Playing the Game
There are three aspects to gameplay in Mobile Suit Gundam as there are in Dungeons & Dragons; using abilities, adventuring, and combat. In this section we’ll outline each of those phases in detail, but if you’re familiar with Fifth Edition D&D rules, you’ll likely only need this section for reference purposes in specific cases.
Using abilities and making Skill Checks is the way we introduce a rate of success and failure in the challenges characters will face outside of combat. It makes up the majority of the time spent when not roleplaying or fighting and has drastic consequences for the narrative you’re building. Put simply, using abilities is any time the players must roll dice that aren’t for the purposes of making an attack.
Pilot vs Mobile suit scores
It may be a bit surprising to see that characters can have the same Ability Score and Modifiers as a Mobile Suit. This is done for ease of Saving throw DC’s otherwise Mobile Suits would need to be passing DC’s upwards of 50. A Mobile Suits +1 is nowhere near the same scale as a persons +1. Even if a Mobile Suit has a +0 and a character has +5 they still wouldn’t be able to compete against said Mobile Suit.
Advantage And Disadvantage
Sometimes a special ability or power tells you that you have advantage or disadvantage on an ability check, a saving throw, or an attack roll. When that happens, you roll a second d20 when you make the roll. Use the higher of the two rolls if you have advantage, and use the lower roll if you have disadvantage. For example, if you have disadvantage and roll a 17 and a 5, you use the 5. If you instead have advantage and roll those numbers, you use the 17.
If multiple situations affect a roll and each one grants advantage or imposes disadvantage on it, you don’t roll more than one additional d20. If two favorable situations grant advantage, for example, you still roll only one additional d20.
If circumstances cause a roll to have both advantage and disadvantage, you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20. This is true even if multiple circumstances impose disadvantage and only one grants advantage or vice versa. In such a situation, you have neither advantage nor disadvantage.
You usually gain advantage or disadvantage through the use of special abilities, actions, or talents. Inspiration can also give a character advantage. The GM can also decide that circumstances influence a roll in one direction or the other and grant advantage or impose disadvantage as a result.
Proficiency Bonus
Characters have a proficiency bonus determined by level, as detailed in the character creation section. Enemies can also have this bonus, which is incorporated in their stat blocks. The bonus is used in the rules on ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls.
Your proficiency bonus can’t be added to a single die roll or other number more than once. For example, if two different rules say you can add your proficiency bonus to a Wisdom saving throw, you nevertheless add the bonus only once when you make the save.
Occasionally, your proficiency bonus might be multiplied or divided (doubled or halved, for example) before you apply it. If a circumstance suggests that your proficiency bonus applies more than once to the same roll, you still add it only once and multiply or divide it only once.
By the same token, if a feature or effect allows you to multiply your proficiency bonus when making an ability check that wouldn’t normally benefit from your proficiency bonus, you still don’t add the bonus to the check. For that check your proficiency bonus is 0, given the fact that multiplying 0 by any number is still 0. For instance, if you lack proficiency in the History skill, you gain no benefit from a feature that lets you double your proficiency bonus when you make Intelligence (History) checks.
In general, you don’t multiply your proficiency bonus for attack rolls or saving throws. If a feature or effect allows you to do so, these same rules apply.
Ability Checks
An ability check tests a character’s innate talent and training in an effort to overcome a challenge. The GM calls for an ability check when a character attempts an action (other than an attack) that has a chance of failure. When the outcome is uncertain, the dice determine the results.
For every ability check, the GM decides which of the six abilities is relevant to the task at hand and the difficulty of the task, represented by a Difficulty Class. The more difficult a task, the higher its DC. The Typical Difficulty Classes table shows the most common DCs.
Typical Difficulty Classes
| Task Difficulty | DC |
| Very Easy | 5 |
| Easy | 10 |
| Medium | 15 |
| Hard | 20 |
| Very Hard | 25 |
| Nearly Impossible | 30 |
To make an ability check, roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier. As with other d20 rolls, apply bonuses and penalties, and compare the total to the DC. If the total equals or exceeds the DC, the ability check is a success–the character overcomes the challenge at hand. Otherwise, it’s a failure, which means the character or creature makes no progress toward the objective or makes progress combined with a setback determined by the GM.
Contests
Sometimes one character’s efforts are directly opposed to another’s. This can occur when both of them are trying to do the same thing and only one can succeed, such as attempting to snatch up a rifle that has fallen on the floor.
This situation also applies when one of them is trying to prevent the other one from accomplishing a goal–for example, when an enemy tries to force open a door that a pilot is holding closed. In situations like these, the outcome is determined by a special form of ability check, called a contest.
Both participants in a contest make ability checks appropriate to their efforts. They apply all appropriate bonuses and penalties, but instead of comparing the total to a DC, they compare the totals of their two checks. The participant with the higher check total wins the contest. That character or creature either succeeds at the action or prevents the other one from succeeding.
If the contest results in a tie, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest. Thus, one contestant might win the contest by default. If two characters tie in a contest to snatch a ring off the floor, neither character grabs it. In a contest between a monster trying to open a door and an adventurer trying to keep the door closed, a tie means that the door remains shut.
Passive Checks
A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn’t involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden door.
Here’s how to determine a character’s total for a passive check:
10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the check
If the character has advantage on the check, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5. The game refers to a passive check total as a score.
For example, if a 1st-level character has a Wisdom of 15 and proficiency in Perception, he or she has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 14.
Working Together
Sometimes two or more characters team up to attempt a task. The character who’s leading the effort–or the one with the highest ability modifier–can make an ability check with advantage, reflecting the help provided by the other characters. In combat, this requires the Help action.
A character can only provide help if the task is one that he or she could attempt alone. For example, trying to open a lock requires proficiency with a slicing kit, so a character who lacks that proficiency can’t help another character in that task.
Moreover, a character can help only when two or more individuals working together would actually be productive. Some tasks, such as threading a needle, are no easier with help.
Group Checks
When a number of individuals are trying to accomplish something as a group, the GM might ask for a group ability check. In such a situation, the characters who are skilled at a particular task help cover those who aren’t.
To make a group ability check, everyone in the group makes the ability check. If at least half the group succeeds, the whole group succeeds.
Otherwise, the group fails. Group checks don’t come up very often, and they’re most useful when all the characters succeed or fail as a group.
Saving Throws
A saving throw–also called a save–represents an attempt to resist a talent, a trap, a poison, a disease, or a similar threat. You don’t normally decide to make a saving throw; you are forced to make one because your character is at risk of harm.
