Implemented with Heroes Unlimited®, 2nd Ed.

Notation

[HU2 x]	Heroes Unlimited, 2nd Ed, pg. x
[MIT x]	Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy®, pg. x

Character Creation

1. Race: Human or Rover [MIT 51-55]: there may only be one Rover PC per group, at least initially.
2. Roll Attributes: plus additional die for exceptional scores (see below)
3. Hit Points = PE + 1d6; There is no personal SDC in this game.
4. Determine psionic ability - see Psionics below.
5. Alignment [HU2 20-24]
6. OCC: Human Colonist OCC, Human Esper PCC, Rover RCC
7. Background Options: height, weight, age [MIT 17-18,130]
8. Equipment: as Esper [MIT 21], and may be authorized for any equipment the character is trained to use.

Attributes

Exceptional Attributes

   When rolling attributes, different races may have different kinds of dice to determine each attribute, but all have the potential to be "exceptional" for their race:

Attribute roll	Add an additional 1d6 if your total was:
2d6	12
3d6	17-18
3d6+1	18-19
3d6+2	19-20
4d6	22-24
4d6+2	24-26

Bonuses

   IQ does not add its bonus to every skill. Educational and mental skills use the IQ bonus as usual, but physical skills use PP, reading the bonus off the IQ line of the bonus chart; thus, a PP of 20 gives a +6% bonus to all physical skills. Which skills fall into each category is the GM's decision alone, but should be noted for future reference.

   Speed gives characters a bonus to initiative rolls, using the same bonus numbers as PP.

   Use the standard attribute bonus chart on [HU2 15], and my Extended Attribute Bonus Chart below:

		Score
	Bonus To:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9-13	14	15	16
IQ	Mental Skills	-14%	-12%	-10%	-8%	-6%	-4%	-2%	-1%	+0%	+1%	+2%	+2%
ME	Save vs. Psionics	-7	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+1	+1
	Save vs. Insanity	-7	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+1	+1
MA	Trust/Intimidate	1%	1%	1%	5%	10%	15%	20%	20%	25%	30%	35%	40%
PS	HTH Damage	-7	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+1	+1
PP	Parry/Dodge/Strike	-7	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+1	+1
	Physical Skills	-14%	-12%	-10%	-8%	-6%	-4%	-2%	-1%	+0%	+1%	+2%	+2%
PE	Save vs. Coma/Death	-14%	-12%	-10%	-8%	-6%	-4%	-2%	-1%	+0%	+2%	+3%	+4%
	Save vs. Magic/Poison	-7	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+1	+1
PB	Charm/Impress	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	5%	10%	15%	20%	25%	30%
	Horror Factor	10	8	6	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Spd	Initiative	-7	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	-1	+0	+0	+1	+1

Hit Points

   See [HU2 17-20]

SDC:

Living creatures do not have SDC. Ignore SDC bonuses from skills.

Bleeding:

Bleeding damage is 1 hit point PER WOUND per minute.

Horror

   See the rules for Horror Factor [HU 68]. Whenever a character fails a horror check, it can react after the one-action penalty, but must also immediately make a save vs. insanity or gain a random trauma-induced insanity or an appropriate one (usually a phobia) chosen by the GM. Both the horror factor and insanity saves use the ME save vs. insanity bonus. Awe checks only require the one-round pause, they do not generally cause insanity.

Psionics

Determination of Ability

(significantly changed from MIT rules)

If the player can roll less than or equal to (IQ+ME)% on d100, the character has some level of psionics, determined by a straight d100 roll on the table below. Anyone with Major or Master psionics has the option of becoming an Esper. Note the experience penalty below.

Alternately, a player may specify that an Esper character is desired and then just ignore these rolls and take a Master Psionic (abilities and ISP must still be rolled for), but only one player per group can do this, and the other players must agree. Other characters may roll for psionics, but ignore any results over Major psionics, and none of them can be Espers.

d100	Psionics	Abilities	Base ISP	ISP Gain Every Level
01-50	Minor	1st level only	ME + 1d10	+1d6 ISP
51-80	Major	1st-2nd level only	ME + 2d6	+1d6+2 ISP
81-00	Master	any level	ME + 2d10	+10 ISP

Available Abilities

All psionic abilities from [MIT 32-37,93,166-169] are available.

Characters have a (30+IQ+ME)% chance of knowing each ability of their level or less. Every 1-3 levels, roll again for each ability that is still latent:

	Check latent abilities
Minor	Every third level
Major	Every odd level
Master	Every level

Experience Penalty

Non-Esper characters with Minor Psionics take a 10% experience penalty, those with Major Psionics take a 20% penalty, and those with Master Psionics take a 50% penalty. Rovers (and other naturally-psionic races) take 10% less penalty. Espers, of any race, take no penalty.

