Here's some ideas my group used for their uber-vehicle:
Spinning rims with spikes:
"These sweet rims are both stylish and effective in combat."
When you successfully pull off a Trade Paint stunt, the targeted vehicle is slowed until repaired if you beat its driver's mechanics check by 5 or higher during the stunt.
Heavy-lift claws:
"These mechanical arms make your vehicle look like a giant robot lobster."
The driver gains the following actions:
At-will standard action: Lift up to 2,000 pounds of material.
Claw [at-will] standard action Melee 1
Attack: Level + 6 vs AC
Hit: Target is grabbed until escape.
+1 Robot-horse power
"You cannibalized a robot equinoid to give your vehicle extra horsepower."
Your vehicle's maximum cargo load increases by 200 lbs.
Craig Campbell, co-author of “Pedal to the Metal” here, Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread.
Here’s my take on the content Cazra has offered up, based on my experiences writing the Pedal to the Metal rule supplement. I offer designer notes in addition to the rules info here, so this will get a little long. But, I hope everyone finds this commentary useful. Sorry about the wonky formatting. If anyone wishes to compact my designs into a better format, that'd be cool by me.
Cazra’s “Spinning Rims with Spikes”:
During design, we determined that “slowing” a vehicle too easily is “not fun” and might bring a speeding firefight or a chase scene to an end too quickly. To offset such “slowing” effects, we incorporated penalties to vehicle’s speeds to make such maneuvers worthwhile, but not encounter-stopping.
That said, Cazra’s info is mostly good. I’ve adjusted things a bit as follows.
Wheel Spikes Augmentation
Large, steel spikes adorn the rims of your vehicle’s wheels, spinning violently.
Requirement: The vehicle must be a ground-based vehicle at least Huge in size.
Effect: When the driver of the vehicle successfully uses the Trade Paint stunt to slam his vehicle into another vehicle from the side (and only from the side), the target vehicle suffers a -1 penalty to its speed in addition to other Trade Paint effects.
Special: This -1 penalty to speed is cumulative for additional successful uses of the Trade Paint stunt initiated from the side, to a maximum speed penalty of -4, assuming the driver of the vehicle “hits” the target vehicle a maximum of twice on each of the two sides of the target vehicle.
Cazra’s “Heavy-Lift Claws”:
Cazra’s “Heavy-Lift Claws” provides vehicles with an actual attack power. During design, we determined that the focus should be on PCs’ capabilities, not “vehicle attack powers.” Note that Pedal to the Metal does not include “vehicle attack powers” but instead treats vehicles as equipment that their drivers can use to perform skill-based stunts. Additionally, vehicles and how their drivers use them are treated similarly to the mount rules provided in GW and D&D 4E.
Here’s my “equipment-based” take on Cazra’s “Heavy-Lift Claws” power.
Front Claw Augmentation
A large, mechanized metal claw is affixed to the front of your vehicle. You can use this claw to grab vehicles in front of your vehicle.
Requirement: The vehicle must be at least Huge in size.
Effect: When the driver of the vehicle successfully uses the Trade Paint stunt to slam the front of his vehicle into another vehicle, the target vehicle is grabbed in addition to other Trade Paint effects. On his turn, the driver of the target vehicle can attempt to escape this grab by spending a move action to make a Mechanics check, opposed by a Mechanics check you make. If the driver of the target vehicle is successful, he moves his vehicle up to half his vehicle’s speed as a part of this escape.
Special: This augmentation can be combined with a “Ram” augmentation, but both features must be incorporated into a single vehicle augmentation. Such a “double augmentation” is subject to GM discretion.
Cazra’s “+1 Robot-Horse Power”:
Cazra’s idea is solid, but doesn’t take into account overall vehicle sizes and the loads associated with really large vehicle that have significant load capabilities. Here’s my take, based on a percentage of a vehicle’s normal cargo load. It’s a bit of an abstraction in order to account for vehicles that have widely differing cargo load capabilities based on size and use. The assumption is that a “powerful engine” for a particular vehicle is appropriate to the overall size and use of the vehicle being augmented.
Powerful Engine Augmentation
The vehicle is outfitted with an over-sized engine of appropriate size that provides more pulling power for the vehicle.
Effect: The vehicle’s cargo load is increased by 25%.
