Voidrunner Vehicle Properties
Vehicles in a science fiction setting have the ability to go many more places and do many more things than those in a typical medieval setting do, including incorporating massive tools, mobile working environments, and protections from hostile environments.
All-Terrain. All-terrain vehicles have heavy-duty suspensions and tracks or special tires. They ignore difficult terrain.
Amphibious. Vehicles with this feature count as both land and water vehicles.
Armed. Armed vehicles have one or more weapons in place on board. A creature can use an action to fire a weapon or reload it.
Armor. The vehicle is covered in some sort of armor plating. Like personal armor, multiple levels of vehicle armor exist. Each level of armor reduces the damage dealt by an attack by a number listed in the Damage Reduction column of Table: Armored Vehicles and grants the cover listed to its occupants.
| ARMOR GRADE |
COVER | DAMAGE REDUCTION |
SPECIAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Half Cover | 2 | — |
| Medium | Three-Quarters Cover | 4 | — |
| Heavy | Full Cover | 6 | Immune to the Breaker Weapon Property |
| Ultra-Heavy | Full Cover | 8 | Immune to the Breaker Weapon Property |
Drop. This vehicle descends from the upper atmosphere at terminal velocity. Landing thrusters engage at about 500 feet above the ground. The given Speed applies to the vehicle once the landing thrusters have fired.
Heavy Equipment. The vehicle contains a digger, wrecking ball, roller, massive saw, or other heavy tool. Attacks made with this tool suffer disadvantage and deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage as appropriate.
The tool deals damage according to the vehicle’s size: Large—4d6 damage, Huge—8d6 damage, Gargantuan—12d6 damage, or Titanic—16d6 damage.
Hover. A high-tech development, this vehicle hovers above the surface of solid ground or liquids. It is a land vehicle, but can traverse any surface features by hovering up to 10 feet above the ground without being slowed by difficult terrain or sinking into liquid.
Integrated Equipment. The vehicle includes one or more pieces of integrated equipment.
This equipment can be activated or deactivated as a bonus action.
Plow: The plow provides an additional +1 to AC against attacks from the front and pushes loose, solid obstacles such as unpacked dirt or snow out of the vehicle’s way as it travels. A vehicle can only travel at half its Speed with a plow deployed.
Crane: The vehicle includes a crane arm for reaching high locations. The vehicle must be stopped to use the crane arm. A crane arm may have a tool attached, but typically has either a passenger basket or a winch. A Large vehicle can reach up to 40 feet with a crane boom and a Huge one can reach up to 150 feet. The winch on a Huge crane can lift up to 80 tons, but the vehicle must be stopped and anchored (a process which takes 10 minutes) before it can start moving cargo.
Fire Suppression System: This vehicle has high-pressure hoses that can spray water or fire suppressing foam up to 120 feet.
This equipment can also be used as a water cannon.
Floodlight: The vehicle has one or more floodlights.
Construction Foam Dispenser: The vehicle includes a heavy construction foam tank and dispenser system. The tank can carry up to 350 cubic feet of construction foam.
Winch: The vehicle has a sturdy winch and cable. To use a winch, the vehicle must be stopped on a solid surface. A large vehicle can move up to 10 tons, a huge one can move up to 80 tons, and gargantuan winches that can move even heavier weights exist, but are primarily found at ports rather than out on vehicles.
Legged. The vehicle has mechanical legs. It gains the benefits of the all-terrain feature and can also clamber over obstacles of up to the vehicle’s own size (moving at a maximum of half the vehicle’s Speed when doing so), but the vehicle can be knocked over, suffering from the prone condition. Just like a creature, a prone vehicle must spend half its movement to stand up from prone and cannot move until it does.
Mass Transit. A mass transit vehicle is a specialized version of the transport type, and only needs a crew of up to 4 people to operate, regardless of size, though often additional crew members will provide security, customer service, and similar functions. The remaining capacity can be occupied by passengers.
Miniature. A miniature vehicle is designed to be operated by an operator one size larger than the vehicle itself without penalties.
Mobile Facilities. The vehicle incorporates the features of a starship deck. A vehicle must be at least Huge size to accommodate a single mobile facility or Gargantuan to have up to 4. Available options are leisure deck, medical bay, operations center, and science bay (see Capital Ship Decks in Star Captain’s Manual).
Additionally, mobile facilities can have the following additional options:
Workshop: Provides the benefits of any four types of vehicle repair tools as well as weapons and armor maintenance tools.
Kitchen: The vehicle has compact but versatile food storage and preparation equipment such as freezer, ovens, providing cook’s tools that can be simultaneously used at advantage by a number of creatures equal to half its crew size.
Residence: The vehicle provides sleeping quarters, shower and toilet systems, and a set of cook’s tools.
Store: The vehicle has a cramped, but browsable, selection of retail shelving.
Holding Cell: The vehicle has a passenger compartment that can be secured from the outside for prisoner transport. DC 20 Strength check to escape.
