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RECRUITING: The Battle for Threshold Orbital (houseruled d20 modern)
I’m looking for four to six players for this. Please forgive the document. It’s a bit big. It is also possible that I'll be running the game on the Mythweavers board. The extra PbP features are a big sell to me.
A Few Quick things:
As a matter of necessity, I have not provided every single detail of the setting. Most likely, it will be necessary to work with me on concept and background (what planet you came from, etc.) Please as questions. I can’t possibly write everything everyone needs to know.
The Big Picture:
10,000 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space (the beginning of the common era in the Terran calendar), humanity has come a long way. Humanity and eleven other powerful species (as well as many minor ones) have joined together in a terrifyingly powerful military alliance controlled by 120 of the greatest military minds (10 from each major species) called The Coalition. The Coalition is not a government, however. It is an alliance motivated by mutual survival, physiological and psychological similarity (all but one of the major Coalition species is bipedal, and all are carbon-based, for example), economic interdependence, and peer pressure. Each member species is free to govern itself as it will. Most don’t govern themselves at all, regarding the practice as unfeasible given the size and dispersion of their populations. Instead, policy is dictated bys system and sector governments. As long as their quota for troops, supplies, and taxes is met, the Coalition couldn’t care less what the little beings do or don’t do.
It has been many thousands of years since the Coalition’s great campaigns of expansion. It now seeks to hold its territorial gains as it continues to expand slowly but inexorably across space (the Coalition now controls slightly more than a third of two different galaxies) against the constant but un-unified attacks of rival galactic powers, terrified of the Coalition’s steadily growing sphere of influence. The increase in wealth and stability within has also created ample opportunity for internal conflict and corruption—the coalition is infested with criminals of all sorts, taking advantage of security to prey on their own.
Tone:
Like the Imperium of Man, and the Galactic Empire, the Coalition is big and scary. In many ways (notably, industrial capacity), much scarier. Their enemies are too. As an exclusively military organization, the Coalition also morally grey in their approaches at the very best. They are an organization that regularly destroys planets because they can’t be bothered with the time and expense of an infantry assault.
The species of the Coalition are generally welcoming to other member species, but nonmembers suffer from extreme prejudice if they are even permitted in Coalition space at all. The Coalition has three unofficial classifications for a species or group: ‘One of us’, ‘enemy we aren’t fighting,’ and ‘enemy we are fighting.’ They have no ‘allies’.
Technology and other Stuff :
I think that d20 future’s PL system is stupid. This campaign doesn’t have a PL.
Most power is provided by highly efficient fusion. Railguns (magnetic ones that make sense) are the Coalition’s staple weapon, with other types filling more specialized niches. Materials science is incredibly sophisticated. Personal shielding and artificial gravity are both quite common. (PCs are issued a personal shield generator). Psychic powers exist, but are entirely irrelevant to this campaign. FTL travels through higher and more ordered dimensions (with a computer) or lower, more chaotic dimensions (with a living psychic navigator). Please ask any relevant questions. I can’t possibly write a full tech. primer.
Campaign Background:
The government of the Amber sector (the capitol city-world holds the same name), a major industrial sector, has raised several new sector defense OUs (they are not a part of Coalition’s military structure, though they can be called up to be so at any time) the smallest independently operating combat unit, containing 6,000 people at normal strength plus any associated vehicles and aircraft. (All Terran military units are mixed gender in theory, but the culture of each world changes this in practice). This is an all-human unit (the Amber sector’s population is about 70% human). Mixed units are rare and units with more than different three species are virtually unheard of because of the numerous logistical and cultural challenges.
