This obviously doesn’t apply to every game, but I’ve come up with some vehicle rules for my Bully Campaign. Since players will almost never get the opportunity to drive a car, I don’t want to make vehicles with their own defenses or the like. Instead, I wanted to make vehicle rules where players had to trade off between speed and maneuverability.
A vehicle always has two speeds. The first speed is its base speed, and you can move that many feet as per usual. The second speed is its top speed. Once you reach your base speed, you can toggle ‘top speed’, where you can move at any speed between a vehicle’s base speed and its top speed. You can only toggle your speed mode if your last move was at your base speed.
Remember: you can only turn on your base speed and below. You can move at below your base speed to force a turn, but trying to force a slowdown from any speed above it requires an Agility roll where the DC is the difference between the two speeds. Failing deals damage equal to this difference (ie: the DC can be treated as an attack roll and your agility is a defend action)
MOUNTING AND DISMOUNTING:
Unless a vehicle has the ‘simple’ property, or unless you take an associated feat, it takes a move action to mount a vehicle (if it does, it only takes a minor action). Similarly, it takes a move action to dismount. Dismounting at any speed above your personal max speed (usually 30’) requires an agility roll to keep from falling and being dealt damage (where the DC is your max speed vs your vehicle’s speed. Failing deals damage equal to this difference).
EXAMPLE VEHICLE:
Skateboard. 25/50. If I want to move at 50 feet/move, I must first spend a move action at 25 ft; my second move action can be at 50 ft. Similarly, if I wish to stop I must spend a move action going at 25 ft, then another to fully stop. If my last move action was 50’, I can try to move at 25’ and turn, but this requires an agility roll, where my DC is 25; alternatively, if my last move action was 40’, my DC is only 15. If I want to get off while at 50’/move, I need to roll agility at 20+ in order to succeed.
Is it too complicated? The idea behind this is that vehicles should be used somewhat regularly in chase sequences, and I wanted something that was more difficult to maneuver than a normal character.
