v1.4.2

Highlights

• Major character sheet improvements focused on weapon, armor, mods, and gear
• Minor tweaks to rules. Some were based on feedback, others were made to simplify some gear

Rules

Consumable Slots

Prior to this update, the rules indicated that all armor had consumable slots for thermal clips (10), grenades (2), and medi-gel (4).
However, there was no indication as to which pieces provided these totals. We have now codified the slots-per-piece as:

• Chest: 6 thermal clips, 2 medi-gel
• Legs: 2 thermal clips, 2 grenades
• Arms: 2 thermal clips, 2 medi-gel

Body armor (being a combination of the three) continues to provide 10 thermal clip, 2 grenade, and 4 medi-gel slots.

Other Changes

• Clarified the time it takes to don/doff armor when wearing multiple different types (takes an average)

Classes

Adept

• Disruptor's Potent Biotics feature now applies to all biotic powers

Sentinel

• Guardian's Tech Aura, clarified that Brute Force and Negation Field only apply to friendly creatures
• Guardian's Omni-Shield
  • clarified you are proficient with the melee attack
  • Added powercasting mod to attack and damage rolls
  • Removed short rest limitation
• Guardian's Fire Shield
  • removed the base omni-shield attack
  • Added powercasting mod to attack and damage rolls
  • deals 4d10 fire damage
• Guardian's Cryo Shield
  • removed the base omni-shield attack
  • Added powercasting mod to attack and damage rolls
  • DC based on powercasting DC
  • deals 2d8 cold damage

Soldiers

• Soldiers were given a +2 bump to their combat powers known. Starting with 3 at first level, scaling up to 8.

Weapons

• Burst Fire, changed from a flat DC to a DC = 8 + DEX Mod + (prof bonus if your are proficient with the weapon)

Weapon Mods

• Gyroscope, always gains +2 for the thrown attack instead of +1 only if it previously had the thrown property.
• Extended Grip, the weapon always gains the two-handed, reach, and versatile properties instead of previously gaining a combination based on its previous properties

Armor Sets

• Maverick Armor Rarity increased to Spectre, costs increased accordingly. Namely, the costs were so low because the set bonus "cost" was never applied.
• Umbra Visor rarity increased to Spectre.

Omni-tool Programs

• All_Terrain.exe, changed from +5 bonus to advantage
• Deflector_Array.exe, removed the riot shield restriction
• Double_Time.exe, changed to a flat +12 meter (30ft) increase instead of double
• Experimental_Barrier.exe, added the DC to the description (previously had none)
• Expert_Hand.exe, changed from +5 bonus to advantage
• Quantum_Displacer.exe, removed the omni-gel cost
• Thermic_Overvent.exe, removed the omni-gel cost

Grenades

• Proximity Mine, the disarming check didn't make since because a creature couldn't get close enough to disarm it. Changed to a perception check.
• Sticky grenade, range changed to 12 meters (30 ft), had incorrectly never been updated

Site Features

The bulk of the work for this update was integrating weapons, armor, mods, and gear into the character sheet. Previous to this
update, you had to make use of overrides for armor or mod mechanics and gear were just items with descriptions. Now, these
elements are fully interactive.

Additionally, there has long been confusion about armor mods. The intent of armor mods is that they can only be applied to
custom armor, not pre-made armor sets. In order to make this clearer we've removed the "Add Custom Armor" part of the equipment manager
and each custom armor type is available in the equipment manager. For example, if you had a custom heavy chest piece with 2 mod slots
you can add it via the new manager by searching for "Heavy Chest Armor II" then add mods to it.

Grenades have "marks", medi-gel has "types", personal shield generators and some programs also have "levels". In these
instances, every level of item has a unique entry for the character shield. I.e., you can now add a Mark V grenade and
it will show the correct stats for that item.

What I should do

• We recommend reviewing any overrides or settings you've made. You will need to remove these overrides to properly see
  stats from gear.
• If you have custom armor with mods applied, you should add the corresponding custom armor item and re-add your mods
• If you had any grenades, medi-gel, a personal shield generator, or any of the programs with "levels", remove them and re-add
  the level-specific item.

New interfaces

Equipment manager

• Set which consumables you have equipped (i.e., which grenades, medi-gel, and how many thermal clips)
• Add equipment
• Convert equipment to omni-gel

Credit Interface

• Buy and Sell equipment
• Apply discounts to the total

Character Settings

• Shows your name, all of your classes and levels
• Links to short & long rest, overrides, exports, and the new Preferences

Preferences

• Allows you to change your rule preferences for:
  • Tracking weapon slots
  • Grenade capacity
  • Medi-gel slots
  • Thermal clip tracking
  • Omni-tool program limits

Short and Long Rests

Short and long rest interfaces have been updated and are better at tracking power slot/point regeneration and hit die tracking.

Other improvements

• Mods installed on weapons and armor properly adjust character (or weapon specific) stats
• Equipped armor properly adjusts character stats
• Equipped grenades, heavy weapons, and medi-gel show up as usable actions
• Equipped weapons, grenades, medi-gel, and thermal clips take up slots (can be turned off via preferences)
• If you have a shoulder mounts mod equipped, you add your weapons to it
• When a feature or mod lets you reroll damage die, it is automatically rerolled and indicated in the roll log

Bug Fixes

• Certain powers and advancements provided an additional action to be taken while the power was active (example, with
  pull, you can use a bonus action to move a pulled creature). This was causing confusion as the alternate casting time
  was being interpreted as the power's casting time. In these instance, the alternate casting time has been removed. The only
  alternate casting times that remain are for powers that can be cast with the alternate time. For example, you can cast
  blade armor as a bonus action or a reaction.
• Random height/weight page is now fixed
• Cantrip advancements are properly applied if your character is lower than 5th level

v1.4.1

Highlights

• Numerous character sheet improvements, including class feature integrations and power damage
• Adepts significantly buffed

Rules

• Multiclassing can no longer reduce your maximum number of barrier ticks.

Classes

Adept

One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we have received over the past year (or more) is that adepts are the most
underpowered class in this homebrew. The changes below represent a significant buff to the class; and, therefore, the
dev team felt that it wasn't necessary to keep the v1.4.0 version.