To make a saving throw, roll a d20 and add the appropriate ability modifier. For example, you use your Dexterity modifier for a Dexterity saving throw.
A saving throw can be modified by a situational bonus or penalty and can be affected by advantage and disadvantage, as determined by the GM.
The Difficulty Class for a saving throw is determined by the effect that causes it. For example, the DC for a saving throw allowed by a talent is determined by the Newtype’s Talent ability and proficiency bonus.
The result of a successful or failed saving throw is also detailed in the effect that allows the save. Usually, a successful save means that a character suffers no harm, or reduced harm, from an effect.
Skill Checks
Each ability covers a broad range of capabilities, including skills that a character can be proficient in. A skill represents a specific aspect of an ability score, and an individual’s proficiency in a skill demonstrates a focus on that aspect.
For example, a Dexterity check might reflect a character’s attempt to pull off an acrobatic stunt, to palm an object, or to stay hidden. Each of these aspects of Dexterity has an associated skill: Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, respectively. So a character who has proficiency in the Stealth skill is particularly good at Dexterity checks related to sneaking and hiding.
Each ability covers a broad range of capabilities, including skills that a character or an enemy NPC can be proficient in. A skill represents a specific aspect of an ability score, and an individual’s proficiency in a skill demonstrates a focus on that aspect. (A character’s starting skill proficiencies are determined at character creation, and an enemy’s skill proficiencies appear in the enemy’s stat block.)
The skills related to each ability score are shown in the following list. (No skills are related to Constitution.) See an ability’s description in the later sections for examples of how to use a skill associated with an ability.
Strength
- Athletics (running, lifting, feats of strength)
Dexterity
- Acrobatics (jumping, tumbling, vaulting obstacles)
- Sleight of Hand (performing small actions undetected)
- Stealth (moving undetected)
Intelligence
- Computer Use (interacting with digital systems)
- Repair (maintaining and salvaging machinery)
- History (knowledge of historical events and culture)
- Investigation (uncovering hidden items or information)
- Nature (knowledge of the outdoors)
Wisdom
- Drive (operating vehicles, horses, or mobile weapons)
- Insight (detecting motives or truthfulness)
- Medicine (treating wounds)
- Perception (observation, noticing surroundings)
- Survival (scavenging, resourcefulness)
Charisma
- Deception (lying or misleading)
- Intimidation (coercing or bullying)
- Persuasion (convincing or encouraging)
- Performance (speaking, singing, acting, & more)
Time
In situations where keeping track of the passage of time is important, the GM determines the time a task requires. The GM might use a different time scale depending on the context of the situation at hand. In an enemy stronghold environment, the adventurers’ movement happens on a scale of minutes. It takes them about a minute to creep down a long hallway, another minute to check for traps on the door at the end of the hall, and a good ten minutes to search the chamber beyond for anything interesting or valuable.
In a city or colony, a scale of hours is often more appropriate. Adventurers eager to reach the next objective may travel between districts in a matter of hours.
For long journeys, a scale of days works best. Traveling from Jaburo to Odessa the adventurers spend four uneventful days before a Zeon ambush interrupts their journey.
In combat and other fast-paced situations, the game relies on rounds, a 6-second span of time.
Movement
The GM can summarize the adventurers’ movement without calculating exact distances or travel times: “You travel through the forest and find the Federation base late in the evening of the third day.” Even in a stronghold, particularly a large facility or a cave network, the GM can summarize movement between encounters: “After destroying the Guncannons at the entrance to the Federation HQ, you consult your schematics, which lead you through miles of echoing corridors to a chasm bridged by a narrow steel bridge”
Sometimes it’s important, though, to know how long it takes to get from one spot to another, whether the answer is in days, hours, or minutes. The rules for determining travel time depend on two factors: the speed and travel pace of the characters moving and the terrain they’re moving over.
Speed
Every character and mobile suit has a speed, which is the distance in meters that the character can walk or meters that a mobile suit can travel in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation. The following rules determine how far a character or mobile suit can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.
Travel Pace
While traveling, a group of pilots can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace. A fast pace makes characters less perceptive, while a slow pace makes it possible to sneak around and to search an area more carefully.
Forced March. The Travel Pace assumes that characters travel for 8 hours a day. They can push on beyond that limit, at the risk of exhaustion.
Difficult Terrain
Adventurers often face dense forests, deep swamps, rubble-filled ruins, steep mountains, and ice-covered ground–all considered difficult terrain.
You move at half speed in difficult terrain, so you can cover only half the normal distance in a minute, an hour, or a day.
Special Types Of Movement
Long range travel requires the use of a cargo ship. Every ship has either space or atmospheric flight capabilities and its own movement speed. This is the most common type of travel between key locations.
Activity While Traveling
As adventurers travel through a colony or the wilderness on Earth, they need to remain alert for danger, and some characters might perform other tasks to help the group’s journey.
Marching Order
The adventurers should establish a marching order. A marching order makes it easier to determine which characters are affected by traps, which ones can spot hidden enemies, and which ones are the closest to those enemies when a fight breaks out.
Stealth
While traveling at a slow pace, the characters can move stealthily. As long as they’re not in the open, they can try to surprise or sneak by other characters they encounter. See the rules for hiding in the Using Ability Scores section.
Noticing Threats
Use the passive Wisdom (Perception) scores of the characters to determine whether anyone in the group notices a hidden threat. The GM might decide that a threat can be noticed only by characters in a particular rank. For example, as the characters are exploring a maze of tunnels, the GM might decide that only those characters in the back rank have a chance to hear or spot a stealthy enemy following the group, while characters in the front and middle ranks cannot.
While traveling at a fast pace, characters take a –5 penalty to their passive Wisdom (Perception) scores to notice hidden threats.
Encountering Enemies. If the GM determines that the adventurers encounter other enemies while they’re traveling, it’s up to both groups to decide what happens next. Either group might decide to attack, initiate a conversation, run away, or wait to see what the other group does.
Surprising Foes. If the adventurers encounter a hostile character or group, the GM determines whether the adventurers or their foes might be surprised when combat erupts. See the Combat section for more about surprise.
Other Activities
Characters who turn their attention to other tasks as the group travels are not focused on watching for danger. These characters don’t contribute their passive Wisdom (Perception) scores to the group’s chance of noticing hidden threats. However, a character not watching for danger can do one of the following activities instead, or some other activity with the GM’s permission.
Navigate. The character can try to prevent the group from becoming lost, making a Land Knowledge or Colony Knowledge check when the GM calls for it.
