HeapThaumaturgist
First Post
I would say River's moment in the room was something more along the lines of a Psionic Tenser's Transformation sort of thing. She's not normally that much of a badass, but she seems to be able to channel the badass in times of need.
Though, to be honest, again, we're trying to stat up a plot element. River isn't always a 21st level killing machine. She was a killing machine because it was what Joss decided to write into the climax. It's probably something, had the show gone on, that she'd have only done once.
Earlier she had picked up a gun, glanced around a battlefield, and put a bunch of bullets in people. She also has no conception of what a gun IS half the time.
Personally, I think d20M can do something like the show just fine. I had a few house rules for combat changes:
Massive Damage Threshold
Characters have a Massive Damage Threshold of 10. Note that with Damage Conversion in place, the MDT is functionally 10+Armor.
The Massive Damage Threshold save is set at DC 10 + ½ damage dealt.
"... Like A Bad Habit."
Characters can spend an AP in order to conduct a deadly attack against an opponent who has lost his Dex bonus to Defense. When conducting this attack, a character uses a full round action which provokes attacks of opportunity and recieves only one attack at his full BAB, dealing normal damage. If the opponent is struck by this attack, he must make an MDT save, regardless of the damage dealt. A character with the Exploit Weakness talent can perform this action as a Standard Action, but still provokes attacks of opportunity.
Firearms
Autofire
If a ranged weapon has an automatic rate of fire, a character may set it on autofire. Autofire affects an area and everyone in it, not a specific creature. The character targets a 10-foot-by-10-foot area and makes an attack roll; the targeted area has an effective Defense of 10. (If the character does not have the Advanced Firearms Proficiency feat, he or she takes a -4 penalty on the attack roll.) If the attack succeeds, every creature within the affected area must make a Reflex save (DC 15) or take the weapon's damage. (Note I also change AutoFire to add the initiating character's base Reflex save to the DC if they have the Advanced Firearms Prof feat, but that text was in the feat change.) Characters recieve a bonus to this Reflex save equal to the Equipment Bonus to Defense of their armor worn. Autofire fires 10 bullets, and can only be used if the weapon has 10 or more bullets in it.
Autofire is not the same thing as firing a short burst at a specific target. If a character fires a blast of automatic fire at a specific target without the Burst Fire feat, it's treated as a standard attack with a +1 Circumstance bonus to the attack roll. The attack, if successful, only deals normal damage. A character with the Burst Fire feat can instead use a narrow-focus burst to deal additional damage, at the cost of a greater chance of missing the target entirely.
Some firearms-particularly machine guns-only have autofire settings and can't normally fire single shots.
--fje
Though, to be honest, again, we're trying to stat up a plot element. River isn't always a 21st level killing machine. She was a killing machine because it was what Joss decided to write into the climax. It's probably something, had the show gone on, that she'd have only done once.
Earlier she had picked up a gun, glanced around a battlefield, and put a bunch of bullets in people. She also has no conception of what a gun IS half the time.
Personally, I think d20M can do something like the show just fine. I had a few house rules for combat changes:
Massive Damage Threshold
Characters have a Massive Damage Threshold of 10. Note that with Damage Conversion in place, the MDT is functionally 10+Armor.
The Massive Damage Threshold save is set at DC 10 + ½ damage dealt.
"... Like A Bad Habit."
Characters can spend an AP in order to conduct a deadly attack against an opponent who has lost his Dex bonus to Defense. When conducting this attack, a character uses a full round action which provokes attacks of opportunity and recieves only one attack at his full BAB, dealing normal damage. If the opponent is struck by this attack, he must make an MDT save, regardless of the damage dealt. A character with the Exploit Weakness talent can perform this action as a Standard Action, but still provokes attacks of opportunity.
Firearms
Autofire
If a ranged weapon has an automatic rate of fire, a character may set it on autofire. Autofire affects an area and everyone in it, not a specific creature. The character targets a 10-foot-by-10-foot area and makes an attack roll; the targeted area has an effective Defense of 10. (If the character does not have the Advanced Firearms Proficiency feat, he or she takes a -4 penalty on the attack roll.) If the attack succeeds, every creature within the affected area must make a Reflex save (DC 15) or take the weapon's damage. (Note I also change AutoFire to add the initiating character's base Reflex save to the DC if they have the Advanced Firearms Prof feat, but that text was in the feat change.) Characters recieve a bonus to this Reflex save equal to the Equipment Bonus to Defense of their armor worn. Autofire fires 10 bullets, and can only be used if the weapon has 10 or more bullets in it.
Autofire is not the same thing as firing a short burst at a specific target. If a character fires a blast of automatic fire at a specific target without the Burst Fire feat, it's treated as a standard attack with a +1 Circumstance bonus to the attack roll. The attack, if successful, only deals normal damage. A character with the Burst Fire feat can instead use a narrow-focus burst to deal additional damage, at the cost of a greater chance of missing the target entirely.
Some firearms-particularly machine guns-only have autofire settings and can't normally fire single shots.
--fje
