D20 Future: Heir Occupation too good?

[fireinthedust]

The whole point of taking 20 on a wealth check is to represent doing paperwork and taking time to arrange financing.

Buying a new car would be Taking 20 on a wealth check for most people, because they would have to take time to set up the financing, make some calls, get credit approval for a loan, and still manage to have enough money on-hand to cover the down payment. Also, don't forget that any wealth check is supposed to take 1 hour per point of the DC, so it takes 30 hours to make a DC 30 purchase. That means you can't just whip out your charge card and do it (taking 10 gets you DC 20, equivalent to $2000), you have to spend time making arrangements, which will take more than a day (even working 12 hours a day on arranging the financing, which is pushing it for how long businesses are usually open, it will take into the third day of work on the issue).

For taking 20 with that minimum Wealth bonus of 10, what is that equal? According to the core rules, a Purchase DC of 30 is supposed to be equivalent to $35,000 (in presumably 2002 dollars).

Think of a rich trust fund brat who won't ever really run out of money because his father is a billionaire, he might not have billions to spend on his own and has to live on an allowance, but it's a big allowance, because somebody backs him financially and won't let him end up poor, even if it doesn't mean he gets blank checks.

Realistically this could save a game, even a d20 future game. You'd need to spend time to do it, and while it would be great during downtime, it's not helpful during the actual adventure session: you can't just pull out $35000 and bribe someone, you'd have to make arrangements.


I think I'd allow the Heir. it would be such a pain for them to use their money, and I'd only allow it when they're in contact with the economy they're wealthy in: if they leave Earth and go to, like, Hoth it's not like they'll be able to go to the nearest WalMart and pick up a helicopter.

What book is it in? I can't find it in mine. EDIT: occupation! was looking in Advanced classes.

Yeah, they're okay. Wreck their reputation and the bonus is gone. Missions to save that money, yeah. have them fund the party's trip to Alpha Centauri, yeppers. Use it, don't just let it sit there. And don't allow it for no reason: they're part of the family that funds adventurers, or what have you.

 

[Ymdar]

I think its only an issue at level1, when a character (especially with unlimited cyberware rules) can cyber up himself and be vastly powerful compared to average characters. After level 1 when other PCs can also acquire wealth, its not such a big problem.
This said I never allowed heir.

 

[Wik]

The few times I read d20 modern, I used replacements for the wealth system, because I hated it.

I either converted everything back to cash (it isn't as much of a headache as the game made it out to be), or in my post-apoc d20 modern/future games (of which there were many) I used the barter system/trade units from d20 Apocalypse.

 

[hemera]

also: always wanted to play in a d20 future game. No one wants to play it but me. I have so many books for that, too, and I'm awfully nice. Crying shame, and I'm certain you empathize.



also: tried to pbp one, but only got two players. One of them literally gave himself the entire equipment list plus all the hi-tech gear ever. Phone book level equipment sheet. Why would he think he could start with *everything*? Do I see that in a d&D game? Oy!

I'm in the same boat. Always wanted to try d20 future, but never could. And awesome equipment there. Did he carry all that stuff with him? I'd love to see that.

 

[fireinthedust]

I was thinking about that.

I think he was that techno race in the Stardrive setting, and he had loads of gadgets, but I'm not 100%. He just wrote everything down. Maybe it was cybernetics, maybe he had a ship, or it was all shrunken with the gadgets thing. No costs, or explaination of money.

That game had been a space opera.

Later I tried to run a Cowboy setting, with the ruins of ancient cities filled with zombies, and cyborgs, aliens, mutants and mages running about. I don't remember if I'd ported over the d20 World of Darkness rules or not. I had been tweeking the SW sage edition rules for a Rifts game around the same time, not sure if this was related. I had a GM NPC smart hero for d20 modern using the Healer template (so fast healing, but he was a pacifist super genius). Everyone else just shot guns and then demanded I start my 4e game back up. Guh.

 

[Raptorman3]

D20 Future offers a new occupation, the heir. At the end there is a clause that states: "As long as her Reputation bonus is +1 heir’s wealth bonus can never drop below 10." That means that an heir can take 20 on their wealth checks and ALWAYS get an item of wealth DC 30 or below! AND their wealth bonus does not go down (if it was equal to 10, if it wasnt then it only goes down to 10)!! Many GOOD items are DC 30 and lower. Am I not reading this right?


here is the full text of the occupation:
HEIR
Heirs are the elite sons and daughters of powerful magnates, influential
nobles, and imperial monarchs. Unlike dilettantes, however,
they are bound by their lineage to certain responsibilities, with the
assumption that they might someday rise to lead their families into
the future . . . assuming the stars are properly aligned and they do
nothing to jeopardize their birthright.
Prerequisite: Age 21+.
Skills: Choose two of the following skills as permanent class
skills. If a skill you select is already a class skill, you gain a +1
competence bonus on checks using that skill.
Craft (visual art or writing) (Int), Knowledge (art, business, civics,
current events, or history) (Int), Perform (act, dance, keyboards, percussion
instruments, sing, stringed instruments, or wind instruments)
(Cha), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).
Pre-Selected Feat: An heir must choose the Educated feat as
one of her starting feats at 1st level.
Reputation Bonus Increase: +1.
Wealth Bonus Increase: +6. An heir may permanently reduce
her Reputation bonus by 1 to increase her starting wealth bonus by
an additional +1d6; this expenditure must be made before the character
begins play. As long as her Reputation bonus is +1 or higher, an
heir’s wealth bonus can never drop below 10.

Remember that any wealth check takes 1 hour for each point of wealth it costs, with the exception of common everyday items. this is included to balance the seemingly limitless buying power of wealth. Then there is the PCs carrying capacity. All really good equipment is very heavy, and explosive weights are per explosive.

 

[Raptorman3]

The whole point of taking 20 on a wealth check is to represent doing paperwork and taking time to arrange financing.

Buying a new car would be Taking 20 on a wealth check for most people, because they would have to take time to set up the financing, make some calls, get credit approval for a loan, and still manage to have enough money on-hand to cover the down payment. Also, don't forget that any wealth check is supposed to take 1 hour per point of the DC, so it takes 30 hours to make a DC 30 purchase. That means you can't just whip out your charge card and do it (taking 10 gets you DC 20, equivalent to $2000), you have to spend time making arrangements, which will take more than a day (even working 12 hours a day on arranging the financing, which is pushing it for how long businesses are usually open, it will take into the third day of work on the issue).

For taking 20 with that minimum Wealth bonus of 10, what is that equal? According to the core rules, a Purchase DC of 30 is supposed to be equivalent to $35,000 (in presumably 2002 dollars).

Think of a rich trust fund brat who won't ever really run out of money because his father is a billionaire, he might not have billions to spend on his own and has to live on an allowance, but it's a big allowance, because somebody backs him financially and won't let him end up poor, even if it doesn't mean he gets blank checks.

Also, taking 20 means that the task takes 20 times as long as it should. A DC 30 wealth check while taking 20 would take 600 hours (24 full days, if the PC doesn't sleep). A DC 20 wealth check while taking 10 would take 200 hours. This would mean that the PC couldn't adventure for at least 1 and a half to 2 months.