Nuclear Throne: The RPG

STATS:

Max HP (HP): How much damage you can take before you collapse.

Speed (SPD): How fast you can move and react to things.

Accuracy (ACR): How precise you are with aiming and other activities requiring fine motor control.

Melee Proficiency (MLE): How hard you can swing, and how well you can recover afterwards. High levels can allow for Sick Melee Tricks.

Gun Proficiency (GUN): How fast you can fire Bullet-based weaponry, as well as how good you are at conserving ammo and reloading. High levels allow for you to shoot from the hip, curve bullets, or call shots on certain weakpoints.

Slug Proficiency (SLG): How much punch your Slug-based weaponry has, as well as how effective their spreads are and how well you handle recoil. High levels allow you to exert Radical Shotgun Skills to condense or expand the spread of slugs, use the recoil to boost yourself, or even let you hammer someone with the butt of the gun via the recoil of a shot.

Energy Proficiency (NRG): How skilled you are with Energy-based weaponry. High levels can clue you into hidden alt-fire modes, allow you to split beams between multiple targets, and siphon battery from enemy Energy weapons to fuel your own or allies'.

Bolt Proficiency (BLT): How good you are at nocking arrows into Bolt-based weapons, as well as how fast you can prepare your shot. High levels allow you to attach riders to your arrows, use Bolts as melee weapons in a pinch, and how to fire multiple arrows in one shot.

Explosive Proficiency (XPL): How in-tune you are with Explosive weaponry. High levels allow you to eyeball the blast radius of any explosive with extreme accuracy, defuse bombs, and create makeshift explosives out of anything.

Charm (CHR): How good you are with people and/or how attractive you are.


When creating a character, you are given 5 points to assign. Stats can range from -5 to 5, with 5 being godlike skill in that category and -5 being so inept that you will probably die if you ever attempt to exert that stat. HP is an exception, as it can be any number above 1. A fresh character sheet starts with a 2 in each stat except HP, which starts at 6; reducing a stat below the starting point will allow you to reallocate a point.



TALENTS

Everyone has their own unique talents. A character, by default, may have one "Passive" talent and one "Active" talent. The Passive is always considered active, regardless of what the character is currently doing. The Active requires the character to consciously exert it.

Passive talents can emulate Mutations or be static boosts to a single stat; they can also be more unique. A Passive can also be NEGATIVE, actively detrimental to the character. Taking a negative Passive will allow the character to choose two of the following: a positive Passive, a second Active, or a handful of stat points to allocate (amount up to the DM's discretion).

Active talents shouldn't be negative.

If you want, you can have two Passives or two Actives. You can only have two talents max unless you took a negative Passive, in which case you can have 4 counting the negative.



LANGUAGES

There are 3 languages spoken in the wastes.

Trashtalk: THE language of choice for mutants of all sorts. The vast majority of characters are completely fluent in Trashtalk, making communication perfectly simple. Trashtalk has no written form.

Venusian: Spoken solely by Venusians like Yung Venuz, Venusian is a highly percussive language that's rather difficult to speak, but easy enough to get the gist of. Mutants can understand Venusian with some difficulty, and Venusians can likewise decipher Trashtalk with a little time. Venusian writing is completely incomprehensible for non-fluent speakers.

Human: Spoken by the IDPD only. A bygone language inscrutable by anyone who doesn't come from the ranks of the IDPD themselves. Mutants and Venusians can only discern the tone of Human speech, not any meaning. Speakers of Human generally cannot understand Trashtalk or Venusian.



RADS AND LEVELING UP


Rads are equivalent to EXP, and are dropped when mutant or Venusian enemies are killed. Rad Canisters, chest equivalents that contain caches of Rads, are another source. Collecting a certain amount of Rads will allow a character to level up; leveling up allows the player to choose one of 3 Mutations chosen randomly from a pool of several. They also have the option of choosing Patience, a special "mutation" that allows them to level up later, with the mutation choices being refreshed. Patience can be taken at any level, but cannot be chosen more than once per level.

Upon reaching level 10, a character has grown as much as they are able. At this point, they may choose one of two Ultra Mutations, unique to the character (Ultra Mutations should be designed in advance, either with both the player and GM working together, or with the GM creating them for the player character). Patience cannot be chosen at this time, forcing the player to choose one of the two NOW. After this, Rads may still be collected, but are useless unless the character has another means of spending them.



