D20 Modern or D20 Future?

[Dismas]

From the Unofficial D20 Modern FAQ on the Wizard's message boards...



I know that Acolytes and Mages are roughly equivalent to D&D Clerics and Wizards. Telepaths and Battle Minds seem to be analogs of their D&D psionic counterparts. Occultists do not get magic of their own, but can use and create Magical Items. I'm not certain what a Shadow Hunter is, though.

Shadow Hunters are (I think) slayers (see Shadow Chasers preview in poly).

Occultists can also cast spells from scrolls.

Battle Mage is, in parts, the same as Psychic Warrior
Telepath is more rounded.

All though there is only 55 Psi powers I've not seen any indication as to what thoses powers are. The Agents of Psi campaign has no magic it in it, only Psi.

What we know about Psi.

• Similar to rules is PsiHB, which means Power Points
• No Psi Attack / Defense Modes
• 55 Psi Powers
• Psi Powers has a governing stat
• To to be able to use a Psi power you need governing stat = 10 + Psi Power Level (as there are only 10 levels of Psi class expect max Psi Power level to be 5).

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed. Questions about Psi and Magic shoudl be making there way onto the FAQ this weekend.

 

[Pbartender]

Thanks, Rob.

From what I gather, Urban Arcana is nothing more than Modern D&D... A world where magic exists (and has always exsisted) along side advanced technology.

Shadow Chasers is a "Horror" setting along the lines of Call of Cthulu or Buffy the Vampire Slayer... There is no innate magic in the world, but magic and beastly creatures "leak" into the world through portals and rifts from other magical worlds.

Agents of PSI is all about psionics. Big brother, mind control and thought police... The Matrix or any of the Babylon 5 plots would probably fit in well.

Genetech was supposed to be a fourth setting... Countries that have bio-engineered super-soldiers to fight their wars. It included rules for Moreaus (half-human/half-animals) and Franks (mutated super-humans). The setting was axed due to space limitations in the rulebook. Moreaus were kept, but I'm not certain about Franks.

Frankly, (pun!) demi-human races like elves, dwarves, bugbears, trolls, doppelgangers and tritons could easily stand in for the Franks.

~~~

As for the original question... It doesn't really make a difference to me.

I'd like to play Modern, Near Future and Far Future settings. It's easy enough to add laser guns, force fields and hover vehicles to a Modern setting, and it's just as easy to leave them out of a Future rule-set. Either way, I can get what I want.

Besides, once D20 Modern goes OGL, I'd suspect you'll see a few sourcbooks for alternate settings.

 

[Voneth]

I'll say it again. One attribute in d20 Modern. Trust me on this.

From Charles Ryan, a developer of d20 Modern, on the Wizards d20 Modern fourm. Dated Oct. 4th

"The system is, as you say, akin to the Psionic Handbook. A psionic character who wants to be good at everything has to be concerned about all six ability scores. The assumption, or course, is that not all psionic characters are equally as good at all psionic powers."

Trust me on this. You need to do some some more research before you make assumptions. Especially since it seems that you weren't active in said disscussion on that fourm.

I think you might be confused since there is only one psion class in d20 Modern and hence they probably only offered powers related to that class and the related attribute and thus there was no evidence of the missing attribute-linked powers.

 

[tsadkiel]

"The system is, as you say, akin to the Psionic Handbook. A psionic character who wants to be good at everything has to be concerned about all six ability scores. The assumption, or course, is that not all psionic characters are equally as good at all psionic powers."

Looks like I was wrong. Mea Culpa.

 

[Dismas]

I think you might be confused since there is only one psion class in d20 Modern and hence they probably only offered powers related to that class and the related attribute and thus there was no evidence of the missing attribute-linked powers.

There are two Psionic classes. Telepath & Battlemind, equivalent to Psion and Psyhic Warrior from the PsiHB

 

[Voneth]

One SF setting got kicked out and the other only has two relevant classes, the Battlesomethingorother and the Telepath.

Preaching to the Choir, Dismas.

It was tsadkiel that was confused. I wasn't going to argue the point until he decided to "correct" me personaly

Ranger REG
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Alrighty then, let's move on.

Yeah, I can tell the "psionic issue" wasn't a big concern for you with the amount of bored looks you were rudely giving to psionic posters on the WotC fourm. One emotioncon was enough to give us the message.

Funny, when something on fourm bores me, I don't even bother to post.

On that note, this was posted recently by the current Psi developer for WotC.

Wotc_Mark
posted October 11, 2002 03:54 PM
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There are a few shortcomings and thet alot have been addressed on these [WptC] boards. You will find that psions fit into groups that have a good mix already. They can't really replace the key party members such as Fighter, Cheric, Rogue, or Mage but they are a decent support character. I have one in my group and he's at least as effective as the bard if not slightly more so.

Soooooo, how are the classes in Agents of Psi supposed to be as effective as the "missing" Mage or "Cheric" class? LOL! I don't see many DND groups running around with just Bards.

 

[Ranger REG]

Yeah, I can tell the "psionic issue" wasn't a big concern for you with the amount of bored looks you were rudely giving to psionic posters on the WotC fourm. One emotioncon was enough to give us the message.

Funny, when something on fourm bores me, I don't even bother to post.

IIRC, that particular thread in the Wizards' d20 Modern forum that I participated in where a poster expressing his disgust that the d20 Modern core rules will follow the EXACT same format as the Psionic's Handbook, particularly the one he griped about, certain powers that grouped in a particular discipline that is tied to one particular ability. He pointed out the disadvantage that a psionic character class from PsiHB who must specialize in one discipline and focus on one ability, as opposed to a wizard character class that can learn any arcane spells from various schools of magic which all boils down to his Intelligence score.

While a Wizards would make every effort to increase his Intelligence score in order to cast more spells more effectively, a psionic character class must either specialize in one ability score or distribute score increase in order to be a generically effective psion.

Let me maket this clear. I like psionic rules and I will welcome d20 Modern version of psionic. But this is NOT a psionic-themed rulebook. It is simply a rulebook which allow gamers to play a modern-era setting with one or two unique elements, whether it is magic, psionics, genetics, or ultramodern tech.

That's all I have to say to you.

 

[Voneth]

Ranger REG:

If you like running a campaign where the stars of the show are all "support" characters, that's your call.

But it's also my call when I think that rules that are supposed to stand on their own, don't by their inherent design.

Which is why you probably going to buy the book, and I'll wait (as I have been for a looong time compared to those who perfer magic ) for something closer to what I need.

 

[Ranger REG]

What do you mean by "support characters"?

That they started off as basic low-powered classes like NPC classes in D&D and move on to become a PC by virtue of advanced classes and prestige classes?

Or the fact that magic and psionics powers are capped at 5th level for a modern-era setting?

 

[Voneth]

What do you mean by "support characters"?

As previously posted above.

On that note, this was posted recently by the current Psi developer for WotC.

quote:
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Wotc_Mark
posted October 11, 2002 03:54 PM
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There are a few shortcomings and thet alot have been addressed on these [WptC] boards. You will find that psions fit into groups that have a good mix already. They can't really replace the key party members such as Fighter, Cleric , Rogue, or Mage but they are a decent support character. I have one in my group and he's at least as effective as the bard if not slightly more so.

I realize you are talking about d20 Modern's basic and advanced class mix. But the mage advanced classes follow the same path, so no matter how you "basic" "advanced" or "prestige" the class, if the mages follow the same format, psions will still be support characters who do less damage and little healing. For a fantasy game, that is fine. For Agent's of Psi, that's weak. It is like saying you are running a game where all the spellcasters are Bard class only.