In summary, the commando subclass was incorporated into the base subclass. The commando's features felt the most "adept-y"
and brought the boost in power that the devs were looking for. The commando subclass was conceptually rewritten
to reflect the games' commandos, bringing both biotics and weaponry into combat.

While there were discussions about reviewing the other 2 subclasses, the dev team decided we would rather get this update
out and work on subclasses (as a whole) at a later date.

Base Class

• 3rd level, Biotic Aptitude lets adepts add their powercasting mod to all biotic damage. This effectively replaces Dark and
  Pure biotics from the Disruptor and Commando subclasses, respectively.
• 7th level, Expert Biotics (gain power slots of lower level when you cast a power) was moved from commando subclass to the base class.
• 11th level, Biotic Split (split a power to hit two targets) was moved from commando subclass to the base class.
• Biotic Mastery moved from 17th level to 15th level.
• Empowered Biotics (reroll 1s on damage rolls) was removed completely (previously at 17th level)
• Signature Biotics moved from 20th level to 18th level
• New capstone, Unmatched Biotics, increases Wisdom by 4 and Wisdom maximum to 24.

Commando Subclass

• Effectively a new subclass focusing on mixing weapon combat and biotics.

Disruptor

• Dark Biotics updated to be a penalty to affected creatures' saving throws (previous feature's bonus damage is effectively
  included the new 3rd-level Biotic Aptitude)

Engineer

Drone Jockey

• Combined drone's bond and drone companion features into a single feature. Simply a housekeeping change, no actual changes to those features.

Sentinel

• Changed Quick Cast to Extra Attack and one of the attacks can now be used to cast a cantrip. This change was made to help with the overabundance of bonus actions for sentinels.

Vanguard

Battle Master

• Lift Attack (Biotic Maneuver). Clarified that the lifted condition lasts until the end of your next turn.
• Biotic Focus (6th level feature). Changed from "double your walking speed" to a 12 meter increase in walking speed. This was mainly done for housekeeping purposes but also to prevent confusion on if the "double" applied to other bonuses.

Shock Trooper

• Stunning Strike (6th level feature). Clarified when you "deal damage" with charge (instead of "hit"), as charge is not an attack roll.

Powers

• Removed the +powercasting modifier to damage on the 4 powers where it existed as it overlapped with the new Adept feature, Biotic Aptitude. This applies to the following powers:
  • Biotic Orbs
  • Dark Sphere
  • Lance
  • Warp
• Barrier Detonation: fixed a typo. Now indicates that the range is a 2m-radius sphere
• Catapult: The salvo advancement has finally been replaced and need never be discussed again.
• Concussive shot was nerfed as we have had numerous reports of it being way too overpowered.
• Cryo Beam level fixed (was listed at 2nd level should have been 3rd)
• Added correct higher level cast times for Pull (30 minutes at 4th level, 1 hours at 5th level)

Bestiary

• Corrected the Blue Suns Pyro CR to 1 (instead of 1/4)

Site Features

Character Sheet Improvements

• Powers are now "castable" (main improvement is showing the upcast changes)
• Power damage shown on the sheet
• Improve power management interface
• Numerous "more information" panels were moved to a right-hand pane (instead of a pop-up dialog)
• Activating barrier is now moved into the Actions section. The button below the barrier tick tracker now rolls the barrier tick die
• Tech Armor has its own health pool
• Some features now are "toggle-able", which applies the correct benefits (such as AC, bonuses to attack, etc) when the feature is toggled on.

Bug Fixes

• Barrier uses will now reset on a short rest
• Multiclassing will no longer make your power slots disappear
• STG Training (Feat) now properly applies its bonus to sleight of hand

v1.4.0

Highlights

• New species, updated species, and subspecies! You will have to update your species selection for your characters.
• Online character sheet quality of life improvements
• New Reputation (Paragon/Renegade) Rules
• Account system (allows for saving character sheets and bookmarks)

Rules

Charisma changes

The new Reputation (paragon/renegade) system uses Charisma as your "Reputation Ability", which, like a
powercasting ability, sets the DC of your benefits and can increase the number of uses per rest. To accommodate this change,
Charisma was removed as a powercasting ability from Asari and Sentinels.

The other reason for this change is because the debate over which classes should use which powercasting ability has
been constant. This homebrew will be entering its fifth year in April, and
the feedback for a better way to divvy up Charisma and Wisdom between biotic-capable classes has never ended. The reason
to use Wisdom instead of Charisma as the biotic ability is purely based on the fact that there is a new ruleset (Reputation)
which is better suited for Charisma than Wisdom.

That said, if you completely disagree and think the designers are making a horrible decision, not a problem!
You can decide which classes should use which abilities! The online character builder even allows you to override which
mental stat you want to use for every class. You think engineers should use Wisdom? Great! Go for it!

Finally, if you're homebrewing your own unique class and want it to use Charisma, that's completely fine too! We'd only ask that your
justification for using Charisma be because Charima casting fits the theme of the class and not because this system lacks Charisma casters.

Unarmed Strikes count as weapons

This is a change from the official 5e ruleset. We believe this will help reduce confusion about unarmed strikes in general.
Prior to this change, a "natural" weapon was not treated as a weapon for the purposes of any other rules referring to a
"weapon attack" or "melee weapon" (as it is ruled in standard 5e). With the increase in natural weapons among species,
we have decided to remove this counterintuitive rule.

However, note that you cannot "wield" nor "hold" a natural weapon (i.e. w/ bite, you can't hold your own teeth). Therefore,
if a rule indicates a "weapon you are wielding" or a "weapon your are holding", it cannot be applied to a natural weapon.

Reputation

A new set of Reputation (Paragon/Renegade) rules can be found under the Beyond 1st Level section of the rules. Our intent
is that these rules are not "Variant" (i.e., they are meant to be used in your campaign). But, of course, that's just
a recommendation.

Classes

Sentinel

• Removed Charisma as an option for powercasting (see note above)

Races

Natural Armor & Player Feedback

In this update, a number of species received a version of Natural Armor (i.e., when you aren't wearing armor, your AC is X + some mod).
Many players expressed their dislike of this type of trait, claiming this system rarely sees player characters outside of armor.
While that is true, the internal balancing done for the species gave natural armor little to no weight and we've kept these traits for world building purposes.
Your campaign may never see an unarmored elcor fighting alongside an unarmored salarian, but in the event that someone's
campaign results in this example, we want to make sure that elcor has a higher AC, as representative of their thick hide.

