I'm a big fan of Fallout 3, and of the Post-Apocalyptic genre as a whole - the D20 Apocalypse sourcebook and Gamma World D20 books were some of my favorites in 3.5. I also deeply enjoy the 4e system for D&D. So, naturally, my thoughts turned to how to mix the two, and that is why I'm here. I'd like people to help me figure out what elements of a Post-Apocalyptic campaign would require actual mechanical changes, and how to possibly perform those changes.
My various examples will make use of Fallout 3 references, because that's the post-apocalyptic setting I've most recently familiarized myself with. I'm not actually intending to make a "Fallout 4e".
For example, the issue of armor. Because 4e uses armor categories more then actual armors, this should make things easier. For example, Combat Armor might be akin to Hide armor, while Metal Armor would be of the Scale or even Plate armor class.
Guns, being that 4e is not some kind of simulationist rule set, could be handled as just ordinary ranged weapons, which means that they're fundamentally damage die and maybe a special quality or two for use with specific powers and ranged basic attacks. A shotgun might be a 3/6 ranged weapon that does D8 damage and has Brutal 1, for a totally random example.
Energy weapons could benefit from the equivalent of those magic weapons that do elemental damage instead of normal damage - a laser might do Radiant or Lightning damage, a plasma rifle might do Acid damage, that sort of thing, with the damage type being overwhelmed if used in conjunction with an attack that does a specific type of damage (say, Spark Shot artificer power).
In fact, some of the more "super tech" items could conceivably be handled by using existing magic items and reflavoring them, or using them as a design base. Type 51-D Power Armor, for example, would be a suit of magic plate, while Tesla Armor would be magical plate with Lightning/Radiant Resistance. A Ripper or Autoaxe would just be a reflavored Fleshgrinder sword/axe.
Mutations could be handled as small "power trees", ala the Dragonmarks of Eberron and the Assassin Styles from Dragon Annual, as a multi-class ala the Spellscarred, or even both.
Well, that's a few thoughts off the top of my head. I'd really like to hear people's opinions on this idea.
I'm a big fan of Fallout 3, and of the Post-Apocalyptic genre as a whole - the D20 Apocalypse sourcebook and Gamma World D20 books were some of my favorites in 3.5. I also deeply enjoy the 4e system for D&D. So, naturally, my thoughts turned to how to mix the two, and that is why I'm here. I'd like people to help me figure out what elements of a Post-Apocalyptic campaign would require actual mechanical changes, and how to possibly perform those changes.
My various examples will make use of Fallout 3 references, because that's the post-apocalyptic setting I've most recently familiarized myself with. I'm not actually intending to make a "Fallout 4e".
You could also wait for Gamma World 4e by October, but I'm also into the whole Fallout post-apocalyptic thing [not TOO much, but I'm willing to join a game with that setting 
]. Here are my thoughts:
For example, the issue of armor. Because 4e uses armor categories more then actual armors, this should make things easier. For example, Combat Armor might be akin to Hide armor, while Metal Armor would be of the Scale or even Plate armor class.
I'd reckon Plate could be Power Armor -- especially the Masterwork ones, since they get huge boosts to AC and could get damage reduction on top of it.
Guns, being that 4e is not some kind of simulationist rule set, could be handled as just ordinary ranged weapons, which means that they're fundamentally damage die and maybe a special quality or two for use with specific powers and ranged basic attacks. A shotgun might be a 3/6 ranged weapon that does D8 damage and has Brutal 1, for a totally random example.
Energy weapons could benefit from the equivalent of those magic weapons that do elemental damage instead of normal damage - a laser might do Radiant or Lightning damage, a plasma rifle might do Acid damage, that sort of thing, with the damage type being overwhelmed if used in conjunction with an attack that does a specific type of damage (say, Spark Shot artificer power).
Actually, might I suggest that because
1. we are working in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world
2. technology and weaponry plays a more intrinsic part of the game
We could have ammunition granting special effects
* for example, you could have a shotgun [3/6 weapon, +2 proficiency, 1d6 + DEX damage], then the standard 12-gauge shotgun shells changes the basic ranged attacks to close blast 3 (no DEX mod), while solid slugs would increase the weapon's dice by 1 instead [turning it into 1d8 + DEX single target].
