Editing Lancer (section)

==Mechanics==
The core system is pretty basic; 1d20 versus a target number (10 for skill checks, and a defensive stat for attacks) with up to 3d6 (taking only the highest) as Accuracy and Difficulty penalties granted by talents, circumstances, etc. The pilot side of the game is lightweight storygame-y stuff, usually based on how you plan to get some advantages and assets for combat, while the mech side is 4E-like tactical combat on a hex grid.

As you level up, you can improve both how your pilot and mech operate, gaining talents to specialize in mech combat, skills for managing downtime, and License Levels in order to buy new wargear and frames for your mech. The Inner Rim introduced a money-as-XP system called "Manna", but it does require spending to unlock incremental parts of the level-up.

Karrakin Trade Baronies introduced a Bond system, more familiar as something akin to the playbooks of a [[Powered by the Apocalypse|PbtA]] game, only now using the d20 system normally used for downtime stuff rather than 2d6. While damage isn't really accounted for in pilot-side situations, there is a stress system similar to heat for mechs that can be burned for boosts on tasks and burdens counting as some sort of long-term damage that takes a long time to heal.

Unfortunately, similarly to 4e, Lancer has a bit of a problem with [[FAIL|mixing rules text and fluff text]], which can sometimes lead to significant confusion or [[Rules Lawyer|very abusable rules interpretations]]. Several errata documents have been released to combat this, known as "the word of Tom", but the PDFs have not been updated to fix these interpretations, for [[ICON|various reasons]].