Variant Rules (Mass Effect Supplement)

Variant Rules

The following are writeups and links to various variant rules this campaign should use.

Gradual Encumbrance

Inventory management is an involved act of balancing not only physical weight, but accessibility and bulk. How weighed down a creature becomes is measured by their Encumbrance penalty. Each time a creature's total carrying mass exceeds a multiple of twice their Strength modifier in kilograms, their Encumbrance penalty increases by 1.

A creature's Encumbrance penalty is subtracted from their Proficiency bonus. If a creature's Encumbrance penalty would exceed their Proficiency bonus, they gain a penalty to their d20 rolls, AC, and saving throw DCs equal to the difference, and a penalty to their movement speed equal to 5 times as many feet. If this reduces a creature's movement speed to 0, they are restrained until they are no longer exceeding this limit.

Alternate Armor and AC

While not wearing any armor, a creature's AC is equal to 10 + their Strength or Dexterity modifier + their proficiency bonus.

All armor increases the wearer's Encumbrance penalty by a certain amount, listed in the AC column of the armor's table. Additionally, armor grants a damage threshold. When a creature takes damage, if the amount of damage is below their damage threshold, they instead take no damage. This is decided after resistances, vulnerabilities, immunity, and other decreases to damage are calculated. A critical hit ignores the target's damage threshold.

Shield, Barrier, and Armor Points

Some creatures have access to special protection in the form of shield points, barrier points, or armor points, refereed to universally as defense points. Defense points are not affected by a creature's damage threshold, resistances, vulnerabilities, or immunities, and instead have their own. When a creature takes damage from any source other than a melee attack, thrown attack, falling, or psychic damage, damage is dealt to their defense points first.

• Shield Points: formally known as "kinetic barriers", shield points are created by artificial mass effect generators, and typically take on a blue or orange coloration. Shield points are vulnerable to acid, lightning, and slashing damage.
• Barrier Points: formally known as "kinetic fields", barrier points are generated by organic biotics, are typically larger and less dense than shields, and typically take on a purple coloration. Barrier points are vulnerable to cold, radiant, and bludgeoning damage.
• Armor Points: heavy armor plating is one of the oldest defenses in history, with modern variants allowing for full flexibility. Armor points are vulnerable to fire, radiant, and piercing damage.

Additional Weapon Properties

• Long Reload - Similar to the reload property, a limited number of shots can be made with a weapon that has the long reload property. A character must then reload it using an action, or may use their bonus action to reload a single shot.
• Spread - A weapon with the spread property fires multiple projectiles with a single pull of the trigger. On a hit, roll the die listed in the weapon's spread property. The weapon's damage is dealt to the target a number of times equal to the spread die's roll.
• Stabilizing - In order to attack with a stabilizing weapon, it must first be set up, which can be done as an action and lasts until you move more than 5 ft. on a single round. If you can make multiple attacks on your Attack action, you can forgo one or more attacks to set up the weapon. A stabilizing melee weapon can not be used if your movement speed is 0.
• Heat - A weapon with the heat property gains 1 heat point each time an attack is made with it, and loses 1 heat point at the end of each of the wielder's turns an attack is not made with it. If a weapon with the heat property gains heat points equal to the number listed in weapon's the heat property, attacks can not be made with it until it has 0 heat points.

Decryption Skill

The Intelligence (Decryption) skill replaces the Int (Arcana) skill in this setting, as magic is not an aspect of the Mass Effect universe. The Decryption skill allows a creature to manipulate powered devices in unauthorized ways, such as hacking a door open or reverse-engineering an encoded message.

Electronics Skill

The Intelligence (Electronics) skill replaces the Int (Religion) skill in this setting, as religion is a much more minor aspect of this setting than in a setting like base 5e where the existence of gods is undeniable. The Electronics skill can be used to repair or manipulate technology physically, such as powering a broken container to gain access to its contents or hot-wiring a vehicle.

Fair Critical Hits

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