Aether Nexus vs Lancer
Compare Aether Nexus and Lancer side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Aether Nexus | Lancer | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Sci-Fi |
| Tags | Mecha, Tactical, Collaborative | Mecha, Tactical, Grid-Based, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Character Building, Mission-Based, Strong GM Support, Lore-Heavy, Heroic |
| Core Mechanic | Roll d20 under an aspect (Stone, Flux, Aether, or Hearth) to succeed on tests. Favor and hindrance work like advantage/disadvantage (roll 2d20, pick better or worse). Knights pilot Apparatus (mechs) with resource dice: Armor Die reduces damage, Damage Die deals it, and Nexus Die represents the bond with allies: rolling max on the Nexus Die triggers a powerful Nexus Surge but downgrades the die. Battles play out on a span-based battlefield with tactical positioning. | Skill checks, attacks, and saves roll a d20 plus at most one stat bonus, such as a pilot trigger, a mech skill, or GRIT. Skill checks normally succeed on 10 or more, while attacks must meet the target's defense and saves must meet the attacker's save target. Accuracy and Difficulty cancel one for one. Each remaining point rolls a d6, and only the highest die is added or subtracted. |
| Dice | d20 + d4–d12 | d20 + d6 |
| Complexity | Medium | High |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary | Lancer Third Party License |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Commercial publishing allowed — Publisher third-party license |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Absolute Tabletop | Massif Press |
| Year | 2025 | 2019 |
| Languages | English | English, Italian, Portuguese |
| Best For | Groups who want a fantasy mecha experience: knight pilots bonded to towering Apparatus through a shared Nexus, battling Oghdra horrors across the floating Fragments of a shattered world called Eskhara. | Groups who want deep tactical mech combat and build customization, with lighter narrative play and downtime between missions. |
| Highlights | Fills a fantasy-mecha niche with detailed lore, 10 playable kin and 16 Apparatus frames offer character variety, Nexus Die creates risk-reward tension, span-based combat is tactical without requiring a grid, built on The Black Hack's proven core | Licenses unlock gear from five manufacturers, and unlocked weapons and systems can be mixed onto any licensed frame within its mounts and system points. Combat during narrative play resolves through ordinary skill checks, so a fight without mechs can end in a few rolls without a battle map. Player mechs degrade in stages: each lost point of structure or stress triggers an increasingly dangerous structure or overheating check. |
| Considerations | Tightly bound to the Eskhara setting: hard to use outside it, moderate complexity with many subsystems (conditions, augments, boons, arsenal points), requires investment to learn unique terminology, combat-focused sessions may overshadow exploration and social play | Build choices are dense, since licenses, talents, and core bonuses interact across 29 frames. Narrative play outside combat is a lean layer of skill checks and downtime actions next to the mech combat rules. Mech combat is slow enough that the book expects one or two fights per session, usually just one. |