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<blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 831293" data-attributes="member: 2525"><p>A couple of recent rulings (sorry for not keeping up):</p><p></p><p>Q: The description on page 94 and techie description are extremely general on what mastercraft can actually effect.</p><p>Techie description says all weapons, armor and some other devices can be made mastercraft</p><p>The mastercraft description says a mastercraft object can provide a bonus to attack rolls (standard), damage, Defense, or some other characteristic that improves when the object is used.</p><p></p><p>So, what can this actually be used on? Can an object have more than one mastercraft bonus? For a +12 purchase DC can my 1911 have a +2 to hit, and to damage? Can my box of .45ACP rounds? My cleaver? Can I give my armor +2 to Defense, and -2 to it's check penalty?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: For starters (in response to some other posts on this thread), forget what you know about masterwork items. Mastercraft follows different rules than masterwork (which, in fact, is why they have different names).</p><p></p><p>As a very general rule, you can mastercraft pretty much any item that does or can provide a bonus on a roll or check, or which otherwise has a numeric value. So, yes, you can give a firearm a +1 on attacks or damage rolls. You can increase an armor's Defense. You can affect ammunition, or a cleaver.</p><p></p><p>A given item can only have a total bonus from mastercrafting of +3. You can apply this however you want. For example, if your 10th-level Techie mastercrafted his Barret Light Fifty, he could give it a +2 on attacks and +1 on damage. The total bonus can't exceed +3.</p><p></p><p>You can mastercraft multiple items for a combined effect. For example, you could mastercraft the rifle to give you +3 on attacks, and a box of ammo to give you +3 on damage.</p><p></p><p>That said, you can't stack bonuses directly. Bonuses from mastercrafting are circumstance bonuses. They don't stack with each other, although they do stack with circumstance bonuses arising out of different circumstances.</p><p></p><p>Thus, you could mastercraft a laser sight to give you an additional +3 on attacks (in addition to the existing +1 equipment bonus). This would apply to any weapon you attached the laser sight to--but it wouldn't stack with the weapon's bonus from mastercrafting, if any. A +3 sight attached to a +3 weapon would simply give you +3.</p><p></p><p>Mastercrafting can't give an item an ability it can't normally have. You can't mastercraft your eyeglasses to give you a bonus on attacks, because eyeglasses don't normally have a game effect on attack rolls. Likewise, a mastercrafted laser sight still won't work outdoors in daylight.</p><p></p><p>You can mastercraft ammunition. For these purposes, the quantity give on Table 4-5 counts as a single "object" for the purposes of the mastercrafting rules. In other words, if you set out to mastercraft a batch of 5.56 ammo and follow the rules on page 179 as if mastercrafting a single object, you end up with 20 mastercrafted bullets.</p><p></p><p>Whew! Hope that clears things up. If not, feel free to expand on your questions.</p><p></p><p>Q: In an earlier thread, when someone asked if the bonuses from the Charismatic talents charm and fast-talk stacked, you said no as they were both competence bonuses. Does that apply to all talent-based skill bonuses (Dedicated hero's empathy, aware and healing knack, Smart hero's savant, Negotiator's conceal motive, Field Medic's medical specialist, and Personality's unlimited access)?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: None of these bonuses are typed, which means they stack with other bonuses. However, very few of these abilities stack with other abilities, because they generally affect different skills. The only instances in which two of these abilities grant stacking bonuses are empathy and unlimited access (which both give bonuses to Bluff and Diplomacy--but only when trying to get into restricted events) and healing knack and medical specialist (which, when stacked, grant a maximum total bonus of +5 on Treat Injury checks).</p><p></p><p>A side note on unlimited access: This ability can only be used to get into semi-public events--parties, tours, the private room at the back of the restaurant, etc. In other words, places where members of the public (even if it's just a select few) are granted admission. You can't use it to get into places where no member of the public is ever admitted, like a secret military installation.</p><p></p><p></p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Q: How do the Daredevil abilities action boost and adrenaline rush interact?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: The Daredevil's action boost ability allows you to spend up to 2 action points in a round on the same action. (Sorry that the text isn't very clear on that0. Therefore, you can spend 2 action points to boost a single ability score with the adrenaline rush ability. When you reach 8th level, the action points you spend affect two ability scores.</p><p></p><p>In other words, a 5th-level Daredevil spends an action point to boost her Dexterity. She rolls 1d4+1 to see how much it's boosted. After seeing the result, she can elect to spend a second point to boost that same score by another 1d4+1. She cannot, however, spend the second point to boost a different ability score.</p><p></p><p>An 8th-level Daredevil who spends an action point could boost both Dexterity and Strength by 1d4+1, then spend a second point to add another 1d4+1 to the total boost. She could not, however, spend the second point to boost, say, Dex and Con.</p><p></p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Q: What class abilities count as mind-affecting? I'm thinking of the Charismatic talents captivate, dazzle, and taunt; the Smart trick talent; the Personality ability winning smile; and the Negotiator's talk down chain.