d20 Modern Conversion: The Perils of Nuclear Radiation!
Hey all, here's rules regarding radiation for the modern conversion!
Hey everyone, I'm finally back posting after finishing my exams. This is one of two updates I've released today, click here to check out the other: An Alternate Human!
Pretty early on in the conversion, it seemed pretty clear that some form of radiation rules would be necessary for the conversion, especially when delving into the d20 Apocalypse stuff. Setting out, I really wanted the rules to be easy to use and a strong narrative tool. I think a sidebar in d20 Apocalypse solidified a lot of how I wanted it to work. In short, the sidebar explained that a drawn out, painful death from radiation exposure isn't exactly a fun play experience, and radiation is best used as a tool to force hard choices upon your players. Do your players stay in the irradiated lab for that extra minute to continue looking for the Important DocumentTM, or do they abandon the lead, potentially letting the trail go cold?
In d20 Modern (or more specifically, the d20 Future expansion book) uses the book's disease system to drive radiation sickness, which obviously isn't a feature in 5th Edition where each disease is handled individually to avoid having to learn extra rules. Additionally, radiation sickness causes damage to a character's Constitution stat. "Stat drain" is very rare in 5E, the only example coming to mind being that Strength-draining feature Shadows have. It's something I would rather avoid in these rules for radiation, but I'm pretty sure 5E already has a much more appealing option: exhaustion. Often an underused mechanic in my opinion, I think the exhaustion levels in 5E are a simple way to implement the effects of radiation sickness.
Before writing this homebrew, I naturally had a look around to see what other people had created to simulate radiation. I found Dungeonmusings' conversion of the Pathfinder Rules for Radiation very useful as a jumping off point. In this homebrew, I avoided getting too deep into the details in what is hopefully a style befitting D&D 5E, leaving certain details like how long radiation lingers to the imagination of the GM. I also included a few radiation-themed spells, both for fun and to more fully integrate the rules with the game.
The document on GM Binder: Radiation Rules
Now I'm finally done with university stuff for summer I should be able to post more frequently, but we all know how well should has worked in the past. I'm going to try and stick to at least one update a fortnight, or possibly more if I've got some spare time on my hands. That's all for this time, I sincerely hope to be bringing you new content soon.
Pretty early on in the conversion, it seemed pretty clear that some form of radiation rules would be necessary for the conversion, especially when delving into the d20 Apocalypse stuff. Setting out, I really wanted the rules to be easy to use and a strong narrative tool. I think a sidebar in d20 Apocalypse solidified a lot of how I wanted it to work. In short, the sidebar explained that a drawn out, painful death from radiation exposure isn't exactly a fun play experience, and radiation is best used as a tool to force hard choices upon your players. Do your players stay in the irradiated lab for that extra minute to continue looking for the Important DocumentTM, or do they abandon the lead, potentially letting the trail go cold?
In d20 Modern (or more specifically, the d20 Future expansion book) uses the book's disease system to drive radiation sickness, which obviously isn't a feature in 5th Edition where each disease is handled individually to avoid having to learn extra rules. Additionally, radiation sickness causes damage to a character's Constitution stat. "Stat drain" is very rare in 5E, the only example coming to mind being that Strength-draining feature Shadows have. It's something I would rather avoid in these rules for radiation, but I'm pretty sure 5E already has a much more appealing option: exhaustion. Often an underused mechanic in my opinion, I think the exhaustion levels in 5E are a simple way to implement the effects of radiation sickness.
Before writing this homebrew, I naturally had a look around to see what other people had created to simulate radiation. I found Dungeonmusings' conversion of the Pathfinder Rules for Radiation very useful as a jumping off point. In this homebrew, I avoided getting too deep into the details in what is hopefully a style befitting D&D 5E, leaving certain details like how long radiation lingers to the imagination of the GM. I also included a few radiation-themed spells, both for fun and to more fully integrate the rules with the game.
The document on GM Binder: Radiation Rules
Now I'm finally done with university stuff for summer I should be able to post more frequently, but we all know how well should has worked in the past. I'm going to try and stick to at least one update a fortnight, or possibly more if I've got some spare time on my hands. That's all for this time, I sincerely hope to be bringing you new content soon.
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