You (the PCs) have all joined one of these volunteer units for whatever reason. After completing your basic training, your unit, the 96th infantry (militia) OU has received its first posting. You have been assigned to investigate a large orbital colony around a star with no other livable planets that has fallen out of contact with the Government of Amber. Command hopes it is a communications or internal systems issue rather than an attack, but they take no chances. The 96th, and two other units, the green 22nd light mechanized (militia) OU and the veteran 61st space combat SU (militia) (an SU is a highly specialized and usually non-independent combat unit with 3,000 members). These fifteen thousand troops have been deployed aboard the troopship Many Very Bad Things and the frigate Admiral Reed. Two corvettes, I See You and Azira have also been sent as escort ships. It is also rumored that Coalition SpecOp teams are accompanying the Colonial troops. Tension is high, and none of the soldiers knows what to make of their mission.
System:
This is the complicated bit of everything, and it may be off-putting to some people who don't want to deal with more house rules than usual.
The game itself is run using the regular d20 modern rules with only a few changes (see the house rules and character creation sections later on, which will break things down in detail).
Other aspects of a typical d20 future game have been removed while others have been added. Not all of these changes are relevant to the PCs, but are listed here anyway so you aren't unfairly surprised when they come up. They are listed below and explained in turn:
All. And I mean all of the items, weapons and armor in d20 future have been removed. I find that besides being too weak given the level of technology that should be available, most of the stuff doesn't make much sense. More importantly, though, it doesn't fit with the feel or the pseudoscience of the setting. Thankfully, this is largely irrelevant to the PCs. Since this is a military campaign, appropriate starting gear will be issued to each player.
Default mech and vehicles as well as the associated rules have been removed from the game. I find that they are inelegant at best stupid and inconsistent at worst (mech creation rules especially). Instead, I use Guardians of Order Games' (May the company rest in peace) D20 Mecha rules for both. This will not hurt the characters much in the campaign if it affects them at all (they won't have mechs, and vehicle combat will be rare if it happens at all), but it certainly affects my approach as the GM when throwing enemy vehicles at my players.
Cybernetics rules have been scraped. If you want cybernetics, speak with me about what affects you want to create and I'll put a price (relatively speaking, since money is irrelevant) on it with you.
Some changes to armor and weapon rules. Each of these will be addressed in houserules.
Other minor houserules which are too simple to be considered major changes
I use vitality and wound points. (Nothing new here. They seem to suit gritty scifi better.) The specifics will be covered in houserules.
This is the biggest change: I use the set of Classically Modern rules for custom class creation. This puts class creation entirely in the hands of the PCs. You can chose exactly the abilities you want your character to have based on your concept, not a published advanced class. The catch is that Classically Modern is a slightly intimidating document, with a lot of options. Thankfully, there are a lot of premade classes if you don't want to make your own. I think it's a great little (OK, it's rather large, actualy) set of rules, and I think I may attract a few converts. The link to the documents is here:http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/index.htm
Character Creation:
All characters are fifth level humans with no FX abilities .
Classes are created using Classically Modern classes (flexible advancement)
Starting wealth is irrelevant, there is no need to roll for it.
Abilities are determined with a 32 point buy
Gear is issued as appropriate based on abilities and feats. Don’t worry about it. If you play a sniper, you’ll get a sniper rifle and all the other fun stuff a sniper needs.
Notes:
You are creating trained soldiers. Bear that in mind when making characters and choosing roles and abilities.
You probably want at least armor proficiency medium at least, if not heavy. Armor saves lives.
House Rules:
Weapon proficiency:
Characters are proficient with a number of specific non-exotic weapons equal to 5+BAB. Specific weapons means you would get proficiency with an M-16 rather than assault rifles. Proficiencies can be traded with 8 hours of training and a DC 15 check modified+BAB+int (you may take ten if you take 16 hours)
Taking an exotic weapons group proficiency feat: rockets, heavy machine guns, cannons, or exotic melee weapons (grenade launchers aren’t exotic weapons) grants you one free proficiency slot and allows you to add weapons of the corresponding type to your proficiency list/
Alien weapons:
You take a -4 when using a weapon not built for your species over and above nonproficiency penalties (-8 total) unless the GM says otherwise (I never will, but it has to be said). If you gain proficiency with an alien weapon, you still take this penalty.
