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1 Chapter One – Characters

What are characters assumed to start with, equipment wise?
Characters start with a place to live and a reasonable assortment of clothing. Anything else they have to buy.

Can characters take a 10 or 20 on purchases during character generation?
Yes. Players can take a 10 and take 20 on pre-game purchases.

Does a class skill gained from an occupation remain a class skill even though a character may multi-class into a new class for which the skill is no longer a class skill?
If your occupation grants you a class skill, that skill is treated as a class skill for you every time you go up in level,regardless of the class you level up in.

It states that if skills from an occupation are already class skills, the player adds a +1 modifier to the skill. Now, how do we determine if this bonus applies when multiclassing, is it class skill for any class the character has, only the class they took at first level or something else?
The skills associated with your occupation are always class skills for you, throughout your entire career. In addition,if an occupation skill is also a class skill for your starting class (the class you take at 1st level), you gain a +1 bonus to that skill. You do not gain a +1 bonus later, if an occupation-granted class skill is also a class skill for a new class you add after 1st level.

The Dedicated hero’s empathy talent only activates after the target is observed for 1 minute prior to skill use. Does this observation have to be immediately prior to skill use, or can you just observe someone and then have empathy forever?
It must be used immediately before the use of the skill, and the bonus applies only to use of the skill in that encounter. In other words, you can’t observe someone at one point and then use the bonus some time later.

Must the observation be visual or can you “observe” merely audibly, for example listening through a closed door or on the radio?
In terms of this talent, “observation” usually means being able to see and hear the target. Your GM can bend the rules on this if the situation warrants; for example, he might allow you to get away with only hearing the target if the target is involved in a lot of intense or heated conversation. Or he might let you get the bonus if you listen for 5minutes instead of fully observing for just 1.

The charm talent (Charismatic hero) only works on targets of the chosen gender. What about targets without gender,
such as constructs, elementals, plants, or oozes (not that it’s likely to matter in the last case).
The charm talent cannot be used to influence genderless creatures. (It plays upon gender relations; if the creature cannot be appealed to in those terms, the ability is useless).

A Charismatic hero wants to use her talents against a member of the opposite sex. Does the bonus from the charm class ability stack with the bonus from the fast talk ability?
No. Both of those bonuses should be competence bonuses. As such, they don’t stack.

When a tough hero gains/takes the electricity Resistance and has a modifier that is equal or more than the stun gun dmg would he then ignore the roll vrs. paralyzation?
If the character takes no damage at all, he does not have to make the save. He is unaffected by the attack.
If the character takes any damage at all (even a single point), he must make the save. His electricity resistance does not affect the saving throw.

If my Dedicated hero’s Wisdom bonus increases, do I get to pick an additional skill for my cool under pressure ability?
If you gain a permanent Wisdom increase, your new Wisdom bonus applies to the cool under pressure ability–so yes, if your bonus goes from +3 to +4, you get to pick another skill on which you can take 10. If your Wisdom bonus goes up due to a temporary increase (from the enhance ability spell, for example), you do not get to pick additional skills for the cool under pressure ability.

What happens if my characters advance beyond 20th level? Are there any rules for epic-level d20 Modern characters?
We don’t have any rules for characters above 20th level yet. We may publish some in the future. In the mean time, you’re probably not going to go too far wrong if you simply keep advancing them as normal. If you borrowed a few elements from the Epic Level Handbook, they’d probably work just fine too.
Wizo Sith has made houserules for epic modern they can be found here

Extreme effort says it takes a full round action and then applies its bonus to any Strength check or Strength based skill check. Does this mean that if I take a full round action I can apply this to a trip attempt since trip is essentially an opposed Strength check? How does this work with attacks of opportunity? Does extreme effort only provoke attacks of opportunity if the action you are doing would normally provoke attacks of opportunity?
You can use extreme effort in opposed Strength checks, including those that are part of combat maneuvers.However, the Strength check is a full-round action for you, so you can’t do anything else. For example, you can use extreme effort in the opposed Strength check to make a bull rush, but only if you start adjacent to the opponent (you can’t charge him, as that wouldn’t allow you to use a full action for the check). Also, you could only push him back 5 feet, as you’re only allowed a 5-foot step yourself. Effectively, this means you can only use extreme effort in trip and 5-foot bull rush attempts. All other special attack types require additional actions as well as the opposed Strength check, making extreme effort impossible. Extreme effort has no effect on attacks of opportunity. You provoke (or don’t provoke) attacks of opportunity normally when using extreme effort.

The Dodge feat isn’t on the list of Fast hero bonus feats. Was it left out deliberately, or was it an oversight?
It was left out deliberately. The Fast hero already has enough very attractive features; giving it the longest list of bonus feats (which would
be the case if you added Dodge) would just be a bit too much. We could have added Dodge and removed something else, but given that many Fast hero players are going to pick Dodge as one of their starting feats anyway, that seems to do the class a disservice. For those who have to use a non-bonus feat slot for Dodge, all I can say is that it’s a small trade off for an otherwise excellent class choice.

What class abilities count as mind-affecting?
I’m thinking of the Charismatic talents captivate, dazzle, and taunt; the Smart trick talent; the Personality ability winning smile; and the Negotiator’s talk down chain. All of the above class abilities, plus the Negotiator’s sow distrust ability, are mind-affecting.

Does the Charismatic captivate ability make the target flat-footed? Does it keep him flat-footed if he is already?
Does it stop him from attacking the Charismatic hero? Similarly, if the talk down ability is used, the target stops fighting. Is he now flat-footed, and does he remain so until attacked?
The Charismatic hero’s captivate talent needs some clarification. It can only be used on flat-footed opponents (it can be used out of combat, or in combat but only on NPCs who haven’t acted yet). A captivated opponent remains flat-footed. The Negotiator’s talk-down ability has no effect on the target’s initiative status. The target stops fighting, but doesn’t stop defending himself and doesn’t become flat-footed.

How do you determine starting Wealth for high-level characters?
The bonus given on Table 7-2 is the starting point. To that number, add any additional Wealth bonus for the character’s starting occupation, feats, etc. Also add a bonus equal to the number of ranks the character has in Profession. Finally, the result is the Wealth bonus for an NPC. When creating a high-level player character, add +2 to
the total. Now, for a shortcut, you can simply equip an NPC with a reasonable assortment of gear, then give him the bonus shown on the table as his current Wealth (ignoring the benefits of feats, occupation, Profession skill, etc.).That’s purely a quick-and-dirty way of using the table.

How do you determine starting action points for a high-level character? The system on page 204 doesn’t seem right.
The action point formula given on page 204 is for NPCs. For high-level player characters, the character gets the number of action points granted by his last class level. For example, a 5th-level Strong hero would get 7 action points,because his fifth level in Strong gives him 5 + 1/2 his level.

If you take levels in Mage and buy ranks in Spellcraft, then take a Smart level, can you choose the Savant talent for Spellcraft?
No. Savant can be applied only to the listed skills.

Q. Does the bonus from the Field Medic's medical specialist ability stack
with the bonus from the Dedicated hero's healing knack ability?
Yes.

Q. In the Charismatic Hero's talents, Charm is listed as only being
usable on GM characters. Was this intended as a guideline to keep
players from abusing each other, or does this literally mean that GM
character Charismatic Heroes are unable to use those particular talents
on Player characters?
Charm affects a GM character's attitude. The rules concerning GM
character attitudes don't apply to player characters, so charm can't
affect player characters.

Q. Can I take two feats at first level, with one being the prerequisite
for another?
As a general rule in the d20 system, anything that has prerequisites
can be taken simultaneously with the prerequisites. If you have two feat
slots (at 1st level, or some other level when you get a bonus feat and
level feat at the same time), for example, you can pick two feats for
which one is a prereq of the other. Same is true for class talents. (The
exception is if the thing itself grants the prerequisites--for example,
if a prestige class has certain skill prereq, you can't take the class
and then use the class's skill points to buy the necessary skills.)

Q. I was wondering if there are any guidelines for creating new
occupations. For example, none of the listed occupations have
"concentration" as a skill. Is there some reason for this, or just
happenstance? Is there a formula/rule-of-thumb for creating occupations
that weighs the value of skills, feats, wealth, and reputation?
There's no design reason why Concentration isn't offered by any
existing occupation; if you created an occupation that included
Concentration that would be fine.

Balancing occupations is complex. In general, the factors include:

- Age prerequisite.
- Number of permanent skills/skill bonuses (generally 1 or 2).
- Number of skill choices (generally 5 - 10).
- Number of bonus feats (generally 0 or 1).
- Number of feat choices (generally 1 - 4).
- Reputation bonus (generally 0 to +1).
- Wealth bonus (generally +1 to +6).
The number of class skills, bonus feats, and the Wealth bonus are the
main factors; they shouldn't all be high. The number of class choices,
feat choices, and Reputation are lesser balancing factors, along with
age prerequisites.

Q. Can anyone tell me how to adapt non-human characters(both standard and monsters) to a PC-format.
The rules for creating a non-human character are basically the same as
those for adding a character class to a creature (see page 230). To sum
up: 1) The character gets one fewer skill point per level. (This is
reflected on table 8-20.) Since you normally get 4 times as many skills
at 1st level, the character gets 4 fewer skill points at 1st level. 2)
The character gets only one feat at 1st level, instead of 2. 3) The
character does not get a starting occupation. 4) Use the racial ability
modifiers for the race from the D&D Player's Handbook (if you have it
and the race is covered there). Otherwise, here's a trick for
determining the ability modifiers from the d20 Modern stats: If the
given ability is an odd number, subtract 11 from it. If the ability is
an even number, subtract 10. The result is racial modifier for that
ability score. For example, a goblin has Str 8 and Dex 13. Subtracting
10 (because 8 is an even number) from 8 gives us -2. Subtracting 11
(because 13 is odd) from 13 gives us +2. So the racial mods for a
goblin's Str and Dex are -2 and +2, respectively. This is a rule of
thumb and won't always work perfectly. These rules apply primarily to
creatures that normally only have one Hit Die. For higher Hit Die
creatures, you'll have to fudge it or wait for Urban Arcana. [Also]
Moreaus have their own rules. They're essentially the same as those
above, except that moreaus do get starting occupations, and the ability
score modifiers are given in the descriptions.

