The Immortals Handbook

[S'mon]

Thanks everyone - U_K is the master of high-theory Immortal Crunch anyway of course, I'm just good at the quick & dirty street-level stuff. 70-30 or 80-20 fluff to crunch sounds like what I'll aim for.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi all!

Has anyone here read D20 Future yet?

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd

I downloaded the SRD this morning and was absolutely amazed by how low powered the weapons are:

The best personal weapons deal about 3d12 damage (Rail Gun), which is itself Progress Level 7 (nothing better in PL 8 or 9).

Beamsword (Lightsabre) deals 2d8

Starship Weapons go up to about 32d8 (Heavy Particle Beams)

(Victory Class) Star Destroyers (1 Km Dreadnoughts) have 1200d20 (24,000 hp). Hardness 40. Though for some reason it only weighs 540,000 Tons - go figure.

The best one of all though.

1 Megaton Nuclear Weapons...

...you won't believe this...

...16d8.

It seems even I overestimated the comic book physics of d20 Modern.

 

[historian]

Howdy Krust!

Beamsword (Lightsabre) deals 2d8

Starship Weapons go up to about 32d8 (Heavy Particle Beams)

(Victory Class) Star Destroyers (1 Km Dreadnoughts) have 1200d20 (24,000 hp). Hardness 40. Though for some reason it only weighs 540,000 Tons - go figure.

The best one of all though.

1 Megaton Nuclear Weapons...

...you won't believe this...

...16d8.

It seems even I overestimated the comic book physics of d20 Modern.

That's ridiculous -- the lack of symmetry is a real downer. A great red wyrm does 24d10!! I'm opting for something closer to "real world" physics once I have the IH. It can get unwieldy at high levels (planet-shattering stuff) but the tradeoff is worth it in my mind. I can't have the Van Helsings of the world (20th level rangers) surviving direct hits from nuclear weapons.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Howdy Krust!

Hiya historian mate!

That's ridiculous -- the lack of symmetry is a real downer.

I still have trouble believing it myself.

A great red wyrm does 24d10!! I'm opting for something closer to "real world" physics once I have the IH.

The thing I can't understand is that not only does it gel with the pseudo-real world of d20 (which d20 Modern deviates wildly from), but it doesn't even correlate with how d20 Modern extrapolates weapons.

I mean (Hardness aside for a moment) you would be better off throwing a couple of hand grenades than using a nuke.

Extrapolating d20. 1 Megaton = 16,000d6 (54,000 damage)

Extrapolating d20 Modern. 1 Megaton = 180d6 (680 damage)

D20 Future. 1 Megaton = 16d8 (72 damage)

It can get unwieldy at high levels (planet-shattering stuff) but the tradeoff is worth it in my mind. I can't have the Van Helsings of the world (20th level rangers) surviving direct hits from nuclear weapons.

It would have been so easy to implement pseudo-realistic weapons. Such a pity WotC dropped the ball again.

I remember when S'mon introduced Cyberpunk and Futuristic elements into our campaign, handguns (Blaster Rifle) were doing more than d20 Future nukes!

Using d20 Future (and to a lesser extent d20 Modern) in Epic/Immortal Campaigns is not going to provide the interesting juxtaposition it once was - hence my alternative rules in the IH - though even I didn't think there would be such a gulf.

 

[Anabstercorian]

Ooh. Alternative rules for high tech weapons in the IH? SWEET.

Cataclysm Cannon
"...The true physics of the universe are too complex to explain in brief, but suffice to say that sometimes, it is possible to get them to try to divide by zero..."
This weapon fires a self-perpetuating, self-eradicating anomaly in physical law roughly elliptic in shape. Within it, the laws of physics break entirely, and matter collapses in to raw potential. All things are eradicated by this fist sized bolt.
Large-sized contraption @ PL 8, decreases in size category by one for every additional PL, deals 16d8 Disintegration damage, ignores Hardness and Armor & Natural Armor bonuses to AC, range increment 10 squares (depending on firing type - vehicles, starships are more accurate over long distances than hand weapons, dissipates after ~10K miles), crit 19/x3

 

[Zoatebix]

Now I'm feeling bad that I actually re-downloaded the whole SRD. Unclean!

Is it really that bad? I mean, I noticed that damages were low when I flipped through a copy of D20 Future at my FLGS, but 16d8 for one megaton is ridiculous. 72 damage is barely anything to reasonable sized structures. What could that destroy, anyways?

 

[Anabstercorian]

The whole starship combat section of d20 Future strikes me as... iffy. In fact, though I haven't play tested it, it looks pretty bad.

 

[Anabstercorian]

New Progress Level rules

PL 0: Stone Age Defined by the use of tools shaped solely by hand and force, not by fire.
PL 1: Metal Age Defined by the use of tools including metal, as well as the capacity to produce more metal.
PL 2: Alchemical Age Defined by haphazard attempts to master unseen phenomena such as magnetism or chemistry, marred by superstition.
PL 3: Philosophical Age Defined by an a rejection of previous superstitious dogma when that dogma conflicts with observable fact.
PL 4: Mechanical Age Defined by large-scale practical application of technological advancement.
PL 5: Information Age Defined by a mastery of information processing and transfer.
PL 6: Atomic Age Defined by a mastery of atomic and subatomic reactions.
PL 7: Kinetic Age Defined by a mastery of kinetic energy as a controllable force.
PL 8: Energy Age Defined by the conquest of eutropy over entropy and limitless energy supplies.
PL 9: Temporal Age Defined by the manipulation of temporal mechanics to the limits of paradox.
PL 10: Planck Age Defined by expansion of technological advancement to the limits of quantum physics.
PL 11: Sub-Planck Age Defined by breaching the limits quantum physics sets on technological advancement.
PL 12: Singularity Age Defined by throwing the laws of physics out the window and making your own at your whim.
PL 13: Clarkian Age Defined by the expansion of the creation of new physical laws to include metaphor and abstract concepts, such as guns that cause people to fall in love with the wielder or the eradication of violence against sentient life forms from the universe.
PL 14: The Last Age Defined by annihilating the universe and replacing it with a better one.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hiya mate!

Ooh. Alternative rules for high tech weapons in the IH? SWEET.

Indeed. However I now face a slightly larger task (in the face of the incompetence of d20 Modern & Future) than I initially thought.

Cataclysm Cannon
"...The true physics of the universe are too complex to explain in brief, but suffice to say that sometimes, it is possible to get them to try to divide by zero..."
This weapon fires a self-perpetuating, self-eradicating anomaly in physical law roughly elliptic in shape. Within it, the laws of physics break entirely, and matter collapses in to raw potential. All things are eradicated by this fist sized bolt.
Large-sized contraption @ PL 8, decreases in size category by one for every additional PL, deals 16d8 Disintegration damage, ignores Hardness and Armor & Natural Armor bonuses to AC, range increment 10 squares (depending on firing type - vehicles, starships are more accurate over long distances than hand weapons, dissipates after ~10K miles), crit 19/x3

I suppose at PL 9+ that would be workable as an infantry weapon.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey Zoatebix mate!

Now I'm feeling bad that I actually re-downloaded the whole SRD. Unclean!

He he!

Is it really that bad?

Its one step away from: 1 Megaton Nuke damage = Tickly Cough.

I mean, I noticed that damages were low when I flipped through a copy of D20 Future at my FLGS, but 16d8 for one megaton is ridiculous.

Its comedic.

72 damage is barely anything to reasonable sized structures. What could that destroy, anyways?

By d20 Modern/Future rules a point blank 1 Megaton Nuke wouldn't (on average) destroy an M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank.