Sigma said:
I'm getting burned out on D&D, but my gaming group doesn't want to learn a new rules set. Thus, I'm looking at buying and running a d20 modern game. But first, I could use some information. So, if anyone has a moment:
1. What are the main differences between d20 modern and the core rules?
A lot. D20 Modern is more flexible. The base classes are
much more flexible. This means you won't have to buy a new book whenever someone wants to play a non-magical character concept ... they are
all supported. Want to play a private detective who is good with the ladies and can bust heads? It's all in the rules. What classes did he take? There are about 18* different ways of building him.
* Number taken out of thin air. But it's high. It also means you can have thirteen private detectives in the room, with no two being alike (and I'm not just talking different feat choices here).
The classes do not spoon feed you armor and weapon proficiencies at 1st-level. You have to pay for them. This does mean you're not hosed if you don't wear armor, since it saved you a feat. However, armor feats are among the most powerful in the game. Pretty much any "adventurer" can wear light armor easily enough, if they spend the feat. Except Mages and Martial Artists, but that's to be expected.
Fortunately you get a feat for waking up, another one for having breakfast, another one in the shower, and one hits you in the head on the way out the door as you go to work. It's an exaggeration... slightly. Unlike in DnD, any character can easily have 10 feats by 10th-level. Of course you'll be spending them faster, though. (If you wanted to make a melee soldier, for instance, with a breastplate, shield, and sword, that's three feats minimum right there.) Modern characters aren't as powerful as DnD characters.
You get a bonus feat every other level. Advanced Classes give you a bonus feat every three levels.
You decide the feats you get, not WotC. (This means no ranger-style or samurai-style spoonfeeding!) Except for Simple Weapons Proficiency, since everyone gets that one
Beware... the base classes frequently have short skill lists, and BAB values are generally pretty low. 3/4 is considered a good BAB. The Martial Artist Advanced Class has a BAB value of +1 (and is the only AdC to have that), making it superior to a DnD monk!
Because the classes are so flexible, it can actually cause problems with character generation. Players shouldn't jump right into character generation feet-first, as this often results in uninteresting and/or weak characters. It can also cause a problem for you, as creating interesting NPCs (eg a spy) may take a long time. Ask on the D20 Modern board in this forum if you need help... making NPCs is a specialty of mine. Or ask at the WotC board. On the other hand, you'll save time because you won't be covering said generated NPCs with magic items.
Note that guards in D20 Modern aren't lame. In DnD, fighters don't get Spot as a class skill. In D20 Modern, the Tough class does. Furthermore, Law Enforcement (a natural occupation for guards) gives you Listen as a class skill, too
You get a class bonus to Defense. It stacks with armor, as Modern characters actually learn how to parry, dodge, and so forth rather than having magic items do the work for them. You do have to pay for armor feats, though. However, there's no good reason why a heavily armored soldier (or knight... it supports medieval roleplay) suddenly forgets how to parry or weave through someone's gunsights when he wears armor like in Spycraft, Unearthed Arcana or Wheel of Time.
If you are not proficient with armor you are wearing, it hurts. Unlike in DnD where a psion can wear heavy armor without proficiency, in D20 Modern you get a much smaller armor bonus. For instance, a non-proficient character wearing full plate gets +3 Defense, while a proficient character gets +8 Defense.
If you want shields, it takes work. Officially any character with medium armor proficiency is proficient with shields. IMO this is bad for game balance. Besides, if I want to play a light-armor wearing guy with a buckler (or unarmored, like an Aiel), that rule doesn't really fit. Make Shield Proficiency it's own feat. Problem solved ^^
You don't
have to wear armor, however. Some classes, especially the Fast class, Martial Artist AdC, Daredevil AdC and Infiltrator AdC get very good progressions. (The Fast is a little front-loaded. You should be warned now.)
You can actually play a light fighter or martial artist without being hosed and without getting a whole lot of baggage... and you'll still be able to hit things and even do damage. Look at the class talents first. Mmm... Melee Smash. Who needs a high Strength or "instinctive strike"?