Custom Ability Score Increases

The other most common piece of feedback was to use the Ability Score Increase rules outlined in "Customizing Your Origin"
section of Tasha's Caldron of Everything. After internal discussions, we decided that the rules of this homebrew
will remain as an archetypal approach to ability score increases. Our justification is that D&D 5e is a general high
fantasy ruleset that can be applied in any high fantasy campaign setting (Faerun just being one of the hundreds of high
fantasy settings with very specific archetype's for its races). Comparatively, Mass Effect is both a ruleset and a
campaign setting, therefore the archetypes are relatively universal across campaigns.

That said, we also support these types of rule divergences when people want to use them.
Thus, when you make a character in the online character sheet, you have the option of toggling these rules on or off.

Angara

• Changed Ability Score Increases to +2 CON and +1 WIS. The +2 CON reflects their ability to live in harsh environments
  like extreme heat and cold. The +1 WIS for their spirituality. The current +2 CHA seems odd given that
  “The angara as a people are very free with their emotions, demonstrative and ‘larger than life’. They'll say and do
  what they mean, even if it entails violence”
• Bio-electric focus was replaced with Electrogenesis. This was more of a preparatory change for later content updates.
• Bio-electric ward. Removed the +1 AC and added cold resistance. Noted that resistance is only applied to hit points, rather than “not shields”
• Solar dependency. Noted that the energy source must be UV radiation, not specifically “sunlight”.
  • Post playtest/feedback change: In addition, added a clause that the solar dependency was "in addition" to food and water. It was asked if the immersion in light needed to happen all at once
    or could it happen over short periods throughout the day. The same could be asked about drinking water or eating food, so
    use whatever rules you use for adjudicating food and water consumption.

Asari

• Base species receives +1 WIS
• Added 3 subspecies called Life Stages
  • Post playtest/feedback change: Matriarchs gain +1 Wis and +1 Int (the +2 Wis resulted in a +3 wis at 1st level)
  • Post playtest/feedback change: Matriarchs gain a choice of expertise, rather than a set expertise
• Innate Biotics: removed the CHA powercasting mod replacement. Wisdom is your powercasting modifier for the selected powers.
• Mind Meld: Solidified the mechanics of this trait, works similarly to Detect Thoughts
• Refactored Ardat-Yakshi Variant (which has its own 3 subspecies and one variant)
  • Post playtest/feedback change: Clarified DC of Addition saving throws resets after you successfully mate
  • Post playtest/feedback change: Added Mental Resilience trait to Chaste subspecies

Awakened Collector

• Awakened collectors will have their own species, rather than being a variant of Protheans
• Chitinous Exoskeleton updated to reflect natural armor, rather than a flat bonus
• Forewing Leap replaced with Wings that allows a flying speed for the turn only
• Seeker Swarm updated to better represent ME3 multiplayer and have a bit more functionality. The summoned swarms were ineffective at higher levels and more of a nuisance causing additional dice rolls.

Batarians

• Ability Score Increase changed to +1 to all ability scores. This was primarily done because Batarians balance score
  was falling behind most other species. Additionally, the "concept" for Batarians is to be the other side of the same coin
  as humans. This is represented more in the new species-specific feats, in which Batarians and Humans share a common set of
  feats.

Drell

• Prior to feedback we added +1 Str to Drell to both bring their balance scores inline with other species and reflect their wiry strength.
  Post playtest/feedback we removed the +1 Str and added the Body and Soul trait
• Natural Hunters: Added acrobatics to the list of skill choices

Elcor

• Prior to feedback we added another +1 Str to Elcor (giving them +3) but added a -1 Dex
  Post playtest/feedback we decided no species should have a negative starting modifier. Thus both the +1 Str and -1 Dex were removed.
• Added Dense Build with a small addition to the standard 5e version which interacts with powers like singularity and pull.
• Remove the “powerful build” mechanics from Quadrupedal (as that part of quadrupedal is now it's own trait, Dense Build), otherwise Quadrupedal is unchanged.
• Shoulder Mounts replaced with Tripedal Combat. It was odd that this species required gear to simply fire weapons. This codifies how the elcor would fight without gear.
  • See below, 4 new armor mods were added to keep the flair of shoulder mounts.
• Thick Hide does not stack with armor, it is standard 5e version of Natural Armor.
• Add Keen Olfactory Sensory since it is a unique trait for elcor.

Geth

• Added Mobile Platform as subspecies
  • Post playtest/feedback change: For Juggernauts, we removed the -1 Dex, reduced +2 AC to +1 AC, and added Jump-Start Aura
• Base ability score is +2 Int, as subclasses add other ability score increases
• Speed is based on the mobile platform selection
• Removed Hunter Mode, Innate Shielding, Armor Mods, and No Feats
• Living Construct renamed Synthetic Construct with
  • Bulleted benefits/detriments
  • Lightning vulnerability added
  • Stabilization check for synthetic added to this trait (removed from repair matrix)
• Sentry Mode broken out from the old Living Construct
• Integrated Protection updated to reflect the published version used in 5e (was previously the UA version for warforged)
• Advanced Optics Added
• Repair Matrix simplified

Hanar

• Changed +1 CHA to +1 INT, their speech patterns and supposed “aloofness” made it difficult to justify the +1 CHA
• Added a minor falling reduction benefit to the contra-gravitic levitation
• Removed fragile
• Broke Tentacles into two separate traits: Tentacles and Tentacle Bind for better clarity and utility.

Human

• Added 2 skill proficiencies, 1 expertise, and 1 tool proficiency to the base human to make them more balanced to
  other species and their own variant.

Kett

• Kett have been reworked from the initial playtest content
  • Added the four main su...

v1.3.1

Newest Contributors

Those of you on Discord have more than likely seen Spagheddy and Tech Knight as moderators but also as significant contributors,
especially in my hiatus last year. Spagheddy has continued to make fresh and interesting subclasses and Tech Knight
has worked incredibly hard on the Roll20 mod, on top of that, they've been Discord mods from the early days of the Discord
channel. For all their hard work, we've officially immortalized them on the about page.

Updated Character Builder!

