Beyond Monks Qs

JoeGKushner

Adventurer
Didn't want to hog up the Gen Con release but had some questions on this product.

1. Outside of art and I imagine layout, what else will be changing?

2. Will there be notes on using this in the d20 Modern system?

The answer to question 1 will prompt other questions of course! :D
 

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JoeGKushner said:
Didn't want to hog up the Gen Con release but had some questions on this product.

1. Outside of art and I imagine layout, what else will be changing?

2. Will there be notes on using this in the d20 Modern system?

The answer to question 1 will prompt other questions of course! :D

There will be a press release soon, but since Joseph Goodman "spilled the beans" I guess I can finally answer these. :)

1. Here's a summary of changes:

-The book has expanded from 64 to 96 pages.
-It will be fully compatible with the 3.5 revision.
- As you mentioned, it is fully illustrated and the layout has changed a bit. Some things haven't changed; the prestige classes still begin on their own pages, and the chapters are organized the same.
- Everything has been playtested and copyedited more, and tightened up overall.
-The martial artist class has been tweaked: The list of bonus feats no longer includes ki feats, and there are no longer any supernatural martial secrets. It has a few more martial secrets to replace the ones it lost, however. Some martial secrets are more powerful than they used to be, and we feel like they are more balanced now.
- There are 2 new prestige classes, the Perfect Weapon who disdains the use of weapons (he is one...), and the Serpent Underfoot, a small-sized character who has taken a religious vow to fight the large folk.
- The Ki Blaster has been renamed to "Ki Adept" and is now a 10 level class. The Storm Lord has been renamed to Storm Seeker.
- Several prestige classes have been tweaked for balance or clarity. The Psynergist uses + 1 manifester levels rather than getting additional power points, etc.
- Every prestige class has art, and a complete sample NPC, similiar in format to Call of Duty.
- There are more feats, and some feats have been modified. A couple have been removed to make room for more interesting feats. Don't worry, you won't miss those. :) I count 102 feats, not counting the 21 Style Mastery feats. There were 81 feats in the PDF, and 16 Style Mastery feats. There are also some guidelines on converting some of the martial secrets to feats, for even more.
- There is a new type of feat, the Stance feat, that you can use to assume a "fighting posture" that has both benefits and drawbacks.
- There is a small section on Training for Feats that can help you add the element of training to your campaign.
- There is a new section that offers tactical advice on creating and playing monk characters.
- The drinking rules from the Drinking and Fighting section have been replaced with the drinking rules from Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns' drinking rules, with permission from Natural 20 Press. Built on top of these rules is a bonus prestige class, our version of the Drunken Master.
- There is a new race that favors the monk class.
- Some of the magic items have been tweaked, and we may remove a couple and replace them. This is the only content we are still working on.
- Added a d20 Modern appendix In it we added two new advanced classes, the Nimble Fighter and the Warrior Philosopher. They are like the Martial Artist advanced class, but are based on Fast and Dedicated Heroes, rather than Strong Heroes. We also added a couple of new feats, and a variant non-lethal combat system.

2. We have not included notes on using the various options with d20 Modern; I might see if I can squeeze that in - thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps I can mark various parts as "d20 Modern ready". Some parts are clearly not compatible, like the prestige classes, though they could be converted. I may do that and post them on the website after I see some official d20 Modern prestige classes.

Most of the above is pretty firm, but we're still copyediting and making it 3.5 compatible.

And as Joseph Goodman mentioned on the other thread, we're going figure out how to provide an upgrade option to those who purchased the PDF on RPGNow, so stay tuned for details.
 
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If I may be so bold...

I'd love to see this book kicked up to 112 pages or even 128. To encompass that, how about...

1. D20 Modern bits more liberally sprinkled through the text. (Perhaps even being so insane as to have some Spycraft adaptation notes... probably too late for that though.)

2. Using the material: I mean providing some ideas on how to use this material in the upcoming Goodma Game's campaign setting, and if possible, Freeport and Bluffside, as they've both been relatively open and encouraging of use of their IP.

3. Something like a Vs. chapter where it discusses good strategies on fighting such characters who specialize in martial arts.

4. Perhaps not possible, but I enjoyed the Legendary Forms from Quintessential Monk and would enjoy seeing more.
 

The content is pretty firm, and it's too late to make sweeping changes or even addtions. Otherwise, I wouldn't be announcing the contents yet. :) The only thing we have time for now is more copyediting and tweaks to finish making it 3.5 compatible. Since the PDF was successful, the focus was on improving the PDF content and adding more of the same.

However, there's always the possibility of a sequel down the road, so I'm interested in all suggestions.
 
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Well the Vs. thing came to me when I was thinking about Goodman's other products, the Complete Guide, which got me to thinking of the Vs. section in the first few 3rd ed. Dragon magazines. It's always interesting to see how best to use and fight against a specific character type.

The using in idea came to me because I like stuff that's good to go and the more good to go it is, the easier it is to work into my campaign. I can't speak for everyone, but Bluffside and Freeport are perhaps some good examples of easy adaptation. Putting notes on using it in the Goodman campaing only makes sense as it makes the hardcover hitthe ground with some support already running.

One thing I don't like about d20 is how everything seems to work in a vacuum. For example, I mentioned Legendary Forms from Q. Monk. Haven't seen any other support for them, but I could've said Legendary Classes like those found in the various Path books. Those PrCs are great additions to the game and with few exceptions, haven't really been used by anyone else which is a shame.

Being a psionic nut, I'd love to see a section on multi-classing with psionic based characters in mind and some psionic based PrCs, but I'm pretty sure that's a minority of the population there.
 

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