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Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen
Vehicles / Full Vehicle Rules

Optional Rule: Wide Turns

Source Ultimate Combat pg. 174
The rules for turning a vehicle are a simple way of getting vehicles to turn on a grid, but when a vehicle turns, it doesn’t do so sharply, even when powered by magic; vehicles rarely make turns evenly. If this simple system involves too much abstraction, you can have vehicles make wide turns.

Have the driver make a driving check as usual. If she succeeds at the check, she can turn the vehicle. When a vehicle makes a turn, it has a chance to make a vehicular overrun or ramming maneuver on any creature within the turning area, which is a square with sides equal to the vehicle’s length, with one vertex touching the front facing of the vehicle on the side opposite to the direction of the turn. In other words, put the square with one side running along the vehicle’s front, perpendicular to its forward facing, and another running the direction of its current forward facing. Place the square so its far corner is within the desired destination of the vehicle. If the turn is successful, the vehicle ends this movement in that area, facing toward the direction of the turn.

The vehicle then makes either vehicular overruns or vehicular bull rushes (if the driver makes the required swift action) on all creatures and objects within the square that are smaller than it, and makes ramming maneuvers on all creatures and objects that are larger than it, including solid objects. It takes a –10 penalty on the vehicular bull rush and vehicular overrun maneuvers. The driver can choose to make these in any order she likes. She makes them one at a time (even after the vehicle is wrecked or comes to a sudden stop), and all effects are cumulative. If the vehicle is wrecked or comes to a sudden stop, the GM decides the final resting location within the turning area, picking the most plausible location given the effects.

For instance, if the square has two objects larger than the vehicle and three creatures smaller than it, and the driver decides to make the ramming maneuver on the objects first, and then is wrecked during the ramming maneuver on the second object, the vehicle still makes the vehicular overruns on the other two creatures. It ends in a location of the GM’s choosing.