Thanks to the hard work of Bryan, we've got a brand new character builder. We have a whole backlog of ideas and improvements
for it, so if things still feel a bit "beta", don't worry we'll be making improvements in the near future. Either way, it's
a huge milestone and gets us one step closer to other fun ideas like Roll20 exports.

Imperial vs Metric

Wanted to give a brief history about this conundrum. When I first created the system, I decided to use metric and was
converting distances with a true feet to meters modifier (3.281), then rounding. But that quickly became problematic
when using battle maps and especially when needing to halve distances due to conditions or debuffs. Therefore, we decided
to use an imprecise but game-friendlier conversion rate of 2 meters to 5 feet.

Unfortunately, when I made the updates throughout the data, I completely forgot to update the species speeds and bestiary.
Before, it wasn't as apparent. Some players assumed 25ft (10 meters) was the standard walking speed in this system. Others
thought the precise metric (30 ft ~= 10 meters) was correct. Then I went and wrote in the metric conversion which caused all
types of problems, effectively illuminating these long-overlooked issues.

So, we took a Discord poll to ask what people preferred, and it went overwhelmingly in the favor of keeping the 2m = 5ft rule,
which meant going through and fixing distancing issues where they existed.

TL;DR:

1. We're keeping the 2m = 5ft rule, but have updated a plethora of stats throughout the game.
2. Species & Bestiary have speeds more inline with D&D 5e (12 meters or 30 ft)
3. Powers have a "truer" metric conversion
4. Weapons were not updated as they will be adjusted in a more comprehensive weapons update.

If you want to see the entire list of changes, you can scroll to the bottom of this post.

Bug Fixes

Thanks to everyone for 1) pointing out the numerous bugs throughout and 2) being patient while they weren't being fixed
in a timely manner. Everything that was reported on Discord and through the form should be fixed now.

Other Odds and Ends

• Ruzad weapon was given the recoil, hip fire, and special properties
• Clarified that Engineers and Infiltrators that prepare advanced powers only cast the advanced versions, bringing
  advance mechanic in line with the other classes. But GMs should feel free to adjust this rule and it may change in the future.

What's next...

Well the easiest answer is continuing to improve and evolve the character builder / character sheet. Plus, the downloadable
PDF is slowly getting out of date, so that's something I need to spend some time on at some point in the near future.

As for content improvements, we'll be spending the next few weeks having internal discussions and potentially polling the Discord
community about what changes/improvements they want to see.

Comprehensive list of distance updates

Bestiary

General

• anything with 8m => 10m
• anything with 10m => 12m
• anything with 12m => 14m
• anything with 14m => 16m
• any sense was less than 12m became 12m

Specific

• elcor: walking 4m => 8m
• harvester: walking 20m => 24m; fly: 30m => 36m
  • trample attack, if you move 10m => 12m...
• horned kath hound: 18m => 16m (!note: keeping this in line with other base speeds)
• occulus: fly 20m => 24m
• reaper harvester: darkvision 14m => 12m
• varren alpha: walking 20m => 16m
• yahg: blindsight 6m => 4m

Classes

Engineer

• mastermind: enfilade; range 10m => 12m

Infiltrator

• shadow: shadow strike; teleport to location 10m => 12m

Sentinel

• fighting style; cqc, "ignore half cover" 10m => 12m
• fighting style; sniper, "no hostile creature within" 10m => 12m
• bastion: tactical focus range; increase to 10m => 12m per side
• bastion: master tactician; the target...can be within 20m => 24m of your...
• guardian: tech aura; increase aura 10m => 12m
• guardian: tech aura (18th level); increases to 20m => 24m
• juggernaut: assault armor; each hostile creature within 20m => 24m

Soldier

• fighting style; cqc, "ignore half cover" 10m => 12m
• fighting style; sniper, "no hostile creature within" 10m => 12m

Vanguard

• fighting style; cqc, "ignore half cover" 10m => 12m
• fighting style; sniper, "no hostile creature within" 10m => 12m
• nemesis: metabiotics; distant power, increase range from 10m => 12m
• shock trooper: biotic bull rush; distance of charge is 20m => 24m (!note, this is 1 space more than the normal charge boost, and is equivalent to 60 ft)
• shock trooper: blitz; whenever a creature within 20m => 24m

Gear

• All grenades (most detonations and range): 10m => 12m
• cain trip mine (range): 20m => 24m
• flash_hypno.exe: 10m => 12m
• m920 cain: "all creatures within" 10m => 12m
• sync laser: rectangle becomes 10x20m => 12x24m
• experimental_garrier_generator.exe, target a location within 30m => 36m
• m-100 grenade launcher, target a location within 30m => 36m

Mods

• combat sensor: senses enemies within 10m => 12m
• electrical conduits: if range is farther than 10/20m => 12/24m
• focus monulator: choose a creature within 30m => 36m
• night sight: darkvision 30m => 36m
• personal diruptor torpedoes: target location within 30m => 36m

Powers

General

Note, these changes were to bring the power distances in line with standard D&D spell distances using the 5ft to 2m rule.
e.g., 24m = 60ft, 36m = 90ft, etc.

• anything with a range of 20m => 24m
• anything with a range of 30m => 36m
• anything with a range of 40m => 48m
• anything with a range of 50m => 60m
• anything with a range of 60m => 72m

Specific

• cryo blast: size of body of water 10m => 12m
• havoc strike: range 8m => 10m
• havoc strike: advancement__improved distance: 12m => 14m
• flamethrowser: advancement__contentrated burn: aoe is now a 2m line (this was a typo and said 20m wide line!!! whoops!)
• charge: range 14m => 16m

Rules

• Choose a species: change "Building kaleim" section to indicate speed of 10m => 12m
• Strength: heavily encumbered speed by reduced by 10m => 12m
• Weapons: Improvised thrown weapon, range: 6/18m => 8/24m
• Weapons: Light improvised thrown weapons, range: 10/30m => 12/36m

Species

• drell: 12m => 14m
• elcor: 6m => 8m
• vorcha: 14m => 16m
• everything else: 10m => 12m
• note: hanar currently have 12m walking speed with contra-gravitic levitation, this will remain at 12m. Additionally, hanar were meant to have a walking speed of 0 meters, but the rules were ambiguous about this. We've specifically stated that their walking speed is 0 meters, they gain a walking speed via the Contra-gravitic levitation device.
• note: volus have a speed of 10m. this will remain (it makes sense since they are small)

Vehicles

• mantis gunship: fire damage to 10m => 12m radius sphere
• m-44 hammerhead: hovers over the battlefield at 30 => 36 an hour

v1.3.0

Versions

If you look in the lower left (or open the nav menu and look at the bottom), you'll see the current version.
Go ahead, click on it...what's that! Links to the older versions of the site! #mind-blown...or whatever

I've resurrected a few key versions of ME5e. NOTE!!! These are resurrections, flaws and all, including any flaws the site at that version.
They're not going to have all the new and pretty site improvements I plan on introducing.

