Greetings, Dan here!

Today we're going to stretch the method of skinning mechanics to create a purely organic biomech in the form of the Armored Titan from Attack on Titan. Briefly, I know this would be a contested choice as many consider the Titan transformations as more of superpowers; however, these legendary titans do share a lot of similarities with mechs. They have a pilot that controls the body from an internal cockpit, multiple individuals can "pilot" one of the legendary titans (albeit over generations in this case), the body can be modified, and passengers can even be carried inside the cockpit. While the pilot is controlling the titan as an extension of their own body, they are still utilized in a method similar to mechs. Functionally they're meat mechs, and I would not be surprised if a player interested in making a biomech might want something similar. Regardless, this is meant to be a stretch of mechanic skinning as an example for similar scenarios that may pop up in groups. Naturally, any such stretch of the game would be left to the discretion of the player and GM to find a good fit for the group.

With that out of the way, The Armored Titan is a legendary Titan that is known for being covered in super durable, natural armor plating. It uses this to destroy structures, and strike opponents with devastating force, while also protecting it from most attacks. Because of this heavy plating, the Armored Titan is typically very slow. On rare occasions it can shed some of its armor to increase speed, but predominantly it is a heavy front line fighter. Lastly, Titans are known for their regenerative abilities, and this includes natural armor.

We will be building The Armored Titan as a starter mech, so some features may be left out for adding later, but we'll aim to capture the essence of the biomech to start. We'll start with a Blitz Frame for 24 Armor Points befitting a front line mech. Next, because this titan is slow, we'll stick with a Movement Rate of 1 from Caballero Boosters. Because titans have many defining abilities over weapons, we'll use a Blitz CPU for 2 Utilities. Lastly, we'll go with the Caballero Radiator for a Heat Rating of 8.

Though the Armored Titan would need more utilities to have all of its abilities from its franchise, for now we'll go with the Bioframe, initially for the descriptor, but also to represent when the pilot loses control to their base instincts. For the second utility system, we'll use a Shield Generator. This will add 10 Shield Points on top of the titan's AP, giving it more protection. An additional benefit to the utility is that it recharges 1 SP per round, which will represent the titan regenerating its natural armor. Beyond just skinning the mechanics of the utility, there is precedence for this in the BTE already, as in noximorphs, natural armor is represented as SP on top of their Health Points.

For the Weapon Systems, we'll construct a single kit at the start, putting all 8 HR into Armored Strikes. Since the legendary titan is a heavy hitter, we will spend four heat to raise the damage to a d10. For the RoF, we'll spend one heat for a single attack per round. Next for the ammunition, we will spend three heat for 8 Ammo. Lastly, the Armored Titan as with most titans is traditionally unarmed, so we will spend the remaining heat point for Melee range.

This build will allow for a player to pilot a biomech capable of packing quite the punch (literally), while also having more protection than your average frontline starting mech. As stated before, the titan could gain more abilities overtime as the equipment is improved. A player with this build could naturally improve their Frame or CPU. With additional utilities the biomech could pick up a Neural Interface for improved piloting, a Repair Swarm for further regenerative abilities, or even a Mobility Mode Converter for dropping off leg armor for added speed. Alternatively, this armor adjustment could be represented by installing a Mode Shift System mod to the weapon system, having the mode switch for a higher RoF at the cost of damage. Past these, the player may choose to increase their weapon options using an improved radiator or Disposable Equipment.

For next time, we'll go high end once more, as we revisit a non-humanoid mech with an abundance of weapon systems as we build Kiryu, also known as MFS-3 Mechagodzilla. Thanks once again for your interest. I look forward to seeing you for the full launch sometime this Fall!