TEXT: The Modern Dispatch
  More Genre Templates
  Page 1
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  Requires the use of the d20 Modern Roleplaying 
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  of the d20 System License version 6.0.  A copy 
  of this License can be found at www.wizards.
  com/d20.
  #74
  More Genre Templates
  By Barak Blackburn and Gareth-Michael Skarka
  Introduction
  This issue of Modern Dispatch, we present 
  more Genre Templates for use in your D20 
  Modern campaigns.
  As a quick reminder, hereʼs a run-down on 
  what Genre Templates are and how they 
  work:
  Genre Templates are plug-and-play add-
  ons that give each player access to the 
  skills and abilities typically possessed 
  by signiﬁcant characters within in a 
  given genre.
  They are not “balanced.” Within 
  a particular genre, adding a Genre 
  Template to all signiﬁcant characters 
  will not change them in regards to one 
  another, however, when dealing with 
  insigniﬁcant characters, Signiﬁcant 
  Characters will be at an advantage. 
  Signiﬁcant Characters are not harder to hit, 
  they not have additional hit points... They 
  are simply able to do the cool stuff that 
  characters in that genre do with regularity. 
  When a campaign starts, simply add the 
  Genre Template to each player and other 
  signiﬁcant characters.
  
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  More Genre Templates
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  Reading a Genre Template 
  Genre Templates are comprised of the 
  following sections:
  Skills: These are the skills that all signiﬁcant 
  characters always have access to as class 
  skills.
  Feats and abilities: These are the feats and 
  special abilities that all signiﬁcant characters 
  automatically have. However, just because a 
  signiﬁcant character  has a particular feat or 
  ability does not ensure or require that they 
  have all the pre-requisites. When they want 
  to pick up a feat or ability that requires pre-
  requisites that they do not have, they will 
  have to acquire them. 
  For instance: a character in a Modern d20 
  campaign might get Point Blank Shot 
  from their particular Genre Template, but 
  unless he has a Dexterity of 13 he cannot 
  get Double Tap (even though a 13 Dex is 
  required for Point Blank Shot).
  Tweaks: These are simple rules add-ons that 
  are designed to be seamlessly integrated into 
  a campaign.
  Optional: Some Templates have optional 
  rules provided, which allow for more drastic 
  changes in the rules to emulate a particular 
  genre.  These are a bit more radical than the 
  Tweaks, and so are presented as options, 
  usable at the discretion of the Game Master.
  Die and Die Again:
  Spies on Impossible Missions
  Skills: 
  Bluff, Diplomacy, Hide, Investigate, Listen, 
  Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, 
  in addition each Signiﬁcant Character may 
  also choose 5 skills not listed and take them 
  as permanent class skills. 
  Feats:  
  Combat Martial Arts, Personal Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot.
  Tweaks:
  •  Intimidation can be used with either   
     Strength or Charisma.
  •  Signiﬁcant Characters get a Genre Bonus  
      to all saves equal to their Charisma bonus 
      (if positive.)
  •  SCs may use any skill untrained.
  Optional:
  Fatale- many spies do their best 
  work between the sheets. Signﬁcant 
  Characters (PC and NPC) are initially 
  more likely to “befriend” someone of their 
  preferred orientation rather than attack them. 
  Signiﬁcant Characters who are able to 
  develop a physical relationship with an 
  “enemy” or “potential enemy” may very 
  well ﬁnd it to their advantage later. When 
  the characters knowingly meet again, under 
  less-than-friendly circumstances, they must 
  make opposed Charisma checks. The winner 
  of  this check gets a +2 bonus to all rolls 
  made against that character (attack, damage, 
  skill, initiative, etc...) whenever they are 
  in hostile conﬂict. However, the winner of 
  this check will also be unable to pull the 
  trigger, perhaps believing that the other is 
  
