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View Full Version : Frank "Right-Hand" Hardwick [and Other D20 Modern Questions] <long>



Crow
2007-10-27, 12:52 PM
So our group has been playing some D20 Modern. It is on a night where half of the D&D group can't make it sometimes, so if they all make it, we play D&D. If not, the two who usually can play some Modern. I am the GM.

So last game, we play with the "small group", plus one of the D&D regulars who was available. The D&D guy is new to Modern, and when he sees the book, berates the guy on the cover;

"Only an idiot brings a sword to a gunfight. What a dumbass."

He then proceeds to make a charismatic type who uses a three section staff. The game goes on, I have some minor snags and such while DMing, mostly due to poor planning, but as the game rolls on, there is a gunfight with a mummy. The D&D guy tries to close to melee, and gets shot. He then dies, and gets all butt-hurt becasue a bullet can kill you at first level. I avoid snickering about the "dumbass" who brought a three section staff to a gunfight...

Anyways, during the course of this fight, the mummy ran out of ammo and closed on the players, and managed to get a hit off on one of them. The guy fails his save, and ends up getting mummy rot. Unfortunately, the only option for him to stop the deadly disease is to amputate the infected protion of his body.

He got hit in the chest and head, but I didn't want to deal with cutting out chunks of infected flesh and organs, and he certainly can't amputate his head safely. So I decide it was his left arm which got infected, as he was fighting it off with his non-gun hand. Surgury is successful. Frank Hardwick is left without a left forearm.

My questions:

1. Is Frank Hardwick pretty much screwed? I cannot find any rules for losing limbs. How much functionality can he get out of current or near-future prosthetics? What is the purchase DC of such items?

2. The small team consists of a (now) one-armed ex army ranger, and a forensic investigator who he has been working with. Can a two-man team work just fine in D20 Modern, or is it balanced like D&D with the party of four thingiebob?

3. I am having trouble working in scenarios for the forensic investigator to use her forensic skills. I don't want every game to turn into an episode of CSI : Seattle. If anybody has any ideas I would be grateful.

Nerd-o-rama
2007-10-27, 01:07 PM
1. Frank just can't do anything that requires two hands now. I don't think there are rules for it, but I'd say he definitely can't use longarms or two-handed weapons, for a start. Penalties to Climb and maybe Drive. Two-weapon fighting, shooting while driving, etc. are all right out. As for prosthetics, you can get fairly good ones nowadays for a steep price (I don't think his HMO covers Mummy Rot), and some should be available in the next five to ten years that are just as good as the real thing, if those documentaries I watched in Society and the Information Age class are any indication.

2. As for two-man teams, I imagine they work just as well in Modern as they do in D&D, with the added bonus of Modern not having strict adherence to basher/healer/skillmonkey/caster mechanics. Just tone down the Encounter Levels one or two lower than you'd give to a four-man party of the same level, and have them be solveable with the abilities they do have.

3. What can she do besides forensically investigate? Obviously, give her a crime scene scenario occasionally, but play to her other skills as well, if she has them.

Crow
2007-10-27, 01:33 PM
Thanks for the advice.


3. What can she do besides forensically investigate? Obviously, give her a crime scene scenario occasionally, but play to her other skills as well, if she has them.

She can do most of the things you would expect a cop to be able to do, but she really likes the forensic aspect of things. I want to give her challenges where she can call on that knowledge, but without it always being "Here is a crime scene/dead body, go nuts." Also, it would cut down on the work I have to do.

Crow
2007-10-28, 03:49 PM
Anybody have some ideas on this (#3)?

Neon Knight
2007-10-28, 03:53 PM
Potentially, forensics could be used to analyze enemy tactics and weaponry. Perhaps upon entering the lair of some foe, they find the corpse of one of it's victims and she is able to determine the thing's preferred strategy and means of attack.

Best I can think of.

NEO|Phyte
2007-10-28, 03:54 PM
Prosthetic limbs can be found in D20 Future. The basic 'present day' PL5 replacement limb functions as the limb normally would, no bonuses or anything. PL6 just gets you more HP/hardness for your replacement, and PL7 version doesn't count against your cybernetics limit.