• v0.8.4 contains the classes and species "pre-v1.0.0"
• v0.9.1 contains the post-v1 classes, but pre-v1 species
• v1.2.0 contains everything as it has been for the past year or so

Moving forward, whenever I release, I'll "freeze" a version of the site and make it available. Hopefully, this will
let people utilize the version they like/d most. If, one day...far far far into the future, I get everything I want done,
maybe I'll make some sort of version compiler that lets you pick and choose atomic parts of the rules in the version you want. While
that would be super awesome and I'd love the challenge, I've got plenty of other skald to fry.

Site

Backend updates

• Dark mode. It's here...it's live...it's darker than Jack's backstory
  • Note: you can toggle it if you like the light
• Metric toggler. Do you hate the metric system...well...(no comment)...you can now used imperial measurements instead
  • Note: It's very possible I missed something somewhere. If you notice some measurement that isn't being toggled, please let us know

Organization

• Mods. Armor and Weapon mods were combined into a single list.
• Gear Section. The new gear section contains: Grenades, Heavy Weapons, Tools and Kits (the physical items), Omni-tool programs, and other consumables (medi-gel, thermal clips, heavy weapon charges)
• Tool Proficiencies can now be found in the appendix.
• The Generators section contains the loot and npc generator, more generators will be coming as I more forward with other updates.
• The Guides section contains some of those random pages about creating encounters, custom armor, etc. I may expand this section in the future with more GM-friendly materials.
• The Feedback & About pages have been combined

Name changes

• "Race" has been renamed to "Species" throughout (if I missed a reference, please let us know)
• "Spell" has been renamed to "Power" throughout (if I missed a reference, please let us know)
  • This includes phrases like "spellcasting" becoming "powercasting"
• "Armor sets" are just called "Armor"
• The "Grunt generator" has been renamed to the "NPC generator"

Rules

• Species/Class restrictions have been removed. GM's can still limit based on their discretion.
• Species/Setting restrictions (i.e. Andromeda vs Milky Way) have been removed. GM's can still limit based on their discretion.
• Racial Starting Credits have been removed. Starting credits are now decides by class. See: Rules > Equipment > Starting Equipment
• Two-weapon fighting. Two-weapon fighting now applies to all light weapons (ranged and melee). See: Rules > Combat > Making an Attack > Dual Wielding
  • This also had a chain of effect which required a few other changes.

Classes

Fighting Styles

Ambidextrous was added which works for any combination of melee and ranged two-weapon fighting. I'm not 100% sure about
this approach because I don't think it makes sense for a character who specializes is dual-wielding
swords to be able to pick up a couple of pistols and fire akimbo without issue. But it streamlines the rules significantly.
Once the weapon refactor happens, this might change.

Gunslinger was removed as the addition of Two-weapon fighting effectively made it obsolete. The only difference is
the limitation of "light" ranged weapons in two-weapon fighting, whereas gunslinger let you use non-light weapons. This
is addressed with the new feats, but GMs might wish to simply use the old rules.

Feats

• Dual Wielder remains as is.
• Melee Gunner a replacement for Melee Specialist (parts of which became obsolete with the two-weapon fighting change). It focuses on utilizing your gun as a melee weapon or firing in close range then making a melee attack.

Conditions

• Primers & Detonators. The explosions resulting from a primer being detonated now scale with your level, similarly to cantrips.

Gear

Grenades

I did some additional clean-up on grenade "marks", scaling them similarly to a 5e spell scroll.

What didn't happen

• Simplified Shield Regen Rules. Due to the interconnectedness of armor and shields, this will be postponed to the armor rework.
• Melee Attacks and Shields. I was going to turn the melee-shield-bypass rule into a variant, but since I did not rework shields, this was postponed.
• Remove Targeting. This was more a lack of time and the fact that I didn't want to update any classes (at least one has an interconnected feature with targeting). This will come with a weapon rework.

v 1.2.0

Online Character Sheet

First and foremost, Bryce Gelinas has stepped up and started working on an online character sheet. It's a work in
progress, but he'd like to start gathering your feedback. Best way to submit feedback is on the Discord server
in the #online-character-sheet channel.

Discord Server

A lot of thanks to Noblesse Oblige for setting up a discord server. It is extremely active, and we recommend going there
for all of your questions.

New Assets Directory

Based on how the site is set up, it was difficult to make a change every time someone created something new. The
discord folks set up their own shared folder with all the old and a lot of new assets. I've linked it on the assets page.

What's coming

While on my hiatus, I've continued to play a lot of D&D 5th Edition as a player and GM, and continued to run my own
Mass Effect 5e Campaign. During all of this, I've been taking a lot of notes about what is working, what could be improved,
and what needs to be overhauled. All of these notes have piled up and paved a path forward for what Version 2 of this
system might look like.

Disclaimer #1: I am in the very early stages. So some of the details may change.

Disclaimer #2: Any new version is several months away. In addition to content changes, the site itself needs a lot of love
as much of the code has become outdated. So I've got two large tasks in both writing content and cleaning up code.

Disclaimer #3: Once Version 2 is released, I'll keep a copy of version 1 available online and in the pdf form in perpetuity.

With the disclaimers out of the way, here is an abbreviated list of the changes Version 2 might contain.

Classes

Before going on my hiatus, there was a LOT of discussion about class balance and class mechanics in general. Through
the many versions of this systems, the classes had become amalgams of the D&D classes with a lot of overlap. This left
a number of odd mechanics like cantrips that weren't cantrips (soldiers), ersatz cantrips (engineer's efficiency),
progression column bloat (vanguards and sentinels), or just a boring/underpowered class (adepts).