Guns and automatic weapons in general:
Different rules for autofire and burst are used. Weapons have a few new statistics (Whoever on ENworld made these gets a cookie, but I can’t take credit):
Recoil: If you beat a target’s AC by this number, you hit with a second (or third, or fourth) attack. Recoil cannot be reduced below 2.
Shots per round: The maximum number of shots per round you can use
Armor penetration: The weapon ignores this many points of armor
Overpenetration: This potentially multiplies weapon damage to larger objects (which now have many more HP)
There are two types of autofire attacks:
Area autofire:
You fire 10 or more bullets into a 5x5ft area. Anyone in the area must make a reflex save with a DC of 5+(attack roll / 2) to negate damage. If the target fails by more than the recoil modifier of the shooter, the target is struck by a number of rounds equal to the difference between the save result and DC divided by the shooters recoil. Each additional hit deals full damage, but is also affected by the targets hardness/DR. For every 3 full rounds fired you can either increase the save DC by +1 or increase the area by +1 5ft square (must be adjacent to a previous square). You may increase the number of rounds fired in increments of 3.
Burst: a burst fires 5 or more bullets at a single target. For every 3 rounds fired, you gain a +1 bonus to hit. If you beat the target’s defense by more than the weapons recoil, additional bullets strike the target. The number of additional bullets that hit is the difference between defense and the attack roll, divided by the recoil modifier. Each additional hit deals full damage, but is also affected by the targets hardness/DR. You may increase the number of rounds fired in increments of 3
The following feats and conditions reduce recoil:
These bonuses stack if appropriate
supported, prone, bipod etc: -1
mounted on vehicle or stationary: -2
Using both hands: -2
Burst fire: -2 for burst only
Autofire: -2 for autofire only
Advanced firearms: -1 to all recoil
Vitality point/wound points:
The vitality points/wound points system can be found in Unearthed Arcana. A link is here: http://srd.pbemnexus.com/unearthedInjury.html (it’s the second to last item on the page)
Armor:
Armor provides hardness and bonus wound points. It does not provide an AC bonus. It is possible to make a called shot to ignore armor. The penalty to hit is -4 for light armor, -8 for medium, and -12 for heavy
How I Choose Players:
Hey, you finished all the reading! Good for you! I’ll take the first four to six workable concepts. Remember, getting to ‘workable concept’ may require a bit of specific discussion with me because there are things that do and don’t work concept wise.
I just wanted to start by saying that I loved the level of detail you provided upfront (not just story, but the houserules sounds both fun and sensical). It's going to take my a day or two to digest some of your houserules plus the calssicaly modern documents (I've done some Modern, never this classicaly modern) for the actual character creation, but I thought I would run a character idea by you before I bothered to do the heavy crunching.
I'd love to play a character who has joined the OU with the aspiration of one day being accepted into SpecOps. I'm thinking he would be intelligent, dexterous, and training at being a sniper and infiltrating hostile areas. Personallity-wise he would be aloof at first, working under the impression that he has higher potential than his peers and that they aren't as motivated to advance as he is -- though as he gets to know individuals better this flaw lessens (or at least he can keep it quiet). I'll have to look at how far I can stretch certain skills, but I'm hoping he could be trained at infiltrating and escaping from hostile areas (things like hiding, climbing, jumping, etc).
I plan on developing more of a potential story and more specifics on stats, etc, but it would be great to know if this (in general) works for you.
It should be noted that we do have a sniper recruited, but by the looks of it you aren't stepping on each other's toes concept-wise except that you're both sneaky.
I think it sounds quite good as a concept, but there are a few setting notes. Also, do you have any preferences about where you're from etc. You can essentialy make up the planet. I didn't write up the entire sector. (Even with all this houseruling, I still have a life. Heh.) You might consider a world where you would have been able to logically pick up some of your skills.
Coalition SpecOps are heavily cybernetically enhanced supersoldiers and are extremely rare. They are very much like 40k Space Marines or Halo Spartans (not quite as rare as either, though.
