ENWorld, what is best in d20 modern?

[Psion]

I'm going to ignore this, as it basically ousts any good OGL offerings that HAPPEN to be geared towards the d20 Modern ruleset.

Funny, the ones you listed seem to qualify...

 

[Psion]

First, it's easier to boost stats than drop them (especially Int! - I find skill points to take up the largest amount of time when making NPCs). If I'm presented with an NPC with low stats, I can top them up easily enough. Removing stats is more work.

Cool. Go tell this to the guy over on the Hordes thread telling me that HotA should have started with high demon lord stats and made people work down...

That said, I don't like ponit buy myself, for reasons I won't get into here, because that's another thread.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Cool. Go tell this to the guy over on the Hordes thread telling me that HotA should have started with high demon lord stats and made people work down...

That said, I don't like ponit buy myself, for reasons I won't get into here, because that's another thread.

What's your stance on NPCs stats?

(BTW, for the demon lord stats, no one has said what the "buffing template" looks like. Until we see it, people will keep complaining.)

 

[Roudi]

Funny, the ones you listed seem to qualify...

Yeah, that occured to me after I made the list.

 

[Vigilance]

Cool. Go tell this to the guy over on the Hordes thread telling me that HotA should have started with high demon lord stats and made people work down...

That said, I don't like ponit buy myself, for reasons I won't get into here, because that's another thread.

I always just used one of the arrays myself, either elite or the other one. They're simple, provide a good range of abilities, are easier to use than point buy and avoid some of the silliness you can encounter when using random generation (like the Act I minion with three 18s).

Chuck

 

[C. Baize]

I always just used one of the arrays myself, either elite or the other one. They're simple, provide a good range of abilities, are easier to use than point buy and avoid some of the silliness you can encounter when using random generation (like the Act I minion with three 18s).

Chuck

But that Act I minion with three 18s may be the one to escape the carnage, and rebuild the evil organization from the ground up, and really screw with the PCs later.
Anyone with three 18s is very nearly destined for something bigger... But that doesn't mean he has to START at the top.
I enjoy doing that once in a while... having some relative mook show up later with a vengeance, or even be genuinely grateful to the PCs for boosting him to his current position... He's still going to kill them, of course... but he's grateful for their efforts.
One of the joys of physically rolling the NPCs... You never know what you're going to get. And not every mook is the same.

But really... I think it boils down to the fact that this is how I've handled NPCs since 1979, and I just like it.

 

[Roudi]

Fact is everyone seems to have different preferences as to how they'd like their NPCs statted up. Any publisher would be hard-pressed to please all of them. So... cut them a little slack for that, would you? It's not as if one HAS to use the stats provided.

Hell, even the author of Modern Backdrops, Carrie Baize, has dramatically changed the stats of some of the main NPCs for use in her game, for no other reason but that she preferred to incorporate additional material that can't be found in core d20 Modern.

 

[Flynn]

My Top Five, and some honorable mentions...

Since I can't include my own stuff here, I'll go with the following:

1. Grim Tales (Bad Axe Games)
2. Elements of Magic, Mythic Earth (EN Publishing)
3. Infinite: Epic Modern (EN Publishing)
4. D20 Future (WOTC)
5. Psychic's Handbook (Green Ronin)

Honorary Mention:
6. Slavelords of Cydonia (Bad Axe Games)
7. Mythic Heroes (Bad Axe Games)

These are my personal favorites in the D20M arena.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't have much (non-WotC) D20 Modern stuff, but I think that of what I have, the 2 I get the most out of are Ultramodern Firearms D20 and The Second World Sourcebook. The former gives me loads of the firearms that people ask for by name, the latter I find nearly indispensible when designing a modern fantasy campaign.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

1) Grim Tales
2) Psychic's Handbook
3) RPGObjects (various and varied)
4) Ultramodern Firearms
5) Modern Player's Companions

That's off the top of my head.

--fje