MUTATIONS


Throne Butt: Character specific; upgrade to either the character's Passive or Active talent. Effect of this mutation should be decided in advance by the player and GM.

Extra Feet: Increases SPD by 1; immune to the effects of terrain.

Rhino Skin: Increases HP by 4.

Gamma Guts: When making physical contact with an enemy, they suffer NRG damage; if Gamma Guts' damage exceeds that of an attempted physical attack, the attack will be nullified.

Patience: Reroll Mutation pool. Once per level up.

Ocelot Blood: GUN increases by 2 when wielding a Revolver, but decreases by 1 when using other weapons.

Tunnel Vision: GUN and BLT increase by 1, but SLG and XPL decrease by 1.

Shins of Steel: Max HP increases by 6, but SPD decreases by 2.

Glass Bones: Max HP reduced to 1; increase your choice of stat by the number of HP lost.

Cool Scar: Max HP reduced by 1, CHR increased by 1.

Slugging Arm: MLE is increased by 1 when using a SLG weapon for melee strikes.

Chivalry Gland: When wielding a bladed MLE weapon, gain CHR equal to half your MLE.

Positive Reinforcement: Gain Max HP equal to half your NRG.

Adrenaline: Gain 2 MLE when at or below 33% of your Max HP; lose it when healed above that threshold.


WEAPONS

In the wastes, everyone is armed. All player characters will start with a Signature Weapon, which can be of any type. This Signature Weapon will always have full ammunition at the beginning of the campaign.

Characters may only carry up to two weapons at a time, with one being their primary, and the other the secondary. The primary weapon is used to attack, while the secondary is not; characters in combat may swap their primary and secondary once per round as a Quick Action; however, a weapon cannot be swapped to and fired in the same turn.


COMBAT

Combat in Nuclear Throne is very heavily focused on weaponry, to the point that almost no characters fight unarmed. Because of this, most fights will take place with distance between the players and the opponent(s). In rare occasions, this may not be the case, but generally speaking, it will.

Each round, every participant in the combat will get a turn. Turn order depends on SPD. A character's turn ends after they have exhausted a Regular Action, plus as many Quick Actions as they like. Regular Actions include attacking and certain Active Skills. Quick Actions are things like swapping to your secondary weapon, moving, and attempting to block or evade attacks.

Complicated Actions are special maneuvers that require a lot of concentration to pull off; when using one, a character cannot use any Quick Actions in the same turn, making these risky to use in a firefight, but often rewarding.



CHARACTER TEMPLATE


Name

HP: 6
SPD: 2
ACR: 2
MLE: 2
GUN: 2
SLG: 2
NRG: 2
BLT: 2
XPL: 2
CHR: 2

Passive:

Active:

Signature Weapon:

Throne Butt:

Ultra 1:

Ultra 2:


<Backstory>



PREFABRICATED CHARACTERS


Fish

HP: 8
SPD: 3
ACR: 3
MLE: 2
GUN: 3
SLG: 2
NRG: 1
BLT: 2
XPL: 2
CHR: 3

Passive: Marksmanship Training
-Fish's Accuracy cannot be reduced.

Active: Dodge Roll
-Fish may take an action to acrobatically roll a moderate distance at high speed, making him difficult to hit that turn.

Signature Weapon: Revolver (Bullet)

Throne Butt: Enhanced Roll
-Fish's roll can now cover a extended distance; it can also be used to attack foes directly, dealing MLE damage and potentially staggering.

Ultra 1: Professional Negotiator
-Fish's CHR increases to 4 permanently; once per combat, he may holster his weapon and attempt to talk the opponent(s) down. If this fails, combat resumes. If it succeeds, the encounter may be resolved peacefully.

Ultra 2: Cowboy Cop
-Fish's GUN increases to 4 permanently; once per combat, he may unleash a hail of gunfire for 3 turns, with zero cost to his ammo banks.


Before the End, Fish was an ordinary beat cop, one day from retiring to a life free of the badge. Unfortunately for him, the apocalypse had a powerful love of irony, thrusting him from a cushy last day on the beat into a constant struggle for survival in the irradiated wastes. Smooth-talking and good with a pistol, Fish is a fairly well-rounded fighter, with no glaring weaknesses.



