Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lecen_of_Mitran 04-23-07, 03:34 PM	Hi, anyone who has seen D20 Modern knows that when a character is created, he must creat a profession, where he gains a few benefits, like new class skills and a bonus to wealth. As D&D has no wealth system as D20 Modern, itīs not simple to convert it to D&D. Anyone has tried it?
Izodor_Shadowcaster 04-23-07, 04:35 PM	Wealth score doesn't really work in dnd I think, but the idea of having a beginners Profession is a good one. You could replace the skill by some bonusses or feats.
Rickiel 04-23-07, 05:42 PM	I've used Starting Occupations for my D&D game and it went rather well. The Wealth Bonus gained from a Starting Occupation was used as a bonus die to determine starting gold. And it is actually VERY SIMPLE to go from Wealth Bonus Purchase DC's to gold values. Just need to use some...creativity :)
Lecen_of_Mitran 04-23-07, 05:48 PM	I've used Starting Occupations for my D&D game and it went rather well. The Wealth Bonus gained from a Starting Occupation was used as a bonus die to determine starting gold. And it is actually VERY SIMPLE to go from Wealth Bonus Purchase DC's to gold values. Just need to use some...creativity :) Nice! Thatīs what I was talking about: how to deal with the wealth bonuses if there is no Wealth system in D&D. How much bonuses dices to determine starting gold you allowed?? But those bonuses feats wouldnīt unbalance the game? Because to some, a bonus feat would be much better than 2d4 gold pieces.
NobodyRemembersThis 04-23-07, 05:55 PM	I would personally just scrap the starting wealth of all characters. Give everyone 1d6x10. Then, the wealth bonus grants you additional dice to roll (a +2 would be +2d6 for example). To keep things from insanity, just don't allow a wealth bonus of +5 or higher (max of 5d6x10 for a nobleman's +4 bonus sounds aboot right). If you keep the max gold at 300gp, it will keep things from really getting blown ourt of proportions. If the wealth is reduced to 0d6x10, then the character should get 1d6x5 - give them a little something.
Rickiel 04-23-07, 06:00 PM	Most of the Starting Occupations (available on the Modern SRD) provide anywhere from 1 to 3 bonus dice of wealth. The few occupations that have MASSIVE wealth bonus (dilettante, heir, aristocrat) typically don't have a bonus feat or many permanent class skills. But the extra gold is always nice. The bonus feats aren't terribly unbalancing. However, you might want to revise what feats are available from starting occupations. Though keep it in line with what would make sense for the occupation. Also keep in mind that the Starting Occupations provided PERMANENT CLASS SKILLS. And if your starting class ALREADY has that class skill when you choose that skill, that's a +1 bonus to all uses of that skill! For some, that's really, really, REALLY good! For some it might be a life-saver. On another note, the PC game Neverwinter Nights 2 provides 'background feats' that are extra and don't count against the normal amount of feats you can take. These feats are balanced and while providing bonuses, they also provide penalties. If you or someone you know has the game, you might want to take a look at them.
Novacat 04-23-07, 06:27 PM	I would personally just scrap the starting wealth of all characters. Give everyone 1d6x10. Then, the wealth bonus grants you additional dice to roll (a +2 would be +2d6 for example). To keep things from insanity, just don't allow a wealth bonus of +5 or higher (max of 5d6x10 for a nobleman's +4 bonus sounds aboot right). If you keep the max gold at 300gp, it will keep things from really getting blown ourt of proportions. If the wealth is reduced to 0d6x10, then the character should get 1d6x5 - give them a little something. Just remember that a 1st level Wizard MUST spend 20g on a spellbook and a spell component pouch. Which mean that if he doesn't get at least a 2 on the die, and doesn't have any bonuses, he's 100% gimped.
