d20 Modern House Rules

[Unseelie]

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.

I don't have the book in front of me, and I'm also pulling on memory, but IIRC, the standard .50 cal round has a flat line trajectory of close to a mile.

Now, I have no idea if that means that you could realistically hit a target at that range, even with absolutely everything working in your favor.

However, for comparison, I was capable of hitting 40 out of 40 targets roughly center of mass at ranges of 50 to 300 meters with iron sights on a stock M-16 when I was in basics. Just a point for comparison...

And yes, I am a good shot...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

You wouldn't have 6th level heros that could punch through iron and they would have trouble with stone. The best lethal damage they would have by then is d4+Str, so they would be hardly making a mark in iron except on their best roll.

Three levels of Improved Smash cuts the hardness of iron down from 10 to 4. Well within striking range of d4 + Str damage.

 

[kreynolds]

I don't have the book in front of me, and I'm also pulling on memory, but IIRC, the standard .50 cal round has a flat line trajectory of close to a mile.

Now, I have no idea if that means that you could realistically hit a target at that range, even with absolutely everything working in your favor.

That's what bothered me. As written, the .50 cal sniper rifle has a max range of 1500 feet. With a scope, it's max range is increased to 2,250 feet. With a scope and the Distant Shot feat, you're looking at a max range of 3,000 feet. There are 5,280 feet in a mile. Naturally, one would expect a sniper rifle to already be outfitted with a scope, but even with that extended range of 2,250 feet, you are still talking about a max range less than half a mile, at a -20 penalty to the shot. With both the scope and the feat, the rifle now has a max range just over half a mile, at a -20 penalty to the shot.

If you increase the base range increment to 180 feet, you end up with this...

1) With feat or scope - 270 foot range increment, max range 2,700 feet.
2) With feat and scope - 360 foot range increment, max range 3,600 feet.

If you increase the base range increment to 200 feet, you end up with this...

1) With feat or scope - 300 foot range increment, max range 3,000 feet.
2) With feat and scope - 400 foot range increment, max range 4,000 feet.

See what I mean? As written, it's way to low, and I favor the second set of ranges over the first.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

(please forgive me for advocating posting on other boards, but...)

k, have you thought about posting on the d20 Modern boards at wizards? i keep going back there to check and see what Charles Ryan is changing/errata-ing/etc. via the posts there...

for example, in this post:

http://boards.wizards.com/community-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=291;t=000791

he's said he'll change the range of canons bcause they seem a bit too short

"You're right; the range increments for armored vehicle weapons are way too low. They should be as follows:

BMP-2 30mm cannon: 300 ft.
M1A2 Abrams tank canon: 400 ft.
M2A2 Bradley 25mm canon: 350 ft.

Remember that range increment is not merely "the longest range I've ever heard rumors of this weapon being used at divided by 10." The actual formula is roughly 2/3 of maximum effective range divided by 10. This provides a base maximum range unaffected by feats or special equipment; the actual effective range is attained (or exceeded) by adding such elements as the Far Shot feat or special sighting devices."


[edit - i guess my point is that you could see some official changes if you brought it up to Mr Ryan directly]

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

For anyone who thinks that guns in D20 Modern should be super ultra lethal...

If two people can take that kind of damage and keep going in real life, then characters in a game (who are meant to be large than life heroes) should be able to as well. These shmoes would have been pretty tough for a group of PCs to kill.

I'm not saying what I think about the damage rules, as they are, one way or the other. I will say some of the ranges stink.

 

[Isawa Sideshow]

can you post that rule, Plane Sailing? i don't believe i've seen it

Finally found this one in the book, carefully tucked away in a dis-used lavatory in a cellar with a sign that said "Beware of the Leopard"...

*ahem*

Er, I mean, tucked away in a mini-sidebar (a corner box, really) on page 196 under "Reality Level". It's not listed in either the table of contents or the index, which is a pain.

 

[JPL]

Since I'm kicking around a tournament fighter setting (and I still hope the nice folks at Polyhedron will give us just such a game somewhere down the pike), I'm kicking around a way to create "signature moves."

If the hero does a specific sequence of actions (say, bull rush followed by a trip, or two power attacks in a row, or whatever)...something cool happens. In realistic campaigns, maybe it's along the lines of an automatic crit; in an all-out Street Fighter game, maybe it's the old Seven Celestial Dragons Kick with a side of fireball.

I understand that X-Crawl has a mechanic for this sort of thing...I might look into that.

 

[kreynolds]

Just did some more studying up on the Barett Light Fifty, and that sucker has a maximum effective range of about 1,800 yards. Well, that's about a 360 foot range increment. Much better.

 

[shadowlight]

The only thing I don't really like about d20 Modern is the D&D magic system. I'll be putting together something that's more skills & feats based ... probably patching together some Alternity / Dark Matter rules with D&D PsiHB...

 

[Plane Sailing]

Finally found this one in the book, carefully tucked away in a dis-used lavatory in a cellar with a sign that said "Beware of the Leopard"...

*ahem*

Er, I mean, tucked away in a mini-sidebar (a corner box, really) on page 196 under "Reality Level". It's not listed in either the table of contents or the index, which is a pain.

uh, well, Duh, we are talking about our own house rules, right? That is what this thread is about right?

(although I forgive you because of the HHGTHG quote)