Q. Weird question, but nonetheless... One of the characters in my
campaign wants to play a pimp. There are a few questions I need to ask
about that: 1) What should be the check to see if he "recruits" a woman;
2) How many women should he be able to have at a time; 3) How would this
affect his Wealth bonus.
To determine how much Wealth the character gains through pimping, use
the same rules every character uses to gain Wealth: Profession checks at
level advancement. See Regaining Wealth, on page 92. No additional rules
are necessary; the character's income is not subject to special rules
just because it's an unusual job. As for determining job-related
specifics, I'd handle this no differently than I'd handle any other
profession. If the character was the manager at a McDonalds, and for
some reason he needed to know how many employees worked for him, as GM
I'd make an educated guess and perhaps roll a die to add a bit of
randomness to my guess. Same thing for the pimp--should it ever matter
exactly how many "employees" he has (and I doubt that it ever really
would, just like it probably wouldn't really for the McDonald's
manager), I'd pick a reasonable answer, roll a die, and give the player
a result. Playing a pimp could be an interesting, amusing (or
thought-provoking) Roleplaying opportunity. But there's no more reason
to play out the specifics of the job than there is for any other
character.

Q. With all this multi-classing & occupations, how can I tell when
something is a class skill or a cross-class one?
In d20 Modern (and D&D, and all other WotC d20 games), when you add a
new level to your character, you buy skills according to that class. So
when you add a level of Fast hero to your character, you purchase skills
as a Fast hero. Fast hero class skills (and any permanent class skills
you have from your starting occupation) cost a single point per rank;
cross-class skills cost two points per rank. It doesn't matter what your
previous classes are. Just because a skill was a class skill for you at
some previous level does NOT make it a class skill for you forever. On
the subject of starting occupation related skills, the skills associated
with your starting occupation are always class skills for you,
throughout your entire career. In addition, if an occupation skill is
also a class skill for your starting class (the class you take at 1st
level), you gain a +1 bonus to that skill.

Q. I thought that I had read somewhere that prestige classes were also in
d20 Modern. I believe this may have been in one of the preview sections
on advanced classes where it explained that characters would go from the
base classes to an advanced class and then to a prestige class. Am I
wrong or did the d20 modern book just not include them? If the latter,
will PrCs be included in other books?
Prestige classes are part of the d20 Modern system; however, none are
included in the core book (which was published 64 pages over planned
count, even after we cut a bunch of stuff we planned to include). You
will see prestige classes in later products, starting with Urban Arcana.

Q. Can defensive roll be used to avoid the effects of a failed Fort save
check due to massive damage? Or would it only apply if the damage dealt
was sufficient to drop the character to 0 or fewer HP by itself? Would
it have any effect on a non-lethal massive damage failed check (i.e.,
could the character change the effect of the knockout to just being
dazed)?
Defensive roll does not interact with hit point loss due to massive
damage, any more than it interacts with hit point loss due to poison. It
applies only to the actual hit point damage dealt by an attack. It does
not interact with nonlethal damage.

Q. Not bringing massive damage into the question, can Defensive Roll be
used when the character is flat-footed?
Yes it can. The only time it can't be used is when the character is
immobilized.

Q. How do you handle an ordinary NPC when you want to add a hero level or
more? Do you just change the ordinary levels to hero or do you add a
hero level?
The character levels up just like normal, with all the benefits a hero
character gains at the new level (but no retroactive benefits applied to
earlier levels). For example, take a 3rd-level Strong ordinary who's
adding a level of Strong hero. The character already has +3 BAB, +2
Defense, etc. He has the standard array of ability scores, and a given
number of hit points. He has no class abilities (talents or bonus
feats), and no action points. When he adds the level of Strong hero, his
BAB, Defense, saves, etc. go up just like any other Strong character
advancing from 3rd to 4th level. He gains 1d8 + Con hit points, and 3 +
Int skill points, just as he has every other time he went up in level.
But in addition, he gains 7 action points and a bonus feat (the standard
class feature at 4th level). He is now a 4th-level Strong hero, but
you'll have to make a note somewhere that he's short 2 talents and a
bonus feat due to the fact that he was an ordinary for his first three
levels.

Q. Just a quick query about the Faith talent, which is available to
dedicated heroes. Does it mean that when you expend an action point you
can add your Wis bonus *to* the action point die (getting, say 1d6+2 as
your bonus), OR does it mean that you can add your Wis bonus *instead
of* rolling the die when you expend an action point? I'm guessing that
it is the first, but I'd appreciate a quick clarification.
When a Dedicated hero with the Faith talent spends an action point to
increase a roll, she adds 1d6 + her Wis modifier (rather than just 1d6)
to the roll.

Q. In an earlier thread, when someone asked if the bonuses from the
Charismatic talents charm and fast-talk stacked, you said no as they
were both competence bonuses. Does that apply to all talent-based skill
bonuses (Dedicated hero's empathy, aware and healing knack, Smart hero's
savant, Negotiator's conceal motive, Field Medic's medical specialist,
and Personality's unlimited access)?
None of these bonuses are typed, which means they stack with other
bonuses. However, very few of these abilities stack with other
abilities, because they generally affect different skills. The only
instances in which two of these abilities grant stacking bonuses are
empathy and unlimited access (which both give bonuses to Bluff and
Diplomacy--but only when trying to get into restricted events) and
healing knack and medical specialist (which, when stacked, grant a
maximum total bonus of +5 on Treat Injury checks).
A side note on unlimited access: This ability can only be used to get into semi-public events--parties, tours, the private room at the back of the restaurant, etc. In other words, places where members of the public (even if it's just a select few) are granted admission. You can't use it to get into places where no member of the public is ever admitted, like a secret military installation.

3 Chapter Three -- Feats
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Q. Why can't I get the benefits of burst fire when I use a weapon with a
three-round burst setting, even if I don't have the Burst Fire feat?
A. There are a lot of misconceptions about what a three-round burst
setting on a weapon does for the user. Many people think the setting is
designed to allow more accurate use of autofire, presumably by limiting
the recoil of the weapon. It would seem to make sense, then, that the
user should get the benefits of the Burst Fire feat when using such a
setting. The truth, however, is that the three-round burst setting is a
limiter designed to prevent the wasting of ammunition. It serves no
other purpose and offers no other advantage when the weapon is fired.
A three-round burst setting makes it no more of less easy to aim
autofire at an individual target. It simply prevents someone who uses
autofire in this manner from wasting ammunition.

Q. If a character takes the feat Weapon Focus for his rifle, does that
apply to all forms of attack with the rifle, including making rifle butt
or fixed bayonet melee attacks?
No. If two functions of a weapon require separate proficiency feats,
they aren't both covered by a single Weapon Focus feat. In this case,
shooting your rifle requires the Personal Firearms Proficiency feat,
clubbing someone with the rifle butt requires the Simple Weapons
Proficiency feat, and using a fixed bayonet requires the Archaic Weapon
Proficiency feat.
Sometimes weapons have more than one function, but the multiple uses
are covered under a single proficiency feat.

Q. Do brass knuckles provoke attacks of opportunity, even though they
deal lethal damage? When used with the Brawl feat, they increase the
base damage dealt by +1 -- is that 1d6+1 lethal damage or 1D3+1 lethal?
Do brass knuckles have any effect on the Improved Brawl or Combat
Martial Arts feats?
Attacks made with brass knuckles provoke attacks of opportunity just
like normal unarmed attacks. Also, you cannot make attacks of
opportunity with brass knuckles (just as you cannot make attacks of
opportunity with normal unarmed attacks). When used with the Brawl feat,
brass knuckles deal 1d3+1. You gain no additional benefit from brass
knuckles for having the Improved Brawl feat, and there is no benefit to
using brass knuckles with the Combat Martial Arts feats.

Q. Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. By acquiring just one feat --
TWF feat -- I can use one weapon in my off hand at no penalty, even if
I'm not fighting with two weapons (let's say hypothetically, I injured
my primary hand)?
The d20 rules never specify which hand is your primary hand. (There's
no place on the character sheet to specify whether your character is
right-handed or left-handed, and most players probably never even give
it a thought.) Furthermore, there are no rules for hit location, or for
being specially incapacitated by damage. In short, the d20 system simply
never deals with what happens if you use a single weapon in your
non-primary hand. So that's not really an issue.
More importantly, we realized that the Ambidexterity feat really only
served to make two-weapon fighting an ability that costs two feats
instead of one. This seemed like a needless cost and a needless
complication. So we got rid of it. The advantages of two-weapon fighting
are still pretty marginal (in my mind, anyway); it's really more an
issue of style than of substance. Most of the players who choose to
fight with two weapons do so because it's pretty cool, not because they
gain any real edge in combat. And that's as it should be--players get
options that suit their tastes, while the game remains balanced and has
the right feel.

Q. I know you mentioned there are no rules in d20 Modern for specifying
which is your off-hand, but as a rule of thumb, if you did have to use
your off-hand instead of your primary hand to attack or perform some
skill, would you have no penalty if you had the TWF Feat, but at -4 if
you didn't? That is, if I ported this rule over to D&D, should I handle
it as if the Feat covers the Ambidexterity and TWF Feats entirely?
Yes and yes.

Q. Can I take two feats at first level, with one being the prerequisite
for another?
As a general rule in the d20 system, anything that has prerequisites
can be taken simultaneously with the prerequisites. If you have two feat
slots (at 1st level, or some other level when you get a bonus feat and
level feat at the same time), for example, you can pick two feats for
which one is a prereq of the other. Same is true for class talents. (The
exception is if the thing itself grants the prerequisites -- for
example, if a prestige class has certain skill prereq, you can't take
the class and then use the class's skill points to buy the necessary
skills.)

Q. If using two guns, can you Double Tap with both weapons in the same
round?
Sure. And of you have multiple attacks (due to a high BAB), you can
double-tap on each attack. The restrictions are that you suffer the -2
modifier on each attack (which can get pretty steep if you're stacking
it on top of two-weapon fighting penalties) and that you have to have
enough ammo in the weapon.

Q. What types of Vehicles does each vehicle feat apply to, and what are
the prerequisites for things like Vehicle Dodge?
In general, if a feat doesn't specify a type of vehicle, it applies to
all vehicles. For example, have a look at Force Stop: it specifies
surface vehicles.

Q. I have been looking everything over, and I cannot find a single reason
why anyone in their right mind would employ a machinegun. You need an
extra feat for it, with the quick reload feat you can do everything with
an automatic 7.62mm rifle that a machinegun can, only better.
You don't actually need the Advanced Firearms feat to use an MG. When
you use autofire, you target a 10' square with an effective Defense of
10. Without the feat, you take a -4 on the attack--making the roll,
effectively, against a Defense of 14. That's still less than the Defense
of many characters, so even an attacker without the feat can use
autofire pretty effectively. [So why ever take the Advance Firearms
feat? Well, getting rid of the -4 is a small reason, but the big reason
is that it's a prereq for other important feats, like Burst Fire.] That
leaves us with two advantages to using an M60 instead of a G3: longer
range increment, and a large (possibly unlimited) ammo capacity. These
factors may not be very important in most roleplaying game encounters,
which occur quickly and at close range. That's fine. If your characters
are finding that the G3 suits them better in most of their encounters,
that's probably pretty realistic.