As I've been working on new class designs, I'm keeping three principles in mind:

1. Less Kitchen Sink - the idea here is to let the classes progress like 5th edition classes, and not to bolt on new mechanics
   to a complete class. Instead, find ways to reflavor or replace 5e mechanics with ones that adhere to Mass Effect lore.
2. Central themes - I want to make sure that each class feels unique from each other independent of its respective subclasses.
   This will require trying to hone in on what makes a class special and build their progression about their unique feature.
3. More Choice - The choices you made in Mass Effect mattered (...well for most of the games). I want to bring choice
   into the classes by having more subclasses and more feature sets like Fighting Style. Thus, not only will your character
   feel unique because of their subclass, but as they progress you'll have more options as well.

Expanding the Spell Library to 9th Level

This will be a major undertaking, but it's important to keep in balance with 5th edition and also make it easier to adapt
or use 5th edition tools with this system (i.e. Roll20).

Expanding Melee Weapons

If my games have taught me anything, it's that melee weapons are very viable in this system. But the current list of melee
weapons is lax at best.

Vehicles and Vehicle Combat

This needs its own overhaul. Both the vehicle list and combat mechanics need a tune up. The end result will probably draw
from the expanded vehicle rules from Ghost of Saltmarsh.

Rule Clean-up

Some other things on my mind are tightening up the rule-set as well. There are currently 4 health pools (HP, SP, Temp HP
, and Tech Armor HP), Double Tap continues to baffle new players, Targeting is clunky, and there are a number of
one-off rules that are often forgotten about or unused (Armor and Environmental Protection, Melee damage bypassing shields).

This might include a simplification of how Armor and AC works, but I'm undecided.

Equipment Clean-up

There is a lot of overlap between Omni-tool Programs, Armor Mods, Weapon Mods, and Armor set bonuses. My goal here is to
clarify permanence and transience. That is, what can you add and remove at will vs what is permanently installed.

Final Thoughts

I've got more I'm thinking about, new ideas and new features, but nothing worth noting at this time. As I finish developing
fully-fledged ideas, I'll be sharing them on Discord for feedback.

v1.1.2

Highlights

• Beginnings of new Roll20 characters sheets thanks to /u/Danrconway and /u/Smeeg699
• New Character sheet created by Chris "OodSigma13" Dickson 2019-07-20
• Updated fillable character sheet by /u/rpk0714 2019-07-20
• Quality of Life Improvements on the Official Google Sheet by /u/IdonMezzedUp/ 2019-07-20
• New Class and Spell Icons by Chris "OodSigma13" Dickson 2019-07-20
• Improved Spell Cards
• Mission Page added
• Premade Characters added in the assets section

Rules

• Fixed the "Carrying, Holstering, Drawing" section in weapons. Previously had mention to 2 weapon slots, when they had been increased to 4 in v1.1.0
• Creatures that are Targeting cannot take actions or reactions.

Classes

• Clarified Barrier damage reduction happens before any damage is applied to Tech Armor or Shields. 2019-07-04
• Clarified barrier ticks are lost when barrier ends. 2019-07-04
• Adept and Sentinel Spellcasting incorrectly allowed learn advanced options every level. This should have been instead
  of learning a new spell, select an advancement. 2019-07-20

Engineer

• Drone: Removed +prof bonus from all skill checks and clarified the bonus replace's the drone's on attack rolls. Was confusing when compared to drone's bond. 07-20-2019
• Engineer's Efficiency: Clarified text of , see this post for clarification.

Vanguard

• Metabiotics (twinned spell): Removed text that referenced using 1 barrier tick for cantrips, as this ability can no longer be used on cantrips. 2019-07-20

Races

Asari

• Innate Biotics: Clarified that this ability cannot be used to learn combat cantrips. 2019-07-20

Geth

• Integrated Protection: Clarified that the "shield" which would provide additional AC is a piece of equipment, see this post 2019-07-20

Turian

• Brothers-in-arms: Renamed to Esprit De Corps to better support gender neutrality. 2019-07-20

Feats

• Grenadier: The Mark of the grenade you gain increases with your level. 2019-07-20
• Hair Trigger: Clarified that you add your proficiency bonus to the damage roll on the free action attack. 2019-07-20

Backgrounds

Fixed the following backgrounds that had incorrect (old) starship systems listed: Faction Agent, Pilot, Scholar,
Scrapper, Sysop, Urchin

Weapons

• The Special property has been added to Omni-* weapons to compensate for the introduction of melee mods.
• Updated the Heavy Weapon descriptions with clearer targeting mechanics.
• Reaper Blackstar can cause indoctrination.
• Ruzad: reduced damage from 3d6 to 2d6 as it was far too high for an uncommon weapon. Reduced heat to 3 to match the game. 2019-07-20

Weapon Mods

• Plasma Charge System incorrectly had "fire" damage type, change to radiant
• New: Long Barrel by Chris Alley
• New: Shotgun Choke by A. Charlton

New Melee Mods!
Melee weapon mods have been introduced. Thanks to Chris Alley for these ideas.

• Gyroscope
• Extended Grip
• Counterweight
• Energy Channel
• Honed Strike
• Poison Alloys
• Probability Modulator

Armor Mods

• New: Tactical Holsters inspired by Chris Alley

Armor Sets

• Survivor Armor: Correctly marked as Uncommon (was rare) 2019-07-20

Spells

• New: B.E.C. Field by Chris Alley
  • correctly marked as 1st level 2019-07-20
• Pull: Reduced length to 1 round. See this discussion 2019-07-04

Bestiary

• Eclipse Trooper, health reduced from 14d8 to 4d8 (see this discussion)

Other

• Travel/Pace tables have correct headers 2019-06-29
• Removed expansion panels for subclasses. There was an issue with the panels on mobile displays, preventing the descriptions from showing up. 2019-06-29
• Remove all submission buttons. Moved this workflow to reddit 2019-07-4
• The "Spell Types" section of the rules was incorrectly titled "What is a Spell?" 2019-07-20

v1.1.1

Player's Manual Search (beta)

In this minor patch, I've added the capability to search through the player's manual. The search box is located
at the top of the side navigation menu. Currently, some of the highlighting is a bit buggy, but its functioning and
returning decent results.

