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Mr._Blinky
2006-09-10, 10:37 PM
I'm currently working on a sci-fi campaign using a modified version of the d20 Future rule set. The characters are all phsycics in an order called the Arbiters. There are 6 base classes to chooses from, and a few PrCs I'll be working on to show specialist training. Once I have time, I'll post a detailed explanation of the universe and the ideas behind the campaign.

I'll also post a variety of my rules variants and classes. There are going to be a lot of these, so bare with me. The game is going to be run on a modified version of the d20 Future rules, so I some things might need to be explained.

What I'd like is for anyone who is willing to help with balancing out the classes and/or rules variants to post their suggestions. If you don't give a crap about helping me with my set of homebrew rules, fine, but to anyone who has time on their hands, some knowledge of the rules, and some creativity, your help would be much appreciated.

Firstly, a link to the d20 Modern and Future SRDs for those who don't own the books (like me) (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/msrd).

And secondly, I'll be posting the first of my homebrew base classes.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-10, 10:37 PM
Some things you need to know about the campaign:

Firstly, you'll probably notice that the base classes are going to be a little overpowered. Don't worry it's not just you, they're supposed to be. The normal d20 Modern and Future classes are going to be used compared to them in a relationship similar to that of PC and NPC classes in D&D. The Arbiters will likely be a fair bit more powerful on a level for level basis than many enemies, but as psychically augmented super-soldiers, what else would you expect?

Secondly, in the Dreadnaught entry, you might see a mention of "Wounds". What the crap are those? In the Arbiters campaign there will be no HP. We are instead using the Injury System from Unearthed Arcana (though the word injury is being replaced with wound). The Variant can be found here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/injury.htm).

Third, while there are psionic abilities, there are no psi points like in D&D. Instead, you can use abilities by expending a certain number of psionic focuses. Also unlike in D&D, you can gain more than one psionic focus, though there is a limit depending on your class and level. The first focus takes the normal DC 20 concentration check to make, but for every additional one after that, the DC is upped by +5. So the first is DC 20, the second is DC 25, the third is DC 30, etc.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-10, 10:38 PM
The Dreadnought
The Dreadnought is the Order of Arbiters elite soldier. Dreadnoughts are those picked for the toughest jobs, that require combat skill, toughness, and an incredible urge to survive. A Dreadnought is a fearsome opponent, often killing dozens of enemies while ignoring what would be fatal wounds to a normal human.

BAB: Full
Fortitude: Good
Reflex: Poor
Will: Poor

Class Abilities:
1. Bonus feat, Stability, Psionic Focus 1
2. Planetary Adaptation (Heavy-G)
3.
4. Bonus Feat
5. Ignore Wound 1, Squad Tactics
6. Advanced Armor Training (Medium)
7. Strong Arm (x2)
8. Bonus Feat, Psionic Focus 2
9. Armored Ease 2
10. Ignore Wound 2, Powerful Build
11. Strong Arm (x3)
12. Bonus Feat
13. Advanced Armor Training (Heavy)
14. Armored Ease 4
15. Ignore Wound 3
16. Bonus Feat, Psionic Focus 3
17. Strong Arm (x4)
18. Advanced Armor Training (Powered)
19. Superior Squad Tactics
20. Bonus Feat, Ignore Wound 4, Juggernaut

Skills Points: 4 + Int modifier
Class Skills: Climb, Craft (Structural), Demolitions, Diplomacy, Drive, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering), Knowledge (Tactics), Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spot, Swim, Treat Injury

Proficiencies:
Dreadnoughts are proficient with all armors, including super heavy armors, though not exotic armors. They are proficient with Handguns, Long-arms, and two heavy weapons of their choice. Also, they are proficient with Simple and Archaic melee weapons, as well as Chain Weapons.


Psionic Focus:
At 1st level, a Dreadnaught may gain a maximum of one psionic focus. He can gain an additional focus for every 8 class levels he possesses. For every additional focus beyond the first, the concentration DC is raised by +5.

