D&D 5E Fifth Age: A hard science fiction 5e conversion

[Capn Charlie]

So something about current ship combat, I'm assuming a weapons check that's described would be say computer use + proficiency or +/- the crew modifier from the ship, as would the counter roll be navigation + proficiency or +/- the crew modifier from the ship?

The ship, very vaguely, is like a character with ability scores (hence each system getting a system bonus). The crew provides the proficiency.

Crew quality is for when NPCs are doing stuff, when a pc is doing stuff use their proficiency bonus if they are proficient, plus the system bonus.

A normal attack would be resolved as ship weapons system bonus plus user proficiency opposing target engines bonus plus pilot proficiency.

Note that each ship module requires a user and an action. This means that if a ship has 4 different weapons (say, a pair of heavy laser batteries and a pair of missile racks) it requires 4 characters to fire them In a single round. If it also has dedicated comp stations to grant some weapons advantage, you need someone to man those as well. And someone with space vehicle proficiency to be flying the ship.

In theory this means that PC's with their good proficiency bonuses can only be so many places at once (twice as many for savvy engineers) and npc crew will round out the rest at varying costs to hire them. This means that particularly competent npc crew members acquired at lower salaries through narrative means (story awards) are ti be prized by players.

 

[Capn Charlie]

Also I get the feeling you were going for something akin to a 1 for 1 between the 6 ship systems and the 6 attributes, would a good simplifier be to treat a ship as a plAyer with each system using said stats? Say for npcs.

Straight up, yes. While I always intended for the players ships to be very fiddly and customizable my npc ships had stat blocks the size of a mid complexity monster from the MM.

A ship is destroyed when it hits zero hull HP, this is why all attacks against different systems with no remaining HP bleed over to the hull.

I would list HP total per system, pilot check bonus and or armor for defense, weapons and their damage and attack bonus, and any special modules. (ECM is particularly bothersome to murder minded PC s.)

The space combat rules fell by the wayside when I got very little feedback on them so I just kept using the version you see here plus what's in my head at the table and didn't write too much more on them.

I can try to clarify them for you though, and it is my intention to get back and finish them.

Right now I am stalled on the whole project just getting hammered with work and health issues at the same time. I should be turning a corner on it and getting back to this soon.

 

[MostlyDm]

Always a treat to see updates here.

Hands down the best sci fi D&D supplement I've ever seen, for any edition.

 

[unnatural 20]

I hope your health improves, Capn. I really enjoy your work.

 

[Skip87]

Sad to hear about the stress and health, I'll start with a big thanks for making this book for us lazy plebs to use as a base!
Just letting you know I plan on running this in a fairly loose adventure soon and have had a few ideas to balance things in my eyes.
I've started with races but will be looking at everything in more detail in due time, and will update with playtesting.

A few quick things I see are the security model synthetic, it has half the attributes of the other subtypes and gets one specific skill prof compared to the tech model that gets 2 of their choice.
I do understand the want to restrict DEX, so my fix would be to add either Advanced Combat Upgrade v7.4b giving the synth the Lock and Load and Martial Artist feats or a Suppression of Hostiles Integrated Targeting System (bad joke acronym...) granting the security synth the Suppressing Fire feat and free Special Sighting modification on all ranged weapons, or the Sharpshooting feat instead of Special Sighting.
Chances are the Lock and Load feat will go to waste on a security bot Soldier anyway much like 5e's mountain dwarfs free med armour etc.

Also the Tiels Rough and Ready is far inferior to the other alien races extra abilities, especially the Daht in comparison. I would either increase it to minimum 16 AC and ignore the first 2 points of damage from each hit (This does not stack with any other DR) or something else like regeneration 1/minute.

I'd probably also add in a 30ft Tremorsense to the Stoph and make their movement speed 20ft to balance them all out.

I look forward to putting your hard work to use and i'll update with any other tweaks I make to see if you find them realistic and/or usable for your book or anyone else

Cheers again for making this.
Skip

 

[rabies66]

I also want to chime in with thanks for this conversion. I'm getting ready to begin a campaign that will evolve into sci-fi, and these rules were just what I needed to pull it off. Very impressive work, and I can't wait to share them with my group during the big reveal. Just outstanding work!

Thanks again, and best wishes on your personal situation. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Cheers,
Ray

 

[Capn Charlie]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9weYkvEU386a1ZoS2xFelBuQWc/view?usp=drivesdk

New update for the core document, some race tweaks and rebalancing a few minor fixes and a whole new class, the civilian.

 

[David Norris-King]

Hey there, only recently found this and I love it. I'd like the more complex rules for Spaceships in the Corebook along with the Hazard Handbook, but that's just me.

Only thing I'm confused by is the lack of Stun Batons in the weapon list. Looked everywhere and I couldn't find it.

 

[Capn Charlie]

Hey there, only recently found this and I love it. I'd like the more complex rules for Spaceships in the Corebook along with the Hazard Handbook, but that's just me.

Only thing I'm confused by is the lack of Stun Batons in the weapon list. Looked everywhere and I couldn't find it.

I will eventually wrap the extended spaceship rules into the core book, and I might do it with the hazard handbook as well, I've had some people complain about me keeping multiple books for this, preferring one bigger one.

Good catch on stun batons, I need to force them in there somewhere.

This will probably be the last big addition to the core book for a little while, its in a really good place. Probably the biggest thing on my plate is formatting. I might switch over to a 10 point font in two columns like the 5e books. I kinda liked my spread out version, but I get a lot of negative comments on it.

 

[David Norris-King]

I hate the two column format, so I'm a bit disappointed by that, but oh well. I reckon if you have other things to do or that you'd prefer to do, do them first.

One thing I was wondering was what other archetypes you were planning for the civilian. I'm not a 100% on the Fortunate One (fate/luck mechanics in a hard-ish Sci Fi game feel off to me) but overall I love the concept behind the class.

Mechanically Fortunate One seems fine, but the 7th level ability Nine Lives feels wrong, since it's this bizarre narrative mechanic in a game that otherwise seems very grounded. This is coming from someone who's preferred system is the Vortex system, which is built around a heavy narrative mechanic.

Reroll mechanics bother me less, since I could interpret a lucky person as being instead incredibly savvy, but still, a bit of an odd fit.

The 10th level ability seems... powerful. Possibly too powerful.

Edit: One way I could see this working for me would be as more of a Survivor Archetype, kind of like early Ellen Ripley, or Sarah Connor, with less nebulous and vague descriptions on the abilities. I know Sarah isn't a futuristic character, but still. Instincts instead of luck.