Q. If using two guns, can you Double Tap with both weapons in the same
round?
Sure. And of you have multiple attacks (due to a high BAB), you can
double-tap on each attack. The restrictions are that you suffer the -2
modifier on each attack (which can get pretty steep if you're stacking
it on top of two-weapon fighting penalties) and that you have to have
enough ammo in the weapon.

Q. Can you use things like Combat Martial Arts with Agile Riposte, and do
the attack of opportunity rules change for this?
The attack of opportunity granted by Agile Riposte is no different
than any other attack of opportunity. All the normal rules and
restrictions for AoOs apply. So, yes, someone with Combat Martial Arts
or a natural attack can take advantage of Agile Riposte.

Q. While not normally a common piece of equipment for a modern day
character, riot shields, capture shields, and various other shields
still do find the occasional use, and I was wondering how they are meant
to be handled. I noticed no 'shield proficiency' feat off-hand. Should I
have one if shields are to play any role in the game, or do they fall
under one of the existing armor proficiencies? Do they still provide an
armor class/defense bonus, or are shields simply considered 'cover',
like the D&D tower shields?
Shields work the same in d20 Modern as in D&D. A character proficient
in medium or heavy armor is proficient with shields. You'll see a fair
bit more on shields in Urban Arcana.

Q. I have heard people say ``if you can stun someone during a fight, then
KnockOut punch will pretty much finish him off''. I am a little
confused, because I do not think that is how the rules work, for three
reasons: - when you equal or exceed someone's Con with non-lethal
damage, they make a DC 15 save. If they succeed, they are DAZED, not
stunned (and if they fail they fall unconscious)...KO Punch only applies
when the opponent is FLAT-FOOTED, not dazed or stunned [and] ... dazed,
flat-footed and stunned are all separate conditions and (while similar
in some respects) are not equivalent...So it seems to me that KO Punch
(and Imp KO Punch) will only ever work during the first round of a
fight, if you can catch someone flatfooted. Am I missing something here?
Flat-footed is not the same thing as denied Dex bonus. Flat-footed
only occurs at the beginning of combat, when a character has not yet
acted. I can't think of any situation in which a character already in
combat becomes flat-footed. (There may be such situations, but if so
they're rare; I can't think of any at the moment.) Yes, Knockout Punch
could easily be named Sucker Punch. (In fact, I remember that we
considered that name when we were designing the feats; I don't recall
exactly why we decided against it.) It really is useful mainly in
surprise situations.

Q. Weapon Finese: Unarmed Strike: You can do that.. right?
Under Unarmed Attacks (page 135), it says "Unarmed strikes count as
light melee weapons (for purposes of two-weapon attack penalties and so
on)." Use of the Weapon Finesse feat falls under the "and so on" part.
In other words, yes, you can choose unarmed strike as you Weapon Finesse
"weapon."

Q. Can a character alternate between CMA-lethal and Brawl-nonlethal
unarmed attacks in a single full attack?
Absolutely. Why not?

Q. Does improved brawl or combat martial arts have any effect on using
brass knuckles? Does improved brawl increase brass knuckle damage at
all?
Combat Martial Arts has no effect on using brass knuckles, and vice
versa. Brawl can be used with brass knuckles only when dealing nonlethal
damage; if you choose to deal lethal damage, you don't get the benefit
of the Brawl feat.
Now, why all the confusion? It really comes down to a single word in
the description of brass knuckles on page 106: ``[brass knuckles] allow
you to deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike. . .'' That means you
have a choice when you use brass knuckles: you can deal lethal or
nonlethal damage. Unfortunately, in my notes in one location I had
apparently misread that as ``brass knuckles cause you to deal lethal
damage. . .'' (You don't have a choice; the damage is automatically
lethal.) If that were the case, you wouldn't be able to stack the
benefits of brass knuckles with Brawl or Knockout Punch, since those
feats deal only with nonlethal damage.
If you want to deal lethal damage with brass knuckles, you cannot take
advantage of any feat that delivers nonlethal damage only. That means
you don't get the benefit of the Brawl or Knockout Punch feats.
If you want to deal nonlethal damage, here's how things play out:

- Brass knuckles + Brawl feat = 1d6+1 nonlethal
- Brass knuckles + Improved Brawl = 1d8+1 nonlethal
- Brass knuckles + Improved Brawl + Knockout Punch= 2d8+2 nonlethal
- Brass knuckles + Improved Brawl + Improved KO Punch = 3d8+3 nonlethal

[b]5 Chapter Five -- Combat[/b]
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Q. [i][i]Do you use Str or Dex when throwing?[/i][/i]
You use Dex for the attack; in this regard, thrown weapons are no
different from any other ranged attack. You add your Str modifier to the
damage, however, like you would with a melee attack.

Q. What happens if a character falls or jumps out of a moving vehicle?
If you jump or fall out of a moving vehicle, you take damage as a
collision with the ground. Apply a x1/2 multiplier if you're only
hitting the ground. (If you hit an object, like, say, a bridge abutment
or a boulder, the collision multiplier is x1.) Unlike other collisions,
though, you do not get a Reflex save for falling or jumping out of a
moving vehicle.
So, for example, if you fall out of a vehicle while traveling at
highway speed, you take 2d8 points of damage (4d8 for the collision of a
Medium-size creature with the ground at highway speed, x1/2.)
If you fall from any height (jumping out of a car while driving over a
bridge, for example), add normal falling damage to the total.
If you deliberately jump from the vehicle, you may attempt a Tumble
check (DC 15; don't forget the check/roll modifier for the vehicle's
speed). If successful, roll 1d6 and subtract the result from the damage
taken.

Q. Are guns considered melee weapons or ranged weapons for disarming
purposes? Does the answer change depending on whether the weapon was
last positioned for a melee attack (pistol whip) or ranged attack
(shooting)?
The default answer is that a firearm is a ranged weapon; therefore you
use the rules for disarming opponents with ranged weapons. However, if
the opponent last used his weapon as a melee weapon (making a pistol
whip, rifle butt, or fixed bayonet attack), treat the firearm as a melee
weapon.

Q. The driving rules don't seem to include aerial manoeuvres; they all
require Drive checks. Are the Pilot DCs the same? Will air combat rules
come out in Urban Arcana or a future supplement?
We don't have complete air combat rules at this time. The vehicle
combat system should work just fine for basic air movement (though you
might think up a few additional manoeuvres). The Drive check DCs apply
to Pilot checks when the vehicles in question are aircraft.

Q. How does being underwater protect you from attacks?
Water provides both concealment and DR.
Water provides concealment. Clear water provides one-half concealment
if barely submerged, three-quarters concealment if submerged below 5
feet, and nine-tenths if below 10 feet. Murky water increases the
concealment by one category (three-quarters if barely submerged, for
example).
Water also provides DR: 1 point of DR per foot of depth.
Thus, someone swimming at a depth of 5 feet in clear water benefits
from a miss chance of 30% and DR 5.

Q. In d20 Modern the description of disarm has been expanded to make it
clear that the reactionary disarm arising from a failed disarm attempt
does not provoke an attack of opportunity. However, the reactionary trip
arising from a failed trip attempt has not been expanded.
Does the reactionary trip attack provoke an attack of opportunity?
When you make a trip attack, you begin it by making an unarmed touch
attack. It's this touch attack that provokes the attack of opportunity.
You then go on to make an opposed Strength check. If you lose, the
target gets to make an opposed Strength check to trip you. The opponent
goes straight to the opposed Strength check without first making an
unarmed touch attack.
For that reason, the opponent does not provoke an attack of
opportunity from you.

Q. When you lose control a spin or roll requires the vehicle to move
forward a number of spaces equal to its turn speed. These are normally
beyond your normal movement.
If, after a collision with speed loss you have no further movement,
you lose control do you move forward one space pushing the other vehicle
or simply spin/roll on the spot?
Use the guidelines given for collisions when the vehicle must still
move forward: the colliding vehicle pushes the other vehicle or object
aside, if possible. (If not, it stops where it is.)

Q. If someone takes Brawl, they deal 1d6+Str non-lethal. If they take
Combat Martial Arts, they deal 1d4+Str lethal or non-lethal. What
happens if you have both feats? Can you then deal 1d6+Str lethal damage?
At any given time, you use one feat or the other. In other words:
If you want to deal nonlethal damage, and don't care if you're
considered armed or unarmed, use the Brawl feat to deal 1d6 damage.
If you want to deal lethal damage, and/or you want to make an unarmed
attack of opportunity (or not provoke an AoO when making your unarmed
attack), use the Combat Martial Arts feat and deal only 1d4 damage.

Q. When using autofire, what happens if your targeted 10-foot-by-10-foot
straddles two range increments? For example, the weapon has a 30-foot
range increment, and the 10-foot area begins 25 feet away.
You count the range to the 5-foot square closest to you (just like you
do when attacking a creature that takes up more than one square).

Q. I'm attacking a 10-foot-by-10-foot area with autofire. A car takes up
two of the 5-foot squares. Does the car take double damage, since it
occupies two squares?
No. Autofire is an area effect. As with all area effects, everything
within the area takes the prescribed damage (unless it saves),
regardless of the creature or object's size.
It helps if you remember that autofire works exactly the same way as
grenades and fireballs. If you cast a fireball at a Gargantuan dragon,
the dragon takes 10d6 damage--not 10d6 per five-foot square it occupies.
Same for autofire.

Q. I have the Double-Tap feat, and I get extra attacks due to my high
base attack bonus. Can I use Double-Tap on every attack? How about Burst
Fire? How about standard autofire?
Yes to both. You can use the Double Tap feat, Burst Fire feat, or
standard autofire on any attack. There is no restriction on the number
of times you can use these abilities per round, or the type of action
you take. If you can make an attack roll with a firearm, you can use
these feats (or autofire) with that roll. (Provided, of course, that you
meet the conditions of the feat, such as having enough ammo in the
weapon.)

