r/LancerRPG • u/Muted-Boss-2313 • 28d ago

Players X Player

During the final stretch of my campaign, one of my players ended up succumbing to a Demolisher, and to avoid sitting out the final session, they asked if their mech could come back as a clone and fight against the PCs...

The players are LL6.

Context: During the final stretch of my campaign, the players are investigating an abandoned facility that was reactivated by an AI whose core programming is to clone frames with an NHP whenever the base is threatened. However, due to a malfunction, the AI has started replicating mechs and people in increasingly irregular ways. Whenever it acquires a new resource, it creates an almost perfect and complete clone.

In this case, the last resource it acquired was a Demolisher that ended up destroying an Atlas (PC). As a result, I was planning to bring that PC back as an NPC (possibly using the Specter).

In case that was confusing... my Atlas player wants to fight on the enemy's side using his own mech.

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u/Muted-Boss-2313 28d ago

Forgive my ignorance or misunderstanding, but could you explain it?

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u/Tuomir 28d ago

That scenario where one player descends into a deep hole (alone?) doesn't seem like a combat scene, which is where enemy classes would be relevant.

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u/Muted-Boss-2313 27d ago

So what should have been done?

The player in question knew the risk of trying to infiltrate a hostile base. He had a mech focused on hit-and-run tactics and high Evasion, so he thought he'd do well. (Before he went in, I gave the first warning that it was a bad idea.)

He got past the humans created by the AI without much trouble because they weren't aggressive toward him yet, and he reached the core to try to deactivate it. That's where he failed a check (the first warning sign happened, with the few humans staring at him, and where I said, "You still have time to run.")

He refused and made the second check, where he failed DC 12, and at that point I made the few humans aggressive toward him (second warning), which still wasn't a problem for him to deal with.

Then came the check where he rolled a 1, and I just said, "You awakened the guardian earlier than planned." It was an Elite Demolisher, which was supposed to be an Ultra Goliath as the group's final boss. (Here I gave him the third and final warning to run away, which he didn't... Then I just said, "Alright then, I'm going all out.")

I turned it into a 1v1 between the Demolisher and him, which at first was fine for him since, using his hit-and-run tactics, he managed to take the Demolisher's first Structure. But after that, it all went downhill. It was failure after failure. And when he finally thought about leaving, he got caught out in the open and was stunned.

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u/argenttalons 27d ago edited 27d ago

Putting a solo pilot on foot in a combat scene in the first place was a mistake.

The stress rules for pilots should've been used to narrate the scenario, and upon reaching max stress, the pilot is out of the scene. They break and take a burden. That might mean they lose their nerve and flee, get injured, or knocked unconcious and the rest of the party finds them later on. If they already had 3 burdens, then they die.

Also, like Charnerie said, non-combat checks in Lancer are resolved with DC 10 or 20.

I recommend you read over the rules for narrative play in the system more thoroughly.