Bonus Feat List:
Advanced Combat Martial Arts, Advanced Firearms Proficiency, Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting, Armor Proficiency (powered), Athletic, Brawl, Burst Fire, Cautious, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Martial Arts, Combat Reflexes, Deep Impact [Psionic], Dodge, Endurance, Exotic Melee Weapon Proficiency, Fell Shot [Psionic], Frightful Presence, Great Cleave, Greater Psionic Weapon [Psionic], Greater Psionic Shot [Psionic],Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization, Heavy Weapons Proficiency, Improved Brawl, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Combat Martial Arts, Improved Combat Throw, Improved Disarm, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Psionic Shot [Psionic], Psionic Weapon [Psionic], Return Shot [Psionic], Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Wounding Attack [Psionic], Spring Attack, Strafe, Streetfighting, Sunder, Two-Weapon Fighting, Ultra Immune System, Zero-G Training.

Stability:
A Dreadnought gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).

Planetary Adaptation (High-G World):
The Dreadnought gains Planetary Adaptation (High-G World) as a bonus feat at 2nd level.

Ignore Wound:
The Dreadnought has extraordinary resilience. At 5th level, the Dreadnought suffers no penalty to fortitude saves from the first wound he suffers. Once he has taken more than one wound, he suffers penalties normally (though still ignoring the -1 from the first wound). This increases to 2 wounds at 10th level, 3 at 15th, and 4 at 20th.

Squad Tactics:
Dreadnoughts have incredible skill at squad tactics. Starting at 5th level all of the Dreadnought’s allies (including himself) within 30 ft. add the Dreadnought’s intelligence modifier to initiative checks..

Advanced Armor Training:
At 6th level and higher, the Dreadnought no longer takes any movement penalty from wearing medium and lighter armors. In addition, they suffer no penalty on saves in hot weather due to medium armors, and suffer no penalty from sleeping in medium armor. This extends to heavy armors at 13th level, and super heavy armors at 17th level.

Strong Arm:
Starting at 7th level, the Dreadnought may use his strength modifier on attack rolls with thrown weapons rather than his dexterity bonus. In addition, he may expend a psionic focus as a swift action to double the range increment of thrown weapons for one round. This range increment bonus increases to x3 at 11th level, and x4 at 17th level.

Armored Ease:
At 9th level and higher, the Dreadnought ignores up to 2 points of armor check penalty. This increases to 4 at 14th level.

Powerful Build:
Whenever the Dreadnought receives a modifier based on his size on an opposed roll (such as during grapple and bull rush attempts), he is treated as Large if that's advantageous to him. He are also considered to be Large when determining whether a monster's special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) affect him. A Dreadnought treats all weapons as one size category smaller for purposes of determining whether or not he can wield them in one hand and if they are considered light weapons.

Superior Squad Tactics:
At 19th level, the Dreadnaughts skill at small units combat has risen to brilliancy. All allies within 30 ft. (including the Dreadnaught) apply the Dreadnaughts Intelligence modifier as a bonus to attack rolls while flanking. This bonus stacks with the normal +2 given to flanking attackers.

Juggernaut:
At 20th level, a Dreadnought’s psychic conditioning has made him a nigh unstoppable engine of destruction. He may expend 2 Psionic Focuses in order to receive a +10 bonus to Strength and Constitution for a number of rounds equal to 3+Int. modifier. However, doing so is extremely stressful on the Dreadnought’s body, and he becomes Exhausted once the duration ends. If he attempts to use the Juggernaut ability again while Exhausted, he takes a -4 penalty to constitution (no save). He suffers this constitution penalty each additional time he uses the ability before recovering from both the Exhaustion and all previous constitution penalties. If a Dreadnought uses the ability when he is already Fatigued, he makes a DC 25 fortitude save or he takes the constitution damage, and his condition drops to Exhausted (no save). If his constitution reaches 0, he dies. The constitution penalty may only be recovered after 1 hour of uninterrupted rest per point of constitution penalty. He must recover from the constitution penalty before he may begin to recover from Exhaustion and Fatigue. The Dreadnaught may choose to spend a third Psionic Focus on this ability, which will reduce the Exhaustion to Fatigue, but this use of the ability leaves the Dreadnought Dazed for 1 round once the Juggernaught ends.
____________________
Changes to come:
I'll be adding more things for which you can use your Psionic Focus. I'll likely weaken the class a bit, maybe by removing Armored Ease, or by making more stuff require expending your psionic focus.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-11, 12:06 AM
Coming soon:
The Hunter
Hunter's are assassins, plain and simple. They've been genetically modified to be the perfect hunters, with there senses heightened to super-human levels. Their skill at stealth is almost unmatched, as is their ability to kill. They leave no trail except for one of bodies, and to be stalked by a Hunter is to be stalked by one of the deadliest killing machines in human history. Genetic modifications have left them feral beings of incredible cruelty and bloodlust, tormenting their prey in a manner similar to the way a cat torments a mouse.

