D20 Future Q&A With Rodney "Moridin" Thompson and JD Wiker!!

[RodneyThompson]

Am I missing something, or does transporter technology just not markedly improve between PL 7 and PL 8?

That's a good question, and I'll have to get back to you with a longer answer. The short answer is that while 1,000 AU is the maximum range of the transporter at PL 7, 1,000 AU is a "high end" range in PL 8, meaning that it could be pushed harder and farther with some good technical skills (i.e. character skill checks). It's not made really clear in the text, but it's the difference between "this is the normal range" and "this is the maximum range.

 

[RodneyThompson]

I was also wondering if there would be any web enhancement giving us a system to build new ships from scratch and also easy rules to create planets ad clusters.

There may be one for planet generation, since I wrote a section on that that was cut from the book, but I can't say for certain. I do know that at least one web enhancement will be an entire, 16-page chapter that was cut from the book for space reasons that will make some cyberpunk fans really happy.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

that doesn't seem to be the case, since they both have identical ranges (1000 AU -- which is nowhere near far enough for interstellar distances).

Oh, I noticed from what you said; I think you did find an error there. (They both should not have the same numbers.)

 

[Dacileva]

Oh, I noticed from what you said; I think you did find an error there. (They both should not have the same numbers.)

Another possibility, from another Star*Drive geek: In Alternity/S*D, a mass transceiver only functions while within a gravity well, and only into the same gravity well. The drive transceiver would function even in deep space.

 

[The_Universe]

Another possibility, from another Star*Drive geek: In Alternity/S*D, a mass transceiver only functions while within a gravity well, and only into the same gravity well. The drive transceiver would function even in deep space.

Interesting. But isn't 1000 AU MUCH longer than the distance into and out of any gravity well? I could be wrong, but isn't a thousand AU 1000 x the distance between the sun and the earth?

Anyway, Moridin's answer is satisfactory for the moment, but if errata ever comes, you might want to alter that descritpion a bit.

 

[Buddha the DM]

There may be one for planet generation, since I wrote a section on that that was cut from the book, but I can't say for certain. I do know that at least one web enhancement will be an entire, 16-page chapter that was cut from the book for space reasons that will make some cyberpunk fans really happy.

Sweetness.

Question on Bioroid & Bioreplica characters. Can they pick extra languages if they have a sufficiently high enough Int score?

 

[RodneyThompson]

Sweetness.

Question on Bioroid & Bioreplica characters. Can they pick extra languages if they have a sufficiently high enough Int score?

Yes, they can.

 

[Buddha the DM]

Thanks for the answer.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

A couple of balance problems cropped up, mainly involving stuff to do at 1st-level.

The Heir occupation on p. 9

"As long as her Reputation Bonus is +1 or higher, an heir's wealth bonus can never drop below 10."

Now, admittedly the Wealth system is often misunderstood and misplayed, but this sounds like an Heir has a practically unlimited supply of money, can with enough time can buy anything with a Purchase DC of 30 or less, multiple times, by just taking 20 (realizing it will take about 30 hours) and the Wealth bonus not dropping below 10.

It seems broken and wide open for abuse, unless there is some errata, or this is being misinterpreted.

Are we misinterpreting this one?

I'm not sure if the environmental feats I heard about actually exist (ones that boost Strength or give energy resistance), but they seem a lot better than talents.

There are questions on two WotC threads: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=4151851#post4151851 plus http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=289059&perpage=30&pagenumber=1 and http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=289826

 

[trancejeremy]

I have a starship question - was a section on "cinematic" starship drives cut out of the book?

I ask because the fastest starship drives (until PL9, which is too high for most games) in the book seem to be the 25x speed of light one, which as the chart in the book points out, would make it take 2 months to go to the closest star system. Which would be too slow for anything but an "Aliens" style game.

I was hoping for something of a "jump drive", a la Traveller (1 to 6 parsecs a week) or something akin to the speeds in Star Trek or H. Beam Piper's universe - about a light year a day or hour. (I know there is a jump drive, but again, it's PL9 and not quite what I'm after)