D&D 5E The Mechanics of A Fantasy Space Opera

[S'mon]

Use the DMG stats for SF weapons. You don't absolutely need any new SF Skills though I'd be tempted to have Piloting & Engineering skills. Maybe just add an Engineers' Tools proficiency for repairs and have ship AC modified by pilot Dexterity & Proficiency Bonus, ship to-hit based off gunner ranged attack bonus. For space opera, treating space ships as sea ships makes sense - https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA_ShipsSea.pdf

Edit: I'd explain magic as psychic powers and treat them interchangeably the way the super hero genre treats everything.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Especially because such a galaxy would also have magic wands.

So you want mechanically distinct, and yet simultaneously generic magitech items that work natively in D&D Beyond.....

Ray Guns can be more like bows that use single use items as ammunition. Ray Guns could be single use items...like finding a bundle of 3 Scorching Ray scrolls....use it 3 times and done.
Take the base items and mod until it feels right for you.

Does DDB has a homebrew option?

Otherwise I will suggest Mongoose Traveller.

 

[Fenris-77]

Anyone know where I can find this?

Ask, and thou shalt receive. All life's little questions should be so easily answered.

 

[jayoungr]

Ask, and thou shalt receive. All life's little questions should be so easily answered.

Fabu! I hadn't seen this. Thanks muchly for the links.

 

[jayoungr]

Also, to the OP:

So, the question I have is, what mechanics can facilitate all this, sticking to mostly stock 5e D&D, with as little homebrew as possible. I want to be able to make characters in dndbeyond for this.

Have you checked out Arcana of the Ancients?

Arcana of the Ancients - Monte Cook Games

There are powers even greater than magic . . . In the misty recesses of time, before the kingdoms and […]

www.montecookgames.com

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Use the DMG stats for SF weapons. You don't absolutely need any new SF Skills though I'd be tempted to have Piloting & Engineering skills. Maybe just add an Engineers' Tools proficiency for repairs and have ship AC modified by pilot Dexterity & Proficiency Bonus, ship to-hit based off gunner ranged attack bonus. For space opera, treating space ships as sea ships makes sense - https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/UA_ShipsSea.pdf

Edit: I'd explain magic as psychic powers and treat them interchangeably the way the super hero genre treats everything.

Great ideas. We probably will treat Vehicles (Sea, Air) as “piloting”, and I wanted to just make Tinker Tools cover most Mechanics type stuff, but I have a co-GM who already hates that SWSE has 1 skill for vehicle mechanics, rigging explosives, building a bridge, and building a better laser gun.
The plan is to just have magic, because it’s a fantasy space opera, and literal space wizards works fine for that.

Also, to the OP:


Have you checked out Arcana of the Ancients?

Arcana of the Ancients - Monte Cook Games

There are powers even greater than magic . . . In the misty recesses of time, before the kingdoms and […]

www.montecookgames.com

I haven’t! I am interested, but my money has been focused on other things lately.

 

[Laurefindel]

My regular group has begun a project to create a galaxy in which we can play a fantasy space opera, inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Flash Gordon, Titan AE, Treasure Planet, and others. We aren’t looking for science fiction hardness, or the ultra-weird or spelljammer, and we aren’t really worried about making sure that everything D&D has a home in the galaxy.

(...)

So, the question I have is, what mechanics can facilitate all this, sticking to mostly stock 5e D&D, with as little homebrew as possible. I want to be able to make characters in dndbeyond for this.

Refluffing does work, and it needs to if you want to stick with most stock 5e D&D as you say. If you need to, Copy-Paste the SRD, search-replace a bunch of key words, make it work for you and your group. Even magic. Especially magic. That's if you want stick with most stock 5e D&D at any case.

After all, as Phillip K. Dick Arthur C. Clarke (gees 'findel) said, "any sufficiently refluffed magic is indistinguishable from technology". Well, kind of...