Pacific Rim: Introducing Titanic Scale

As we’re actively building out mechanics for Pacific Rim and Kong: Skull Island, we had to introduce new rules that govern giant monsters and mechs. Enter Titanic Scale, a new mechanic that allows these massive creatures to have their own set of playable rules:

Titanic Scale

Jaegers and Kaiju tower over the world around them, standing as tall as skyscrapers. They exist on a scale well beyond the normal size categories, and normal hand-held weapons have almost no chance of harming them. Monsters and machines of this size are called Titanic Scale and use the following altered mechanics. Otherwise, though, they work just like any other combatants.

Titanic Damage and Penetration

Titanic combatants deal and take damage on a scale well beyond normal weapons. Damage dealt by titanic scale combatants is called Titanic Damage and is multiplied by 100 when dealt to a normal scale combatant or object. Similarly, normal scale damage dealt to a titanic scale combatant is divided by 100, rounded down.

Titan scale uses the same AR and PV scale, but in comparison, titanic scale values are equivalent to normal scale +5. So Armor Value 1 at the titan scale is equal to Armor Value 6 on the normal scale. And Penetration Value 6 on normal scale is Penetration Value 1 on Titanic Scale. This means that most of the time, titan scale attacks always penetrate normal scale armor and normal weapons never penetrate titanic scale armor, but there could be exceptions for very powerful normal scale arms and armor with values greater than 5.

Titanic Conditions

Generally speaking, conditions inflicted by normal-scale combatants don’t affect anything at Titanic Scale. For instance, a regular net cannot restrain a kaiju or a jaeger, nor can a molotov cocktail set one on fire. At the GM’s discretion, some abilities or equipment may still function, but by and large, even very skilled people can’t affect enemies that are titanic scale.

Conditions inflicted by titanic scale combatants on normal scale ones generally work as normal, though at the GM’s discretion they may have other effects. For instance, a kaiju that spits restraining glue at a hero on foot might simply restrain them, but the impact could also cause damage, and the massive amount of glue could become suffocating.