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  redeemable in someway. Not only will they 
  not allow them to be killed, they will make 
  sure that they stay alive.
  “Let me tell you my plan”- Villains in 
  many espionage ﬁlms have massive egos, 
  and often cannot resist sharing their plan. 
  What point is an intricate plan that has 
  taken 8 years to come to fruition if no one 
  appreciates your work?  
  The spy and the villain each make opposed 
  Diplomacy checks. The spyʼs check is at -10 
  unless he is in immediate danger (death-trap, 
  anyone?). The result of this check is made 
  secret. 
  If the spy wins, the villain may tell the spy 
  her plan. However, this level of trust is a 
  two-edged sword for the spy: he will indeed 
  learn the plan, but once the plan is revealed 
  the villain gains a Villain Token. This token 
  can be used for an unlikely escape from a 
  Very Bad Situation (death, imprisonment, 
  etc...). 
  If the spy wins and the villain chooses not 
  to reveal the plan, the spy gains a Hero 
  Token which can be used for a temporary 
  reprieve (perhaps the villainʼs #1 henchman 
  sides with the spy for part of a combat, 
  perhaps that Fatale is redeemable, maybe 
  the rope on this death trap wasnʼt tied as 
  tightly as it might have been...). The spy 
  should be as creative as possible when using 
  their Hero Token (as should the GM when 
  using a Villain Token). If the spy loses the 
  check, the villain might very well give 
  the misinformation,  or perhaps the villain 
  realizes death traps are stupid and takes out 
  a gun and....
  Well- rounded- Any time a Signiﬁcant 
  Character encounters something interesting 
  and foreign, they may make a Well-rounded 
  roll. This is a Charisma check with a DC of 
  17. Success means the Signiﬁcant Character 
  knows enough about the subject matter to 
  sound knowledgeable... 
  It might mean they speak a smattering of 
  Latvian, that they can name the starting 
  defense for the only Pittsburgh Steelers 
  team to lose a Super Bowl, or maybe even 
  that they personally know the vintner who 
  crafted the wine served with dinner. It is a 
  given that SCs know Shakespeare and World 
  History and even pop music. This does not 
  give them any ranks in a skill or a language, 
  it is very temporary and designed to be used 
  primarily in social situations. 
  Grunts:
  Modern Military Exploits
  Skills:
  Hide, Knowledge (Tactics), Listen, Move 
  Silently, Search, Spot, Survival.
  Feats:
  Combat Martial 
  Arts, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Advanced Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Burst 
  Fire, Strafe, Point 
  Blank Shot, Precise 
  Shot, Shot on the 
  Run, Toughness.
  Tweaks:
  •  Spot Checks- 
  instead of the 
  standard distance 
  penalties, apply the 
  following:  for every 
  20 feet, apply a -1 
  penalty.
  •  Silent 
  Communication- 
  Any communication 
  between characters 
  can be attempted as 
  non-verbal and silent. 
  
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  The communicating character makes an  
  Intelligence check, and any ally attempting 
  to get the message makes a Spot Check 
  with the same DC. The more complicated 
  the message, the higher the DC, with basic 
  tactics and communication having a DC 10. 
  Spot check penalties for distance do apply.
  Optional:
  Specialize-each character chooses 4 skills. 
  These not only become permanent class 
  skills, but the character gains a Genre Bonus 
  on these skills depending on how many 
  other people selected them: +4 bonus if no 
  other character selected the skill, +3 if one 
  other character selected the skill, and +2 if 
  two or three other characters selected the 
  skill. 
  Man Down!-  Members of the military 
  working together in platoon sized groups 
  or smaller (platoon/ troop 30-40 soldiers, 
  squad/ crew 8-12 soldiers, ﬁreteam 4-5 
  soldiers) rely on one another at all costs. 
  When they lose a soldier, they do lose their 
  most valuable resource, but also the grim 
  reality of their situation becomes quite 
  apparent. 
  When a Signiﬁcant Character member of 
  a platoon or smaller unit dies, all members 
  of that unit gain a +1 Genre Bonus to all 
  rolls for 5 rounds. Genre Bonuses do stack 
  with one another, and it is possible to have 
  multiple Genre Bonuses in effect at any one 
  time (though unfortunate in this genre!)
  Immortal Steel:
  There Can Be Only One
  Skills:
  Concentration, Heal, Intimidate, Search, 
  Spot.
  Feats:
  Combat Reﬂexes, Power Attack, Cleave, 
  Great Cleave, Decapitating Slash (See 
  Tweaks).
  Tweaks:
  •  Signiﬁcant Characters are Immortal.  They 
     do not age, and cannot die by natural 
     means.  In addition, they heal 1d10 points 
     of damage per turn, even after the point of 
     death.
  •  The only way to kill a Signiﬁcant 
     Character is to decapitate them.  This is 
     done using the Decapitating Slash feat:
  Decapitating Slash
  Prerequisites: Combat Reﬂexes, BAB 
  10+.
  Beneﬁt: If you score a critical hit 
  against your opponent, he must make 
  a Fortitude save (DC=5 + total damage 
  dealt, +5 if the critical was an Attack of 
  Opportunity) or be instantly killed, his 
  head severed.
  •  When a Signiﬁcant Character is killed 
     in this fashion, his opponent takes some 
     of his power:  The victor can take one of 
     the loserʼs Feats as his own, and can raise 
     any three skills that were higher than his 
     own up to the level possessed by the SC he 
     has killed.
  •  All SCs get a +4 Genre Bonus to Dexterity 
     where determining the results of Combat 
     Reﬂexes. 
  
