Tag Archives: hoverboard

New Pathfinder Tech

This is the year of hoverboards and Star Wars hype, which is all good news for role-players. Today we’ll look at basic rules for hoverboards in Pathfinder and inspire you to tell the story of three daring Tie fighter pilots.

Hoverboards
Imagine your players faces when they discover the ancient artefact they just uncovered is a hoverboard. Here’s my proposal for these awesome rides in Pathfinder.

The Fly skill gives us a great basis to work from, using a hoverboard is just like flying and generally uses the same rules. Hoverboard maneuvers are a little different.


Flying Maneuver Fly DC
Increase speed above normal speed by +5ft 6 (+2/5ft)
Turn greater than 45° by spending 5 feet of movement 15
Turn 180° by spending 10 feet of movement 20
Ramp of up to 45° 20
Balance while grinding 20

Hoverboard speeds: Hoverboards minimize resistance between the board and the ground, so are capable of intense speeds. Start with a base speed equal to the rider’s base speed +10. Going faster than this requires a Fly check, and each turn the rider can spend a move action to increase her speed by +5ft. So a human with a base speed of 30 rides easily up to 40ft a round and would have to make a DC 8 Fly check to reach a speed of 45ft per round. Note that hovering and riding slower than normal doesn’t require any checks, that’s easy stuff.

Turning: hoverboards turn as the rider shifts his weight on the board. To turn sharply, the rider has to contend with his momentum. One way to overcome the direction of momentum is to use a foot or hand grab to swing the board around sharply.

Ramps: If a rider takes a ramp of 45° or less, they can attempt to jump using their current speed as if making a running jump. They make the DC 20 Fly check for the ramp and then an Acrobatics check for the height or distance of the jump.

Rails: To grind a rail, the rider needs to ride or jump onto the rail or ledge and make the Fly check each turn to maintain the grind. Ending a grind is a free action.

Falling: Collisions at high speeds can hurt. For every 10ft of speed above the characters base speed (not hoverboard speed), a collision deals 1d6 points of damage. So a rider with a base speed of 30ft who hits a wall while riding at 40ft per round takes 1d6 points of damage, or 3d6 damage if riding at 60ft per round. Falling off works much in the same way, except that the damage is none lethal if the rider can make a DC 14 Acrobatics check to roll with the momentum of the fall.

There you go. Marty McFly would be proud. Let me know if you try these rules out and happy riding.

Inspired in Japan
It took artist OtaKing77077 4 years to finish his short film entitled Tie Fighter, and it’s way impressive.

With the Star Wars Age of Rebellion Rpg, plus the new Armada game and of course X-Wing, we have a great chance to tell the story of these three pilots. So, who are they, how did they get here, and why are they loyal to the Empire? I’d love to see someone write a scenario for this.

Avernos Unearthed
Avernos opens up with Avernos—Secrets, a free web enhancement available to all blog subscribers. Subscribe today and jump into a world on the verge of destruction. Be warned, there’s no turning back.

Campaign Journal
Getting in a quick RPG session is possible, but needs some work from the GM and all players involved. We played a 2 and a half hour session this weekend and here’s what we learnt.

Prep: As a GM, you’ve got to be as ready as possible before you play. Pre-written adventures are great for this. If there are rules you’re fuzzy on, read up before you play. I made sure I knew all about flying before game, so my dragon could terrorize the skies without disrupting play. Bookmark those rules too. Players can really help the GM by sending character sheets in before the game and reading up on all their feats and skills.

Setup: Similar to prep, but really, this is what you do when everyone is arriving, or just before. Roll20 is great for prep, because you can set everything up before hand. Make sure you have tokens or models for everyone, and a few pre-generated characters. Keep down clutter as much as possible. Really all you need is some paper, a pencil, the rules and a set of dice. Only add to this if it will make for a faster game.

Game Time: Establish a turn order and stick to it. Keep things simple and focus on the fun stuff. When the party approached a beauacrat wanting to know about an artefact, it sped things up to give them a summary, rather than force them to probe for details. Players should roll attack and damage dice together and think about what they’re going to do when it’s not their turn.

Aftermath: Really, fast games take real teamwork. Talk about what worked and how you can improve on things. Also, take the time now to get ready for the next session. If you’ve done the work, the next time around will be so much easier.

That’s all from me until next week.
Tell Thrilling Tales


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