BAB: Full
Fortitude: Good
Reflex: Good
Will: Poor

1. Sneak Attack +1d6, Track, PsiFocus 1
2. Darkworld Training
3. Sneak Attack +2d6, Fast Movement +10
4. Scent, Poison Use
5. Sneak Attack +4d6
6. Uncanny Dodge
7. Sneak Attack +4d6
8. Stealthy Movement, SciFocus 2
9. Sneak Attack +5d6
10. Death Attack
11. Sneak Attack +6d6
12. Momentum
13. Sneak Attack +7d6
14. Improved Uncanny Dodge
15. Sneak Attack +8d6, Immune to Surprise
16. Fast Movement +20, PsiFocus 3
17. Sneak Attack +9d6
18.
19. Sneak Attack +10d6
20. Predator

Track:
The Hunter gains Track as a bonus feat at 1st level.

Sneak Attack:
As Rogue ability, see Players Handbook.

Darkworld Training:
The Hunter gains Planetary Adaptation (Darkworld) at 2nd level.

Fast Movement:
At 3rd level, when wearing light or no armor, the Hunter gains a +10 racial bonus to his movement speed. The Hunter may spend Psionic Focuses on this ability as a swift action, and each spent focus will increase his movement speed by +5 feet for one minute.

Scent:
At 4th level, the Hunter gains the Scent extraordinary ability.

Poison Use:
See Assassin ability, DMG.

Uncanny Dodge:
As Rogue ability, see PHB.

Stealthy Movement:
A Hunter can remain quite and hidden even while mobile. Beginning at 8th level, The Hunter no longer takes a penalty to Hide and Move Silently checks while moving at normal speed, and only takes a -10 penalty on those checks while running or charging (rather than the normal -20). He may spend two Psionic Focuses on this abiity as a move swift action, to eliminate the -10 penalty on Hide and Move Silently checks while running or charging for one minute.

Death Attack:
Same as Assassin ability, see DMG. DC is 10+1/2 level+Int. Modifier. The Hunter may spend up to one Psionic Focus on this abilty as a swift action, which reduces the time necessary to study the Hunters opponent from three rounds to two.

Momentum:
At 12th level, for every round beyond the first that the Hunter is in combat, be gains a cumulative +1 bonus to his Initiative count, up to a maximum of 1/2 his level. If the Hunter's new Initiative exceeds the Initiative of a creature who previously took it's turn first, the Hunter now moves ahead in the Initiative order. Once combat has ended (when their are no more enemies in sight), this bonus dissapears at a rate of +1 per round. The Hunter may after combat choose to spend Psionic Focuses on this ability as a swift action, which will allow the bonus to apply for an additional minute for each Focus spent.

Improved Uncanny Dodge:
See Rogue ability, PHB.

Immune to Surprise:
At 15th level, the Hunter is immune to surprise. During any surprise round, the Hunter may take actions. If there is no surprise round, such as if both the Hunter and his opponents become aware of each other at the same time, the Hunter gains no extra actions.

Predator: NEED HELP AND IDEAS FOR A GOOD LEVEL TWENTY ABILITY ON PAR WITH THE WRAITH AND JUGGERNAUGHT ABILITIES PLEASE!!!!!! Preferably one that uses Psionic Focuses to at least some extent.
______________
Coming Soon: Predator ability, and a few other minor modifications.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-16, 11:10 PM
The Shade
Shades are creatures of the darkness, the perfect infiltrators. Their skill at stealth is unmatched by any. They can seem to dissapear into thin air, and stories tell that they can bend the shadows themselves to their will, cloaking themselves in a darkness so thick nothing can penetrate it.