Psionic/Magical Attacks Per Melee

Psionic and magical attacks per melee are no longer determined by hand-to-hand combat ability. Instead, the character's IQ, ME, and level determines how many "power phases" a character gets per round. Spells or psions will take one or more phases to cast.

If a mix of physical and psionic/magical actions are used in a round, then each phase used also uses up one melee action, and each melee action used also uses up one phase. If only physical actions are made, or only magical/psionic attacks are made, then this does not apply.

IQ+ME	Base # of Phases	+1 Phase at Levels:
1-20	2	4, 9, 15
21-25	3	4, 8, 12
26-30	4	3, 7, 11
31-35	5	3, 6, 8, 12
36-40	6	2, 5, 8, 11
41-50	7	2, 4, 7, 10
51+	8	2, 4, 6, 8, 10

Spell/Psionic Power Level	Phases to Cast
1-4	1
5-8	2
9-10	3
11	4
12	5
13	6
14	7
15	8

Psionics from MIT are already classified by level. For HU2 psionics, divide the base ISP cost by 2 (round up) to determine effective level.

-based on material by The Adgramaine (adgramaine@aol.com) on the Palladium Mailing List

The Law and Psionics

Telepathy, mind control, and other use of offensive psionic abilities on unwilling subjects is considered assault, kidnapping, or mindrape, and will be prosecuted if discovered.

OCC & Skills

   I'm using the HU2 skill system [HU2 44-62], and only three OCCs: Human Colonist OCC, Human Esper PCC, and Rover RCC, all shown below.

   From [MIT 126]: All Human characters have basic knowledge in how to use and operate simple technological equipment, such as weapons (no bonus to hit), pilot ground vehicles (Pilot Automobile and Truck 25%), laser lance, binoculars, hand-held communicators, and energy clips.

   Individual Rovers may or may not have been exposed to technology long enough to develop a sense for it, but they do adapt to machinery remarkably fast. Players making PC Rovers should decide how much contact their character has had.

Additional Skills

• AAS: Armor (Applied Aptitude Specialties) [MIT 144-145]
• AAS: Energy Storage (Applied Aptitude Specialties) [MIT 144-145]
• AAS: Sensory Equipment (Applied Aptitude Specialties) [MIT 144-145]
• AAS: Vehicles (Applied Aptitude Specialties) [MIT 144-145]
• AAS: Weapons (Applied Aptitude Specialties) [MIT 144-145]
• AAS: Theoretical Knowledge (Applied Aptitude Specialties) [MIT 144-145]
• Demolitions (additional info) [MIT 135]
• Environmental Battle Armor (EBA) (Military) [MIT 135]
• Light Battle Armor (LBA) (Military) [MIT 135]
• Navigation: Space (additional info) [MIT 136]
• Pilot Flying Gun (Pilot: Advanced) [MIT 19]
• Pilot Space Vehicle (Pilot: Advanced) [MIT 136]
• Recharge Energy Clips (Electrical) [MIT 136]
• Repair Space Vehicle (Mechanical, requires Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering) [MIT 136]
• Robot Mechanics (additional info) [MIT 137]
• Warp Drive (Pilot: Advanced) [MIT 137]
• WP: Grenade (Military)
  Strike Bonuses: +1 to strike at levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 13.
  For the primary target on a successful strike, a successful dodge halves the damage; otherwise take full damage. Everything else within the radius also takes half damage. A miss will scatter the grenade 1d6x1d6 yards in a random direction (roll a d12).

Applied Aptitude Specialties Program

Choose any 3 AAS skills per program selection. Note that AAS skills may NOT be taken as secondary skills.

Skill Decay

If you do not practice or use a skill during a level, it does not improve, and if not practiced or used for multiple levels may even decrease in level of proficiency or be forgotten entirely. This is at the GM's judgement, but a single skill roll "just to keep the skill alive" is unlikely to be enough; a serious and practical use of the skill and/or several hours of refresher study should be required.

Bonuses

Bonuses to stats, other skills, or die rolls are not cumulative; characters keep only the best modifier.

Human Colonist OCC

   The colonists were all highly-trained professionals (or could make a reasonable imitation of it). Only around 15% had any real military training initially, and most of those were in the class of national guard one-weekend-a-month soldiers. There was little need for a full-time military before this disaster.

Requirements:

None, but specific occupations would have entry requirements - use common sense.

Education & Skills:

Roll d100+9 (max 100) on the Education Level Table [HU2 45].

