JoeGKushner
Adventurer
I enjoy d20 Modern in many aspects more than standard d20. The reasons tend to be that d20 Modern characters, due to their extra abilities like talents, reputation, defense bonus, action points, ease of mutli-classing and other player focused abilities like occupations, puts them in a position where they don't have to rely heavily on equipment and makes them more rounded and unique. Having said that, the unique aspect requires a lot of bonus material and the support from WotC has been basically nil outside of one support book and some web material.
Step to the plate the Game Mechanics, printing a combined Modern Player's Companion that helps a player get the most bang for his buck in a d20 modern game.
Where to start? How about class combinations? These focus on using multiple classes and showing how to make character concepts come to life. This includes several character concepts like archeologist, bouncer, counselor, entrepreneur and others. The bad news though is that while they have tables, the tables only have level, base class and class features. Where are the combined saving throws, attack progression and hit dice?
Those looking for another innovation, the Advanced Classes, get fourteen new advanced classes. Ignore that part that states six new advanced classes as it's probably a carry over from one of the PDF books. My favorite here is the Bounty Hunter. I enjoy this character concept and always look forward to seeing how it's interpreted for different genres and eras. Others may be looking for something like the Dead Shot, a master of long distance rifle combat or the Gentle Warrior, a master of holds and trips as opposed to punches and kicks.
For those who want something like a Silence of the Lambs, we've even got a Profiler advanced class and the Criminologist. The mix is good allowing those who want to use magic the option of taking the Adept or Arcane Scholar, to those who want computer based material with the Hacker.
The thing I didn't like about the layout for the advanced class is how they list hit points and action points. It looks like all classes here get 6 + one half level rounded down so why not put that at the beginning of the section instead of repeating it every time? Or why, for hit points, list something like, “The Criminologist gains 1d6 hit points per level. The character's Constitution modifier applies.” Uh, are there any classes that don't get a Con modifier? Do we need to have it spelled out what class gets what hit die? What about? Hit Die:1d6? Much simpler.
Unlike advanced classes, the prestige classes represent a higher level of power and specialization, not as easy to access and coming with more unique and well defined abilities. Introduced here are the commander, dark sage, martial arts master, master tinkerer, mentalist, psionic assassin and silent intruder. The commander is done up in a way I wouldn't have thought of, as a take charge type of character but not in the military sense. They get abilities like Lead by Example where they get bonuses in order to show the troops how it's done as well as instilling fear in the enemy. Useful, but with their lowered attack bonus and d6 hit die, they're not going to always be on the front line to do that leading.
The nice thing about this mix, is like the advanced classes, it allows you to pick and choose. Want to add some Call of Cthulhu elements to your game? The Dark Sage who specializes in looking for things man was not meant to know is perfect for that. Want to continue down the martial art path? The Martial Arts master is the way to go.
When looking at fears, there is a lot of ground to cover. There is reprinted material from Ultramodern Firearms d20, but most of the material here is new. Some of them I probably wouldn't allow as they don't make a lot of sense to me as a GM like Cross-Training. You've spent a feat to in essence get a +1 bonus to two stats and a -2 to another score. Uh, it's good to have the ability to move stats around but as a feat, it's a sum zero benefit that doesn't represent cross-training. One of the problems with d20 as opposed to more generous systems like Palladium and Rolemaster where a stat isn't set so deeply in stone.
Those who hate Dodge and feel that even Improved Dodge isn't enough will want to pick up Greater Dodge, giving you a +3 dodge bonus while others may want Lucky, which allows you to reroll the d20 by spending an action point as opposed to adding 1d6.
Anyone whose been to Crate & Barrel or the Container Store will get a good chuckle at Chapter Four, Equipment, which actually starts off with bags and boxes. Of more interest I suspect will be survival gear and perhaps computers and consumer electronics but even then, it's a small list, less than a page long with a few pages devoted to describing the material. It's kinda of silly to see a definition for a pager or laser pointer, but it does help round out the old equipment list. Of more benefit I think are the equipment packages where it gives you a basic package and a list of different items for those with wealth bonus. For example, the White Collar Package, at Wealth +7 comes with a desktop, multi-function PDA, and cell phone, at +9, that becomes a lapton, and at +11, an Acura 2.3 TL.
