Chassis
In the world after the Fall, survival doesn't care what you call yourself. There are no academies handing out titles, no guilds stamping certifications. What matters is what your body can take, what your hands know how to hold, and how fast you learn.
Your chassis is your starting frame — the physical and training baseline you bring to the table before you invest a single Character Point (CP). It determines how much punishment you can absorb, what weapons and armor you can use without training, and which instincts keep you alive when everything goes wrong. It does not determine what you become. A Heavy chassis character who pours CP into arcane trees is a battle-mage, not a Warrior who dabbles. A Specialist who invests in melee combat is a surgical killer, not a Fighter with fewer hit points.
Choose the chassis that matches the body and baseline you want — then build whatever you want on top of it.
Choosing a Chassis
At character creation, select one chassis. This choice is permanent and determines your:
- Hit Die — Used for HP calculation and certain recovery effects
- Starting HP — Hit Die maximum + 2 + END modifier at Level 1 (the +2 represents baseline physical conditioning)
- HP Per Level — Hit Die roll (or fixed average) + END modifier each level
- Armor Proficiencies — Which armor categories you can wear without penalty
- Weapon Proficiencies — Which weapon categories you can wield without penalty
- Save Proficiencies — Which two saving throws benefit from your proficiency bonus
- Starting Skill Proficiencies — How many skills you're proficient in at Level 1
- Starting Equipment — Your gear package at character creation
Your chassis does not grant features, abilities, talents, or progression. All of those come from spending Character Points (CP) in shared skill trees (see Character Points).
The Five Chassis
Heavy
You're the one they put in front. You've always been bigger, tougher, harder to put down. Maybe you were a pit fighter in the Crucible settlements, maybe you hauled scrap through irradiated ruins until your body stopped noticing the burns. Whatever the reason, when the shooting starts, people get behind you.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Die | d12 |
| Starting HP | 14 + END modifier |
| HP Per Level | 1d12 (avg 7) + END modifier |
| Armor Proficiencies | Light, Medium, Heavy, Shields |
| Weapon Proficiencies | Simple weapons, Martial melee weapons |
| Save Proficiencies | Fortitude, Will |
| Starting Skill Proficiencies | 2 |
Starting Equipment (choose one package):
- A — Frontliner: Heavy armor (Tier 1), martial melee weapon, scrap shield, 2 rations, 50 cr
- B — Bruiser: Medium armor (Tier 1), two-handed martial melee weapon, simple ranged weapon, 2 rations, 75 cr
Quick Start: If you want to play a tank, bruiser, frontline fighter, or anyone who wades into melee and refuses to go down — choose Heavy.
Striker
You fight smart and you fight fast. You're comfortable with a rifle at a hundred meters or a blade at arm's length — whatever the situation demands. You've survived by being the most dangerous person in the room, not the toughest. Adaptability is your armor.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Die | d8 |
| Starting HP | 10 + END modifier |
| HP Per Level | 1d8 (avg 5) + END modifier |
| Armor Proficiencies | Light, Medium |
| Weapon Proficiencies | Simple weapons, Martial weapons (all categories) |
| Save Proficiencies | Reflex, Fortitude |
| Starting Skill Proficiencies | 3 |
Starting Equipment (choose one package):
- A — Sharpshooter: Light armor (Tier 1), martial ranged weapon, simple melee weapon, 20 ammo, 2 rations, 50 cr
- B — Skirmisher: Medium armor (Tier 1), martial melee weapon, sidearm, 10 ammo, 2 rations, 50 cr
Quick Start: If you want to play a gunfighter, duelist, ranger, paladin-type, or any combat-focused character who values versatility over raw toughness — choose Striker.
