Variant Rules (Metal Gear Supplement)

Variant Rules

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

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. In this setting, a creature's AC is their ability to dodge. If you have an Unarmored Defense feature, such as from being a monk or barbarian, you gain a +2 bonus to your AC while fulfilling that feature's requirements.

All armor grants a penalty the target's AC, and Strength and Dexterity saving throws. This penalty is referred to as its Armor Penalty. 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, immunity, and other decreases to damage are calculated. A critical hit ignores the target's damage threshold.

If a creature would gain a bonus to their AC under standard 5e rules, such as by wielding a shield, that does not change how their AC is calculated, like the Unarmored Defense feature, they instead must use their bonus action to defend in order to benefit from it, adding any of these bonuses to what would be their AC under standard 5e rules to their damage threshold until the beginning of their next turn.

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.

Technology Skill

In this setting, the Technology skill replaces the Religion skill, 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. Technology checks can be used to break through electronic locks in the same way Sleight of Hand can pick typical locks, to understand the function of advanced technology, or to otherwise manipulate Digital Age technology.

Rarity Instead of Cost

In a typical Metal Gear campaign, players take the place of soldiers or mercenaries taking missions in combat zones where there isn't exactly bustling shops. Instead, the value of items in this supplement is measured in rarity. The rarity of vehicles and special items is considered one "tier" above all other items, so a Common vehicle or special item is equivalent to a Legendary normal weapon, if not rarer.

If you wish to use cost, consider the following values measured in Gross Military Product (GMP), a military equivalent to GDP utilized primarily by PMCs based off the value of their services and resources "recovered" from the battlefield.

• Common - 4,000 GMP
• Uncommon - 6,000 GMP
• Rare - 10,000 GMP
• Very Rare - 14,000 GMP
• Legendary/Special Common - 20,000 GMP
• Special Uncommon - 30,000 GMP
• Special Rare - 50,000 GMP
• Special Very Rare - 70,000 GMP
• Special Legendary - 100,000 GMP

Fair Critical Hits

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Campaign Settings → Metal Gear (5e Campaign Setting)