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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arscott" data-source="post: 2727591" data-attributes="member: 17969">I wasn't defending the d20 modern FX rules.  I don't like the Vancian/Spells per day Magic system in D&D, let alone in a modern game.  The only redeeming grace of d20M is the occultist.I was defending d20 Past.  The book took a lot of flak for being FX heavy, and I think a lot of that is undeserved.  I simply feel that almost all of the included FX was useful on multiple levels, and that it was at about the right ratio of FX to mundane.What people often forget is that Campaign settings, at least as they are presented in modern, serve to differentiate the setting from the real world, not to describe it in it's entirety.  Thus, the core book had four different settings:  Agents of Psi, Shadow Chasers, Unearthed Arcana, and the real world.  Guess which one took up two thirds of the book.I'd say that the balance in d20 past is about the same.  If you took the first two (mundane) chapters, and added the Non-FX elements of the rest of the book, you'd probably get a similar ratio.Of course there are those who say that having that FX portion means they're paying for a third of a book that they'll never use.  But then again, there are folks who use just a some of the FX and complain about a quarter or fifth of the book they'll never use.  And there are folks who run using 3rd party AdCs or base classes only, who don't use an entirely different portion of the book than those who decry FX.And then there are the folks who buy splatbooks just so they can have one class.And that still doesn't hold a candle to students who are required to shell out upwards of $100 for a second textbook because the professor feels that the chapter on pedulum motion is better than the one in the main book.My moral is this:  If you object to d20M FX on the grounds that it's clunky, or it's poorly balanced, or it doesn't take modern innovations into account, or it's got a stupid name, then good for you.  I might even agree with you.  But If you object because the FX system is taking up precious book space, then quit your whining.</blockquote>

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