Draw a Map. The character can draw a map that records the group’s progress and helps the characters get back on course if they get lost. No ability check is required.
Track. A character can follow the tracks of another character or group, making an Investigation check when the GM calls for it.
Forage. The character can keep an eye out for ready sources of food, water or supplies, making a Salvage check when the GM calls for it.
Environment
By its nature, adventuring involves delving into places that are dark, dangerous, and full of mysteries to be explored. The rules in this section cover some of the most important ways in which adventurers interact with the environment in such places.
Falling
A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a character takes 1d4 bludgeoning damage for every 10 m it fell, to a maximum of 20d4. The character lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
A mobile suit takes 4d6 bludgeoning damage for every 60 meters it falls, to a maximum of 20d6 The mobile suit lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
Suffocating
A character can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds).
When a character runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round). At the start of its next turn, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying, and it can’t regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again.
This is most likely to happen when a colony is depressurized, or a pilot is outside their mobile suit underwater or in space.
Vision And Light
The most fundamental tasks of adventuring–noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a talent, to name just a few–rely heavily on a character’s ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, characters have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
A heavily obscured area–such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage–blocks vision entirely. A character effectively suffers from the blinded condition when trying to see something in that area unless aided by radar.
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most characters see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do colony mirrors, spotlights, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.
Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a flashlight, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit cavern or a subterranean vault, or the void of space in absence of spotlights.
Food And Water
Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.
Food
A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.
A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
Water
A character needs one gallon of water per day, or two gallons per day if the weather is hot. A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.
If the character already has one or more levels of exhaustion, the character takes two levels in either case.
Interacting With Objects
A character’s interaction with objects in an environment is often simple to resolve in the game. The player tells the GM that his or her character is doing something, such as moving a lever, and the GM describes what, if anything, happens.
For example, a character might decide to pull a lever, which might, in turn, open a hatch, cause an airlock to decompress, or open a secret door in a nearby wall. If the lever is rusted in position, though, a character might need to force it. In such a situation, the GM might call for a Strength check to see whether the character can wrench the lever into place. The GM sets the DC for any such check based on the difficulty of the task.
Characters can also damage objects with their weapons and talents. Objects are immune to psychic damage, but otherwise they can be affected by physical and ballistic attacks much like characters and mobile suits can.
The GM determines an object’s Evasion Rate and hit points, and might decide that certain objects have resistance or immunity to certain kinds of attacks. (It’s hard to cut a rope with a club, for example.) Objects always fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws, and they are immune to effects that require other saves. When an object drops to 0 hit points, it breaks.
Social Encounters
Exploring colonies, overcoming obstacles, and slaying enemies are key parts of Gundam adventures. No less important, though, are the social interactions that adventurers have with other inhabitants of the world.
Interaction takes on many forms. You might need to convince an unscrupulous spy to confess to some malfeasance, or you might try to flatter an enemy officer so that she will spare your life. The GM assumes the roles of any characters who are participating in the interaction that don’t belong to another player at the table. Any such character is called a nonplayer character (NPC).
In general terms, an NPC’s attitude toward you is described as friendly, indifferent, or hostile. Friendly NPCs are predisposed to help you, and hostile ones are inclined to get in your way. It’s easier to get what you want from a friendly NPC, of course.
Social interactions have two primary aspects: roleplaying and ability checks.
Roleplaying
Roleplaying is, literally, the act of playing out a role. In this case, it’s you as a player determining how your character thinks, acts, and talks.
Roleplaying is a part of every aspect of the game, and it comes to the fore during social interactions. Your character’s quirks, mannerisms, and personality influence how interactions resolve.
There are two styles you can use when roleplaying your character: the descriptive approach and the active approach. Most players use a combination of the two styles. Use whichever mix of the two works best for you.
Descriptive Approach to Roleplaying
With this approach, you describe your character’s words and actions to the GM and the other players. Drawing on your mental image of your character, you tell everyone what your character does and how he or she does it.
When using descriptive roleplaying, keep the following things in mind:
- Describe your character’s emotions and attitude.
- Focus on your character’s intent and how others might perceive it.
- Provide as much embellishment as you feel comfortable with.
Don’t worry about getting things exactly right. Just focus on thinking about what your character would do and describing what you see in your mind.
Active Approach to Roleplaying
If descriptive roleplaying tells your DM and your fellow players what your character thinks and does, active roleplaying shows them.
When you use active roleplaying, you speak with your character’s voice, like an actor taking on a role. You might even echo your character’s movements and body language. This approach is more immersive than descriptive roleplaying, though you still need to describe things that can’t be reasonably acted out.
Results Of Roleplaying
The GM uses your character’s actions and attitudes to determine how an NPC reacts. A cowardly NPC buckles under threats of violence. A stubborn grunt refuses to let anyone badger her. A vain bureaucrat laps up flattery.
When interacting with an NPC, pay close attention to the GM’s portrayal of the NPC’s mood, dialogue, and personality. You might be able to determine an NPC’s personality traits, ideals, flaws, and bonds, then play on them to influence the NPC’s attitude.
Interactions in Gundam are much like interactions in real life. If you can offer NPCs something they want, threaten them with something they fear, or play on their sympathies and goals, you can use words to get almost anything you want. On the other hand, if you insult a proud warrior or speak ill of a noble’s allies, your efforts to convince or deceive will fall short.
Ability Checks
In addition to roleplaying, ability checks are key in determining the outcome of an interaction.
Your roleplaying efforts can alter an NPC’s attitude, but there might still be an element of chance in the situation. For example, your GM can call for a Charisma check at any point during an interaction if he or she wants the dice to play a role in determining an NPC’s reactions. Other checks might be appropriate in certain situations, at your GM’s discretion.
Pay attention to your skill proficiencies when thinking of how you want to interact with an NPC, and stack the deck in your favor by using an approach that relies on your best bonuses and skills. If the group needs to trick a guard into letting them into a base, the Infiltrator who is proficient in Deception is the best bet to lead the discussion. When negotiating for a hostage’s release, the True Newtype with Persuasion should do most of the talking.
Rest
Heroic though they might be, adventurers can’t spend every hour of the day in the thick of exploration, social interaction, and combat. They need rest–time to sleep and eat, tend their wounds, refresh their minds and Newtype energy, and brace themselves for further adventure.
Adventurers can take short rests in the midst of an adventuring day and a long rest to end the day.
Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds. Short rests can be taken anywhere.
