Shadow Theory (d20 Modern Horror)

[Kuma Kode]

Yay, update! One of the biggest of the failures of D20 modern was the lack of talent trees, with the ones that were there poorly thought out. You have fixed that and for that, have an internet.

I am glad you like them. The classes were designed to be generic, but they had only a few talent trees that were also generic, which made it kind of bleh. I know that some of these talents are rather powerful (in particular, the tough hero talents) but some of them really needed it (in particular, the tough hero).

Ooh, that's just beautiful. I love this project, but that is sublime. Consider that yoinked.

Where are these things being yoinked to, exactly?

I love this whole setting! I plan on using this in the future, when my current game ends. Probably will run it as an E6 thing, to better still model normal humans.
One question though: if psionics is something that is endemic to humans, why does it cause sanity loss? Particularly if so many other things cause sanity loss.

E6 could work rather well, just be careful with some of the more powerful monsters, or don't have higher evolutions of the Tainted Ones.

Psionics is unique to humans, but that doesn't mean it's something we're good at. The human brain is programmed to think of the world in particular ways (Shadow Theory does assume a level of evolutionary psychology), which is why monsters cause Sanity damage by their very nature, but these same ways are also intolerant of the mind-expanding capabilities of psionics.

Psionics drives you crazy because human brains simply aren't meant to extend outside of themselves. Think of it more as an uncharted frontier in human capabilities, where the psychic's reach exceeds his ability to understand. Psionics is new, and it's not something our minds are ready for. If you're running a futuristic horror where psionics is more normal, or if you just want a more positive look at the mystical future and capabilities of mankind, you're free to remove the Sanity loss. This makes psionics more like conventional magic, where there's really only a daily limit. They may only be able to use the feat a handful of times, but they will likely use it whenever they can because there's no permanent damage.

Conversely, if you choose to make psionics more dangerous, you can remove the ability score damage, which tempts to psychic to over-stretch themselves.

From a mechanical standpoint, nothing comes for free in Shadow Theory. Magic and psionics are always available, but burns through your character's Sanity. If you're ranged, you need bullets, which are in short supply (in typical survival horror, anyway). If you want to be a techie, you'll need to burn parts to build grenades, acids, rig devices, and build equipment. If you want to conserve all your resources and use melee weapons, you'll be engaging the monsters in the combat style in which they excel, and will burn Vitality and Wound points. Even healing allies burns medical kits or threatens to cause further Sanity loss if it goes disastrous, and you cannot benefit from your own abilities.