Specialist
You know things other people don't. Maybe you can crack a pre-Fall encryption in your sleep, maybe you can stitch a sucking chest wound shut in the dark, maybe you can talk a raider chief into handing over their hostages. Your skills are your weapons, and you've got more of them than anyone.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Die | d8 |
| Starting HP | 10 + END modifier |
| HP Per Level | 1d8 (avg 5) + END modifier |
| Armor Proficiencies | Light |
| Weapon Proficiencies | Simple weapons, Sidearms, melee finesse weapons |
| Save Proficiencies | Reflex, Will |
| Starting Skill Proficiencies | 5 |
Starting Equipment (choose one package):
- A — Field Agent: Light armor (Tier 1), finesse melee weapon, sidearm, 10 ammo, toolkit (choose one), 2 rations, 50 cr
- B — Medic's Kit: Light armor (Tier 1), simple weapon, sidearm, 10 ammo, medical kit, 2 rations, 75 cr
- C — Technician's Rig: Light armor (Tier 1), simple weapon, hacking terminal, toolkit (Technology), 2 rations, 50 cr
Quick Start: If you want to play a medic, hacker, spy, face, operative, technician, or any skill-heavy character — choose Specialist.
Adept
You touch something most people can't even perceive. Whether it's the raw weave of arcane energy bleeding through post-Fall reality, the psionic potential unlocked by mutagenic exposure, or a scholarly command of pre-Fall techno-sorcery — you channel forces that make hardened killers nervous. You're fragile, though. The power has a cost, and your body pays it.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Die | d6 |
| Starting HP | 8 + END modifier |
| HP Per Level | 1d6 (avg 4) + END modifier |
| Armor Proficiencies | Light |
| Weapon Proficiencies | Simple weapons |
| Save Proficiencies | Will, Fortitude |
| Starting Skill Proficiencies | 3 |
Starting Equipment (choose one package):
- A — Arcanist: Light armor (Tier 1), simple weapon, arcane focus, 2 rations, 100 cr
- B — Psion: Light armor (Tier 1), simple weapon, psionic focus, 2 rations, 100 cr
Quick Start: If you want to play a mage, psion, channeler, or any character whose primary power comes from supernatural or psionic ability — choose Adept.
Survivor
The Wasteland tried to kill you. It's still trying. But you're still here — tougher than you look, meaner than you need to be, and resourceful enough to make a weapon out of anything. You didn't train in a settlement gym or learn from a master. You learned by not dying, and that education never stops.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Hit Die | d10 |
| Starting HP | 12 + END modifier |
| HP Per Level | 1d10 (avg 6) + END modifier |
| Armor Proficiencies | Light, Medium |
| Weapon Proficiencies | Simple weapons, Improvised weapons (base 1d6 damage; the Survival & Scavenging tree's Improvised Arsenal ability upgrades this to 1d8), Sidearms |
| Save Proficiencies | Fortitude, Reflex |
| Starting Skill Proficiencies | 4 |
Starting Equipment (choose one package):
- A — Scavenger: Medium armor (Tier 1), improvised weapon, sidearm, 10 ammo, scavenging kit, 2 rations, 25 cr
- B — Wasteland Mutant: Light armor (Tier 1), simple melee weapon, 4 rations, antitoxin (2 doses), 50 cr
Quick Start: If you want to play a scavenger, mutant, wasteland survivor, post-apocalyptic ranger, or any character forged by the Wasteland itself — choose Survivor.
Chassis Comparison Table
| Chassis | Hit Die | Starting HP | HP/Level | Armor | Weapons | Saves | Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy | d12 | 14 + END | d12 (7) + END | All + Shields | Simple, Martial melee | Fort, Will | 2 |
| Striker | d8 | 10 + END | d8 (5) + END | Light, Medium | Simple, All Martial | Ref, Fort | 3 |
| Specialist | d8 | 10 + END | d8 (5) + END | Light | Simple, Sidearms, melee finesse | Ref, Will | 5 |
| Adept | d6 | 8 + END | d6 (4) + END | Light | Simple | Will, Fort | 3 |
| Survivor | d10 | 12 + END | d10 (6) + END | Light, Medium | Simple, Improvised, Sidearms | Fort, Ref | 4 |
Design Note — Tradeoff Structure:
- Heavy trades skill breadth and weapon range for maximum survivability and armor access. Migration note: Current Warrior has proficiency with ALL weapons; Heavy chassis only grants Simple + Martial melee (no martial ranged). Warrior rebuild players who relied on ranged backup weapons will need to invest in the Ranged Combat tree's weapon proficiency upgrade.