BAB: 3/4
Reflex: Good
Will: Poor
Fortitude: Poor

1. Weapon Finesse, Sudden Strike +1d6, Find the Weak Spot, Stealthy, PsiFocus 1
2. Agile Athletics, Planetary Adaptation
3. Evasion, Dodge
4. Stealthy Movement, Fast Movement
5. Shadowy Aura (5%), Sudden Strike +2d6
6. Mobility, PsiFocus 2
7. Shadow Vision
8. Speed Climb
9. Improved Evasion
10. Hide in Plain Sight, Shadowy Aura (10%), Sudden Strike +3d6
11. Special Ability
12. Psifocus 3
13.
14. Special Ability
15. Cloaked Mind, Shadowy Aura (15%),Sudden Strike +4d6
16.
17. Special Ability
18. PsiFocus 4
19.
20. Wraith, Shadowy Aura (20%), Special Ability, Sudden Strike +5d6


Class Skills: The Shade’s class skills are Balance, Bluff, Climb, Computer Use, Concentration, Craft (Chemical, Electronic), Demolitions, Disable Device, Disguise, Drive, Escape Artist, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Investigate, Jump, Knowledge (Behavioral sciences, Civics, History, Streetwise, Technology), Listen, Move Silently, Pilot, Repair, Research, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, and Tumble.
Skill Points: 9+Intelligence Bonus (or 4x that for a first level character)

Weapons and Armor: Shades are proficient with all simple and archaic weapons, as well as pistols, long arms, and the Katana.

Class Features:

Weapon Finesse (ex):
As the Feat, and it works with the Katana

Sudden Strike (ex):
As ninja ability, see Complete Adventurer.

Fast Movement (ex):
A Shade’s land speed is faster than the norm for his race by +10 feet. This benefit applies only when he is wearing no armor or light armor, and not carrying a medium or heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the shade’s speed because of any load carried or armor worn.

Find the Weak Spot (ex):
The Shade adds his Intelligence bonus to all damage rolls, to a maximum of his class level.

Stealthy (ex):
The Shade adds 1/2 his class level to Hide and Move Silently checks.

PsiFocus (ex):
At First level, the Shade gets one Psionic Focus, which can be used to activate certain class features. At 5th lvl, and every 5 levels after that, he gets another psionic focus.

Agile Athletics (ex):
the Shade adds his dexterity (instead of strength) to climb and jump checks)

Planetary Adaptation (ex):
The Shade gets Planetary Adaptation (Low-Grav World) as a bonus feat

Evasion (ex):
As the rogue ability.

Dodge (ex):
As the feat.

Stealthy Movement:
The Shade can use Hide or Move Silently at full speed without penalty, and they only take a -10 penalty (instead of -20) to such checks when running, charging, or attacking (including sniping).

Shadowy Aura (su):
The Shade gets a 5% miss chance (which stacks with the normal miss chance granted by concealment), in areas of shadowy illumination. This miss chance increases by 5% every 5 levels, up to 20% at 20th level. Also, every 10 minutes the shade spends in one area (or moving at a speed of less than 5ft/round), the brightness level decreases by 1 segment (from bright to shadowy, from shadowy to dark) in a radius of 5/ft per class level. This change is gradual, and if he moves more than 5ft/round, it shifts gradually back at the same speed. Additionally, he can spend 1 PsiFocus as a full-round action to lower the brightness level by one in a radius of 5ft/Shade lvl in a fixed area or object. This lasts 1min/level. The Shade can see through his own darkness normally.

Mobility (ex):
As the feat

Shadow Vision:
The Shade can see through all types of shadow or darkness normally, including the shadowy aura of other shades.

Speed Climb:
As the ninja ability.

Improved evasion:
as the rogue ability

Hide in Plain Sight:
As ranger ability

Special Ability:
On attaining 11th level, and at every three levels thereafter (14th, 17th, and 20th), a shade gains a special ability of his choice from among the following options (in italics).
Bleeding Wound (ex):
Whenever a shade with this ability makes a successful sudden strike with a slashing or piercing weapon, the wound it causes continues to bleed at a rate of 2hp per wound per round, which stacks with other wounding abilities. The bleeding can be halted with a Treat Injury check (DC 15). This check only stops the extra damage from one wound.
Defensive Roll (ex):
The Shade can roll with a potentially lethal blow to take less damage from it than he otherwise would. By spending a PsiFocus, when he would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), the shade can attempt to roll with the damage. To use this ability, the Shade must attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC = damage dealt). If the save succeeds, she takes only half damage from the blow; if it fails, she takes full damage. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll—if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, she can’t use this ability. Since this effect would not normally allow a character to make a Reflex save for half damage, the rogue’s evasion ability does not apply to the defensive roll.
Opportunist (ex):
Once per round, the shade can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as the shade’s attack of opportunity for that round. Even a shade with the Combat Reflexes feat can’t use the opportunist ability more than once per round.
Skill Mastery (ex):
The shade becomes so certain in the use of certain skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions. Upon gaining this ability, he selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, he may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent him from doing so. A shade may gain this special ability multiple times, selecting additional skills for it to apply to each time.
Feat (ex):
A rogue may gain a bonus feat in place of a special ability.
Blind Spot (Ps):
The shade can use this ability by expending a PsiFocus. While in effect, the shade can attempt to make himself completely undetectable to any single creature as if manifesting the cloud mind power with a manifester level equal to his shade level. If the target creature fails its save, shade can remain hidden as long as he maintains concentration on this ability. The Save DC is Intelligence based.
Decoy (Ps):
By spending a PsiFocus, the Shade can create an illusionary duplicate of himself. The illusion functions as a project image spell with a caster level equal to his Shade level, except that it lasts as long as he maintains concentration, to a maximum of 1 round per caster level.

