ROAD WARRIORS
"The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide"
- Bruce Springsteen
Gear Head Knack by Paul Zichichi
Forward:
All credit for this post should go to Jim Burzelic and his initial Gear Head post to the HoE listserve (with some additional nods to Darrin Bright and Sean Michael Whipkey). When Jim first posted his Gear Head idea to the list, it got me thinking about how screwed Road Warriors get during character creation. Using Jim's groundwork as a guide I've come up with a knack of my own.
The Gear Head Knack stands as a modification to the Road Warrior character type and the rules covering them. In the current HoE rules, The Road Warrior does not exactly get the most out of their character points. They pay an inordinate amount of points for a vehicle which then costs a further amount of game time and money to keep running. I have no problem with the in game effects of owning this vehicle and paying the time and money in game for upkeep. I do have an issue with the fact that, as an achetype, they get less for their points than the AB's (Sykers, Templars, etc.) and those lucky few that pull Jokers in character generation and become Harrowed. Now, I admit, most AB's (Templars, Doomies and Junkers)have some pretty steep ramifications to their powers, and Harrowed face a constant uphill battle for their very soul, but the advantages far outweigh the consequences, and a Syker's only real drawback is his lack of hair and all for three points.
Road Warriors, by comparison, spend 10-15 points; three to five times as much as an AB, to be the primary target of the posse (who would you kill first - the goon with the sword or the guy driving the mobile weapons platform?), with the least replaceable resource, and most of their time is wasted taking care of it. Is that fair? No. Is it balanced? No. Is it in keeping with the theme of the game?
Well...yes.
If you have something like an 18-wheel rig with howitzers and .50 machine guns poking out at every angle, you probably deserve all the attention that the Road gangs are going to give you. However, does that mean that you should spend ALL of your character points obtaining it?
No, you shouldn't. All of the social negatives should be there, as well as the problem of having a large, mobile attention getter, but the cost, in my humble opinion, should not be so unbalanced. So without further ado, here's the Gear Head knack. Thanks and enjoy! Any feedback would of course be appreciated.
New Knack: Gear Head (1-5 points)
Each level purchased in Gear Head determines what type of vehicle the character may begin with as well as what level they may have in the Gear Head special abilities:
Level: Vehicle:
1 Old motorcycle/economy car
2 New motorcycle/economy car, Old truck/van
3 New truck/van, Old hoverbike/military jeep/hummer
4 New hoverbike/military jeep/hummer, Old rig/military cargo truck
5 New rig/military cargo truck
The character gets their choice of vehicle in accordance with their level for free, and may customize this vehicle as they wish with the equipment and rules from "Road Warriors". The Gear Head may increase their level in this knack at the cost of 5 x the level desired, and no, you can't just pay 20 points to go from level 2 to level 5 - you must buy the intervening levels.
Gear Head Abilities:
The Gear Head receives several special abilities. They are purchased like skills and the Gear Head begins with 5 points in these abilities, with at least 1 level being in "My Baby". Also a Gear Head may never have a higher level in an ability than his level in the knack (with Gear Head 2, you cannot have any ability higher than 3).
"My Baby": The Gear Head gains +1 per level to any roll to diagnose problems with their vehicle. This also gives them a straight Cognition roll to detect when their vehicle is in danger.
"Know the Road": The Gear Head gets an additional Area Knowledge for each level in Know the Road equal to their current Gear Head level. It also allows a straight smarts roll for finding routes through new and unknown areas.
"Smack It": The Gear Head gets +1 per level on all attempts to repair their vehicle. This also allows them a straight Tinkerin' roll for unconventional repair attempts (kicking the tires, smacking the dashboard, popping the hood and staring blankly at the engine, checking the oil, etc.).
"Jesus Christ, HOLD ON!": The Gear Head can squeeze an extra +10 mph of acceleration and maximum speed out of their vehicle for every level in this ability.
"C'mon Baby, hold together!": The Gear Head can spend chips to negate damage to their vehicle. For every two levels in CBHT, The Gear Head can spend a higher chip:
Level: Chip:
1 White
3 Red
5 Blue
"Just a little further...": The Gear Head can get an additional 5 mpg out of their vehicle for every level.
"What potholes?": The Gear Head gets +1 to all Drivin' rolls in their vehicle for every level.
"It's gotta be around here somewhere...": The Gear Head gets +1 to all Scroungin' rolls for parts/fuel/ammo for his vehicle.
"King of the Road": Every level in KotR reduces the negative modifiers to Drivin' rolls due to road conditions, speed, etc. by 1.