- Striker trades heavy armor and HP for the broadest weapon access and solid saves. Channeler migration note: Channeler maps to Striker but loses Will save proficiency (current Channeler has Fort+Will, Striker has Ref+Fort). This is accepted as a chassis-era trade-off. Channeler rebuild characters should invest in the Divine Channeling tree's Tier 1 Will save proficiency upgrade (estimated 5 CP cost) to restore their current save profile.
- Specialist trades HP and armor for the highest skill count and a versatile weapon set for close work.
- Adept trades everything physical for the best supernatural save profile (Will + Fort) — their power comes from trees, not gear. Migration note: Adept grants Light armor proficiency, which the current Mystic does not have. This is an intentional chassis-era change — Mystics gain light armor access they previously lacked. Tree costs do not need to account for this buff, as it is baked into the chassis baseline.
- Survivor sits in the middle — more HP than Specialist/Striker, more skills than Heavy, but masters neither weapons nor armor.
Archetype-to-Chassis Mapping
Every current archetype can be rebuilt as a chassis + skill tree combination. This table shows the natural chassis for each archetype and the primary skill trees that replicate their identity.
| Current Archetype | Natural Chassis | Primary Skill Trees | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Heavy | Martial Combat, Tactical Command | Full melee weapon + heavy armor access from chassis |
| Gunslinger | Striker | Ranged Combat | All weapon access includes martial ranged; invest CP in ranged tree |
| Mystic | Adept | Arcane Arts | Will + Fortitude saves preserve caster resilience |
| Technician | Specialist | Technology | Toolkit access via Specialist gear; drone/gadget features from tree |
| Medic | Specialist | Medicine | Medical kit in starting equipment; healing features from tree |
| Operative | Specialist | Stealth & Subterfuge | Finesse weapons + 5 skills preserve skill-monkey identity |
| Diplomat | Specialist | Leadership & Social | 5 skills covers social breadth; sidearm for self-defense |
| Channeler | Striker | Divine Channeling, Martial Combat | Medium armor + martial melee for armored caster; divine tree for magic |
| Scavenger | Survivor | Survival & Scavenging | Improvised weapons + scavenging kit from chassis; wasteland features from tree |
| Infiltrator | Specialist | Stealth & Subterfuge | Finesse weapons + high skills; infiltration features from tree |
| Psion | Adept | Psionic Disciplines | Will + Fortitude saves; psionic focus in starting gear |
| Mutant | Survivor | Mutation | d10 HP for physical mutations; sidearm for ranged backup |
Cross-Chassis Builds
The chassis system is designed to support unorthodox combinations. These are suboptimal compared to the "natural" mapping but fully functional:
- Heavy + Arcane Arts — Battle-mage. d12 HP and heavy armor protect a caster who fights at close range. Will save proficiency helps resist enemy magic. Trades spell diversity for survivability.
- Adept + Martial Combat — War-sage. d6 HP means you can't take hits, but psionic/arcane buffs + martial tree techniques create a glass cannon in melee. Requires CP investment in weapon proficiency upgrades from the Martial tree.
- Specialist + Mutation — The experiment. d8 HP and 5 skills make for a mutant who understands their own biology. Medical + Mutation tree overlap for self-modification specialist.
- Survivor + Arcane Arts — Wasteland witch. d10 HP and foraging instincts paired with scavenged arcane knowledge. Thematically rich; mechanically trades spell power for resilience.
- Striker + Psionic Disciplines — Psychic gunfighter. All weapon proficiencies + psionic augmentation of ranged attacks. Reflex save helps dodge; Will save comes from tree investment.