Cloaked Mind (su):
While in dark or low-light conditions, the Shade is rendered undetectable by all attempts to psionically detect their presence. Also, they acheive a +6 on Will saves against mind effects while in total darkness.

Wraith (su):
The Shade becomes the ultimate being of darkness. A Shade gains the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door (as the D&D spell) up to his movement speed as a move action. The limitation is that the transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. He may expend one of his psionic focuses to instead teleport a distance equal to his run speed. Alternatively, he may spend two psionic focuses to teleport up to his move speed in an area of shadowy illumination as a swift action. Lastly, he may spend one psionic focus as a swift action to become ethereal for two rounds.
___________
Changes to come. Some heavy modificatations to class abilities, toning down some, beafing others. The class is a little front loaded right now, so that needs some work.

Macrovore
2006-09-16, 11:21 PM
I love the shade class. it's perfect, underpowered, even. kick the SS up to 1d6/2 lvls.

and you forgot to credit me for making the FREAKING CLASS.

but seriously. it all looks really good. POST HERE PEOPLE!!!

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-16, 11:32 PM
I love the shade class. it's perfect, underpowered, even. kick the SS up to 1d6/2 lvls.

and you forgot to credit me for making the FREAKING CLASS.

but seriously. it all looks really good. POST HERE PEOPLE!!!

Wow, that was subtle man. REAL subtle. And yes, I will edit the class. And yes, you did right it, though there are some stupid errors. For example, the progression for Sudden Strike isn't every 4 levels, which is what you sent me, but every 5. Yes it's been fixed.

As you can, see I've changed the format so it'll work here. I'll right in the BAB and saves serperately.

The Shadow Perfection ability and Shadow Aura are the main ones I'm going to work on. Both are kinda' overpowered.

Macrovore
2006-09-17, 12:35 AM
they're not overpowered. both of them are what you told me what they should have been.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-17, 12:46 AM
they're not overpowered. both of them are what you told me what they should have been.

Now they're not. I made some slight modifications. Most of the problems were just honest mistakes you made in your writing. I dumbed down the Shadow Aura and Shadow Perfection abilities a bit. I'm going to make a few things more powerful though, the point being that some of the abilities in the old write-up were too powerful and some weren't powerful enough.

Macrovore
2006-09-17, 12:51 AM
how did you change shadowy aura?

SilveryCord
2006-09-17, 08:43 AM
I love it.

Macrovore
2006-09-17, 09:44 AM
elaborate, please. what do you love about my awesome shade class? is it because I designed it?

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-17, 12:55 PM
how did you change shadowy aura?

Bumped the start from 10% to 5%. Might not sound like a lot, but it is. The concealment also only works in areas of shadowy illumination, which makes sense, and remember that after a little while you can make the area shadowy youself. I might also give it the ability to cast the equivalent of the Darkness spell for one or two Foci.

Macrovore
2006-09-17, 03:18 PM
that's what the ability to lower the brightness level is, but the shade ability works in areas that are already shadowy.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-17, 04:23 PM
that's what the ability to lower the brightness level is, but the shade ability works in areas that are already shadowy.

Yeah, but just making sure no one thought that no one thought the miss chance worked in areas of illumination.

Over all though, I think you did a pretty good write-up. My main problem right now is deciding on a final idea of what the Hunter's Perfect Predator ability does.

Macrovore
2006-09-17, 08:55 PM
blindsense, +2 save DC to death attack, and 1337 awesomness.

why is the shade still front-loaded?

