Mecha Kaiju Sensō Tai!!!: Soul Meld

Mecha Kaiju Sensō Tai!!! is a Savage Setting of colorful tokusatsu- and anime-style mayhem.  Every player assumes control of a human-scale character and either a “super robot”-style mecha or a daikaiju.  MKST!!! deviates from how mecha and giant monsters are handled in the Savage Worlds core rules, Sci-Fi Companion, and Super Powers Companion by creating them using the standard SW character creation rules and then granting the mecha and kaiju a +20 Gargantuan-scale bonus to damage and Toughness when they need to interact with humans.  By substituting the G-scale for the complicated math of Sci-Fi Companion walkers and Super Powers Companion character creation, Mecha Kaiju Sensō Tai!!! aims to provide Savage Worlds players a fast, furious, fun way to stomp Tokyo into rubble.

The following new power is for use only in MKST!!! campaigns.  It has not been designed to scale with other Savage Settings.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe fans get it.

 

Soul Meld

Rank: Novice

Range: Sight

Power Point Cost: 10

Duration: 5 turns (2 per additional turn)

Trappings: empathic link, brain-diver helmet, mystical communion, strange dreams...

 

Every player in Mecha Kaiju Sensō Tai!!! controls two characters: a human-scale character and a Gargantuan-scale kaiju or mecha.  While all such pairings have some point of connection (a saurian kaiju and the scientist who wants to study it, a super robot and its pilot) some MKST!!! characters can forge a bond that transcends species and scale.  This is the power called soul meld.

Sometimes you are the mecha and the mecha is you (Ultraman)

Soul meld allows two characters to share wound levels or certain Edges.  A successful activation roll allows the activating partner to share either wound levels or Edges with the recipient; a raise on the activation roll allows both to be shared.

 

Pacific Rim should have ended with these guys drifting a kaiju into battle. 

When characters share wound levels through soul meld, wounds or Shaken results from a successful attack against the recipient partner can be applied to the activating partner instead.  Wounds received from a single attack can be divided between both partners or applied to a single member of the soul meld.

Example 1: Kusanagi Asagi uses her magic magatama to activate soul meld with Gamera while he battles the Legion queen. The queen Legion blasts Gamera with her horn beam, and Gamera/Asagi’s player fails Gamera’s soak roll.  Gamera takes three wounds; the player assigns two wounds to Gamera himself and one to Asagi (justifying it as the “psychic backlash” of their soul meld connection).  Gamera is able to stay in the fight a little longer…

 

Sometimes it's the kaiju that melds with the human (Godzilla's Revenge)

When characters share Edges, the recipient partner is able to access certain Edges belonging to the activating partner.  Inherent physical and metaphysical abilities (such as most Background Edges, Power Edges, a kaiju’s Monstrous Edges, or a human’s opposable thumbs) cannot be shared, but learned abilities like Combat Edges, Leadership Edges, Professional Edges, Social Edges, Weird Edges, Wild Card Edges, and Legendary Edges can be shared. 

Example 2: Setsuna F. Seiei – a superior hand-to-hand combatant gifted with astonishing reflexes – is piloting Gundam Exia.  Since pilot and mecha are run as separate characters under the Mecha Kaiju Sensō Tai!!! rather than as operator and vehicle, Setsuna’s astonishing rapport with his Gundam is represented by the soul meld power.  Setsuna activates his soul meld with Exia during a battle against the Human Reform League; while the power is active, the mecha has access to Setsuna’s Improved Level Headed, Two-Fisted and other Combat Edges.