Starcraft and d20 Future

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Toughness is probably a bad feat to use. It's designed for 1st level elven wizards, and is an incredibly poor feat choice for a melee warrior.

Requiring the use of crap feats is often a good thing in Advanced/Prestige Classes, for both mechanical and flavor purposes.

That said... Oathbound suits the class very, very well.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

At the same time, neither skill seems particularly relevant to the Zealot. Knowledge and administration of the Khala is the job of the Judicator Cast, and Crafting is the balewick of the Khalai. Zealots belong to the Templar Caste, so perhaps Knowledge (Tactics), which happens to be a class skill for the strong hero.

Done.

Is there any reason you think psiblade should be an exotic weapon? High-Frequency Sword is a PL6 weapon that does 2d6 damage and is usable with SWP. Psiblades should probably be archaic at best. But It would probably be easiest to say "proficient with psiblades" and then figure out the details once somebody posts psiblade statistics.

I noticed that, and while it seems to make sense (since ranged weapons are king), I simply couldn't reason the psiblade as such. Again, I agree with your point and have changed the proficiency to simple. However, psiblades will require a psionic character to activate, limiting the weapon to protoss and psionic humans without a psi dampener. (I'll need to write up the stats for this weapon anyway).

Toughness is probably a bad feat to use. It's designed for 1st level elven wizards, and is an incredibly poor feat choice for a melee warrior. I'd replace this with oathbound, which is an okay feat for a fighter type (it improves your aid another bonus for those who share your sworn alligiance, and gives you a +1 on attack rolls against those who don't). Plus it has the added advantage of putting back in the Zeal that I took out when getting rid of Knowledge(religion).

I disagree about Toughness. The zealot is a melee beast, and I wanted to be certain that class requirements would keep some of that in check. Toughness is not a great feat, but it fits with the flavor of the class and does not boost their already considerable fighting ability. I also checked out the Oathbound feat and I love the choice. Thanks for pointing it out. I've replaced Exotic Weapon Proficiency with it. It also covers the Knowledge (religion and philosophy) requirement very well.

Good suggestions, everyone. Keep 'em coming.

 

[snarfoogle]

The two different Zergling write-ups are interesting. I think they should be CR 1, but each version has good ideas. Someone should do a combination of the two.

 

[Bobitron]

You all rock. I admit that I don't have the time to get involved with your project, but I will keep an eye on your developments with interest.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Sorry for the lack of material the last couple days. Graduation is creeping up and we've been pretty busy around here. Hopefully I'll be able to post with some new equipment, like the C-14 Gauss Rifle, C-10 Canister Rifle, Personal Cloaking Device, and the Psiblade. Also, I had a question for all the Modern/Future GMs out there: are there any guidelines you use to create Purchase DCs for items? Other than a rough comparision to similar items/vehicles, I haven't quite been able to figure that out.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Sorry for the lack of material the last couple days. Graduation is creeping up and we've been pretty busy around here. Hopefully I'll be able to post with some new equipment, like the C-14 Gauss Rifle, C-10 Canister Rifle, Personal Cloaking Device, and the Psiblade. Also, I had a question for all the Modern/Future GMs out there: are there any guidelines you use to create Purchase DCs for items? Other than a rough comparision to similar items/vehicles, I haven't quite been able to figure that out.

Yeah, it's very simple.

You don't.

A Gauss rifle shouldn't be better than a PL 5 rifle (as a PL 7 human isn't better than a PL 5 human). This lets you avoid tech creep.

When it comes to the Ghost rifle, it shouldn't be really good with a really high purchase DC (there's no balance in that, no matter how hard you try), and besides, you can't just buy one unless you join a pirate militia.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Yeah, it's very simple.

You don't.

A Gauss rifle shouldn't be better than a PL 5 rifle (as a PL 7 human isn't better than a PL 5 human). This lets you avoid tech creep.

Was your statement here about the purchase DC or the rifle or just the rifle's stats itself?

 

[arscott]

The two different Zergling write-ups are interesting. I think they should be CR 1, but each version has good ideas. Someone should do a combination of the two.

Obviously, I'm with you on the CR 1. Here's what I figure:

The best baseline for determining Challenge ratings of the StarCraft units is probably the Terran Marine. He's a basic grunt in power armor with a machine gun. That means he needs, at minimum, 4 feats: Firearms proficiency, Light Armor Proficiency, Medium Armor Proficiency, and Power Armor Proficiency. If he takes a starting occupation that grants firearms proficiency, Then he can get the three remaining proficiencies as a CR 2 opponent: The first two with his starting feats, and the last with either the 2nd level strong hero bonus feat, or his third level feat as an ordinary.

Conviniently, StarCraft is a computer game, and awards points for unit kills. Here's the list, broken down into characters/creatures, ground vehicles, and starships. Most heroes simply have twice the point award of their non-hero varieties, so I've ommitted most of them. I also included all buildings that do damage or could reasonably be statted up as a creature:

Characters/Creatures:
10: Civilian, Larva, Critters
25: Broodling
50: Zergling
100: Marine, Drone, Probe
200: Firebat, Overlord, Scourge, Zealot
250: Medic
350: Ghost, Hydralisk*
400: Infested Terran
450: Defiler, Observer
500: Lurker, Dragoon
600: Mutalisk
650: Dark Templar
700: High Templar
800: Queen, Reaver
1100: Guardian, Devourer
1300: Ultralisk, Dark Archon
1400: Archon
4000: Infested Kerrigan

* I think this is a typo on the part of the game designers, and should actually be 250. It's build score (which is usually half of the kill scores given here) is 125, and the hunter killer has a kill score of 500 (Hero kill scores are usually twice the kill score of the regular unit)

Starships:
400: Shuttle
600: Dropship
700: Corsair
800: Wraith, Valkyrie
1250: Science Vessel
1300: Scout
1900: Carrier
2050: Arbiter
2400: Battlecruiser

Ground Vehicles:
100: SCV
150: Vulture
400: Goliath
700: Seige Tank

Buildings:
150: Missile Turret
195: Sunken Colony
240: Spore Colony
300: Photon Cannon
2500: Cerebrate
4000: Overmind Cocoon
10000: Overmind

The zergling is one step below the CR 2 marine, so CR 1 seems to make sense.


What was is specifically that you liked and disliked about the various zerglings?

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Sorry, Psi. I should've been clearer. I know that weapons should not be more or less powerful based on PL. Rather, I'm more concerned with a general formula for finding the purchase DCs of items. For instance, if I look at a rifle that deals 3d8, 80 foot range increment, and autofire, what might the purchase DC be for that? Those stats are equivalent to the laser rifle (PL 6), which already has a specific purchase DC, but that's not my point. Rather, I'm wondering how a GM would come to that number based on the statistics of a weapon.

 

[lonesoldier]

We need some sort of system. Like +5 Purchase DC for an extra die of damage, or something. As for now, compare it to the closest allready statted gun and make the price in that range.