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: All of the above class abilities, plus the Negotiator's sow distrust ability, are mind-affecting.</p><p></p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Q: If you take levels in Mage and buy ranks in Spellcraft, then take a Smart level, can you choose the Savant talent for Spellcraft?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: No. Savant can be applied only to the listed skills.</p><p></p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Q: The driving rules don't seem to include aerial maneuvers; they all require Drive checks. Are the Pilot DCs the same? Will air combat rules come out in Urban Arcana or a future supplement?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: We don't have complete air combat rules at this time. The vehicle combat system should work just fine for basic air movement (though you might think up a few additional manuevers). The Drive check DCs apply to Pilot checks when the vehicles in question are aircraft.</p><p></p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Q: This isn't a question exactly, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. It never made sense to me that you could read and write English, then learn to speak Spanish and not be able to read it.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: It's not a perfect system, that's true. To be completely realistic, languages would need a whole system to themselves at least as complicated as the skill system. We didn't think such a system would be worth--all the extra complication would not make the game any better or more fun.</p><p></p><p>So here's another way of looking at it: instead of spending 1 skill point to speak the language, and another 1 skill point to read and write it, imagine that instead it costs 2 skill points to speak, read, and write the language. That's essentially the same as the existing rules, just a bit more restrictive in how you spend your points. And it's a darn good deal compared to the cost of being competent at other skills.</p><p></p><p>Q: There are 2 sets of rulings from you on switching between the ranged use and melee use for a firearm, and I just wanted a confirmation/clarification. </p><p></p><p>Currently the ruling looks like you can always make an AOO with a firearm by using it as a melee weapon (provided the attack is a listed attack, like rifle butt, pistol whip, fixed bayonet, etc...), even if your last use was as a ranged weapon. However, for purposes of a disarm attempt, you go by whatever the last use of the weapon was (melee or ranged). Is this correct? </p><p></p><p>Here are the prior rulings:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A: The second and third questions both deal with what the gun-wielder has to do to switch modes between ranged and melee attacks. In both cases, the answer is "nothing." In effect, the gun wielder can use either mode of attack whenever he or she wants; changing modes is not an action.</p><p></p><p>The first question deals with how the gun-wielder's opponent addresses disarm attempts. The answer is that, unless you have a reason to do otherwise, treat the firearm as a ranged weapon.</p><p></p><p>I don't think there's a contradiction here, unless I'm missing something. If so, please let me know!</p><p></p><p>Q: The latest Bullet Points mentioned that you guys had a working Wounds/Vitality system that converted Undead/Constructs...</p><p></p><p>How did it do that? Did they just get 10 extra Vitality to make up for the missing con score?</p><p></p><p>A: The favored system (I say "favored" because it was never finalized) was the system described in the Polyhedron Shadow Chasers mini-game: creatures without Con scores simply have no wound points. In the case of undead, reducing them to 0 vitality only "killed" them temporarily; to permanently destroy them you had to get a critical hit with a special weapon (a stake in the case of vampires, for example) or, in some cases, destroy some sort of "focus."</p><p></p><p>Q: I can't seem to find a rule regarding double-barrel shotguns. If both barrels are fired at once, is the attack handled like a double-tap (one extra die of damage)?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: Effectively, yes.</p><p></p><p>If the shotgun is fully-loaded (there's a shell in both barrels), you can fire both at once. You receive a -2 penalty on the attack, but you deal +1 die of damage with a successful hit. Obviously, firing both barrels leaves the weapon empty; you have to reload to fire again.</p><p></p><p>Reloading a double-barrel shotgun, like reloading any firearm with an internal magazine, is a full-round action.</p><p></p><p>These rules apply to the sawed-off shotgun in the d20 Modern rulebook.</p><p></p><p>Q: Can a Bodyguard use the Harm's Way ability when he if flat-footed, If he started the combat adjacent to the ally that he is defending?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: Nope!</p><p></p><p>Q: The parabolic microphone and laser microphone both indicate that they are used by pointing them at the source of the sound to be heard. Does this pointing require the use of a touch attack roll?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: No touch attack is necessary. You must, however, have an unobstructed line of sight to the source of the sound. The distance penalties are reduced as described in the web enhancement, but any other penalties (such as "listener distracted," or those we've discussed for background noise) apply.</p><p></p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Q: Also, the laser microphone picks up sounds by measuring the vibrations on the glass. Does the sensitivity of this measurement require that both target and "shooter" be still (i.e., can this be used on a moving target and/or from a moving platform)?