All my currently used Vehicle mechanics are currently presented in this article.

I like sharing my rules in article format as it allows me to share them to multiple platforms without reformatting everything for each.

My main goals was to keep vehicles simple and deadly, not too much added complexity, as I'm not trying to design a car wars game, nor so simple as to be abstracted out, I think the core conceits strike a fine balance though I may be mistaken.

Is there a particular reason you're using hit dice for vehicles rather than fixed hit points?

I get that some vehicles may have taken a beating over the years, but that seems more like a GM call (which might include degraded speed, acceleration, AC, DR, etc.) than something a player rolls for when they take it off the lot for the first time.

More interesting if you're going for "how prone is this specific vehicle to breaking down?" would be to give them a rolled Constitution attribute that affects both hp and its saves and maybe modifies a periodic "breakdown check" during routine (and not so routine) use.

For that matter, vehicles could also have a Strength (for pulling loads/towing out another vehicle, or trying to muscle thorough an obstacle) and Dexterity score (use the worse of the vehicle or driver for evading obstacles and any time you want an opposed test of speed or maneuverability such as a car chase) to round out the physical attributes.

Quote from: Chris24601 on February 26, 2025, 12:11:44 PMIs there a particular reason you're using hit dice for vehicles rather than fixed hit points?

I get that some vehicles may have taken a beating over the years, but that seems more like a GM call (which might include degraded speed, acceleration, AC, DR, etc.) than something a player rolls for when they take it off the lot for the first time.

You answered your own question to a degree, though part of it is also if say the players jack a Vehicle, HD is a good way of determining if that car or truck was in good working order or not. I like mechanics that don't require  GM create facts on the fly as much. instead of either having a sub table for the condition for the car, or GM fiat, it can all be described in HD.

As for if Vehicles should have a DEX or STR score, I think this gets into the car wars territory I'm trying to avoid, and just looking at creatures in OSR games, they don't come with such things, we can often can infer how strong a creature is by size and description.

Likewise because this is set in the modern world, if I want to know the hauling capacity of a Ford 150 from 2003, that's a mere google search or player anecdote away. as for Dex, I gave Vehicles different save values, which are modified by a characters dex mod.