Goodman Games

What spells and tactics work well against mechs? I'm looking for some good ideas to use against my players.

They've already summoned a fire beetle into the cockpit of one of my NPC mechs. The wizard just got the Baleful Transposition spell (I forget which book its in) and came up with the idea of just swapping places with an enemy pilot.

Dude, druids can do MESSED UP things to mechs, especially steam powered ones.

In my game I plane on have a unicorn/druid running a gorilla warfare against encroaching elements of the confederacy.

Insect Swarm works mighty well - automatic damage to pilots, WAY distracting, only easy to damage with fire, and I doubt anyone is going to open up a personal flame nozzle INSIDE a mech.

The might weird one which requires some GM creatively interpreting spell effects is QUENCH FIRE cast on the furnace of a steam mech. The spell is designed to put out forest fires, so I rule that it can rather quickly put out a mech's fire, resulting in a paralyzed mech in d6 rounds, faster if it moves and shoots steam cannons.

Cheers,

Check out the crumble bug swarm thread for some monster abilities that are particularly nasty.

Buzzsaws and Adamantine Chatterswords'll do the trick nice as well. Have a unit of those (if you can afford it, of course. Might just mix it up between cheaper buzzsaws and more effective adamantine chatterswords) climb over a mech and systematicly dissassemble it. A ten-person unit prolly be able to strip up to a gargantuan in a round. If they're anklebitters, then it'll be even quicker.

If you plan on this, try out some mass combat rules. Either WotC's Miniatures Handbook or (better) Malhavoc's Cry Havoc books have good mass combat rules.

Here is the pretty much gauranteed way to successfully board a mech: Gaseous form (or ectoplasmic for psions).

hmm...

heat metal
rusting grasp

adamantine weapons, of course

cloud kill

transmute rock to mud

Disentegrate with Combine Spell...............................

circle of death; only the most experienced of mech jockies will be surviving that one

you wanna go all out, just teleport, wish or miracle the guy's mech out from under him and let him fall the hundred-something feet.... and get stepped on.

I was hoping for some less obvious ideas. Specifically, tactics that might be available to characters of 7th level or lower, and without the Combine Spell feat.

well, how much time have you got?

pit traps work wonders

if you can find some sturdy trees or rock out-croppings, trip wires could certainly be effective.

anything to force a balance check (or multiple balance checks) to bring down a mech

failing that, any trip-wire trap could always pull the trees or rocks down on the mech

deadfalls could cause some damage, if not knock the mech over,a nd rolling a boulder down a cliff certainly ahs the potential to knock over a mech

mountainous terrain would be best, since you have lots of grades and valleys, cliffs, otehr natural features

making a blind to trick a smaller mech into a river or lake could be effective if the drop off is sudden enough
*sploosh! drown!*

in fact, there's some really nice vision imparing spells at spell levels 4 and below

knock could easily be used to gain access to a mech that is meerly secured by locks

you could enlarge person in order to take on large sized mechs

hold person could temporarily stop a mech; long enought to board and capture it (most mechs are piloted by humanoids, so yeah )

mythfish wrote:I was hoping for some less obvious ideas. Specifically, tactics that might be available to characters of 7th level or lower, and without the Combine Spell feat.

Hmm, you watched Return of the Jedi recently? I'm sure that anything ewoks can do, PCs can do better...

How about called shots to leg joints? If a satchel charge could take down a BattleMech (tm) then I'm sure a sufficiently hard fighter sticking his greatsword into a Mech's knee would have similar effects. He could even just leave it there, kind of like a sabot in the works.

and, like what has been mentioned before, you can get adamantine weapons as early as 3rd or 4th level. even an adamantine dagger'll let you board a mech with ease.

Any enchantment spell still works on pilots, so remember that. charm and hold spells'll still come in handy, as if you screw the pilot, the mech's not going anywhere.

For good ol sheer fun, nothing beats spells like scorching ray. Lotsa bolts, lotsa damage, low-costing spell. I can't remember, though.... Does hardness apply to energy damage? I know that damage reduction is useless against energy and magical damage.

Seeing as I'm currently working on an anti-mech elven druid, I'll give you some tactical tips.

The jump spell and spider climb spell are great for boarding mechs. Those should be used until the druid can get wild shape, and then eagle form should be used.

Check of the Master of Many Forms in complete adventurer. It allows a human wildshape, allowing someone to break into a mech (with like a bear or something), kill a furnace loader, assume his identity, walk up to the cockpit and cast heat/chill metal on the controls of the mech. The pilot will either have to take damage or stop moving. Then you can just set off an obscuring mist and drop a bomb in the cockpit while nobody can see and leave.

An animal companion can do wonders. In a mech heavy game, some huge wolf is going to be useful about 1/20 times. Get an eagle or hawk instead. Teach it to use a grappling hook, and have it bring the hook over to the enemy mech.

If possible, steal a large drill from a coglayer or steam mage. Drilling through the mech is a lot quieter than turning into a bear and trying to break a porthole, and then you just turn into a snake and sneak in.


Druids are really the ultimate anti-mechs. While at higher levels a stalker multiclass might be useful, wild shape combined with solid spells, and of course a righteous anger for turning the world into a desert