Open-Frame. Open-frame vehicles do not have enclosing body panels. They provide excellent visibility (and fields of fire) for their occupants, but provide no cover against incoming shots. Regardless of how armored a vehicle with open-frame is, the armor only protects the vehicle itself, not the occupants.
Personal. Personal vehicles are designed for a single occupant and usually have far less space. Vehicles with this property can only ever carry a maximum of one person, and have one-quarter the carrying capacity of a normal vehicle of the same size.
Pressurized. A pressurized vehicle must also be sealed. It has internal pressure systems that maintain a livable pressure for the occupants, allowing them to survive in hard vacuum, at high altitudes, or deep underwater without the need for additional protective gear.
Railway. A railway vehicle travels along a permanent route of some sort, such as train tracks, a maglev system, or the tether of a space elevator.
Ridden. A ridden vehicle relies on the muscle power of its rider to propel it, and its speed is determined by the speed of the creature riding it. Multiply the speed of the creature by the indicated value to get the speed of the vehicle, rounding the result down to the nearest 10 feet. For example, a ridden (×3) vehicle ridden by a creature with a speed of 35 feet has a speed of 100 feet or 10 miles per hour. Furthermore, because ridden vehicles rely on the muscles of their riders to move, their carrying capacity is limited to double that of their rider unless otherwise stated.
Sensor Array. The vehicle provides the crew with the benefits of a set of multi-spectrum goggles while crewing the vehicle. An occupant can use a bonus action to do an active scan, giving them an expertise die on Perception checks.
Sensor Array, Long Range. The vehicle has a sensor package including technologies such as radar, sonar, or satellite imaging data that allows a creature to make Perception checks to locate vehicles or structures of at least Large size within a range of 10 miles. Each such attempt requires an action.
Sealed. A sealed vehicle is airtight, keeping the interior atmosphere in and whatever is outside out. This is more for comfort than protection, however, keeping out sand or high and low temperatures. Extreme environments, such as those in a vacuum, high-altitude, and underwater, require the additional protection of the pressurized feature.
Sprayer. The vehicle has either a spraying nozzle to distribute liquids across an area behind it or a rotating spreader that performs the same function for solid particulate substances, such as sand, salt, or even seeds. In either case, the effect is the same: a path behind the sprayer the same width as the vehicle and a length equal to the distance the vehicle traveled that round is covered in whatever is loaded into the sprayer. Some common loads are listed below. Unless otherwise noted these loads refer to land vehicles. Typically a liquid sprayer can be used for 20 turns. Solid sprayers are normally incorporated into large, heavy vehicles that can cover miles and miles before needing to be refilled.
Adhesive: A gluey substance coats the area. Vehicles that enter this area make a DC 17 Constitution save, involuntarily taking the Braking action until stopped on a failed save. It cannot move again until repairs are made. Creatures also make the Constitution save, becoming restrained on a failure.
Caltrops: Vehicles and creatures that enter this area or begin their turn in it make a DC 15 Dexterity save, taking 1d6 piercing damage for every 10 feet of distance they move. The driver of a vehicle with tires makes a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw and safely stops the vehicle on a success. On a failure the vehicle either takes the Brake action and stops or rolls over and crashes at the Narrator’s discretion.
Grit: Vehicles and creatures in the affected area ignore difficult terrain caused by ice and/or snow.
Lubricant: A slippery trail is left behind. Vehicles and creatures that enter this area for the first time on a turn or begin their turn in the area make a DC 15 Dexterity save. On a failed save, the vehicle spins, moving half its movement speed in a randomly determined direction. Creatures that fail the save become prone.
Stealth. The vehicle has advanced detection countermeasures. Attempts to locate it with sensors or target it with guided weapons are at disadvantage.
Submersible. Submersible vehicles are able to travel safely below the surface of the water. They function as having the three-dimensional property with respect to traveling in water and can move up or down below the surface of the water as well as traveling along the surface of it. Submersible vehicles must also have the pressurized feature.
Three-Dimensional. A three-dimensional vehicle may also turn up or down when making turns. Flying vehicles nearly always have the three-dimensional property. Land or water vehicles need the tunneling or submersible property, respectively, to have this property and, if they are on the surface, can only turn down unless they also have a fly speed.
Transforming. The vehicle has two separate forms. This is often a legged form and a more typical vehicular form, but many variations exist. Both forms must be of the same size category.
Transport. Transport vehicles are designed for cargo and crew, and have twice the carrying capacity and maximum number of passengers as normal for a vehicle of the same size.
Tunneling. The vehicle is equipped with a heavy drill, grinder, or other tunneling apparatus at the front, granting it a burrow speed equal to its movement speed as well as the three-dimensional feature (down only). Vehicles always leave a tunnel equal to their size when burrowing.
VTOL. A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle must have a fly speed. It can hover in place. This is typically either due to rotary wings (like a helicopter) or an anti-grav system.
Windowless. The vehicle grants full cover to its occupants regardless of its armor level. However, occupants must rely on sensors or cameras to perceive their surroundings.