Players may choose to expend one or more Hit Dice and Armor Dice at the end of a Short Rest, up to their maximum, which is equal to the character’s level. For each Die spent, the player rolls the Die and adds their Constitution modifier (or Intelligence modifier in the case of Armor Dice). The character regains Hit Points or mobile weapon they are piloting regains Armor Points equal to the total (Minimum 0). You may choose whether to use remaining Hit Dice or Armor Dice after each roll. Expended Hit Dice and Armor Dice are recovered at the end of a Long Rest.
Long Rest
A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity–at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, using talents, or similar adventuring activity–the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.
Long rests must be taken either aboard the party’s ship or in a settlement of some kind. Characters and mobile weapons regain all Hit Points, Hit Dice, Armor Dice and Armor Points, and characters regain all Talent points and abilities granted by feats.
Between Campaigns
Between trips to enemy bases and battles against mobile armors, adventurers need time to rest, recuperate, and prepare for their next adventure. Many adventurers also use this time to perform other tasks, such as crafting arms and armor, performing research, or spending their hard-earned gilla.
In some cases, the passage of time is something that occurs with little fanfare or description. When starting a new adventure, the GM might simply declare that a certain amount of time has passed and allow you to describe in general terms what your character has been doing. At other times, the GM might want to keep track of just how much time is passing as events beyond your perception stay in motion.
Lifestyle Expenses
Between adventures, you choose a particular quality of life and pay the cost of maintaining that lifestyle.
Living a particular lifestyle doesn’t have a huge effect on your character, but your lifestyle can affect the way other individuals and groups react to you. For example, when you lead an aristocratic lifestyle, it might be easier for you to influence the nobles of the city than if you live in poverty.
Downtime Activities
Between adventures, the GM might ask you what your character is doing during his or her downtime. Periods of downtime can vary in duration, but each downtime activity requires a certain number of days to complete before you gain any benefit, and at least 8 hours of each day must be spent on the downtime activity for the day to count. The days do not need to be consecutive. If you have more than the minimum amount of days to spend, you can keep doing the same thing for a longer period of time, or switch to a new downtime activity.
Downtime activities other than the ones presented below are possible. If you want your character to spend his or her downtime performing an activity not covered here, discuss it with your DM.
Crafting
You can craft weapons and equipment, including adventuring equipment and works of art. You must be proficient with tools related to the object you are trying to create. You might also need access to special materials or locations necessary to create it.
For every day of downtime you spend crafting, you can craft one or more items with a total market value not exceeding 1,000 gilla, and you must expend raw materials worth half the total market value. If something you want to craft has a market value greater than 1,000 gilla, you make progress every day in 5,000 gilla increments until you reach the market value of the item. For example, an RGM-79 GM (market value 100k gilla) takes 20 days to craft by yourself.
Multiple characters can combine their efforts toward the crafting of a single item, provided that the characters all have proficiency with the requisite tools and are working together in the same place. Each character contributes 5,000 gilla worth of effort for every day spent helping to craft the item. For example, two characters with the requisite tool proficiency and the proper facilities can craft an RGM-79 GM in 10 days, at a total cost of 100k gilla.
While crafting, you can maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay any gilla per day, or a comfortable lifestyle at half the normal cost.
Upgrading
You can spend downtime to upgrade or modify pieces of equipment and gear that you have. This can range from adding padding to civillian clothes to increase its ac, to modifying your Mobile Suit and its Weapons to gain bonuses or other Features. Talk with your dm about how long your idea may take and what they will need for it. Whether it requires some downtime, Gilla to properly execute, or need some sort of facility.
When it comes to Upgrading Mobile Suits without creating a entire new one it is best to have some drawback to their upgrades. An example would be a player wanting a more Melee focused Zaku II then maybe they lose some movement or take a -1 to all Dexterity based rolls. Work with your DM to see what they are willing to agree to and then see where it goes from there.
Practicing A Profession
You can work between adventures, allowing you to maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay any gilla per day. This benefit lasts as long you continue to practice your profession.
If you are a member of an organization that can provide gainful employment, such as a temple or a spy network, you earn enough to support a comfortable lifestyle instead.
Recuperating
You can use downtime between adventures to recover from a debilitating injury, disease, or poison.
After three days of downtime spent recuperating, you can make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, you can choose one of the following results:
End one effect on you that prevents you from regaining hit points.
For the next 24 hours, gain advantage on saving throws against one disease or poison currently affecting you.
Researching
The time between adventures is a great chance to perform research, gaining insight into mysteries that have unfurled over the course of the campaign.
When you begin your research, the GM determines whether the information is available, how many days of downtime it will take to find it, and whether there are any restrictions on your research (such as needing to seek out a specific individual, tome, or location). The GM might also require you to make one or more ability checks. Once those conditions are met, you learn the information if it is available.
For each day of research, you must spend 2,500 gilla to cover your expenses. This cost is in addition to your normal lifestyle expenses.
Training
You can spend time between adventures learning a new skill or training with a set of tools. Your GM might allow additional training options.
First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The GM determines how long it takes, and whether one or more ability checks are required.
The training lasts for 50 days and costs 500 gilla per day. After you spend the requisite amount of time and money, you learn the new skill or gain proficiency with the new tool.
Mobile Suit Proficiencies
Players may utilize downtime to train in the use of particular mobile suits, weapons, and item types at the game master’s discretion.
Mobile Suit proficiency is required to be able to add your pilot Dexterity modifier to your total Evasion for the mobile suit. Without Proficiency in all tags that are present, you do not add your pilot Dexterity modifier.
Mobile Suit Proficiency Training
Gaining proficiency in a mobile suit type requires spending a certain amount of downtime and resources to achieve. The time needed to train is listed on the table below minus a number of weeks equal to your INT Modifier. When training, you must roll the die in the Success Rate column. On a result of 1, although you still successfully gain proficiency in the selected MS class, you must roll on the Mishap table.
Proficiency Training Table
| MS Tag | Time Required | Capital Cost | Success Rate |
| General | 0 days | 10 gilla | Auto |
| Amphibious | 8 weeks | 15k gilla | 1d12 |
| Variable | 8 weeks | 15k gilla | 1d12 |
| Mobile Armors | 12 weeks | 20k gilla | 1d6 |
| Elite/Custom | 12 weeks | 20k gilla | 1d8 |
| Gundam | 14 weeks | 20k gilla | 1d8 |
| Combat Craft | 2 weeks | 5k gilla | Auto |
Mishap Table
| d6 | Result |
| 1 | Your test machine or instructor are lost. Lose an additional week replacing them. |
| 2 | You are critically injured in training, Lose an additional two weeks recuperating. |
| 3 | A spy observes your training and reports your activities and plans to an enemy. |
| 4 | You are robbed during your training. Lose 1d10 x 500 gilla. |
| 5 | An ally or NPC has taken notice of your new skills and begins to mistrust you. |
| 6 | Your instructor asks for your immediate help dealing with a threat following training. |
Personnel vs Armored Combat
The distinction between combat on the ground versus mobile suit and mobile weapons combat is vital when considering range, damage, and effects.