Q. A bad guy is hiding behind a hostage. If I shoot at the bad guy, how
do I determine if the attack hits the hostage instead?
Any time a good guy is in the way of a ranged attack on a bad guy,
there are two possible modifiers to your attack: cover, and shooting
into melee.
The shooting into melee modifier is a straight -4 penatly to your
attack. It applies any time a good guy is in a square adjacent to the
bad guy's square--even if the good guy is completely out of the way (on
the far side of the bad guy, for example). It simply represents the
extra care you have to take to avoid having a stray shot hit your
friend. Fortunately, if you have the Precise Shot feat, you don't suffer
this penalty.
The cover penalty for a hostage works like any other cover
situation--the GM determines how much cover the bad guy gets from the
people in between him and the attacker. Generally, standing behind a
creature of the same size category gives someone half cover, which means
a -4 penalty on the attack. However, this is always subject to GM
adjudication, and the GM can determine that the bad guy gets more or
less cover depending on the situation.
To determine if a missed attack hits the cover (in this case, the
hostage), simply determine whether the attack would have hit if the
cover hadn't been there. For example, if the bad guy's Defense is 17
(meaning you need a 21 to hit him with the cover penalty), and you roll
a 19, you hit the cover. (A 19 would have hit the bad guy if the cover
hadn't been included.)
The two penalty sources stack, so if you don't have Precise Shot and
you're shooting at a bad guy who has one-half cover from a hostage,
you're looking at a total penalty of -8. However, to determine if a
missed attack hits the hostage, the guidelines I just gave you only
apply to the cover penalty, not the shooting into melee penalty. So,
going back to my example, the roll of 19 would not hit the hostage. The
bad guy has a Defense of 17. The shooting into melee penalty means you
need a 21 to hit him. Throw in the cover, and you need a 25. Any result
less than 21 misses completely; any result of 25 or greater hits the bad
guy. Only results of 21 through 24 (in other words, misses caused by the
cover penalty) miss the bad guy and hit the hostage.

Q. Why can't I get the benefits of burst fire when I use a weapon with a
three-round burst setting, even if I don't have the Burst Fire feat?
There are a lot of misconceptions about what a three-round burst
setting on a weapon does for the user. Many people think the setting is
designed to allow more accurate use of autofire, presumably by limiting
the recoil of the weapon. It would seem to make sense, then, that the
user should get the benefits of the Burst Fire feat when using such a
setting. The truth, however, is that the three-round burst setting is a
limiter designed to prevent the wasting of ammunition. It serves no
other purpose and offers no other advantage when the weapon is fired.
A three-round burst setting makes it no more of less easy to aim
autofire at an individual target. It simply prevents someone who uses
autofire in this manner from wasting ammunition.

Q. Do brass knuckles provoke attacks of opportunity, even though they
deal lethal damage? When used with the Brawl feat, they increase the
base damage dealt by +1 -- is that 1d6+1 lethal damage or 1D3+1 lethal?
Do brass knuckles have any effect on the Improved Brawl or Combat
Martial Arts feats?
Attacks made with brass knuckles provoke attacks of opportunity just
like normal unarmed attacks. Also, you cannot make attacks of
opportunity with brass knuckles (just as you cannot make attacks of
opportunity with normal unarmed attacks). When used with the Brawl feat,
brass knuckles deal 1d3+1. You gain no additional benefit from brass
knuckles for having the Improved Brawl feat, and there is no benefit to
using brass knuckles with the Combat Martial Arts feats.

Q. Why are the range increments in d20 Modern so low? Can't modern
sniping rifles and tank cannons hit targets as far away as a mile or
two?
A weapon's range increment is not merely ``the longest range we've
ever heard rumors of this weapon being used at divided by 10.'' The
actual formula is roughly 2/3 of maximum effective range divided by 10.
This provides a base maximum range unaffected by feats or special
equipment; the actual effective range is attained (or exceeded) by
adding such elements as the Far Shot feat or special sighting devices.

Q. If a character takes the feat Weapon Focus for his rifle, does that
apply to all forms of attack with the rifle, including making rifle butt
or fixed bayonet melee attacks?
No. If two functions of a weapon require separate proficiency feats,
they aren't both covered by a single Weapon Focus feat. In this case,
shooting your rifle requires the Personal Firearms Proficiency feat,
clubbing someone with the rifle butt requires the Simple Weapons
Proficiency feat, and using a fixed bayonet requires the Archaic Weapon
Proficiency feat.
Sometimes weapons have more than one function, but the multiple uses
are covered under a single proficiency feat.

Q. What happens when you try to sideswipe a vehicle into a person?
There are no special rules for sideswiping a person; the rules for the
sideswipe stunt apply to any target the driver wants to sideswipe. (In
fact, it says ``a driver can attempt to sideswipe a vehicle or other
target'' right in the first sentence.)
That said, the text might be easier to interpret if the fourth
paragraph had been written as such:
``If the stunt is successful, the sideswiping vehicle and the target
both take damage as if they had collided (See Collisions and Ramming,
page 160), except that the collision multiplier is 1/4, and the target
(or the driver of the target vehicle) can make a Reflex save (DC 15) to
reduce the damage to both vehicles by half of that result. If the target
is another vehicle, that vehicle's driver must succeed at a Drive check
(DC 15) at the beginning of his next action or lose control of the
vehicle.''

Q. The rules, of course, state that you can't use a ranged weapon for an
attack of opportunity. I imagine this is because ranged attacks draw an
AoO when used in melee range. Would the Gunslinger ability of Close
Combat Shot(which does not draw an AoO when a ranged weapon is fired in
melee combat) allow you to use a ranged weapon as an AoO?
Close combat shot does exactly what it says it does: allows you to
make attacks with some firearmes without provoking attacks of
opportunity. Just because it protects you from attacks of opportunity
does not mean that it allows you to make them.

Q. Can a Bodyguard use the Harm's Way ability when he if flat-footed, If
he started the combat adjacent to the ally that he is defending?
Nope!

Q. I can't seem to find a rule regarding double-barrel shotguns. If both
barrels are fired at once, is the attack handled like a double-tap (one
extra die of damage)?
Effectively, yes.
If the shotgun is fully-loaded (there's a shell in both barrels), you
can fire both at once. You receive a -2 penalty on the attack, but you
deal +1 die of damage with a successful hit. Obviously, firing both
barrels leaves the weapon empty; you have to reload to fire again. You
do not need to have the double tap feat.
Reloading a double-barrel shotgun, like reloading any firearm with an
internal magazine, is a full-round action.
These rules apply to the sawed-off shotgun in the d20 Modern rulebook.


Q. Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. By acquiring just one feat --
TWF feat -- I can use one weapon in my off hand at no penalty, even if
I'm not fighting with two weapons (let's say hypothetically, I injured
my primary hand)?
The d20 rules never specify which hand is your primary hand. (There's
no place on the character sheet to specify whether your character is
right-handed or left-handed, and most players probably never even give
it a thought.) Furthermore, there are no rules for hit location, or for
being specially incapacitated by damage. In short, the d20 system simply
never deals with what happens if you use a single weapon in your
non-primary hand. So that's not really an issue.
More importantly, we realized that the Ambidexterity feat really only
served to make two-weapon fighting an ability that costs two feats
instead of one. This seemed like a needless cost and a needless
complication. So we got rid of it. The advantages of two-weapon fighting
are still pretty marginal (in my mind, anyway); it's really more an
issue of style than of substance. Most of the players who choose to
fight with two weapons do so because it's pretty cool, not because they
gain any real edge in combat. And that's as it should be--players get
options that suit their tastes, while the game remains balanced and has
the right feel.

Q. I have been looking everything over, and I cannot find a single reason
why anyone in their right mind would employ a machinegun. You need an
extra feat for it, with the quick reload feat you can do everything with
an automatic 7.62mm rifle that a machinegun can, only better.
You don't actually need the Advanced Firearms feat to use an MG. When
you use autofire, you target a 10' square with an effective Defense of
10. Without the feat, you take a -4 on the attack--making the roll,
effectively, against a Defense of 14. That's still less than the Defense
of many characters, so even an attacker without the feat can use
autofire pretty effectively. [So why ever take the Advance Firearms
feat? Well, getting rid of the -4 is a small reason, but the big reason
is that it's a prereq for other important feats, like Burst Fire.] That
leaves us with two advantages to using an M60 instead of a G3: longer
range increment, and a large (possibly unlimited) ammo capacity. These
factors may not be very important in most roleplaying game encounters,
which occur quickly and at close range. That's fine. If your characters
are finding that the G3 suits them better in most of their encounters,
that's probably pretty realistic.

Q. If using two guns, can you Double Tap with both weapons in the same
round?
Sure. And of you have multiple attacks (due to a high BAB), you can
double-tap on each attack. The restrictions are that you suffer the -2
modifier on each attack (which can get pretty steep if you're stacking
it on top of two-weapon fighting penalties) and that you have to have
enough ammo in the weapon.

Q. Combining the Martial Artist with the Soldier gives you Improved
Combat Martial Arts, which increases unarmed threat range to 19-20, and
the Soldier's Improved Critical, which bumps it up by one. This makes my
threat range 18--20, correct?
If I understand your question correctly, you're asking if the 19--20
threat range from Improved Combat Martial Arts stacks with the increase
in threat range from the soldier's Improved Critical class ability.
(Assuming, of course, that unarmed strike is the weapon chosen by the
soldier for his weapon specialization class ability.)
The answer is Yes. A 5th-level soldier who chose unarmed strike as his
weapon specialization back at 2nd level has a threat range of 18-20 if
he also has the Improved Combat Martial Arts feat.
Later, add Advanced Martial artist, meaning that criticals are
18-20/x3. Then, add Knockout Punch and Improved Knockout Punch. Improved
Knockout punch gives you a x3 critical. Does this mean that you use the
d20-standard and make that auto-critical x4 nonlethal when attacking a
flat-footed opponent?
No. The benefits from the Combat Martial Arts feats do no stack with
those of the Brawl feats.

Q. While not normally a common piece of equipment for a modern day
character, riot shields, capture shields, and various other shields
still do find the occasional use, and I was wondering how they are meant
to be handled. I noticed no 'shield proficiency' feat off-hand. Should I
have one if shields are to play any role in the game, or do they fall
under one of the existing armor proficiencies? Do they still provide an
armor class/defense bonus, or are shields simply considered 'cover',
like the D&D tower shields?
Shields work the same in d20 Modern as in D&D. A character proficient
in medium or heavy armor is proficient with shields. You'll see a fair
bit more on shields in Urban Arcana.

