If you’ve been reading since the Starfinder Tech Revolution playtest came out, I’ve been making up posts about trying to replicate various mech settings with the tools presented to us in the playtest. The last post was about Pacific Rim style Jaegers, this one will explore the kaiju your Jaegers will fight.

I’m making this post in the WordPress Block style editor which may require some revisions. Posting the draft publically so others can see the newer look.

The Kaiju in Pathfinder Bestiary 4 (CR 26-28) are all Colossal and can be hundreds of feet tall, with 600 ft darkvision. Let’s assume for a minute that we’ll work up to that, the table below has kaiju traits from Pacific Rim. The Combatant Array table in Alien Archive stops at CR 25 so for the sake of the playtest that will be our absolute upper bound, since the weapon and mech points tables stop at CR 20 this bounds us in to a party of no more than APL 20 characters fighting a CR 23 monster. 

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Kaiju	Armor	Locomotion	Strength	Speed	Primary Attack	Secondary Attack	Other
Onibaba 2	Heavy Armor 9	Quadruped	Medium 6	Slow 4	Pincers	Armor Spikes
Knifehead 3	Heavy Armor 7	Bipedal	Medium 7	Medium 6	Knifehead	Bite
Yamarashi 3
Mutavore 4	Heavy Armor 7	Bipedal	Medium 4	Medium 7	Axehead	Claws
Leatherback 4	Heavy Armor 10	Bipedal/Gorilla	Medium 5	Medium 5	EMP	Armored Fists
Otachi 4	Heavy Armor 7	Quadruped/Flight	Medium 6	Speed 9	Acid Sack	Bites/Claws	Prehensile Tail Piercer
Raiju 4	Heavy Armor 8	Bipedal/Swim	Medium 7	Speed 10	Bite/Ram	Claws	Tail
Scunner 4	Heavy Armor 8	Bipedal/Swim	Heavy Arms 9	Speed 5	Knifehead	Bite/Spikes/Claws	Tail
Slattern 5	Heavy Armor 10	Bipedal/Swim	Heavy Arms 10	Speed 10	Electric Breath	Bite/Claws	Triple piercing tail
Trespasser 2	Light Armor 4	Bipedal/Swim	Medium 5	Speed 7	Axehead	Bite/Claws	Tail
Shrikethorn 4	Heavy Armor	Bipedal/Gorilla	Medium	Medium	Plasma Breath	Bite/Claws	2 Tail Projectile Spikes
Raijin 5	Heavy Armor	Bipedal	Medium	Medium	Redirect Energy	Bite/Claws	Tail
Hakuja 4	Heavy Armor	Quadruped/Burrowing	Medium	Medium		Bite/Claws	Spiked Tail
Hardship 2	Medium Armor	Bipedal	Medium	Medium	Knifehead	Bite/Claws	Tail
Spinejackal 4	Heavy Armor	Bipedal	Medium	Medium	Mandibles	Spines/Claws	All Around Vision

So in Bestiary 4 we get some more information about Kaiju as Paizo has statted them, lets just say I don’t think our mechs are ready for Energy Resistance 30 and Fast Healing 30 opponents. I’m listing the information here so we can examine what differences they thought were appropriate from other magical beasts. I’ll call out the similarities and differences from the playtest below the subtype entry.

Kaiju Subtype

These Colossal creatures inhabit the most desolate places of a world. When they are not slumbering, they roam the world, leaving destruction in their wake. A kaiju possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).

