Getting Powered Armor to Fly

[Ravingdork]

What methods are there in the game to get a character in a suit of powered armor to fly?

Most don't come with a flight speed like the flight frame, and armor upgrades that grant flight or flight-like abilities are limited to light and heavy armor. What other options does that leave us?

Spells would work I imagine, but that only helps in the short term, and likely requires outside assistance if you're playing a soldier or something.

Would a forcepack installed on your light armor allow you to fly while in powered armor?

Any other suggestions you can provide would be most welcome.

[Thaago]

An exocortex mechanic who takes the flight mod twice gains a permanent fly speed, as does a drone mechanic who takes drone meld. The drone meld is a good option for travel, though a drone mechanic probably wants to dip a level of soldier because the number of feats involved here is getting high if they also want big guns.

I don't think its been officially ruled what, if any, armor mods worn on light armor underneath powered armor actually work. I can see everything from "nothing" to "only mods that work with powered armor anyways" to "everything" being argued. Its sci-fi/fantasy so anyone can pick and choose their "realism" arguments to support whatever they want.

Though the image of what would happen to a person who turns on a jetpack when inside a metal shell...

(But the armor mod interfaces and adds vents!)

((No way a man portable jet pack can lift a gargantuan mecha.))

(((Thats not in the rules - if the character happened to be gargantuan and in heavy armor the jetpack would work.)))

((((But what if you put a jetpack on a mountain?))))

[Ravingdork]

In regards to light armor upgrades working inside powered armor, maybe it should be a case by case basis. A jet pack would be dangerous I imagine, but I see no reason why infrared sensors or a targeting computer would stop working.

[ForeverQueen]

I had a similar musing when sticking an NPC barathu in power armor. (Because nothing freaks players out like a humanoid exoskeleton cracking open to reveal a jellyfish-shaped alien during downtime)...

This makes me wonder if a barathu in power armor keeps its inherent flight ability or not, while piloting powered armor?

(For flavor, I imagine that the barathu tries to pass itself off as a 'normal humanoid', it enjoys wearing roughly person shaped armor, rather than something more fitting to a barathu.)

[Ravingdork]

ForeverQueen wrote:

For flavor, I imagine that the barathu tries to pass itself off as a 'normal humanoid', it enjoys wearing roughly person shaped armor, rather than something more fitting to a barathu.

It certainly makes finding artwork easier.

I imagine barathu-shaped powered armor would probably look something like the daleks from Dr. Who.

[Hiruma Kai]

I'll point you to a comment made by Owen:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2v72l?Rapid-Response-and-Power-Armor#2

Power armor replaces your speed, like a vehicle. The question becomes, does the Fly spell grant you, or the armor, the fly speed? The target of the flight spell at 3rd level is "one willing or unconscious touched creature". It can't target the armor.

Similarly, any other mobility enhancer that is not built into the power armor gets replaced with the power armor's base speed.

I believe Solarian Defy Gravity gets around this problem by not granting you a flight speed, but letting you "fly up to your speed". When unqualified, speed means your current speed in whatever movement mode.

CRB, page 255 wrote:

If a rule references speed without specifying a movement type, it refers to whatever movement type you are using

In this case, the power armor's base land speed (or other speed if it has it of your choice).

[Valfen]

The magitech augs Force Soles and Gravitational Harness (Armory, p. 92) should work, I think.

Aside from this, it seems to me Power Armor not being able to fly easily is by design.

As for the Light Armor slots, I really don't know. Power armors have a low number of upgrade slots, I could see the argument where it's intended because you can benefit from the ones in your light armor underneath as well. But I can also see the counterpoint of "power armor are powerful enough they warrant a lower slot amount". I'd probably let it fly as long as it makes some sense.

[Garretmander]

I don't have the book in front of me but, can you not install a second force pack/jet pack into the power armor's upgrade slots?

Edit: I forgot to re-read the top post, no you can't.

Maybe an expensive item that allows it?, but that's homebrew.

[Thaago]

Ah, if its a totally separate speed that replaces like a vehicle then the exocortex/drone wouldn't work. Darn!