Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Altar_Boy 07-20-06, 01:46 PM	Just thinking of running a campaign with no magic and modern technology. I figure I could replace shocking hands and lightning bolts with big guns, but I'm not sure what to do with healing. Should CRs be reduced to compensate for slower healing? What is the effectiveness of RL medicine / medicinal products? Could an Expert with massive investment in Heal be an adequate replacement?
Tormsskull 07-20-06, 01:53 PM	I'd go with vitality/wound points. Makes the PCs able to live longer than the monsters, and allows them to heal up faster (I think vitality restores at (level per hour). Vitality is basically equal to hit points, and wound = the character's constitution score (if they have a 15 con, they have 15 wound points). It gives an edge to physical characters (and from the consensus on these boards they seem to need an edge) and helps alleviate the need ot a pure healer.
Xeros 07-20-06, 02:02 PM	Investigate Monte Cook's Iron Heroes http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_IL A rules set designed around non magic fantasy.
FloppyLlama 07-20-06, 02:39 PM	Is there a reason you're not running d20 Modern?
Sergikins 07-20-06, 03:30 PM	there is an SRD for d20 modern on this site. you should just run that instead, it works alot smoother
revnk 07-20-06, 03:49 PM	As written, the Heal skill in D&D only stabilizes characters. You can, however, houserule that Heal can be used to recover damage (and probably should, if you plan to get rid of healing magic). The alternate rule in Spellslinger, by way of a guideline, is that a Heal check to recover hp can be made once per day upon a patient, with every point over a result of 15 healing 1 hp of damage (e.g. a character who gets a total result of "23" heals 8 hp to the patient; no one may attempt another Heal check to assist the patient for 24 hours). You could raise that or reduce it depending on the feel of your campaign (e.g. in a very dark and dirty game, it might be 1 hp/2 points over 15 or 1 hp/1 point over 20). The hp system is a fantasy system where a character's wiliness, flexibility, toughness and moxie are all factored in with actual health: as such, it makes for a good pulp fiction or cinematic system, but is devoid of "realism." It follows that you'd have to abstract or house-rule the effects of real-world medical treatments. In addition to the Vitality/Wound alternate rules, you might consider the Injury alternate system, which basically converts hit points into condition or status. It is more "realistic" in the sense that someone who is hit with a weapon does not lose an arbitrary number, but rather has to deal with being "staggered" or "dying." (I am not necessarily endorsing "realism" in fantasy gaming, by the way: indeed, I tend to prefer a more "cinematic" rule like straight hp or VP/WP.) Alternate rules may be found here (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/variantAdventuring.htm). The question of why you're not running some version of d20 Modern is a quite good one. You should, with some small bit of tweaking, be able to port dragons and beholders to a "Modern" setting, if that's what you're thinking of. At any rate, good luck!
Altar_Boy 07-21-06, 01:40 PM	Thanks for the advice. I may use the Vitality/Wound system. Yes, I do have D20 Modern and most of its suppliments. Unfortunately (and somewhat ironically), D20 Modern assumes a very D&Dish setting, with monsters and magic still possible. The monsters seemed to be CRed roughly the same, either assuming clerics and wizards still exist, or assuming fighters will be equal in power. Perhaps someone could tell me how much tougher an average monster with no magical power (IE. an Ogre) is without magical healing abilities for the PCs.
TarlSS 07-21-06, 04:10 PM	...Why would you use monsters in a world without magic? It seems a little counterpoint. And really no, D20 modern does not assume that it is a D&D setting. Use the basic classes and advanced classes, and forget about anything involving magic psionics monsters or the supernatural. You're basically pitting PCs vs. uh, NPCs with PC classes. That's what a modern setting is. It's gritty and fighting is tough. IF you are using monsters for some strange reason, the CRs in D20 modern are adjusted properly. It's not a 4 encounter a day 7 day a week game. People should get hurt, be laid up for months, and die quickly thanks to the CON shock system. Monsters shouldn't have access to magic if the PCs don't, but even if that is true the game is balanced for that. It's just that combat is much more difficult in d20 modern overall because there's alot more thought to it involved. You need to use your Google and terrain and vehicles effectively if you're going to fight dragons. A level 3 anything isn't going to beat an Ogre in Hand to Hand- he will have a chance if he uses a car, an airplane or a machine gun and ambushes him in his house which he used Google Earth to find. D20 modern is not about straight up, knock down fights in D&D. If you want a good martial arts showdown, send them against humans, not dragons.