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Endarire 04-08-08, 01:05 AM

Codename PoSC: A D&D 3.5 & Modern Campaign Forenote If you believe this post would be better placed on another board, tell me. Also, all constructive criticism is welcomed. Preface This campaign is set to start in a fantasy D&D world with the PCs being D&D characters. I'm leaning toward the Eberron campaign setting since it's 3.5 and much lower magic than Faerun, and I know too little of the Greyhawk/Toril world to be true to it. Sometime later, such as around level 5, the group is shoved into a Modern setting: approximately current-day Earth. After the players discover this, I suspect they'll want to move between planes via plane shift. Note: This campaign does not use time travel as the settings are separate planes, not one plane at a different times. Regardless, I have questions on how to handle mechanics in this crossover. 1: How to handle wealth? Modern stuff uses Wealth, but D&D uses gold. One GP in D&D means little. One GP nowadays means lots. 2: How to handle weapons and proficiencies? I'd assume someone trained to use a longsword in D&D is still proficient in Modern. What about Modern guns? They're at least exotic in D&D, each requiring a separate feat, but Modern's Personal Firearms Proficiency covers many of them. Armor is effectively the same in proficiencies as D&D, meaning I see no problems. 3: How to balance guns and melee types? A TacMil sniper rifl does 2d10 regardless of who wields it starting from level 1 with a 120 foot range increment. A greatsword does 2d6+1.5xSTR in melee. Someone would need 16 or 17 STR with a greatsword to equal the average damage of a TacMil. My main concern is survivability. Suddenly, a level 1 commoner/ordinary with a personal firearm can do similar average damage to a level 5 wizard's fireball, and the gunner is less likely to run out of ammo. 4: Should I encourage using Tome of Battle? The classes can outdo most the physical classes in other books, and last campaign group agreed 'all or nothing' on ToB stuff. 5: If a plane shifting arcanist capable of putting up a good fight on a D&D world, perhaps even destroying it, launched an open assault that caught Manhattan and capitols worldwide by surprise, would Earth have a chance? This mastermind wouldn't be alone, of course, since he'd bring his army with him with plenty of lower-level casters. (If the situation demanded it, he could travel the planes daily with plane shift and teleport to continually bolster his forces.) To counter him, some D&D casters on Earth and begin a resistance. (Whether they were here before the situation became critical seems trivial at present.) I suspect many Earthlings would want to avoid using 'magic' for religious and other reasons, but could be persuaded if it meant their continued existence. 6: What are some logical Modern challenges for this D&D adventuring party? d20 Modern just loves its D&D creatures in today's world and there are only so many animals and robots I can use as variety to facing humans with class levels. (On the D&D side, I have much more choice.) Also, there are non-combat challenges, culture shock among them. I imagine a Modern person trying to teach a dwarven warrior how to use a cell phone would be akin to trying to teach your grandfather; possible only if they want to learn, slow regardless, and probably filled with insults and 'stupid' questions. 7: What about magic items? Crafting them seems awkward in Modern. Even if a caster with the feat amasses the gold, spells and XP necesssary, there is still the matter of time. A likely change would be that magic items take hours instead of days to create, though I'm hesitant to use this rule. 8: What about wizards? I won't use trivial (non-costly) spell components; however, I suspect spell scrolls to copy into their spellbooks will be rare in the Modern side. Still, once the group can return to the D&D world, stocking up will be possible. Finally on this topic, what about spellbooks? When empty, they're seemingly collections of parchment. In theory, a legal pad or a ream of graph paper could substitute for a spellbook. 9: Assuming all first party (WotC) 3.5 books are allowed, what spells should I ban or change? Definitely Banned Any spell that works on alignment, such as holy word, detect evil, or undetectable alignment. celerity - This series is banned simply because the game eventually comes down to initiative. The opponents need to get a turn. foresight - We simply cannot plan everyone's moves one turn in advance. time stop - Coupled with Delay Spell, this becomes too good. Even for buffing, escaping, and summoning, a well-prepared caster with this causes too much trouble. wraithstrike - This is balanced soon after it's gotten, but when a gish has enough slots so he can use this every round, it hurts the casters who need to breach touch AC. These custom spells are also banned. distortion/mass distortion - Losing a percent of your HP even if you saved was a slight patch to super high resists and HP totals in the previous campaign. I also disliked that the group learned how many max HP something had. oblivion - A single target 'save or die' that affected objects, constructs, and undead had its place, but it's simply inappropriate for this campaign. Probably Banned polymorph - This buff series is being nixed because it raises too many questions. What do we keep? What do we lose? What if we're dispelled? How many more stat sheets must we write out? scrying - Either it sucks (blocked or the area reveals nothing) or it rocks (it tells lots). Definitely Changed Almost any effect which grants immunity instead grants a +10 bonus on that save. For example, mind blank offers a +10 bonus against mind-influencing effects while active and elves and half-elves have an additional +10 to resist magic sleep effects. Exceptions to this are typically elementals: If a creature is composed of an element, like fire or acid, it is fully immune to that element. Questionable antimagic field - Being affected by AMF requires about as much recalculation as being in a different form. Also, AMF nullifies casters and turns many high level people into fancy commoners. revivify - While it gives the players one last chance to be revived, villians are less likely to stay dead. With revivify commonly available, death only happens if the healer can't reach a victim in time. Coupled with chain contingency and heal, revivify provides an immediate extra life. 10: What items from the Magic Item Compendium should I ban? Some items are too good while most aren't worth using. Problem items were fewer than problem spells in the last campaign. Definitely Banned Contingent Items - At high levels, these prove problematic. Rich adventurers enjoy staying alive, meaning Contingent Item: chain contingency (revivify > heal > heal/spell turning), while fine once in awhile, tests my patience when it's done tens of times. 11: What about alignment? I intend to nix alignment for most creatures as well as means of detecting or hiding alignment. For example, paladins can still smite, but they choose an infidel- a creature type such as outsiders, humanoids, elementals, or undead. 12: What about Left Behind? I've read only the first two books, but I get the feeling that trying to tie this campaign into Revelation would be awkward.