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-17, 10:30 PM
blindsense, +2 save DC to death attack, and 1337 awesomness.

why is the shade still front-loaded?

If you look at it, it gets a crap-load of abilities early on, but the number of new ones sort of slows down once you get about half-way through.

Macrovore
2006-09-17, 11:50 PM
that's what the special abilities are for. it's just like the rogue in that aspect.

Sir_Dude
2006-09-19, 02:46 PM
Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into these classes, making them unique and all.

What I'm wondering about is the technology. It is supposed to be a sci fi, and although psychiness is very useful, sci fi isn't so much sci fi without tech. Also having looked at d20 future myself I find it often lacking in this department, especially with the approx. 4 weapons per progress era thing it has going. I'd love to see what you've got in this area.

Macrovore
2006-09-19, 05:41 PM
think approximate tech level of firefly, with the super-soldier stuff of Halo, with the [other stuff] of star wars/trek. back me up, here blinky.

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-19, 06:34 PM
Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into these classes, making them unique and all.

What I'm wondering about is the technology. It is supposed to be a sci fi, and although psychiness is very useful, sci fi isn't so much sci fi without tech. Also having looked at d20 future myself I find it often lacking in this department, especially with the approx. 4 weapons per progress era thing it has going. I'd love to see what you've got in this area.

Except for a maybe one or two alien races, there's no lasers. Never liked shooting rays at people, so that's one thing you should understand quickly.

If you want to know the tech level, that's a little more complicated. Essentially, the human race is at around the tech level you'de find in say, Battlestar Galactica or maybe Firefly. Main other difference is the fact that there is no gravitic controls, so if you're in space, you're in free fall. Well, that's as far as most humans know. The complicated part is that the Order of Arbiters actually has marginally better tech, which most people don't know about. Most of that new tech is actually directly powered by psychic energy, such as the armor the PCs will be using.

In summary, it's guns, not phasers, but the PCs will get some fun toys. Like the Dreadnought with a gauss rifle for instance. And plasma grenades at higher levels.

Sir_Dude
2006-09-19, 07:35 PM
Gotcha. Since you seem to be going heavily into the balistics weapons, how are you handling automatics?

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-19, 07:58 PM
Gotcha. Since you seem to be going heavily into the balistics weapons, how are you handling automatics?

There is the normal d20 modern method, and a targeted full-auto that I'll post once I have time. Simply put, the targeted version is hard to hit with, but will utterly waste someone if it does.

Sir_Dude
2006-09-20, 12:41 AM
Sounds good. Never been satisified with d20s burst fire rules myself. I don't believe it requires 13 wisdom and a feat to find the little switch on the side of the gun that sets it to 3 round burst. I'll be interested to see how that mechanic works out for you.

So reading over your classes there are three things I notice.

First is that the hunter needs some work. Full base attack bonus +sneak attack is powerful indeed, but it seems like you are shooting for each of the classes to have a number of esoteric psychic abilites which they seem to lack. Honestly, I'd say that it would be worth reducing some of possibly their sneak attack ability in exchange for more specials oriented around a distinctive style of combat. My experiance with this kind of setting is that sneak attack recieve minimal use anyway, with often the most effective means of combat being ranged weapons.

Secondly, I notice that you have nothing in place for what this predator ability should look like, and now I'm curious about it.

Lastly, the class list feels somewhat limited at this point. I don't see any caster-type or telepath based classes. Now of course I don't know what you had in mind about this setting, but it seems mental powers often involve a flashy bit of mind reading and telekinesis.

Macrovore
2006-09-20, 06:02 PM
there will be. first there is the warlock (or whatever you are calling it now), who can eventually posess people, and do a bunch of other fun psychic things (like telekinesis). He can actually locate, identify, and communicate with people by their mental signatures.

And then there is the Reaver. Not like the reavers in fire-fly, but like monk-scouts with a rage-like state (think River Tam)

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-20, 08:01 PM
Sounds good. Never been satisified with d20s burst fire rules myself. I don't believe it requires 13 wisdom and a feat to find the little switch on the side of the gun that sets it to 3 round burst. I'll be interested to see how that mechanic works out for you.

So reading over your classes there are three things I notice.

