some thoughts for d20M houserules

[Henry]

Being new to the HP/MDT thing, just try to keep MDT in your memory. If it's been a while, or you've never used it, you can just totally forget about it and never roll threats. If you want the players to feel like their characters are "mortal", keep a good eye and call for them.

One other thought is to make MDT's a set number, such as 10, 12, or 15. This has the advantage of being easier to remember to call for, because the second you see your roll hit that number, you can remember to call for them. Later, when you get it ingrained, you can switch back to MDT = CON if you wish. High-CON characters might feel a little stiffed, but a higher MDT number favors the group as a whole.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Thinking about Iron Heroes:
Occupations (instead of classes) could grant access to Skill Groups - might be an interesting alternative, though I have no idea how this would work exactly and what effects that might have. (Just playing with concepts - D20 Modern houseruling is indeed fun )

Actually, I went with both. Occupations grant permanent skill groups, that the character always hase access to because of the fundamental nature of that experience. Some occupations grant multiple skill groups, or they'd be incredibly weak compared to things such as Investigator or Military. Classes grant access to specific groups but only when you take levels in that class. Since there are no cross-class skills, a character can always have maximum ranks in a desired skill if they are willing to reserve the skill points for it.

The groups I created are usually composed of either three "useful" skills or six "marginal" skills. Marginal skills include the various Craft and Knowledge skills, which are useful but not as instantly and certainly useful as Hide, Spot, or Drive.
When I get the time, I'll put my Gaming Wiki together and put up a link for it.

 

[Greg K]

I think the occupation changes should fly fine without problems.

I would, echoing the designers, watch creating new Knowledge skills and splitting out Knowledge skills into multiple skills. While it PROBABLY won't realy hurt anything, recognize that you're creating more choices without creating more skill-points ... I.E. every new skill you create makes the characters LESS SKILLED, because they can't afford to have as much, well, skill.

Yeah, I am aware of the designers warnings. With feats like Creative and Educated, I am not too concerned.

I think my new skills will be:
Craft (Music): composing music
Knowledge Cultures (customs, social mores, holidays, etc.)
Knowledge (Literature)
Perform(Oratory) (public speaking, oral storytelling)

+ Breaking down 1 or two skills including Earth and Life Sciences.

Being new to the HP/MDT thing, just try to keep MDT in your memory. If it's been a while, or you've never used it, you can just totally forget about it and never roll threats. If you want the players to feel like their characters are "mortal", keep a good eye and call for them.
--fje

MDT, will be one of those things along with Listen, Search and Spot, that I keep next to me.
Hopefully, with each character's MDT in front of me I won't forget.

 

[Greg K]

• Occupations:
  The given occupations are generic so an "Emergency Services" character can cover a broader range. For instance, in a Year of the Zombie game I ran a couple of months back, one of the PCs (a Dedicated hero) used the Emergency Services occupation to represent an ambulance driving career, and chose Drive and Treat Injury as his occupation skills. When I made a PC with the Emergency Services career, he was a member of a wildlife rescue team that discovered a creature from Shadow in the mountains (and thus he became involved with the party proper and Department-7). I wouldn't get rid of the generic nature of the occupations; that's one of the strengths of the ruleset rather than a drawback.

• 
  
  Actually, my idea is to break several of them down, but not all of them. I would then give each occupation one mandatory skill + some additional choices . In the case of Emergency services, the mandatory skill would be Treat Injury. Doctor would also have treat injury, but the difference would be the additional skill choices and feat choices that I assign to each occupation.
  
  
  
  

  [*]Occupation Bonus Feats:
  Archaic Weapons Proficiency for fencers and other athletes using archaic weaponry of one kind or another, and Brawl for wrestlers. Combat Martial Arts should definitely be a choice, too. In all other cases I think the occupations offer bonus feats that make sense. Feel free to provide a counter-argument about any specific occupation.

  
  Yeah, I realized this after I typed. However, I still want to break Athlete down into two or three occupations. Athlete would provide acrobat, athletic, fortitude, run, skill focus). Martial Artist would include not only unarmed combat, but fencing and kendo so archaic weapons would be placed here.
  
  

  [*]"Balancing" Occupations:
  IMO, a bad idea. Everyone is not "born equal", and all occupations are not equal. If your players are only choosing occupations for the Wealth, Reputation, and bonus feats, then perhaps you are looking for players with a different playing style. I pick an occupation based on the background I want the character to have come from.

  
  I agree that they should be choosing based upon concept/background, however, if some professions are going to get free combat feats, I see no reason not to give feats or some other options to class that gain no feats or as alternatives in the case where not all concepts within a given occupation warrant a combat feat.
  
  Some occupations with suggestions for appropriate feats or combat feat alternatives from which to choose
  
  Academic: Educated, Studious, Skill Focus
  
  Adventurer: Acrobatic, Athletic, Educated, Skill Focus, guide, Skill Focus, stealthy
  
  Athlete (assuming splitting of Martial Artists): Acrobatic, Athletic Endurance, Run
  
  Creative: Creative, Meticulous, Skill Focus,
  
  Criminal: Acrobatic, Athletic, Deceptive, Nimble, Run, Skill Focus, Stealthy
  
  Doctor: Medical Expert, Skill Focus, Surgeon
  
  Rural: Animal Affinity, Fortitude, Stealthy, Track as options to the combat feat since not every rural background needs brawl or personal firearms.
  
  Student: Acrobatic (high school gymnast), Athletic, Creative, Gearhead, Endurance, Educated, Run, Studious, Weapon Focus (for wrestlers)
  
  Technician: Builder, Gearhead, Skill Focus
  
  

  [*]Breaking Up Knowledge Skills:
  Unless you are using some kind of cascade skill system, your players will never have the skill points. Now, if you were to use such a system as the one I am shamelessly pimping, that'd be fine.

  
  As I said, with feats such as builder, creative, and educated, I am not too worried. A player might choose one of these feats to reflect some trained skill or topic knowledge as part of the character background and never develop them further. Plu, the Smart Hero could always choose the research tree for more bonuses w/o spending any skill points..

 

[ValhallaGH]

Don't forget the advantages of wealth bonus when you're rebalancing. That benefit is surprisingly large, whether making a character at first level or making a character at any other level, since it is added to the base wealth score before equipment is purchased.