Drone Meld vs carrying the thing on your back.

[Kvetchus]

I saw this thread:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ul1g

And was going to post there here, but it's actually a bit of a different question, so I decided to make it a separate thread.

Can a Ysoki Engineer carry a stealth drone on his back (assume it's just sort of clinging there with it's climbing claws)? Both are small creatures. The engineer DOES NOT have the Drone Meld trick.

Without the trick, clearly you'd need to factor in bulk because he's effectively carrying the thing.

However, a small creature's weight is listed as 8-60lbs. So, even if you round up, and given that 1 bulk roughly equates to 10 lbs, that's at most 6 bulk and at the least an L.

This engineer's drone is a spider-like stealth drone, so it just sort of wraps it's legs around him and holds on. With it's clearly small bulk, this doesn't seem to be a problem, except it sounds a little absurd. A small robot on the back of a small trash panda...er..ysoki. The rules clearly allow it.

This also begs the question - why bother with Drone Meld? If your drone is light enough to just carry on your back, that Trick is completely pointless since it also means your drone can't do anything at all, whereas if it's just along for the ride, it can take an attack action with it's weapon mount (at the very least).

Thoughts?

[Tsutsayosdi]

If your drone is hanging on to you without the Meld, I'd imagine they would have to expend an action to stay on, and you as the courier would definitely have to make room for the bulk of the drone. If the drone doesn't have to expend an action to hang on, then it can shoot. How strong is the Ysoki? How much bulk can he/she carry before being encumbered or overburdened?

With the Meld trick, the mechanic doesn't have to worry about bulk. Like a backpack, a drone (transformed and) worn properly has negligible bulk. The Mechanic gets the stealth perks (since the Mechanic has a Stealth drone), and the drone can't attack - although it can be argued that you have the option of attacking with the drone's weapons instead of your own.

The Meld trick and carrying your drone are two different things and would offer different benefits.

[Felix the Rat]

You could always use an advanced skill unit to give the drone the survival skill and let it treat you as a mount. It was originally a joke but I think it would actually work.

Don't forget to add in the bulk of any weapons the drone will be using, as well as any other equipment it has.

[Ellias Aubec]

The main reason for the meld is to get the ability to the mechanic from the drone which they won't get if they just have it hanging off of their backpack.

[Vanzer]

Drone meld still pointless, if only you can have access to all mods installed, not only chassis specific mods.
you lose weapons installed, additional action, etc.
Only scenario I see it's reactive camo and invisibility field, when you need to be rally sneaky, after this separate and engage!