My D20 Future setting.

[C. Baize]

While I don't run a meat grinder campaign (ala Ralts' most excellent Future Fun thread), I (like many others) am running a D20 Future campaign, and thought I'd toss the setting type stuff out here for comments and suggestions.

A few of the things I am going to have in this thread (though not THIS post... whew.... too long!):
Political background for my mostly galactic campaign.
New alien races (though many will be familiar to old gamers, players of older PC video games, and fans of Sci-Fi in general).
A few new Advanced / Prestige Classes.
New Feats.
New Gear.
Some Starship Deckplans.
Some alternate rules for Starships / Vehicle creation.

The list certainly isn't in order of what's going to appear (though I will start with the political background... Fluff is much easier to write than mechanics).

I hope you all enjoy it, feel free to comment, post snarky remarks, or send me hate-mail. The posts should keep coming.

 

[Ymdar]

Ok. I'm looking forward to it.
As we could all see (in Future Fun) we're just suckers for new stuff for such an easily modifyable game such as d20Future.
And I never knew there were such nice people on the net

 

[C. Baize]

Politics of the Galactic Confederation

The Galactic Confederation (though it doesn't cover the entire galaxy) consists of many dozens of political Houses. These Houses are areas of influence controlled by a family, megacorporation, or smaller provincial government (much like states, today). While they are mostly independent, they are somewhat unified under the banner of the Confederation. While individual Houses may be ruled by a CEO, Emperor, President, Prime Minister, Chairman, or other similar titles, in Galactic Senate (and around the Confederation, for ease of reference, and for the sake of political correctness) the head of each House is referred to by the old feudal title of Duke, followed by the name of the House. For instance, the leader of House Fujimoto would be CEO within House Fujimoto, but in Galactic Senate, he would be referred to as Duke Fujimoto, even though his given name is Argus Schmidt.
Each House sends a representative to the Confederate Senate, and this representative is either the head of the House, or (more often) his/her proxy. For ease, the representative is always referred to as Duke of the House within the Senate meetings (infrequent as they are). Within the Confederate Senate, the Dukes and the Confederate President make Confederate law. During some of these Senate meetings, feuding Houses will request and receive arbitration. More than one Civil War has been averted through Senate arbitration.

As with any Confederation of independent governments, there are feuds, and squabbles between individual Houses. Political alliances, are made, and often last for generations only to be broken by a single unfortunately worded phrase in the wrong company, leading to years of open conflict between the Houses.
The Confederation's policy regarding this is that as long as it stays between the Houses in question, there is no Confederation policy. When the conflict breaks the borders and involves neutral or uninvolved Houses, the Confederation will step in and put a political or military end to the conflict, often resulting in the executions of the House heads for war crimes.

Confederate law and military.
The Confederation keeps a military of remarkable size in the unlikely event of open rebellion, or a clash between Houses spilling over into neighboring uninvolved Houses. The Confederation military is mainly used for exploration of new frontiers, and dealing with the occasional invasion of its provinces by a non-allied species, or break-away provinces. And of course, occasionally, piracy becomes so problematic that Star Law is unable to adequately deal with the situation, in which case the Confederation sends in its military and crushes the pirate organizations.
Star Law. Each House has nominal say in the legal policies in their area, and they police their own provinces. There are, however, Galactic Laws which apply to everyone within the Confederation. Star Law is the name adopted by all the Houses for their interstellar House police forces.
As such, there are three levels to Star Law.
Level 3 Star Law Officers are House Police Agents. They patrol and keep the peace within individual Houses.
Level 2 Star Law Officers are Deputy Marshalls. These officers are rovers, and have limited license to kill (usually when dealing with known pirates, murderers, or members of one of the large interstellar organized crime syndicates, though anyone engaging in open battle against these deputies is considered fair game). When there's the hint of trouble near their current location (or in an area where they have interests), these officers move in and dispense justice as they are able.
Level 1 Star Law Officers are Marshalls. These officers are given license to kill, and are chosen from among those deputies that prove they won't use such license without very clear legal reason.
Marshalls and Deputy Marshalls roam the Confederation without regard to borders or jurisdiction but they don't involve themselves in 'local' matters unless they are specifically called upon or the local matters consist of crimes against the Confederation.
Bounty Hunters within the Confederation
In many cases, there are bounties set on criminals. Some are general bounties for all known members operating within a certain criminal organization, and some are specific bounties such as the bounty upon the Pirate Captain Thaddius Holger who is wanted for crimes against the Confederation, and all sentient kind, and is wanted dead or alive.

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Hmmm... I think that's it for this post... More later.

Edit:
Disclaimer! I believe Star Law is copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast, and is used here without permission. I'm not challenging any copyrights.

 

[Peterson]

Hey Baize,

Good looking ideas - feels open ended and highly customizable, which the people seem to like!

Can't wait to see more.

Peterson

 

[C. Baize]

For my first Sci-Fi race familiar to everyone out there, even though it's not a Star Trek game, I'll go with Klingons (they are in my game).