Q. It says that the driver of a vehicle can do up to 2 stunts during
movement, if no attack action is taken. However, in the description of
'dash' and 'hard brake' (or whatever it's called) it tells the total
possible change in movement categories as if it were only possible to do
that stunt once in a round. I would appreciate some clarification on
this matter.
A vehicle cannot increase speed more than two speed categories per
round, and cannot decrease speed more than three speed categories per
round. Thus, you can only succeed in one dash or hard brake stunt per
round. However, if you attempt a dash, and fail, you can use your second
stunt to attempt it again.

Q. Well, since I haven't really found anything about anything, I feel I
have to ask. This is at least partly about secret agents and the like,
and well, say agent and I think most think of Bond. And that leads us to
Q-branch. So, is there any plans for rules to modify vehicles? Souped-up
engines, armor, and of course the .50-cals behind the headlights and the
catapult passanger seat. I know that there might not be TONS of it in my
campaign, but I also know at least one and possibly more of my playes
will ask! *G*
No vehicle modification rules exist at this time. I'd love to see
some, mainly because I think my players would like to make some
modifications to their Humvee in our post-apocalyptic campaign. (A ram
plate would be nice, considering how often the front end of their
vehicle is used as a weapon--and how much time they spend on repairs
afterward!) Maybe we'll put something together soon.

Q. 1) If a character in a threatened area provokes an attack of
opportunity from an opponent with a pistol or rifle, the opponent can
make an attack of opportunity with their pistol grip or rifle butt. 2)
Also, attacks of opportunity cannot be made by using a ranged attack,
but can be made by using the melee aspect of an otherwise ranged weapon
(e.g., stab with a throwing knife, whip with a pistol grip).
Both of these are correct. Now, here's one point you might consider:
If a melee attack form does not appear on the melee weapons list, it
probably counts as an improvised weapon. For example, whacking someone
with your crossbow is probably an improvised weapon attack. In such
cases, the attacker suffers a -4 penalty (see Improvised Weapons on page
109).

Q. During a full-attack option, can a character switch freely between the
ranged and melee aspects of pistols and rifles? For example, could a
character with a rifle and 3 attacks due to high BAB, shoot at one
target, strike a melee opponent with their rifle butt, and then shoot
another target? If they alternate between modes in one full-attack
action, do they suffer an attack penalty to either set of attacks (or
both)?
The attacker can switch between modes freely. The attacker provokes
attacks of opportunity any time she makes a ranged attack within a
threatened square.

Q. I have heard people say ``if you can stun someone during a fight, then
KnockOut punch will pretty much finish him off''. I am a little
confused, because I do not think that is how the rules work, for three
reasons: - when you equal or exceed someone's Con with non-lethal
damage, they make a DC 15 save. If they succeed, they are DAZED, not
stunned (and if they fail they fall unconscious)...KO Punch only applies
when the opponent is FLAT-FOOTED, not dazed or stunned [and] ... dazed,
flat-footed and stunned are all separate conditions and (while similar
in some respects) are not equivalent...So it seems to me that KO Punch
(and Imp KO Punch) will only ever work during the first round of a
fight, if you can catch someone flatfooted. Am I missing something here?
Flat-footed is not the same thing as denied Dex bonus. Flat-footed
only occurs at the beginning of combat, when a character has not yet
acted. I can't think of any situation in which a character already in
combat becomes flat-footed. (There may be such situations, but if so
they're rare; I can't think of any at the moment.) Yes, Knockout Punch
could easily be named Sucker Punch. (In fact, I remember that we
considered that name when we were designing the feats; I don't recall
exactly why we decided against it.) It really is useful mainly in
surprise situations.

Q. Since a character is Flat-Footed until they've acted, if such a
character were Dazed before their first action, would this mean that the
character is Flat-Footed for an extra round since being Dazed means not
being able to act?
You betcha. If a brawler can keep a target dazed (by forcing massive
damage saves, even if the target succeeds in the saves), the target
remains flat-footed (and thus susceptible to Knockout Punch).

Q. Why can't vehicles suffer critical hits?
Vehicles are objects. Critical hits apply only to creatures.

Q. Why have you made vehicles objects though? Seems to take the fun out
of vehicle combat.
Have you played any vehicle combat yet? It's been plenty of fun in my
games! Some food for thought:

1. The rules give you some options for disabling vehicles other than
simply reducing them to 0 hp. Shooting out the tires or windshield is
more interesting in the game (and realistic) than trying for a
critical hit.
2. If you're imagining critical hits as huge fiery explosions like in
the movies, remember that what comes around goes around. If you can
blast your opponents in a gigantic explosion, they can do the same to
you. One of the challenges in designing the vehicle combat system was
preventing cars from becoming whole-party coffins. We don't wan't
anyone's campaign being brought to a screeching and untimely halt
because a lucky roll by a bad guy resulted in the fiery death of the
entire party!
3. Sure, you may think that cars have a "discernable anatomy," and you
may think you know what that anatomy is. But what about a UFO? A
mini-submarine? Those cool little carlike things in Minority Report?
Where do you draw the line between objects (even vehicles) that have
discernable anatomies and those that don't?
4. Vehicles may be immune to crits (and hence coups de gras), but they
can still be quickly dispatched. That's what Disable Device is for.
5. Some people have complained that we didn't stat armored vehicles
tough enough. Part of that is because they are immune to crits. Allow
crits against vehicles, and you may end up with some squirrely
results when playing with armored vehicles.
All of these issues (except perhaps #2) are solvable if you really
feel crits against objects will make your game better. And you're always
welcome--encouraged, even--the modify the game as you see fit. But my
guess is that if you give it a try as written, you'll be happy with the
results.

Q. How much cover bonus does a tank benefit from a hull-down position?
As with all cover situations, that's for your GM to adjudicate. (I'd
probably give a tank 3/4 cover against attacks from the front for being
hull down.)

Q. What kind of equipment bonus does the M1's Fire Control System give to
gunner's attack rolls, when tank is moving?
We don't specify. However, it's probably not unreasonable to allow the
fire control system to negate some of the penalties for a moving
vehicle, up to, say, 2 points of penalty.

Q. The d20 Modern version of the Shuriken seems to work differently than
I am used to. How does it work?
OK, here's the scoop on shuriken. Forget what you know about D&D
shuriken; in d20 Modern they work differently. You can only throw one at
a time, and you do get to add your Strength bonus to damage. And, as the
rules state, you can draw them as a free action. What does that mean?
Dealing only 1 point of damage is pretty weak, but 1 + Str bonus can be
OK if you have a decent Strength. Drawing as a free action can be a real
bonus. Shuriken can be a useful delivery system for special attacks,
such as poison.

Q. I was wondering about a cars hardness and shooting through the car.
Seeing as a car has a hardness of 5 and every gun does atleast 2d6. If
you shoot at a door of a car forever. The car will not become disabled,
so where does the extra damage go?? I was watching a tv show and a bank
robbery in LA where the robbers had automatic rifles (AK47 or something)
They were pumping round after round into a car where a few people hiding
behind. every one of those people got hit. Why not in D20. Could it be
like the glass where if you try to shoot somebody with glass between you
and them you see first if you hit the glass and the glass has like a
hardness of 2 and 1hp and then you see if you hit the person and add the
leftover damage? Is that Valid? or what else would be good. I know that
the door would provide concealment and the doors hardness and hp for
cover but would it be possible to hit somebody ducking in a car??
Here's how it works: Sam hides behind a car. Yuriko shoots at him. GM
rules that Sam has 9/10 cover, since it's possible to actually see some
part of him depending on the angle of the shot. He gets a +10 cover
bonus to Defense, and a +4 bonus to any Reflex save (taking half damage
if he fails his save and no damage if he succeeds). The Reflex save is
important for situations where a bank-robbing whack job fires his AK 47
on full auto at cops and bystanders hiding behind cars (see the Autofire
rules under Special Attacks in Chapter Five: Combat). Depending on where
Sam hides and whether or not he's shooting back, he may have less cover.
If it's important to know what happens to the car, you use the "Striking
the Cover Instead of a Missed Target" rules in Chapter Five: Combat. In
d20, you shoot at your target. Any intervening object gives cover or
concealment, but you still shoot at the target.
It's true that in real life, sometimes attacks penetrate cover and hit
people on the other side. We don't really model that in the d20
system--just like we don't model the fact that an attack can go right
through the target and hit a second person. You might want a house rule
of some sort; something similar to the rules for shooting through
windows. Perhaps a car door has hardness 5 and, say, 3 hit points. If
you hit the target's Defense but miss because of the cover bonus, any
excess damage is taken by the target. That would probably work
reasonably well, though I'm betting that the benefit to your game
experience wouldn't be worth the extra complication and the slowing down
of play. YMMV, of course.

Q. Weapon Finese: Unarmed Strike: You can do that.. right?
Under Unarmed Attacks (page 135), it says "Unarmed strikes count as
light melee weapons (for purposes of two-weapon attack penalties and so
on)." Use of the Weapon Finesse feat falls under the "and so on" part.
In other words, yes, you can choose unarmed strike as you Weapon Finesse
"weapon."

Q. I know others have dredged this up but I wanted Mr. Ryan's opinion on
this. How come in d20 Modern there's no rules about shotgun spread. The
closest I found was the damage thinning at ranges. Even indoors at
twenty feet you can peg people standing six feet apart.
Despite the misperception common in most roleplaying systems, shotguns
do not spread that widely. (The spread at moderate ranges is about
enough to cover a dinner plate--NOT enough to hit several people.)
That said, I've provided some slightly different rules in Ultramodern
Firearms: The -2 penalty per range increment applies to damage, rather
than attack rolls. This means that shotguns are a little more likely to
hit at long ranges (due to their spread), but that their damage falls
off with range (due to the fact that few projectiles might hit, and that
shot loses its velocity faster than ballistic rounds do). [It will have
the] same theoretical maximum as any other non-thrown ranged weapon: 10
range increments. However, in practice the maximum is lower: a 2d8
shotgun losing -2 damage every range increment has a functional maximum
range of 8 range increments. (If you roll 16 damage, after 8 range
increments that damage is reduced to 1). On average, the damage is
reduced to 1 after 4 to 5 range increments. See how cleverly that works
out! [Also] Ultramodern Firearms has rules for different forms of
shotgun ammo (and ammo for other firearm types as well, of course), and
for different types of choke.

