TEXT: Gear and Equipment
  Bullet Points
  Gear and Equipment
  by Charles Ryan
  Welcome to the twenty-ninth installment of Bullet Points. I'm Charles Ryan, one of the designers of the d20 
  Modern Roleplaying Game. I'm here to answer your questions about the game, offer advice on tricky 
  issues, and give you a little peek into the minds of the designers. You'll be hearing from me every couple of 
  weeks.
  If you've checked out the earlier installments of Bullet Points, you know the format. Every two weeks I pick 
  an issue that's provoked a lot of questions or comments, begin with a general discussion of the topic, and 
  then answer specific questions related to it. If there are any unrelated but pressing questions in my 
  mailbox, I might tackle them at the end of the column, but only if there's room and they can't wait for an 
  appropriately themed column.
  Gear and Equipment
  In this installment, we're going to look at questions relating to gear and equipment. The last installment ran 
  a little shorter than usual, so I'll make up the lost ground this time, as promised. 
  Before we get to the questions, though, let's take just a moment to cover an equipment-related issue that 
  recently came up in conversation -- the katana. Is it overpowered? Some people think so because it's 
  virtually the same as the longsword, only better. So why would anyone ever use a longsword when the 
  katana is clearly better -- and perhaps better than all other melee weapons as well?
  I don't think I can provide a definitive answer to that question, since it's by nature rather subjective. Instead, 
  let me give you a little insight into the thinking of the design team. Then you can make your own decision 
  with that information in mind.
  Let's start with a little comparison. When wielded by a proficient user, the longsword and the katana are 
  nearly identical in effect -- except that the katana deals 2.5 points more damage per hit, on average. (A 
  katana deals an average of 7 points of damage and the longsword deals an average of 4.5 points.)
  The following factors offset that edge in damage-dealing capability.
  G     A slightly lower price for the longsword.
  G     A slightly lower weight for the longsword.
  G     The longsword is more easily concealed.
  G     The longsword requires the Archaic Weapon Proficiency feat instead of the Exotic Weapon 
  Proficiency feat.
  The first three points are probably minor elements in most games, though concealment might be a 
  significant factor in some. The last item is pretty major. Not only does the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat 
  apply only to the chosen weapon and no others, but it also is not available as a bonus feat for any starting 
  occupation. In other words, a character could become proficient with a longsword for free, without giving up 
  
  Gear and Equipment
  a feat slot. And however he got that proficiency, it makes him proficient with all other archaic weapons as 
  well. But to become proficient with the katana, a character must spend a feat slot, and he does not gain 
  proficiency with any other weapon for doing so.
  If a hero doesn't choose a starting occupation that gives him Archaic Weapon Proficiency as a bonus feat, 
  then he has to spend a feat slot to become proficient with either weapon. In that case, assuming that all 
  your character cares about is being good with a single melee weapon, go with the katana rather than the 
  longsword. Under those circumstances, it's simply the best choice. (And the design team is okay with that, 
  since the katana is much more iconic in modern settings than the longsword is.)
  But if you want a character who is good with more than just one melee weapon, taking the Archaic Weapon 
  Proficiency feat and choosing the longsword will give you more bang for your buck. The character will be 
  proficient with a wide array of alternate weapons, should he ever need them. In addition, he'll save a few 
  bucks, free up a couple pounds of carrying capacity, and have a weapon that he can more easily tuck 
  under his trenchcoat. And if his starting occupation is adventurer or athlete, he can even save a feat slot.
  As always, the design team tried to ensure that the choice between one weapon and another offers pros 
  and cons on both sides. Overall, I think that's the case with the katana and the longsword. But if the unique 
  circumstances of your game make katanas more common than longswords, there's nothing wrong with 
  that. If the katana's better statistics bother you in that case, a house rule that changes them may be 
  appropriate.
  Questions and Answers
  Now that we have the issue of katanas versus longswords all cleared up, let's look at some questions.
  What exactly is a range pack? Is it a type of backpack, or is it more like a sports bag that is 
  carried in one hand?
  It's like the latter. A range pack is carried by handles and does not have shoulder straps. It often features 
  padding that makes it a bit stiffer than a sports bag, but it's otherwise pretty similar.
  I can't find the description of the surgery kit in the rulebook. Am I missing something? What 
  does it do?
  I've answered this one before, but it comes up often enough that the answer is worth repeating. The 
  description of the surgery kit was inadvertently left out of the book. Here's what it should say.
  Surgery Kit
  About the size of a small backpack, this kit contains the instruments needed for rudimentary emergency 
  field surgery. A surgery kit is used when performing surgery (see the Treat Injury skill, page 74). A 
  character performing surgery without a surgery kit takes a -4 penalty on the Treat Injury check. (This 
  penalty is in addition to the -4 penalty that applies if the character does not have the Surgery feat.)
  If someone throws an entire belt of fragmentation grenades but pulls the pin off only one, 
  what would the resulting damage be if there were, say, seven grenades in all on the belt?
  