Klingon
Klingons come from a violently active homeworld. Between the violent weather system, the active volcanic system, and the huge number of lethal flora and fauna, Klingon evolution has imbued them with a redundant set of internal organs, and a natural toughness horrific to behold by their enemies.
Slightly stronger than the average human, and much tougher, humans are a bit more intelligent, and have a higher level of self discipline. Klingons tend toward more martial lifestyles, and delight in combat in general, and specifically in hand to hand combat. Even though these warriors delight in warfare, they're nearly as happy dealing with politics, and diplomacy. Klingons approach politics and diplomacy in the same fervent manner with which they approach combat.
Klingons are on average slightly taller than human average, ranging between 5'6" and 6'8", though some shorter, and some taller are certainly known to have occured. They are also of a denser muscular structure, and have higher density bone structure resulting in the average weight of a Klingon ranging between 180 lbs (82 kg), and 340 lbs (154 kg). Physically, Klingons tend toward darker skin tones, and muscular builds. In addition to this, Klingons have a bony ridge that stretches from the bridge of their nose, over their skulls, and down their backs. The hair on their scalps begins midway between their foreheads and the back of their heads, and is normally pitch black in their youth, and turning grey or silver as they head into old age.
Klingons tend to act before thinking, and let their emotions rule their actions.

Species Traits
Klingons share the following species traits:
Type: Humanoid (Klingon)
Size: Medium-size. Klingons have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, +4 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma. Klingons are very resilient, and somewhat stronger than humans, with a strong force of character. Klingons rarely pursue scholarly or academic lifestyles.
Speed: 30 feet.
Planetary Adaptation: Klingons come from a hot world, and gain the benefits of the Planetary Adaptation: Hot World feat for free.
Toughness: Klingons have the Toughness feat for free.
Robust: Klingons gain the benefit of the Robust Tough Hero Talent, gaining +1 Hit Point every level.
Skill Bonus: Klingons gain a +2 species bonus on Intimidate checks, Intimidate is a permanent class skill, Klingons gain a +2 species bonus on Spot checks, Klingons gain a +2 species bonus on Listen checks.
Free Language Skills: Read/Write Klingon, Speak Klingon.
Level Adjustment: +2

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I'm slightly unsure about the level adjustment... It might need to be raised to +2. Comments? It probably wouldn't take much to convince me that it is, but I'd like to see comments both ways.

Also... when I do up the Vulcans, I'm not going to tone them down for balance. They'll likely be a +2 or +3 LA species... maybe even +4. They're insanely strong.

Edit.
Disclaimer! I'm not challenging any copyrights. Klingons are copyrighted to ... errr... someone who isn't me, and are used without any semblance of permission. This is strictly a fan work. They're certainly not OGC.

Edit edit.
Okay... made some tweaks based on comments here, and in an IRC channel. Intimidate is now a permanent class skill (quite the consensus on that), -2 Wisdom with a bonus to the skills in question, and +2 LA instead of +1.
Something about what I'm doing with this. I'm not trying to create a balanced +0 LA species, I'm trying hard to stay faithful to the flavor of the race in question. I personally think that's more important than a +0 LA. Please feel free to tweak or tone them down in your game if you use them. This is how they are for my game, though. And hopefully, it's a solid jumping off point for others to tweak them to fit their games.

Edit again...
Changed the individual Spot and Listen species bonuses to the Alertness feat.

Here we go again....
Changed it back to +2 species bonuses. Just makes more sense.

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

I would go with LA +2. That's a lot of perks they're getting in the feats/talents/skills area, not to mention that +4 Con. May I suggest a -2 Wisdom as well? It may help to balance things out a bit, and Klingons never struck me as being incredibly wise (too impulsive at times). Also, I would make Intimidate always a class skill.
My 2 cents.

 

[C. Baize]

Originally, I was writing them up with a -2 Wisdom for just that reason. Then my wife pointed out that Spot, Listen, and Survival are all Wisdom based, and at least Spot and Listen are sort of a Klingon forte.
I like that Intimidate as a class skill, always, though... I may have to add that.
Thanks!

 

[Buddha the DM]

The +1 LA for the Klingons seems fair to me.

 

[Peterson]

Ability Modifiers: +2 Strength, +4 Constitution
Toughness: All Klingons have the Toughness feat for free.
Robust: All Klingons gain the benefit of the Robust Tough Hero Talent, gaining +1 Hit Point every level.

The reasons above are the main reasons I would vote for a +2 LA. The +2 to Str, and +4 to Con alone should be a +1. Add in the multiple bonuses to Hit Points and the fact that there are no serious "drawbacks" to playing one of these and I could see another +1 without any real difficulty.

Finally, if you want to make it a strong case for a +2 LA, then might I suggest renaming the Robust portion so that it can stack with the Tough Hero Talent (Robust)? Either that, or replace it with Improved Massive Damage Threshold (feat) - but I'm not sure that's the way to go with it.

Just some thoughts,

Peterson

 

[C. Baize]

Edited the Klingon entry.