Q. [Assume the following senario] Let's say that your PCs and some
[Werewolf] bad guys are shooting at each other. [The Werewolves have no
cover, but the four PCs do have cover as follows.] Al is standing around
the corner, looking around to fire off shots as he can. Bev is kneeling
around the same corner, leaning out to fire off shots in tandem with Al.
Carl is standing behind [some 3-foot high] crates. Dana is kneeling
behind the same crates, looking out to pop shots at the werewolves as
they start to close on her and Carl. [Anything wrong with this senario
so far?]
[Yes] If A is standing at a corner (occupying the square behind the
corner), B can't also be there (occupying the same square), regardless
of whether she's standing or kneeling. The two characters can't take up
the same space. (You could house rule this one if you really want it to
be possible for two people to shoot around the same corner (or from
behind the same car door, or whatever); perhaps each person suffers a -4
penalty on attacks, or a -2 on attacks and -2 on Defense, because
they're in each others' way.)

Q. [In the above scenario] Do any of the werewolves have cover relative
to any of the PCs, based on what I said?
The answer is no. If they were using melee weapons, it'd be a
different story, but the fact that they're using ranged weapons makes it
like arrowslits -- the werewolves don't get any cover.

Q. [In the above scenario] What bonuses to Defense would each person
have?
I would probably give everyone half cover. (More than half of their
bodies are covered, but probably half or so of their vital areas are
exposed. (This is the same reason a 3-foot wall only gives you
one-quarter cover--see page 144 for more.)) [As for D] [y]ou can give
her the normal cover plus the kneeling bonus, or the better
cover--whichever is higher. In this case, obviously, the result is the
same. But if she started at half-cover, and kneeling improved her cover
to three-quarters, I'd give her the benefit of +7 (three-quarters)
rather than +6 (one-half cover plus kneeling). (Note that kneeling
doesn't always increase your cover; if you started and half-cover and
kneeling didn't actually increase it to three-quarters, the bonus should
only increase to +6. As with all cover situations, it's up to the GM to
visualize the situation and decide how much cover the character has.)

Q. [In the above scenario] just to make sure of the mechanics, how would
you as a GM deal with a player who said, "I want to snap off a shot at
the werewolf and then duck down behind the crate completely"?
I'd say "yes, and I want a pony." Seriously, the characters' normal
efforts to avoid being hit are already built into their Defense. If the
character wants to take extra steps (perhaps that's what's happening
here), she can fight defensively, using the normal rules for that (-4 on
attack, +2 to Defense)--see the top of page 137. Hope that helps. Glad
to hear that the players are making some smart tactical decisions in
their gunplay!

Q. The rules state that if the attack that disables a vehicle deals
damage equal to half its full normal hit points or more, the vehicle
explodes after 1d6 rounds. This explosion deals 10d6 points of damage to
everyone within the vehicle (Reflex save, DC 20, for half damage), and
half that much to everyone and everything within 30 feet of the
explosion (Reflex save, DC 15, for half damage). What type of damage is
this? Fire? Concussive? Combination of the two? None of the above?
Fire.

Q. Can a character make their off-hand unarmed attacks with something
other than their hand while using a two-handed weapon as their primary
weapon (e.g., great sword, rifle)? The text for unarmed attacks
indicates that they can be made as kicks or headbutts; Living Weapon
includes elbows and knees as well.
I don't see why not. If you have a great sword in hand, and want to
take the TWF penalties to also throw a kick in with your great sword
attack, you certainly can.

Q.If the character is using a two-handed melee weapon as their primary
attack and a non-hand unarmed attack (kicks, etc.) as their off-hand
attack, what would be the damage bonus for high STR?
The two-handed weapon gets 1.5 x Str; the unarmed strike gets half
Str. Standard rules apply; they don't change just because the off-"hand"
is a kick.

Q. An interesting question about two-handed and off-hand attacks with a
negative STR modifier: does the two-handed weapon use a straight 1.0xSTR
penalty or is it 0.5xSTR penalty?
If your Strength modifier is negative, you always add 1 x the modifier
to damage, regardless of whether the attack is one-handed, two-handed,
with a light weapon, with an off-hand, etc. The Strength mod multiplier
for off-hand or two-handed weapons only applies if your modifier is a
bonus.

Q. Can AoOs be made with either set of attacks in a two-weapon
combination? If the character is making ranged weapon attacks with their
primary hand, they should be able to either use their off-hand melee
attack or the melee aspect of the ranged weapon in their primary hand
(pistol whip, rifle butt) for the AoOs.
I'm not quite sure what you're asking here. If you get an attack of
opportunity, you can make it with any melee weapon you have in hand.
That includes a rifle butt (even if you were using the rifle as a ranged
weapon on your turn) or an unarmed strike (if you have Combat Martial
Arts). You can't make an AoO with a ranged weapon.

Q. Does the use of a two-weapon attack need to be declared at the
beginning of attacks by a character?
Absolutely, since the penalties apply to your first attack as well as
the additional attack.

Q. If a character initiates a two-weapon attack (normally a full attack),
and makes their first primary weapon attack, can they then break off the
attack and take a move action, or are they stuck with the full attack
action?
You can take a move action. After all, you've already paid a penalty
in taking the TWF penalty on the first attack, and you haven't done
anything that takes more than a standard action. (You've only made one
attack.)

Q. If a character is using a two-weapon attack, with a ranged weapon for
one set and a melee weapon/CMA unarmed attack for the other, do their
ranged attacks still provoke AoOs, or does their melee weapon/CMA attack
indicate that they are still on the defensive? Would the same thing also
apply to non-CMA unarmed attacks mixed with a melee weapon? If the
character's ranged weapon is alternating between melee and ranged
attacks (rifle shot, rifle butt, rifle shot), would it also apply?
Anything that normally provokes an attack of opportunity does so even
when you are two-weapon fighting. The fact that you are fighting with
two weapons does not negate attacks of opportunity you might provoke.
So, for example, if you attack with a knife in one hand and an unarmed
strike (and you don't have Combat Martial Arts), the unarmed strike
provokes an AoO just like normal. Likewise with ranged attacks. (Note,
however, that you can't get the benefit of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat
when mixing ranged and melee weapons; if you mix them you are stuck with
the normal penalties.)

Q. Can a character alternate between CMA-lethal and Brawl-nonlethal
unarmed attacks in a single full attack?
Absolutely. Why not?

Q. Now I was wondering what if your PC gets killed what are you to do? It
is not like D&D where you can just go to your local temple and pay for
raise dead spell because magic is not as common here. I guess that you
could spend some time and look for a person who has the spell (if you
are even allowing them) but they would have to be at least 9th level.
In d20 Modern, dead is usually dead. Just one of the differences
between a modern setting and a high fantasy setting.

Q. D20 Modern states that concussive damage is a type of energy damage.
Objects are affected by energy damage in different ways, depending upon
the type of energy. For example, sonic and acid deal full damage to
objects, fire deals half, and cold deals one quarter. How does
concussive damage affect objects? Full? Half? Other?
Concussive attacks deal normal damage to most objects. (In general,
concussive behaves identical to sonic damage.)

Q. How come two people can punch each other all day and not have a
scratch under the current nonlethal rules? That makes no sense!
OK, let me clear this up completely:
Two average joes, with no special skills or feats, can punch each
other all day long. No one is going to be knocked unconscious, and
no-one is going to be seriously hurt. They may have some bruises, black
eyes, and bloody noses, but nothing serious enough to warrant the actual
loss of a hit point.
Realistic? Maybe, maybe not. (I tend to think it is--I've never seen
anyone knocked out or seriously hurt in a fistfight, unless the fighters
were experienced or using weapons.) It's certainly more realistic than
the subdual system, in which average Joes will reliable knock each other
unconscious after about three hits.
On the flip side, the all-or-nothing nature of this system models
something we see in movies all the time--the ability to sneak up behind
a guard, hit him on the head, and have him fall unconscious. It takes a
couple feats to be able to do this reliably, but it works (it doesn't
work with the subdual system if the target is higher than 1st or maybe
2nd level).
Hope that clears things up!

Q. But that means three low level guys can gang up on one guy and never
knock him out! Fix these rules!
Three refugees (or accountants) trap a character in a back alley. They
start kicking and punching him, apparently with the goal of knocking him
unconscious. After 15 or 20 seconds, the character is not unconscious.
The frustrated refugees (or accountants) start picking up bottles and
two-by-fours. Now they're packing some punch, and the character, whose
beating to this point was entirely superficial, starts taking some real
injury.
What's wrong with this scenario? Nothing. It's realistic. It's the
sort of thing we see in modern movies and fiction all the time. And it's
exactly the result you get in d20 Modern.
Some people have called on us to "fix" these rules "before it's too
late." We aren't going to, because they aren't broken. They work great
in play, they require less bookkeeping than the subdual system, and
they're more (yes, that's more) realistic.
If you'd like to use a different system in your home campaign, by all
means do so. But recognize that you're doing so because of a difference
in your taste, not because of a flaw in the game.
I, and the rest of the design team, stand by the assertion that this
is a realistic, playable, and enjoyable system--and I think you'll agree
when you give it a try. If it bothers you that two accountants can trade
punches all day long with no real effect, I offer two points:
First, the game is not about amateur fisticuffs. If you need to
simulate schoolyard scuffles, pick up a copy of Atlas Games' Lunch
Money. You'll have a lot more fun. But if you're like most of us, the
corner cases that are causing such a fuss on this thread will never come
up in your game.
Second, remember that in the game, like in real life, people who
actually want to harm one another have many options other than trading
painful but generally harmless punches. They can pick up weapons. They
can accept the standard -4 penalty for dealing normal damage. They can
grapple. They can look for situational advantages. They can take a
karate class.
If your idea of a fight is two people trading punches, with one of
them falling unconscious after 18 or 24 seconds, this system isn't for
you. If, on the other hand, you can see that in real life, the movies,
comics, books, and every other milieu you might reasonably want to mimic
in a modern roleplaying game, unarmed fights are somewhat more chaotic
and require more creative approaches than simply trading punches, you'll
probably find that d20 Modern's system serves your needs just fine!
I hope this answers any lingering questions. I certainly hope that,
even if you aren't convinced, you can find some other aspect of d20
Modern of greater importance on which to base your decision to buy and
enjoy the game.

Q. Do people take half damage if they make their save? They do for other
area of effect attacks.
The rules on this are pretty clear: "every creature within the
affected area must make a Relex save (DC 15) or take the weapon's
damage."
Anyone who says you take half damage on a save is reading something
into the rules that isn't there. Period.
It's true that, in the d20 System, many effects that allow Reflex
saves deal half damage on a failed save. Apparently, some people are now
assuming that that's the default rule. It isn't. If a save cuts the
damage in half, the rules will say so.

