Equipment
Note: Most of these items were adapted from movies, computer games etc. I will name the source so you can see each type of equipment "live"...
The Grappling Hook
This is probably the most important tool which is missing in Mechwarrior.
It is nearly impossible to climb higher walls (like a house) without being detected. The reason: The guards heard the noise of the nails you have to put into the wall to avoid the risks of falling down (I don't know the details because I never climbed high walls or mountains). Even if the climbing person doesn't make much noise, it takes much time climbing the wall.
Everybody has seen the solution to this problem. No? Then think about Batman who never leaves home without his Grappling Hook. He was able to climb walls very fast and without any noise.
The Mechwarrior Grappling Hook is a pistol-sized device which comes in various shapes. Most warriors choose the pistol-shaped form (guess why). All Grappling Hooks have a range of 25 meters (the length of the thin wire) which is long enough for most buildings. Other than the very rare Grapple Rod (Availability D), the Grappling Hook just has a hook with 3 or 4 "claws" instead of the metal ball. The Grappling Hook needs to be powered by any kind of battery to fire the hook and to coil the wire (to pull the user upwards, downwards or to pull smaller items towards the user). The wire is rolled up at the speed of 5 meters per MW combat round if the user has to be pulled up (double the speed if the user just pulls a small item with the hook and triple the speed if the hook isn't attached to anything). Note that the Grappling Hook can't be combined with a sound or flash suppressor.
Another famous example for the Grappling Hook (especially the pistol-shaped one) can be found in the intro of "James Bond: Goldeneye ".
Availability: A
Legality: B
Cost: 100 C-Bills
Cost for replacements parts: New wire:10 C-Bills; new hook: 20 C-Bills (The cost of 100 C-Bills include a wire and a hook)
Power Use: 3 per shot; 2 per round while wire is being rolled up
The Grappling Hook (wrist model)
The wrist model of the Grappling Hook is about as small as a normal wrist watch and allows the user to hold a weapon instead of the normal Grappling Hook. This type of the Grappling Hook is used by pushing a small lever (Hello Spiderman!) just below the palm. Use all rules as given above with the difference that the range changed to 5 meters.
Availability: B
Legality: B
Cost: 150 C-Bills
Cost for replacement parts: New wire: 5 C-Bills; new hook: 10 C-Bills (The cost of 150 C-Bills includes 3 wires and 3 hooks)
Power Use: Like normal Grappling Hook
Laser pointer
The laser pointer had its first major appearence in "The Terminator", but can be seen in most action movies today.
The MW Laser Pointer is used instead of any type of sniper scope. It can be used on rifles and on most pistols.
The user doesn't need to be stationary to gain the benefits of a Laser Pointer. During the first round, the user gains a -1 modifier to fire (or -2 if stationary), if the user takes time for a careful aim, he (or she) gets an additional modifer of -1 per round (he doesn't get this modifier after the third round of careful aim). Also, all aimed shots receive a -1 modifier (so an aimed shot at the head would result in a +4 modifier, +6 for the aimed shot, -1 modifier for the aimed shot and the normal -1 modifier. And the attacker isn't stationary!)
The Laser pointer can't be used in total darkness and also receives the normal modifiers for partial darkness.
Availability: B
Legality: B or C (GM decides)
Cost: 75 - 100 C-Bills (GM decides)
Air tanks: coming soon!