  Gear and Equipment
  The damage would be 4d6 points (the damage from the one that had its pin pulled). The explosion would 
  just destroy the other six grenades.
  In general, an explosive does not detonate just because it's in the burst radius of another explosive. If it did, 
  few people would ever use grenades -- after all, you'd be in great danger if you were carrying a few 
  grenades when someone threw one at you! Just because the six extra grenades in this example happened 
  to be very close to the detonating one does not mean they'd be any more likely to go off than a grenade 
  carried by a character who took damage from an enemy grenade.
  One of my characters has developed a new favorite trick: He throws a whole bunch of 
  grenades, dynamite, and other explosives into a day pack, along with a block of C4 and a 
  detonator, and then blows the whole thing up. Figuring out the damage -- not to mention the burst 
  radius -- is a huge mess. What should I do?
  This situation is virtually the same as the one described in the question above. The C4 detonates and deals 
  the appropriate damage. If the character wires several blocks of C4 together (and succeeds in the 
  appropriate Demolitions check), the damage and burst radius increase accordingly. But the other items in 
  the bag, including other forms of explosives, are simply damaged or destroyed in the blast -- they do not go 
  off. Hopefully that answer clears up a few GMing headaches for you!
  Two sticks of dynamite can be wired together to produce either +50% damage or +50% burst 
  radius. Does the damage (or the burst radius) increase by 50% for each additional stick of 
  dynamite, or is the maximum increase 50% regardless of the amount of dynamite used? Can 
  multiple sticks of dynamite be wired together to increase both the burst radius and the damage? 
  For example, if my hero wired four sticks together, could he increase the damage to 4d6 and the 
  burst radius to 10 feet?
  In short, yes. Each stick you add to the bundle increases either the damage by 50% (adding 1d6 points of 
  damage) or the burst radius by 50% (adding 2-1/2 feet). Essentially, two sticks must be added to increase 
  the radius by a total of 5 feet; otherwise the increase won't have any effect. In your example, the DC for the 
  Demolitions check would be 14 (10 plus 1 per stick).
  I don't understand why a weapon with a burst setting doesn't give the user the benefit of the 
  Burst Fire feat. Can you explain it again?
  I must not have been as clear as I'd have liked in my past explanations. I'll try again (briefly).
  Any automatic weapon is capable of firing a burst. In real life, if you try to fire a burst with a weapon that 
  doesn't have a burst setting, you typically shoot off somewhere between three and ten bullets, depending 
  on the weapon's rate of fire. For example, the U.S. army teaches M-60 gunners to fire three- to five-round 
  bursts. The M-60 has a pretty low rate of fire, and I was able to master that technique pretty quickly when I 
  was in basic training. When I trained with the German army and fired their MG3 (a close equivalent to the 
  M-60), my bursts tended to be seven to nine rounds. Since the MG3's rate of fire is much higher, it's harder 
  to fire just a few rounds.
  For the sake of simplicity, the d20 Modern rules specify that whenever a character tries to fire a burst from 
  any automatic weapon without a burst setting, five bullets are used.
  
