d20 Modern House Rules
- Thread starter Crothian
- Start date
RangerWickett
Legend
Not really a house rule as such, but I'm going to be using Four-Color to Fantasy's superhero as a new base class. Since I want characters to be able to use magic without having to study it, I'm letting magic powers be represented with the rules for superpowers, instead of forcing players to take an advanced class.
However, the class does give them more flexibility.
I'm also upping the DC to resist being knocked down from a taser to DC 25. Smaller creatures get a -4 penalty for each size category smaller than Medium, and larger creatures get a +4 for each size category larger.
I'm getting rid of the rule that purchasing anything with a buy DC of 15 or higher reduces your Wealth score. If you follow that rule, Bill Gates could only buy 20 Ford Pintos before he was as poor as you and me (but he could just as easily buy 10 lear jets).
However, the class does give them more flexibility.
I'm also upping the DC to resist being knocked down from a taser to DC 25. Smaller creatures get a -4 penalty for each size category smaller than Medium, and larger creatures get a +4 for each size category larger.
I'm getting rid of the rule that purchasing anything with a buy DC of 15 or higher reduces your Wealth score. If you follow that rule, Bill Gates could only buy 20 Ford Pintos before he was as poor as you and me (but he could just as easily buy 10 lear jets).
kreynolds
First Post
Crothian said:
First thing I'm doing is increasing the range increments of long-rifles, such as the .50 sniper rifle (which has an embarrasingly lame 150 ft. range increment).
I'll also be adding a whole slew of new equipment, as well as weapon/armor modifications for a bit of a hi-tech feel.
I'm also thinking about adding the Skill Focus feat back in, and have it grant a +3 bonus to any single skill. You'd be able to take it multiple times, but only once per skill. Not sure about this one though.
That's all I've got for now.
I know, officially, bupkus about rifles, but are you upping the range factor because the end range is way too low, or because you think that something 175 feet away should be no harder to hit than something 50 feet away? As I said, I don't have any gun knowledge in real life, but it seems like the d20 people were assuming that folks would get used to taking range penalties -- that the range penalty doesn't mean "farther than you're supposed to shoot" as much as "far enough that a bit of skill is required to make the shot." That's what a -2 means to me, anyway.
Get far shot to simulate training, and you get a higher range. Get a scope, and you get a higher range. And so forth.
Not disagreeing with you. It just seems like a lot of people have problems with ever taking a penalty on any roll -- as though it shouldn't be part of the core rules if you do everything "Right".
-Tacky, who, let's just reiterate, knows squat about guns.
Get far shot to simulate training, and you get a higher range. Get a scope, and you get a higher range. And so forth.
Not disagreeing with you. It just seems like a lot of people have problems with ever taking a penalty on any roll -- as though it shouldn't be part of the core rules if you do everything "Right".
-Tacky, who, let's just reiterate, knows squat about guns.
kreynolds
First Post
takyris said:
The end range is way too low. A scope and far shot help, but not nearly enough. Some weapons don't need that much of an adjustment, like the AK-47. I'd like to tweak that from 70 ft to 80 ft. I'd like to tweak the HK MP5 from 50 ft to 60 ft. The Barrett Light Fifty, however, is rediculously low at 150 ft. It should be at least 250 ft right out of the box, absolute minimum.
I know that d20 Modern is about in your face action, but with a range increment like 150 feet on a .50 cal, I might as well be running a fantasy game again, because there's just no logical justification for that limited of a range.
Bagpuss
Legend
Well lets start at the begining.
Strong Hero
Remove Handle Animal, if someone really wants it they can be a Vet or a Rural background.
Change the Ignore Hardness Talent path to be 2, 4, 6 not 1, 2, 3 oh hold on that's an eratta not a house rule.
Try to understand the reason for the arbitary progressions in BAB, Def, Reputation, skill points, etc. An maybe let some be traded.
For example why does a Strong hero get a +1/level BAB bonus when no other class does? Why are strong hero's have less reputation.
Discription of the Fast Hero implies they will be good with range weapons, a character with high Dex who wanted to be the best shot in the world probably be better going the Strong hero route as they will get a faster BAB and they wouldn't be able to by the limited firearms Feats for other sources, like occupation and normal feat alotments.