Q. In general, how does healing differ between D&D and d20 Modern?
In general: Yes, there are differences in the way healing works
between d20 Modern and D&D (in fact, there are differences in almost
every subsystem). The reasons for these differences are generally A) we
felt that some systems should just work differently in a modern setting,
and B) it's been 3 years since the design of D&D was wrapped up, and in
the intervening years we've simply thought of better ways to handle some
things. In the case of healing, there's also C) magical healing,
considered a standard part of D&D, is rarer (sometimes nonexistant) in
d20 Modern, so we needed to pay more attention to the skill's
capabilities, and strengthen it to keep the game playable (without
eclipsing the value of magical healing when and where it does exist in
the game).

Q. How do natural healing and long term care combine?
OK, here's an clarification of how natural healing and long term care
work in d20 Modern: If you get a good night's sleep (8 hours), you gain
back 1 hp per level. (We changed this from D&D's full day of light
activity because A) we didn't want characters without magical healing to
have to quit the adventure in order to heal, and B) most players ignore
the D&D rule anyway, and simply regain 1 hp/level/day no matter what
their characters do.) If you go with full bed rest, you gain back 2
hp/level/day. If you benefit from long term care--which requires full
bed rest--you gain back 3 hp/level/day.

Q. Is it necessary to use tool kits to heal people?
Now, equipment (a first aid, medical, or surgery kit) is required for
most Treat Injury checks. As with all checks that require tools, you can
attempt it without the tool, but you suffer a -4 penalty. Except where
noted, the tools are not interchangeable. (You can't use a surgery kit
if a medical kit is required.)

Q. The driving rules don't seem to include aerial manoeuvres; they all
require Drive checks. Are the Pilot DCs the same? Will air combat rules
come out in Urban Arcana or a future supplement?
We don't have complete air combat rules at this time. The vehicle
combat system should work just fine for basic air movement (though you
might think up a few additional manoeuvres). The Drive check DCs apply
to Pilot checks when the vehicles in question are aircraft.

Q. If, for my turn's action, Can I first move my Speed (30 ft.) then, for
my second Action, take a 'Start/Compete Full-Round Action' attack
action, and start a Full Attack action?
The effect of the action always occurs in the second half. You don't
break up the action over the two turns; you do the whole thing on the
second turn. Thus, if you used it to make a full attack, you wouldn't
make any of the attacks until the second round. Start/Complete only
applies to actions that you conduct continuously over the length of a
turn--like casting a full-round spell. Discrete activities, like making
attacks, cannot be used with the Start/Complete.

Q. Does improved brawl or combat martial arts have any effect on using
brass knuckles? Does improved brawl increase brass knuckle damage at
all?
Combat Martial Arts has no effect on using brass knuckles, and vice
versa. Brawl can be used with brass knuckles only when dealing nonlethal
damage; if you choose to deal lethal damage, you don't get the benefit
of the Brawl feat.
Now, why all the confusion? It really comes down to a single word in
the description of brass knuckles on page 106: ``[brass knuckles] allow
you to deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike. . .'' That means you
have a choice when you use brass knuckles: you can deal lethal or
nonlethal damage. Unfortunately, in my notes in one location I had
apparently misread that as ``brass knuckles cause you to deal lethal
damage. . .'' (You don't have a choice; the damage is automatically
lethal.) If that were the case, you wouldn't be able to stack the
benefits of brass knuckles with Brawl or Knockout Punch, since those
feats deal only with nonlethal damage.
If you want to deal lethal damage with brass knuckles, you cannot take
advantage of any feat that delivers nonlethal damage only. That means
you don't get the benefit of the Brawl or Knockout Punch feats.
If you want to deal nonlethal damage, here's how things play out:

- Brass knuckles + Brawl feat = 1d6+1 nonlethal
- Brass knuckles + Improved Brawl = 1d8+1 nonlethal
- Brass knuckles + Improved Brawl + Knockout Punch= 2d8+2 nonlethal
- Brass knuckles + Improved Brawl + Improved KO Punch = 3d8+3 nonlethal

6 Chapter Six -- Advanced Classes
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Q. What's the difference between the Investigator's discern lies ability
and the normal use of the Sense Motive skill?
To see the difference between Sense Motive and discern lie, lets look
at the two ways Sense Motive can be used: to overcome a bluff, and to
get a sense of the trustworthiness of an NPC.
In the first case, keep in mind that a bluff is not the same thing as
a lie. A bluff is a quick prevarication intended to distract, confuse,
or mislead, generally only for the short term. A bluff is not intended
to withstand long-term or careful scrutiny, but rather to momentarily
deter an action or decision. You bluff your way past a security guard by
flashing a video club card and acting like you know what you're doing.
You bluff your way out of a brawl by acting like you're tougher than the
250-pound biker. Bluffs involve attitude and body language. Bluffs often
include lies, but they usually aren't very sophisticated and aren't
intended to deceive the target for more than a few moments.
A lie, on the other hand, is a simple misrepresentation of the facts.
A suspect tells you he was in Chicago on the day of the crime, when in
fact he wasn't. A client tells you he'll pay $10,000 for the job when he
intends to stiff you. Body language and attitude aren't a big part of
communication. The lie may be very sophisticated and well thought-out,
and is intended to deceive you at least until you discover evidence to
the contrary.
Sense Motive checks can help you see through bluffs. But, when used
properly, they should not help you determine that any given statement is
a lie. Furthermore, an NPC should not have to make a Bluff check every
time he utters a lie-therefore, there's nothing to use Sense Motive on.
The second function of Sense Motive is to determine the general
trustworthiness of a character. Using it in this way, you might
determine that your suspect is highly, well, suspicious, and might tend
to lie to you. But that doesn't tell you which, if any, specific
statements are untrue. (In fact, an NPC can be highly untrustworthy even
if he doesn't happen to be telling any lies at the moment!) Furthermore,
this use of Sense Motive requires a whole minute to use, so it can't be
applied to a single statement.
Discern lies, on the other hand, can be applied to determine the truth
of an individual statement.

Q. After using Talk Down the target is ``indifferent to the Negotiator
and the situation in general''. Can the Negotiator immediately a) use
Diplomacy to move the target to Helpful and/or b) use Sow Distrust to
move the target from Indifferent (as opposed to Helpful) to Hostile on
the chosen target?
Once the talk down ability has been used and the target is
indifferent, the negotiator (or anyone else) can go on to use any skill
or capability they want to. That includes using Diplomacy or the sow
distrust ability to alter the target's behavior. Of course, those
attempts will have to happen on later rounds, as the talk down ability
is a full-round action.

Q. In what circumstances can you use the Negotiator's talk down ability?
Can you use it on any unfriendly or hostile character?
Sure!

Q. Does the bonus from the Personality's unlimited access ability stack
with the bonus from the Dedicated hero's empathy ability?
Yes, but only in situations when the unlimited access ability applies.
A side note on unlimited access: This ability can only be used to get
into semi-public events--parties, tours, the private room at the back of
the restaurant, etc. In other words, places where members of the public
(even if it's just a select few) are granted admission. You can't use it
to get into places where no member of the public is ever admitted, like
a secret military installation.

Q. Does the bonus from the Field Medic's medical specialist ability stack
with the bonus from the Dedicated hero's healing knack ability?
Yes.

Q. How do the Daredevil abilities action boost and adrenaline rush
interact?
The Daredevil's action boost ability allows you to spend up to 2
action points in a round on the same action . (Sorry that the text isn't
very clear on that0. Therefore, you can spend 2 action points to boost a
single ability score with the adrenaline rush ability. When you reach
8th level, the action points you spend affect two ability scores.
In other words, a 5th-level Daredevil spends an action point to boost
her Dexterity. She rolls 1d4+1 to see how much it's boosted. After
seeing the result, she can elect to spend a second point to boost that
same score by another 1d4+1. She cannot, however, spend the second point
to boost a different ability score.
An 8th-level Daredevil who spends an action point could boost both
Dexterity and Strength by 1d4+1, then spend a second point to add
another 1d4+1 to the total boost. She could not, however, spend the
second point to boost, say, Dex and Con.

Q. What class abilities count as mind-affecting? I'm thinking of the
Charismatic talents captivate, dazzle, and taunt; the Smart trick
talent; the Personality ability winning smile; and the Negotiator's talk
down chain.
All of the above class abilities, plus the Negotiator's sow distrust
ability, are mind-affecting.

Q.Does the Charismatic captivate ability make the target flat-footed?
Does it keep him flat-footed if he is already? Does it stop him from
attacking the Charismatic hero? Similarly, if the talk down ability is
used, the target stops fighting. Is he now flat-footed, and does he
remain so until attacked?
The Charismatic hero's captivate talent needs some clarification. It
can only be used on flat-footed opponents (it can be used out of combat,
or in combat but only on NPCs who haven't acted yet). A captivated
opponent remains flat-footed.
The Negotiator's talk-down ability has no effect on the target's
initiative status. The target stops fighting, but doesn't stop defending
himself and doesn't become flat-footed.

Q. The rules, of course, state that you can't use a ranged weapon for an
attack of opportunity. I imagine this is because ranged attacks draw an
AoO when used in melee range. Would the Gunslinger ability of Close
Combat Shot(which does not draw an AoO when a ranged weapon is fired in
melee combat) allow you to use a ranged weapon as an AoO?
Close combat shot does exactly what it says it does: allows you to
make attacks with some firearmes without provoking attacks of
opportunity. Just because it protects you from attacks of opportunity
does not mean that it allows you to make them.

Q.Can a Bodyguard use the Harm's Way ability when he if flat-footed, If
he started the combat adjacent to the ally that he is defending?
Nope!