  Gear and Equipment
  A burst setting on an automatic weapon is simply a limiter that sets the number of bullets fired in a burst to 
  three. That limit is useful because in real life, any bullets beyond the first three typically fly wild and don't 
  have any chance of hitting the target, no matter how well trained the user is. So, when I fired a four- or five-
  round burst from my M-60 in the army, one or two of those bullets were basically wasted. When I fired the 
  MG3, I wasted four to six bullets with each pull of the trigger.
  Such a limiter in no way makes the weapon more accurate. It does not help the user make the best use of 
  the extra bullets beyond the first. It simply prevents her from wasting ammo. And if she uses less ammo, 
  she has less to carry and reloads less often. That's the only benefit of a burst setting. Period.
  To make the attack more effective, the user must be trained to compensate for the automatic fire and keep 
  the weapon on target. That training is what the Burst Fire feat represents. Because the amount of ammo 
  expended (or saved) does not affect these aspects, a character doesn't get the benefit of the feat simply 
  because she saved a little ammo.
  Whew. Okay, that wasn't as brief as I'd hoped, but with any luck it explains why the burst setting doesn't 
  give you the benefits of the feat.
  I have used both bows and .22-caliber handguns, and I want to know if the creators of this 
  system have ever shot either one. You've given the bow a range increment of 40 feet, when a 
  .22 has only a 20-foot range increment. Are you people crazy?
  A weapon's range increment is a reflection of both its short-to-medium range accuracy (the point at which it 
  begins to accumulate range penalties) and its overall range (the range increment times 10).
  For simplicity's sake, a single number is used to represent both factors. The linear effect of range penalties 
  (in other words, the fact that they accumulate evenly over distance rather than exponentially or by some 
  other mathematical formula) is also an issue of simplicity. If we were to model just how a given weapon's 
  accuracy falls off throughout its maximum range, the mechanics would not only be much more complicated, 
  but also probably different for each type of weapon.
  The result of this abstraction is that sometimes a game effect doesn't precisely match your expectations of 
  reality. For example, a .22-caliber pistol may be more accurate than a bow at 30 feet in real life, but in the 
  game the pistol has taken its first range penalty while the bow hasn't. In both real life and the game, 
  however, the bow turns out to be much more accurate at 200 feet.
  All that said, I'm somewhat surprised that you find a standard, non-match-grade .22-caliber pistol more 
  accurate than a compound bow beyond a very short range. We each have our different experiences in life, 
  I guess.
  Is there an armor proficiency feat that covers just archaic armor? Or is archaic armor 
  considered light, medium, or heavy based on Table 4-9: Armor?
  The latter version is correct. The term "archaic" is just descriptive; it doesn't have any real meaning in terms 
  of game mechanics. The only factor that matters when determining the proficiency feat that covers a given 
  type of armor is whether it is light, medium, or heavy.
  
  Gear and Equipment
  Do you have a rules question about the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game? Send it to 
  bulletpoints@wizards.com. For the quickest possible answer, please put the topic of your question in the 
  subject line and keep the question as succinct as possible. If you have more than one question, feel free to 
  send two or more emails -- but for best results please include only one question per email unless your 
  questions are very closely related to one another. Please don't expect a direct answer by email. Check 
  back here every other week for the latest batch of answers!
  About the Author
  Charles Ryan was one of the designers of the d20 ModernRoleplaying Game. He has 
  been designing and editing games for more than twelve years. His other credits include 
  such diverse titles as the The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game, Deadlands, Millennium's 
  End, The Last Crusade, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, 
  and Star Trek: Red Alert!, to name just a few. Charles served as Chairman of the 
  Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, the professional organization of the 
  games industry, from 1996 through 2001. He lives in Kent, Washington with his lovely 
  wife Tammie, three cats, two rats, and a dog. He works for Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  ©1995-2005 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Wizards is 
  headquartered in Renton, Washington, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057.
  
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