If it crashes on you, you get strange results, or you've got other feedback, please let us know.

v1.0.0

v1.0.0

Rules

• Expanded the armor bonuses and limitations table to be more gradient and realistic. Before if you were wearing all
  light armor and added heavy arms, the required STR jumped to 16.
• High Jump distance is divided by three instead of two (most things can't high jump 4 meters, ~12ft)
• Clarified that after your shield regeneration begins, it continues at the start of your turn until your shields are max
  or you take damage.
• Weapon mods cannot be uninstalled from weapons. This was a hold-over from before there were tools and kits. Now, using weaponsmith's
  workbench is the only way to potentially salvage installed mods. The primary issue is that weapon mods are fairly cheap for their
  gameplay value and players could easily buy the best mods and swap them between better weapons with ease. Without the ability to
  remove a mod, if players want to customize a weapon, they need to buy or build a new weapon. If you'd prefer to use
  a more flexible modding system, we recommend that you increase the cost of weapon mods 10 fold.

Classes

• Barrier: There was an infinite combination between biotic punch and barrier. With RAW, a player could cast biotic punch
  repeatedly to gain an infinite amount of barrier ticks. Now, your total possible barrier ticks is limited to the barrier ticks
  column in the class progression table. This was always the intent but is has been explicitly stated.
• Assault Fighting Style: Increases the DC by 2 instead of by proficiency bonus. No increase in size. Burst Fire proved too
  powerful at lower levels and other fighting styles do not scale with level (except for Brawler, which is expected because melee
  is not as powerful as ranged).

Engineer

• Supply Pylon: Clarified some of the text in supply pylon. First, the resources are selected when you summon it and you only have one
  of each resource. Second, specified which grenades and their mark. Additionally, there is a cost of 5 omni-gel to recharge this ability. It was pointed out that players
  could easily spent, say, a month calling the supply pylon a few times a day and sell the items within for infinite cash.

Sentinel

• Reduced Tech Armor hit points to (Sentinel Lvl + Spellcasting Mod) * 2 (instead of 3). Maxed out, Tech armor was allowing 150 additional hit points per long rest,
  which was way too many.
• Guardian
  • Omni-shield:
    • Removed If wielding a single-handed ranged or melee weapon, gain +2 AC and a +2 bonus to Dexterity saving throws. Replaced with +1 AC.
    • Added Fire and Cryo shield augmentation at higher levels.

Soldier

• Havoc: Makeshift grenades increase in power at higher levels.

Vanguard

• Shock Trooper
  • A Touch of Force: The bonus only applies to damage rolls. Fictionally, it didn't make sense for a biotic boost to affect
    the ability to attack with a weapon. Also, added a 1 minute length to the effect.

Races

Geth

• Unshackled AI, updated description to better distinguish that unshackled AI are a variant race rather than a subrace.

Hanar

• Hover is not it's own movement speed, but a type of flying and hanar cannot fly. Instead, they have been given a
  a new trait contra-gravitic levitation which provides a walking speed and some benefits against difficult terrain
  but has a chance to malfunction.

Prothean

• Added the Awakened Collector variant race

Volus

• Added a deadlier version of the hermetic suit breach since volus are much more at risk to breaches.

Vorcha

• Added an Underground environment option for the Adaptation trait

Spells

Two new spells. As said above, I'd love to get some spell submissions from the community.

• Biotic Jump
• Invasion

Bestiary

• Any creature that has barrier ticks, now has text that indicates it takes 1d8 reduced damage when hit.
• I have a backlog of monsters that have been designed by Dakota P. that I need to add. These will come sooner, rather than
  later.

Armor Mods

New armor mods inspired by Mass Effect: Andromeda

• Aerial Performance Optimizer
• Battlefield Assist Module
• EC Counter
• Equilibrium Regulator
• Medi-gel Regulator

Armor Sets

Armor sets have been largely overhauled to introduce a new mechanic: Armor Set Bonuses. The purpose of this change was
two-fold: first, to alleviate confusion about what bonuses you receive from wearing a single piece of armor from a set,
and, second, to make armor pieces more accessible at all stages of the game. It also allows for more mix-and-match potential
without requiring the player to create custom armor.

Full Armor that became individual pieces with set bonuses

• Blood Dragon Armor
• Cerberus Ajax Armor
• Cerberus Assault Armor
• Cerberus Nightmare Armor
• Cerberus Shade Armor
• Cerberus Spirit Armor
• Collector Armor
• Colossus Armor
• Inferno Armor
• N7 Defender Armor
• N7 Armor
• Partisan Armor
• Reckoner-Knight Armor
• Terminus Assault Armor

Andromeda Items

Some items are marked with an "Andromeda" flag. But this only means that the armor's name and flavor text
does not apply to Milky Way settings. We still encourage GMs to allow players to purchase Andromeda armor, but,
above the table, decide on a different name and origin. Note that some armor from the Andromeda game are not flagged.
This is because the armor could reasonably be available in the Milky Way. For Example, HyperGuardian armor was purchased
by the Andromeda Initiative and taken with them to the Andromeda Galaxy. But it was manufactured in the Milky Way by
Kassa Fabrication.

• Andromeda Elite Helmet
• Angaran Armor set
• Deep Space Explorer Armor set
• Heleus Armor set
• HyperGuardian Armor set
• Initiative Armor set
• Kett Armor set
• Maverick Armor set
• Pathfinder Armor set
• Remnant Armor
• Scavenger Armor

New / Updated Body Armor

Additionally, some new body armor has been introduced as standard upgrades to stock armor. Names of these new armor
come from the list of Mass Effect 1 armor (similarities stop there).

• Assassin Armor
• Crisis Armor
• Duelist Armor
• Freedom Armor
• Gladiator Armor
• Hoplite Armor
• Survivor Armor
• Liberator Armor
• Predator Armor
• Onyx Armor
• Skirmish Armor
• Titan Armor
• Ursa Armor

If you need the old armor pieces, you can find them in the v0.9.2 Player's Manual.