Armored Combat Ability Scores
When engaging in Armored Combat, mobile weapons have their own Ability Scores for use in Combat. Certain saving throws, attacks, and defense stats are calculated using the mobile weapon’s scores while others are calculated using the ability scores of the pilot character.
Please refer to the table below to determine which Ability Score to use in each given scenario.
| Use | Ability to Use |
| Melee Attack | Mobile Weapon STR Modifier |
| Ranged Attack | Mobile Weapon DEX Modifier |
| Evasion Stat | Pilot Character DEX Modifier |
| Strength Check/Save | Mobile Weapon STR Modifier |
| Dexterity Check/Save | Pilot Character DEX Modifier |
| Constitution Check/Save | Mobile Weapon CON Modifier |
Unless explicitly stated, converting personnel class features is as simple by extending the effective range by a factor of 10. For example, a weapon with a range of 10 m in personnel combat would have a range of 100 m in armored combat.
Order of Combat
Determine surprise. The GM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised.
Establish positions. The GM decides where all the characters and enemies are located. Given the adventurers’ marching order or their stated positions in the room or other location, the GM figures out where the adversaries are–how far away and in what direction.
Roll initiative. Everyone involved in the combat encounter rolls initiative, determining the order of combatants’ turns.
Take turns. Each participant in the battle takes a turn in initiative order.
Begin the next round. When everyone involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends.
Repeat step 4 until the fighting stops.
Surprise
A unit of mobile suits happens upon an enemy camp in the woods. A Newtype mobile armor glides out of the shadows and the party only spots them after an all-range attack. In these situations, one side of the battle gains surprise over the other.
The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each character on the opposing side. Any character or enemy that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.
If you’re surprised, you can’t move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can’t take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren’t.
Initiative
Initiative determines the order of turns during combat. When combat starts, every participant makes a Dexterity check to determine their place in the initiative order. The GM makes one roll for an entire group of identical units, so each member of the group acts at the same time.
The GM ranks the combatants in order from the one with the highest Dexterity check total to the one with the lowest. This is the order (called the initiative order) in which they act during each round. The initiative order remains the same from round to round.
If a tie occurs, the GM decides the order among tied GM-controlled enemies, and the players decide the order among their tied characters. The GM can decide the order if the tie is between an enemy and a player character. Optionally, the GM can have the tied characters and enemies each roll a d20 to determine the order, highest roll going first.
Your Turn
On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed and take one action. You decide whether to move first or take your action first. Your speed–sometimes called your walking speed–is noted on your character sheet.
The most common actions you can take are described in the Actions in Combat section. Many class features and other abilities provide additional options for your action.
The Movement and Position section gives the rules for your move.
You can forgo moving, taking an action, or doing anything at all on your turn. If you can’t decide what to do on your turn, consider taking the Dodge or Ready action, as described in “Actions in Combat.”
Readying an action
Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.
First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the goblin steps next to me, I move away.”
When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.
Bonus Actions
Various class features, talents, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, talent, or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action. You otherwise don’t have a bonus action to take.
You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.
You choose when to take a bonus action during your turn, unless the bonus action’s timing is specified, and anything that deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from taking a bonus action.
Other Activity On Your Turn
Your turn can include a variety of flourishes that require neither your action nor your move.
You can communicate however you are able, through brief utterances and gestures, as you take your turn.
You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to attack.
The GM might require you to use an action for any of these activities when it needs special care or when it presents an unusual obstacle. For instance, the GM could reasonably expect you to use an action to open a stuck door or turn a crank.
Reactions
Certain special abilities, talents, and situations allow you to take a special action called a reaction. A reaction is an instant response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur on your turn or on someone else’s. The opportunity attack, described later in this section, is the most common type of reaction.
When you take a reaction, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn. If the reaction interrupts another character’s turn, that character can continue its turn right after the reaction.
Movement, Position & Range
In combat, characters and enemies are in constant motion, often using movement and position to gain the upper hand.
On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed. You can use as much or as little of your speed as you like on your turn, following the rules here.
Flanking
When a Person/Mobile Suit and at least one ally are within 10 Dam of the same enemy on opposite sides, that enemy is flanked. Each of the creatures flanking has a +1 on melee attacks against it.
For this to work, you need to be precisely opposite with the enemy between you; the aim is to form a straight line through all three creatures.
Both the Party of Players and Npcs can benefit from Flanking.
Breaking Up Your Move
You can break up your movement on your turn, using some of your speed before and after your action. For example, if you have a speed of 60 meters, you can move 20 meters, take your action, and then move 40 meters.
Moving Between Attacks
If you take an action that includes more than one weapon attack, you can break up your movement even further by moving between those attacks. For example, a fighter who can make two attacks with the Extra Attack feature and who has a speed of 60 meters could move 10 meters, make an attack, move 50 meters, and then attack again.
Using Different Speeds
If you have more than one speed, such as your walking speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you’ve already moved from the new speed. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can’t use the new speed during the current move.
Difficult Terrain
Combat rarely takes place in bare rooms or on featureless plains. Dense urban centers, briar-choked forests, treacherous staircases–the setting of a typical fight contains difficult terrain.
Every meter of movement in difficult terrain costs twice its amount. This rule is true even if multiple things in a space count as difficult terrain. The space of another character, whether hostile or not, also counts as difficult terrain.
Being Prone
Combatants often find themselves lying on the ground, either because they are knocked down or because they throw themselves down. In the game, they are prone. You can drop prone without using any of your speed. Standing up takes more effort; doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed.
To move while prone, you must crawl. Every meter of movement while crawling costs 1 extra meter.
Actions in Combat
Making an Attack
Whether you’re striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a talent, an attack has a simple structure.
Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack’s range: an enemy, an object, or a location.
Determine modifiers. The GM determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, talents, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your attack roll.
Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage.
If there’s ever any question whether something you’re doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you’re making an attack roll, you’re making an attack.
Attack Rolls
When you make an attack, your attack roll determines whether the attack hits or misses. To make an attack roll, roll a d20 and add the appropriate modifiers. If the total of the roll plus modifiers equals or exceeds the target’s Evasion Rate, the attack hits. The Evasion Rate of a character is determined at character creation, whereas the Evasion Rate of an enemy is in its stat block.