* another example, 9mm pistol [5/10 weapon, +3 proficiency, 1d4 damage] could have either regular ammunition [+1 damage] or piercing ammunition [target reflex instead of AC].
* power fists would have your normal basic attack [1d4, melee weapon, +3 proficiency], and then use energy cells to add +1d4 or +2 lightning/radiant damage.
Alternatively, you could have weapons grant at-wills instead... but as the post-apocalyptic scene does have very few ammunition out there in the first place, it wouldn't have the same feel...
In fact, some of the more "super tech" items could conceivably be handled by using existing magic items and reflavoring them, or using them as a design base. Type 51-D Power Armor, for example, would be a suit of magic plate, while Tesla Armor would be magical plate with Lightning/Radiant Resistance. A Ripper or Autoaxe would just be a reflavored Fleshgrinder sword/axe.
I'd rather use the DMG 2's suggestions on integrating enhancement bonuses instead -- it is a low magic setting after all, and having Power Armor as a regular Masterwork item does seem more "realistic" -- then Tesla Armor would give additional bonuses to resistances.
Mutations could be handled as small "power trees", ala the Dragonmarks of Eberron and the Assassin Styles from Dragon Annual, as a multi-class ala the Spellscarred, or even both.
Well, that's a few thoughts off the top of my head. I'd really like to hear people's opinions on this idea.
I'm thinking that instead of classes, you could have mutations and additional training that would either augment attacks 1/encounter/day or provide fantastic abilities instead. These mutation/training benefits could be gained in place of encounter or daily powers. All races could gain the same encounter/daily powers but certain powers give certain advantages to certain races. For example, an encounter "training" power might give the user 1d6 additional damage on a hit, but Deathclaws could deal additional damage on top of that, and a daily "mutation" power might grant the user the ability to attack creatures in a close burst 1 [CON vs Fort] for 3 radiant damage, but Ghouls could get to do CON mod damage instead and in a close burst 2 as well.
It's going to take a bit of brainstorming to polish it up, but it's a very nice idea, if you ask me
I think I may not have been clear. I was thinking that we could use specific magic weapon properties as the foundation for the various "super tech" gear that has special effects. For example, an Auto Axe in 4e rules would take a common battle axe, make it do +1D10 damage on a critical hit, and give it a daily ability triggered by using an attack vs. AC, instead allowing it to target Fortitude and do +1D6 damage per tier of the wielding character. In otherwords, it's a battleaxe with the Fleshgrinder enchantment.
In other words, I agree that a post-apocalyptic setting would use the inherent enchantment rules, as even if it's not a magic-less setting, they are fundamentally a setting where you have to scavenge gear, but I'm saying that if a particular "techno wonder" has properties that are already covered by a magic item, we should feel no shame in grabbing it, reskinning it, and saying that instead of working because "it's magic", it works because "it's SCIENCE!" - do I make any sense?
Ammo as a special effect does make sense, and it is already covered in 4e - there's rules for using different types of magical arrows and bolts and sling bullets, so why not use the same rules to cover switching even between notably different sorts of mundane ammo for guns?
I want to say upfront that I'd prefer to not end up having to render the canonical classes totally useless with this idea, both because it makes this harder to build and balance and because post-apocalyptica isn't a strictly modern concept, so making it require its own unique character sets makes it harder to mix and match. After all, look at Dragonmech, which is Post-Apocalyptic Giant Robot D&D - it's an ordinary D&D setting where the moon has started collapsing onto the earth, devastating the previous civilisations and forcing all sentient races to either move underground or into humungoid mecha. That's one of the reasons I'm leery of getting Gamma World, as it looks like it will be using its own very different character generation rules.