You can play a martial artist without being a Martial Artist! This comes courtesy of the Combat Martial Arts feat (which blows Improved Unarmed Strike right out of the water), and when combined with Melee Smash means
anyone can be a decent martial artist.
The Smart and Charismatic classes let you be a leader
without using FX ... the only good "leader" class I've seen in DnD is the Dragonlance noble, which is, of course, not in the core ruleset. The Charismatic and Dedicated classes make great social characters, too, without baggage like spellsongs and sneak attack.
In DnD, the leader is just the highest level whatever, even if he doesn't have the appropriate skills for it.
The massive damage threshold is equal to Con, instead of 50 (Fort save DC 15). Failing the save against massive damage drops you to -1, instead of killing you. To stabilize, you need to roll a Fortitude save (DC 20). This will happen often, or at the very least players and NPCs will have to make Fortitude saves often. My campaign has reached 9th-level, and yet these players still run the risk of failing these saves. One player has a Fortitude save of +10, which means he still fails his save about 20% of the time if he doesn't spend action points.
Note that Treat Injury can heal 1d4 damage immediately, in addition to speeding up natural healing, and it's a good way to get a character back on his feet (even if it's just so he can run for cover). There are ways of boosting this healing, but each character can only take it once. Tough heroes often don't even need medical attention, although they'll still want to go for cover if they're doing stuff at -5 hp. You can even receive surgery (it heals 1d6 hp/receiving character level) but takes hours and causes fatigue. While you can't heal quickly in combat like you could in DnD, if someone in your party has the Surgery feat, the whole party can be healed up to full in a day or two.
The nonlethal damage system kind of sucks. Sorry, it's 90% great, not 100% great. The only good thing to come out of it (IMO) is the Knockout Punch feat, which I see used all the time on TV. Captain Kirk had it. So does Agent Mulder.
Occupations. If the base class system isn't the best part of D20 Modern, then this is it. Want one to three extra class skills and maybe another feat? Want to play a police officer with actual knowledge of the law? How about a light warrior from Japan who writes poetry? Take the right occupation, and it's yours. How about a Strong/Charismatic lifeguard who has taken first aid courses but has no Smart or Dedicated levels? Take one of four occupations with Treat Injury as a class skill and you're all set! In the core rules, you can only have one occupation. Choose wisely.
You can take an Advanced Class at 4th-level, rather than 6th-level. This can be good or bad. The only AdC that might be broken is, IMO, the Negotiator. Some of the others are quite weak (like the Personality), so be careful.
If you see a player going for Dedicated 3/Field Medic x or, worse, Strong 3/Martial Artist x (in other words, taking an Advanced Class as soon as possible), take a good look at their character. The base classes are really good. I would recommend any field medic take levels of Strong (and take Extreme Effort) or Tough (for recovering the wounded and healing under fire). One of my players, in a 3rd-level campaign, wanted to go straight for Field Medic. However, he forgot to look up the pre-requisites and realized he couldn't make it until he had taken 4 Dedicated levels. He stopped complaining, though, when he noticed the great feats the class would give him access to, like Archaic Weapons Proficiency (for the bayonet attached to his shotgun) and Far Shot... plus, it gave him the opportunity to play with Dedicated talents that didn't just involve healing. I would recommend any martial artist take Fast levels so they don't ... ummm... die. I've been a martial artist as a
player, so I speak with a little experience. And I would recommend anyone going Dedicated 3/Investigator x take some physical class levels, such as Tough or Fast (the latter lets you follow suspects around as it gives you Hide and Move Silently as class skills). It makes for a little variety and unpredictability, plus he'll be a bit more useful in a fight.