Modifiers to the Roll
When a character makes an attack roll, the two most common modifiers to the roll are an ability modifier and the character’s proficiency bonus. When an enemy makes an attack roll, it uses whatever modifier is provided in its stat block.
Ability Modifier. The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.
Proficiency Bonus. You add your proficiency bonus to your attack roll when you attack using a weapon with which you have proficiency, as well as when you attack with a talent.
Rolling 1 or 20
Sometimes fate blesses or curses a combatant, causing the novice to hit and the veteran to miss.
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, the attack hits regardless of any modifiers or the target’s Evasion Rate. This is called a critical hit, which is explained later in this section.
If the d20 roll for an attack is a 1, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers or the target’s Evasion Rate.
Unseen Attackers and Targets
Combatants often try to escape their foes’ notice by hiding, using talents, or lurking in darkness.
When you attack a target that you can’t see, you have disadvantage on the attack roll. This is true whether you’re guessing the target’s location or you’re targeting an enemy you can hear but not see. If the target isn’t in the location you targeted, you automatically miss, but the GM typically just says that the attack missed, not whether you guessed the target’s location correctly.
When an enemy can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it. If you are hidden–both unseen and unheard–when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.
Ranged Attacks
When you make a ranged attack, you fire a rifle or machine gun, hurl a shuriken, or otherwise send projectiles to strike a foe at a distance. Many talents also involve making a ranged attack.
Range
You can make ranged attacks only against targets within a specified range.
If a ranged attack, such as one made with a talent, has a single range, you can’t attack a target beyond this range.
Some ranged attacks, such as those made with a beam rifle or machine gun, have two ranges. The smaller number is the normal range, and the larger number is the long range. Your attack roll has disadvantage when your target is beyond normal range, and you can’t attack a target beyond the long range.
Ranged Attacks in Close Combat
Aiming a ranged attack is more difficult when a foe is next to you. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon, a talent, or some other means, you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 10 meterss of a hostile mobile suit who can see you and who isn’t incapacitated.
Melee Attacks
Used in hand-to-hand combat, a melee attack allows you to attack a foe within your reach. A melee attack typically uses a handheld weapon such as a beam saber, a clawed hand, or a heat hawk. A few talents also involve making a melee attack.
Most mobile suits have a 10-meters reach and can thus attack targets within 10 meters of them when making a melee attack. Certain enemies (typically those larger than Medium) have melee attacks with a greater reach than 10 meters, as noted in their descriptions.
Instead of using a weapon to make a melee weapon attack, you can use an unarmed strike: a punch, kick, head-butt, or similar forceful blow (none of which count as weapons). On a hit, an unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes.
Opportunity Attacks
In a fight, everyone is constantly watching for a chance to strike an enemy who is fleeing or passing by. Such a strike is called an opportunity attack.
You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile enemy that you can see moves out of your reach. To make the opportunity attack, you use your reaction to make one melee attack against the provoking enemy. The attack occurs right before the target leaves your reach.
You can avoid provoking an opportunity attack by taking the Disengage action. You also don’t provoke an opportunity attack when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action, or reaction. For example, you don’t provoke an opportunity attack if an explosion hurls you out of a foe’s reach or if gravity causes you to fall past an enemy.
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.
Grappling
When you want to grab an enemy or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you’re able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
The target of your grapple must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Using at least one free hand, you try to seize the target by making a grapple check instead of an attack roll: a Strength check contested by the target’s Strengths or Dexterity check (the target chooses the ability to use). You succeed automatically if the target is incapacitated. If you succeed, you subject the target to the grappled condition. The condition specifies the things that end it, and you can release the target whenever you like (no action required).
Escaping a Grapple. A grappled mobile suit can use its action to escape. To do so, it must succeed on a Strength or Dexterity check contested by your Strength check.
Moving a Grappled Enemy. When you move, you can drag or carry the grappled mobile suit with you, but your speed is halved, unless the mobile suit is two or more sizes smaller than you.
Shoving an Enemy
Using the Attack action, you can make a special melee attack to shove an enemy, either to knock it prone or push it away from you. If you’re able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.
The target must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Instead of making an attack roll, you make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). You succeed automatically if the target is incapacitated. If you succeed, you either knock the target prone or push it 1 [10] meters away from you.
Cover
Walls, buildings, enemies, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.
There are three degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; the degrees aren’t added together. For example, if a target is behind a mobile suit that gives half cover and a building that gives three-quarters cover, the target has three-quarters cover.
Half Cover
A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to Evasion Rate and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body.
Three-Quarters Cover
A target with three-quarters cover has a +5 bonus to Evasion Rate and Dexterity saving throws. A target has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of it is covered by an obstacle.
Total Cover
A target with total cover can’t be targeted directly by an attack or a talent, although some powers can reach such a target by including it in an area of effect. A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.
Shield’s
In G5E shields work differently then they would normally in regular 5e modules. Most units can equip two or more shields at the cost of a arm or sub-arm. Typically one or more This can be circumvented with certain upgrades and such.
Shields are given a pool of Armor Points , as outlined in the table below. When a player is targeted by a successful attack, they may choose to make a Dexterity Saving Throw with a DC of 15. On a successful Save, all damage is dealt to an equipped shield (different shields may have different Armor Points, Threshold, or other damage reducing factors) as opposed to the mobile weapon. When a Shield is reduced to 0 Armor Points, it is destroyed and the mobile weapon loses any bonuses granted by that shield.
| Shield Type | Armor Points |
|---|---|
| Shoulder Shield | 25 |
| Small Shield | 35 |
| Medium Shield | 40 |
| Heavy Shield | 50 |
Mounted Combat
A Sub Flight System (SFS) or appropriately sized Mobile Armor or vehicle with the SFS property can serve as a mount, using the following rules.
Mounting And Dismounting
Once during your move, you can mount a SFS that is within 10 DAM of you or dismount. Doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 50 DAM, you must spend 30 DAM of movement to board a Dodai. Therefore, you can’t mount it if you don’t have 30 DAM of movement left or if your speed is 0.
If an effect moves your mount against its will while you’re on it, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall off the mount, landing prone in a space within 10 DAM of it. If you’re knocked prone while mounted, you must make the same saving throw.
If your mount is knocked prone, you can use your reaction to dismount it as it falls and land on your feet. Otherwise, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space within 10 DAM of it.
Controlling A Mount
While you’re mounted, you have two options. You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Mobile Armors, Variable MS, or fighter planes/tanks act independently.
