One of the things I liked about the early d20 boom was that it meant there were d20 rulesets for pretty much any genre you might want. I really like 5e but with the more focused scope of Wizards production and licencing there is less variety. I particularly miss good resources on how to use 5e for a modern Urban fantasy. I know there are some resources for modern weapons and armor and some modern magic stuff (http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/my-new-d20-modern-campaign) but looking to do some more. Especially want to do what i can to use as much of the standard DnD classes, magic etc but for a more investigative game in a world in which most people don't know magic and supernatural exists. So Dresden files or Buffy rather than Shadowrun or Bright.
That raises some challenges considering the assumptions of the base game about level of magic and tech level of society. Looking for some suggestions. Here is what i have so far as well as the things I need help on:
Races: The characters can be basically human but ancestors of ancient magical races like Elves and Dwarves. Or they can BE eves, dwarves etc but have an extra ancestral feature that they have a glamour that makes them appear as regular humans in the mortal world. That glamour can be detected with detect magic.
Backgrounds: Some of the base backgrounds can work for modern world but would have to create several new ones to reflect modern careers and cultures like, Doctor, Lawyer, Academic etc. Can probably re-skin some base backgrounds for some of this
Classes: A lot of the classes can actually be used pretty easily depending on the class options allowed. In particular Fighter (Champion, Battle Master and the Monster Hunter and Sharpshooter from UA), Rogue (thief, assassin, and Inquisitive and Scout from UA) work as mundane hunter classes as well as the non-magic version of the ranger from the Wizards website. Clerics, Druids, Wizards, sorcerers and Warlocks work for various kinds of people who use magic against the supernatural dangers that threaten the modern nights. Not as sure about using barbarian, monk, bard or paladin in such a setting. Having looked through the base book and the various UA offerings these seem to be a good set of options:
Cleric (Domains - Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, War, UA Grave, UA Protection, UA City)
Druid (Circles - Land, Moon, UA Dream, UA Shepherd, UA Twilight)
Fighter (Archetypes - Champion, Battle Master, UA Monster Hunter, UA Sharpshooter)
Non-Magic Ranger (Archetypes- Hunter, UA Monster Slayer)
Rogue (Archetypes - Thief, Assassin, Mastermind, UA Inquisitive, UA Scout)
Sorcerer (Bloodlines - Draconic, Wild Magic, Storm, UA Favored Soul, UA Phoenix, UA Sea, UA Stone)
Warlock (Pacts - Archfey, Fiend, Great Old One, UA Ghost in the Machine, UA Celestial)
Wizard (Arcane Traditions- Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation, UA Technomancy
Magic:. Two challenges here both relating to keeping magic lower key in a modern setting. For one thing I think spells higher than level 6 are just too powerful to work in any kind of setting where magic is supposed to be a secret to the muggles. That means either capping class levels before Wizards and sorcerers and Warlocks get access to higher spell levels or finding ways to compensate these classes in other ways for their loss of higher level magic e.g. with extra feats or other class features for levels 15-20.
The other problem is how to make sure magic users aren't using obvious magic in front of mundane witnesses like throwing fireballs on 5th avenue, shapchanging in the middle of Trafalgar square or manifesting a flame blade at a football game or crowded restaurant. One option would be to mark certain spells as just being much harder to cast around mortal witnesses (maybe +5 or + 10 difficulty depending on how many witnesses). Also considering pruning the spell lists to get rid of some of the really vulgar spells. Finally there is the simple approach of just making it so there is a magical council that will punish you severely if you cast magic in front of muggles and making sure such penalties are enforced.
That's what i have so far. Looking for some suggestions. Thanks!
That raises some challenges considering the assumptions of the base game about level of magic and tech level of society. Looking for some suggestions. Here is what i have so far as well as the things I need help on:
Races: The characters can be basically human but ancestors of ancient magical races like Elves and Dwarves. Or they can BE eves, dwarves etc but have an extra ancestral feature that they have a glamour that makes them appear as regular humans in the mortal world. That glamour can be detected with detect magic.
Backgrounds: Some of the base backgrounds can work for modern world but would have to create several new ones to reflect modern careers and cultures like, Doctor, Lawyer, Academic etc. Can probably re-skin some base backgrounds for some of this
Classes: A lot of the classes can actually be used pretty easily depending on the class options allowed. In particular Fighter (Champion, Battle Master and the Monster Hunter and Sharpshooter from UA), Rogue (thief, assassin, and Inquisitive and Scout from UA) work as mundane hunter classes as well as the non-magic version of the ranger from the Wizards website. Clerics, Druids, Wizards, sorcerers and Warlocks work for various kinds of people who use magic against the supernatural dangers that threaten the modern nights. Not as sure about using barbarian, monk, bard or paladin in such a setting. Having looked through the base book and the various UA offerings these seem to be a good set of options:
Cleric (Domains - Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, War, UA Grave, UA Protection, UA City)
Druid (Circles - Land, Moon, UA Dream, UA Shepherd, UA Twilight)
Fighter (Archetypes - Champion, Battle Master, UA Monster Hunter, UA Sharpshooter)
Non-Magic Ranger (Archetypes- Hunter, UA Monster Slayer)
Rogue (Archetypes - Thief, Assassin, Mastermind, UA Inquisitive, UA Scout)
Sorcerer (Bloodlines - Draconic, Wild Magic, Storm, UA Favored Soul, UA Phoenix, UA Sea, UA Stone)
Warlock (Pacts - Archfey, Fiend, Great Old One, UA Ghost in the Machine, UA Celestial)
Wizard (Arcane Traditions- Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation, UA Technomancy
Magic:. Two challenges here both relating to keeping magic lower key in a modern setting. For one thing I think spells higher than level 6 are just too powerful to work in any kind of setting where magic is supposed to be a secret to the muggles. That means either capping class levels before Wizards and sorcerers and Warlocks get access to higher spell levels or finding ways to compensate these classes in other ways for their loss of higher level magic e.g. with extra feats or other class features for levels 15-20.
The other problem is how to make sure magic users aren't using obvious magic in front of mundane witnesses like throwing fireballs on 5th avenue, shapchanging in the middle of Trafalgar square or manifesting a flame blade at a football game or crowded restaurant. One option would be to mark certain spells as just being much harder to cast around mortal witnesses (maybe +5 or + 10 difficulty depending on how many witnesses). Also considering pruning the spell lists to get rid of some of the really vulgar spells. Finally there is the simple approach of just making it so there is a magical council that will punish you severely if you cast magic in front of muggles and making sure such penalties are enforced.
That's what i have so far. Looking for some suggestions. Thanks!