Chassis and Other Character Layers
Your chassis interacts with — but does not replace — the other layers of character identity:
- Species remains unchanged. Your species traits (Human versatility, Synthetic resilience, Xylar telepathy, etc.) stack with your chassis as they do with current archetypes.
- Background remains unchanged. Your background grants +2 to one skill and a narrative feature, regardless of chassis.
- Character Points are the primary progression system. Your chassis sets the floor; CP spending builds everything above it.
- Mastery Paths (L11-15) remain available. Prerequisites will reference chassis type and/or minimum CP investment in relevant trees rather than archetype names.
- Doctrines are now universal free picks, no longer tied to specific archetypes. You gain 1 doctrine slot at Level 1 and a second at Level 6 (see Character Points — Doctrines).
Proficiency Upgrades
Characters are not locked into their chassis proficiencies. The following proficiency upgrades are available through CP spending in skill trees:
- Weapon Proficiency — Individual martial weapon groups can be unlocked via the relevant combat tree (e.g., Martial Combat tree grants martial melee proficiency; Ranged Combat tree grants martial ranged proficiency). Cost: 5-10 CP per weapon group.
- Armor Proficiency — Medium and Heavy armor proficiency can be purchased through the Martial Combat or Survival trees. Cost: 10 CP (Medium), 15 CP (Heavy). Shield proficiency: 5 CP.
- Save Proficiency — A third save proficiency can be purchased at Tier 3+ of any tree. Cost: 20 CP. This represents a significant investment, preserving save proficiency as a meaningful chassis differentiator.
These costs ensure that chassis choice matters early but doesn't permanently lock characters out of options. A Specialist can eventually wear heavy armor — but they'll pay a significant CP tax compared to a Heavy who starts with it.
Design Notes for Pipeline
Why five chassis, not four or six:
- Four chassis (cutting Survivor) forces Scavenger and Mutant into awkward fits — Mutant doesn't belong in Heavy (too much armor) or Striker (wrong fantasy). Survivor occupies a genuine niche: wasteland-adapted, resourceful, tougher than Specialist but less armored than Heavy.
- Six chassis risks the "class trap" of too many options that feel similar. Five keeps each chassis distinct along the HP/skills/proficiency axes with no overlap.
Why Heavy gets Will instead of Reflex:
- Current Warrior has Fortitude + Reflex, but the Warrior fantasy is "immovable anchor" — that's Fortitude + Will. The current Warrior Reflex save was likely for mechanical balance, but in the chassis system, the Striker already covers Fortitude + Reflex. Giving Heavy Fort + Will differentiates it from Survivor (Fort + Ref) and creates a natural "I don't flinch" identity.
- If this causes problems for Warrior rebuild fidelity, the simplest fix is a low-cost Reflex save proficiency in the Martial Combat tree.
Skill proficiency distribution (2-3-3-4-5):
- Heavy (2): Fewest skills, most combat power. Matches Warrior's "solve problems by hitting them" identity.
- Striker (3) / Adept (3): Middle ground. Enough to be competent outside combat without competing with Specialist.
- Survivor (4): Wasteland survival demands broad competence — foraging, navigation, perception, crafting. More skills than a pure fighter, fewer than a trained specialist.
- Specialist (5): This is the chassis's primary advantage. Current Operative and Infiltrator are skill-heavy; Medic and Technician rely on tool proficiencies. Five skills preserves this identity in a system where the chassis can't grant features.
Glossary entries needed: "Chassis" and "Character Points (CP)" should be added to rules/appendices/glossary.md when this content is merged. Flag for a follow-up glossary task.
Abbreviation note: "CP" = Character Points (this file). "BP" = Burnout Points (see Magic — Burnout). These are separate systems with distinct abbreviations. Character Points (CP) replaces the old Advancement Points (AP) system entirely — 1 CP = 1 AP, total budget 205 CP over 20 levels.
Starting equipment packages vs archetype packages: Chassis starting equipment is simpler than current per-archetype packages (character-creation.md L865-953). The migration plan should clarify whether chassis equipment replaces archetype equipment entirely.