You can control a mount only if it is an unmanned SFS. Base Jabbers, Shackles, and Dodais are examples of unmanned SFS. The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it.
An independent mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts as it wishes. It might flee from combat, charge an ally, or otherwise act against your wishes.
In either case, if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you’re on it, the attacker can target you or the mount.
Underwater Combat
When making a melee weapon attack, a unit that doesn’t have an amphibious speed has disadvantage on the attack roll unless the weapon has the Submersible property.
A ranged weapon attack automatically misses a target beyond the weapon’s normal range. Even against a target within normal range, the attack roll has disadvantage unless the weapon has the Submersible property.
Targets and objects that are fully immersed in water have resistance to fire damage and suffer twice as much from electric damage.
Damage & Recovery
Injury and the risk of death are constant companions of those who explore the war-torn world of Gundam. The thrust of a beam saber, a well-placed rocket, or a barrage of funnels all have the potential to damage, or even destroy, the hardiest of mobile suits.
Armor Points
Armor points represent a mobile suit’s durability. Mobile suits with more hit points are more difficult to take down. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.
Hit Points
Hit points represent a character’s toughness. Characters with more hit points are more difficult to take down. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.
A mobile suit’s current armor points can be any number from the armor point maximum down to 0. This number changes frequently as a mobile suit takes damage or receives repair.
Whenever a mobile suit takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its armor points. The loss of armor points has no effect on a mobile suit’s capabilities until the mobile suit drops to 0 hit points.
Threshold
Threshold represent a Mobile Weapons ability to take damage. Mobile Weapons with more armor can take on more damage. Those with less durable armor are receive more damage when they are hit.
Whenever a mobile suit takes damage, that damage is subtracted by its Threshold. Resistances and any other damage reducing abilities are calculated after Threshold is taken into account.
Damage Rolls
Each weapon, talent, and harmful enemy ability specifies the damage it deals. You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target.
With a penalty, it is possible to deal 0 damage, but never negative damage.
When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier–the same modifier used for the attack roll–to the damage. A talent tells you which dice to roll for damage and whether to add any modifiers.
If a talent or other effect deals damage to more than one target at the same time, roll the damage once for all of them.
Critical Hits
When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice for the attack’s damage against the target. Roll all of the attack’s damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal. To speed up play, you can roll all the damage dice at once.
Damage Resistance
Some mobile suits and objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.
If a mobile suit or an object has resistance to a damage type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a mobile suit or an object has vulnerability to a damage type, damage of that type is doubled against it.
Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage.
Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance.
Dropping To 0 Armor Points
When you drop to 0 armor points, you are either killed or your mobile suit is rendered disabled, as explained in the following sections.
Eject Saves
One of the key differences between D&D 5E and Mobile Suit Gundam is death. In lieu of the well-known Death Saves mechanic, this RPG utilizes a two-part Eject Save mechanic to represent first your ability to save your mobile suit, and secondly to get out of your mobile suit if it should be destroyed, thus living to fight another day.
Certain feats and mobile suit upgrades, such as Core Fighter, can grant automatic successes on these saving throws, or even allow you to continue fighting. These are great insurance policies against losing your mobile suit or at least reliably escaping a mobile suit that is destroyed.
Saving The Mobile Suit
When your mobile suit drops below 0 Armor Points, your machine is disabled. On your next turn begins the Eject Save process.
First, you make a single DC 10 INT saving throw to determine whether you can stabilize your machine or not. On a success, you stabilize your machine. Your Armor Points remain at 0 and you may not take any actions until an ally can repair your mobile suit. On a failure, you remain disabled.
On your next turn, you make a second DC 10 INT saving throw. On a success, you stabilize your machine. Your Armor Points remain at 0 and you may not take any actions until an ally can repair your mobile suit. On a failure, you remain disabled.
This process is similar to Shiro Amada quickly trying to reboot his Gundam EZ-8 after suffering damage in the final episode of Gundam 8th MS Team.
Overkill
When damage reduces you to 0 Armor Points and there is damage remaining, your mobile suit explodes and you are killed if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your Armor Point maximum.
Ejecting
If you have your first two saving throws, unfortunately your mobile suit cannot be saved. You must eject to survive.
On your third turn after being disabled, you must make a DC 10 DEX saving throw to hit the eject button and escape your exploding mobile suit. On a success you may place your character 30 meters in any direction away from your mobile suit. On a failure, you are caught in the blast and killed.
Unless you have a means of transportation, your movement speed outside of a mobile suit is 10 meters. An ally can come rescue you or you can flee back to your warship.
Taking Damage While Disabled
If you take any damage while you have 0 Armor Points, you suffer a Eject Saving Throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, your mobile suit explodes and you are killed.
Stabilizing An Allied Mobile Suit
The best way to save an ally with 0 hit points is to repair it with a patch kit or ability. If repair is unavailable, the mobile suit can at least be stabilized so that it isn’t destroyed by a failed saving throw.
You can use your action to attempt to stabilize it, which requires a successful DC 10 Repair skill check.
Requisitioning A New Mobile Suit
If you are unlucky enough to lose a mobile suit, it’s not the end of the world, but you lose any weapons and upgrades your mobile suit was equipped with. To continue campaigning, you’ll need to get a new mobile suit and weapons.
You can store up to 3 total mobile suits for your character on a warship, allowing you to keep backups to avoid this scenario.
In the Equipment sections you will find the prices and prerequisites to obtain high level mobile suits.
If you cannot afford a specific mobile suit or simply want to start fresh, the Federation and Zeon provide Mass Production model Mobile Suits to recruits free of charge.
If you are affiliated with a Federation group, you may take an RGM-79 GM armed with a beam saber and bullpup machine gun.
If you are affiliated with a Zeon group, you may take an MS-06 Zaku II armed with a heat hawk and 90mm machine gun.
If you are affiliated with the TITANS group, you may take an
Dropping To 0 Hit Points
When you drop to 0 hit points, you are rendered unconscious and proceed to Death Saving Throws as in D&D 5e.
Falling Unconscious
If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious. This unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points.
Death Saving Throws
Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw. Unlike other saving throws, this one isn’t tied to any ability score.
Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see below). On your third failure, you die. The successes and failures don’t need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind. The number of both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable.
Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.
Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.
Instant Death
Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.
For example, a pilot outside of his mobile suit has 10 HP and an enemy Zaku II lands a hit with a Raketeen Bazooka dealing a total of 24 points of explosive damage. The pilot is, like our dear friend Bernie Wiseman, hamburger.
