 2D6 to its own Injury total. If the rider survives, he is now prone and stunned for D6 turns.
-In all cases of crashing, the rider is assumed to have fallen off the bike.
-If the bike crashes as a result of the bike's own movement or from a bungled Hit-and-Run attack, the bike does not actually crash until it reaches the obstacle or target character in question.
-It takes a Strength test at -30 to right a crashed bike.

Other
-Awareness: Some bikes have headlamps. A bike with a headlamp halves all Awareness penalties for low light conditions when testing to see things in front of them. Conversely, a bike with a headlamp is more visible, and anything in front of the bike halves all low-light Awareness penalties when testing to see the bike.
-Bike engines can normally be heard from a distance of five times their current movement rate. For the purposes of hearing, stationary counts as Combat Speed.
-Riders themselves take a negative penalty equal to the bike's movement rate to hear anything that isn't coming over a vox channel, as bike engines tend to be rather noisy.
-Special Movement: Bikes may jump only off an incline -- for example, a stunt ramp. As bikes do not have Strength values, assume jump distances to be half the bike's current movement rate.
-The Rider: If the rider needs to test Toughness to avoid being stunned, he may test Willpower instead if his Willpower is higher. However, should the rider become stunned, the bike crashes.
-Riders cannot fall prone while on a bike; ignore anything that tells them to go prone while they are on the bike.
-While mounted, the rider is immune to Knockback.
-If the rider should go out of action for any reason, the bike crashes.
-Riders and Balance: If the rider needs to forfeit an action in order to regain his balance (for example, from turning badly), yet the rider has no more actions to forfeit, then the rider is simply on -1 action next turn instead.
-Special Injury Rules: Bikes do not make Recovery tests, nor are they affected by psychic powers with restorative effects (such as Regenerate); repairing them takes place outside the scope of a game.
-Bikes ignore Blood Loss (as they have no blood to lose) and cannot be stunned, though the same cannot be said of their riders.
-Haywire grenades and similar effects cause bikes to crash instantly.
-Obviously, bikes are mechanical (the powers of Chaos notwithstanding) and are therefore affected by Machine Empathy and similar powers.


---


I'm mostly looking to make the bike rules sensible, so please let me know if there are ways of condensing what I've written into something more manageable.

[Gilleon]

Very nice Koval, can't see anything immediately wrong but I think I will have to test it out. Shouldn't that be Colonel Tobin though. 

[Koval]

Probably, but I just liked the name Tobin and wasn't thinking about KOTOR 2 at the time.

[MarcoSkoll]

As realistic as the bike having a top speed of 32 yards an action might be, it's not practical. Even at the normal 28mm ground scale (1/2" per yard), a decent action roll would get him from one side of the table to the other in one turn - not exactly great for "capture" scenarios where he can zoom in to the objective in turn 1 and then ride off-table with it in turn 2.

I'd suggest a maximum speed of 16 would be more than enough of a bonus over the foot sloggers to make him mostly uncatchable. Even then, I'd consider adding in a rule he can only turn 45 degrees per action* such that he can't be zipping around at that speed when turning tight corners.**

*Unless, of course, he wants to try some skid-turns to let him turn 90 degrees - but obviously with a risk, and forcing him down to a lower speed anyway.
** That said, if you included this, including a super high speed is possible, as it wouldn't be usable most of the time.

I'll type up some ideas I've got later, see how they turn out.

[Koval]

Thanks for pointing out the turning thing -- I'm surprised I hadn't spotted my omission of that earlier.

I've dropped Flat Out down to 24 yards and added some things about turns. Flubbing a fast turn means crashing, and seeing as I've just given Flat Out a few more ways to crash (for example, going over difficult ground), I think the nastiness of crashing mitigates the bike's potential speed over open terrain.

EDIT: Apparently, adding sub-headings within each section makes the bike rules look less cluttered.

EDIT EDIT: At present, there are at least five* ways to crash while moving, one way to crash while shooting, one way to crash while making close combat attacks, at least four** ways to crash through taking damage, and two ways to crash through special effects. Good thing there's an incentive to go slower ("go too fast and you turn into a red mess on the road")

*Not counting extra ways to crash through damage effects.
**Not counting damage to the rider taking him out of action.

[MarcoSkoll]

I think the nastiness of crashing mitigates the bike's potential speed over open terrain.

Experience has taught me that "glass cannon" is a poor balancing method in Inquisitor - a high likelihood of both extreme success and failure only ensures that the character will be a damp squib as far as game excitement.
They either do really well and never give their opponents a chance... or do really badly and never give their opponents a challenge.

As such, while I'd certainly keep crashing very dangerous (although I might just simplify it to use falling damage rules, perhaps D10 yards per current "level" of speed), I'd also tempted to reduce the likelihood of it and have some intermediate "failures" instead - like him having to swerve to try and regain balance, losing speed (although you'd have to integrate some kind of acceleration mechanic for this to be detrimental, I admit) or such like.

However, on the other end of things, I think your current bike damage rules do make it a little resistant to small arms fire. The body takes 14 points of damage to do even a single damage level. I get that it's meant to be armoured, but that'd shrug off even the battle rifles from the Revised Armoury as often as not.
I'd be tempted to revert to normal damage rules, but give it a mite more armour and more injury levels.

[Koval]

I think the nastiness of crashing mitigates the bike's potential speed over open terrain.

Experience has taught me that "glass cannon" is a poor balancing method in Inquisitor - a high likelihood of both extreme success and failure only ensures that the character will be a damp squib as far as game excitement.
They either do really well and never give their opponents a chance... or do really badly and never give their opponents a challenge.

As such, while I'd certainly keep crashing very dangerous (although I might just simplify it to use falling damage rules, perhaps D10 yards per current "level" of speed), I'd also tempted to reduce the likelihood of it and have some intermediate "failures" instead - like him having to swerve to try and regain balance, losing speed (although you'd have to integrate some kind of acceleration mechanic for this to be detrimental, I admit) or such like.

I'll have a bit of a play around with the rules, then, and work in some non-crash failures -- using the turning/swerving thing as an example, I don't want to overcomplicate things with acceleration mechanics, so I may take Speed in terms of existing game mechanics and have him on -1 action next turn.

However, on the other end of things, I think your current bike damage rules do make it a little resistant to small arms fire. The body takes 14 points of damage to do even a single damage level. I get that it's meant to be armoured, but that'd shrug off even the battle rifles from the Revised Armoury as often as not.
I'd be tempted to revert to normal damage rules, but give it a mite more armour and more injury levels.

I might steal "Just A Flesh Wound" if I'm reverting to normal Injury rules. Again, I'll have a play and see how it looks in the rules.


EDIT: I've removed the offending line in the Injury rules and given it an extra Injury level (oddly enough, Serious, which moves everything upwards and means Light can be our "superficial" box). However, I've decided not to alter the Mark VIa's Toughness or Armour (though I can see a heavier combat-bike having something like T75 and AV8 body/AV3 wheels)

Bikes also crash less often now, and I've tried to standardise crash damage to go up in more or less the same increments as the bike's speed. Instead of some of the crashes when you move, there's now a "regain balance" mechanic where you simply lose your next action, though of course you still crash if you go face-first into a tree...