• A kaiju’s natural attacks count as epic and magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
• Damage Reduction 20/epic.
• Darkvision 600 feet.
• Fast healing 30.
• Ferocity (Ex) All kaiju possess the ferocity universal monster ability.
• Hurl Foe (Ex) When a kaiju damages a Huge or smaller foe with one of its natural attacks, it can try to hurl the foe as part of that attack by attempting a combat maneuver check. On a successful check, the foe is knocked back 10 feet in a direction of the kaiju’s choice and falls prone. The distance the foe is hurled increases by 10 feet for every 5 points by which the kaiju’s check exceeds the foe’s CMD. If an obstacle stops the hurled creature before it travels the whole distance, the hurled foe and the obstacle struck each take 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of distance remaining and the foe is knocked prone in the space adjacent to the obstacle.
• Immunity to ability damage, ability drain, death effects, disease, energy drain, and fear.
• Massive (Ex) Because kaiju are so massive, uneven ground and other terrain features that form difficult terrain generally pose no significant hindrance to a kaiju’s movement, though areas of forest or settlements are considered difficult terrain to a kaiju. A Huge or smaller creature can move through any square occupied by a kaiju, or vice-versa. A kaiju can make attacks of opportunity only against foes that are Huge or larger, and can be flanked only by Huge or larger foes. A kaiju gains a bonus for being on higher ground only if its entire space is on higher ground than that of its target. It’s possible for a Huge or smaller creature to climb a kaiju—this generally requires a successful DC 30 check, and unlike the normal rules about kaiju and attacks of opportunity, a Small or larger creature that climbs on a kaiju’s body provokes an attack of opportunity from the monster.
• Recovery (Ex) Whenever a kaiju fails a saving throw against any mind-affecting, paralysis, petrification, polymorph, or immobilizing effect (including binding and temporal stasis but not including imprisonment), it can attempt a new saving throw at the end of its turn to remove the effect. Doing so takes no action. A kaiju can attempt a new save to end the effect as often as it wishes, but can attempt to remove only one such effect per round. Once per year, if a kaiju takes an amount of damage that would normally kill it by reducing its hit points to a negative amount equal to its Constitution score, the damage instead heals the kaiju of twice the amount of damage—but this healing leaves the kaiju disoriented and demoralized. At this point, the creature becomes nauseated and seeks only to return to its lair. Any amount of damage dealt to it by an external source before it reaches its lair, though, immediately negates the nauseated effect and allows the kaiju to end its retreat and attack.
• Resistance 30 against acid, cold, electricity, fire, negative energy, and sonic.

NPC Mechs get hardness equal to half their CR instead of DR 20.
Mechs get darkvision 120 instead of 600
Mechs get shields instead of Fast Healing 30
Mechs Hurl action is good for objects two size categories smaller and has a 30 ft range increment.
Mechs don’t have any inherent energy resistances.
Mechs with Plow Plating can ignore difficult terrain.

Fighting Otachi Gipsy Danger vents coolant on the kaiju to freeze it and make it vulnerable.
Fighting Slattern Gipsy Danger fires its nuclear turbine killing the kaiju.
Fighting Raiju Gipsy Danger holds up its chain sword against Raiju’s swimming charge and cuts it in half.
Fighting Scunner Gipsy Danger holds Scunner’s damaged head over a volcanic vent to cauterize the wound.
Scunner, Knifehead and Trespasser all use the same CG body we should build a base monster. There were more Knifeheads inside the breach.
Raiju (Crocodile) and Raijin (T-Rex) both have a real vulnerable head inside their armored false head.
Hardship is a lower powered Mutavore with a knifehead.

So Alien Archive 2 has a Colossal Predator CR 13 lets start there and see what that gives us to work with.

COLOSSAL PREDATOR CR 13
XP 25,600
N Colossal animal
Init +0; Senses low-light vision; Perception +23
DEFENSE HP 225
EAC 27; KAC 29
Fort +17; Ref +12; Will +13
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee natural weapon +25 (3d12+21 P or S)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
STATISTICS
Str +8; Dex +0; Con +5; Int –4; Wis +1; Cha –2
Skills Athletics +23
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3–4)

Environmental Grafts
This predator doesn’t come with any Hardness or DR, I’m looking in the back of the book at the Environmental Grafts and the notes under Guidelines will be helpful.
Natural Attacks
Most Anteverse kaiju have arms that end in claws, they all have at least one mouth with teeth, most of them have a tail for balance. The bite and claw attacks should do similar damage.
Some kaiju have a larger mouth with a signature bite attack that should do more damage than the claw attack.
Some kaiju have between 1-3 tails that can be used as a blunt attack, but spikes and stingers are not uncommon. These will probably do more damage than the standard claws or bite attacks. A particularly long tail may have reach beyond the kaiju’s normal claw and bite attacks.
Knifehead has a knife where a rhino has a horn, Scunner looks like a knifehead, but acts like a bull, these attacks should do more than the standard claws or bite attacks and may involve charging. These kaiju might borrow the Nuar’s gore(Ex) ability which allows them to charge at no penalty.
Some grappling kaiju might have the offensive ability grab (Ex).
Senses
Spinejackal has a head covered in eyes so you might consider what vision modes it is capable of (low light, darkvision, see in darkness), extending the range of its vision and granting Master level in the perception skill.
Skills

