Bogey Roles

NPC Vehicles can have roles just like monsters, allowing a greater diversity of encounter types, and shaking things up from the traditional 1-on-1 (per character) combats.

Exactly like monsters, available vehicle roles are: Heavy, Killer, Leader, Minion, Shooter, Sneak, Tank, Threat, and Villain. The benefits granted to an NPC vehicle by these roles are slightly different, however, to account for the differences in the stat blocks between vehicles and monsters.

Heavy

Your typical "tough guy" in an encounter.

• Heavies have double durability.
• Heavies deal double siege damage.
• Heavies get 1 action point.
• Heavies are immune to the first instance of all conditions applied during an encounter. Note that "all conditions" means exactly that: all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the GM feels will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects, forced movement, status conditions or penalties to CMB, CMD, DR, etc., are all rendered null through this ability. The second time the same condition is applied to a Heavy, however, it affects it normally.
• When a Heavy is reduced to zero durability, it is not destroyed. Instead, it gains Immunity to all damage until the beginning of its next turn, any conditions it is currently suffering under are immediately cleared, all accumulated efforts to pierce their condition immunity are removed, and its durability is set to half its normal maximum. Its ability to take actions is not hampered in any way during this period of Immunity. At the beginning of its next turn, the Immunity expires. The Heavy is destroyed for good the second time its durability reaches zero.
• Heavies count as two vehicles for XP and loot.

Killer

The scary-dangerous one.

• Killers have double durability.
• Killers gain a +2 bonus to Speed, and can make any number of facing changes after a Move or Double Move action without performing a Focus Action.
• Killers add one third their CR to their initiative modifier, round up.
• Killers do triple damage or more.
• Killers count as two vehicles for xp and loot.

Leader

The ones calling the shots.

• Leaders have double durability.
• Once per round as a free action, a Leader may push an enemy he has just struck up to 3 squares as forced movement. He may follow the pushed target through any spaces it has been forced to move out of.
• Once per round as a swift action, a Leader may grant any one ally within the range of his weapons (usually 6 squares) a free standard action to be used immediately.
• Leaders give all allies who have line of sight on the leader a +2 morale bonus to CMB and CMD per five CR's of that ally (round up). This buff ends immediately when the leader is killed. This buff does not affect the leader, though if another leader is present, the leader can gain this buff from the other leader. Morale bonuses do not stack; instead only the highest available bonus may be used. Note that minions treat this as a buff, gaining their own benefit instead of the listed benefit (see Minion).
• Leaders count as two vehicles for xp and loot.

Minion

Cheap fodder? Not likely.

• When you apply the Minion role to a monster, it turns into four monsters.
• Minions only have 1 point of durability, but it is special:
  • Destroying a minion requires either the attacker to succeed on a CMB roll. Even then, if the minion is able to successfully mitigate all of the damage with DR, they survive anyway. Minions NEVER take damage from misses or from a a spell or effect which grants a saving throw (remember that all vehicles automatically succeed on any saving throw), even of that spell or effect would normally deal partial damage on a successful save.
  • Always-hit abilities which are explicitly deal siege damage (not normal damage) must instead roll a CMB check to hit any minion in their area of effect. If the CMB check hits, the minion dies. If the CMB check misses, the minion lives.
  • Making a caster level check to overcome a Minion's SR is NOT counted as a successful roll against a minion and does not kill it.
• Minions never gain bonus or temporary durability, nor can they repair durability, although both count as a buff if granted by an ally vehicle. If a minion receives any buff, at all, it gains a +2 untyped bonus to CMD. This is instead of the normal effects of the buff. Buffs on minions never stack. The duration of any buff is equal to the normal duration of the buff. Minions can never start a combat with a preexisting buff.
• Minion vehicles are able to occupy the same space as another minion without risk of collisions, though no more than two minions can occupy the same space.
• A Minion vehicle grants 1/4th the normal XP and loot for a standard vehicle of the same CR.

Caution: Minions are extremely deadly to inexperienced players and low-level characters. Minions effectively quadruple the amount of damage in a combat until they are reduced in numbers.

Shooter

Pew! Pew! Pew!

• Shooters have double durability.
• Shooters may use a Focus Action (swift) to cause their next attack made during their current turn to have a maximum range of 10 squares, with no CMB penalties for range.
• Shooters add one half their CR to their initiative modifier, round up.
• Shooters do double damage.
• Shooters count as two vehicles for xp and loot.

Sneak

They're stealthy, man. Super stealthy.