A more realistic goal (though still quite lofty) would be to gain admitance to an Elite unit (a lot like a modern special forces unit in some ways), which conists of people who don't have the terrifying abilities and tolerance for cybernetics required to join SpecOps, but are still crack troops--much like modern special forces units--though elite units can also be shock troops, skirmishers, stealth and covert-ops, mech-based, armored, mechanized, etc. Elite units potentialy do everything regular infantry does. Just much, much better.
This sounds interesting...... took me awhile to get through the first post (thank you for all the information though).
I'd love to play in this game. I'd like to play an infiltrator of some sort. I'm curious as to if this will conflict with the snipers though. I'm thinking more of a guy who was well trained in Urban Warfare.
I'd like to take him in a direction of actually being able to get in, get what he needs, and get out. (or in group terms, get in and lead the way). I would prefer to have him use a quiet weapon, but may actually take him in a way to use automatic weapons.
He would be quiet, maybe to the point where most people think he is mute. He always looks uncomfortable or on edge, maybe from his father's military history (still haven't decided on that one yet). He would be a well built, but hardly intimidating man standing at 5'11 and weighing 175lbs. He is grim and rather cold, but is not heartless. I guess a good point of reference would be to the knight's code of honor from the medieval ages (not the realisitic ones, the romantic ones). He tries to help those he can, protect those who can't protect themselves, and values others above himself.
I have NO clue what planet he would be from lol. I'd prefer a heavily populated planet if possible. One with massive cities. Maybe a military heavy society.
Like Alexandros, I have never played Classically Modern. So... Please, make sure I do everything right when I finally post a character I hate messing up.
1) OK, I'll get to thinking on planet/city conditions where my character would have grown up.
2) As for the existing recruited sniper -- is there anything I should avoid so as to continue not stepping on his toes? I'm think that, if I'm understanding classically modern properly (I read it all last night -- long night), I can accomplish most of what I was looking at by being Fast base lvl2/military base lvl2/infiltrator advanced lvl1. I'll post details tomorrow unless your feedback forces me to change something.
3)I didn't know SpecOps was cybernetic. I really hate cybernetics, so I think some version of CovertOps is more in line with what I was picturing.
Just a note. If everyone is playing sneaky-ish, you'll wind up as the infiltration squad in the unit (or one of them).
Alexandros:
Crunchwise, you can't take multiple base classes, though you can take as many advanced classses as you want. In terms of overlap, just avoid sniping and you should be okay . As far as aspirations go, the game won't progress in a direction that would allow for a unit change, but as people see more action, your unit has the potential to turn into an elite unit.
OnlytheStrong:
Just keep in mind you are a recruit (a very well trained one with an oportunity to specialize). You get stealth training in basic and may have excelled in it, but you are still a relatively green soldier. If you want to have prior experience with urban warfare and infiltration, a gang background may be one way to get there. Noble criminal perhaps. Amber propper is a covered entirely in city, that's a good choice. In general, Terran culture is more militaristic than, say, 21st century USA. If you want extremely militaristic, we can work on annother planet.
A few other things.
10th milenium Terrans are bigger and more physically powerful than the average human. 5'11 is on the smaller side of average.
It is possible to get into almost any advanced class after level 3. The prerequs are intentionaly low, so you can manage 2 levels of bounty hunter. (Again, justify why you have the skills you do and you can do damn near anything with your concept)
Also, you can't take two different base classes either. There's one sentance hidden in there somewhere about it.
Last edited by This One; 9th September 2008 at 01:25 AM..
I can see a background forming in my little brain...... What else can you tell me about Amber Popper? And I will have to change his size. If 5'11'' is alittle short, is 6'2'' okay?
propper meaning the planet and not the sector (which is named for it's capitol world)
6'2 is slightly above average if that's what you're going for.