Special Abilities

• All of the Anteverse kaiju have 4 arms, 2 big ones and 2 smallers ones, therefore multiarm may be appropriate, some of the kaiju have the upper and lower arms fused together leaving them with only 2 more powerful arms.
• Many kaiju could have the defensive ability ferocity (Ex) allowing them to fight past 0 hit points.
• Spinejackal has a head covered in eyes granting the defensive ability unflankable (Ex).

Speed and Movement Types
Hakuja has a burrowing speed that is useful in combat, AA2 says give it 1/2-2/3 of its regular move speed as a burrow speed. Otachi’s flight could be from half speed to 2-3 times the land speed. Because all of the Anteverse Kaiju in Pacific Rim come from under the ocean and have to swim to their targets we should assume they can breathe underwater and have a swim speed at least equal to their land speed. AA2 states a swim speed can be up to 2-3 times the land speed, having your Kaiju swim at their land speed won’t hurt them. Natural swimmers such as the Crocodile inspired Raiju, fast swimming Scunner and hammerhead shark inspired Slattern should get a full 60.

Pacific Rim kaiju are all clones, and aren’t like Godzilla or other Toho kaiju, you don’t have one living in a volcano and others in deserts or artic climes, so feel free to leave off the environmental graft entry what we really wanted was the guidance from the first part (attacks, senses, skills, special abilities, movement types) of the environmental graft section.

So I received a Trespasser/Axehead in the mail today, lets try to build a CR 10 kaiju.

Trespasser Colossal Predator CR 13
XP 25,600
N Colossal animal
Init +0; Senses low-light vision; Perception +23
DEFENSE HP 225, Hardness 7
EAC 27; KAC 29
Fort +17; Ref +12; Will +13
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Axe Head +26 (3d12+21 S plus grab) or
Bite +23 (2d12+21 B, P, S) or
Claws +23 (2d12+21 S) or
Tail slap +23 (2d12+21 B)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
STATISTICS
Str +8; Dex +0; Con +5; Int –4; Wis +1; Cha –2
Skills Athletics +23
ECOLOGY
Environment any
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gore (Ex) Trespasser can charge without taking the normal charge penalties to the attack roll or its AC. Trespasser can charge through difficult terrain.

The San Jose Shatterdome sensors detect movement in the breach and alarms go off, sonar detects an axehead shape, the database codenames the creature Trespasser, size and radiation report it as a 2 on the Serizawa Scale. The Marshall orders Spartan Echo and Razorback Whiskey to intercept the kaiju outside the city. The jaegers meet Trespasser on the outside Santa Cruz, Razorback Whiskey gets there first and engages Trespasser, it gives it a left hook (39), right cross (39) and the overhead double hammerfist (40)(we call the Kirk hammer a Devastating Hit that raises the damage of the normal unarmed attack). The problem is the Hammerfist does Low damage which is indistinguishable from its Medium damage upgrade. Since the difference in average damage is 1 point and max damage is 4 points, it would almost be better off with the 1 point per die bonus of a modified Extreme damage weapon which would give the 8d4 attack 47 damage on average. All attacks are 30 vs Trespasser’s 29 KAC and do 118 hp to the kaiju, it’s a good round for team razorback and leaves the kaiju with 107 hp remaining.

Next I want to try and emulate the Knifehead vs Gipsy Danger fight, Knifehead seemed to impale its victims and then stay attached for ripping, tearing bite attacks, so I want to put Grab on Trespasser’s Axe head attack.

