Mass Effect 5e - Player's Handbook
Creating Armor
Though we provide a list of armor mods and sets, we encourage you to create your own!
- Mechanic
- The aspect that affects the gameplay. A mod or armor set can have one or more mechanics.
- Mod
- An item, containing one or more mechanics, that can be installed when creating custom armor.
- Set
- One or more pieces of armor that must be worn together and provide mechanics when worn. Mechanics contained within sets are meant to be integrated, and not salvageable from the armor. In addition, armor sets are not intended to be upgraded with other mods.
A 'mechanic' is a combination of a rule exception/addition, a potency, and a cost per potency level. Below you'll find a list of mechanics used in this system.
Rule exception/addition
The first step is deciding what you want your mechanic to do, e.g. add health, shields, or damage; provide advantage on saving throws, etc.
Potency
Next, decide how the mechanic's potency will stack. For example, increased shield points have 5 points per potency. So, an Armor Mod with +10 shield points would have a potency of 2. Armor Mods should never have a potency higher than 3. Keep this in mind when figuring out the lowest potency amount.
Cost
Figuring out the cost is mostly guesswork. Low cost mechanics have minor combat applications, such as additional carrying capacity or minor speed boosts. These range from 1,000 to 5,000 credits. Mods that increase survivability (shields, AC, resistances) or damage should range between 5,000 and 20,000 credits
Current Mechanic List
| Rule addition/exception | Potency | Cost per Potency |
|---|---|---|
| Additional shield points (regen remains base 5) | 5 | 10000 |
| Increase shield regen | 5 | 8000 |
| +X to melee weapon attack and damage rolls | 1 | 12000 |
| reroll any 1 on your [biotic, tech, or melee] damage rolls | 1 damage type | 20000 |
| reroll any 1 and 2 on your [biotic, tech, or melee] damage rolls | 1 damage type | 40000 |
| Increase thermal clip capacity | 4 | 1000 |
| Increase grenade capacity | 2 | 3000 |
| Increase Medi-gel capacity | 2 | 2000 |
| Increase Heavy Weapon charges | 1 | 5000 |
| Additional weapon slot | 1 for small weapons, 2 for large weapons | 3000 |
| Damage or Condition Immunity | 1 damage type or condition (cannot be piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning) | 25000 |
| Resistance to a damage type | 1 damage type (double the cost for piercing) | 15000 |
| Reduce tech point cost | reduce by 1 tp | 20000 |
| Increase AC | 1 | 20000 |
| Increase TP regeneration die | 1 die type | 12000 |
| Instantly stabalize a companion | 1 per long rest | 20000 |
| Instantly stabalize when you drop below 0 hit points. | 1 per long rest | 35000 |
| Increase speed | 2m | 3000 |
| Advantage on saving throws | 1 ability type | 30000 |
| Use medi-gel as a reaction to taking hit point damage | 1 medi-gel charge | 8000 |
| Additional hit die when expending medi-gel | 1 die | 12000 |
Creating a custom armor mod simply requires combining a slot (head, chest, arms, or legs), one or more mechanics, and a potency for each mechanic. Determine the cost of the mod by adding each mechanic cost (cost * potentcy)
Example: +10 shields, +1 AC
- Slot = Chest
- Mechanic 1 = +10 sheilds (2 potency * 10,000 credits) = 20,000 credtis
- Mechanic 2 = +1 AC (1 potency * 8,000 credits) = 8,000 credits
- Mod Cost = 28,000 credits
An armor set can be one or many pieces of armor. Armor sets are cheaper than creating custom armor, even though they may be more powerful. The justification is that an armor set is mass manufactured, so you get more benefits at the expense of not being able to customize the armor with additional mods.
First, decide the type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) and which pieces it will contain. Then find the base cost by using the costs defined in the creating armor table. Next, decide what mechanics (and their potency) you want to add to the armor. Calculate the total cost of all your mechanics, add it to the base cost of your armor, then reduce the amount by 15%.
Example:
- Medium Body Armor = 16,000 (Chest = 10,000, Arms = 3,000, Legs = 3,000)
- Mechanics = Resistance to Slashing, Bludgeoning, & Piercing (15,000 for slashing, 15,000 for bludgeoning, 30,000 for piercing)
- Subtotal = 76,000
- Total = 64,600 credits = 76,000 - (76,000 * .15)