Q. The description on page 94 and techie description are extremely
general on what mastercraft can actually effect. The Techie description
says all weapons, armor and some other devices can be made mastercraft.
The mastercraft description says a mastercraft object can provide a
bonus to attack rolls (standard), damage, Defense, or some other
characteristic that improves when the object is used. So, what can this
actually be used on? Can an object have more than one mastercraft bonus?
For a +12 purchase DC can my 1911 have a +2 to hit, and to damage? Can
my box of .45ACP rounds? My cleaver? Can I give my armor +2 to Defense,
and -2 to it's check penalty?
For starters (in response to some other posts on this thread), forget
what you know about masterwork items. Mastercraft follows different
rules than masterwork (which, in fact, is why they have different
names).
As a very general rule, you can mastercraft pretty much any item that
does or can provide a bonus on a roll or check, or which otherwise has a
numeric value. So, yes, you can give a firearm a +1 on attacks or damage
rolls. You can increase an armor's Defense. You can affect ammunition,
or a cleaver.
A given item can only have a total bonus from mastercrafting of +3.
You can apply this however you want. For example, if your 10th-level
Techie mastercrafted his Barret Light Fifty, he could give it a +2 on
attacks and +1 on damage. The total bonus can't exceed +3.
You can mastercraft multiple items for a combined effect. For example,
you could mastercraft the rifle to give you +3 on attacks, and a box of
ammo to give you +3 on damage.
That said, you can't stack bonuses directly. Bonuses from
mastercrafting are circumstance bonuses. They don't stack with each
other, although they do stack with circumstance bonuses arising out of
different circumstances.
Thus, you could mastercraft a laser sight to give you an additional +3
on attacks (in addition to the existing +1 equipment bonus). This would
apply to any weapon you attached the laser sight to--but it wouldn't
stack with the weapon's bonus from mastercrafting, if any. A +3 sight
attached to a +3 weapon would simply give you +3.
Mastercrafting can't give an item an ability it can't normally have.
You can't mastercraft your eyeglasses to give you a bonus on attacks,
because eyeglasses don't normally have a game effect on attack rolls.
Likewise, a mastercrafted laser sight still won't work outdoors in
daylight.
You can mastercraft ammunition. For these purposes, the quantity give
on Table 4-5 counts as a single "object" for the purposes of the
mastercrafting rules. In other words, if you set out to mastercraft a
batch of 5.56 ammo and follow the rules on page 179 as if mastercrafting
a single object, you end up with 20 mastercrafted bullets.

Q. [I]Wait a sec, does that mean a mastercraft baretta (+1 damage) beats a
guy over the head better than a regular baretta? I guess it would.[/i]
No. If you mastercraft a weapon to provide a bonus to damage, and the
weapon has more than one mode of use, you must specify the mode to which
the bonus applies. So if you give your pistol a +1 on damage when
shooting, it doesn't apply to damage when making a pistol whip attack.

Q. I thought that I had read somewhere that prestige classes were also in
d20 Modern. I believe this may have been in one of the preview sections
on advanced classes where it explained that characters would go from the
base classes to an advanced class and then to a prestige class. Am I
wrong or did the d20 modern book just not include them? If the latter,
will PrCs be included in other books?
Prestige classes are part of the d20 Modern system; however, none are
included in the core book (which was published 64 pages over planned
count, even after we cut a bunch of stuff we planned to include). You
will see prestige classes in later products, starting with Urban Arcana.

Q. Combining the Martial Artist with the Soldier gives you Improved
Combat Martial Arts, which increases unarmed threat range to 19-20, and
the Soldier's Improved Critical, which bumps it up by one. This makes my
threat range 18--20, correct?
If I understand your question correctly, you're asking if the 19--20
threat range from Improved Combat Martial Arts stacks with the increase
in threat range from the soldier's Improved Critical class ability.
(Assuming, of course, that unarmed strike is the weapon chosen by the
soldier for his weapon specialization class ability.)
The answer is Yes. A 5th-level soldier who chose unarmed strike as his
weapon specialization back at 2nd level has a threat range of 18-20 if
he also has the Improved Combat Martial Arts feat.
Later, add Advanced Martial artist, meaning that criticals are
18-20/x3. Then, add Knockout Punch and Improved Knockout Punch. Improved
Knockout punch gives you a x3 critical. Does this mean that you use the
d20-standard and make that auto-critical x4 nonlethal when attacking a
flat-footed opponent?
No. The benefits from the Combat Martial Arts feats do no stack with
those of the Brawl feats.

Q. Can you add a Mastercraft bonus to an item that has nothing to do with
a die-roll? If so, can you do things with Mastercrafting like make
ordinary objects smaller (and, for example, increase the Mastercraft
bonus once for each size category smaller), and combining two objects
together to disguise the purpose of the object (costing an additional
Mastercraft bonus)? For example, you could use this ability to, say, add
a hidden camera to sunglasses. So you reduce the size of a digital
camera from tiny to Diminutive (a change of two size categories), and
call that a +2 (I am making that rule of thumb up as an educated guess
by the way). Then add in a disguise to the object, in this case
sunglasses, and call that a +1 (again guessing). Total mastercraft
adjustment is +3. Wealth Check DC is about a 20 (Craft Electronics, a
digital camera is somewhere between a cell phone and a computer, closer
to a computer I would think) plus 3 (mastercraft adjustment) for a total
of 23. Craft check is going to be about a 28 (again somwhere between a
cell phone and a computer, but closer to a computer), plus 3
(mastercraft adjustment) for a total of 31. XP cost will be 25 X Techie
Level (which is no less than 10th level, to get the +3 adjustment) X 3
(the mastercraft adjustment). For all of these checks I would compare
the item to other similar items, to make sure nothing is too out of
whack.
Technically, you can't do this with mastercrafting, although I do like
your ideas for house rules. I don't have any specific advice for you on
this, but I have been mulling over a new advanced class based on gadget
construction and improvisation--the field scientist and techie aren't
very relevant to my post-apocalyptic campaign. If I get something
written up, I'll post it. (It probably won't happen for a week or two,
though, at least.)

9 Chapter Nine -- Campaign Models

Under Monsters of the Id, it says that a crazed talent always creates the same kind of monster. Later, a character is described as creating different types of monsters. Is that correct?
The crazed talent can create one or more creatures of the same type; the type can differ each time the id monster manifests. Perhaps it would have been clearer to phrase the beginning of the paragraph on page 304 as "A crazed talent can create a single monster with Hit Dice equal to two times the crazed talent's character level, or a number of identical monsters whose total Hit Dice equal two times the crazed talent's character level."
As for Cindi's situation on page 311, I think what was meant is that her initial manifestation is a set of kobolds; if these are destroyed her later manifestations are a single gnoll, followed by two goblins, followed by the kobolds again, and so on.

If a mage casts a spell requiring only verbal components and records his voice on a CD or Tape and plays that tape back on a Cd player or walkman would that spell go off?
The way I see it this would be similer to writing a scroll. The Mage would only be able to make so many recordings but any person could set the spell off.
Simply recording a spell -- even a verbal-component only spell -- does not cause the spell to occur every time the recording is played. Spells are cast primarily through mental manipulation of arcane forces; the verbal (or other components) are only a small part of the process.
You might be able to create rules for recording scrolls in other media besides writing, but all the rules for scroll creation and use would still apply. The material costs, the XP cost, and the creation checks would remain the same (or equivalent), and the restrictions on who could activate the scroll (a caster capable of casting that type of spell, or someone making a Use Magic Device check) would not change.

How many times per day can the Shadow Slayer use his Slayer Weapon ability?
The Shadow Slayer can use the Slayer Weapon ability at will.
(Generally, that amounts to once per combat -- even at a minimum, the weapon is empowered for 4 rounds. Since most combats are over in 4 or 5 rounds, that doesn't leave much time to empower the weapon again. However, if the Shadow Slayer needs to do so, she certainly can.)

If you take levels in Mage and buy ranks in Spellcraft, then take a Smart level, can you choose the Savant talent for Spellcraft?
No. Savant can be applied only to the listed skills.

A Shadow Slayer with favored enemy (monstrous humanoids) attacks a medusa guarded by an ogre Bodyguard, who uses his harm's way ability. Does the Slayer get his attack/damage bonuses?
No. The Shadow Slayer may have intended to attack the medusa, but ultimately attacked the ogre, against which the shadow enemy bonus doesn't apply.

How ``real'' is a monster of the id? Can a werewolf created as a monster of the id give someone lycanthropy?
For all intents and purposes, monsters of the id are 100% real. If you're bitten a monster-of-the-id werewolf, you can contract lycanthropy. Likewise, if you're killed by a monster-of-the-id vampire's energy drain, you become a spawn of that vampire.
The only caveat is this: If such an effect breaks the "rules of reality" for your campaign, it doesn't happen. For example, if you're running an Agents of PSI game in which psionics are real but other supernatural things (like vampires and werewolves) aren't, a monster of the id isn't going to suddenly change the rules of reality and populate the world with real vampires and werewolves.
(Of course, since monsters of the id respawn in 1d20 hours, it's always possible that the new monster of the id would take the form of a spawned vampire or lycanthrope. However, such examples aren't really spawns of the original; they're simply new iterations of the original id monster.)

Does the Slayer Weapon enhancement bonus work only against creatures of Shadow or does the weapon become for all intents and purposes a +X magic weapon?
The latter. A +1 slayer weapon is a +1 weapon for that Shadow Slayer. Hopefully, he'll use it to go kill evil shadow creatures--but the bonus is in effect no matter what he uses it against.

Does the damage bonus for the Shadow Enemy now work on undead, unlike the ranger's similar ability?
The bonus applies to the shadow slayer's chosen type of favored enemy. If the shadow slayer chooses undead, it applies to undead.

I'm a little dubious about the Slayer's Fast Healing ability. The main reason for this is that I do not know how Fast Healing works in conjunction with falling into negative hit points. The three possibilities, as I see it, are thus:
Slayer heals X hit points per round. Once he/she falls into negative hit points, Fast Healing is ineffective.
Slayer heals X hit points per round. Once he/she falls into negative hit points, Fast Healing is inneffective until he/she stabilizes.
Slayer heals X hit points per round, even while in negative hit points.
Option 3 is correct. Fast healing works so long as the character is alive (above -10 hp); being at negative hp does not otherwise affect the use of the ability. You're correct that this is a very powerful ability. It's also obtained at a high character level, and at a point in a character's career where the difference between 0 hp and -10 hp is pretty slim.

OK, the magic user advanced class gets as his 10th level class feature the ability to prepare a "maximised" version of a spell. So what ones can he do? Let's just have a little look at the spell list for a moment. His max spell level is 5, so he can only maximise 1st and 2nd level spells. That gives him, lets see, magic missile and sleep? No 2nd level spells that could be affected, can't affect 3rd level spells. What is the plan here? Why are they given such a functionally useless ability as their 10th level class ability? Empower would have been a much more reasonable choice, surely - at least you could prepare a couple of empowered 3rd level spells. Being able to sleep 2x 4HD creatures when you are 15th level doesn't seem particularly useful, and 25 points of magic missile damage is a bit ho-hum. What am I missing here?
The magic system in the d20 Modern core book is the bare-bones center of what we'd like it to become. There will be additional spells, as well as the ability to increase caster level above 10th, in Urban Arcana and other products. It's an unfortunate side effect of having to cram an entire game into 384 pages that some class abilities will not be as flexible as we ultimately envision them. Hope that sheds some light on it!

When I get Spell Mastery I have an Int bonus of +3 and so get 3 spells that I can prepare with out my book. Later my bonus goes up (permanently) to + 4. Do I now get to have another spell I can prep without my book?
A: Yes.