Those running a straight d20 Modern game wouldn't get too much out of Chapter Five, FX abilities but for everyone else, it's a nice section that focuses on using magic in modern ways. Take Mood Lighting or Close Shave, magic to make everyday life easier. The magic items tend to focus that way in some instances like the Back-Up Disk that allows quick and painless transfer of data between machines or the Portal Hub that makes a computer part of a LAN without regard for actual distance. Ah, wireless that really works, truly magic.
Appendix One provides a quick breakdown of ammunition variants with rules on using them in d20 modern. Take the Slug, “ a single, heavy projectile, similar to a conventional bullet.” It gets a -2 penalty per range increment on attack and damage. Not a good deal right? However, you can fire explosive and incendiary rounds so that helps make up for it as “additional damage as rifle bullets over 7.62 mm.” Nice.
Appendix Two, Complete Feats, is a good idea with poor execution. It has the feats from the d20 Modern Game, Ultramodern Firearms, Modern Player's Companion, and Urban Arcana, but no other sources. I'm not the sage of d20 Modern games but there are quite a few more resources out there and to read the author's comment, “We do, however, reserve the right to editorialize and selectively include only the feats that we personally think are good additions to the game.” is a big let down. Let the reader decide what's good and end it at that. Or do the first part and edit it to make it good. I just find it, as a reader, highly suspicious that other companies, especially those with competing products in the d20 field, aren't listed.
Still, as a tool, this is a very useful reference over four pages long with the feat name, prerequisites, benefits and source.
Price on the book, at 80 pages for $16.95, is very reasonable, the lower end of the scale. Art is fair but not as good as the cover material. The fact that it's one artist, Clarence Harrison, provides a good flow to the art where it's not one style one page and a different style another page.
I had a hard time with the font or the print size. Something in reading it bothered me. I don't know if it was the layout or what but it was almost a physical pain to read. Good simple layout, fair art but something really bothered my eyes.
The Modern Player's Companion isn't about roleplaying in different eras or times. It's not about taking the awakened Savage and introducing him to the modern world. It's a good resource for new crunch and does it's job very well. What players don't want to hear though is that because it's really a character focused book, GM's can use it too so make sure that those player's utilizing this book know true pain for me will ya?
Step to the plate the Game Mechanics, printing a combined Modern Player's Companion that helps a player get the most bang for his buck in a d20 modern game.
Where to start? How about class combinations? These focus on using multiple classes and showing how to make character concepts come to life. This includes several character concepts like archeologist, bouncer, counselor, entrepreneur and others. The bad news though is that while they have tables, the tables only have level, base class and class features. Where are the combined saving throws, attack progression and hit dice?
Those looking for another innovation, the Advanced Classes, get fourteen new advanced classes. Ignore that part that states six new advanced classes as it's probably a carry over from one of the PDF books. My favorite here is the Bounty Hunter. I enjoy this character concept and always look forward to seeing how it's interpreted for different genres and eras. Others may be looking for something like the Dead Shot, a master of long distance rifle combat or the Gentle Warrior, a master of holds and trips as opposed to punches and kicks.
For those who want something like a Silence of the Lambs, we've even got a Profiler advanced class and the Criminologist. The mix is good allowing those who want to use magic the option of taking the Adept or Arcane Scholar, to those who want computer based material with the Hacker.
The thing I didn't like about the layout for the advanced class is how they list hit points and action points. It looks like all classes here get 6 + one half level rounded down so why not put that at the beginning of the section instead of repeating it every time? Or why, for hit points, list something like, “The Criminologist gains 1d6 hit points per level. The character's Constitution modifier applies.” Uh, are there any classes that don't get a Con modifier? Do we need to have it spelled out what class gets what hit die? What about? Hit Die:1d6? Much simpler.
Unlike advanced classes, the prestige classes represent a higher level of power and specialization, not as easy to access and coming with more unique and well defined abilities. Introduced here are the commander, dark sage, martial arts master, master tinkerer, mentalist, psionic assassin and silent intruder. The commander is done up in a way I wouldn't have thought of, as a take charge type of character but not in the military sense. They get abilities like Lead by Example where they get bonuses in order to show the troops how it's done as well as instilling fear in the enemy. Useful, but with their lowered attack bonus and d6 hit die, they're not going to always be on the front line to do that leading.
