D20 Modern: Heroic Stunts by Ronin Arts
Modern: Heroic Stunts
Publisher: Ronin Arts
System: D20 Modern
Pages: 8
Format: PDF
Overview:
The book Heroic Stunts is a supplement introducing a new rules mechanic for Wizards of the Coast’s D20 Modern system.
The book’s purpose is to introduce flavor into your D20 Modern campaign by use of stunts. The mechanic is simple: spend an Action Point, and perform a cool stunt (many of them inspired by popular movies and TV shows). The 25 stunts contained the in the book are set up the same way as feats – and could be taken as feats as well, if one didn’t want to use the stunt mechanic.
Appearance:
The book’s layout is easy to read. There isn’t any art – beyond the border art of the page – but I don’t think that it detracts from the layout at all. I think any miscellaneous graphics that might be inserted would have distracted from the main focus of the book. In other words, the simple and clear layout works well for this short PDF.
Contents:
The stunt mechanic is fairly simple, and easily plugs into any existing campaign using the D20 Modern rules. There are suggested limits for using stunts (so they don’t get so overused as to become clichéd), and a brief discussion of the mechanic and flavor of stunts.
Stunts are meant to make your campaign run and play more like, say, an action movie than the rules currently allow. A quote from the book’s introduction says it all:
“The world of D20 Modern gaming is replete with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of amazingly cool-sounding feats which most gamers would love to have their character pull off at just the right moment… but when push comes to shove and feat-picking time comes, the exotic and interesting feats are most often passed over in favor of the tried-and-true. Why? Because as cool as it might be to kick a gun out of someone’s hand and grab it, something like Power Attack, Cleave, or one of the many “+2 to 2 skills” feats will come into play far more often. The cold calculus of campaign practically trumps coolness.”
The Heroic Stunts mechanic is an alternative to that. Each of the 25 stunts is formatted like a normal feat, complete with brief flavor description, prerequisites, and full mechanic description. The only difference is that one needn’t spend a feat slot. Each stunt is described in often humorous detail. Since one cannot fully describe the stunts without an example, here’s one of my favorites:
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Arrow Stab
You’ve all seen the movie.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus with bow, base attack bonus +5
Description: This stunt can only be performed by someone who has a bow ready for combat use (and a supply of arrows). He may make a melee attack using the arrow in hand, at his full attack bonus, against any enemy he threatens. This does not provoke an attack of opportunity, although firing the bow will (if the enemy survives the initial stab). An arrow wielded as a melee weapon does its normal damage plus any Strength bonus to damage. This stunt offers no chance of breaking the arrow, realism be damned.
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The range of stunts run from something that can be used in any campaign, from stunts for a modern or futuristic campaign, to stunts that involve more archaic weapons. The book explains the reasoning behind the idea of stunts, and lays a framework that can be used to create more stunts.
Last Thoughts:
I was highly impressed by this PDF, as it was an impulse purchase, something I thought that I might use. I have become convinced that I will use these in my D20 Modern campaign, and I will show them to my D20 Future GM in hopes he will allow them as well.
All in all, the book was well-written and balanced with the rules. The incredible versatility of the rules, as either feats or stunts, and the wide range of modern and medieval applications for the stunts allow use in just about any campaign from D&D to D20 Future. I commend Ronin Arts on a job well done.
Final score: 5 stars out of 5.
