I’m going to be running the PF2e Adventure Path Outlaws of Alkenstar soon. I’ve been making some pretty big changes to it though. Just some additional concepts to make it my own. Integrating Starfinder 2e content, adding a more Borderlands / Fallout / Mad Max vibe, enhancing the severity of the Wild Magic stuff etc.
A big part of my prep has been to develop a Mad Max style racing scene in the city of Alkenstar. I realised pretty early on though, if we used the existing PF2e vehicle rules, no one was going to finishing a race. When every bit of movement relies on a skill check, eventually a low roll will crash each racer out. Plus that’s a crazy amount of rolling each round. Playing out a race would take all session! PLUS the current rules split out speed based on actions and well… why wouldn’t everyone be going max speed all the time in a race?
Basically, the rules might be okay for a combat scene (maybe) but they are certainly not fit to purpose for a Mad Max style race with combat happening as they race and ramming each other. So I’ve put myself to work coming up with a system that puts the focus back on the combat and trusts the pilot to handle the driving.
What needed fixing?
The current rules require way to many rolls to reliably complete a race. What I needed to do was remove some of these rolls by both simplifying the way the pilot drives and by trusting that the pilot is capable of at least basic driving.
Instead of having 1 action, 2 action and 3 action versions of driving, all at different speeds and risks, I made it just a single type of Drive action. Since part of the reason for the multiple drive types was how they interact with turning, I made Turning into its own action. None of this requires rolls. If the Pilot has either Driving Lore as a lore skill or proficiency in the Piloting skill (if incorporating SF2e content like I am), we can trust that they know how to pilot the vehicle!
But I still want the Pilot to get some fun chances to roll and do cool stuff! So I also added a Drift action. A chance to turn while maintaining max speed. And the modified Run Over action will still need a skill check.
A final thing I had to consider was that your average mid level character starts being faster that half the vehicles Paizo has given us! So I just blanket upped the speed of all vehicles.
The new vehicle actions!
Here are my revised actions for driving vehicles and more importantly, RACING!
Drive: 2 Actions. Your vehicle moves up to its full speed in a straight line, or with up to 10ft of strafing left or right. If you move less than half the vehicles full speed, this instead costs 1 action. If the Vehicle is uncontrolled, this action requires a Piloting Check to end the Uncontrolled condition.
Turn: 1 Action. Your vehicle moves half its maximum speed. At any point along this movement, the vehicle can turn up to 90 degrees.
Drift: 1 Action. Make a Piloting Check. On a success, you may take the Turn Action but move up to your vehicles maximum speed. On a failure, you take the Turn Action as normal but the vehicle strafes randomly 1d4 spaces against the direction you’re turning and becomes Uncontrolled.
Run Over: 2 Actions: Make a Piloting Check. On a success, take the Drive Action and if you drive over a creature or vehicle at least two sizes smaller than the vehicle, they must succeed a Reflex Save or take the Collision damage. On a failure, they take half damage and the vehicle becomes Uncontrolled. If you use the Run Over Action and instead drive over a creature or vehicle one size smaller than your vehicle or larger, a success means the target takes the Collision damage and is pushed out of your path. A failure means both your target and your own vehicle take half the collision damage and your movement ends and no additional vehicle movement can be taken this turn.
Uncontrolled: An uncontrolled vehicle continues to move each round at its most recent pilot’s initiative position. The distance it moves each round is 10 feet less than on the previous round, always in a straight line at its current heading until it crashes or it comes to a stop. At your discretion, it could slow down more if it’s on uneven terrain, difficult terrain, on an upward slope, or facing adverse wind conditions; by the same token, it could stay at the same speed or even accelerate if it’s on a downward slope or being pushed by strong winds. An uncontrolled vehicle in motion interacts with obstacles, other vehicles, and creatures using the effects of the Run Over action, except that the distance it moves is dictated by the factors above instead of the Speed specified in that action.
Reckless: Actions that have the reckless trait push the pilot and the vehicle beyond the normal parameters for safe operation, and the pilot risks losing control of the vehicle. When performing a reckless action, the pilot must first attempt an appropriate piloting check to keep control of the vehicle, with the following effects. Resolve this piloting check before resolving the action itself.
Success The action occurs as described.
Failure The vehicle moves its Speed in a straight line along its most recent heading, drifting up to 45 degrees at the GM’s discretion, and becomes uncontrolled.
It’s really as simple as that!
But if you’re running a campaign with a bunch of racing and Mad Max style cross country action, the players are gonna want some cool vehicles…
Vehicle Building
In this next section, I’ll present some template and more excitingly upgrades my party are going to have access to when building their own racing vehicles.
Chassis
We have 3 starter race chassis and 2 slightly more interesting ones I’ll present to them later.
Basic Starter Chassis:
Advanced Chassis:
Upgrades
I’ve split these into two types of upgrades. Stackable upgrades that can be installed multiple times (for scaling prices) and one time upgrades that you can only add once per vehicle.
Stackable Upgrades
One Time Upgrades
I’ve been very open to taking more ideas from my players on what they want to add as upgrades so this list will grow as I create more upgrades and potentially, even new full chassis with magical effects or new niches!
Enjoy!
Veneon Reforged 
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