• Once per encounter as a free action, a Sneak may activate Phantom to cause all attacks made against it until the start of its next turn to have a 50% miss chance, and deal only half damage if they hit.
• Once per encounter as a swift action, a Sneak may teleport to an unoccupied space they can perceive within 20 squares of their current space.
• Sneaks add one half their CR to their initiative modifier, round up.
• When making an attack against a target's rear-most arc (the 90-degree arc directly opposite of the target's forward firing arc), Sneaks gain a bonus to CMB and bonus siege damage based on the Sneak's CR, as described below:

Sneak's CR	CMB Bonus	Bonus Siege Damage
1/2 through 8	+3	+1d4
9 through 16	+4	+1d8
17 through 24	+5	+2d6
25 through 32	+6	+2d8
33 and above	+7	+3d6

• Sneaks count as two vehicles for xp and loot.

Tank

The vehicle the other vehicles expect to take all the hits.

• Tanks have double durability.
• Tank vehicles are immune to all effects which are not siege damage, except those they choose to allow to affect them. Attacks which deal siege damage and include a secondary effect (such as forced movement or a debuff) can only inflict the siege damage.
• Any damage that the Tank inflicts on an enemy repairs the Tank for the same amount. Area of effect attacks only repair the Tank an amount equal to the highest amount of damage taken by an affected enemy (not the sum of all damage inflicted). Damage mitigation abilities, such as DR and ER also reduce the amount of healing received.
• Tanks may make a bonus attack as a free action against any vehicle within their range who does not include them in an attack. There is no limit to the number of these attacks they may make, though they can never make more than one attack per triggering action. Damage they deal with these attacks repairs them as well.
• The first time in an encounter that a Tank is reduced to zero durability, it is not destroyed. Instead, it gains immunity to all damage until the beginning of its next turn and its durability is set to half its normal maximum. Its ability to take actions is not hampered in any way during this period of immunity. At the beginning of its next turn, the immunity expires. The Tank is destroyed for good the second time its durability reaches zero.
• Tanks count as two vehicles for xp and loot.

Threat

A boss, or a really tough heavy.

• Threats have triple durability.
• Threats do triple damage or more.
• Threats get 2 action points. These may not be spent on the same round.
• Threats are immune to the first 5 instances of all conditions applied during an encounter. Note that "all conditions" means exactly that: all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the GM feels will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects, forced movement, status conditions or penalties to CMB, CMD, DR, etc., are all rendered null through this ability. The sixth time the same condition is applied to a Threat, however, it affects it normally.
• The first time in an encounter that a Threat is reduced to zero durability, it is not destroyed. Instead, it gains immunity to all damage until the beginning of its next turn and its durability is set to half its normal maximum. Its ability to take actions is not hampered in any way during this period of immunity. At the beginning of its next turn, the immunity expires. The Threat is destroyed for good the second time its durability reaches zero.
• Threats count as four vehicles for xp and loot.

Villain

The one with the famous pilot you've been chasing for months. The one behind all the bad things that have happened so far.

• Villains have four times as much durability as a normal vehicle of their CR.
• Villains do triple damage.
• Villains get 2 action points. These may not be spent on the same round.
• Villains may launch four minion vehicles of their same CR per round, every round as a free action. They may not use this action if they have eight or more minion vehicles in play already.
• Villains are immune to the first 8 instances of each condition, even outside of an encounter. Note that "all conditions" means exactly that: all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the GM feels will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects, forced movement, status conditions or penalties to CMB, CMD, DR, etc., are all rendered null through this ability. The ninth time the same condition is applied to a Villain, however, it affects it normally.
• Once per encounter, Villains may use a Focus Action (swift) to cause the next attack they make during their current turn to have a maximum range of 10 squares, with no CMB penalties for range.
• The first time a Villain is reduced to zero durability, it is not destroyed. Instead, it gains immunity to all damage until the beginning of its next turn, any conditions it is currently suffering under are immediately cleared, all accumulated efforts to pierce their condition immunity are removed, and its durability is set to half its normal maximum. Furthermore, it immediately launches 4 minions, regardless of how many minions are currently present. Its ability to take actions is not hampered in any way during this period of immunity. At the beginning of its next turn, the immunity expires.
• Villains often live to fight another day. In most encounters, a villain shouldn't even be present. However, in those encounters that include villains, GM's should strive to set up the fight in a way that the PC's can achieve victory without actually needing kill the villain. This can include saving imperiled civilians from some dastardly trap, stopping a horrible ritual, or retrieving the McGuffin before the villain can, etc. GM's are cautioned that having a villain escape 'just because' is often very frustrating for players, but if they escape because the players were busy doing something else, they're usually far more accepting.
• When finally defeated, villains count as four vehicles for XP and treasure purposes.