</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>A: Yes, both the listener and the target must be still. In other words, this piece of equipment can only be used by a stationary listener, and only be used on a stationary window (in other words, not a vehicle window). This should have been made clear in the web enhancement.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mistwell, post: 831293, member: 2525"] A couple of recent rulings (sorry for not keeping up): Q: The description on page 94 and techie description are extremely general on what mastercraft can actually effect. Techie description says all weapons, armor and some other devices can be made mastercraft The mastercraft description says a mastercraft object can provide a bonus to attack rolls (standard), damage, Defense, or some other characteristic that improves when the object is used. So, what can this actually be used on? Can an object have more than one mastercraft bonus? For a +12 purchase DC can my 1911 have a +2 to hit, and to damage? Can my box of .45ACP rounds? My cleaver? Can I give my armor +2 to Defense, and -2 to it's check penalty? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: For starters (in response to some other posts on this thread), forget what you know about masterwork items. Mastercraft follows different rules than masterwork (which, in fact, is why they have different names). As a very general rule, you can mastercraft pretty much any item that does or can provide a bonus on a roll or check, or which otherwise has a numeric value. So, yes, you can give a firearm a +1 on attacks or damage rolls. You can increase an armor's Defense. You can affect ammunition, or a cleaver. A given item can only have a total bonus from mastercrafting of +3. You can apply this however you want. For example, if your 10th-level Techie mastercrafted his Barret Light Fifty, he could give it a +2 on attacks and +1 on damage. The total bonus can't exceed +3. You can mastercraft multiple items for a combined effect. For example, you could mastercraft the rifle to give you +3 on attacks, and a box of ammo to give you +3 on damage. That said, you can't stack bonuses directly. Bonuses from mastercrafting are circumstance bonuses. They don't stack with each other, although they do stack with circumstance bonuses arising out of different circumstances. Thus, you could mastercraft a laser sight to give you an additional +3 on attacks (in addition to the existing +1 equipment bonus). This would apply to any weapon you attached the laser sight to--but it wouldn't stack with the weapon's bonus from mastercrafting, if any. A +3 sight attached to a +3 weapon would simply give you +3. Mastercrafting can't give an item an ability it can't normally have. You can't mastercraft your eyeglasses to give you a bonus on attacks, because eyeglasses don't normally have a game effect on attack rolls. Likewise, a mastercrafted laser sight still won't work outdoors in daylight. You can mastercraft ammunition. For these purposes, the quantity give on Table 4-5 counts as a single "object" for the purposes of the mastercrafting rules. In other words, if you set out to mastercraft a batch of 5.56 ammo and follow the rules on page 179 as if mastercrafting a single object, you end up with 20 mastercrafted bullets. Whew! Hope that clears things up. If not, feel free to expand on your questions. Q: In an earlier thread, when someone asked if the bonuses from the Charismatic talents charm and fast-talk stacked, you said no as they were both competence bonuses. Does that apply to all talent-based skill bonuses (Dedicated hero's empathy, aware and healing knack, Smart hero's savant, Negotiator's conceal motive, Field Medic's medical specialist, and Personality's unlimited access)? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: None of these bonuses are typed, which means they stack with other bonuses. However, very few of these abilities stack with other abilities, because they generally affect different skills. The only instances in which two of these abilities grant stacking bonuses are empathy and unlimited access (which both give bonuses to Bluff and Diplomacy--but only when trying to get into restricted events) and healing knack and medical specialist (which, when stacked, grant a maximum total bonus of +5 on Treat Injury checks). A side note on unlimited access: This ability can only be used to get into semi-public events--parties, tours, the private room at the back of the restaurant, etc. In other words, places where members of the public (even if it's just a select few) are granted admission. You can't use it to get into places where no member of the public is ever admitted, like a secret military installation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How do the Daredevil abilities action boost and adrenaline rush interact? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: The Daredevil's action boost ability allows you to spend up to 2 action points in a round on the same action. (Sorry that the text isn't very clear on that0. Therefore, you can spend 2 action points to boost a single ability score with the adrenaline rush ability. When you reach 8th level, the action points you spend affect two ability scores. In other words, a 5th-level Daredevil spends an action point to boost her Dexterity. She rolls 1d4+1 to see how much it's boosted. After seeing the result, she can elect to spend a second point to boost that same score by another 1d4+1. She cannot, however, spend the second point to boost a different ability score. An 8th-level Daredevil who spends an action point could boost both Dexterity and Strength by 1d4+1, then spend a second point to add another 1d4+1 to the total boost. She could not, however, spend the second point to boost, say, Dex and Con. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What class abilities count as mind-affecting? I'm thinking of the Charismatic talents captivate, dazzle, and taunt; the Smart trick talent; the Personality ability winning smile; and the Negotiator's talk down chain. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: All of the above class abilities, plus the Negotiator's sow distrust ability, are mind-affecting. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: If you take levels in Mage and buy ranks in Spellcraft, then take a Smart level, can you choose the Savant talent for Spellcraft? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: No. Savant can be applied only to the listed skills. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: The driving rules don't seem to include aerial maneuvers; they all require Drive checks. Are the Pilot DCs the same? Will air combat rules come out in Urban Arcana or a future supplement? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: We don't have complete air combat rules at this time. The vehicle combat system should work just fine for basic air movement (though you might think up a few additional manuevers). The Drive check DCs apply to Pilot checks when the vehicles in question are aircraft. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: This isn't a question exactly, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. It never made sense to me that you could read and write English, then learn to speak Spanish and not be able to read it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: It's not a perfect system, that's true. To be completely realistic, languages would need a whole system to themselves at least as complicated as the skill system. We didn't think such a system would be worth--all the extra complication would not make the game any better or more fun. So here's another way of looking at it: instead of spending 1 skill point to speak the language, and another 1 skill point to read and write it, imagine that instead it costs 2 skill points to speak, read, and write the language. That's essentially the same as the existing rules, just a bit more restrictive in how you spend your points. And it's a darn good deal compared to the cost of being competent at other skills. Q: There are 2 sets of rulings from you on switching between the ranged use and melee use for a firearm, and I just wanted a confirmation/clarification. Currently the ruling looks like you can always make an AOO with a firearm by using it as a melee weapon (provided the attack is a listed attack, like rifle butt, pistol whip, fixed bayonet, etc...), even if your last use was as a ranged weapon. However, for purposes of a disarm attempt, you go by whatever the last use of the weapon was (melee or ranged). Is this correct? Here are the prior rulings: A: The second and third questions both deal with what the gun-wielder has to do to switch modes between ranged and melee attacks. In both cases, the answer is "nothing." In effect, the gun wielder can use either mode of attack whenever he or she wants; changing modes is not an action. The first question deals with how the gun-wielder's opponent addresses disarm attempts. The answer is that, unless you have a reason to do otherwise, treat the firearm as a ranged weapon. I don't think there's a contradiction here, unless I'm missing something. If so, please let me know! Q: The latest Bullet Points mentioned that you guys had a working Wounds/Vitality system that converted Undead/Constructs... How did it do that? Did they just get 10 extra Vitality to make up for the missing con score? A: The favored system (I say "favored" because it was never finalized) was the system described in the Polyhedron Shadow Chasers mini-game: creatures without Con scores simply have no wound points. In the case of undead, reducing them to 0 vitality only "killed" them temporarily; to permanently destroy them you had to get a critical hit with a special weapon (a stake in the case of vampires, for example) or, in some cases, destroy some sort of "focus." Q: I can't seem to find a rule regarding double-barrel shotguns. If both barrels are fired at once, is the attack handled like a double-tap (one extra die of damage)? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: Effectively, yes. If the shotgun is fully-loaded (there's a shell in both barrels), you can fire both at once. You receive a -2 penalty on the attack, but you deal +1 die of damage with a successful hit. Obviously, firing both barrels leaves the weapon empty; you have to reload to fire again. Reloading a double-barrel shotgun, like reloading any firearm with an internal magazine, is a full-round action. These rules apply to the sawed-off shotgun in the d20 Modern rulebook. Q: Can a Bodyguard use the Harm's Way ability when he if flat-footed, If he started the combat adjacent to the ally that he is defending? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: Nope! Q: The parabolic microphone and laser microphone both indicate that they are used by pointing them at the source of the sound to be heard. Does this pointing require the use of a touch attack roll? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: No touch attack is necessary. You must, however, have an unobstructed line of sight to the source of the sound. The distance penalties are reduced as described in the web enhancement, but any other penalties (such as "listener distracted," or those we've discussed for background noise) apply. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Also, the laser microphone picks up sounds by measuring the vibrations on the glass. Does the sensitivity of this measurement require that both target and "shooter" be still (i.e., can this be used on a moving target and/or from a moving platform)? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: Yes, both the listener and the target must be still. In other words, this piece of equipment can only be used by a stationary listener, and only be used on a stationary window (in other words, not a vehicle window). This should have been made clear in the web enhancement. [/QUOTE]
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