All land on Amber is covered in city--it is slightly less dense version of Courasount (sp?) (Notably, the planet's algae covered oceans, the planet's namsake, still remain. Amber has a much lower population than Courasount and a much, much lower population than a 40k hive world. This is because the Coalition requires that all planets be able to survive cut of from anywhere for at least ten years (assuming rationing of suplies is in effect)as a precaution against seige. Some of their enemies aren't as cautious. Amber combined with it's space platforms that fall within the planet's shield are capable of surviving indefinitely as long as they have a sufficient supply of energy. An incedental benifit of this requirement is that the planet has enough space, and with the help of the oceans' copius ammounts of algae, is capable of providing enough oxygen without atmospher convcerters. (Most Coalition's non-high-industrial worlds aren't very polluted save for carbon dioxide produced by large populations because fusion suplemented by extensive and highly efficient solar arrays provides all of the electricity Air scrubbers remove much of the industrial debris).
Amber is a surprisingly wealthy world now, that it has become an administrative world, but before the planet grew into a major hub, it's only notable feature was it's location. It had little mineral wealth or natural beauty to set it appart from anywhere else. As trade began to flow their way, however the planet rapidly grew, peacefully annexing other nearby systems and sponsoring the colonisation of others until it became a true sector government, representing thirty-four systems. Now Amber is the business, trade, and high-tech industry capitol of several sectors, and also the site of many prosperous orbital shipyards and more than a thousand space elevators to acomidate the space trafic.
Like all planets, Amber also has no shortage of unpleasentness, especially in the lower and more isolated areas of the planet. Feudal gangs--with hundreds or thousands of smaller gangs swearing fealty to bigger or tougher organizations--fight for control of huge areas territory nobody else dares to tread. Still, in relative terms, Amber's gangs are a small fraction of it's population, and occupy a small portion of it's area . The crime rate is low by Terran standards; comparable to that of a large 21st century city--it just represents population more than a hundred thousand times larger.
That sounds great! This could turn out to be a real fun game. I'm tempted to say that he was raised by a police officer (or something similar). I could see my character being from a single parent family, and when he has been "helping" his father on cases since he was young (in the way only a kid can help). His father was away at work most of the time, so he turned to small, petty thefts. He discovered that he was good at it, so he kept doing it. He fell into the wrong crowd, and started skirting along with gang members.
He was taught (poorly), how to sneak into places, how to track enemy gang members that had skirted into the wrong part of town, and most importantly..... how to shoot. He eventually got caught by his own father, who gave him the option to either join the military or go to jail. He took the one he was least afraid of, as a cage was worse than death to him.
That fits quite well. Note that most Terran governments avoid imprisonment as a punishment--it's seen as very inneficient. Hard labor or mandatory resettlement to a fringe colony (often to begin a settlement from next to nothing) are the two favorite punishments. Both are probably worse than prison for what it's worth.
What races are most common on Amber? Are we playing alien races or just human? I remember reading that there is the human race and eleven others........ unless one of them is just amazingly cool, I will end up wanting to play a human if I can. Anyways, here's a rough draft of a background:
Erin Armstrong
Erin was an infant when his mother died. His eyes hadn't even changed from that light baby blue to his current deep brown. Maybe that was why he rarely laughed or even smiled, it was definetly the reason his father had changed to law enforcement. He just stood there in the bathroom, staring into the mirror. He just shook his head as he looked at himself. "I am muscular. I'm athletic. I'm smart....... sorta." He almost smiled when those thoughts crossed his mind; except that he realized why he had told himself. "If you are so great then, why don't you have any friends? Or better yet, why no girlfriend?"
He frowned as he was getting dressed. Erin couldn't help but realize it was going to be another bad day. He grabbed his wallet and flipped through it. He had made quite a bit of money selling the stuff he had stolen and sold last time. He grabbed his gun, tucked it safely away, and walked out the door. Today was the day he was suppose to solo hunt.
Erin ran through what he had learned about his prey. He knew the guy was from a rival gang. He knew he was a white male, about 6'0'' tall. The target had green eyes and red hair. Erin even knew where to find the guy. He had a tendancy to frequent certain areas of the city as a pick pocket. It should be an easy kill.
