d20 Modern 5e

[FilthyLucre]

How would you (DMs) go about creating classes that fit into "d20 Modern"? That is to say, classes that fit nonfantasy genres such as pulp, modern, noir, etc. While retaining the skeletal mechanics of of 5e would you create classes that are more akin to the 3.5 advanced classes and totally eschew the ability type classes or would you keep the strong, fast, smart, etc hero classes? Keep them at 10 like they used to be to encourage multi classing?

d20 Modern was, IMO, a greatly underappreciated source book for 3.5 and I'd love to bring that to 5e. Please do not refer me to the unearthed arcana article as it doesn't really have to do with nonfantasy genres so much as it does bringing fantasy to a contemporary time period.

[Steampunkette]

I'd find out what your players want their characters to be, to play like, then build around those suggestions.

Wizards went with the generic classes because they were trying to have the maximum quantity of applicability. You don't need that.

For actual classes that cover a lot of ground? Use the Fighter as is, the rogue as is, the monk as is. Just don't let people use the magical subclasses (Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, Etc)

The Mystic, if narrowed down to a single path (Kill most of the Disciplines outside of that path) would work great as a chassis for a Psychic/Psionic character if you stray far enough into sci-fi.

Alternatively, use the Mystic as-is for a nice Superhero game. (Think X-Men rather than Superman for power levels)

[FilthyLucre]

Also, don't point me in the direction of ultra modern 5 - I think that those classes are hilariously over powered compared to PHB 5e classes. This thread is specifically asking how to go about re-creating or re-imagining d20 modern with 5e rules with the intent of creating classes that are on par/balanced with the core of 5e

[FilthyLucre]

I'd find out what your players want their characters to be, to play like, then build around those suggestions.

Wizards went with the generic classes because they were trying to have the maximum quantity of applicability. You don't need that.

For actual classes that cover a lot of ground? Use the Fighter as is, the rogue as is, the monk as is. Just don't let people use the magical subclasses (Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, Etc)

The Mystic, if narrowed down to a single path (Kill most of the Disciplines outside of that path) would work great as a chassis for a Psychic/Psionic character if you stray far enough into sci-fi.

Alternatively, use the Mystic as-is for a nice Superhero game. (Think X-Men rather than Superman for power levels)

I'm asking more as a general idea/complete kit rather than modeling it for a real group of players. Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian, Ranger, and Monk all work and just need some re-flavoring but old d20 modern classes such as field medic, techie, etc don't seem to fit into any of those classes as is.

[Steampunkette]

I'm asking more as a general idea/complete kit rather than modeling it for a real group of players. Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian, Ranger, and Monk all work and just need some re-flavoring but old d20 modern classes such as field medic, techie, etc don't seem to fit into any of those classes as is.

The Unearthed Arcana Artificer's -ALCHEMIST- tree could kind of work for Field Medic/Techie/Mad Scientist.

Throwing explosives, using carefully portioned acid, pulling out antidotes or antibiotics... Even have a once per person per long rest healing potion that could be recontextualized into a powerful stimulant.

The Rogue can handle being a techie, with all the skill use they get. Just replace an ability here or there to allow space for it if you want it to be combat-techy type stuff. Or the Alchemist since they build a Robot Companion.

The Mystic (As much as I hate to go back to it with your comment on Unearthed Arcana) could work as-is as a chassis for building more esoteric concepts on it. Like a tech-head "Awakened" mystic using their object-reading as "Scanning some evidence" for information with some neat gadget. Just skip out on psychic-damage attacks and RP all other Discipline use as tech-gadgets you're expending literal rather than psychic power on. Like electricity. Run out of Power Points and you need to get a charger. :P

[Vogonjeltz]

I'd find out what your players want their characters to be, to play like, then build around those suggestions.

Wizards went with the generic classes because they were trying to have the maximum quantity of applicability. You don't need that.

For actual classes that cover a lot of ground? Use the Fighter as is, the rogue as is, the monk as is. Just don't let people use the magical subclasses (Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, Etc)

The Mystic, if narrowed down to a single path (Kill most of the Disciplines outside of that path) would work great as a chassis for a Psychic/Psionic character if you stray far enough into sci-fi.

Alternatively, use the Mystic as-is for a nice Superhero game. (Think X-Men rather than Superman for power levels)

I think you could get away with magic as its intended to be a cosmic force, so it would involve research and experimentation, probably stealing research from others involved in similar discovery.

[FilthyLucre]

I think you could get away with magic as its intended to be a cosmic force, so it would involve research and experimentation, probably stealing research from others involved in similar discovery.

I was really looking for help taking 3.5 d20 modern and adapting it to 5e, not creating some new IP or idea.

[FilthyLucre]

So, while it seems pretty obvious that d20 Modern is not popular at all (by the number of responses to this thread), I've put more thought into how to go about it in 5e:


Completely eliminate the attribute classes (strong hero, fast hero, etc). While the encouraged multiclassing and generality is a cool point in 3.5 I don't think it translates well into the way 5e handles things, instead...
Advanced Classes become the new base classes. Fortunately, to re-create all the d20 modern advanced classes you don't need to do too much work

Fighter remains virtually unchanged, maybe add or tweak maneuvers that cater more to the use of modern weapons. For a non-magical campaign Eldritch Knight is simply not an option.
Rogue remains virtually unchanged. Thief, Assassin, and the Unearthed Arcana Inquisitive capture the essence of the infiltrator and investigator classes.
Barbarian doesn't really fit in a "modern" game but for a d20 Past game it works perfectly as is for a "noble savage" type character.
Ranger needs some tweaking. Apply the "spelless ranger" and "ranger revised" Unearthed Arcana's and you've got a great explorer, tracker, or even sniper type character class.
Monk works perfectly as is, depending on how "kung fu" you want your monk to be. By replacing their ability to use "invisibility" and "astral projection" for "see invisibility" and "foresight"
and you've got a plausible, albeit height-of-human-abilities, martial artist.
Certain classes would need to be tweaked a lot more to achieve the look and play of the Techie, Scientist, and Field Medic classes.

Artificer works well by simply changing their spell list and altering how/who/what spells effect to bring them more in line with technology - and of course depending on the level of technology
in your game this could differ wildly. However for a contemporary games you're going to have to change a lot of spells that have a range into spells that are touch only.
Warlock can be adapted into a sufficient Field Medic by just swapping our their spell list and tweaking how spells work to DM preference. In fact spells are an easy and quick way to replicate
technology or prowess. Though "spells" might be weakened by being tweaked to be more mundane require touch, rather than range, unless your game world has healing rays and such can
be off set by ruling that "technology" while using the chasis of spells is not magic and is not susceptible to anti-magic if that exists in your game world.

Thoughts?

[Cespenar]

Why not just transfer all the classes directly, just fitting the BAB, saves and skills to size?

[FilthyLucre]

Why not just transfer all the classes directly, just fitting the BAB, saves and skills to size?
Thats actually what I wanted to do, but I also wanted to do my best to conform to 5e. That being said, I'll give that a shot with one of the classes, post it here, and see how easy it is to just on-the-fly convert them.

[Hitdice]

There's a link to a fan work up of 5e D20 modern at http://www.icygeek.com/index.php/2015/08/06/d20-modern-for-dd-5th-edition/. I haven't looked at it in a while but as I remember there are 6 ability score based base classes with advanced class subclasses. It's a little weird because any advanced class can be used with any base class (or maybe the author just didn't bother to write up any requirements) so you could have a tough hero field scientist, but it's worth a look.

Edit: Oops, link fixed.

[Bahamut7]

For those that think barbarian does not fit into a modern campaign...just look at Marv from Sin City.

[CaptainSarathai]

One of the most powerful "refluff" capabilities in 5e is simply tools.
It took me a moment to wrap my head around tool proficiencies, because they aren't tied to specific things. For instance, "proficiency: Land Vehicles" is not necessarily tied to Dex or Int. Trying to steer at high speeds through narrow alleys? Vehicle(Dex) check. Trying to fix a broken wheel? Vehicle(Int) check.

So if you want a Hacker type character, you give her Proficiency in "Hacker's Tools." Now, if she's got her equipment with her (representing USBs with programs, and a computer obviously) she can add her Proficiency to her checks for hacking a computer.
Likewise, you could give medics a proficiency in Healing or a proficiency in Healing Kits specifically.

Another option for Medics would be to refluff the Divine Healers so that they are instead using a pool of medical supplies from their satchel, which is incidentally their "Divine Focus." So the Paladin isn't using "lay on hands" to get you back in the fight - he's dusting you off and giving you an adrenal shot or a morphine-pop and saying, "it's not that bad, get on that gun!"

Finally - a lot of it depends on the kind of campaign that you're running. For instance, a WW2 campaign probably won't have magic. But a "Wierd War 2" like Konflikt'47 could absolutely have Warlocks with no mechanical differences running amok in the world. In a cyber-punk game, Arcane magic doesn't pull on "the weave" or whatever, instead it represents the ability to control the coding and tech around you.

'Modern' is one of those times where I've always said that reskinning is too much work to be worth it. It's far easier to just teach people a new game like Deadlands, Shadowrun, or the White-Wolf stuff.

[FilthyLucre]

'Modern' is one of those times where I've always said that reskinning is too much work to be worth it. It's far easier to just teach people a new game like Deadlands, Shadowrun, or the White-Wolf stuff.

Ya but those systems aren't as beautifully balanced and combat centric as D&D 5e.

I LOVE 3.5 d20 Modern - but I don't love some of the imbalance issues against monsters (solos and groups) that 3.5 was fraught with.