Rogue

HP: 9
SPD: 3
ACR: 3
MLE: 2
GUN: 2
SLG: 2
NRG: 4
BLT: 2
XPL: 3
CHR: -1

Negative Passive: Heat
-Rogue is the IDPD's most wanted fugitive. IDPD-aligned enemies will be more aggressive and target her first.

Passive: Polyglot
-Rogue is fluent in Human and has a working knowledge of both Trashtalk and Venusian. When speaking one of her non-native tongues, she occasionally slips into Human or flubs the pronunciation of words.

Active: Blast Armor
-When damaged, Rogue may choose to detonate special charges built into her armor. This deals explosive damage in a radius around herself, harming both friend and foe alike. Rogue herself is not harmed.

Active: Portal Strike
-Rogue may, once per encounter, use an experimental weapon pilfered from her former employers. The Portal Strike summons an air strike from within a dimensional portal, which deals massive Energy/Explosive damage, but is difficult to aim. If Rogue's ACR is below 5, there will be a chance of harming herself or allies with the blast.

Signature Weapon: Rogue Rifle (Energy)

Throne Butt: Safe Blast Armor
-Blast Armor no longer damages allies.

Ultra 1: Super Portal Strike
-Dramatically increases the power of Portal Strike, but makes it harder to aim.

Ultra 2: Weight of the Badge
-Rogue dons her old helmet once more, permanently reducing CHR to -3. IDPD-aligned characters will trust Rogue more, effectively negating her Heat passive until she fires on them first.


Once a member of the sinister Inter-Dimnsional Police Department, Rogue abandoned the operation after coming across evidence of their wrongdoings; disgusted, she immediately liberated a powerful experimental weapon and fled the IDPD's headquarters. Now, she lives on the lam, having shaky alliances with mutants who are never really sure if they can trust her...



Melting

HP: 2
SPD: 3
ACR: 3
MLE: 3
GUN: 3
SLG: 3
NRG: 3
BLT: 3
XPL: 3
CHR: 3

Passive: Extra Rads
-Melting gets 1.5x Rads from all sources.

Active: Corpse Explosion
-By taking a Complicated Action, Melting may detonate all corpses that are within his eyesight, dealing XPL damage to all enemies in the blast. Corpse Explosions cannot harm Melting or his allies.

Signature Weapon: Rusty Revolver (Bullet)

Throne Butt: Corpse Eruption
-The blast radius of Corpse Explosion is increased considerably.

Ultra 1: Brain Capacity
-By using a Complicated Action, Melting may fatally detonate any enemy whose current HP is below 5. Melting may not use a Regular or Complicated Action the turn after evoking this talent.

Ultra 2: Detachment
-Melting's HP is permanently reduced to 1. Choose 3 additional Mutations freely (no randomization required).


When the End came, Melting got it a lot harder than most people. Despite being a state of perpetual exhaustion and pain, he soldiers on, showing incredible strength of will in spite of his pitiable physical state. Despite his frailty, Melting is quite a renaissance man, reasonably skilled in all fields, even able to harness the pity of others to handle negotiations rather well.



Steroids

HP: 9
SPD: 1
ACR: 1
MLE: 4
GUN: 4
SLG: 2
NRG: 2
BLT: 2
XPL: 2
CHR: 2

Passive: Fully Automatic
-All weapons fired by Steroids are considered automatic.

Active: Ambidextrous
-Steroids may use his primary or secondary weapon to attack without having to spend a turn swapping.

Signature Weapon: Sledgehammer (Melee)

Throne Butt: Get Loaded
-By using a Complicated Action, Steroids may use both his weapons simultaneously in the same turn.

Ultra 1: Get Swole
-MLE increases by 1; if Steroids has two MLE weapons equipped, his CHR increases to 4.

Ultra 2: Get Smart
-MLE decreases by 2, but GUN increases by 1; if Steroids has two GUN weapons equipped, his ACR increases to 3.


Once a brilliant scientist, Steroids was one of few who foresaw the End coming. In preparation, he trained hard to bulk himself up in order to survive the inevitable. He succeeded.



Name

HP: 6
SPD: 2
ACR: 2
MLE: 2
GUN: 2
SLG: 2
NRG: 2
BLT: 2
XPL: 2
CHR: 2

Passive:

Active:

Signature Weapon:

Throne Butt:

Ultra 1:

Ultra 2:


<Backstory