He worked his way through the streets, finally coming to the area where he knew his mark would be. An absent-minded hand found his gun; and Erin spun quickly to see who's hand it was......... his own. "Gods, don't freak out. It's not your first time." He stood still for just a moment, waiting for his nerves to calm down. Erin's eyes would of given him away if anyone had cared enough to look at him. They had widened to the point where they actually hurt the instant he saw his target.
He slowly walked toward the man. Erin decided it would be best to blend in. He would stop every so often and look at the buildings, or the people. He was shocked when he was ran into by his target. A sense of panic took over and he quickly pulled his gun and fired. He didn't wait to see if the rival had been hit, he just ran.
That night was one of the worst in his life. He went straight home after his little mission. Erin sat there, relaxing, drifting in and out of sleep. The living room door burst open, nearly making him fall off the couch. "What the hell?", was all he could get out of his mouth before he was slammed to the floor. It took him a moment, but he realized the man was his father. Erin tried to find the words to protest, but his father quickly commanded the situation.
"Hold still or you will make this worse than it has to be." His words seemed oddly cold as Erin felt restraints being placed around his wrists. Erin's mind was racing so fast the he couldn't seem even began mounting a protest. "Had alittle excitement today, did you Erin?"
It felt like days had passed, but it had in fact only been a couple of minutes. Erin was placed back on the couch, still restrained. His father was across the room, talking in an odd way that seemed part lecture part interrogation. Apparently the gang member had picked Erin's pocket right before Erin shot him. Witness' gave Erin's description and that was enough to get the police after him.
An hour of lecture followed after Erin had admitted what he did. It was the same lecture he got whenever he got into any kind of trouble. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the "I did the best I could by myself son. It's not easy raising a child by yourself." speech. It was true though. His dad was great. He had learned more from his father and helping (which in reality was more of a hindrance) his father track down fugitives.
Erin's father bowed his head. "You have two choices. More or less the same two that any criminal would have: go to a fringe colony or join the military." He kept talking, but Erin didn't hear any of it. One word kept pounding through his brain: Fringe Colony. He had heard stories of those places. He wouldn't survive. He didn't have a chance if he went to a colony. He made a choice in a split second that would change his life forever: he joined the military.
May add personality and description later (all subject to review and revision )
Last edited by OnlytheStrong; 10th September 2008 at 12:58 AM..
Here is what I've come up with so far for my Military/Infiltrator character concept. Please let me know if the bio clashes with anything you picture or if you can see any errors in how I did the character setup (especially with the vitality/wounds, which I've never used before). I've left some things blank such as the stats on whatever weapons I would be using and the equipment I would have since I'm not sure what 'standard issued equipment' would be for someone in our position. But basically, I'm hoping to have whatever rifle soldiers use normally in combat but my character prefers infiltration and stealth with close-quarters SMGs.
Rough Bio
Alexander Colt Bio – 20 years old, 6 foot 0 inches, 180 lbs, dark blonde hair, green/blue eyes.
Nicolas Colt Sr., retired owner of the Colt Materials on the planet Magellan, and his son, Nicolas “Alexander” Colt Jr., have never shared anything more than their name. For most people, the life of Nicolas Colt Sr. would appear to be a dream: retired at a young age with enough wealth to live out a more-than-comfortable life for the rest of his days. Hence, his teachers and peers have always been confused why Alexander didn’t either join the family business or coast through his days on his father’s name and wealth. They were especially confused why Alexander chose to persue such unrefined hobbies as theft.
The reason isn’t very complicated though. Alexander has never been interested in money or comfort. With everything material so easily at his fingertips, Alexander only ever felt pride in overcoming those challenges he could find. When he was young, tales of spies and covert operatives had fascinated him, and during highschool Alexander frequently “practiced” by sneaking out of class, climbing out of a nearby window, and running off to find other mischievous “spy” activities he could partake in. For several times Alexander was caught trying to (or succeeding in) finding entrances to neighborhood homes, a habit that would cost Alexander’s father a good deal of money to bribe the victims into not contacting the police.
