trancejeremy
Adventurer
To me, d20 Modern's strength is also the reason why I don't like it - its compatibility with D&D. While it's not 100% compatible, they seemingly tried to make d20 Modern character more or less comparable with D&D characters of the same level, in terms of overall competence.
Since modern characters tend to be more skill full (ie more skill points), this means they pretty much nerfed the combat abilities of everyone but strong characters. Which leads to weird things like bodybuilders and martial artists being better in combat with guns than soldiers or gunmen.
And because d20 Modern forces you to multiclass, and pretty much every multiclass has an average or bad BAB progression, this means that the more you multiclass, the worse you are in combat (though since most d20 Modern games probably don't involve 20th level characters, this effect isn't as huge as it would be in D&D)
By not having to be compatible with D&D, Spycraft's classes only have to be balanced with themselves. And so you get soldiers that are actually good at fighting.
Also, while I don't mind them for fantasy, I just can't handle HP for a modern setting. And Spycraft's combat system is much quicker and cleaner than d20 Modern. And I like how it handles guns better, where it actually makes a difference what gun is used.
That said, I found the original Spycraft to be useless for modern games besides the Mission Impossible style espionage game (which it seems to have meant to replicate), because there weren't very many core classes in the original book. Hopefully Spycraft 2.0 will fix this. But this is where d20 Modern has its edge - its classes are more flexible, if IMHO, mechanically broken, d20 wise.
Also, where d20 Modern has an edge is 3rd party support. I have been less than impressed by WOTC's offering, even as toolkits they are very weak compared to say, Gurps books. But the 3rd party support is generally good, though there isn't much of it. Still, Spycraft 2.0 is unlikely to have any (or much) - having heard from 3rd parties who have wanted to support Spycraft in the past, AEG isn't very amenable or eager to have this happen. Guess they feel it's either a waste of their time, or competing with their own products.
Since modern characters tend to be more skill full (ie more skill points), this means they pretty much nerfed the combat abilities of everyone but strong characters. Which leads to weird things like bodybuilders and martial artists being better in combat with guns than soldiers or gunmen.
And because d20 Modern forces you to multiclass, and pretty much every multiclass has an average or bad BAB progression, this means that the more you multiclass, the worse you are in combat (though since most d20 Modern games probably don't involve 20th level characters, this effect isn't as huge as it would be in D&D)
By not having to be compatible with D&D, Spycraft's classes only have to be balanced with themselves. And so you get soldiers that are actually good at fighting.
Also, while I don't mind them for fantasy, I just can't handle HP for a modern setting. And Spycraft's combat system is much quicker and cleaner than d20 Modern. And I like how it handles guns better, where it actually makes a difference what gun is used.
That said, I found the original Spycraft to be useless for modern games besides the Mission Impossible style espionage game (which it seems to have meant to replicate), because there weren't very many core classes in the original book. Hopefully Spycraft 2.0 will fix this. But this is where d20 Modern has its edge - its classes are more flexible, if IMHO, mechanically broken, d20 wise.
Also, where d20 Modern has an edge is 3rd party support. I have been less than impressed by WOTC's offering, even as toolkits they are very weak compared to say, Gurps books. But the 3rd party support is generally good, though there isn't much of it. Still, Spycraft 2.0 is unlikely to have any (or much) - having heard from 3rd parties who have wanted to support Spycraft in the past, AEG isn't very amenable or eager to have this happen. Guess they feel it's either a waste of their time, or competing with their own products.