IrishRover 04-23-07, 09:54 PM	Since I LOVE D20 Modern, I've been tinkering a bit with the professions, and hope to implement something with them soon. I'm thinking that the truely wealthy backgrounds (like nobles) won't get a pile of gold, but will get some extra benefit instead. Either some extra calss suitable equipment (A masterwork weapon or armor, or a minor healing item, or some such-the sort of thing that a rich parent might give someone before they adventure.) She will also have a place to stay--with retinue--and a claim to hospitality in the knigdom. The benefits will scale as she gains power--contacts, a reaction bonus with nobility and those who want to please them (like a merchant hoping for the favor of the family) In short, I'll try to make the noble profession's claim to hospitality and such about equal in utility to a feat. All the other professions will pretty much follow the D20 Modern formula: One feat (either a specific feat, or a limited choice) and a pair of skills from a list that are always class skills, or +1 to 2 skills that are already class skills. 2 questions: 1. How many skills from a selected list should be class skills for the professions that don't get a feat? 2. What professions should be included?
ArcTan 04-24-07, 08:46 AM	Wealth score doesn't really work in dnd I think, but the idea of having a beginners Profession is a good one. You could replace the skill by some bonusses or feats. Although the economy in a quasi-medieval world wasn't as complex in our world, it still certainly existed, and most people who existed above a bare subsistence level of survival *did* have a fluctuating set of assets that wasn't as simple as counting how many golden coins were left in the cashbox at any given moment. If your character has a job (blacksmith), or if he owns land, or *especially* if he has a noble title (the old-school idea of reaching "name levels" and getting a castle and followers and crap) it makes more sense to talk about his "Wealth Level" than to count exactly how many GP he has to his name at any given point. (I mean, you can't own a castle and keep it up without spending gold on it, which means it's unlikely you own one without owning a pretty large parcel of land on which tenant farmers live and pay rent, but how much rent you can extract depends on their crop salese this year which depends on the economy which depends on the trade routes and taxes of the high king, which... yeah. Abstract wealth levels all the way.) Only hobos keep track of every single dollar they have individually as a single running total, because hobos are the only people who don't have regular daily expenses plus regular daily income. D&D only does gold the way it does because D&D adventurers are hobos (very rich hobos, sure, but hobos who sink all their money into stuff they carry around with them, like hobos, rather than actually making investments and settling down and having a life).
OravennasBrother 04-24-07, 09:31 AM	Hi, anyone who has seen D20 Modern knows that when a character is created, he must creat a profession, where he gains a few benefits, like new class skills and a bonus to wealth. As D&D has no wealth system as D20 Modern, itīs not simple to convert it to D&D. I haven't tried converting the Wealth system, but I saw a DM use a "Background' similar inconcept to the Modern system. It used a few House rules (Longbows & Composite Long were Exotic weapons for example) and then had a vriety of backgrounds. Two I remember Yeoman- Gain EWP Longbow and permanent class skills Spot, Survival, and Profession - Farmer Noble - Gain permanent class skills Diplomacy, Ride, and Knowledge Nobility and Roylaty. IN addition the character is of noble birth. There was a feat called Landed which gave a noble a small (surples) income/manor. It worked OK but took a fair bit of effort from the DM.
NobodyRemembersThis 04-24-07, 10:28 AM	Well, we could always make the minimum 1d6x10+20 and 1d6x5+20 to make sure no one gets completely screwed. Would that work better?
TyWebb 04-25-07, 12:34 AM	I'm actually in the process of adapting them into the character creation rules for an upcoming campaign. However, I'm just using the skills aspect, without including the feats, age prerequisites, or starting money boost. Instead of either getting 3 skills, or 2 skills and a feat, everyone just gets to choose 2 skills from among the Occupation's list. For a D&D world, I tend to thinks of these as "Backgrounds" rather than "Occupations". So I eliminated the age prerequisites (I assumed that psuedo-medieval adventurers would be starting their adventuring at an earlier age than Modern types) Sort of along the same lines, there's no gold boost, either. These are just skills that the 1st level PC picked up through upbringing, apprenticeship or the like, rather than actual long-term employment. Plus I'm pretty sure that at least a couple of my players would just take whatever gave the highest starting gold regardless of other options...:rolleye2: Something I found useful was the book d20 Past, which has guidelines for using d20 Modern Occupations in earlier historical eras. Mostly, the book talks about the flavor/role of the occupations in pre-industrial times, leaving the actual rules mostly unchanged (a couple of different skills or feats here or there).