Stabilizing A Person
The best way to save a person with 0 hit points is to heal them. If healing is unavailable, the person can at least be stabilized so that they aren’t killed by a failed death saving throw.
You can use your action to administer first aid to an unconscious person and attempt to stabilize them, which requires a successful DC 10 Medicine check.
A stable person doesn’t make death saving throws, even though they have 0 hit points, but they do remain unconscious. The person stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again, if they take any damage.
Recovering Hit/Armor Points
Certain talents and items allow you to recover Hit Points in combat. The exact amount of recovery is listed by those powers and items.
Short Rest
Players may choose to expend one or more Hit Dice and Armor Dice at the end of a Short Rest, up to their maximum, which is equal to the character’s level. For each Die spent, the player rolls the Die and adds their Constitution modifier (or Intelligence modifier in the case of Armor Dice). The character regains Hit Points or mobile weapon they are piloting regains Armor Points equal to the total (Minimum 0). You may choose whether to use remaining Hit Dice or Armor Dice after each roll. Expended Hit Dice and Armor Dice are recovered at the end of a Long Rest.
Long Rest
Long rests must be taken either aboard the party’s ship or in a settlement of some kind. Characters and mobile weapons regain all Hit Points, Hit Dice, Armor Dice and Armor Points, and characters regain all Talent points and abilities granted by feats.
Warships
Warships usually carry enough spare parts to repair its current Mobile Suit/Mobile Armor compliment. Whenever a Warship is in combat it can deploy and withdraw units depending on its situation. For every Round that a Mobile Suit or Mobile Armor or Combat Craft is in a hangar after sustaining damage. They heal one of their hit dices. It costs the Warship an Action when deploying to and from a Warship
Conditions alter a target’s capabilities in a variety of ways and can arise as a result of a talent, a class feature, an attack, or other effect. Most conditions, such as blinded, are impairments. But a few, such as invisible, can be advantageous.
A condition lasts either until it is countered (the prone condition is countered by standing up, for example) or for a duration specified by the effect that imposed the condition.
If multiple effects impose the same condition on a target, each instance of the condition has its own duration, but the condition’s effects don’t get worse. A target either has a condition or doesn’t.
The following definitions specify what happens to a target while it is subjected to a condition.
Blinded
A blinded target can’t see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight. Attack rolls against the target have advantage, and the target’s attack rolls have disadvantage.
Charmed
A charmed target can’t attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful abilities or effects. The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the target.
Disabled
A disable mobile weapon is incapacitated, can’t move or act. The target drops whatever it’s holding and falls prone. The target automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the target have advantage. Any attack that hits the target is a critical hit if the attacker is within 10m of the target.
Deafened
A deafened target can’t hear and automatically fails any ability check that requires hearing.
Exhaustion
Some special abilities and environmental hazards, such as starvation and the long-term effects of freezing or scorching temperatures, can lead to a special condition called exhaustion. Exhaustion is measured in six levels. An effect can give a target one or more levels of exhaustion, as specified in the effect’s description.
| Level | Effect |
| 1 | Disadvantage on ability checks |
| 2 | Speed halved |
| 3 | Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws |
| 4 | Hit point maximum halved |
| 5 | Speed reduced to 0 |
| 6 | Death |
If an already exhausted target suffers another effect that causes exhaustion, its current level of exhaustion increases by the amount specified in the effect’s description. A target suffers the effect of its current level of exhaustion as well as all lower levels. For example, a target suffering level 2 exhaustion has its speed halved and has disadvantage on ability checks. An effect that removes exhaustion reduces its level as specified in the effect’s description, with all exhaustion effects ending if a target’s exhaustion level is reduced below 1. Finishing a long rest reduces a target’s exhaustion level by 1, provided that the target has also ingested some food and drink. Also, being raised from the dead reduces a target’s exhaustion level by 1.
Frightened
A frightened target has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight. The target can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear.
Grappled
A grappled target’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed.
The condition ends if the grappler is incapacitated (see the condition). The condition also ends if an effect removes the grappled target from the reach of the grappler or grappling effect, such as when a target is hurled away.
Incapacitated
An incapacitated target can’t take actions or reactions.
Invisible
An invisible target is impossible to see without the aid of special skills or equipment. For the purpose of hiding, the target is heavily obscured. The target’s location can be detected by any noise it makes or any tracks it leaves. Attack rolls against the target have disadvantage, and the target’s attack rolls have advantage.
Malfunctioning
A malfunctioning mobile weapon has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
Paralyzed
A paralyzed target is incapacitated (see the condition) and can’t move or speak. The target automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the target have advantage. Any attack that hits the target is a critical hit if the attacker is within 1 [10] meters of the target.
Poisoned
A poisoned character has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
Prone
A prone target’s only movement option is to crawl, unless it stands up and thereby ends the condition. The target has disadvantage on attack rolls. An attack roll against the target has advantage if the attacker is within 1 [10] meters of the target. Otherwise, the attack roll has disadvantage.
Restrained
A restrained target’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. Attack rolls against the target have advantage, and the target’s attack rolls have disadvantage. The target has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.
Stunned
A stunned target is incapacitated (see the condition), can’t move, and cannot communicate. The target automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the target have advantage.
Unconscious
An unconscious target is incapacitated, can’t move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings. The target drops whatever it’s holding and falls prone. The target automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws. Attack rolls against the target have advantage. Any attack that hits the target is a critical hit if the attacker is within 1m of the target.
Attacks, Talents, and various environmental hazards deal damage in different ways represented by Damage Types. Different types of damage affect targets in different ways, from dealing double damage to some targets to dealing half or even no damage to others.
Acid. Corrosive materials and chemical burns from specific compounds.
Bludgeoning. Blunt force attacks such as clubs, bats, or fists.
Cold. Nitrogenated weapons and extreme temperatures chill and brittle their targets.
Explosive. A combination of heat and blunt force created by detonations of grenades, missiles, and rockets.
Heat. Flamethrowers, fire, and extreme temperatures can burn and melt targets.
Ballistic. Piercing heat and force dealt by slugthrower weapons.
Electric. Caused by lightning or electrically charged weapons.
Piercing. Puncturing and impaling attacks from both standard and beam weapons.
Poison. Toxic gas or infectious diseases.
Psychic. Newtype mental abilities.
Energy. Plasma burning caused by supercharged Minovsky particles.
Slashing. Swords, axes, and cutting beam weapons deal slashing damage.
Force. A concussive burst or pulse from a sonic boom or other phenomena.