Jernwerks

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Basics

 The P.A.T.H.S system is made out of five Primary Statistics: Power, Armor, Thrust, Handling, and Systems. These stats generally range from 1-20.

Power represents the generated energy of your character or suit and is used to both determine physical strength and the pool of available resources for any weapons, powers, etc. used by your suit.

Armor symbolizes the physical protection available and is the basic defensive statistic. Thrust is the movement and potential speed of a unit, a higher value increasing both the distance traveled and the capability of momentum-based Maneuvers.

Thrust is the movement and potential speed of a unit, a higher value increasing both the distance traveled and the capability of momentum-based Maneuvers.

Handling measures the dexterity and responsiveness of a Character. It influences the ability to hit targets as well as a variety of physical skills and Maneuvers.

Systems represents familiarity with computers, complex mechanisms, and the ability to complete multiple tasks simultaneously.

In addition to the main stats there are two additional, “derived statistics.” These are your Health and your Move Distance. Your Health is made by adding your Power and Armor together, and your Move Distance is half your Thrust by default. Lastly there is the Damage Characteristic: for every 5 points, a character gets and additional 1d6 of damage to their melee attacks.

All Player Characters stats begin at level 10 by default. Any of these Stats, primary or derived, may be increased through Maneuvers or Gear. Enemies and NPCs are also built using this same system. Throughout the game these abilities will be used as the basis for both what attacks and Maneuvers may be bought and tests to perform certain tasks.

Most actions in the game will be resolved via dice roll either compared against a Statistic or a Maneuver activation roll. Maneuver rolls will be listed next to the ability when bought or will otherwise outline the roll required, such as saying the roll will be made at Power +2. Modifiers for difficulty are always applied to the statistic or maneuver roll being used like in the example above.

All such rolls are made on 3d6. The goal is to roll equal to or under a given score. Any roll above the given score counts as a failure. An 18 (three 6’s) always counts as a Failure and at the Game Master’s (GM) discretion may count as a critical failure depending on the difficulty of the task performed. Inversely a 3 (three 1’s) will always count as a success and may lead to further successes or special outcomes depending on the action being taken. An unmodified roll of 3 or 18 is always used regardless of any other modifiers.

Character Creation

Characters’ Statistics, Maneuvers, and most Gear are bought with the same standard Points. The amount of Points a Character will be built on will be decided before the game but will use the “Production Level” model outlined in the “Jern Designation” document. The more unique a Jern/Pilot Character the more expensive it will be with a “Mass Produced,” Jern costing about 200 points and the corresponding average Pilot costing the same. Each rank up or down from that level adds or subtracts 100 points for the character creation. Of course, different adventures may change the points to suit their needs with the “Gallowglass” Classification being ready made for a game that does not conform to any of the preset point values.

When creating characters each player will make two characters based on the chosen point value. For example in a 200 point game each player will create a 200 point Pilot and a 200 point Jern character. One of these will be the Pilot and will be a human, or transhuman, character played at ~28mm scale. The second character will be the pilot’s Jern, a bipedal mecha ranging in size from 15 to 30 meters tall. These will be represented by ~1/144 scale figures, such as Bandai’s Gundam Model Kits, 30 Minute Missions, or Kotbukiya’s Frame Arms series. The board that these Jern inhabit will be generally of a larger scale and be closer to a wargame size. Exact sizes are up to the discretion of the GM and players but a table around 4 feet by 4 feet is suggested for Jern combat. Each character type, Pilot and Jern, will have unique Maneuvers and Gear though some will be purchasable by either archetype. For example, a Beam Cannon is so large it may only be mounted on a Jern but lockpicking is a skill that only the pilots will require. On the other hand, either may buy an assault rifle or a flight pack, the gear being sized appropriately for the chosen character. There will also be certain Maneuvers that apply to both character but are only bought once on a single Character sheet. These options will be outlined in their listings.

When building a character, the first step is to purchase the Primary Statistics that make up their base abilities. Each Primary Statistic may have its rank increased or decreased by one at the cost of 10 points. In general, Primary Stats should not exceed 20 but if an extreme level game, such as mimicking the super robot genre, is desired then they may exceed that limit. After these Stats are purchased, the remaining points will be spent on Maneuvers and Gear.