Experience Table: as EBA [MIT 28]

Human Esper PCC

   Espers are some of the most important personnel in the Gideon-E colony. Only around 10% of humans are potential Espers, and only around 6% actually take it up as their profession (essentially all master psionics, but only about 1 in 5 major psionics).

   Espers mostly serve as police, inquisitors, scouts, and liasons with the Rovers, but can be found in all professions, with varying degrees of application of their abilities to the profession.

Requirements:

Major or Master psioncs must be rolled. No other requirements, though a high ME and IQ help.

Education & Skills:

Roll d100 on the Education Level Table [HU2 45], but reroll any result of 81-00.

Experience Table: as Esper [MIT 20]

Rover RCC

Requirements:

OCC Skills:

Pick Pockets +20%, Prowl +20%, Climbing +20%

Elective Skills:

Select any 12 low-tech skills (+10% bonus) and 8 secondary skills. High-tech skills (Computer Programming, Aircraft Mechanics, etc.) are not available at 1st level.

Experience Table: as Rover [MIT 55]

Combat & Action

Armor Rating

I'm using the HU2 armor system. Increase the old armor ratings as shown, and then double SDC. Under the old system, AR determined if you got hit, and if you did the damage ALWAYS went through your SDC first, so it had to be low. Under the new system, only attacks that miss you but hit your armor will damage the SDC, so it can (and should) be higher - armor depletion should be pretty rare. The new values are in line with modern Palladium games.

MIT AR	HU2 AR
1-9	+5
10-12	+4
12+	+3 (max 19)

Armor	Armor Rating	SDC	Mass	Cost
Cloth	AR 7	SDC 4	1 kg	20 cr
Padding	AR 8	SDC 12	3 kg	40 cr
Leather	AR 9	SDC 24	4 kg	80 cr
Treated Leather	AR 10	SDC 50	6 kg	190 cr
Studded Leather	AR 11	SDC 58	9 kg	280 cr
Web Vest	AR 11	SDC 60	3 kg	460 cr
Light Battle Armor	AR 14	SDC 144	7 kg	1000 cr
Environmental Battle Armor	AR 18	SDC 300	9 kg	1700 cr

Melee Round

I use the 15-second melee round of the later Palladium games. Psionics replace the word "melee" with "minute" for durations.

All characters start with 1 attack per melee round, and gain more through hand-to-hand combat training and other skills. Change "additional 2 attacks" to "1 additional attack" in the HTH charts.

It takes only one melee action to change an e-clip.

Initiative

Add a bonus from the Speed stat to the initiative roll.

Parrying

There is normally no autoparry, regardless of HTH skill. Every parry takes one of the character's attacks, though it can be taken out of order. However, WP Shield allows you to parry for free at any time (provided the attacker is in the reachable area shown below).

A note on coverage: you get a bit more than 180° coverage with a shield (you'd get more if you had 360° vision, because seeing the attack is the limiting factor on the side), but you can only barely reach all the way across the front. Spinning to face an attack works, of course, but then you have a different exposed flank.

   Shield held:
 Sinister    Dexter
   xxx        xxx
  x/ \        / \x
 x| ^ |      | ^ |x
   \ /        \ /

When dealing with ranged attacks, the ability to parry is nearly nil, but a small shield held in the way provides 25% cover (-2 to the strike roll), a large shield provides 50% (-4), and a kite shield provides 75% cover (-7).

Attacking With Multiple Weapons

WP Paired Weapons has been removed. Instead, anyone may carry and use two weapons, even simultaneously, but each attack and parry costs one attack, and the weapon in the off hand is at -4 to all strike and parry rolls. Ambidextrous characters take a -2 to both hands if acting at the same time.

Ranged Combat

The following modifiers apply:

Condition	Modifier
attacker moving/unbalanced	half ROF, no WP bonuses
point blank (0-20')	+0 strike
standard range (to ER/3)	-3 strike
moderate range (to ER×2/3	-6 strike
long range (to ER)	-9 strike
+10' past ER	-3 striker additional
target moving perpendicular	-1 per 10 yards/round moved

Jumping

Characters can jump 5' across or 4' up, plus 2' per highest level of either Acrobatics or Gymnastics skill, plus Spd initiative bonus in feet.

Falling

Falling damage does (seconds of fall) * (mass / 150 lbs) * 3d10. Characters must make a "Roll With Fall" roll; those who make 15+ take half damage, but those who roll 5- take double damage. Halve damage if landing on a soft surface (water ceases to be soft after about 3s of fall).

d = 1/2 × g × t²
t = sqrt( 2 × d / g )
g = 32' / s²

time	distance	base damage
1s	1-16'	3d10
2s	17-64'	6d10
3s	65-144'	9d10
4s	145-256'	12d10

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Last modified: 99May22
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