When it comes to action points, there's a rule that new GMs often miss. New players started above 1st-level get 5 AP + 1 AP per 2 levels. (If their last level was an Advanced Class, it's 6 AP + 1 AP/2 levels, and if their last level was a Prestige Class, it's 7 AP + 1 AP/2 levels. You might find a couple of AdCs or PrCs that seem to not follow this rule. Ignore that, and follow this rule.) NPCs just get 1 AP per 2 levels. This is fair, as they can dump all their APs into one combat, which the players can't.
If an NPC survives an encounter and comes back, just refill the APs and don't bother with accounting them. (This also makes sure you don't save APs.)
PS for some reason that is not obvious to me, taking a level of Fast for the Evasion talent is very popular. I don't know why, as the talent is nearly useless. Make sure you read up the rules on autofire (it's a pretty lame tactic) and let the players no that Evasion won't help them in such a situation. Also, don't toss grenades at them, as they're frequently unbalanced (eg too weak) and that'll prompt players to take that useless talent.
2. Does D20 modern have the same focus on character wealth as does D&D (i.e., is there a wealth chart and an expected level of equipment a character is supposed to possess)?
Hell no! You want to run, not play, right? Don't bother with the Wealth system for NPCs then. Just give 'em whatever gear fits. You're not going to end up with a situation where a 1st-level soldier can't afford the armor and rifle he's given by the government.
So long as you're not adding crazy stuff like mastercraft weapons and explosive bullets to your campaign, it's fine. For that matter, don't add magic items. Even if you use magic or other kinds of FX,
don't use magic items! If you must use magic items (eg a Mage with some kind of focus item) make it a feat. Charcters (PCs and NPCs) have to pay for their stuff.
There is a Wealth system. It's complicated, but less complicated than determining how much mortgage a character has to pay! You can learn it if you want, but since you're not playing you don't need to bother. Players of the same level can have different amounts of wealth and still be balanced - occupations and Profession ranks lead to more wealth. There's even a feat called Windfall if you want to play a wealthy character. It's not a great feat though, since $ doesn't do all that much for you
Wealthy characters won't break the campaign, as you can always tell them they can't buy a rocket launcher, a gun with a gas vent in the handle, or find any kind of mastercraft items in the black market. Be prepared to enforce a ban on mastercraft items. If the players want such an item, tell them to play a Techie.
Do NPCs have less Wealth than PCs? I would answer that question this way: who cares! Character power is based on level and classes, not gear. A 10th-level PC is actually worth his CR.
3. If I want to run a Shadowrun campaign using d20 modern rules, can I get by with just the core book and the SRD info for d20 Arcana and d20 Future? What is in the hard copy books that is not online?
You can do everything except run a balanced campaign like that.
There are three problems you will run into.
1) FX doesn't work like it does in Shadowrun.
2) FX is a great way to unbalance a campaign. The FX-using classes are blatantly more powerful than the other classes.
3) D20 Future isn't that well balanced. IMO you should make Cybertaker a pre-req for using
any cybergear that requires a slot (so the feat gives you 1 slot + 1/Con mod, then every extra feat gives you an extra slot). It's
not a bonus feat for any class, note, so no one is going to end up being cybered to the gills.
The bio-art (or whatever... the one that gives you glowing tattoos and a watch) shouldn't cost any slots. The fortified skeleton should cost four slots, not one. Either throw out subdermal armor or make it cost 1 slot per "rank" (eg heavy costs 3 cyberslots) and change the bonus to equipment rather than natural armor. I speak from experience on this one. And do your campaign a favor and don't introduce energy weapons or other overpowered stuff into your campaign... or at least make it take a feat!
D20 Future has a number of balance problems
XP rules aren't in the SRD. If you really don't want to use the book, use the XP chart in the DnD DMG. However, there's good stuff in the core book that you will want to use, like a number of pregenerated NPCs in the back.
4. How is advancement handled in d20 modern? Does it still use the CR system?
The same. The XP chart is a little smoother, though, but it's interchangeable. As I know what page the XP chart in the DMG is, but not in Modern, I frequently just open up the DMG and use it's chart.