First is that the hunter needs some work. Full base attack bonus +sneak attack is powerful indeed, but it seems like you are shooting for each of the classes to have a number of esoteric psychic abilites which they seem to lack. Honestly, I'd say that it would be worth reducing some of possibly their sneak attack ability in exchange for more specials oriented around a distinctive style of combat. My experiance with this kind of setting is that sneak attack recieve minimal use anyway, with often the most effective means of combat being ranged weapons.

Secondly, I notice that you have nothing in place for what this predator ability should look like, and now I'm curious about it.

Lastly, the class list feels somewhat limited at this point. I don't see any caster-type or telepath based classes. Now of course I don't know what you had in mind about this setting, but it seems mental powers often involve a flashy bit of mind reading and telekinesis.

As Macrovore said, these are the first three of six classes to come. The next I'll probably be working on is the Warlock, which runs by basically the same mechanics as the D&D Warlock, except the abilties are better, they require Psionic Focuses to use, and they can do lot's of fun things like possess people, or flay them alive. Oh yeah, and they're completely crazy, literally.

Next is the Savant, which is essentially the support/engineer class. They're really good with technology, especially vehicles. They can also modify their own equipment pretty easily, as well as do piloting. At later levels they can mentally link themselves to ships and vehicles for remote control.

As for the last class, we have the Reaver. These guys are the crazy fast and deadly melee fighters (think River Tam from Serenity). They can wield pretty much any close range weapon you can imagine, but they focus primarily on a weapon called a psi-blade (think Protoss Zealots from Star Craft). They're basically a mix of monk/soulknife/barbarian.

As for the Hunter, we originally had given them combat styles like the ranger, but decided with five bonus feats (including Track and Darkworld Training), full Sneak Attack Progression, full BAB, and two good saves, they were getting way to powerful. And they're primarily supposed to be assassins, especially favoring sniper rifles, so we decided to get rid of the combat styles. One option that I can think of is adding in the combat styles and dropping the Sneak Attack progression a bit, in which case I'd probably end up modifying the Shade to give it full Sudden Strike at the cost of a bunch of other stuff.

As for your complaints about the lack of telepathy, ALL of the classes are Empathic, though they can spend Focuses to ramp it up to Telepathy for a lttle while. Warlocks are Telepathic at all times, with a range of I believe 20 ft./level. And Reavers are mildly prescient, which allows them to avoid a lot of attacks.

Sir_Dude
2006-09-20, 08:54 PM
One thing to keep in mind with the Hunter though, is that if you want them to use sneak attack and sniper rifles, the base rules for sneak attack specify that such added damage can only be done within 30ft. Which gives me really funny sniper images of someone in the bush 30ft away and zoming in on their target's nose hairs. One other thing about the hunter. As unique as the momentum ability is, and kudos for that, I see this as becoming a logistics pain for the DM to run battles where the turn order keeps changing. Not a huge issue, but just a thought. I would cross reference this class with ranger and compare the amount of abilites each gets, because you've given it a number of abilties which become very useful in limited circumstances. Although I will admit that death attack is the exception to this, that's a very powerful ability to hand out in a base class.

So based off of the name, does this predator ability have anything to do with stalking a target, or do you not know yet what you intend to do with it?

Is this empathy implied with being an arbieter or is it a feat? I didn't know about it because it wasn't in the material you had mentioned.

And I must say... now that you've given me an image of what reaver looks like (something like the ass-kicking incarnation of River), I'm very interested in how that turns out. Is this psi blade supposed to be the exact equivalent of the soulknife or it is another one of those psionicly reactive technologies you mentioned previously.

Macrovore
2006-09-20, 09:44 PM
One thing to keep in mind with the Hunter though, is that if you want them to use sneak attack and sniper rifles, the base rules for sneak attack specify that such added damage can only be done within 30ft. Which gives me really funny sniper images of someone in the bush 30ft away and zoming in on their target's nose hairs.

Is this empathy implied with being an arbieter or is it a feat? I didn't know about it because it wasn't in the material you had mentioned.

And I must say... now that you've given me an image of what reaver looks like (something like the ass-kicking incarnation of River), I'm very interested in how that turns out. Is this psi blade supposed to be the exact equivalent of the soulknife or it is another one of those psionicly reactive technologies you mentioned previously.