Nicolas Colt Sr. recently sold his business on Magellan and moved with his family to Amber where he had been told he could easily gain a position in the Government on one of the economic and business committees. Upon arriving, however, Nicolas found resistance to him getting the position. A political consultant suggested Nicolas demonstrate how civically minded his family was by sending Alexander to join Amber's armed forced. For once in his life, Alexander didn’t resist his father’s wishes since joining the newly forming OUs might be his best shot at living out his CovertOps dream one day being placed in an Elite Infiltration group.
character stats
Name: Nicolas “Alexander” Colt, Jr. Male Human Occupation: Military (Hide, Move Silently) Class and Level: 3 Military Base / 1 Bounty Hunter / 1 Infiltrator
Feats: Occupation: Armor Proficiency (Light) Military Free: Point Blank Shot Lv 1: Advanced Firearms Proficiency Lv 1: Burst Fire Military Lv 2: Precise Shot Lv 3: Armor Proficiency (Medium)
Talents Military Lv 1: Combat Sense Military Lv 3: Personal Superiority Infiltrator Lv1: Evasion Bounty Hunter Lv1: Hide in Plain Sight
Equipment:
assault railgun with a pop-out mono-edge bayonet
a railpistol sidearm
specialist weapon: This setting's replacement for an SMG
5 mono-edge flechette grenades
Mono-edge longknife (can be fixed as a heavier bayonet)
Modular body armor (medium)
2 disposable X-ray laser anti-armor projectors
Last edited by Alexandros; 10th September 2008 at 06:00 AM..
Are you still going with your sniper concept? Or are you falling into something closer to mine? (Doesn't matter to me, I just wanna know how to set up my character). Thanks.
I was talking about a 3rd player who wanted sniper (he may not even be playing). Multiple people who can infiltrate is good. I don't see you having a somewhat similar focus causing problems.
Everyone:
All soldiers in the 96th (standard kit changes rather a lot from OU to OU)are issued (at least):
assault railgun with a pop-out mono-edge bayonet
a railpistol sidearm
an apropriate specialist weapon or underbarrel grenade launcher
5 mono-edge flechette grenades
Mono-edge longknife (can be fixed as a heavier bayonet)
Modular body armor (light or medium) or assault body armor (heavy)
2 disposable X-ray laser anti-armor projectors
Alexandros:
There are 12 major speciess in the Coalition (species with hundreds of thousands to millions of worlds) and many other minor species that control far smaller territories. Only humans are playable. It's logistically and culturaly chalenging to have a mixed-species unit. They are rare. I don't believe in rubber mask aliens--each species, while almost all bipedal, are very different in appearance and personality. You will hower have plenty of opportunity to meet other member-species.
Concept seems generally sound. Someone who took an interest in breaking and entering would have to have a fair ammount of technical skill to get into electronically locked buildings. This is by no means out of your reach as a character. I'd lose any 2 of pilot, jump, tumble (not great in a firefight, really, but of the four, your best choice to keep) and drive for computer use and disable device personally. Hide and move silently may also be useful.
Another very minor nitpick is that the 96th is a militia unit. It's only the Coalition's when they ask for it. Otherwise it's part of the Amber sector's defence force.
As crunch goes, there are a few things:
Armor: It's issued along with everything else, and doesn't provide a bonus to AC
Military occupation feat: You don't need simple weapons proficiency (see house rules on proficiency), I'd sugest picking up annother armor proficiency feat. You'll need it, and the ACP is lower then the medium armor in the d20 modern hanbook.
Otherwise I see no problems.
OnlytheStrong:
Note the above post on Terran punishment. Murder usually gets you shipped off to the fringe colonies. Prison isn't efficient given the scale of things.
Annother note, Christianity (or any other modern day relegion) does not exist in the Coalition. The collective beleif of a very large number of people creates ripples in higher and lower dimensions, producing many different gods. These gods can theoretically intervene in mortal affairs and may bless dovout worshipers or even mortals they have taken a liking to. Relegion is very much like Shinto as far as gods (and number of gods) go. Propper observance of ritual and respecting the gods is important to most Terrans. (For your and everyone else's benifit, a Terran would probably curse with the name of the god they worship most often or simply say gods!.