So much to fiddle with I might just as well not bother its too much work. I'll play it as it is and change stuff as much players and I decide it needs fixing.
Strong Hero
Remove Handle Animal, if someone really wants it they can be a Vet or a Rural background.
Change the Ignore Hardness Talent path to be 2, 4, 6 not 1, 2, 3 oh hold on that's an eratta not a house rule.
Try to understand the reason for the arbitary progressions in BAB, Def, Reputation, skill points, etc. An maybe let some be traded.
For example why does a Strong hero get a +1/level BAB bonus when no other class does? Why are strong hero's have less reputation.
Discription of the Fast Hero implies they will be good with range weapons, a character with high Dex who wanted to be the best shot in the world probably be better going the Strong hero route as they will get a faster BAB and they wouldn't be able to by the limited firearms Feats for other sources, like occupation and normal feat alotments.
So much to fiddle with I might just as well not bother its too much work. I'll play it as it is and change stuff as much players and I decide it needs fixing.
Well, the Strong Hero's base attack bonus is the best for the same reason that the Tough Hero has the best Hit Dice -- it's what he's good at. d20 has always gone along with the idea that Strength is the modifier for melee attacks. As a martial artist, I find that to be a bit silly, so I've mentally house-ruled Strength to mean coordination and ability to deliver fast, precise, hard movements. This also explains why a 35-pound halfling can have a 16 Strength and drive a short-sword through the average commoner without any trouble.
In d20 Athletics, Baseball players would use Dex to throw the ball and Str to swing the bat.
Therefore, in my mind, the Strong Hero is just fine with the best attack progression.
Most of the progressions made sense to me, at least in the sense of "These are the tradeoffs. If you want to overcome them, here's how you should multiclass." d20, unlike D&D, was designed with the thought that everyone would multiclass. I love the thought of what a Smart, Dedicated, Fast hero could do in combat.
In general, the non-physical heroes got better versions of just about everything -- saves, skills, etc. -- because they're toast in combat. And while we're going for roleplaying and thinking and such, there's still gonna be a ton of combat.
The only thing I don't love at the moment is that, from a brief look, the Dedicated hero looks to have kept some of the cleric's overpowered qualities. It'll be interesting to see if the residual flavor that always made clerics unpopular sticks with him now...
-Tacky
In d20 Athletics, Baseball players would use Dex to throw the ball and Str to swing the bat.
Therefore, in my mind, the Strong Hero is just fine with the best attack progression.
Most of the progressions made sense to me, at least in the sense of "These are the tradeoffs. If you want to overcome them, here's how you should multiclass." d20, unlike D&D, was designed with the thought that everyone would multiclass. I love the thought of what a Smart, Dedicated, Fast hero could do in combat.
In general, the non-physical heroes got better versions of just about everything -- saves, skills, etc. -- because they're toast in combat. And while we're going for roleplaying and thinking and such, there's still gonna be a ton of combat.
The only thing I don't love at the moment is that, from a brief look, the Dedicated hero looks to have kept some of the cleric's overpowered qualities. It'll be interesting to see if the residual flavor that always made clerics unpopular sticks with him now...
-Tacky
Trainz
Explorer
Another blurb from the d20M book, at page 142:
"Natural Healing
[...] If you undergo complete bed rest (doing nothing for an entire day), you recover two times your character level in hit points. A 5th-level hero recovers 7 hit points per day of bed rest. [...]"
A Dyslexic Hero wrote this one down ?
"Natural Healing
[...] If you undergo complete bed rest (doing nothing for an entire day), you recover two times your character level in hit points. A 5th-level hero recovers 7 hit points per day of bed rest. [...]"
A Dyslexic Hero wrote this one down ?
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
I plan to use the variant rule that sets massive damage threshold at 10 for all characters (instead of CON). It's not in the SRD that I could see, but it is in the book.
I plan to make armour give Hardness against attacks. Archaic armour only gives half protection against Ballistic weapons. The Strong Hero "Hardness reduction" talent is useful against this (and yes, I'll be making that talent tree a 2/4/6 reduction)
Cheers
I plan to make armour give Hardness against attacks. Archaic armour only gives half protection against Ballistic weapons. The Strong Hero "Hardness reduction" talent is useful against this (and yes, I'll be making that talent tree a 2/4/6 reduction)
Cheers