Fair enough, we could simply transport all the classes into a post-apocalyptic magitech scenario
I think I may not have been clear. I was thinking that we could use specific magic weapon properties as the foundation for the various "super tech" gear that has special effects. For example, an Auto Axe in 4e rules would take a common battle axe, make it do +1D10 damage on a critical hit, and give it a daily ability triggered by using an attack vs. AC, instead allowing it to target Fortitude and do +1D6 damage per tier of the wielding character. In otherwords, it's a battleaxe with the Fleshgrinder enchantment.
Interesting...
In other words, I agree that a post-apocalyptic setting would use the inherent enchantment rules, as even if it's not a magic-less setting, they are fundamentally a setting where you have to scavenge gear, but I'm saying that if a particular "techno wonder" has properties that are already covered by a magic item, we should feel no shame in grabbing it, reskinning it, and saying that instead of working because "it's magic", it works because "it's SCIENCE!" - do I make any sense?
Makes sense, given that science *is* the new name for magic for some :P
Ammo as a special effect does make sense, and it is already covered in 4e - there's rules for using different types of magical arrows and bolts and sling bullets, so why not use the same rules to cover switching even between notably different sorts of mundane ammo for guns?
We could have 6 types of ranged weapons (small arms [one-handed], long barrel [two-handed], slings, bows, crossbows, big guns [bazoookas and the like]) with several sub-types and appropriate ammunition, then each ammunition gives additional properties or abilities (and some ammunition are exclusive to certain weapons, like you can't use rifle bullets on shotguns even if they're both long barrel)...
The variety of effects available from ammunition ought to give even melee 4e characters reason to get ranged weapons
I'm glad you think my suggestions make sense. So, any ideas what other topics need to be addressed to be able to craft a post-apocalyptic 4e setting?
At this point, I'm really fixated on more what you would need to add to make post-apocalyptica then you would need to take away. For example, a more hard-core "Fallout style" setting could just use the Martial and maybe Psionic classes, but there's all sorts of ways to handle post-apocalyptic and so it feels wrong to just cut some stuff out by defeault. After all, what about a world where the apocalypse was a dimensional junction with Hell or the Fey Kingdoms or whatever? Or a fantasy world devastated when a technology-based spacecraft (or fleet of such craft) crashed on it?
I'm glad you think my suggestions make sense. So, any ideas what other topics need to be addressed to be able to craft a post-apocalyptic 4e setting?
Well, setting-wise, how do you deal with resource allocation? Would you make it hard to get ammunition but have the ammunition worthwhile? How about stuff like radiation, if your campaign would have it in them? Would it be treated as diseases, or would it just be reflavored radiant damage?
[ As I'm thinking that because prolonged exposure to radiation would lead to horrible mutations and possibly death, you could have it work as a disease that, even on a full recovery, would change the character's abilities permanently... thus, the need for anti-radiation stuff whenever possible. ]
These are more of nitpicking at the minor details, as I can't think of anything else major outside of deities, creatures in the campaign, and stuff like that.
That said, there are several ways to handle radiation protection and curing. Radiation Sickness can be cured like any other disease (after all, Fallout has had Rad-away since the first game), Radiation Resistance becomes a natural damage resistance type in the setting (with or without giving any bonuses to shaking off Radiation Sickness), and there's all sorts of items that can be made to help with radiation. A Geiger Counter could be a "Technological Wondrous Item" that gives the bearer a bonus to checks made to realise that a given area/object is a source of radiation, possibly with an encounter power that lets the bearer determine if an attacker has a Radiation attack.
This weapon is enchanted by a wizard of low level who has a ray spell and craft wondrous magic feat. Basically it is a wondrous item and not a wand because the single ray spell event is stored in a crystal fragment (gem) The Magasine is built from multiple shards and is treated like a necklace of fireballs (making it a wonderous artefact as opposed to a wand). The very intelligent wizard at this low level can add a focusing lens which doubles damage.
As the Wizard progresses, he can add other lenses which boosts range, and then a third lens which improves range. Finally as a powrful wizard he/she can add the high speed feat which allows the wizard to use a magic item as a simple action enchanted as a highspeed rifle stock (you can perform 6 simple actions per full round).
Basically you could evolve a raygun from low level to high level.