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  •  Intimidation can be used with either 
     Strength or Charisma.
  Optional:
  Battleﬁeld Stature- On the battleﬁeld, the 
  swath of destruction that a SC creates 
  greatly inﬂuences how he performs. Every 
  10 full points of damage that a character 
  delivers in a round gives a character 1 
  temporary hit point and a Battle Token. 
  Battle Tokens can be spent at any point for 
  a one round bonus to all dice rolls, each 
  Battle Token gives a +1 bonus. Any round a 
  character spends a Battle Token, they do not 
  gain any additional Battle Tokens. 
  Optional Feat- SCs can choose to take this 
  Feat if they meet the Prerequisites:
  Web of Death 
  Prerequisites: Combat Reﬂexes, 
  Weapon Focus, BAB 5+.
  Beneﬁt: You can choose to take a total 
  defensive stance (taking a full action)...
  you may make no attack, but you spin 
  your blade so skillfully that you may 
  make an Attack of Opportunity on 
  anyone who attacks you.  This attack is 
  resolved after your opponents.   
  Wisdom of the Ages- To represent the 
  accumulated wisdom of an Immortal, 
  all Skills are considered class skills for 
  Signiﬁcant Characters.
  Noble Knights:
  The Flower of Chivalry
  Not every Template needs to be for a 
  Modern genre.   A Template like this, for 
  example, allows you to use the D20 Modern 
  rules to emulate a decidedly non-modern 
  genre:
  Skills:
  Diplomacy, Knowledge (History, Nobility 
  and Royalty), Ride, Sense Motive.
  Feats:
  Armor Proﬁciency (Light, Medium, Heavy), 
  Mounted Combat, Ride-By-Attack, Spirited 
  Charge, Shield Proﬁciency.
  Tweaks:
  •  Signﬁcant Characters get a Genre Bonus 
  to all saves equal to their Charisma bonus 
  
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  (if positive) IF they remain honorable and 
  faithful to their allegiances. Any deviation 
  from their path causes them to lose this 
  bonus until they redeem themselves.
  Optional:
  Dueling- Duels are an integral part of the 
  chivalry genre. For sake of simplicity, there 
  are two types of duels: jousts and melee.
  For a joust, both players will roll to hit and 
  damage as normal. Any hit that deals more 
  than 10 points of damage requires a Fort 
  save by the person who was hit, with a  DC 
  equal to 10 plus 1 for every two points 
  the damage is over 10. (For example, a hit 
  dealing 21 points of damage would have a 
  Fortitude save of 15.) 
  If the save fails, the character must make 
  a Ride check with a DC equal to 20 plus 1 
  for every point the Fortitude save was failed 
  by. If the Ride check fails, the character 
  falls off their house. If the character fails 
  the Fortitude but makes the Ride check they 
  stay on the horse but are visibly shaken. If 
  both players have the same result (stay up, 
  shaken or fall off) the winner of that round 
  is determined by comparing damage. If the 
  results are different, the character with the 
  better result wins. If both characters miss, 
  they are both booed quite loudly!
  For a tournament style melee duel, two 
  victory conditions are First Blood and 
  Falling to a Knee.
  First Blood is dealt with a single blow 
  that deals 10 or more points of damage, 
  or multiple hits that deliver more than 15 
  cumulative points of damage.
  Falling to a Knee occurs when one player 
  delivers to another a single blow dealing 20 
  or more points of damage, or if a character 
  loses more than half their maximum hit 
  points in cumulative damage. 
  Once the damage is dealt, the player must 
  make a Fortitude save with a DC equal to 
  10 plus the damage of the last blow dealt to 
  them. (Note: there are those in tournament 
  circles who might use tactics like tripping 
  their foes, but this is not a noble victory).
  Knowledge (Heraldry)- This skill is used 
  to gather information in-character about 
  the strengths and weakness of a particular 
  foe based on the foeʼs coat of arms.  Game 
  Masters should give out relevant information 
  based on the check results, the initial DC 
  is 10 and for every 5 points the result is 
  above 10, the Signiﬁcant Character gains a 
  +1 bonus to Skill Checks and Combat Rolls 
  against that opponent.  
  Optional Feat -- Signiﬁcant Characters may 
  choose the following Feat, assuming that 
  they meet the Prerequisites:
  Mobile Cleave
  Prerequisites: Dex 15+, Str 15+, Great 
  Cleave, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, 
  BAB+11.
  Beneﬁt:  A character may make a 5 
  foot step after dropping an opponent 
  in order to Cleave another. A character 
  with Mobile Cleave may move a total of 
  twice their base move, though only 5 feet 
  at a time. A character passing through a 
  threatened square still provokes an Attack 
  of Opportunity.
  As you can see, not every genre requires the 
  detail of an entire supplement...sometimes 
  itʼs just fun to go with the quick-and-easy 
  method.   Grab some characters, apply a 
  template, and play!
  
  The Modern Dispatch
  More Genre Templates
  Page 7
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