The range for the sneak attack will probably be increased somewhat.

the empathy is due to psychic hormones injected into select 13-year-olds. The problem with this is that the telepathy slowly drives the psy-teens insane. THis is halted, or at least slowed by psycho-nullifiers implanted into their temples, which allow them to "turn off" their telepathy. Warlocks and Reavers do not have them, as they would inhibit their raw emotion and abilities.

You might have to wait on the reaver, though. Out of all of the classes, the reaver is probably the least fleshed-out one (followed by the savant, then the warlock).

Mr._Blinky
2006-09-20, 09:48 PM
One thing to keep in mind with the Hunter though, is that if you want them to use sneak attack and sniper rifles, the base rules for sneak attack specify that such added damage can only be done within 30ft. Which gives me really funny sniper images of someone in the bush 30ft away and zoming in on their target's nose hairs. One other thing about the hunter. As unique as the momentum ability is, and kudos for that, I see this as becoming a logistics pain for the DM to run battles where the turn order keeps changing. Not a huge issue, but just a thought. I would cross reference this class with ranger and compare the amount of abilites each gets, because you've given it a number of abilties which become very useful in limited circumstances. Although I will admit that death attack is the exception to this, that's a very powerful ability to hand out in a base class.

So based off of the name, does this predator ability have anything to do with stalking a target, or do you not know yet what you intend to do with it?

Is this empathy implied with being an arbieter or is it a feat? I didn't know about it because it wasn't in the material you had mentioned.

And I must say... now that you've given me an image of what reaver looks like (something like the ass-kicking incarnation of River), I'm very interested in how that turns out. Is this psi blade supposed to be the exact equivalent of the soulknife or it is another one of those psionicly reactive technologies you mentioned previously.

Firstly, sniper rifles are heavily modified. Scoped weapons like snipers and certain other rifles allow you to deliver sneak attacks and death attacks from a range, though the damage decreases by one die per 30 ft. for sneak attacks, and the DC goes down by one for death attacks. Also, remember they get death attack at tenth level, which is IIRC four levels after an assassin/rogue can get it.

As for Momentum, it really isn't that hard to do, since the only person changing initiative order is the Hunter. So long as you keep track of him, everything should go smoothly. Besides, I'll be DMing, so any hassle is placed on me.

Empathy is more like a racial ability. The PCs also get to roll 1d6 three times, and add each of them to an ability score (no more than one to the same ability), one of which must be intelligence. The idea is to show how the psychics are more powerful than regular humans. And yes, I know that is powerful, but I see it as justification to just throw tougher challenges at them. My PCs know first hand that I don't do wimpy fights, so I may as well give them a chance of winning, you know? ;)

For the Predator ability, I've had several ideas I've been toying with. First is to make it a kind of fear effect, so that whenever the opponent first spots the Hunter, they have to make a Will save vs. Panic. Then I've got abilties that focus on specific targets, such as choosing one target to stalk and getting crazy bonuses against them (though this is less likely). A third is a Dex., Initiative, and Speed boost similar to the Dreadnought's Juggernaught ability. Lastly, I had the idea to make it so that in any given encounter, the more enemies they killed, their blood-lust would rise and they'd become even more deadly (think attack and damage boosts for every killed enemy).

Lastly, the psi-blades for the Reaver. Any psionic character can use one, but Reavers can do extra fun tricks with them, like overchanneling them (spending Focuses to ramp up the damage), and making them ignore armor. Also, Reavers often dual-wield their psi-blades, and they can get some crazy damage out doing that. Another cool ability of Reavers (probably their 10th level one) is Perfect Self. The Reaver can spend as many Focuses as they have to give themselves a +2 to all physical ability scores for every focus spent, for a number of rounds equal to 3+ Focuses spent.

Sir_Dude
2006-09-21, 04:37 AM
Lastly, the psi-blades for the Reaver. Any psionic character can use one, but Reavers can do extra fun tricks with them, like overchanneling them (spending Focuses to ramp up the damage), and making them ignore armor. Also, Reavers often dual-wield their psi-blades, and they can get some crazy damage out doing that. Another cool ability of Reavers (probably their 10th level one) is Perfect Self. The Reaver can spend as many Focuses as they have to give themselves a +2 to all physical ability scores for every focus spent, for a number of rounds equal to 3+ Focuses spent.

drool...

All sounds very cool. Don't have much else to say about the existing classes as of right now that hasn't already been said.

Macrovore
2006-09-30, 04:30 PM
<bump>
but seriously, blinky. we really need to finish these classes so we can start on the game.