Also note that given the Coalition's advanced medical technology, a mother dying in childbirth is almost unheard of, though not inconcievable. People would find it very surprising if they knew.
Otherwise, no problems.
Last edited by This One; 10th September 2008 at 12:24 AM..
I changed my "story" post to make his mother's death slighly more vague I figured a person would assume that she was killed herself, without having to actually go into detail about it. Hope that works..... I changed the other parts btw (put "gods" instead of "Christ", and fringe colony instead of prison).
Removed some stats to make room for respectable disable device and computer use. Changed simple weapons proficiency to Medium Armor Prof. as per your suggestion. Updated weapons but did not include any stats on them. Fixed Coalition/Amber milita discrepency in bio.
I'm a little confused on armor. Is AC now basically a measure of whether or not a bullet hits somewhere on you? And if so, does armor act as damage reduction of some kind, or does some percentage of bullets hit your armor instead of you depending on how good of armor it is? I know you can call a shot to specifically hit an unarmored area (if you take the corresponding negative modifier on to hit) but how does it work if you don't aim for an unarmored area?
Is there anything else I should work on in the near future?
Only the Strong:
I had thought about playing a sniper in my first post, but This One said that another player that might play was already being a sniper. Hence, I suggested I switch to being someone who specializes in infiltrating hostile areas with hiding, jumping, climbing, etc.
It looks like our party might end up being more of a stealthy party than a brawny party, so I don't mind doubling up in some areas if you don't. If we're trying to stay as stealthy soldier type classes, we're basically restricted to military, bounty hunter, infiltrator, and marksman -- so it would be hard not to be similar in at least a few areas.
When you think about it, in a military squad it would sort of make sense if two or more people did similar things -- that way we won't ahve to go in alone without support.
Let me know if you have any problems though and we can work something out.
OnlytheStrong:
Just to make a minor nuisance of myself , your weapon would probably be a carbine--or PDW if it was on the smaller end. SMG technically refers to guns chambered for pistol amunition and the term probably would've fallen out of use along with chemically propelled firearms as it no longer applied.
Alexandros:
Armor provides a fair ammount of hardness (albiet reduced somewhat by AP). In general, just firing at the target's armor won't do nearly as much damage because it is reduced by the armor (though a target is, of course, easier to hit).
Armor also has inserts and plates which provide bonus wound points. Then there are personal shields. In general, being easier to hit is balanced out by reduced damage output and the bonus VP provided by a shield and the bonus WP provided by armor (unless you call a shot to ignore hardness, which is equivilant to a normal hit beating a target's AC in terms of damage). If everyone is well equiped things balance. Unarmored civilians not so much. The system is more involved, but it also scales better than the normal armor as DR rules, which fall to pieces somewhere between 5th and 8th level in my experience.
Last edited by This One; 10th September 2008 at 02:00 AM..
Nope, I'm fine with overlap. I don't mind having a partner. I am working the stats up now, so hopefully you can look at him soon. So far he's Fast 3/BH 2 with Military as his vocation.
This One:
lol I'm fine with all the little details. I think it makes a person closer to their character.
Talents:[list][*]Evasion (fast 1)[*]Uncanny Dodge (fast 3) [*]Hide in Plain Sight (BH 1) [*]Uncanny Stealth (BH 2) (can move at full speed with no penalty)
Equipment:
assault railgun with a pop-out mono-edge bayonet
a railpistol sidearm
an apropriate specialist weapon or underbarrel grenade launcher
5 mono-edge flechette grenades
Mono-edge longknife (can be fixed as a heavier bayonet)
Modular body armor (light or medium) or assault body armor (heavy)
2 disposable X-ray laser anti-armor projectors
Last edited by OnlytheStrong; 10th September 2008 at 03:53 PM..
I hate messing up.