Grab (Ex) If the creature hits with the indicated attack (usually a claw or bite attack), it deals the normal damage. If the creature’s attack roll successfully hits the target’s KAC + 4, the creature also automatically grapples the foe as a free action. (If it hits the target’s KAC + 13, it instead pins the target.) The creature does not need to have a spare limb free to perform this grapple, as long as it can make the listed attack, and it can potentially grapple more than one target if it has more than one attack with the grab ability. The creature can maintain the grab either with another successful grab attack or by performing the grapple combat maneuver normally.
Format: Melee claw +8 (1d6+4 plus grab).

Trespasser responds to RW’s assault with its Axe attack 10+26 (36) for 3d12+21 (40) minus 7 hardness (33) bringing RW to 67hp, the attack gets over RW’s KAC by 4 it grapples the Jaeger as a free action, but fails to pin automatically. Adding the Grab special ability would make the X+head kaijus very dangerous in melee. CR 13 monsters are supposed to get 3 special abilities, Gore, Grab would leave room for one more ability. By giving it the Gore ability to charge, the kaiju would probably charge to close the distance to its target and potentially get the impale with its primary attack, the grab and free grapple. We might consider giving the creature the Attach (Ex) special ability which would be similar to Grab and allow the X+head to bite its victim, without the free grapple and possible pin. Ferocious Charge might be interesting for a hammerhead or other kaiju like Scunner, but not one of the basic knife or axe heads.

The 3rd special ability could be Amphibious, but since all of the Pacific Rim kaiju come from under the ocean that seems more like it’s built into the setting and not a signature ability.

In the knifehead vs Gipsy Danger fight we don’t see knifehead use its bite and claws simultaneously, it normally uses its claws as an attack separate from the knife head or bite attack. I wouldn’t think knifehead is a strong candidate for the multiattack special ability. Combining Grab or Attach with multiattack might be overpowering.

Breath Weapon there are a number of kaiju in the chart that have breath weapon attacks.
Radioactive some of the kaiju are radioactive out of the breach and could be dangerous this way.
Raijin has an energy redirect attack that could be emulated in the rules by giving it shields, the Plasma Shock Circuits auxiliary system that allows Energized Retort.

Enough of that, it’s important to know what the kaiju’s special abilities are before we describe its counterattack. If Trespasser has attach instead of grab then it would be attached to Razorback Whiskey and get cover from Spartan Echo’s attacks while attacking RW’s body up close. If Trespasser has grab it has the free grapple, RW can’t move and the kaiju is still following up with melee (claw or bite) attacks to the body.

On its immediate following turn RW attempts to escape which is a grapple check (+20 vs KAC+8 (37)) or acrobatics check (5+1/2 tier(5)+STR(9)(+19)vs KAC+10(39)) Trespasser’s KAC is 29 so RW needs to roll a natural 20 in order to escape the grapple with acrobatics. RW needs to roll at least a 17 on the die in order to grapple Trespasser. RW can use the Aim action to help with the grapple check, but there isn’t a similar boost for acrobatics. It is theoretically possible for RW to escape but they are probably more useful to try and damage Trespasser while playing defense to hold out until Spartan Echo arrives.

RW punches the kaiju for 39 points lowering it to 68 hp.

Trespasser Claws RW 10+23(33) for 2d12+21(34) reduced by RW’s 7 hardness for 27 points bringing it down to 40hp.

Not every giant robot setting uses physical shields or force shields, but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t houserule that you can use your reaction to block an incoming attack by catching the opponent’s attack or blocking with the forearm/sword and still gain the benefit of doubled hardness. Likewise force shields could just be mech stamina points that regenerate and replenish letting poor Razorback survive a few rounds more. All things being equal with two copilots Razorback might win the action economy battle.

I think I will mention my grab/grappling results to Paizo before Brazilian Jiu Jitsu kaiju become the undefeated champions of the mech rules.

If Spartan Echo and Razorback Whiskey are training at the shatterdome with a KAC of 30 each, they can only grapple each other with an 18 or higher on the die, and only get out of the grapple with a natural 20 on the grapple check. It is not possible for them to escape each other’s grapples with an acrobatics check.

If you have any feedback about this post or our books please feel free to contact us.

Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com