Weapon mods

New weapon mods inspired by Mass Effect: Andromeda

• Burst Fire System
• Beam Emitter
• Bio-Converter
• Electrical Conduits
• Grenade Launcher
• Plasma Charge System
• Rebalanced Field Coils
• Seeking Plasma System
• Single Fire System
• Sticky Grenade Launcher
• Ultralight Materials II
• Vintage Heat Sink

Weapons

All new weapons based on the Andromeda game. Like the armor sets, some weapons found only in the Andromeda galaxy have
an "Andromeda" flag. This means the weapon wouldn't be found in the Milky Way, but you can simply rename the weapon or
agree that the weapon was made in the Milky Way and use it.

• Charger
• Cyclone
• Dhan
• Electric Firaan
• Equalizer
• Hesh
• Inferno
• Isharay
• Kett Carfalon
• Kett Vakarsh
• L-89 Halberd
• Lanat
• Naladen
• P.A.W.
• Pathfinder Deep Impact
• Pathfinder Observer
• Pathfinder Pioneer
• Pathfinder Ranger
• Remnant Cryo-Gauntlet
• Rozerad
• Ruzad
• Sandstorm
• Scattershot
• Shadow
• Shorty
• Sidewinder
• Silhesh
• Soned
• Sovoa
• Sweeper
• Thokin
• Ushior
• Vanquisher
• X5 Ghost
• Zalkin

Grenades

Grenades can have Marks much like Spells have levels, and they increase in power with each mark.

Omni-Tools

Introduced a new concept of "Unstable" programs. These can be used more than once, but have a limited number or uses due to the
instability of the code. thermic_overvent.exe have been changed to an unstable program as an example.

Misc

• Added a Random Height & Weight table from Rex the Pig
• Fixed a bug with low-CR grunts from the generator having 0 Hp.

v0.9.2

v0.9.2

Rules

AC & Armor

I've clarified the Armor & AC table. Before Arms & Legs were in the same row, which indicated that the AC bonus was for wearing arm AND leg armor.
However, the intent is that Arm and Leg armor provide their own AC bonus.

Additionally, I clarified that wearing pieces from different armor sets still provides the AC from the armor, but you do not get any set bonuses.
In a future patch, I plan to expand this further and make the set bonuses based on the number of pieces you are wearing.

Classes

Multiclassing proficiency gains have been improved for the following classes:

• Engineer, Assualt Rifles and Medium Armor
• Infiltrator, Sniper Rifles and Melee Weapons
• Sentinel, Medium and Heavy Armor, and 1 weapon type from Assault Rifles, Melee, Shotguns, or SMGs
• Soldier, Medium and Heavy Armor, and 2 weapon types
• Vanguard, Medium Armor and Shotguns

Races

Descriptions have been added to each race, largely sourced from Races from the Relay by /u/thestray.

Race changes below have been made for 2 reasons: Balance, based on Detect Balance: a 5e Homebrew Race Guide by Eleazzaar,
and because the pervasiveness of starting feats for each race diluted the uniqueness of each race.

Asari

• Removed Skill Versatility replaced with Natural Diplomat
• combined Biotic Initiate and Innate Biotics into a single trait
• Added Ardat-Yakshi as a variant

Batarian

• Removed feat options
• Added Four Eyes

Drell

• Removed feat options
• Removed Hallucinogen as it is primarily flavor with very little game impact
• Removed Darkvision as there is no indication that Drell can see in the dark
• Replaced Keen Senses with Natural Hunter providing 2 skill proficiencies from a list
• Added Raw Agility allowing speed boosts

Elcor

• Removed Unstealthy, given some technology they could be stealthy and quiet
• Removed Stability, for balancing reasons. High AC already assists in their defensive capabilities
• Changed Thick Hide, bonus is not restricted to not wearing armor. Use Con instead of Dex
• Added Shoulder Mounts, explains how elcor use ranged weapons.

Geth

• Changed Repair Matrix, geth cannot be healed by medi-gel or spells that target organic creature. Instead they can spend
  hit die as an action.

Hanar

• Completely reworked.

Humans

• Made humans in line with D&D 5th Edition. The variant human is available.

Krogan

• Adjusted ability score increases to +2 CON and +1 STR
• Removed Natural Armor, replaced with Toughness. Wanted Krogans to be tough to kill, not tough to hit.
• Replaced Rage with Blood Rage, as it better represents their relentlessness.
• Removed Relentless as it is better reflected by Blood Rage
• Added Extremophile from Races from the Relay, as it better represents their ability to survive

Prothean

• All eyes on you and Avatar moved to the flavor/about section as they had little game impact.

Quarian

• Ability scores reduce to two +1's (DEX and INT). Additional scores are gained from the cybernetic enhancements
• Cybernetic Enhancement adds greater variety (thanks to Races from the Relay for the ideas).
• Hermetic suit now requires critical damage to be of puncture or slashing type to breach the suit.

Salarian

• Removed starting feat. Replaced with Twice as Bright which provides skill and tool proficiencies.

Turian

• Changed ability score increase to +1 of all the body traits
• Removed Turian Toughness
• Added Brothers-in-Arms (basically pack tactics)
• Added Athletics proficiency to martial training.

Unshackled AI

• Removed, now are a variant race of geth.

Volus

• Added Hermetic Suit because they have one.

Vorcha

• Removed Hungry Jaws and Bloodlust Neither had much to do with Vorcha.
• Added Adaptation providing some unique benefits based on the vorcha's environment

Spells

• Hawk Missile Launcher. Cooldown increased to once per short rest (instead of twice).

Bestiary

• Blood Pack correctly labeled with "Blood Pack" faction

Backgrounds

Some of the backgrounds were missing starting credits.

• Criminal now has starting credits (1,500)
• Scholar now has starting credits (2,000)

Omni-tool Programs

• Cognition booster uncommon -> rare
• Threat Assessment uncommon -> rare
• Trace Signal Jammer clarified advantage on saving throw against heavy weapons that require targeting

Feats

New feats from RJ:

• Card Shark
• Come Get Me
• Grace Under Fire
• Nerves of Steel

New Racial Feats from Races from the Relay by /u/thestray:

• Additional Augmentation
• Cranial Bruiser
• Warlord's Blood Rage

Misc

• All class features now indicate at which level you receive them.
• Class features correctly appear on the class features tab.
• Navigation between classes & races has been added to the individual class/race pages
• Finally squashed the remaining bugs in the grunt generator.
• Alert Boxes now have WCAG 2.0 contrast compliance
• Race page direct links work again