The nice thing about this mix, is like the advanced classes, it allows you to pick and choose. Want to add some Call of Cthulhu elements to your game? The Dark Sage who specializes in looking for things man was not meant to know is perfect for that. Want to continue down the martial art path? The Martial Arts master is the way to go.
When looking at fears, there is a lot of ground to cover. There is reprinted material from Ultramodern Firearms d20, but most of the material here is new. Some of them I probably wouldn't allow as they don't make a lot of sense to me as a GM like Cross-Training. You've spent a feat to in essence get a +1 bonus to two stats and a -2 to another score. Uh, it's good to have the ability to move stats around but as a feat, it's a sum zero benefit that doesn't represent cross-training. One of the problems with d20 as opposed to more generous systems like Palladium and Rolemaster where a stat isn't set so deeply in stone.
Those who hate Dodge and feel that even Improved Dodge isn't enough will want to pick up Greater Dodge, giving you a +3 dodge bonus while others may want Lucky, which allows you to reroll the d20 by spending an action point as opposed to adding 1d6.
Anyone whose been to Crate & Barrel or the Container Store will get a good chuckle at Chapter Four, Equipment, which actually starts off with bags and boxes. Of more interest I suspect will be survival gear and perhaps computers and consumer electronics but even then, it's a small list, less than a page long with a few pages devoted to describing the material. It's kinda of silly to see a definition for a pager or laser pointer, but it does help round out the old equipment list. Of more benefit I think are the equipment packages where it gives you a basic package and a list of different items for those with wealth bonus. For example, the White Collar Package, at Wealth +7 comes with a desktop, multi-function PDA, and cell phone, at +9, that becomes a lapton, and at +11, an Acura 2.3 TL.
Those running a straight d20 Modern game wouldn't get too much out of Chapter Five, FX abilities but for everyone else, it's a nice section that focuses on using magic in modern ways. Take Mood Lighting or Close Shave, magic to make everyday life easier. The magic items tend to focus that way in some instances like the Back-Up Disk that allows quick and painless transfer of data between machines or the Portal Hub that makes a computer part of a LAN without regard for actual distance. Ah, wireless that really works, truly magic.
Appendix One provides a quick breakdown of ammunition variants with rules on using them in d20 modern. Take the Slug, “ a single, heavy projectile, similar to a conventional bullet.” It gets a -2 penalty per range increment on attack and damage. Not a good deal right? However, you can fire explosive and incendiary rounds so that helps make up for it as “additional damage as rifle bullets over 7.62 mm.” Nice.
Appendix Two, Complete Feats, is a good idea with poor execution. It has the feats from the d20 Modern Game, Ultramodern Firearms, Modern Player's Companion, and Urban Arcana, but no other sources. I'm not the sage of d20 Modern games but there are quite a few more resources out there and to read the author's comment, “We do, however, reserve the right to editorialize and selectively include only the feats that we personally think are good additions to the game.” is a big let down. Let the reader decide what's good and end it at that. Or do the first part and edit it to make it good. I just find it, as a reader, highly suspicious that other companies, especially those with competing products in the d20 field, aren't listed.
Still, as a tool, this is a very useful reference over four pages long with the feat name, prerequisites, benefits and source.
Price on the book, at 80 pages for $16.95, is very reasonable, the lower end of the scale. Art is fair but not as good as the cover material. The fact that it's one artist, Clarence Harrison, provides a good flow to the art where it's not one style one page and a different style another page.
I had a hard time with the font or the print size. Something in reading it bothered me. I don't know if it was the layout or what but it was almost a physical pain to read. Good simple layout, fair art but something really bothered my eyes.
The Modern Player's Companion isn't about roleplaying in different eras or times. It's not about taking the awakened Savage and introducing him to the modern world. It's a good resource for new crunch and does it's job very well. What players don't want to hear though is that because it's really a character focused book, GM's can use it too so make sure that those player's utilizing this book know true pain for me will ya?
